Weddings in Movies

"Love...love...love..." - All You Need is Love, The Beatles

Two wedding scenes from two different movies, memorable for different reasons.

Love Actually (2003, Dir. Richard Curtis)

I do suspect this scene helped spur the pre-nuptial videography/photography craze that we now have with weddings, and all the gimmicks that go with them. In the Philippines, it even became the inspiration for a TV advert for Smart Communications (remember the one with Kris Aquino, Jasmine Trias, etc. singing the lines of this song?)

Wouldn`t it be great to have a friend who would come up with something so creative and charming to make your wedding more special? I`d loved to be surprised this way, please. But then again, copy cat attempts will run the risk of being cheesy.  

It becomes all the more poignant if you have seen the entire movie and know the heart-wrenching twist to the story of the the groom, his bride, and his best friend. Simply unforgettable. 

The Graduate (1967, Dir. Mike Nichols)

The long, final scene from The Graduate is memorable in many ways: the melancholic soundtrack (Simon and Garfunkel);  Dustin Hoffman`s mad dash to the church to stop the wedding of his true love to another man; the histrionics that ensue afterwards ("Elaaaaaiiiiinnneee..!!!";  "Beeennnnnn..!!!", sampalan!... suntukan! ...hampasan ng krus?), and of course,  the hero and heroine`s quirky escape via a commuter bus.        

What gets me all the time is that look that Elaine (Katharine Ross) gives after the smile fades on her face. As if she`s saying, "So we`re together now... but what happens next? Where do we go from here?"

Scary.

The Biggest Gig Yet

http://www.davidairey.com/audio-cassette-tape-nostalgia

As a child there were a few things in my life that I was already so sure about, and one of them is my love for the radio and music. Weeknights after studying, weekdays early in the morning before going to school, weekends, and vacations are spent mostly at home, my ears glued to my favorite station-of-the-moment, my mind trying to remember all those new tunes the DJ`s playing... just being happy by my lonesome, unmindful of the classmates and other kids in the neighborhood who played out in the sun, gained socialization skills and had a normal childhood in the process. I even dreamt of becoming a DJ, a record producer, and a writer for Rolling Stone...even until now I think they`re still the coolest jobs.

And how I loved making mix tapes..! I`d patiently wait for the DJ`s cue so I could hit the "record" button of my cassette player at the exact time that a song that I like is starting to play, then make compilations which I sometimes give out to friends, complete with the handwritten playlist on the sleeves of the tape case. I was doing this since I was eight, and with time, the mix tapes were replaced by compact disks.Much later on, collecting and giving out songs as MP3/MP4 files have become so easy and commonplace. The technology`s fail-safe, fast, convenient...but, heck, I miss my tapes, especially those rare finds in music stores that my sister and I used to haunt. I wished I had them converted as e-files before most of them got moldy and cracked.

All this nostalgia-tripping because I`m building a playlist for zee wedding party. I admit, more than the dress, the makeup, the flowers and decor, this is the one that`s making me excited. 

It`s like being eight again. :)  

Hail thee boom box, a.k.a. cassette player here in the PH...I had three.