When a wedding is over, I usually drive home with the music turned down low. A lot of energy goes into a wedding morning, and I keep many of my own emotions to myself, because a bride needs to see me calm to stay calm herself. All of that catches up with me on the way back, as a tiredness that sits in the head rather than the body. After Marta and Pedro's wedding it was different: I drove home with a smile I could not wipe off my face.
It was a small civil wedding, and that simplicity was exactly what made it so moving. It took place at La Colmenilla, a country house in Cártama, just inland from Málaga, among palm trees and with the altar draped in tulle. Lua Bodas planned the day, and the photographs are by Ada Bochenek, a friend of the bride. She is Polish and he is from Málaga, the city where they both live. There was no grand protocol and no day spent chasing every detail. There were two people getting married surrounded by the people they love, which is what a wedding really is: the celebration of two people coming together.
The dress said almost everything. The bride bought it from ASOS, by Hope & Ivy: white, embroidered with red, pink and blue flowers, with sheer tulle sleeves falling over her shoulders. It was an affordable dress, and she needed nothing more, because in it she felt like herself: it carried the colours she wears every day and showed how creative and fun she is, far from a classic wedding gown. A big designer name and an enormous budget are not always what it takes; what it takes is a bride who recognises herself the moment she puts it on.
At the trial she was clear about two things. First, she wanted to go on looking like herself, with her own features working for her and nothing that felt like a disguise. Second, she wanted the colourful flowers of her dress to run through her whole look. I did her makeup only, as her hair was done by another professional, and the makeup was designed as soft glam at its fullest: soft, luminous, with skin that still looks like skin.
If I had to show a bride what soft glam means, I would show her these photographs. The tones were chosen warm, to bring out her own colouring and to pick up the flowers and details of the dress, so that the makeup and the dress told the same story.
“It’s me! I love this.”
«¡Soy yo! Esto me encanta.»
She is a very expressive person, someone who talks with her whole face, and the ceremony was one of those that genuinely moves everyone. She cried many times, laughed just as often, and never had to hold back for fear of spoiling her makeup.
The tears left no trace. After the wedding she told me herself that her makeup had stayed flawless through the ceremony and the whole party, and that she had never felt so beautiful.
What she kept coming back to was that she looked beautiful in every photograph, even the ones where she was pulling what she calls funny faces. For a bride as expressive as she is, that is a real success, and it is the reason for that smile on the drive home.
