Wedding ceremony is that part of the big day when the photojournalism triumphs. In other words, there is no intervention from the photographer, no directions, no prompts and the artist is left in admiration in front of the beautiful event unfolding in front of his camera. During my long career as a Toronto wedding photographer I learned to anticipate rather than react to moments. This image is a testament to my speed and ability to see around the corner moments, emotions, reactions.
After taking the wide angle shots capturing the beautiful ballroom, I realized I have enough reactions from either the couple or the guests. As such, I slowly approached the bride and groom and waited. The priest was talking about the case when the husband lost his wife after a 27 year marriage. It was a sad story and somehow the father and it in a positive note with a joke. It was the perfect ending and that simple and effective joke made the bride smile. It was in that fraction of the second that I captured her reaction in this photograph.
This image tells several stories. In the foreground, we see the bride smiling while in the background the groom has a serious demeanour probably worried about the late afternoon cocktail hour details. Finally, the third layer of the image features the groom's brother was displaying another smile. I captured this frame in a portrait mode to direct the viewers attention to the bride and avoid other potential distractions: guests filming the ceremony, children not paying attention, etc.
Location: 37 King St E, Toronto, ON M5C 1E9.
