Weddings are one of the truly happy milestones in life where two people, usually still in their youth, set out, joined together in matrimony. It’s a time of great emotion, tender farewells to previous lives, hopeful exuberance and excitement, and, perhaps, naive expectations for their future lives together.
I only know of weddings because I’ve been to six of them and photographed each one. The betrothed and then newlyweds all seemed to like my approach, which was a mix of formal poses and candid photos of the happy receptions afterwards. All this was many years ago.
But for me, having never married or had a spouse or partner, weddings are bittersweet. I rejoice, however, in the beautiful smiles and uplifted eyes expressing wonder, hope, nervousness and sheer joy. It’s hard fro find the equivalent at any other time in life. Perhaps at the birth of a child.
These momentous occasions confer a special aura around the couple that is unmistakably evident to assembled guests and photographers such as myself. Two lucky people are, at least momentarily, ecstatically joined together in one unforgettable moment, whether in a soaring cathedral, a Las Vegas wedding chapel, a small country church, before a notary public, or under a cathedral-like canopy of majestic live oaks. I frequently observe weddings on my walks at Charles Towne Landing State Historical Park in the midst of sprawling suburban Charleston. It has a very popular and beautiful spot beneath a canopy of oaks and in front of the historic and elegant 1840 Legare Waring House, situated amidst garden full of azaleas, camellias and roses. I have visited this quiet sanctuary set apart from urban tumult and noise, for more than 40 years, always with my camera, and at all times of the year.
The canopy of live oaks where weddings are held at Charles Towne Landing
The Legare Waring House at the head of Avenue of Oaks at Charles Towne Landing
However, for a lifelong single person and solitary, the blissful weddings of others come with huge caveats. I observed from a distance two weddings this past week alone, one at The Landing and the other at magnificent Magnolia Gardens where I was walking the paths photographing my favorite landscape vignettes and an abundance of flowers. This always brings me great joy.
When I see an outdoor wedding taking place at either of these places, I get very wistful, not sad really, but just thoughtfully mellow and thankful at my age I can now see the big picture in these ceremonies. Some of us are fated never to marry, and that is okay.
But what must it be light, that incandescent love the betrothed show show for each other in that special glow on their faces as they look into each others’ eyes.
I can’t imagine two more beautiful places for a wedding that this park and this garden, each of which I have come to know over decades. I am happy that couples chose such serene and lovely settings for their weddings.
But for me, when I come upon the scene, and listen briefly to the gentle notes of a string quartet, and see the guests, so elegantly attired, youth and aged, arriving and taking their seats, the scene briefly transforms into the private ceremony it is meant to be, albeit taking place outdoors in the splendor of great natural beauty. I hear invisible gates being closed in front of me, and I stand there alone, as if no one was there but me and the wind in the oaks and a few birds singing solitary songs.
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