I recently read an article in the Huffington Post asking this question. Is there such a thing as a traditional gay wedding? Same sex marriage has not been legal for very long and is not legal in many states – yet! Tradition may take time to develop. As we look back on this time as these traditions develop, the importance of photos and their stories leaps out for me.
I think about the photo I have of my grandparents wedding – at least I think it’s their wedding. Was that the tradition in their time? I have the photo but no story to go with it so I don’t really know the answer. Look at their faces. They don’t say much but that is how people posed for pictures in their day. As more and more same-sex couples marry, I hope they will take pictures and put them in albums and write the story of their wedding, the story of how they got to that day and what it meant to them. When I married the first time way back in 1967, the photographer made a beautiful wedding album of the photos he took. All photos, no stories. Who are those people? So many of the names are gone from my memory.
Because this is an historic time in the marriage equality movement, my prayer is that couples marrying now and in the future will take the time to document their special day so that future generations will see what they fought for and how much sweeter it made that day. Without the words, the story is lost.
What stories are your pictures telling? Who will know them after you’re gone?
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