Only 40 of the 200 or more couples who submit an application to the Times will actually make the pages so the ones that are printed are usually interesting. There are strict rules to follow when submitting an application, including the following.
"The Weddings/Celebrations pages typically publish formal portraits of couples and individual brides. Couples posing for pictures should arrange themselves with their eyebrows on the same level and with their heads fairly close together with plenty of space at the top and sides of the couple's heads. Pictures should be in color and in a horizontal format. Include the photographer’s name if professional credit is required. "
Clyde and Madge would have missed the Times Weddings section because they are just never, ever going to see eye to eye. What a pity! One of the easiest ways to make it into the Times Wedding section is to simply get married in the winter. Other routes that make you statistically more likely to make it are graduation from an elite university; being a congressional staffer; marrying someone of the same sex; being an elite lawyer or an investment banker.Recently there was a wedding dress article in the Times and I remembered seeing this splendid dress designed by Manish Malhotra and worn by the bride, Komal Patel. Fortunately, the bride did a perfect swirl and got the fabric in motion for the photographer, Alain Martinez—a lucky moment for them both. The groom looks happy too. You can read about their wedding here.
We love the Patel name in the U.S. Maybe you've heard the term, a Patel Hotel or a Patel Motel? As many as fifty percent of mid-sized motel and hotel properties in the U.S. are owned by people of Indian origin and of these nearly one-third are owned by Patels.
Just before we went to India in March we watched a hilarious movie called "Meet the Patels"—you can watch the trailer here. You'll laugh!
This particular Patel family, in the Times wedding section, has nothing to do with the motel/hotel business (as far as I know) however I went down the rabbit-hole on Google and Wiki while writing this and you know how it goes. I start out sitting down for thirty minutes to write a blog and yikes—five hours later I look up in shock, my noggin stuffed full of momentarily interesting trivia.
Indians throw the best weddings in the world in my opinion. Our driver during our last Indian visit had married off his daughter in 2015—two thousand guests attended. I can't imagine how he paid for it; families go into debt for years to pay for the extravaganzas.
Greeks also throw great wedding parties. Now that I'm doing film clips, I'm throwing in this one. Nia Vardalos, the creator and star of this Canadian-American film, is from my hometown, Winnipeg in Canada. She based the story on her own experience —a Greek marrying a non-Greek. What a hit she had here! My Big Fat Greek Wedding held the record as the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time as of 2007, an old statistic, but the only one I could find. Her dress in the film has everything on it - lace, flowers lots of fluffy stuff. I can imagine it took a lot of thought to come up with something romantic and funny at the same time.
Grab your top hat and stroll over to Sepia Saturday to read
more wedding stories.
We don't often see wedding photos in the Melbourne papers these days unless they are of celebrities. Love that instruction about the eyebrows - my parents could never have complied with that, at least not standing up! There's an Indian Film Festival starting here this weekend, with probably a few weddings included.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to love those Bollywood films. You've likely seen Monsoon Wedding?
DeleteI love these NYT instructions: "their eyebrows on the same level and with their heads fairly close together with plenty of space at the top and sides of the couple's heads". There are probably very few marriages there featuring basketball players.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand that requirement at all.
DeleteI did not realise that that kind of reporting still featured in some newspapers. Here wedding photographs of the happy couple appear, but that is all, so we miss the detailed descriptions of the dresses or even the gifts they received which made fascinating reading in the early 20th century - a pity!
ReplyDeleteThe stories about how the couples met are very interesting. The archives will provide many insights into our culture for generations to come.
ReplyDeletethanks for the mention of Megan's wedding film biz. I love seeing all her films - so many different styles and types of weddings. I love the photo prompt this week with that beautiful dress and also the Patel dress. So pretty. There's nothing more fun than looking at photos and films of weddings.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I go to her blog I'm there for at least an hour.
DeleteThe San Francisco Chronicle used to do society pages. I used to read them to laugh at the people who were so obsessed with being seen at the right place with the right people. I always wondered about the woman who wrote the column. I think she took it as serious as those she reported on.
ReplyDeleteKomal Patel swirling her wedding dress is a fantastic picture. I like the motion when the majority of wedding photos are very static!
ReplyDeleteNicely summed up; wedding fluff and lots of swirls!
ReplyDeleteA very creative turn for the theme. The requirement for photos with level eyebrows and head/side space is so it can be cropped to fit the newspaper columns. The swirling bride is lovely in motion.
ReplyDeleteI love the swirl of Komal Patel's dress. It makes it look like she is about to do some flamenco.
ReplyDeleteLoved the swirl of the Patel dress, but most of all I enjoyed a wonderfully entertaining Saturday morning read about weddings!! Way to go girl.
ReplyDelete