BUT… I am also totally looking forward to at least one picture of me with a massive double chin. Why? Because when I laugh, when I'm truly laughing, I get massive chin. And I realized recently that it's great.
I got my master's degree in December (after a trying two and a half years), and it was just me and my friend representing our school. We got to sit next to each other and popped up when our names were called. The dean cracked a joke and we laughed. Someone from the school website snapped our picture. And it was fabulous.
Seriously, I love it. For a second I was like, “…CHIN!” And then I was like, “…awesome.”
I mean, good lord, when you're laughing, you don't give a shit how you look. There's no way I was thinking “Ok, chin down, sparkling eyes, seductive ears.” I was just happy! And, damn, does it show.
My worst wedding photo is my favorite wedding photo
Tribe member SamanthaPink explains why she put vanity aside and embraced the hell out of, quite possibly, the WORST photo of her on her wedding... Read more
Attractive giggling and a well-composed chuckle aren't my thing. I'm a full-mouth, teeth-showing laugher. And I hope that I am laughing at least once on my wedding day and am not caring how I look… because I'll look and feel fabulous anyway.
So yeah, bring on the model-esque posed photos that belong in a magazine, but I hope the photographer also catches me in at least one double-chin moment.
GO BLUE!!!!! Go chins!!!!
I think to everyone but yourself, it’s hard to get past “SO HAPPY” to see things like chins. Unless it’s a seductive ear… then who can resist?!
One of my favorite photos from my wedding is coming down the aisle after the recessional and I’m grinning like a fool. And laughing. And I look crazy happy. With a double chin. I’ve always thought that’s the one flaw in the photo. No more. 🙂 That’s me at my happiest. <3 Thank you.
Awesome! Love your confidence, and I think your laugh is beautiful! As a wedding photographer, I’d encourage you to share this article with your ‘tog… it’s sometimes a hard thing for us when we’re sorting through which photos to give to the couple. I tend to err on the side of sending photos that show great emotion, regardless of whether there’s an “ugly cry” or double chin laugh or whatever going on, because I find it beautiful… but sometimes if I have gotten the impression that the bride or groom isn’t as confident in their body, it’s a hard decision on whether to show them these images or not. Fortunately, most of my clients tend to be of your mindset, but just share this sentiment with your photographer… they’ll be glad to know your opinion and will be less likely to filter out these beautiful images that you want. 🙂
ALL OF THE THIS.
I tend to be self-conscious about the chin thing too but this picture of me with my amazing and wonderful mother on my wedding day? Fucking fabulous.
http://imageshack.com/a/img40/659/aeax.jpg
I have one, too! My mom and I started crying because, well, we’re criers. She pulls a tissue from her bra and my dad cracks a joke about how he had been wondering how she had gotten all that cleavage from.
Cue this picture: http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0092009/photos/90557807@N06/9028838203/
Not an attractive look, by far, but I love the story and the moment of it!
DOUBLECHINMOMPICTURE TWINSIES!
you look absolutely stunning in that photo!
“Seductive ears”… love it.
One of my absolute favorite photos from our wedding day was of the two of us honestly laughing hard at an oopsie. I think we look prettiest with our full-toothed, scrunchy-eyed smiles.
I love this! Yes, it’s important to pose people with an awareness of those things in portraits. But sometimes a bride seems to be controlling herself all day just out of fear that that little extra bit of chin will show – to the point that she doesn’t look as just purely happy as she would if she weren’t worried about it in the photojournalistic moments. A bride with a huge, authentic smile is the best thing to see!
For me, when I’m laughing or smiling really big, my eyes get so squinty that they can look closed. Occasionally I’m a little self-conscious about it. But by far, my favorite wedding-day photos are the ones where I’m laughing, squintiness and all. They really reflect the joy of the day, and isn’t that the point?
(And I didn’t notice your chin at all in that photo; all I saw was a great smile and a lot of happiness!)
I love everything about this post! Looking forward to seeing your wedding profile here with many happy chin photos 🙂
Omg yes thank you for posting this, I am always having to explain to people before booking that because my work focusing on capturing real emotions, it’s not necessarily flattering like the myspace selfie you do in a club. People pose so much that they rarely understand what they really look like when they’re laughing etc. Everyone looks their best when they’re super happy!
Great post. “Seductive ears” cracked me up and made me think of the “bikini bridge” hoax, which was (an ill-conceived?) commentary on “thigh gap”…and now Dove (of the “real beauty campaign” fame!) is marketing skin-softening deodorant, because we’re supposed to worry about the softness of our armpits now. And we only starting shaving armpits in like 1915 because someone came out with short-sleeved dresses and deemed it unladylike to have armpit hair. SIGH. Anyway, point being, someone along the way decided we should feel bad about our chin looking like that when we laughed with full delight, and that someone is an ASSHOLE. It’s just a chin. Smile on!!!!!
I love everything about this article!
It wasn’t until I saw our wedding pictures that I realized I have a sort of perpetual almost-but-not-quite-double-chin pretty much all the time. Or maybe I was just plump on my wedding day? Haha, some women would be devastated, I was just amused: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmdsnowflakes/7555334872/in/set-72157630521442354
Thanks for sharing! Your viewpoint is super refreshing. As a wedding photographer, I’m always battling with myself about those full-honest-laugh photos that I LOVE for the realness and joy yet I worry that the clients won’t like them as much if they aren’t “flattering” in the typical sense. I wish we could all have the confidence you do :0).
100% agree! Some of my favorite photos from our wedding are NOT the most flattering. One of the photos of me being dipped at the end of my father daughter dance adds about 30lbs onto me, but I’m laughing, about to fall over from being hurled into an unexpected (and not particularly well supported) dip at the end of Harry Nilsson’s “Spaceman” and my dad is laughing too and it’s just great. Perspective is so important. The day should be about happiness and love, not about an unrequited modeling career! 😉
When planning photos to shoot at weddings I always try to take a moment or two just to watch the bride and groom have a conversation at one of our client meetings. I take a minute or two before walking into the coffee shop or wherever we are meeting and take stock of their facial expressions. I prefer to have a mental note of when the person is genuinely laughing or smiling and when they are putting on a smile. Those big laughs and honest expressions are my favorite parts of every album and always make me feel like I did my job well.
I embrace my own “flaws” because they make me human, but they also make me the one and only human that my husband decided to spend his life with… so that big nose and the uneven dimples are welcome to stay! The best photo from my wedding is the moment where our then 3-month-old was trying to chew on my hair flowers and I am laughing so hard you can see tears forming. Nothing planned, no model pose, just me with the laugh like a braying donkey.
you literally just pulled me out of an incredible funk. I am getting married in Novermber and have just spent a ton of money on a gym and a diet plan while at the same time feeling like i’ve never looked happier or prettier for that matter.
Yes i should lose weight to be healthy and yes, i do want to look good in my pictures but at the end of the day THIS is what it is all about – the look in my eyes, the tears, the joy the laughter the stupid faces my fiancé make at each other — boy oh boy I wish I’d read this before that contract was signed!!!!
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing!
Renee, if you’re looking for more positivity today, I strongly recommend reading through this archive:
http://offbeatwed.com/tag/body-image
Your wedding should make you feel happy and gorgeous!
Thank you so much! I really needed this. Being a fuller figured lass blessed with a voluptuous chin, this really spoke to me. I’ve always hated my double chin, probably more self-conscious about it than I am my belly, and have kinda been dreading the wedding photos. Your words have given me pause … time to adjust that mindset and just be happy. The only people whose opinions will matter will be the people who only see the laugh, not the chin!
One of the first photos I saw of our wedding was definitely a double chin moment. It’s grown on me though, and it’s now one of my favourites. We look like we’re having a lot of fun!
Love this. Though I must ask… What the heck are seductive ears?? 🙂
Fabulous, I agree completely. While I have lost 160lbs so far I still have chins, (although now only one double chin instead of three!) I am getting married in 6 days and I am not going to be stressing all day about where my photographer is, is she getting sideways shots, do my arms look fat, is she getting chins, does my ass look big in this dress!!! My ass looks big because it is! Surely a wedding is about more than superficial things. I intend to look and feel stunning on my big day. That comes from within. Plus size ladies need to realise this 🙂 x
Yes! Just found this post by being self-conscious and googling how to get over obsessing about chin fat (yup, what would we ever do without google).
This was the first post I read. This is the only post I will read. Thanks for making me realize what a stupid thing it is to worry about. Also, you look great and happy!
yassssssssss!!!!