During the planning process of your wedding, you may have wondered why some services cost more than others. Is what they do worth investing in? We think that when it comes to your wedding photographer, their value has a lot more to do with than just the album of snaps you receive a few weeks after the big day.
What photographers want for their clients is a simple binary: they create an experience for you during the day, yes, and they do produce a gallery of images for you. But, that is so much more than just a stocked supercut of your newly wed union. It is only the beginning. Your wedding photos stay with you forever.
The pictures will conjure memories and evoke your emotions and remind anyone viewing them that your wedding was one of the best days of your life – whether they were in attendance or not.
It doesn’t matter how much you spend on the flowers or the food or the entertainment. Whether your wedding album is a leather-bound book you intend to pass down through your children or a digital album on Facebook, you’ll still be able to look back at the pictures of your first dance and remember the song that played; or glance at the pictures of the of your cake and be able to remember the taste.
The thing about your wedding photographs? They are yours. You are able to do with them whatever you choose. If you want to keep them between your family, then that’s perfectly fine – it’s your prerogative. If you’d like to share them with the world, so be it!
Just, keep in mind that pictures have a silent voice able of saying a thousand words. In more recent times we have seen the repercussions of what can happen when a couple put their own spin on keeping their celebration in time immemorial.
A British couple who tied the knot in St Paul’s Bay of Greece’s island Rhodes went viral in October after they, apparently, sought to “defile the church” in which they were married. See the picture below, of the couple engaging in a lewd act that set in motion a number of conversations about what makes an ‘acceptable’ wedding photograph.
Matthew and Carly Lunn posted the photo to social media, where it has since gone viral.
While albeit being not within traditional tastes, the photograph stirred up many questions and arguments and even resulted in the venue cancelling a large majority of expat’s weddings. But it seems nothing of validity has been spoken of since this bizarre turn of events: the personality of one’s wedding photographs.
Personality being that they are personal to each couple, and one might argue that the best shoots come from the candid camera but what about when couples come to their photographer with pre-planned arrangements? Are we, as people who aren’t even known of to the pair, justified in berating their actions? Because, let’s face it, unless we gave a chuckle at the sight of the above, we were more than likely tutting away under our breath – and that’s before the thought of defiling a sacrament even crossed our minds. Admit it, there was not a single one of us that saw this picture and simply turned away.
If you break it down, the picture belongs to both the photographer and the couple in frame. For the press to have gained access, they may (or may not have) had to ask someone for permission. The story goes that the picture had originally stirred up a commotion on the island of Rhodes when locals were made aware of it – but how on earth did that happen? We’d never have been none the wiser had one collective taken offence – and as a result the internet has had its way with the fuss and after doing the rounds of almost every written press production in the UK we were all given a chance to air our grievances with the stance and then shut up about it.
However, this isn’t the first time this has happened – and it brings to mind the phrase of history repeating itself. Earlier in the same month, a Dutch photographer did the rounds on Buzzfeed after a shoot he did with a newlywed couple was taken with ghast across the pond. They literally polled against it in distaste.
They ran a story featuring a couple who had asked for a photoshoot in the woods surrounding their reception venue, and after throwing around ideas for poses with the photographer this was the final result:
Now, there is one minor difference in the two shots showcased so far. The first to hit the internet was the blue groom above, and he opted to keep his underwear up. This would suggest an irony in the pose, being that the couple were doing just that – posing. In the snap of St Paul, we can see the groom has his lowered the drawbridge. And it still hasn’t been confirmed whether or not the couple were actually at it. However, in a Facebook post by Michel Klooster (the photographer of the second snap), he cleared the air by saying that the couple “just thought it was a funny idea” and that it was originally suggested by the bride’s mother!
Klooster lashed back at critics saying, “Anyone who considers this offensive is in my eyes still in the year 1996. Give those people their fun. Life is a prude.” Which does hold some justification – the photos aren’t intended to be shared en masse, ideally, and I’m sure by now we all know how the internet works in its many wonderful ways, but it does beg the question: should any of us really be that bothered by what couples choose to do to mark their celebration?
We’ve already dived into what wedding photographs hold with them, and no two weddings will ever be the same. Evident by how two couples who did the same thing had two very different reactions. While, yes, the pictures were shared online, it would have no doubt been at the consent of the couples first of all and, yes, on sacred grounds one should respect the laws of the land – but had the Grecian wedding snap never seen the light of day, would any of us be thinking so deeply about the act?
