I am admittedly a “royal watcher” and marvel at the
pageantry that accompanies a royal wedding in any country. As a professional
wedding planner for over 1,000 weddings….I can only imagine the infinite degree
of coordination to pull one of these off.
People always seem kind of interested in my “behind the
scenes” observations and if you are one of them, sit back and let’s take a look
at the festivities of this week in Luxembourg as Prince Guillaume married
Countess Stephanie de Lannoy.
I will mention some of the things that struck me as
wonderful (and also the things from
which we might learn.)
Those of you that are “Nolte Weddings Watchers” know that my
favorite moment of the wedding is the arrival and presentation of the bride.
There is no moment more highly anticipated. It is truly the “Big Reveal.” Like royal brides, we always dress off premise and arrive at the
church just minutes before the processional.
(For the planner this is a logistical nail-biter but it’s soooo worth
it.) Brides and dads have told me it was one of their favorite memories…those
golden quite moments alone in the limo as they pulled up to the church and
watched through tinted glass their friends rushing into the church.)
Like the royal brides, none of mine have seen the groom
before the processional. There is no two hour photo shoot and very few people
(if any) have seen the gown. Nolte Mantra: As it happens…it happens. There are no posed or
contrived shots.
Upon arrival, the door opens and the bride emerges.
Her train is extended and carried into the church. (Red
carpets, which I love to use, even add to the magic.)
Point to notice: This picture is the preferred angle. Note
that the photographer knew to be on the “gown side” of the bride and her
father. It always shows off the dress better.
(As opposed to this: picture with groom blocking the dress.)
I have never been a fan of multiple style bridesmaids
dresses just for this very reason. Where does your eye go in this picture? Not
to the bride, but rather to the differences in the maid’s dresses. Why I asked
myself with only two, would the styles be SO different that one even has long
sleeves and the other bare armed? Nolte Mantra: I advise that the focus stay on
the bride, not the variety of the maids.
One of my favorite shots is the processional…taken not from
the expected “full frontal” but rather from the balcony. It captures “the
moment” i.e. the turned guests’ faces, the flowers, the grandeur of the aisle,
the splendor of the train.
Another one of my eye brow raisers is when a bride doesn’t
want to spend money on flowers for the church with the excuse, “the church is
pretty by itself.” The counter- point to
that is that flowers mark the specialness of the moment...in other words “a
wedding is happening in this pretty church.” Look at this glorious hedge
spilling down in the sanctuary. I will
be directing a fab, fab, fab wedding next summer in Manhattan and I already
have this waterfall effect behind the altar in the design. (Who’s copying
who?!)
And of course I’m a stickler for correct proportions…note
how absolute perfectly this 13’ train fills the stairs. That is not
coincidence.
I think the flower girl dresses are a little too costume
like and originally thought the colors were BRIGHT! But then I noticed that
they were done in the colors of the nation’s flag…and then it all made sense.
(pic of crowd.)
Another time the colors were used was in the ribbon that
braided the trunks of the topiaries. I
just loved that and it’s such a transferable idea on a smaller scale
And in closing I mention that as much as I love the
photojournalistic styles of good photographers, there is always a place for the
classic, timeless wedding day portrait. This one has the train swirled
correctly (unlike Kate Middleton’s) but the bride should have held her bouquet
in her other hand. It would have made them seem more “coupled.”
If you’ve ever seen that reality show (I’m embarrassed to
say I have had to watch it a couple of times) “Four Weddings,” they rate
various elements of the weddings spotlighted. Well here’s my scores:
Gown: 10 (love the lace and the silhouette)
Hair: 5 (it almost seemed too tight)
Jewelry: 4 (too small for the scale of everything else)
Attendants’ dresses: 3 (the apricot was too pale when mixed
with the orange and the styles too random)
Bridal bouquet: 8 (I really like all white for brides and
was pleased that it was not the typical snow-cone style)
Overall impact: 9 (the cathedral was awe inspiring. Thank
heaven we have Redemptorist!)
Enjoy. Enjoy!
MJN
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