Alice Mahran

It’s the morning in Amsterdam when Alice Mahran flickers onto my screen. She smiles in the early light, her three-year-old son happily bouncing around her. I tell her that I have just come from putting my kids to bed. We laugh about the juggle and I am immediately struck by her honesty, a disarming attribute that, at the time, I credit to her Dutch upbringing. (Although, over the course of our conversation I come to understand that it is something that is inherent.) This, I think, is why she is so good at her job.

To delve into Alice Mahran’s wedding photography is to be invited into the most intimate of spaces. It is to feel as though you were somehow privy to those moments of closeness between couples and their friends and families that make weddings some of the most special rituals in which humans have been engaging for millennia. Because beyond the incredible dresses and suits, the breathtaking venues, the floral arrangements and the tablescapes, weddings are about people and connection. And in order to be lauded as one of the best wedding photographers in the world, you have to be able to balance that dichotomy in your work. To operate at the intersection of intimacy and intrusion, of chaos and calm. Alice Mahran does this with a deftness that has rendered her one of the most sought-after creatives in her field.

"When I was two and a half, my parents fled Syria and sought refuge in the Netherlands," she tells me. “For a long time, I grew up in a culture that didn’t always resonate with me, so I often found myself observing from the sidelines watching how people spoke, how they connected, how they moved through the world. Even as a child, I wasn’t drawn to following the crowd or listening to those who claimed to know the ‘right’ way. Instead, I quietly began shaping my own path, one that felt more true to who I was becoming.” Seeking an outlet for her thoughts, Alice started writing. Articulating her ideas on a WordPress site and accompanying them with little photographs of nature and of other things that, as she explains, made her feel something.

It wasn’t until a friend asked her to take some photos of her wedding that Alice was able to turn her hobby into a career, realising that her empathetic nature (and artistic eye) made her uniquely positioned to capture couples in their most personal, and often most emotional moments. Now, 14 years on, Alice has shot weddings all over the world, and is called on by creatives, artists, sportspeople, entrepreneurs and more as their photographer of choice. Model Julija Steponavičiūtė tells me that she had followed Alice’s work for a few years before even meeting her husband, knowing that when her time came, it was only Alice who she would trust with capturing the moment. “It was actually a dream come true for me to have her shoot my wedding,” Julija tells me. “And she was also just the most wonderful, warm person, and so down to earth.” She pauses, “we really clicked and she made me and my husband feel safe and assured on the day... and the memories we have now are so special.”

Every photograph Alice takes is imbued with feeling. Her images peel back the layers of a person to reveal something more about them that goes below the surface, marrying her undeniable technical talent with a natural ability to connect with her subjects and draw something out of them. For her, good lighting and slick composition alone aren’t enough. It has to mean more.

"When I first started photographing weddings, they were often simple and intimate, about two people choosing each other... these days, weddings have grown in scale and style, but at the heart of it, I still look for those quiet, honest moments where love speaks the loudest,” she says. “Now, I focus on becoming really close with my couples so that I am able to speak to that relationship in my work.” She continues, “It’s really about capturing the essence of someone, of their relationship and love story, and over time I have come to realise that I can’t even produce images that I am happy with, if I don’t have that level of understanding with my subjects.”

“When I shoot a wedding... I can see the love in a groom’s eyes or the way a mother looks at her daughter, it’s real, and I am immediately drawn into their world… it gives me faith in true love.”

As such, a crucial part of Alice’s process is the time she takes to get to know her brides. This can sometimes go on for over a whole year leading up to a wedding. “I need to understand what she likes, how she sees herself, what makes her happy, what she feels vulnerable about, what her family is like, the ins and outs of their dynamics, and really the details about friends and family on both sides.” In many ways, Alice takes on the role of pseudo psychologist, explaining how a large part of her job on the actual wedding day is to be an oasis for her couples in overwhelming moments, and to be able to anticipate and work with various personalities in as seamless a way as possible. It’s something that she loves.

"Really, that is what a wedding is about,” she says. “It isn’t about posing or looking our hottest, it’s about people, otherwise everyone would get married alone.” She hesitates, thoughtful. “I had a bride a few years ago who called me two days after her wedding to tell me that her father had died unexpectedly, and to ask for all the photos I took of the two of them together… and it made me realise that nothing else matters. The styled shots, the venue, the dress, the flowers… it’s beautiful but what is the most important thing? At the end of it all, to that bride, those moments with her dad were the most important.”

It is a timely message for couples planning weddings against the backdrop of social media, where endless scrolling has bred a culture of perpetual discontent. Wedding planning has always been a significant undertaking, but now, couples are faced with a seemingly endless barrage of content that is impossibly broad and often confusing. “I have to remind my brides to listen to their hearts,” Alice says, “and to put their blinkers on because if they are constantly looking and scrolling, they will never be happy with what they have.”

And from Alice’s perspective, what they have is a lot. “I have always felt a bit like a black sheep in my family,” she reveals, “but when I shoot a wedding, and I can see the love in a groom’s eyes or the way a mother looks at her daughter, it’s real, and I am immediately drawn into their world… it moves me so much, it gives me faith in true love.”

Now, the sought-after photographer, who has recently relocated back to Amsterdam with her children after a stint living in Australia, tells me that she is being more careful about how many jobs she says yes to. “I’m doing about 10 to 12 weddings a year now,” she tells me, “but I’m conscious of managing my time around my kids.” For Alice, the work she takes on has to align with her values, where she would prefer to work with couples who she feels will understand her process and connect with her vision.

When I ask Alice what advice she would give someone just starting on their wedding journey, she is clear. “Get the fundamentals right, figure out who you are and what is truly important to you and focus on that.” Because if there is one message that comes across in our conversation, it is that a wedding is, at its core, deeply human. And that we would do well to return the focus to that. Strip everything back and a wedding is about love, and that connects us all.