Growing up as an orphan, I never felt the loss of my parents more than during my wedding. Every detail seemed to add additional salt on wounds that had existed in my soul for years.
Never mind the most obvious question, “Who will give me away at the wedding?”; each subtle detail had a painful color of its own. Trying on gowns, I would specially notice other mothers looking adoringly at their daughters; while ordering my wedding invitations I would painfully realize that my parents’ names would not be listed.
The small village in the south of France where we got married was unimaginably charming, but most of my friends and family were not present and the long Catholic ceremony in French made me feel a stranger at my own wedding.
My French husband tried to incorporate my Iranian traditions into the wedding ceremony, but I had to constantly struggle with my in-laws to prove the importance of each ritual – ‘No, I really do want this song for my first dance,’ or, ‘No, I am not a ‘fanatic’ Muslim but it is tradition for us to have a copy of the Koran on the table!’ By the time dinner was served, I felt completely alone, wondering whether I had made the right choice!
Two good friends then called everyone’s attention to watch a video created collaboratively by my absent family members. The video started off with my parent’s wedding, showing the Iranian ceremony that I had insisted on. As we watched my parents dance to the Persian version of ‘Love Story’, I felt their presence fill my entire being. The room was completely mesmerized!
The video then quickly transitioned to my husband’s life, showing snippets of his childhood, then following our lives together all the way to the romantic proposal. The ending scene switched back to my parents as they concluded their wedding night by freeing two white doves into the air.
Watching the doves fly up, I surrounded my heart to my parents’ presence.
You can appreciate why I now feel so strongly about emerging technology in video space. WeVideo is a new tool I highly recommend for those of you who plan to create a video/slide show for soon to be wedded couples– it allows you to shoot videos and photos, then upload them into a shared library and invite others to collaborate with you for editing, adding or removing footage, all within the cloud space. The best part? WeVideo is free! Check them out: http://www.wevideo.com/