This falls outside my field; but in the absence of responses from others, I'll throw in my 2 cents.

Yes, photographs will communicate emotion more viscerally and more immediately to a wider audience than would mere graphic design. It would take a rare painter to equal an average photographer for a job like this one.

We've all watched weddings all our lives – weddings of actual people; and we empathize or fantasize by imagining ourselves in their place. Especially among brides, it seems there's a strong desire to emulate. But we're all trained to respond to images of weddings and brides. The less stylized and abstract they are, the more evocative we'll find them.

That's my hunch. Browse some Pinterest boards about brides and weddings, and you'll quickly see for yourself what kinds of images people have selected and respond to emotionally.