Weddings & Couples · Chirlyart Photography Cologne
Why the most beautiful moments of your life don’t deserve phone photos.
On family celebrations, weddings — and why Uncle Bernd should simply be a guest.
By Chirly Chantal Hübenthal · Wedding photographer Cologne & NRW
There are moments that come once. Twice, if you’re lucky. The first dance. The ‘I do’. Your grandma’s laughter when she sees the bride. Your father’s tears, the ones he tries to hide and can’t. These moments last seconds. And then they’re gone. What remains are photos. And the question is: what should these photos tell in twenty years?
# 01
„But we have someone in the family who’s good at photography.“
I hear that often. And I say this without any reproach: I completely understand it. Uncle Bernd has a good camera. Cousin Lisa takes great Instagram photos. So why spend money when family is already there?
Here’s what really happens: Uncle Bernd stands at the edge of the whole celebration, looking through the viewfinder instead of being part of it. He misses the conversation with the couple, the joke over dinner, the spontaneous dance with his own wife. Because no one — truly no one — can celebrate 100% and photograph 100% at the same time. That’s not a criticism of Uncle Bernd. That’s physics.
# 02
What really counts in photos.
I’m sometimes asked what makes a good wedding photo. Sharpness? Light? Technique? All important. But the decisive thing is something else.
It’s what you can’t pose. The way two people look at each other when they think no one is watching. The gesture of the mother who briefly squeezes her daughter’s hand before she walks into the church. The unplanned chaos at the reception when everyone talks over each other and somehow it’s all still perfect. That’s exactly where I am. That’s my job.
# 03
What you’re really buying.
When you book a professional photographer, you’re not buying a photo package.
You’re buying the freedom to be fully present. You’re buying the certainty that the moment your partner looks at you for the first time as their spouse will be captured — even when you have tears in your own eyes. You’re buying images your children will one day look at and say: „That’s how Mum and Dad were.“ And you’re buying Uncle Bernd his evening back.
# 04
Family celebrations: the underrated occasion.
We know weddings. But I’d like to talk briefly about something else: the more everyday family celebrations.
Birthdays. Anniversaries. Confirmations. The first Christmas with the new baby. The last big celebration before grandma moves into the care home — even if no one back then knew it would be the last. It’s precisely these celebrations that often go unphotographed. Or 200 phone photos appear and vanish somewhere in the cloud. Yet these are exactly the images you’ll one day go looking for.
# 05
One final thought.
I don’t say this to win bookings — even though I’ll honestly admit that too.
I say it because I know too many people who thought, after a celebration: what a shame we don’t have good photos. And no one who, twenty years later, said: what a shame we spent money on photos back then. The moments come once. Let someone be there whose only job is to capture them — so you can simply be present.
This is me
Chirly Chantal Hübenthal – wedding photographer from Cologne for weddings, elopements and couple shoots in NRW and worldwide. View portfolio → · About me →
The moments come once.
Let me be there when they happen.
Write to me — I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.