Call me too logical and not romantic, but I think spending as much as many people do on a cake is ridiculous. Unless the couple is filthy rich, use the money for something else to build memories...extend the honeymoon, buy a new bedroom set...anything but on a silly cake. I like the (regular, inexpensive) cupcake idea, or just *gasp* regular cake. It's about memories and not going into debt for the next 10 years for silliness.
/cake rant
Canon 7D and some stuff that sticks on the end of it.
Call me too logical and not romantic, but I think spending as much as many people do on a cake is ridiculous. Unless the couple is filthy rich, use the money for something else to build memories...extend the honeymoon, buy a new bedroom set...anything but on a silly cake. I like the (regular, inexpensive) cupcake idea, or just *gasp* regular cake. It's about memories and not going into debt for the next 10 years for silliness.
/cake rant
This is basically how I feel about weddings in general ... gasp ... photography included! I really hope that people stay within their budget. Some people can afford to have crazy huge weddings, most can't. According to scientific research*, the amount of dough (cake or cash) that is used for a wedding has no bearing on a couples lasting love.
Are cakes really that expensive? I think for my wedding (divorced now) I paid only $500 and it was better than 90% of the cakes I've ever sene. No lumps, no seams or dimples in the frosting, every line symmetrical and the tiers perfectly round. She met with us and we designed the cake from scratch to be completely different than anything she had ever done. Rolled fondant, 4 teirs, diamond basket weave with fondant roses piled on top and toppling off onto the plate. Each teir was a different flavor, some fruit filled and some with butter cream. Everything was from scratch and flavors like orange cream, chocolate cherry, mint something... I mainly remember the orange cream! Perfectly moist. The lady also made it the morning of the wedding and since there was a huge power outage the night before, she did it with a gas stove and a generator for lights at her home because her bakery was not operable without power. Plus she was against ever having her cakes frozen so for our 1-year anniversary she replicated the top tier of the cake and delivered it to us as a gift... I guess I got a deal huh? Wow... now I want some cake!
Thankfully, that despicable tradition is now thought to never have existed in reality, at least not in Medeival Europe.
Try it in the US, and you're in for a shock - few people keep their virginity until their wedding day any more, at least in American society. I suspect it's that way in a lot of other cultures around the world, too.
Why is cake smashing even a thing people do? It's too new to be tradition, and too old to be cool anymore. Feeding your new spouse is rooted in cultural ritual, and it's sensuous. Plastering your love's face with food is NOT sexy.
It started because people thought it was funny. It had shock value. Now, it's passe.
Same thing with the old "pull-out-the-ugly-underwear" gag when the groom goes for the garter. It started as a humorous surprise with shock value, but now it's just tacky, IMHO.
What I said when I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time: "The wide ain't wide enough and the zoom don't zoom enough!"
My favorite wedding cake was a cupcake one, but then they did have a small cake on top so there would be something for me to photograph them cutting. And the glossy piano made a nice reflective surface.
This is basically how I feel about weddings in general ... gasp ... photography included! ...
What I ask people, including my own kids, is that after the wedding, what do you have? I mean you have your memories, you have the wedding dress and accessories, you might have a cake topper (to freeze), ... and then you have the photos.
It is the photographs (and potentially video) that will be reflected upon for years. It is the photographs that will endure beyond and hopefully be enjoyed by generations to come.
My (now former) lady-friend had some old negatives from her grandfather, taken with 3 different large format film cameras. The original photographs have since been dispersed, many lost and many more damaged. The negatives were (thankfully) fairly well preserved. While there are none of the wedding between her grandparents, there are examples of his life at college and later life on a farm in Missouri, including his wife and children. I was able to scan the old negatives and share the images for a whole new generation to enjoy.
I'm a "big" believer in photography as a means to preserve memories and give us a vehicle to allow future generations a glimpse into our lives and our personalities.
My middle daughter is getting married next year and you had better believe that the selection of the photographer had little to do with money and cost. (I would have spent any amount personally to get the right photographer.)
Other than during the ceremony, I'll also be a shooter.
Comments
/cake rant
This is basically how I feel about weddings in general ... gasp ... photography included! I really hope that people stay within their budget. Some people can afford to have crazy huge weddings, most can't. According to scientific research*, the amount of dough (cake or cash) that is used for a wedding has no bearing on a couples lasting love.
*Scientific research not yet done.
Matt
Bodies: Canon 5d mkII, 5d, 40d
Lenses: 24-70 f2.8L, 70-200 f4.0L, 135 f2L, 85 f1.8, 50 1.8, 100 f2.8 macro, Tamron 28-105 f2.8
Flash: 2x 580 exII, Canon ST-E2, 2x Pocket Wizard flexTT5, and some lower end studio strobes
Thankfully, that despicable tradition is now thought to never have existed in reality, at least not in Medeival Europe.
Try it in the US, and you're in for a shock - few people keep their virginity until their wedding day any more, at least in American society. I suspect it's that way in a lot of other cultures around the world, too.
It started because people thought it was funny. It had shock value. Now, it's passe.
Same thing with the old "pull-out-the-ugly-underwear" gag when the groom goes for the garter. It started as a humorous surprise with shock value, but now it's just tacky, IMHO.
What I ask people, including my own kids, is that after the wedding, what do you have? I mean you have your memories, you have the wedding dress and accessories, you might have a cake topper (to freeze), ... and then you have the photos.
It is the photographs (and potentially video) that will be reflected upon for years. It is the photographs that will endure beyond and hopefully be enjoyed by generations to come.
My (now former) lady-friend had some old negatives from her grandfather, taken with 3 different large format film cameras. The original photographs have since been dispersed, many lost and many more damaged. The negatives were (thankfully) fairly well preserved. While there are none of the wedding between her grandparents, there are examples of his life at college and later life on a farm in Missouri, including his wife and children. I was able to scan the old negatives and share the images for a whole new generation to enjoy.
I'm a "big" believer in photography as a means to preserve memories and give us a vehicle to allow future generations a glimpse into our lives and our personalities.
My middle daughter is getting married next year and you had better believe that the selection of the photographer had little to do with money and cost. (I would have spent any amount personally to get the right photographer.)
Other than during the ceremony, I'll also be a shooter.
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