Tradition and the Center of Attention
Whether through dance, song or gestures, typical wedding customs often help to bring the guests and the newlyweds together, while intensifying that celebrity spotlight.
Photo by: David Murray, Georgia, United States
For one day, the two of you are the focus of attention. The concerns of the world slip away as you and your sweetheart take center stage for the moment you’ve long anticipated. Your guests’ thoughts and emotions are given over to your love. In turn, they are active participants in your big day, compounding the good feelings of the love-filled event. With ceremonial dances, emotional toasts or simply their blessings, your family and friends have come together on this day to help seal your love with fairytale splendor.
Indeed, your wedding is one of the few times in your life when you can live a dream. As the center of attention, you are celebrities; perhaps a king and queen for that one day, surrounded by a paparazzi of guests with cameras at the ready. Even though this scenario is par for the course, it definitely impacts how your photographer will cover the wedding. Fortunately, talented wedding photojournalists take this all in stride, using the mix of hubbub and adoration to create lasting visual memories.
Photo by: Edgard De Bono, Padova, Italy
Photo by: Shaunte Dittmar, California, United States
Taking medieval sovereigns as our cue, a kingdom’s subjects would assemble en masse for the marriage of a young duke or princess, giving the betrothed a heightened sense of adulation and importance. And that can be quite heady. Just imagine how powerful that garter toss must have been when met by raised pitchforks and a roaring “HUZZAH!!”
Photo by: Daniele Borghello, Padova, Italy
Today, members of the wedding and the guests are just as important when it comes to making the B&G feel like royalty. For without the adoring crowd surrounding them, the couple, literally and figuratively, is not the center of attention. Through their actions and reactions, the guests greatly magnify the focus placed on the bride and groom.
Photo by: Damiano Salvadori, Firenze, Italy
A skilled photographer knows how to harness the power of visual feedback when it comes to the telling of the couple’s wedding story. For instance, some of the most memorable images from a marriage can be found in a mother’s face while witnessing her daughter say “I Do”; or in a group’s reaction to the couple’s first “ boogie down ” on the dance floor.
Dealing with the Paparazzi
Generally, the guests pay little attention to the photographer, but at times can behave like overzealous paparazzi, which presents additional challenges. Guests tend to gather around the bride and groom, occasionally creating obstacles to capturing important moments, and may even get in the way of their own photos.
Photo by: Maurizio Gjivovich, Torino, Italy
Fortunately, your wedding photojournalist is trained to weather these storms, and fish out dazzling shots from the whirling frenzy. Once the frenetic celebrity excitement of the day fades to just a distant memory, you’ll be left with poignant moments frozen in time, captured from within the most unlikely of conditions.
Photo by: Xiaoye Sun, China
In our own lives, many of our most indelible memories come by way of a photograph. Pictures work as proof that something actually did happen. And when you extend this to your wedding day, those images of you surrounded by joyful celebrating guests only serve to deepen the intensity of the remembrance. For at that one fleeting moment you were true royalty. And your loyal subjects loved you.
The Focused Moment
Frequently, we think of the bride and groom as the focal point of the wedding day activities. Naturally they are, but it goes much deeper than that. Beneath that spotlight of attention, that “king and queen for the day” dynamic, is the relationship between the couple and their guests. A talented wedding photojournalist will capture those moments, small and large, and unfurl the myriad of relationships coming together on that day. This is truly what makes the fairytale. And carries you deep into the “Happily Ever After.”
Photo by: Vu Nguyen, Vietnam
