Things That (Nearly Always) Happen At A Wedding (No. 1)

Up until the early 90’s, your day at a wedding followed a formulaic agenda – pop on suit/dress you originally bought for a job interview -mime the hymns- apply your best toothy smile for the group pictures – make way to community centre – quaff sparkling vino – sway to dancing queen, slow dance to phyllis nelson…and then the internet came along and (thankfully) the wedding as we knew it was changed forever.

The shear choice and variety on offer makes every wedding bespoke and It’s the diversity and personality that shine through in modern day ceremonies that  makes them so enjoyable to photograph… but… in saying that, there are still ever present occurrings that I have noticed happening  in every weddings and just to poke a bit of fun i shall be sharing with you in the coming weeks the “the ten things that (nearly always) happen at weddings… here’s the first one

1 ) The Auntie relishing the chance to stuff the confetti down the newly-weds backs

Its always been a mystery to me as to why Aunt Mildred.. (its nearly always aunties) feel the need to bring a bit of uncomfort to the bride & grooms proceedings by stuffing itchy, and potentially, dress staining confetti down their backs.

Noone seems to question this rather unnecessary ritual and the bride & groom are often labelled unsporting if they cop what’s about to go down and try to stop it.

Us photographers will be more than happy to pre-warn everyone in the party not to do it, but sometimes this is a red rag to a bull and antagonises the devil on their shoulder.

The venue may spare you this ordeal by not allowing the throwing of confetti, but most do, and thankfully so as it does make for a lovely moment in your day and looks really good as a picture.

Using bubbles or balloons are an option but lets face it, if someone has brought their own confetti, they are gonna be hell bent on chucking it at you.

Pinterest is awash with ideas for natural confetti (rose petals/lavender ect) but these are probably even worse in the itchiness & stain stakes.

My best advice is to ask the registrar/vicar/toastmaster to mention this sometime before or after the ceremony…and hope auntie takes the hint.