I know I am kind of late with my
next errand, but better late than never. I have written blogs about interesting
experiences I had encountered during the course of my wedding preparations.
First was when I went out for wedding saree shopping and the next was when I
tried my hand in making rasam. I am here with my next interesting- little
tiring and highly embarrassing experience- Photoshoot during the wedding.
The most crucial person for a
wedding, more than even the bride and the groom, is the wedding photographer.
As much as the qualifications of the bride and the groom are checked, the
qualification of the wedding photographer holds equal importance. Most of the
people who attend the wedding don’t really have the time to witness the wedding
as they get so busy meeting their long lost relatives and friends. The only way
they can catch up the wedding, the only way the parents of the couple could
keep track of who attended the wedding, and the only way the couple could
realise what really happened during their wedding is through their wedding
album and videos.
Normally being very shy of
cameras, I dreaded the thought of me being under the spotlight with those eye torturing
lights, big flashy cameras and weirdly angled umbrellas pointing at me, and the
entire crowd looking at me- gauging me and my outfit. Since I knew I always
gave a strange sheepish smile when on camera (Just like Chandler Bing LOL), my
fear knew no bounds. Hence to my utter surprise and desperation, I began
practicing my smile weeks before my wedding, privately. I began researching
other wedding albums, observing the other brides and their poses and expressions.
I was slightly ashamed of myself for getting so self conscious because I was
never that kind of a person. But- Come on! This wedding album was going to stay
on for years and I didn’t want to be the centre of all the jokes and comments for
years to come. I have to secure my position.
With my wedding smile in place,
and confidence in tatters, on the morning of my D day, I stepped out of the car
at the entrance of the wedding hall. Some of my relatives stood on either sides
of the entrance with an awe-struck smile on their face. I felt like a
celebrity. Rituals for my entry took place and I started to walk in when the “man
of the moment”, the cameraman, stood right in front of me, with his huge camera
lens as wide as a crocodile’s mouth blocking my view. All my practice went down
the drain and my sheepish smile was back. He asked me to smile happily. I
looked at the lens as if it was ice cream (Cold coffee in my case, though). He
moved back and fro, left and right, capturing every action of mine. “Oh God!
This was just the beginning!”
When I went in to book the
photographer, I was shown a marvellous photo album. I was so mesmerised by the
style and clarity of the photos that I wanted my wedding album to look the
same. Little did I know about the hard work the couple had to put in to get
that brilliant outcome. Since candid photography is the “thing” of the day, I
couldn’t stop myself from opting that. Knowing that someone is capturing your
every action from behind the wall, I consciously began searching for the candid
photographer and always kept a constant smile on my face. I can’t let him
capture my moments of irritation and annoyance and blow them up, can I?
In course of the photoshoots, I
learned there were three kinds of smile: Elastic smile where you smile WIDELY,
Teeth showing smile where you flash all your teeth and Normal smile where you
don’t smile. Every shot was taken with all the three kind of smiles. While I looked
better in one smile, my man didn’t, and where he was great, I looked weirder
than weird. Having given the easy exams-standing and sitting, it was now time
for poses. When I looked at the sample albums, I didn’t realise one major thing-
The huge audience who will witness the entire photoshoot. How embarrassing! As
the photographer straightened the angles of our chin, hand and shoulder, I
could see the gossip uncles and aunties already murmuring to each other and
pointing their scrutinising eyes in our direction. Standing next to my man, I
craned my neck to look at his face. The photographer asked us to freeze and
keep looking at each other with Teeth showing smile. Just imagine the scene?! NO
NO- don’t ever imagine that...LOL Not even a minute, I could feel my jaws shiver
as we stood in “Statue”. The all around smirks couldn’t be missed even from a distance
of 30 feet. I managed to see even a few shift their position. Since the
photographer never said “Time out”, we kept smiling at each other with unaware that
the snap was already taken. Imagine the embarrassment! I am not even going to
go into the teasing which happened later.
Group photoshoot has a fun of its
own as it’s just not the couple under the scrutiny, but everyone. Loads of
confusion happens on stage. As our parents introduced their colleagues, friends
and relatives, we stood blankly with a huge smile, heads nodding top and down.
When standing for the group photo, husbands and wives stood interchanged- You
get what I am saying? Then positions were changed, “You come this side, you go
that side.” Amidst all this, they kept talking to us, congratulating us, and even telling golden olden
stories about them and our parents, without giving the slightest heed to the
camera, silently killing the photographer’s patience. I sadistically enjoyed the
photographer’s agony. Just kidding! Nah...Who cares- it’s just you guys- Yes I
was happy looking at the photographer’s helplessness. When two men get on stage
to wish us, it was always fun to see the hesitation on the faces of the men.
Who will stand near the bride? The unfortunate one stood at least a couple of
feet away from me and had to be pulled into the frame. Another dilemma moment
was when two families enter the stage at the same time from either sides of the
stage.
The painful part of the entire
photoshoot was the amount of time the photographer took to click us. Every tick
of the minute, the only fear on my mind was if I would ever get food at the
end. I took days and weeks to decide the menu of my wedding and here I was
unable to eat any of them. My stomach grumbled in hunger and my legs were
giving away due to the hours long standing on 3.5 inches platform heels,
bearing the weight of my heavy costume. Fatigue filled my entire system, and my
mind was about to shut down, when, right at that moment, the photographer asked
me to smile with more energy! The timing couldn’t have been any better. I know
he was only doing his job. In a way, he was trying to fulfil my dream of having
the best wedding album, but at what cost? Sit, stand, turn right, turn left,
chin up, chin down, head tilt- I felt I was in my school drill.
Wedding albums give the much
needed fulfilment for any marriage, marriage here I mean the ceremony and not
the married life. If the album is screwed, the agony and the disappointment
over it will stay for the rest of our lives. Also, the biggest drawback is...there
is no chance of a retake... :D
Just like our teachers told our
parents during Open House, “a little extra effort, your child can do wonders”,
a little extra effort from the couple’s side could do wonders to the wedding
album. The pain and the frustration you have to endure in course of the
photoshoots will help you a lot in the future, just like it helped me write a
blog about it ;-)
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