I have not been to many weddings, but I come from an Irish family, so there is no messing one of those up! lol.
Funerals on the other hand I have attended many, as a flag folder for deceased Veterans. I can tell you this, there were not many hiccups during the 300+ funerals I did honors for, but even a minor hiccup was a huge deal.
The strangest thing I ever saw was this guy who's brother had died, and this fellow was a photographer..Man he was taking so many photos from different angles on the casket, and having us Marines pose with him, doing thumbs ups holding the bugle...I'll never forget it. talk about weird..haha
Oh, yes. Hiccups at weddings usually become funny stories later, not so much for funerals.
Such a strange request from that man's brother. Some people have weird ways of coping with a death that close. Maybe he thought that's what his brother would have wanted?
My grandmother had albums full of family members' grave sites. Most of them were taken just after the funeral when all the flowers were still laying on the fresh dirt. She had photos of headstones of family members from AR, MO, and NE, all across the middle of the country. I thought it was weird as a kid, but I understand a little now. She wasn't able to visit these cemeteries near the end of her life, and I imagine having the photos was comforting.
Indeed, I never thought about it in terms of coping, surprisingly, but that makes a lot of sense. He was very happy go lucky, completely the opposite of what you typically see from a grieving family member, almost hysterical in his happiness. He spoke about him in a way where it was obvious he looked up to him very much.
Thank you for sharing about your grandmother. Photography, when I was growing up, was a very meaningful tradition of sorts. My father always explained to me the magic of a photograph, that it wasn't just a photo, but a snapshot of a memory. I've never taken photography for granted, because it is certainly true. There is nothing that can bring you back to a moment in time quite like a picture.
I hope the selfie, snap chat filter taking generation doesn't lose the magic of photography, because sometimes, I feel it's taken for granted, or perhaps just not as appreciated as it once was, hell the first people who had their pictures taken had to sit still in front of a camera for what? Like an hour? 😄
Take care friend, nice chatting with you.