magnetonic

So. Yesterday we had our photos taken for our so-called "wedding album".

Being Canadian, I've grown up with certain ideas about wedding photos from friends and family and, of course, popular culture. I'm sure those of you feel similar to me.

Things are quite different here in Korea. The wedding album is the norm. The wedding album is a custom-made book of studio photos of the bride and groom taken completely separately from the wedding day. Most couples may also take photos the day of the wedding, but usually only of the ceremony.

The album is all about fantasy and indulgement. You wear these costumes (they really are more like costumes than clothes) which can only be described as romantic-bordering-on-ridiculous. Some of the more over-the-top studios have couples dressed in Renaissance garb, or the grooms in translucent blouses with matching cravat. We chose the most classic and simple studio available.

Then there are the "scenes" in which you are photographed. They are all fabricated. Artificial flowers abound in front of fake backlit white windows and a country kitchen. It's like a movie set.

So there you are, hair and make up all done up nicely wearing an evening dress or a bowtie and cummerbund, standing in front of a window that you can't see through, a sconce up above you and a decorative pot of artificial flowers. A few different poses and ten or twenty shots later and you're in a different evening dress or in a vest and tie.

Repeat.

But in some ways, the standard Western wedding is a bit fantastic as well, as you don't normally wear a tuxedo or flowing white dress that needs to be carried by an assistant. The album takes this idea and expands it to a bit of an extreme.

The studio we went to has five floors. Three floors each have studio spaces, dressing rooms, and make up rooms. Each studio space has no less than four different scenes set up, as was described earlier. Some more examples include a fur-covered chaise lounge, a fake stone fireplace with adobe jars, a library, a huge curving staircase, a bed, etc.

The first shots we took were of the "evening wear" ilk. Two outfits for both of us, as described eariler. Lots of posing, no smiles, small smiles, big smiles, slightly tilted heads, some gazing off into the distance and some looking at the camera. In keeping with the fantasy, we also brought our Chinese outfits that we had bought for Halloween and took a couple of pictures wearing those.

Next were photos in our brand new hanboks, traditional Korean clothing. They were amazing. Fully handmade for us. The scene for this was the most appropriate: traditional Korean furniture.

Next were "wedding" photos where I had to wear a cream tuxedo because ... well, it wouldn't make sense to wear only one outfit since the whole point is to constantly change clothes and environments to keep with the fantasy. I didn't quite like the colour, nor the white patent leather shoes with slightly high heels and slightly pointed toes, but I figured it's only one time, so what the hell. And no, I did not resemble a certain colonel.

Round Two of "wedding" photos were outside. Finally I wore a standard black tux with a grey tie and vest. We found a little park-like area with some greenery. Being outside was many, many times better than the studio. I've seen other albums done by the same studio, and, I'll admit, the photos do come out quite nice, if not a little cheesey (but again, that's the whole idea). The artificiality of the studio is lessened with some Photoshop magic, but the atmosphere while posing for photos in the studio is just so different from being outside. I'm hoping that the outdoor photos turn out well, as I'm sure I'll much prefer those over the others.

Within a week, they'll give us a CD with all the photos from which we'll choose the ones that will go in the album. We're just hoping it was worth it, as I have not yet mentioned that the whole ordeal took nine whole hours with no real breaks.

We're also planning to have this studio take photos the day of the wedding, which they would also compile and put into an album.

Oh, and we won't be wearing any of the clothes on our wedding day that we wore in the wedding album. Apparently, there are other, better outfits for the wedding day, which further supports my idea of album outfits as costumes: they are worn by anyone and everyone over and over and over again. I can only assume that the clothes reserved for wedding days are better kept and perhaps a little nicer.

We'll see.

P.S. I'll post some of the choice ones from the CD later on.