Are you the sort of person who believes that a groom should be the strong, silent type? Or do like the idea of photos of a groom crying at the sight of his partner during his wedding ceremony? This is a centuries-old debate — and one that these destination DC wedding photographers are in no position to resolve! Everyone has their own opinion, usually based on the specific situation and their particular cultural background.
As DC destination wedding photographers, we are a bit biased when it comes to these kinds of things. We are in favor of all displays of emotion, regardless of from whom they come! Our job is to use our cameras to tell your love story from a visual point of view. Because of the nature of our medium, we are somewhat limited in what we can communicate. We cannot tell you what your food smelled or tasted like, for example.
What we can do, though, is to tell you what each moment felt like. In fact, that is the most important thing that we do for you. We can give you an album of wedding photos that allows you to relive and re-experience every emotion you will have felt on your wedding day. The more those feelings are on display during your marriage celebrations, therefore, the easier it is for us to tell your story. So we have absolutely no problem with a groom moved to tears when his partner walks down the aisle! Naturally, someone showing their feeling so nakedly communicates clearly and unambiguously the emotional tenor of the moment.
One look at this photo should tell you that telling this couple’s love story was very easy. The look on the groom’s face as his future wife walked down the aisle toward him communicates everything you need to know about his feelings. Perhaps not surprisingly, this emotional reaction was typical of the overall mood of their wedding celebrations. It was just one openly emotional display in a marital event full of them. For example, the bride and her mother shed a few tears when pinning a picture of the former’s late father on her bouquet. While they got ready, the groom and his groomsmen laughed uproariously while cracking jokes about the previous night’s escapades. After what was obviously a tearful wedding ceremony, all the wedding guests danced and sang with joyful abandon during the beach reception. The full gamut of wedding-day emotions was on display for all to see throughout this marriage celebration. And that resulted in some absolutely unforgettable documentary wedding photography.
So why did we choose to feature this particular photo instead of the others? For us, the intensity of the moment makes the picture enduring, indelible and compelling. A groom sobbing uncontrollably as his bride-to-be approached the altar is just such a powerful image. And the reason for the intensity of his feelings was due to a quirk in the layout of the venue. The design of the ceremony area helped prolong and enhance the groom’s reaction to this particular moment.
The couple held their nuptials at the luxurious, all-inclusive Now Larimar Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Their outdoor marriage ceremony took place under a gazebo near a fountain between the main hotel building and a series of beautiful pools. What this meant was that the bride had to cross the far end of the fountain and then walk about 30 meters alongside the water before she reached her future husband under the gazebo.
From the moment the bride started her walk, the groom was overwhelmed by the moment, by how beautiful she looked and by how happy he was to be tying the knot with the love of his life. Tears began streaming down his cheeks. In a different wedding venue, the bride might have reached him in less than a minute. She would have embraced him and provided a steadying presence to help him regain his composure. Having to wait for several minutes as his fiancée slowly made her way down a very long aisle just caused the emotions to keep bubbling up in this groom until he was almost shaking as he wept. It was a moment that we will never forget and one that we feel privileged to have caught on film.
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