This week on Lensel,“the news for wedding photographers”

• Food x Luxury x Weddings. What you can learn from the rise of food in luxury branding and photography.

• New drones, new possibilities. How would a titled drone shot look?

• News and inspo to keep you ahead of the rest

Let’s dive in ⬇️

NEWS

Happening this Week

• Inside a website update. Colorado based photographers From the Daises shared their new website this week and it got the photography world obsessed.

• Pinterest Analysis 2025. Pinterest dropped its annual report, and The Wed pulled out the key trends in weddings. See what’s horizon this year here.

• Lumix’s new ‘perfect hybrid camera’. Announced this week, the new Lumix S1ii has everything that photographers and videographers have been asking for, zero compromises. Check out this great review for all the details.

• Jose Villa and an industry wedding to watch out for. One of My Lake Como Weddings’ own is getting married this weekend — and the guest list is full of industry pros. Jose Villa has posted on his way there… Keep your eyes on this one.

• Photographing Beckham. How does David Beckham have is birthday photographed? Jump in here to find out.

• DJI’s best. This week we got news DJI is soon releasing the Mavic 4 PRO. For those wanting only the best, this is it. Huge sensor, 360 gimbal (hello vertical and even tilted drone photos?) and a host of amazing upgrades. See the release video here.

• Never taking chill couples for granted. This discussion dives into a real world (nightmare) situation where your couple changing tunes. A lot of great advice and stories of warning in here.

CULTURE AND BRANDING

🥐 Food’s luxury moment: How wedding photographers can join in

Turns out food isn’t just for eating anymore.
It’s luxury now. More than that… it’s branding.

Across luxury fashion culture, food is being used to build visual identity in a more sensory, experiential way. From branded cafés to styled table scenes, food is becoming a new kind of luxury signal. So what does that mean for wedding photographers?

Well, firstly, it means recognizing that food has always been part of wedding and NOW, it can be a tool to elevate your brand. For photographers wanting to move into the luxury space, there’s something here…

Food’s having it’s luxury moment. Here’s how to lean in 👇

What the brands are doing
Prada made a whole cafe. Jacquemus sent invites to their launch with toast. Styled handbags with big slobs of butter. Rhode paired lip tint with half-drunk wine glasses. Skims teamed up with a classic pancake in a diner. YSL threw their earings into some jam. Prada, Gucci, Lacoste all launched cafés and restaurants. YES it’s fun. It looks ‘cool’. But it’s much more than that. It’s smart.

Dive in here to see more reviews of what some of the fashion brands are doing and why. And here’s a great tiktok round up of these ideas too.

Now look at weddings.
For too long, food was avoided at weddings. “We don’t shoot while the guest eat” was the mantra. Cutting of the cake exceptions ONLY.

But now? That’s changing. Photographers are catching on to the power in food and starting to use it as a theme through the day.

Classy croissants and espresso at the getting ready
Oysters featured in hands in the cocktail hour
A negroni to match the italian countryside
Champagne poured before the dress goes on
Styled scenes on the reception tables to show of the amazing pasta
Grapes, figs or lemons styled in with stationery or flat lays
Moments for the desert
Late-night cake left half eaten on the table
+ how about this croissant themed wedding really taking this to the next level??

Food has become a visual thread. It ties together luxury, experience, and memory in one shot. It’s not about what’s on the plate. It’s what the plate represents.

How photographers can lean in
This isn’t about throwing a croissant into every shot. It’s about seeing food with intention and using it brand a moment with feeling. Just like the brands do.

Here’s how:

Just add the food... Ask yourself: is there food around right now? And would it make sense to add it into these scene right now? That breakfast croissant placed on the make up table, a glass of wine while taking portraits the vineyard, or that desert finger food?
Make a scene out of it. Yes the cutting of the cake is cool. But it might not be placed in the best spot. Take a piece, or the whole thing and set up a ‘portrait scene’ with it and your couple. Give the food moments and actual moment on the day.
Photograph the actual meal. It’s often ignored or skipped, but it shouldn’t be.
Make a big deal out of what’s served: the canapés, the mains, the dessert. This isn’t filler. It’s part of the story. The food is usually carefully chosen and curated — so treat it that way…
Shoot it in context. Take some inspiration from some of the brands above. The food is always in context. On a table. In a restaurant. So add in that handbag, those sunglasses, or even a hand with a fork at the ready.
Match the tone. Croissants say one thing. Gelato says another. Oysters say something else entirely. Know what each one signals. And make a big deal out of the ones that fit your brand and vibe.
Show texture. Food is sensory. It’s all about the feeling it evokes. So let it crumble, drip, shine or bubble over. That’s where the magic feeling in food will be.
Build it into your brand. Maybe certain foods and drink that evoke certain feeling could become part of your brand?
Get weird. Sometimes food adds an interesting juxtaposition to your image. Fried eggs in your bridal shoot anyone? (see the top image in this section)

This ALL might feel like a trend. And in some ways, it is.

But it’s also a way to signal the lifestyle your work lives in. Just like the luxury brands do. Because wedding photographers don’t just sell images. You sell a vision of a way of living. One your couples buy into when they are booking you.

And food is one of the fastest (newest?) ways to communicate that.

LUXURY SERVICE

Greg Finck’s Live Workshop - REPLAY

This week we had the wonderful Greg Finck take us through his workshop on LUXURY service. It was a mind-blowing insight into what it really takes to succeed in the world of top luxury wedding photography.

The replay is available now inside our Lensel PRO community!
*You will also find the full archive of all our monthly live workshops with the best wedding phtoographers from around the world.

INSPO THIS WEEK

⬇️ Group shot glory, among many other wonderful frames from Blake Hogge

⬇️ Mixing the worlds of documentary and editorial to perfection here. Talk about raising the bar.

⬇️ These moving picture scenes are blowing our mind. The colour grading here too.

⬇️ A wedding or a work of art? Pablo keeps pushing the boundaries team, dive in to take a closer look.