Don’t know about you, but I like a good party. However the party of parties is a wedding, so I have to say I like a good wedding even more. Today I thought I’d reminisce about my favourite assignment of 2013: Cansu & Baskin’s Wedding. Like all the best jobs it was an opportunity to collaborate with some great talent, including a true friend and a great visual storyteller, Ahmet Polat — I certainly wouldn’t have been comfortable attempting to tell this grand a story without him. Over 400 guests! So let it be known that his shots feature prominently in this collection. Now that you know who I documented the event with, let’s introduce you to our two leads in this grand love story, the bride, Cansu, and the groom, Baskin.
Nice couple, no? If only every assignment found me working with such a fun pair. Not surprisingly, their family and friends were a class act and a spirited group of individuals too. When shooting a wedding, I like to include lots of the back story. It’s not simply about the poses, the set ups and I do moments. It’s as much about all the work and all the dear friends that brought two such worthy people together. That’s why it’s really important to document these moments in the lead up since they fly by so swiftly on the day itself.
OK … so after a couple of hours the was suspense killing us all. In the good kind of way. But eventually the drumroll arrived, at least in the proverbial sense, and it was time for all the ladies and gentleman to take their places.
Then it was official. So guess what was next? Celebration of the nuptials! Toasting the happy couple! Getting raucous! Eating. Drinking. Dancing … at least, for those of us who could. Some are better suited to photographing the dance floor than shaking it thereupon. Those people will remain nameless.
Then came the moment all the single women of a certain mindset were waiting for … and frankly, who could blame them after seeing Cansu make such elegance look so effortless?
Once the bride’s final duty was dispensed with, it seemed like it was time to celebrate with a little more dancing. Now it was time to kick it up a notch, Ottoman style.
Hey, Mashallah! Mashallah!
I can tell you that the fun never ceased that night. Nevertheless I will. Ahmet and I recorded hundreds more great moments, so it’s been really tough to edit them down into this keyhole of a glimpse. So please join me in taking a good long look at the happy couple and wishing them a long, long life, packed with as much bliss as is humanly — and perhaps even inhumanly — possible.
Cansu and Baskin, thank you for reminding me how it’s done.
