Cultures Collide!
This past weekend my girlfriend and I had the opportunity to go down to South Florida to attend her cousin’s wedding. IT was the first time that either of us had attended a Muslim wedding, much less and Indian wedding. We had no idea what to expect, but I was determined to learn as much as I could, and to take photos if I was allowed. I was NOT disappointed!
Such rich attire and jewelry!
One of the first things I noticed when we arrived was how ornate and beautiful the attire was. The bride especially was adorned in such beautiful pieces of jewelry, and later on the groom adorned here with even more in the form of golden bangles that were their equivalent of Western society wedding rings. I loved all the different colors and how different they are from western weddings that I normally shoot.
Another thing that stood out to me were the different cultural rituals that the had during the ceremony. In Muslim culture they do not have public display’s of affection, so the bride and groom do not kiss when they say I do. Rather, the bride is asked if she will marry the groom, and silence is taken as yes, saying yes is a yes. Basically, anything other than no means yes! Once she says yes, then the groom is clear to pass through the veil, lift the bride’s veil, and then kiss her on the forehead. Once this part of the ceremony has passed, the veil is removed, and the bride and groom are then presented with a mirror to view themselves for the first time as a married couple. Its a deeply intimate and moving experience, especially witnessing the groom and bride start to cry tears of joy realizing that they have finally done it! They are married!
The bride and groom are deep in their feels as they see themselves as a married couple for the first time
It took every fiber of my being to resist the urge to leap out of my seat and act like the main photographer at this wedding. Whenever I am a guest at a wedding, I try my best to restrain myself and not get in the main photographer’s way, since I know how the business goes and I know I wouldn’t want a guest ruining shots. So just out of respect I try to take as few shots as possible and only take photos when i am not in the way or if i see something that i can get right from my seat. These shots that I got just from where we were sitting came out so great, I can just imagine what the main photographer got being able to be right up in the action!
If I took anything away from this wedding, it’s that I really want to learn more about how to book more of these types of weddings. I want to photograph weddings from all types of cultures and to capture the emotion and essence that each one brings. One thing is for sure, I WILL be photographing more of these going forward!