Lake Tahoe Wedding Photographer

Lake Tahoe + destination wedding galleries

Real weddings

Elopement, engagement + commercial photography

Not just weddings

About Wade Snider · Truckee wedding photographer

Documentary leaning.
Artistically inclined.
No weird posing.

Wade came up shooting news, where nothing happens twice and nobody poses for you. He still writes for Moonshine Ink. When he's not at a wedding, he's backpacking the Sierra or surfing Santa Cruz.

Lake Tahoe wedding planning guides

From the journal

What is documentary wedding photography?

It means I photograph what actually happens instead of staging it. No fake laughs. No “now look at each other like you mean it.” I watch, I anticipate, and I’m in the right spot when your dad loses it during the toast. You get the real day, not a reenactment of it.

Why hire a documentary wedding photographer instead of a traditional one?

Because you’ll remember your wedding the way it happened, not the way it was arranged. Traditional photographers run the day around their shot list. I work around yours. You still get the portraits and the family photos. They just don’t eat your whole cocktail hour.

Will you pose us at all?

A little. Family photos need someone running the list, and that’s me. For couple portraits I’ll put you in good light, give you something real to do, then get out of the way. I won’t make you hold a pose until it looks like a pose.

What does “film-inspired” mean?

It’s about how the finished photos look. True skin tones, real contrast, a little grain. No heavy filters or trendy presets that look dated in five years. I want your photos to still look right when your kids find them.

How does a newspaper background make someone a better wedding photographer?

Newspapers don’t get retakes. Miss the moment and there’s nothing on the front page. That trains you to read a room, see what’s about to happen and stay invisible while it does. That’s the whole job at a wedding too.

Why do so many wedding photos look the same?

Because a lot of the industry copies the same Pinterest shot list and fills portfolios with styled shoots that were never real weddings. I wrote about it in The Wedding Photography Industry Has an Honesty Problem. Every gallery on my site is a real couple on their real wedding day.

I’m awkward in front of the camera. Is that a problem?

Almost everybody says that. Then they forget I’m there, which is the point. One client called me a firefly with a camera. If you’re not performing for the lens, you can’t be awkward in front of it.

How much does a documentary wedding photographer cost in Lake Tahoe?

My wedding collections run from $3,600 to $7,200, depending on how much of the day you want covered. The pricing page has the details.

Where is Wade Snider based, and does he travel?

I’m based in Truckee, on the north side of Lake Tahoe. I shoot all over Tahoe, the Bay Area, Napa, Santa Cruz and Maui, and I’ve followed couples as far as Cooke City, Montana. If you’re getting married somewhere worth the flight, I’m in.