Have you seen our most recent Photos of the Day on social media? Each day on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, we feature a wedding photo or portrait that strikes us as one of the most interesting images in wedding and portrait photography, and we ask the creatives behind the photos to detail the image’s backstory and their technical approach. Here’s what caught our attention this week.

The Royal Wedding Treatment

After this couple’s micro wedding ceremony, held on their hotel balcony in Laguna Beach, California, they ventured out for portraits with photographer Marlies Hartmann. They went to the Mission San Juan Capistrano, located close by, “which we knew would highlight their colorful, traditional wardrobe against the warm earth tones of the mission,” Hartmann says. “The golden hour light only further emphasized the look, making the couple appear truly royal, and I kept their pose both regal and timeless.” She photographed it with her 135mm lens in order to both compress the couple and separate them from the background.

[READ: Navigating the Micro Wedding for Your Photo Business]

When the Bouquet is the Star

Mauricio D’Rugama wasn’t used to photographing a styled shoot against a seamless paper backdrop, but when the stylist insisted on it, he decided to give it a go. It was morning and the sun was still rising among plenty of clouds. D’Rugama set up the seamless so that the sun would be coming in on his right side, allowing for a bit of Rembrandt light.

The surrounding environment was a garden, but with all of that natural light coming in like a big softbox, D’Rugama was seeing green skin tones on the model. A quick fix: He extended the seamless further, which eliminated the green cast on her skin.

By the time he created this shot, he had photographed every detail but the bouquet. “I have to say that I was blown away with the bouquet since I saw it,” he says. “I decided to set the model backwards to me, and tell her to make the posture.” He took the bouquet in his hands to explain how he wanted the composition to look, “because now, the bouquet was the main character, my point of interest,” D’Rugama explains. He gave her the bouquet, asked her to remain completely still and walked back to frame the shot. One last touch: He made it black and white, emphasizing the textures.

Last-Minute Rainy Wedding Portrait

This couple had told their photographer, Martin Dabek, that they wanted a rainy portrait. It was November in the UK, so chances of that coming to fruition were pretty high. Oddly enough, Dabek says, it didn’t rain all day, “which is quite rare for November in this part of the world.”

It wasn’t until Dabek had packed up for the night and was bidding farewell to the couple when he noticed that it began drizzling outside. “I quickly run to the barn and take the couple outside and asked two members of the bridal party to give me a hand with this shot,” he explains. “The bridesmaid was holding a small video light on the couple so I could focus, and the best man was 3 meters away [almost 10 feet] from the couple with the flash that was triggered from the camera. The couple and I were very pleased with the result, and it became their favorite wedding picture!”

Mirror on the Wall

“A photographer friend of mine who I really admire once told me that in any situation, in any light, at any time, if you look hard enough there will always be a good photograph,” says South Africa-based wedding photographer Matt Kay of The Woods Photography.

He didn’t have to search too hard for this one. In effect, by framing the bridal party in a mirror that was surrounded by paintings, he notes, “I turned them into a painting themselves. Great window light finished it off nicely.”

Symmetry of a Wedding Ceremony

Sebastian Bravo of Arte Visual MF has a soft spot for this shot—it’s one of his favorite wedding images. Spending the day in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, “the vibe there was awesome,” he says, noting that because the couple came from two different areas of the world, the party was fairly international. For this important ceremony moment, Bravo chose to highlight the scene’s natural symmetry, carefully composing the frame while still keeping the focus on the bride and her parents.

Dig into the Photo of the Day archives for more compelling imagery.