For a wedding photographer, the speeches are often one of the most challenging parts of the day to make visually interesting. On the surface, it’s just a group of people standing up and talking. There’s no movement, no change of scene, and usually very little control over where people stand or how they hold themselves. But within those limits, there are still moments worth paying attention to.

Laughter is the obvious one. So is the toast. I always make a point of getting a frame of the toast because it neatly sums up what the speeches are about - connection, celebration, a shared pause before the glass is raised. When I’m positioning myself for that moment, I’m thinking about layers and sightlines. Where are the hands going to be? Is the glass going to cut across someone’s face? Can I line things up so the gesture adds something rather than distracts?

In this case, the speaker raised his champagne flute to a position I wasn’t expecting. Instead of sitting neatly to one side, it obscured his face almost entirely. There was no time to wait it out, because these moments last seconds at most. So I shifted my position just slightly, enough so that the stem of the glass ran straight between his eyes.

That tiny adjustment changed everything. The image suddenly had symmetry and balance, and the interruption of the glass became the point of the photograph rather than a problem to avoid. It’s a bit kooky, slightly unexpected, and very human.

This is the kind of thing I’m always looking for during speeches. Not just who’s talking, but how people are reacting, how objects move through the frame, and how small changes in position can turn a potentially awkward moment into something playful and memorable. Speeches might look static, but if you stay alert, they’re full of these fleeting visual opportunities.