Before you begin....I took over 1000 photos throughout Brock and Marady's wedding day. Seriously. All by my lonesome! And I can't even load 6 of them to this blog because they are too large in format...so you will need to check out the following shutterfly album I made for Brock and Marady to see the photos from their wedding day....
Brockady Wedding Album
Brockady Wedding Album
So, here’s a little background….my sister-in-law, Marady is
Cambodian. She spent most of her
childhood in Cambodia (the country of her birth) before her Aunt was able to
move her and two of her six siblings and father over to Washington State. Since then, Marady has not seen her Mom and
other three siblings because they still live in Cambodia. Marady and the rest of her family here in the
USA have been working hard to save enough money to bring the rest of the family
over and I believe are nearing the fruition of that goal! Marady is waiting for her citizenship to go
through- such a long process!- but she should be an American citizen sometime
within the next year.
She is an amazing cook, especially of Asian food. I indulged on her eggrolls when we were in
Washington. De. Lish. She has a heart to serve and care for others,
which I see reflected in her daily life.
Especially with my brother. She
takes insanely good care of him! Since
they have been married, Marady observed Brock (my brother) cooking pancakes one
Saturday morning. I have been told (by
my brother) that she has since then woken up about 15 minutes before him to
make him pancakes every morning before work.
Wow! I don’t even do that on Ben’s
birthday! I gotta say she is one
thoughtful and observant young woman. A
treasure to be sure. Brock, if you are
reading this, I have told you before: but treasure your wife! She is a gift!
Another thing about Marady.
Since she grew up in Cambodia, her primary language is Cambodian. Her English has improved much since I met her
a few months ago, but on her wedding day, that Cambodian was fluid! As the photographer, I found myself acting as
the observant one….trying to make sure I got the shots she desired and captured
the various customs and details of the Cambodian festivities.
I would be lying if I said that was not a challenge! Especially being pregnant. But it was a good challenge….and I really did
have fun photographing their special day…
The day started bright and early with a Tea Ceremony at
Marady’s Aunt’s house as the girls got ready.
Brock and I showed up, camera in tote, him to participate and me to
photograph the event. However…I don’t
think they were expecting a “photographer.”
Because there was a lot of giggling and hiding of faces. I ended up just sitting and chatting as the
girls dawned make-up and hair-dos and watched Cambodian music videos. (A preview of the wedding reception to come….) Marady’s sister took me under her wing and we
talked for a while. She told me, “you
did your makeup and hair all by yourself?
Awww, that’s okay!” It made me
laugh! I sure hope I looked up to par…. I
did at least have my mom’s help with my hair.
I also learned about some of the Cambodian traditions we
would see throughout the reception. The
most important being: clothing. It is
Cambodian tradition to change upwards of 12 times during a reception. Marady and her sister explained they would
only be wearing three Cambodian outfits in addition to their American wedding
attire as well as party gowns. Kind of
the “abridged” version, if you will. Marady
seemed most excited about all of the beautiful clothing she would wear. Well, she was also excited about gaining a “handsome
new husband” as her sister put it! When
I told Marady and her sister I wore only my wedding gown for my entire wedding
day….they were quite shocked. (Heck, I
would break out my wedding dress any day and wear it again if I didn’t feel so
guilty about opening it from its preservation box. One of these days…when I am not pregnant…I
think I just might do that though. It’s
just so pretty!)
Next up? A
traditional church wedding ceremony. For
us Americans. I lugged my camera equipment
around the church, testing lighting and angles and reserving spots here and
there so I could get a shot without sticking my pregnant self right in front of
some innocent bystander. Turns out I
didn’t really need to reserve any spots; however, because there weren’t as many
guests as we had expected. Apparently
Cambodians put most merit into the reception and so many did not attend the
church ceremony. As for “us Americans,”
we were few as well. But it was a sweet
ceremony, nonetheless.
Charlotte was a little nervous to perform her role as flower
girl and so Ben ended up carrying her down the aisle, tossing petals here and
there. What an awesome flower-dad he
was! Marady had trouble fitting my
brother’s ring on his finger because he had kind of injured it while playing
paintball with the guys two nights before….her face registered shock, nerves
and finally joyous relief when it finally went on. She has a smile that can light up a
room! The couple again flashed their
pearly whites when it came time for the KISS.
I think Marady was nervous…and/or not expecting it. Because she looked quite bashful! And my brother, the gentleman, gave her a
sweet little peck on the lips. Then they
both busted up laughing. Too cute! The pastor teased them a bit and prodded them
to give it one more shot, but Brock did not want to embarrass his new
wife. Really though, too cute!
I did my best to capture these moments throughout the
ceremony and then their exit down the aisle, but I must admit…it is quite tough
to juggle two cameras and a growing baby belly. I ended up planting myself straight down at
the end of the aisle with one camera on a tripod and the other in my
hands. So explains the lack of angles in
ceremony shots…but a girl does what she’s gotta do in such a pregnant state! I made up for the lack of angles with an insane amount of photos.
Following the ceremony we rounded up the family and got the
portraits taken care of. I had not
anticipated the fact I would be in over half of these photos, so that was a
little interesting using a tripod and self-timer. Sister and Photographer, a little double
duty.
Charlotte ensured the newlyweds were tucked safe away in
Brock’s “getaway” car and the two headed off to the park along with the rest of
the wedding party for the bridal party photos.
My husband kindly chauffeured me and all of my camera gear. And then he wrangled our sleepy (and CRANKY!) toddler daughter while I
photographed away. (Oh Benji, you did do
a good job…even though I know you felt a level of stress you have not felt
before. Welcome to my daily life, my
dear! Blessedly chaotic at times…)
I was excited to exercise some creativity at the park. And so was Marady! I saw a side to Marady I had not seen before
as she suddenly became quite assertive, positioning her bridesmaids and
groomsmen here and there. Pretty
hilarious to see her petite self be so direct!
I stood back and watched at this point, because while I wanted to be all
creative…the important part was to get the shots Marady and Brock desired for
their wedding album. And if Marady
wanted a tug of war, then so be it. A
tug of war it is! But I did still manage
to sneak in a few of my ideas. Although
I must give credit to the wind for my favorite shot of the day…
Marady’s veil blew across their faces as I photographed them
from above. It caught them both off
guard and I was able to capture those genuine, room-lighting smiles. Priceless.
We finished up the park shots and the wedding party was
eager to find food. As was I! I located my husband and daughter. I think the two had warn each other out,
Charlotte was in angry tears and Ben had a level of stress written across his
face that I unfortunately know too well from my own personal daily living…(you
know parents of toddlers….the feeling that comes from trying EVERYTHING you
know to calm down your screaming, kicking child and then NOTHING works? And then you blame yourself for not knowing
how to calm your teeny tiny child? And then
you just want to kick and scream along with them….Yeah, that one.) Fortunately our little lady fell fast asleep
as soon as we started driving. Poor
little sweetie!
I craved Chipotle but we couldn’t seem to find it with our
GPS. Sorry Cale. So we went to Marady’s
Aunt’s house instead. And we took turns
going inside to eat some of the prepared food with the bridal party. (Marady’s Aunt had cooked up a feast for the
bridal party and family between the wedding and reception…). We took turns so that Miss Charlotte could
get her much needed sleep, which, on vacation, only seems to take place in her
carseat.
The day flew by, as most days do, and we soon found
ourselves at the restaurant for the Cambodian reception. Chaos ran rampant upon our arrival. The Cambodian band wanted the stage and so
did the cake. The band argued the cake
would be knocked over if placed on stage due to the loud vibrations from the
music. I remember thinking that funny
when they said it. I mean, they did have
MASSIVE speakers. M-A-S-S-I-V-E!!! And multiple speakers. But really, we were in a restaurant. We would be eating dinner. Surely the music would not be THAT loud… (oh boy did they ever prove me wrong…!) Thankfully a compromise was made and the band
and cake happily shared the stage.
The entire wedding party was changed into their first set of
traditional Cambodian wedding clothing….in the shade of blue. The outfits were very intricate with all
sorts of special details. The pants were
none too easy to assemble and required assistance with the draping of the
material. My brother and his groomsmen
are quite confident men and they sure made those draped pants look all the
rage. With their black socks and tuxedo
shoes.
Guests continued to arrive for over an hour as the wedding
party greeted each one with a flower corsage and a bow. Women arrived in gowns fit for a ball! I might have felt underdressed had I not been
pregnant and acting as photographer! But
my oh my, truly the gowns! Very lovely.
The food could not be served until the tables were
full. And, with the guests taking over
an hour to arrive, and a wedding party outfit change in to yellow/gold
Cambodian clothing…. that meant dinner would not be served until later on into the
evening. Finally, the food was served. And I was allowed to sit down and just be “sister”
for a bit and hopefully get a bite to eat.
The first three courses were fish.
Unfortunately I had met my weekly quota for fish earlier that week (You
can only eat one helping of fish during a week while pregnant) and so I ended
up just smiling and waiting.
The music. I
mentioned it earlier, how they would prove me wrong. Boy, did they ever. That music was so loud you had to yell to
talk to the person sitting/standing next to you. And every couple of minutes the speakers
would get that awful high pitched feedback ring from being turned up too loud….but
nobody outside of my family and extended family seemed to notice. Nor did they mind. In fact, I think that was the norm. If the speakers weren’t ringing, then it wasn’t
a party, apparently. Haha! My Mom (who baked and labored over the
wedding cake) and Dad stared down the wedding cake. As though their stares might hold it up from
crashing to the floor before it could be cut.
Their stares must have worked.
Because the cake did, in fact, survive.
Charlotte would have gladly been Mommy's side kick photographer. Maybe one day, sweet girl....
Alas, I had to swap back into the role of photographer just
as a beef course arrived. Brock and
Marady were up and on the go, travelling from table to table in their pink
Cambodian outfits (yup, another outfit change!!!) to collect their gifts. This is a Cambodian tradition. The bride and groom approached each table
where they were then offered a blessing and a challenge of some sort by a table
representative. Brock and Marady then had
to perform the challenge/task in order to receive their gift, usually an
envelope of money. Although one of “us
Americans” brought a very giant teddy bear.
See, Brock gave my sister Pam and her husband, Andrew a large teddy bear
as their wedding gift this past September…I believe it was some sort of pay
back.
(My feet were killing me!
And I cannot tell you how many times I bashed poor Cale against a chair
here, person there, table there, speaker here…)
Brock and Marady then hurried to change again. This time back into their American wedding
attire. The time had come to cut the
cake, toss the bouquet and garter…..you know, all that traditional wedding
stuff. I had to balance my pregnant self
on a stair to the stage directly in front of a speaker during the cake
cutting. The Cambodian band jammed on
and I truly thought Cale would be boomed out of my stomach…. I could feel the
musical vibrations so deep! And somewhere
amidst all of that, Marady changed again!
Into a lovely pink embroidered and beaded gown for the first dance. It was past 10pm by this time and the beer
and wine ran plentiful. And, after their
first dance… I figured I was not needed to capture all of those crazy party moments
on film.
Oh but I jest, Brock and Marady partied responsibly. :)
I sunk into my hotel room bed, quite ready for a good night’s
sleep. However, me being me…I laid awake
most of the night thinking about how I would edit and prepare all of the
wedding photos. And of course I had
Charlotte sleeping next to me…and I use the term “sleeping” lightly.
So there you have it…my brother’s Cambodian wedding with his
beautiful bride and my lovely new sister-in-law, Marady. Congratulations you two, I pray you enjoy a
marriage centered on Christ. May you be
surrounded by the love of family and friends…and maybe eventually move back to
Kansas! Hey, I am just being honest…
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