Wedding Shoot (Solo)

Well, I did it. And I survived.

Often things sound worse then they really are (shooting a wedding solo...yikes!) and last Saturday was a perfect example.

This wedding celebration (2nd one in as many weeks) was just to appease the bride's side and their Thailand tradition.

Although the major traditional type things (i.e. bridal party, bouquet tossing) were omitted, there was just enough traditional type activities (i.e. cutting of the cake, the B/G greeting each and every table, speeches) to lead passer byers to believe a wedding was happening.

The Thailand wedding tradition involves the couple wearing traditional Thailand wedding attire and receiving blessings (and words of advice) from each and every guest.



The actual "blessings" process involves the couple kneeling on a Thailand type of alter and having guests line up and pour water through the couple's hands (into a flower pot type thing).



During the pouring of the water, the guests would then offer their advice for a successful and happy marriage. In watching this closely, often times it would appear as if the couple weren't quite comfortable with the whole experience and even slightly embarrassed. Picture kneeling in the middle of this huge ballroom type of venue and 80 people lining up to honor you.

Yeah, exactly!

One venue. No DJ or band. For music they setup a laptop with some pretty decent speakers and that was it. When it came time to play my montage, I just plugged everything directly into the speakers.

Overall, it was a pleasant night. And although it was the complete opposite of last week's "party" wedding (most of the dance footage would require an NC17 rating), it was still a celebration of love between two people amongst family and friends.

The event didn't require two shooters. It barely required one. I was confident in my ability to take on such a challenge (solo shoot), but the challenge never came. Regardless, it was a new experience for me -shooting and tradition (never done a Thailand wedding prior to last week)- and something that can I only grow from.