Where Fashion, Romance and Representation Meet
This editorial isn’t simply about a photographer’s work behind the camera. It’s about representation, visibility, and the power of creating the imagery you wish existed. When photographer Samantha Riles set out to conceptualise this shoot, she wasn’t interested in recreating familiar narratives. Instead, she set out to explore what an elevated, fashion-forward wedding editorial featuring two femme-presenting women could look like. The result is a beautifully considered celebration of romance, style, and identity, offering a vision that feels both timeless and refreshingly contemporary. In this conversation, Sam shares the personal experiences, creative decisions, and motivations that shaped a shoot designed to expand the way queer love is seen within the wedding industry.
THEODORE Mag: When did you first pick up a camera for weddings, and when did queer couples become the heart of your work?
Sam Riles: I started out like many others, second shooting for friends in the industry before eventually shooting my first wedding for a very old friend. Being trusted with something that significant felt enormous, and I still get that feeling every time I shoot a wedding. I shot my first queer wedding the year marriage equality became legal in 2017, and the feeling of that day stayed with me. I haven't had as many opportunities to shoot queer weddings since as I'd have liked, which is part of why I wanted to create this shoot. I think when people look at a photographer's portfolio, they make assumptions about who that photographer is for. I didn't want to feel that limited anymore, and I didn't want couples to feel that way either.
THEODORE Mag: You've spoken about the difficulty of finding elevated, fashion-forward imagery of two femme-presenting women. When did you first feel that absence, and what did it mean to you personally?
Sam Riles: I used to have a secret Pinterest board, the kind some people have for a wedding they're imagining. I'd search for two femme women and go deep down the rabbit hole, and what I kept finding was very kitsch, circa-2012 imagery: backyard ceremonies, rainbow bunting, a certain aesthetic that felt frozen in time. It didn't resonate with me at all.
As someone who is bisexual, the absence felt particularly strange. I exist somewhere in the middle of a spectrum that the available imagery didn't seem to acknowledge at all. The kitsch rainbow aesthetic didn't reflect me, but neither did the traditional bridal editorial. For someone who loves elevated, considered wedding photography, I felt genuinely stumped. The imagery I was looking for simply didn't exist, and that absence highlighted for me what's currently underrepresented.
THEODORE Mag: Tell me about the moment you decided to make this shoot. What were you trying to create, and what did you need it to say?
Sam Riles: Initially, I was going to style a shoot with a heterosexual couple. But as I started planning, I realised the vision I was building in my head kept centring two women, the dresses, the details, the dynamic between them, and I thought, why not photograph two women celebrating love? Once I made that decision, everything fell into place. It felt like the shoot I'd actually been trying to make all along.
THEODORE Mag: Walk me through the creative decisions: the aesthetic, the styling, the mood. What were you reaching for?
Sam Riles: I wanted imagery that felt inspiring, feminine and elevated. I loved the idea of an old house with beautiful gardens as a backdrop, somewhere with history and texture. Shooting on both film and digital with flash gave the gallery a mix of looks and moods within a single setting. The through-line was always elegance. I wanted it to feel timeless.
THEODORE Mag: As someone in the queer community yourself, how does that shape the way you approach your work? Is there something different in the room when you're photographing queer love?
Sam Riles: One of my closest friends is also queer, and she's been a huge support as a fellow wedding photographer and as someone navigating the same questions about identity, stereotype, and the narratives that get written about us that we no longer feel aligned with. That conversation has shaped how I think about my work.
But honestly, queer or not, my favourite weddings share the same quality: two people who aren't performing for the camera. They're celebrating, they're present, they're genuinely in the moment together. That shows up in the photographs in a way that's unmistakable. That's what I'm always hoping to capture.
THEODORE Mag: What do you hope a femme couple feels when they come across your work? What do you want it to give them?
Sam Riles: I want women to see themselves in it. Not a version of themselves that's been filtered through someone else's idea of what queer looks like.
Part of that, I think, is specific to being bisexual. There's sometimes an assumption that you have to pick a side, or that you're not queer enough to claim the space. That feeling is exactly what I wanted this work to push back against. I find Mardi Gras such a joyful time, but also overwhelming. The loud and proud approach is wonderful and necessary, and it's also sometimes a club that not everyone feels they belong to. I live on the Northern Beaches, and I feel like a minority there in a quiet, everyday way. You can't have a meet-cute moment with a woman in a bookstore because it's assumed you're straight. Unless you're in Newtown, maybe.
What I want, through this work, is to expand what it means to look queer, or bisexual, or femme. We don't have to fit a certain aesthetic or perform a certain narrative to have our love taken seriously and photographed beautifully.
THEODORE Mag: Where do you see the queer wedding aesthetic going, and what role do you want your photography to play in that?
Sam Riles: I'm hoping for more diversity in what gets published: more femme-for-femme weddings, more bisexual representation, and imagery that reflects the full spectrum of how love actually looks rather than how we've been told it should look. As a mum to a young boy I think about the signals we send through the images we create and celebrate, who gets to be seen, and how. I want my work to be part of expanding that.
I'd love to be part of a shift toward work that feels less performative and more documentary. To be there, with my camera in hand, documenting what weddings are actually about: a love story between two people.
Credits
Location Lindesay House, Darling Point NSW
Models Angel Holley, Katarina Snell
Makeup and Hair @alisonmaissin
Bridal Gowns @thewhitegallerybridal, Prea James
Second Photographer (BTS photos) Samantha Heather
BTS Video Drue Eleanor Films
Visit samanthariles.com
Instagram @samanthariles.weddings
DISCLAIMER: We attempt to credit the original photographer/source of every image we use. However, in most circumstances, the images we use are provided by the brands spoken about, and we rely on them to inform us of the image source. If you think a credit may be incorrect, please contact us at info@theodoremagazine.com.
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