As a wedding photographer in the business for several years now I have seen a lot of tradition at weddings and a lot of non-traditional weddings. First off, every wedding is different. It’s like a snowflake or a fingerprint. Each wedding is entirely unique to its couple.

This is the 5th part in a series of traditions vs non-traditions

5. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue

Yet another Victorian era tradition. It was said that when the items are procured for your wedding (especially to be worn during the ceremony) it will bring you good fortune. Something old to connect the bride to her past, something new to signify starting a new chapter of your lives, something borrowed was supposed to be given by another happily married couple to pass their good fortune on and something blue to represent faithfulness and loyalty in a relationship.

Honestly, the more I research this topic, the more I fall in love with it. I love photographing those details that have meaning, in the first place.

What do you think?

Now that you know the reasons behind this tradition, will you consider it? I know I borrowed a necklace (made out of reclaimed items) from my mom when I got married and there was some blue on the bottom of my shoes. I didn’t know the history behind it, but I am glad that I did it anyway.

As a wedding photographer in the business for several years now I have seen a lot of tradition at weddings and a lot of non-traditional weddings. First off, every wedding is different. It’s like a snowflake or a fingerprint. Each wedding is entirely unique to its couple.

This is the 4th part in a series of traditions vs non-traditions

4. The white wedding dress

3. Bridesmaids & Grooms Men
2. Bridal Bouquet
1. Bad luck to see the bride before the wedding

Before the 1800s brides actually wore red wedding dresses instead of the now, traditional white (which is supposed to represent purity). In many cultures today a red wedding dress is actually traditional. It wasn’t until Queen Victoria wore a white dress when she married Prince Albert that white wedding dresses became a thing.

95% of the brides I have had the pleasure of photographing have had a white wedding dress. Two of the weddings I have been a wedding photographer for (in my career) have had something other than a white dress. One was a themed (Dickins on the Strand) wedding and the other was a gorgeous powder-pink dress that her grandmother made.

Every dress is unique, and on par with the bride’s personality. Some of my favorite wedding dresses I have seen have had pockets (yup! Freakin’ pockets!), been pink or just looked so stunning on the bride it had to become a favorite of mine.

What do you think?

Are you going to have a traditional wedding dress, or are you thinking about shaking things up?

As a wedding photographer in the business for several years now I have seen a lot of tradition at weddings and a lot of non-traditional weddings. First off, every wedding is different. It’s like a snowflake or a fingerprint. Each wedding is entirely unique to its couple.

This is the 3rd part in a series of traditions vs non-traditions

3. The Bridesmaid & Groomsmen

I love the history behind the bridesmaids… it’s a bit hilarious. Apparently, bridesmaids used to wear a similar dress to the bride to confuse the bride’s exes and outsmart evil spirits. I guess men and evil spirits alike had a hard time distinguishing one female face from another… lol

Groomsmen’s history, on the other hand is equally as funny as bridesmaids. Apparently, the best man’s former duty was to make sure the bride didn’t escape during the ceremony… Sometimes, he was even asked to kidnap her when her parents didn’t approve of the marriage. The “Best Man” was picked for his strength and ability to wield a sword. Always the wing-man!

I have been the wedding photographer for weddings that had upwards of 9 bridesmaids and groomsmen and weddings that didn’t have any. It is completely up to you and your fiancé who (if anyone) should stand next to you at your wedding. Sometimes, the simplest rout is the perfect one for you.

What are your thoughts?

Did you/are you having a large, small or non-existent wedding party?

Tradition vs. non-traditional

As a wedding photographer in the business for several years now I have seen a lot of tradition at weddings and a lot of non-traditional weddings. First off, every wedding is different. It’s like a snowflake or a fingerprint. Each wedding is entirely unique to its couple.

This is the 2nd part in a series of traditions vs non-traditions

2. The Bridal Bouquet (and bridesmaids bouquet)

In Ancient Greece, brides would carry bundles of herbs and spices to ward off evil spirits at their wedding.  Now, brides carry bundles of fragrant and colorful flowers that helps to complete the wedding style aesthetic.

Some non-traditional ideas for bouquets are silk flowers, edible bouquets decorated to look like flowers (like shaved and rolled carrots and a pizza bouquet). Count me in for a pizza bouquet!!

I think it would be nice to bring back some of the original traditions to wedding bouquets, however. How awesome would it be to have a beautiful bouquet garnished with sprigs of rosemary and chamomile? I’m about this herb bouquet idea!

What are your thoughts?

Are you going to have a bouquet of flowers, or are you going to do something unique? Have you already gotten married? What was your wedding bouquet?

As a wedding photographer in the business for several years now I have seen a lot of tradition at weddings and a lot of non-traditional weddings. First off, every wedding is different. It’s like a snowflake or a fingerprint. Each wedding is entirely unique to its couple.

This is the first part in a series of traditions vs non-traditions

1. It’s bad luck for the groom to see his bride before a wedding.

I didn’t actually know this until I was researching it for this blog. Apparently, this tradition goes back to when it was common for arranged marriages. The idea was that the groom didn’t see his bride until it was too late to back out… I suppose that’s why it was bad luck (for the bride at least) if he saw her before the wedding and decided he didn’t want to be tethered to her for life. Yikes!

Now, it’s just something people do. Maybe they’re superstitious or maybe they’re just a traditionalist. Either way, one of the most exciting parts of a wedding (as a wedding photographer) is capturing the moment when the happy couple sees each other in their finery for the first time.

The non-traditional aspect is the first look, which has sort of become somewhat traditional. I love first looks because of the special intimate nature of it. Generally it happens with just the couple in a small, quiet place before their wedding. It gives the couple a chance to have an intimate moment just between themselves (and their wedding photographer). It can be exciting and funny. Sometimes there’s tears and sometimes the jokes keep me laughing for weeks later.

What are your thoughts?

If you knew this before you were married, would you have changed anything? I know if I knew the reason behind the “bad luck” I probably would have scheduled a first-look myself.

I read an article on Equally Wed the other day that was talking about a women who’s son came out to her several years ago. It was about her struggle with her beliefs and her love for her son. In the end, love overcame. She now offers her motherly support to others in the LGBT community who don’t have a parent at their wedding.

Rent-a-mom

This got me to thinking about the movie “The Wedding Ringer” and if there are more services like that out there.

I googled “Rent a Best-man” and was very surprised. There were 3 links at the top from different companies. The most legitimate looking websites are for people in the UK unfortunately, but I did find one that has “friends” in the Houston area. Rent-a-friend

Apparently in Japan and Koria, it’s not unusual for someone to hire wedding guests. It had something to do with the more massive a wedding, the more prestigious. I’ve found several articles about this (though no websites for the companies).

A friend was telling me (as I was writing this article) that you can hire people to cry at funerals… What!? That’s crazy.

So I guess, you can rent anything you put your imagination to.  I think if I were to hire wedding guest, I would hire a comedian to give a wedding toast. I would love to have a professional stand-up wedding toast that made my guests pee their pants. My cousin’s working to become a professional comedian, I bet he would do it… for a price. 😉

What are your thoughts? Would you (or have you) ever hire someone to attend your wedding (other than the usual professionals).

If you stumbled upon the time-machine (and actually knew how to use it with out torching your existence) would you make any changes to your wedding? What would you do different?

For Andy and me, we pretty much went in a inexpensive rout (because I am cheap). We loved our cake (made by a friend with a cake business) and venue (my parents home). We loved the theme –Halloween.

If we could have a mulligan, we would:

1. We would have splurged on a professional wedding photographer. This is a big one for me and my family. My mom even has mentioned a time or two that she wished she had hired a wedding photographer. I loved my photographer, he was my teacher and mentor in college, but he is not a wedding photographer. He is a photojournalist. It would have been nice to have someone there who was a wedding pro. Someone who had done plenty of weddings and knew what to expect and where to be instinctively. Also, I would have liked my friend to just enjoy the wedding instead of work.

2. I would have RENTED my wedding dress from rent-the-runway or something. Gotten a pretty dress that was maybe a little cheaper then send it back. My dress is currently hanging in my closet taking up space. I haven’t opened it in years. Hopefully moths haven’t gotten into it. Maybe one day I’ll donate it to someone in need.

3. We would have picked a different florist. Same flowers, just someone else delivering them. Maybe we would’ve even picked them up our self from the Houston flower district.

Are you getting married soon? Was this helpful? Is there anything in particular you are interested in asking couples who’ve been there-done that?