Every headline-grabbing wedding has two stars nobody outside the industry ever really notices: the couple, obviously, and the person standing a few metres away deciding exactly how the world will remember the day. For A-list weddings, that second role has become almost as newsworthy as the first. Here’s who’s actually behind the lens when the world’s most photographed couples say “I do.”
The Royal Wedding: Alexi Lubomirski
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle married at Windsor Castle in May 2018, the official portraits weren’t left to chance, or to a palace staffer with a camera. Kensington Palace handed the job to Alexi Lubomirski, a New York-based fashion photographer who had already shot the couple’s engagement portraits at Frogmore House the year before. The pressure on the day itself was intense in a way most photographers never experience: Lubomirski had roughly three minutes with the newlyweds for the official portrait, and about 25 minutes in total for the full set. He later described coaxing a smile out of the Queen herself by shouting “Who likes Smarties?” at the young bridesmaids and pages to get them looking at the camera. The gamble paid off. Those images were, by several accounts, some of the most intimate royal wedding photographs ever released.
Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra: Jose Villa
Jose Villa built his entire reputation on shooting film in an industry that had almost fully gone digital, and that stubbornness became his signature. When Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra married in a lavish, multi-day Christian and Hindu ceremony at Jodhpur’s Umaid Bhawan Palace in 2018, Villa was brought in to shoot it, even though he’d never covered a “double celebrity” wedding before, or handled quite so much digital work in a single job. Chopra also brought in a local Indian photographer alongside him, specifically because the multi-day rituals needed someone who already understood exactly what was coming next in each ceremony. Villa’s images from the wedding later ran in People magazine.
Kate Upton and Lea Michele: KT Merry
KT Merry has become one of the most sought-after names on the celebrity wedding circuit, known for blending an editorial, fashion-shoot sensibility with genuine emotional storytelling. Her client list includes Kate Upton’s wedding to baseball star Justin Verlander and Lea Michele’s wedding to Zandy Reich, alongside a steady stream of editorial work for outlets like Harper’s Bazaar. Her average package reportedly runs around $65,000, which gives some indication of just how competitive the top tier of this industry has become.
The Same Instinct, Far From the Red Carpet
What’s interesting is that none of this is really about fame, it’s about a mindset. Every one of these photographers treats the day as if it’s the only one that will ever matter, whether the couple is being watched by millions or by 150 guests in a banquet hall. That same mindset shows up in places that never make a tabloid headline. Stas Muzikov , an event photographer in Israel who runs bemazal.com, has built his reputation on exactly that principle, applied to weddings, brit milah ceremonies, and bar and bat mitzvahs rather than palace ballrooms. His approach leans on staged scenarios that produce completely unstaged emotion: having a couple walk together at a set pace while he shoots from a distance with a long lens, prompting a conversation on a subject loaded enough to bring out a real, unguarded reaction. No red carpet, no palace PR team, but the same underlying belief that got Lubomirski three minutes to make royal history: the moment only happens once, so you’d better be ready for it.
The Common Thread
Strip away the guest lists and the price tags, and every name on this list is chasing the same thing: a handful of images good enough to outlive the event itself, whether that event is watched by the entire planet or by nobody outside the family. The couples change. The instinct to get it exactly right, on the one day there’s no second take, never does.
