(1180) Bridal Photography

One sure sign of hitting middle age was when things the youngsters do strike one  as being overly luxurious or in a spendthrift manner.

After getting married, having the desired number of children and moving lock, stock and barrel to a small town, I proceeded to hide my head in the sand to devote all my energy to bring up my "treasures". It was much later that we relocated back to the capital city to be with my eldest when he attended Pre-university that I began to meet folks who are much younger than my age group.

When a young single girl in my life group shared that her wedding photography was going to cost $13,000, I was speechless. When she explained that she and her husband, with a photographer and a make-up artist cum hairdresser would spend three day-two nights in Langkawi Island, those present began to see why it costs so much. That was within the first decade of the 21st century.

To think that my first job in 1984 netted me $840 monthly as an IT lecturer in a shop lot college during the recession of the mid-80s. A year or two later I found a permanent job teaching communication in a proper private college, it paid $1,240. Much later I resigned from my full time job to go part-time teaching English. The month I received the highest pay was when I was teaching 21 hours weekly. It was holiday crash courses for third year students who needed to pass their language requirements. I remembered wanting to photocopy the $2,645 cheque, my husband laughed as that was a pittance to him, he is not a teacher.

Sometime in 2014, my nephew tied the knot. He paid $18,000 for his bridal photography. Of course those photos were like works of art. His pictures were taken in a national park.