Wedding Photos

June 14, 2011 12:37 PM

Some Russian wedding photos. One or two of them might have been photoshopped. Related video, featuring the white birch, which is Russia's national tree.
posted by Greg Nog (55 comments total)

This is the best one and I'll fight you if you disagree.
posted by theodolite at 12:40 PM on June 14, 2011 [3 favorites]

Is good!
posted by JBennett at 12:41 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

New, from the Anne Geddes Bridal collection.
posted by phunniemee at 12:41 PM on June 14, 2011

Man, the Wario Ware franchise just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
posted by cortex at 12:45 PM on June 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Big bear -- Doing thangs, getting married.
posted by boo_radley at 12:46 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

It looks like all these pictures were taken in a photo booth at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.
posted by padraigin at 12:46 PM on June 14, 2011

Why is "[bride|groom] holding tiny [groom|bride]" such a popular meme?
posted by jiawen at 12:49 PM on June 14, 2011 [4 favorites]

These are fun. I want more!
posted by marimeko at 12:49 PM on June 14, 2011

Some of those people are homely. Seriously homely. While this is a little silly, it is fun, and it at the very least no stupider than the American trend of replicating pics of one's childhood as an adult.
posted by Aizkolari at 12:49 PM on June 14, 2011

Why is "[bride|groom] holding tiny [groom|bride]" such a popular meme?

Good question! The white birch is also the state tree of New Hampshire.
posted by Greg Nog at 12:50 PM on June 14, 2011

theodolite, I totally agree! Came here just to say that. It's like they just discovered photoshop. Thanks, Greg Nog--this is awesome.
posted by lagreen at 12:58 PM on June 14, 2011

Why is "[bride|groom] holding tiny [groom|bride]" such a popular meme?

This is one of those questions that I think is better left unanswered. Because I can't help but think that the answer would be really creepy once we traced it to its source.

I couldn't believe that this wasn't a double because I know I saw this months ago and where else do I go on the Internet? Then I remembered a friend had posted it in their Facebook feed, which means I've aligned the snarkiness of my most frequented Internet hangout with the snarkiness of my IRL friends from 20 years ago. Which feels like a good and natural balance -- like a little groom on the edge of a gigantic bride's shoe.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:59 PM on June 14, 2011

Awfully Awesomely Photoshopped Russian Wedding Pictures
posted by desjardins at 12:59 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

This guy has one of those dehydrated brides that reappear when you add water.
posted by StickyCarpet at 1:00 PM on June 14, 2011

Okay, this is inexplicably charming. Especially if you click the link in haste, expecting something more traditionally sweet.

Please can someone put a unicorn in one of them.
posted by byanyothername at 1:00 PM on June 14, 2011

Why is "[bride|groom] holding tiny [groom|bride]" such a popular meme?

Furries.
posted by Malice at 1:05 PM on June 14, 2011

Those seem wonderfully lighthearted and silly-happy.

The only way they could be improved is if they included the officiant, who was an Elvis.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:06 PM on June 14, 2011

I came back from lunch and had a giggle at these. Now, alas, back to work. But this time with a smile on my face.
posted by chatongriffes at 1:09 PM on June 14, 2011

No Russian Wedding photo post is complete without this lovely impressive bold young lady.
posted by Xoebe at 1:10 PM on June 14, 2011

I am so retro-shopping our wedding photos to have our cats, like, I don't know, playing trumpet flourishes. This is awesome.
posted by everichon at 1:17 PM on June 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

In Soviet Russia, photo shops you ... to the KGB!
posted by kcds at 1:19 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

"the officiant, who was an Elvis"

My current top pick for a username, were I to re-register for MeFi.
posted by jiawen at 1:24 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Somehow, TLC will find a way to make a tv show out of this.
posted by drezdn at 1:29 PM on June 14, 2011

Why is "[bride|groom] holding tiny [groom|bride]" such a popular meme?

I'm pretty sure that's just one of the easiest possible effects to create.
posted by hermitosis at 1:30 PM on June 14, 2011

Hors d'oeuvres!
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:31 PM on June 14, 2011

It really is the best wedding video in the history of weddings.
posted by oinopaponton at 1:32 PM on June 14, 2011

Most Orthodox priests look more like bikers than Elvis. I know the guy who married us sure did.
posted by Ideefixe at 1:33 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

For this we gave up Communism? Come back, Joseph Vissarionovich, all is forgiven!
posted by tommasz at 1:36 PM on June 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Why is "[bride|groom] holding tiny [groom|bride]" such a popular meme?

Perhaps you prefer wings? [potentially NSFW stupid crap at bottom]
posted by Muddler at 1:45 PM on June 14, 2011

Fun.

This kind of stuff is all over Eastern Europe and I bet other places as well. Someone was telling me about his wedding video. The last scene was a plane taking off, signifying that he and his wife were flying to the US after the wedding. It was a FedEx plane.
posted by preparat at 2:13 PM on June 14, 2011 [3 favorites]

The JJ Abrams one is particularly fetching.
posted by panboi at 2:13 PM on June 14, 2011

THEY TOLD ME I COULD DO ANYTHING

SO I RIPPED A HOLE IN TIME
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 3:09 PM on June 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

These are awesome. I wish I had known about this when I got married.

I would love to know the cultural significance of some of the "poses" - not just the little-groom-big-shoe but also the ones featuring compound bows.

The chastity chain ones are self-explanatory...
posted by muddgirl at 3:22 PM on June 14, 2011

Why does this lady have a hoof why why why
posted by Spatch at 3:31 PM on June 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

OH YEAH that one, too.

I hope it's just like, "Haha, now that you've married me, I can reveal my TRUE NATURE!"
posted by muddgirl at 3:39 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Awesome.

Most Orthodox priests look more like bikers than Elvis.

Too true. My granddad was a Russian Orthodox priest and he was stylin more on the Elvis side, but there were a couple priests I spied walking around JFK airport with hair that nearly touched the ground and some badass ZZ Top-esque beards.
posted by medeine at 3:43 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Those are not healthy-looking men, on the whole.
posted by gottabefunky at 4:02 PM on June 14, 2011

theodolite, I will fight you with my army of brides and grooms.
posted by maryr at 4:30 PM on June 14, 2011

this is the single greatest image the internets has ever known.
posted by elizardbits at 4:39 PM on June 14, 2011 [6 favorites]

Why does this lady have a hoof why why why

Look, if you are going to mock the bride's feet, we will have to ask you to leave, Mr. Cobbler.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:44 PM on June 14, 2011

I bet they were all taken by guys named either Tim or Eric.
posted by about_time at 5:49 PM on June 14, 2011

Boy, this bride is pissed.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 6:23 PM on June 14, 2011

this is the single greatest image the internets has ever known.

i kind of want to get married now so i can have one of these done.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 8:50 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

These are awesome.

It reminds me of the cottage industry surrounding memory books in India. Every time there's a wedding, birthday, or some other occasion of significance in my wife's hometown village, someone takes their flashcard of digital pictures down to the kiosk on the main drag and for about 800 Rupees a one of a kind, highly airbrushed and photoshopped bound book is produced within 8 hours. The pictures aren't as jokey or gimmicky as these, but there is an over-the-top sentimentality and Hallmark greeting card aesthetic to these books that these pictures remind me of. We have a half dozen of these kicking around the house. Last time we were in India, we had one made of our cats.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:06 PM on June 14, 2011

Some of those pictures reflect a really sweet payfulness, and I'll bet those couples have more successful marriages, on average, than their more serious and solemn couterparts. There's something about them that totally speaks to the 80s girl in me. Maybe it's because they remind me of my prom picture, which features a cheesily romantic tropical sunset and palm trees (in Kansas).
posted by amyms at 9:22 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

playfulness!
posted by amyms at 9:25 PM on June 14, 2011

Ha! These are fun pictures!!

Why does this lady have a hoof why why why
Closet furry? :P
posted by TrinsicWS at 2:35 AM on June 15, 2011

Why is "[bride|groom] holding tiny [groom|bride]" such a popular meme?

I'm pretty sure that's just one of the easiest possible effects to create.
posted by hermitosis at 3:30 PM on 6/14 [+] [!]
It's actually a stock filter in Photoshop CS5.
posted by jtron at 2:42 AM on June 15, 2011

If you have any eastern european friends/relatives, you'll understand these aren't plain cheesy- they are genious cheesy, which means they know it's silliness galore, but they are having a blast with it.
posted by Tarumba at 8:19 AM on June 15, 2011

No, the hoof is what happens if an animal dresses like a human and forgets the feet and shoes part of the costume. ... uurm what is a furry in reverse?
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 8:20 AM on June 15, 2011

I'm pretty sure that's just one of the easiest possible effects to create.

That's so disappointing though, because I was enjoying the idea that the tiny man fetish (look it up) had a huge following in Russia.
posted by RedEmma at 8:27 AM on June 15, 2011

uurm what is a furry in reverse?

Skinjob.
posted by cortex at 8:27 AM on June 15, 2011

I love these. The worst of them is still a hundred times better than the atrocious kitsch that accompanies almost every wedding in the West.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 4:15 PM on June 15, 2011

i kind of want to get married now so i can have one of these done.

me too, except i wanna be the totally pants dragon.
posted by elizardbits at 5:28 PM on June 15, 2011

ha ha. These are just awful!
posted by headshotlondon at 6:32 PM on July 9, 2011