Posted on 06/11/2006 3:14:42 AM PDT by MadIvan
WEDDING photography, once a restrained art, is becoming a risqué business. A growing number of American brides are marking their big day by commissioning portraits of themselves in raunchy poses and lingerie, writes John Harlow.
This month, when a quarter of America’s annual 2m weddings take place, brides’ parents are paying up to £6,000 for an “action photographer”, whose brief is to capture their daughter “accidentally” exposing sexy garters or her knickers.
The American wedding is changing fast. Traditionalists have already lamented a switch to homemade vows, such as “to stay together so long as we make each other laugh”, and a large-scale abandonment of white since Sarah Jessica Parker, the star of Sex and the City, got married in black.
The paparazzi-style wedding photographs are the latest shock to the establishment, although some clerics are going along with it.
Frank Ray, a Baptist minister in Tennessee, was the target of outrage when his bride published nuptial snaps of herself and her maids of honour dressed in plunging black leather bustiers on the internet. “It was fabulous fun, and something we shall always remember,” said the 58-year-old minister.
Wedding photographers say such pictures are becoming the rage across all sections of US society. Steven Gross, a Chicago photographer, said he had taken nearly 8,000 shots at a recent £100,000 wedding, but the most prominent one in the album was a close-up of bridal cleavage.
“Brides, and sometimes the groom, want to show off their gym-fit bodies,” said a spokesman for Equinox, a gym chain that offers a “wedding boot camp”.
Richard Albans, a photographer in Los Angeles, turned to wedding work after being punched by a Hollywood bodyguard.
“But I did not realise what today’s bride really wants: a true evocation of that moment when she was at her most sexually and socially powerful,” he said.
“She wants to remind her spouse why he married her. It was not just because she looked radiant in white — underneath she was downright dirty and dangerous in a black garter or red-sequinned bra.
“It’s more Las Vegas showgirl than blushing bride.”
One of his clients, who is marrying later this year, said she was planning on opening the doors to her bridal boudoir for three days before the main event. “I want a big book of photographs, showing everything from me flashing my boobs as I get dressed to my boyfriend having his chest waxed,” she said.
“It’s about intimacy, the real story, as well as silly fun.”
Nice photos -- that close-up shot is really great.
Not directly on topic, but on the theme of weddings.
American Funniest Home Video seems to get a kick out of the shots where the bride or groom smears cake in the other's face. I do not find this funny, in fact I cringe when I see it.
Here it is, one of the most important days of their life, and one is showing complete lack of respect for the other by smearing cake in the other's face (yes I know some find it funny, but a wedding or reception is not the place for funny).
I have been married for 36 years, and I would not have thought to smear cake on my brides face 36 years ago as I would today. I respect her too much to attempt to humiliate her that way.
I often wondered how well those marriages have done with such a beginning. Maybe it is just me, and others find nothing wrong with it, and the couple go on to a long and happy life together, or perhaps, they continued in their ways metaphorically smearing each others faces with cake on a daily basis until one or the other had enough.
Heather's getting married this Saturday! Not to downplay her, but you should see MY dress! LOL! I'll send you pics.
What wedding pictures don't include a picture of the bride showing her garter? Lighten up, people.
I'd ping cyborg and Petronski to this, but they're getting married today. :)
I partly agree with you, but at an abstract level isn't that what weddings are about in all cultures? Celebrating the health and fecundity of a new generation?
We formalize and channel the urge to reproduce, we give dowry's to show the worth of the bride, we have white dresses to symobolize viginity. Don't get me wrong, I love our traditions and hope that they continue to have meaning in our culture, but there are many many layers of meaning in the wedding, I find it fascinating.
fe·cun·di·ty ( P ) Pronunciation Key (f-knd-t)
n.
The quality or power of producing abundantly; fruitfulness or fertility.
Productive or creative power: fecundity of the mind.
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Wasss Up?
3 shots of tequila and I'd hit it! :-) (OK,, maybe 5)
That's Hot.
She wouldn't even allow you in line. :)
Ouch! that hurt! :-)
Heck what man of the cloth would defend and cater to homosexuals being NORMAL?
Parents who trained their children WRONG!
Weddings are an excuse to party hardy. Now they've just made them lewd and the crowd loves it. If you're about to be divorced - hey, don't feel bad. Have a party! There are divorce cards and party invitations to celebrate that too!
(Sarcasm off)
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