The redneck wedding photo Royal linked to in a post below brought to mind a wedding I shot about 20 years ago. I ran into some rather odd situations at weddings but that one takes the prize for being strange.
A lady came to my house on the 29th of May in 1986 and asked me to do photos of her son's wedding at 1 p.m. on the seventh of June, which was a week from the following Saturday. She said her son was 22 and Stacie, the bride to be, was 21. They had been dating for 5 years, her son had been trying to get her to marry him for the last 3 years and she had finally said yes. I agreed to do the wedding, and told her I would be at the rehearsal to layout the guidelines for taking the photos.
They were getting married in a country church several miles east of here and the rehearsal was on the Friday night before the wedding. When I got there something didn't seem just right. The groom, the best man, groomsmen and the grooms parents were sitting on the left side of the church, the bride, her father and her wedding court were all sitting on the right side of the church. Both groups were talking among themselves, but not to the other group. The groom was happy but the bride and her father looked highly pi$$ed off, and the bridesmaid and other girls in the wedding were talking in whispers.
I gathered everyone that was going to be in the photos together and told them what time each group had to be dressed and ready for photos the next morning, that I would be bossy because as many photos as were required we had to be on time, be dressed for the wedding and stay in a group as there wouldn't be time to hunt anyone. The bride's mother wasn't there, another oddity.
My oldest daughter sometimes helped me do weddings and went with me. We got there at 9:30 and I started taking photos of the bride and her court at 9:45 but ran into problems right away. The bride wouldn't smile and her mother was like a crazy woman, bitching and griping nonstop. My daughter gave the mother a stern woman to woman talk and she settled down, but neither her or the bride smiled for any photo. Neither the bride or her mother talked to any of the other girls, or each other, and the others were still whispering to each other. None of them talked to the brides father.
I had told the guys in the wedding to be there at 11:30, I was counting on being through with the girls by 11 but I barely got through by the time the guys arrived. Fortunately the guys were easy to work with, the groom was happy as a lark, all of them cooperated and everything went smoothly and seemed normal. We got the photos done without any problems.
The wedding went okay, but when the minister presented them as man and wife and announced there would be a reception in the fellowship hall everyone in the church except the bride, groom and his parents got up and left, including the minister. My daughter and I followed the bride and groom into the fellowship hall and got the required photos there. I managed to get a small smile from the bride during the toast, but that was the only time she smiled. When the reception photos were finished there wasn't anyone there to catch the brides bouquet so they got in the grooms car and left my daughter and I at the church with Allen's parents, but as we were putting the camera equipment in the van several women came back to help clean the fellowship hall. On the way home my daughter remarked that something was terribly wrong, I agreed.
When the photos came back from the lab a couple of weeks later I called the grooms mother and she came to get them. The first thing she said when she got here was that she felt she owed us an explanation about the wedding. I told her it was a very strange wedding but it was none of my business unless she just wanted to tell us. She said she would feel better if she did and told us what was wrong.
As she had said before, her son had been trying to get Stacie to marry him for three years but she wouldn't. However, Stacie had found out three weeks before the wedding that she was pregnant and had told Allen and both of their parents but said she still wasn't going to marry Allen. Stacie's father got mad and told her she was going to marry Allen and give the baby a name whether she wanted to or not. Her mother got mad at her father, told him she wouldn't allow Stacie to get married and started cursing at him. He told them that if he had to whip the whole damm bunch she was going to marry Allen. Stacie didn't agree but started making wedding plans, her mother got even madder and wouldn't talk to either Stacie or her father.
On Wednesday before the wedding Allen was washing his car in the yard, Stacie's mother pulled in the drive, got out and started cursing him. He tried to calm her down but she got madder and started hitting him with her fists, he backed against the car and covered his face but she kept swinging. Allen's mother heard the racket, looked out the window, saw what was happening and ran outside and tackled the woman. They were rolling around in the yard fighting and one of the neighbors called the police. They didn't live far from the police station and were still fighting when the police got there. Both were arrested and taken to jail.
It just happened that when Allen and his father went to get his mother out of jail they arrived at the same time as Stacie and her father, who were there to get her mother out. When they let the two women out, the fussing started again while they were still in the police station. A couple of the policemen were trying to calm the women down but wasn't having much luck until Stacie let out a long, loud scream and then yelled for everyone to shut up. She then told them she had enough, she was going to marry Allen but as soon as the wedding was over she was going to commit suicide, and the next day she told the minister and the others invovled in the wedding. That's where it stood when the wedding took place.
The last I heard, a few months later, Stacie's mother and father were in the process of getting a divorce because of the wedding, but were trying to reconcile. Stacie didn't commit suicide. She had the baby, three years later another one and she and Allen lived together for 11 years before divorcing.
A lady came to my house on the 29th of May in 1986 and asked me to do photos of her son's wedding at 1 p.m. on the seventh of June, which was a week from the following Saturday. She said her son was 22 and Stacie, the bride to be, was 21. They had been dating for 5 years, her son had been trying to get her to marry him for the last 3 years and she had finally said yes. I agreed to do the wedding, and told her I would be at the rehearsal to layout the guidelines for taking the photos.
They were getting married in a country church several miles east of here and the rehearsal was on the Friday night before the wedding. When I got there something didn't seem just right. The groom, the best man, groomsmen and the grooms parents were sitting on the left side of the church, the bride, her father and her wedding court were all sitting on the right side of the church. Both groups were talking among themselves, but not to the other group. The groom was happy but the bride and her father looked highly pi$$ed off, and the bridesmaid and other girls in the wedding were talking in whispers.
I gathered everyone that was going to be in the photos together and told them what time each group had to be dressed and ready for photos the next morning, that I would be bossy because as many photos as were required we had to be on time, be dressed for the wedding and stay in a group as there wouldn't be time to hunt anyone. The bride's mother wasn't there, another oddity.
My oldest daughter sometimes helped me do weddings and went with me. We got there at 9:30 and I started taking photos of the bride and her court at 9:45 but ran into problems right away. The bride wouldn't smile and her mother was like a crazy woman, bitching and griping nonstop. My daughter gave the mother a stern woman to woman talk and she settled down, but neither her or the bride smiled for any photo. Neither the bride or her mother talked to any of the other girls, or each other, and the others were still whispering to each other. None of them talked to the brides father.
I had told the guys in the wedding to be there at 11:30, I was counting on being through with the girls by 11 but I barely got through by the time the guys arrived. Fortunately the guys were easy to work with, the groom was happy as a lark, all of them cooperated and everything went smoothly and seemed normal. We got the photos done without any problems.
The wedding went okay, but when the minister presented them as man and wife and announced there would be a reception in the fellowship hall everyone in the church except the bride, groom and his parents got up and left, including the minister. My daughter and I followed the bride and groom into the fellowship hall and got the required photos there. I managed to get a small smile from the bride during the toast, but that was the only time she smiled. When the reception photos were finished there wasn't anyone there to catch the brides bouquet so they got in the grooms car and left my daughter and I at the church with Allen's parents, but as we were putting the camera equipment in the van several women came back to help clean the fellowship hall. On the way home my daughter remarked that something was terribly wrong, I agreed.
When the photos came back from the lab a couple of weeks later I called the grooms mother and she came to get them. The first thing she said when she got here was that she felt she owed us an explanation about the wedding. I told her it was a very strange wedding but it was none of my business unless she just wanted to tell us. She said she would feel better if she did and told us what was wrong.
As she had said before, her son had been trying to get Stacie to marry him for three years but she wouldn't. However, Stacie had found out three weeks before the wedding that she was pregnant and had told Allen and both of their parents but said she still wasn't going to marry Allen. Stacie's father got mad and told her she was going to marry Allen and give the baby a name whether she wanted to or not. Her mother got mad at her father, told him she wouldn't allow Stacie to get married and started cursing at him. He told them that if he had to whip the whole damm bunch she was going to marry Allen. Stacie didn't agree but started making wedding plans, her mother got even madder and wouldn't talk to either Stacie or her father.
On Wednesday before the wedding Allen was washing his car in the yard, Stacie's mother pulled in the drive, got out and started cursing him. He tried to calm her down but she got madder and started hitting him with her fists, he backed against the car and covered his face but she kept swinging. Allen's mother heard the racket, looked out the window, saw what was happening and ran outside and tackled the woman. They were rolling around in the yard fighting and one of the neighbors called the police. They didn't live far from the police station and were still fighting when the police got there. Both were arrested and taken to jail.
It just happened that when Allen and his father went to get his mother out of jail they arrived at the same time as Stacie and her father, who were there to get her mother out. When they let the two women out, the fussing started again while they were still in the police station. A couple of the policemen were trying to calm the women down but wasn't having much luck until Stacie let out a long, loud scream and then yelled for everyone to shut up. She then told them she had enough, she was going to marry Allen but as soon as the wedding was over she was going to commit suicide, and the next day she told the minister and the others invovled in the wedding. That's where it stood when the wedding took place.
The last I heard, a few months later, Stacie's mother and father were in the process of getting a divorce because of the wedding, but were trying to reconcile. Stacie didn't commit suicide. She had the baby, three years later another one and she and Allen lived together for 11 years before divorcing.
