Polaroid and the DIY Wedding

Photo taken from A Weiding, Wei Wei Chong's photography site.

Aweiding.com

Gone are the days of the traditional wedding, where Mum and Dad foot the bill, and everything is just so, and so, about fifty years out of date. Gone are the marzipan covered fruitcakes, and other sickeningly sweet markers of tradition which have been spewed like confetti over everything over the years to pacify overbearing relatives. In the modern context, getting married is not so much a way of placating the family, or of pleasing the olds. Most of the ageing in Australia aren’t religiously religious, and are happy enough to see a union take place, in any incarnation. The contemporary wedding is more a way of expressing the individuality of your connection, in an increasingly alternative manner. Weddings are boring enough as they are, without being rigidly traditional.

It’s pretty clear that the self-styled DIY wedding is coming into it’s own.  Dubbed the hipster wedding by The Age’s Matt Brown, there is a growing trend towards these kinds of alternative nuptials. These are more relaxed affairs, where the bride can be dressed in a loosely fitting op shop number that reveals their tattoos, where there is a strict no-suit policy, and Nikes abound as standard footwear. At these ceremonies, there are vintage tablecloths, letter-press invitations, and recycled jam-jars holding hand-picked flowers on the table. Photo booths increasingly replace stiff-suited professional photographers at these weddings.

The DIY wedding has also been chronicled in a book by German author, Die Gestalten Verag, entitled Just Married. And Melbourne seems to be somewhat of an epicentre of the indie wedding world, with two of the featured nuptials in the book being from our city.

Here at Film Never Die we think it’s vital that couples have the chance to celebrate their special day in the most unique, and ultimately the most affordable way possible. While photo-booths have become a popular fodder of the DIY wedding, these are often just too expensive to afford, requiring heavy lifting and supervision by trained staff members.

 An alternative for the thriftily minded bride and groom could be to supply the guests with an arsenal of Polaroid cameras, and films. Polaroid cameras have a unique aesthetic of ethereal nostalgia perfect for capturing the spirit of this kind of event. The prints they create are the perfect memento for the special day, with a space allocated to  caption the image. Putting a few in the centre of the guest’s tables, along with a range of films, will allow guests to capture their own images, and to have fun shooting in this immediate and user-friendly medium. The images can then be taken by guests as souvenirs, or put into a Photo album.

This technology is extremely adaptable, and can be used in just about as many ways as you can think of.

As with the DIY wedding, the way you use the Polaroid is entirely up to you.

 You can see our products in our online shop or as always, come into our brick and mortar store at 374 Mile Lane, Parkville, where we can show you the best way to document your special day.