I have shot a lot of weddings and perhaps I shot more weddings than I should’ve.
However, I never did talk about them much because I just didn’t have the time. Now that I am “retired” from the wedding photography scene, I guess this is a good time to share some of the photos and more importantly, the small stories from my perspective in these weddings.
Without further adieu, let’s move on to our first story.
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The following was shot in spring 2007, in the perfect May weather.
However there was just a little bit of that sorrow in the otherwise happy union of this couple.
The couple had their ceremony outdoors and it was a rather quick one. Soon after the ceremony ended, their reception followed at a good pace. People were happy with their food and the band was bringing joyous tunes from their numerous instruments accompanied with great singing by the lead.
Roughly 2 hours into the party, an announcement was made that the father of the bride would like to show a slide show/video with the giant projector he had brought along.
It was kind of embarrassing, for me, because when the father of the bride first arrived I asked him if he was the DJ, carrying all those equipments and all. He gave me a resounding “No” as his answer and explained that he was the father.
I cringed a little inside me upon hearing that.
Over the course of my wedding photographer career, I had the tendency of asking toxic questions along the line of the one I asked the father of the bride in this particular wedding — totally unintentional and totally awkward. Just real smooth.
Getting back to the story.
So the father of bride made a little introduction on the video which he compiled and edited himself. It was about how his little girl grew up. And then he let the reel rolling.
As the video rolled on, there were cheers and laughters. The older crowd loved it, the kids loved it, and more importantly, the just married couple loved it.
It was a great video with good amount of effort put in. The ending of the video was an audio clip featuring the bride, half singing in her girlish tone at perhaps 3 or 4-year-old and half giggling at the same time.
That got the crowd going again. Laughters bursted out quickly and everyone was in smiles.
Suddenly, I turned around to see the father of the bride and captured the following photos.
Quoting a cliche, the two photos said a million more words than I have could ever typed.
The man was sad.
Sad to see his little girl, still giggling in his video, grew up and soon to leave the house which served as her safe harbor for the last twenty some odd years.
These photos of the father of the bride, were perhaps the best photos I had taken on all the fathers of the brides I had met. The man was genuinely sorrowful while bathed in happiness — intertwined and knotted together. This is the kind of expression and feeling indescribable by words.
To all you future fathers and those who are already fathers, this is THE bittersweetness you will taste 20-30 years down the road. Be prepared.
