If you are asked to capture the wedding ceremony, there is big chance you belong to the same culture as a groom or a bride, or both. Yet when the groom and the bride have different cultural/religious backgrounds, you may find yourself in unknown land.
The situation basically falls into one out of three possibilities:
- Two separate ceremonies happening on the same day or some time apart.
- One hybrid ceremony with equal participation of clergy from both sides.
- Main ceremony with some deviations, often the ceremony follows bride’s background with some changes to please groom’s family.
In the first case you have a double job, and need to learn details of both ceremonies. Second and third cases are more tricky, and may catch even an experienced wedding videographer off guard. So be prepared.
Discuss the details of the ceremony with the couple while paying attention to all the changes made to the traditional way of liturgy. While shooting, think of balanced capturing, i.e. try to cover details of both traditions equally. If the ceremony is a traditional one with minor changes in order to pay respect to the”less significant party”, make sure you cover those little details for they will add to uniqueness of the ceremony.
Once I happened to cover mixed wedding of Lebanese Melkite Catholics and Polish Roman Catholics. The bride was a Melkite, and so the ceremony was conducted in the Melkite Church with the liturgy in Arabic and English languages with some lines in Polish. But at the very end of ceremony when the time has come to say Lord’s Prayer, groom’s family stood up and read the Prayer in Polish while the rest of congregation was only listening. This was the moment not to be missed, and probably of the same importance as the exchange of vows, since it created that very unique merger of two traditions blending together under the same roof.
looking forward for more information about this. thanks for sharing. Eugene
Thanks Eugene,
What would you like to know? Any specific traditions or details?