Re: [Leica] Wedding photography

[Brian Reid <reid@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>]

Most of the photography that I do is portaiture, either formal or
informal. I've done a lot of weddings, though none in the last 20 years.

Here is my perspective on the posed vs unposed issue.

Weddings are complex symbolic events. If all you want to do is become
married, you can do this in a courthouse with one witness. If you have
a wedding ceremony and party, it has social and symbolic purposes as
well as legal purposes.

One of the symbolic purposes of weddings, especially church weddings,
is that they are cultural links to the past and future. It's not just
that someone is getting married, it's that they are getting married
using an ancient ceremony that their ancestors used, and that their
desendants will use. It's part of the link to their cultural identity. 
It ritually joins the couple not just to each other, in a vacuum, but
to the larger context of the society in which they will be living.

Posed wedding pictures are part of the tradition, no less so than the
flowers, the clothing, the music, the spoken words, the rings, and the
cake. It's not just that the pictures are posed; there are traditional
poses. When I ask the bride and groom to pose with their mothers for
Traditional Shot #5, "Bride and Groom and Their Mothers", I am not just
asking them to pose. I am asking them to show the world, by their
willingness to participate in this ritual, that they subscribe to the
traditions of the culture in which they are getting married. There is a
clear hierarchy of ten posed pictures for the wedding day itself:
	#1: The bride in her dress, without veil
	#2: The bride and groom in their formal clothing
	#3: The bride and groom and their witnesses
	#4: The bride and groom and their witnesses and attendants
	#5: The bride and groom and their mothers
	#6: The bride and groom and their fathers
	#7: The bride and groom and their parents
	#8: The bride and groom and the groom's entire family
	#9: The bride and groom and the bride's entire family
	#10: The entire collection of people in one big picture
In some religious ceremonies we add #2a: The bride and groom and the
religious leader who married them. Then after these 10 or 11 ritual
pictures, which are as much a part of the tradition as the exchange of
rings, various people and family members can take advantage of the
photographer's being there by posing for other shots.

Some people choose to get married without subscribing to the tradition.
That's fine. It's not for me, but it's fine for them if that's what
they want. The posed formal pictures are just part of that tradition.

Brian Reid