The Perfect Imperfect

This expanded second edition of The Perfect Imperfect includes over thirty new photographs, many made during the pandemic, including new photographs of Gwyneth Patrow, Anna Sophia Robb and the White House wedding of Naomi Biden.

This book is an unexpected deep dive into the tenderness and complexity of weddings. For over 350 Saturdays, John Dolan has quietly pursued emotional and revealing art inside the wedding day itself. He has aimed his camera at tiny moments of great meaning: evocative, joyful, bittersweet, unscripted, perfectly imperfect scenes at the start of a marriage. The wedding is one of society's last and lasting ceremonies—universal in its presence, comprehensive in its emotion. Dolan's candor, his respectful discretion and his gentle but shrewd and powerful observation combine to make a book that transcends weddings and enlightens us on the human condition.