You may ask every wedding photographer, “Why did they become a wedding photographer?” “What do they love the most?”
Most of us will answer that we love to capture happiness, a real live event when two people are in love. We love the expression on every single face. There will be a few people who will answer that they love all the beauty in a wedding, the dress, decorations, all the festive details that are always beautiful to be captured, and many other things. But if you asked me about what I don’t like in being a wedding photographer, well…. maybe not totally don’t like, but slightly fell “ugh..” is the very early call time..hahaha..
You know, in Indonesia, we have traditions, sometime a very thick one like the groom must meet the bride before the sun rises, and many more that sometimes require us to stand by very early in the morning like 3 am, or 4 am before we can clearly see the sun. Well we respect the traditions, it’s a part of this festive celebration that I love the most, but I don’t really love the fact that we must wake very early in the morning. But we are photographers. We love sunlight. We love the glowing part when the light touches the skin and hair. It’s magical!
But then I remember this wedding, Michael & Janice’s wedding. First, I did think that I would love this wedding very much. I love the theme. This wedding as an outdoor wedding, held in the classic colonial building in Jakarta, and the holy matrimony was held in the afternoon, in the open air as well, right before the sun went down. So you were still able to enjoy the golden light that lit the ceremony. I checked the weather forecast on that day and it said that that day would be clear and perfect! And last but not least, our stand by time was the at the perfect morning time, where the morning sun was perfectly lighting the room and we were able to indulge the natural light as much as we wanted. This made me very excited to come to this wedding.
But when I entered the bride’s room that morning to capture the makeup session, I suddenly realized something more important than the perfect time, sun, and light that would be there that day. When I opened the door for the first time, I heard laughter and I saw lots of smiles. It is not a typical quite make up session. It was fun and full of laughter! So I said good morning, and I saw that everybody was there, welcoming us like the old friends. I suddenly knew that that wedding was so special. All their best friends were there to help with the wedding, to make it merrier. All the vendors were their best friends, they knew exactly that they were there not just there to help Michael & Janice, but to cheer and celebrate it with them. Suddenly I felt relieved, because deep down inside I knew that it wasn’t only the wedding party that would be beautiful, but they would have all the people that they know and deeply love, standing there together with them. The wedding will be perfect!
Best,
Artha
