Hello, So this colonial African set is getting a lot of criticism for seemingly keeping the racist theme that permeated society during the colonial period. People are saying it's in poor taste to celebrate it in a contemporary wedding. I was just wondering if you guys, who were actually at the wedding could give any context, so there are less people jumping to conclusions? Or feel free to delete my post if you think it's inappropriate to put on your professional page...I'm just personally curious.posted by bitteschoen at 4:32 AM on July 13, 2011
8 hours ago
welovepictures This is ridiculous David. Who are these critics? They know nothing of Africa, except of a past they have read in books. Come to South Africa, see for yourselves. Better to use all this sincere disgust to better peoples lives than fill a blog with comments that are very misinformed. The wedding concentrated on the colonial aesthetics and momentous. Old Suitcases, telescopes, journals, etc. In a country of 63 million, where 80% are black the chances of the waiters being black are obvious. Mpumalanga is a rural area and the venue offers jobs to staff who serve at weddings. Weddings for black, white, indian, all South Africans. Would anyone consider black staff serving black guests racist? No because it is ridiculous. There were white staff who worked alongside the black staff?!? This is such a shame, it really is. How people can make such a passionate and misinformed judgement from 30 images on a blog, not knowing the true nature of the wedding, the people who attended or even having been to the country it was held in beyond us all.
5 hours ago
I'm actually more confused by the bride having organised this from England. I know there are cultural differences (and I spent some time living and working in SA, mostly Durban), but this would really not be cool back home in the UKSeriously? Have you met any ex-pat Bokke?
One of our favorites weddings of the year!...Yep.
With influence’s drawn from Karen Blitzen and Out Of Africa, we set about to re-create a traditional colonial setting. Sourcing from far and wide from movie set prop houses, we energetically set the (Cowshed) stage.
We converted the bar into an army tent, filled with Persian rugs, Union Jack flags, and antique furniture. The most beautiful vintage rose in a delicate sienna colour filled trophies on the bar!
The reception was equally designed and propped out, with antique travel chests, clocks, globes and binoculars with animal skins and buckets, and buckets filled with roses!
The rain came down in buckets, but the mood and happiness from this wedding was evident on this lovely couples faces, and an “out of Africa” experience was had by all!
I'm not outraged, I'm just entirely convinced that these people are assholes. This wedding was incredibly expensive - I, therefore, assume that these people are wealthy and (relatively recently) educated. To say that the theme is problematic (a term, in this context, that anyone who went to college in the 20 year span around which these folks undoubtedly were would have had some glancing familiarity with) would be an enormous understatement. And yet - here they are! Either they are racist, or they completely don't care whether they appear to be racist. For me - in either case - wow, boy, are they assholes!posted by memebake at 6:17 AM on July 14, 2011
On behalf of welovepictures, we feel it necessary to respond to those who we have offended by the wedding titled Colonial African Wedding, posted on our blog recently. The images were maliciously taken out of context in a report by an American online gossip site.Jezebel have also covered the apology - I think Jezebel may be the people that originally bought the photos to people's attention, hence they are presumably the 'online gossip site' mentioned by welovepictures.
We would like to point out:
- that the theme chosen by the couple was in fact based on Sydney Pollack’s film “Out of Africa” and that it was not, in any reasonable interpretation of that term, a celebration of colonialism. By titling the blog post “Colonial African Wedding”, we were naive not to consider the negative implications of using the word “colonial" in the blog title. In hindsight, we understand that this word carries a significant amount of hurt and pain. For this we offer our sincerest apologies.
- that the waitrons who served at the wedding, at the couple’s request, comprised of all race groups found in South Africa, including people of European descent.
- that it was certainly not our intention to offend, belittle or in any other way cause harm to anyone through our work.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge that some of the images, when viewed out of context, could be misinterpreted and regarded as insensitive and offensive. For this we are deeply sorry and offer our sincere apologies to everyone who may have been genuinely offended or hurt by them.
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posted by dismas at 3:00 PM on July 12, 2011 [34 favorites]