need ideas of including deceased mother in wedding photo

I have a friend that her mother-in-law to be passed away. the groom was very close to his mother and I really want to incude her in a special wedding photo . can anyone give me any ideas. I was thinking photoshoping her face as an angel looking over the wedding.

I shot a wedding for a gal who wanted to include her deceased best friend in the wedding photos (they had planned to get married on the same day in a joint ceremony).

We used a large framed photo (roughly life sized portrait) that the bride and groom held during several photos.

anitaw2 wrote in post #17937233
I have a friend that her mother-in-law to be passed away. the groom was very close to his mother and I really want to incude her in a special wedding photo . can anyone give me any ideas. I was thinking photoshoping her face as an angel looking over the wedding.

Before you use this idea, I think it'd be best to make sure its theme is consistent with the couple's beliefs about personal continuity. People differ a lot on spiritual matters.

Another consideration is the context of your presentation. Are you the/an official photographer for the wedding, or would your photo be a private gift?

I thought I would comment here since I am very keen into these spiritual matter of things. Well, her face in the couple's photos or photo? Won't this be too much of an attachment? He has to let go at one point. I am not saying this particular photo may destroy the marriage but.....I think her presence should be more subtle. How about the couples holding something of sentimental value of his deceased mother?

Her face as an angel? No offense..is so cliché and are they Christians? What if they are Jewish???

TooManyShots wrote in post #17937309
....I think her presence should be more subtle. How about the couples holding something of sentimental value of his deceased mother?.....

Excellent idea! Consider how this photo may be interpreted a decade or two later. An inanimate object (not a photo), identifiable to the couple, would be my suggestion.

TooManyShots wrote in post #17937309
I think her presence should be more subtle. How about the couples holding something of sentimental value of his deceased mother?

Her face as an angel? No offense..is so cliché and are they Christians? What if they are Jewish???

I hope I'm not stepping on toes here (forum rule: don't discuss religion), but the point you raise is one of a cluster of potential concerns. Even assuming that everyone involved is Christian, the OP's friend may not believe as the OP does. In the Bible, angels aren't something that humans become after death. Angels are a different kind of being. Modern cartoon angels with halo and wings are a caricature of the popular (nonbiblical) conception of angels.

The couple could hold something, as you suggest, or they could light a candle in front of a photo of the mother, but any such photos would require posing them. The OP's post doesn't tell me that that's what she wants to do or can do. Let's wait and find out whether she's "the" photographer or a guest.

Ask them what and if they want it.

Honestly and respectfully, I find this whole idea creepy in both principle and execution.

I'd rather frame a portrait of the mother and then arrange a couple or group picture around it, with them holding the photo or with it hanging on a wall or a prominent place.

Hi, Done exactly that a couple of weeks back for the bride whose mother had died three months previous. Not sure how it would be received but they loved it. Photo is with her father.

People are making it out to be too big a deal, it's not, it's a photo you like it or not.

Alveric wrote in post #17937443
Honestly and respectfully, I find this whole idea creepy in both principle and execution.

I'd rather frame a portrait of the mother and then arrange a couple or group picture around it, with them holding the photo or with it hanging on a wall or a prominent place.

Yes... It is.....

Or you can put a large portrait of her, head and shoulder shot, on a wall and to have the couple standing "around it."

Alveric wrote in post #17937443
Honestly and respectfully, I find this whole idea creepy in both principle and execution.

+1

Biker5005 wrote in post #17937473
People are making it out to be too big a deal, it's not, it's a photo you like it or not.

Is about how far you want to get into it and how tasteful you want the photo to look. You can copy the 80s style if you want to...It would work too.

http://margarettimbrel​l.com/wp/80s-style-duel-portrait/

Had a friend who's mother died before her wedding. She had a special bouquet of flowers placed in the seat her mom would have occupied. When picture time came, they incorporated the bouquet.

Personally the PS'ed mom in a picture would be a little wierd.