BENGALURU: Do you know who knows a couple’s love story even more deeply than their best friends? Well, it’s photographers and videographers. After all, they capture almost every stolen glance that passes between the couple. While most of this is done as part of the job, some stories make their way from camera lens to heart.
For wedding filmmaker Amal Roy, Melinda and Richard’s story remains special. The couple met in the UK but decided to marry in Sri Lanka following Buddhist rituals. “The couple was then in their 40s. I usually record couple interviews. While Richard was comfortable speaking to the camera, Melinda had inhibitions.
She revealed she has a condition where she was losing her speech and was conscious,” recalls Roy. Melinda then changed her mind because she wanted to say something nice about her partner and have it stay on record. “It was an upaid gig but I took it up because it was the sweetest thing I have seen anyone do,” says Roy.
Nikhil Unnikishnan, who has been running Myriad Hues for almost 10 years, shares a 2015 Goa wedding he captured for Vaishali Dinakaran and Ronnie Wechselberger, a mediaperson and German Formula 3 racer, respectively.
The two met at a racing event in Europe but love blossomed in Goa, when Ronnie was in India and asked Vaishali out. “That’s why they decided to have their wedding in Goa. There was no priest involved. It started with a speech by the maid of honour and best man, and then the couple kissed each other and ran to the sea,” says Unnikrishnan.
When you get to witness such stories daily, it might be hard to select a favourite. Manvi Gandotra, founder of 1plus1studios, had the same issue. From childhood sweethearts to college lovers, she has seen it all. Sharing a story, she says sometimes, the simplest stories are the overlooked ones.
Enter Shirley Lyster, a Tamil Christian, and Abhishek Shetty, a Hindu from Udupi, who got married in November last year. “Shirley and Abhishek had a temple wedding in Udupi and Christian ceremony at St Patrick’s Church. He even made an effort to make a speech in Tamil for Shirley,” recalls Gandotra.