The wedding industry has been in a spin for the last two weeks after well-known wedding photographer Jonas Peterson published his thoughts in a manifesto. I read it and felt comforted, relieved, inspired, grateful and downright overjoyed. I think if you’re a bride, you should read it. I think if you’re stressed, you should definitely read it and I think if you’re freaking out about whether to go with “Rose Pink” napkins or “Petal Pink” napkins, you need to read it.
It is easy to get caught up in the details of weddings. This crystal vase or that one? Those shoes, or these shoes? There are so many options, so many things to consider, too many choices, but somehow never enough. Heck, even I get caught up in the details of weddings sometimes. How can I not? I see them and write about them daily.
A wedding should be about two people who love each other committing to one another to take the rest of life’s journey together. The details should be your details, not ours. We blog and publish magazines to give you ideas, to inspire you with other beautiful love stories and examples of the ways you can express that love for one another to the world. Please be unique. Be yourselves, find your own story and your own way of expressing it.
In his final note on a manifesto Jonas says “I have clients who worry their wedding isn’t cool enough for me to shoot. Some get details they don’t care about ‘so that I will have enough things to shoot.'”
That’s the last thing we want. Just this morning our Editor-in-Chief stopped by my desk and said that a friend had told her she was worried her wedding ‘wasn’t going to be good enough’. “I almost cried,” she said. “They were so worried about what I thought, and what I was going to think of their wedding because we publish bridal magazines and fancy weddings. It’s not about that at all! Details are lovely, yes, we do love to see some details and it’s quite wonderful to spend some time on them. Details can be beautiful and fun and can represent something that’s unique and special to you… but the details aren’t what’s important. Your wedding is your wedding. It should be special to you. And never, ever, should anyone feel like the day that they marry the love of their life is not good enough.”
So I say start with the love, not the dress or the perfect pink napkins… by all means feel free to get carried away with as many details as you like, if that’s what you want to do. But don’t get stressed by them, don’t let them overcome you, and don’t let them get in the way of what’s really important.
Let love reign.
Rosemary xox