The overused Cliche “Emotional Rollercoaster” does not seem adequate to summarise the breadth and scale of the emotions I experienced yesterday when my gorgeous Daughter Married her fiancée. Slingshot seems to be a far better word to capture the sensation of being launched at high speed, into an event that had a measured, leisurely pace, that started with a very slow walk down a narrow aisle.
I’m not sure what one is supposed to feel on the occasion of a Daughters Wedding, but given the immense diversity of emotions I worked through, I’m pretty sure at some point during the day I was roughly where I should have been. Which I am guessing is a mix of Pride, Joy and Excitement.
My starting point for this particular ceremony was not good, as I have struggled to build any kind of relationship with the Man who is now part of our family. After a shaky start a few years ago now, I reached out to him a second time, I would send friendly greetings, invitations, and chatty text messages to the young Gent, until I was politely, but firmly asked to stop. This was not apparently culturally or socially acceptable. From there we have remained cognisant of an apparently vast cultural divide, but keen to keep things on a friendly basis, which I am not entirely sure, has always been successful.
As a seasoned Wedding Photographer I am no stranger to the phenomenon that occurs at Weddings, that somehow magnifies benign emotions, morphing them into visceral, insurmountable challenges, that often disappear as quickly as they become manifest. Although sometimes there is a noisy interim period where these various pent-up emotions flood the venue…
Sure enough, yesterday I had my opportunity to experience these moments first hand.
With the hurt of a recent experience still stinging in our respective souls, both Jane and I spoke on the importance of openness in a relationship, and how they should work on collaboration, not competition. During my speech, I held out a virtual Olive Branch to the newest Member of “Team Aston.” As I completed my speech, one more emotion was added to the gamut of chaotic feelings that carried me through the day, Hope 🙂
I spent much of the evening, struggling to retain my composure, that had remarkably, for the most part, held throughout the long, hot day. After Red Wine #2 (Glass not bottle) my resolve gave in, and I collapsed onto the huge bed for a shoulder shaking cry liberating the full gamut of feelings that had accumulated during the proceedings.
The box is ticked, the Wedding is complete, and I delivered all that was asked of me, and hopefully a little more. Now I need a rest because, I can confirm it is many times more difficult for me to be a parent of a Bride, than her Photographer……
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