Mum’s sadness – Why I love this picture

As the bride enters the church and begins to walk up the church aisle, it’s probably the most anticipated and exciting parts of the wedding day.

It is the point of the day when emotions are at their highest and as a documentary wedding photographer you need to be alert to what can be some very emotional scenes.

When a daughter is married I think on a certain level, a Mother is losing her daughter in someway.

Although in our modern world most of the time the kids have left the family home years before they get married, it wasn’t that long ago when the children stayed at home until they married themselves. So although a wedding is a very happy time for mothers there is also a sense of loss too.

I love this picture because that is what we are seeing here. That is the bride’s mother in the foreground of the photograph. The wedding as a place of both joy and sadness can be seen in this picture. The ushers next to mum are her sons and you can see the happiness on one of their faces as he watches his sister walk up the aisle with her father.

The other son is aware of his mother’s sadness at the same moment.

I am glad to say I caught mum shedding tears of joy too later on in the day, and also laughing in equal measure.

As a documentary wedding photographer (or natural or reportage it’s all the same thing) it’s a great feeling to capture unstaged, real moments like this as they tell the real story of the wedding day.

It will be photographs like this that will be treasured the most because they depict a real memory from the day so have real emotions connected to them.

It’s all part of a real life wedding in all of its amazing, crazy, heart wrenching beauty.

bride's mum shedding a tear as she walks up aisle

 

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