Hello lovelies! Have you heard?! It appears that a bit of controversy has sprung up this week surrounding the use of the popular Hunger Games trilogy as a source of wedding inspiration.
Credit: Meghan Christine Photography
As you may be aware, we participated in a Hunger Games styled shoot that was featured on Green Wedding Shoes this week, so we have been following this controversy closely. There are tons of questions flying around about how books filled with violence and gore could possibly have ended up on wedding blogs as pretty inspiration for planning weddings. Everyone seems to be sharing their opinions (and they are strong!) about whether they think it is completely inappropriate and disgusting, fans gone overboard, or exciting and beautiful. The Huffington Post compiled some of these reactions via Twitter and wrote about them in this article (if you want some real-time insight into the controversy then search #HungerGamesWedding on Twitter for a feed of what people are saying). I took the Huffington Post’s approach a step further because I wanted to get a better idea of the overall opinion that was out there – Team Love or Team Hate? So, I searched “Hunger Games Wedding” on Twitter to find all of the tweets talking about the styled shoots and created a word cloud out of the words most tweeted:
At first glance it looks as though Team Love is in the lead, but I’m not sure that is actually the case because the responses from Team Hate varied widely in the words they used and the how they expressed their dislike of the wedding inspiration, which means the text for those words is either very small or didn’t make it into the cloud at all. On the other hand, ‘yes’ ‘amazing’ ‘pretty’ ‘creative’ and ‘love’ were pretty much the only words needed to sum it up for Team Love! So, the confusion remains…
Given the basis of the books – children that are forced to kill – this confusion is completely understandable. I can see why people find the photo shoots strange or inappropriate and completely respect their opinions. However, I stand firmly with Team Love and here’s why. Aside from the fact that I worked with an incredibly talented team and was dying from the creativity that came to life, I loved this styled shoot quite simply because it was inspired. One of my favorite things about inspiration is that it has no bounds – not even when it comes to fighting to the death in the midst of dark horror. Inspiration can literally be found in anything and that is what makes art & creativity so exciting! The inspiration concept for our styled shoot was what the wedding would look like if Katniss and Peeta got married. I thought it would be fun to share with you a few of the images that were compiled for the inspiration board our team used in creating the styled shoot, so here you go:
Credits (clockwise from top left): a well traveled woman; earth age; all sass and shag; february 31st; crush cul de sac
We weren’t the only ones to marry the concepts of the Hunger Games and weddings together (sorry for the pun – just couldn’t help myself!), so it has been really fun to see the different interpretations of it! You can see the other styled shoots from Green Wedding Shoes here and Wedding Chicks here, as well as an inspiration board from Oh Lovely Day here. And just to clarify, I don’t think any of the wedding vendors behind these concepts are saying everyone should go out and have a ‘Hunger Games’ themed wedding (we certainly aren’t). The idea behind a styled shoot is to showcase possibility and to inspire those that are interested in weddings, much like the way a runway show does for fashion.
Now, that’s not to say that finding inspiration in anything is easy (working on this concept was a bit challenging), but do I think it makes finding the pieces of beauty in chaos and ugliness all the more amazing. The world we live in is forever bombarding us with tragedies, pain and darkness, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look past all of that and focus on compassion, beauty and goodness. Sometimes finding a reason to smile when you can’t stop crying can be difficult, but when you do it is all the more satisfying and pure. That is exactly how I feel about the Hunger Games. Behind the horror and violence of the Hunger Games is a sweet story of love that is so touching and tender that it has captivated people everywhere. It is the kind of love story that keeps you turning pages into the wee hours of the night and desperately wishing the trilogy had a fourth book so you could immerse yourself in the story for just a little longer. And our team felt that love was so lovely that it was worth celebrating and decided to take on the challenge of bringing it to life. I now give to you a peek into the love story we imagined… Team Peeta style {Don’t worry, it won’t spoil the story for those of you that haven’t read the series yet. Remember, this is how Katniss and Peeta would be together IF they got married. And if you haven’t read the trilogy – what are you waiting for?! Borrow the books right now!}
Credits: Meghan Christine Photography
Tomorrow I will be sharing some fun ‘behind the scenes’ information about the shoot, the talented team of vendors behind it, a closer look at the DIY details, AND some photos for you Hunger Games fans that weren’t included as part of the Green Wedding Shoes post. You won’t want to miss it, so be sure to stop in! Oh, and here is the original Green Wedding Shoes post if you haven’t seen it yet.
What do you think about using the Hunger Games as wedding inspiration? Are you on Team Love or Team Hate? I’m dying to hear more from both sides so tell me in the comments!
If you are curious what others are saying, here are some of the sources talking about it!
The Huffington Post: Twitterers React to Green Wedding Shoes Photo Shoots
Glamour.com: Subtle Ways to Incorporate Your Obsession w/Hunger Games into Your Wedding
The FW: ‘Hunger Game’ Themed Wedding Brings Panem to Life
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/search/?q=hunger+games+wedding (pin comments!)
Very nice post and well said. I couldn’t agree with you more.
I think you have totally summed it up! For one, I think many people haven’t read all 3 to see how the story ends! It is the same for ALL styled shoot – it is a source of inspiration – not to be taken literally. Well done friend!
I would not argue that the theme is pretty and the shots are lovely. But the truth is its just archery and woods inspired. Using Hunger Games as a model doesn’t bother me because of the gore and violence. It bothers me because the heroine of the book is not romantic, uses most of the romance between her and Peeta simply to survive not because she loves him. And the wedding prepared for in the text is forced by the government and intended to be done for television ratings.
So I guess the subtext behind a Hunger Games inspired wedding is that it is forced upon the couple for the sake of entertaining the country.Which is what I think turns people off to the concept. Its like a Shot Gun Themes wedding.
I guess this would be Peeta’s fantasy. Which makes more sense.
I think it’s quite humorous that so many people are having troubles with this whole wedding inspired theme. I mean, that is what we are looking at, right? Or are we talking about something else? I think you ladies did an amazing job taking the idea of the book and interpreting the beauty and hope from something so many people CLEARLY interpret as a “dark, post-apocalyptic world (as the article put it)”. To me, this is simply art or a form of expression. Everyone sees the world differently, but who are we to say you shouldn’t be looking at it that way?! I think it’s encouraging that you created something uplifting, hopeful and lovely when that’s exactly what the world needs more of! Wish people could be just a bit more kind and compassionate.
I wish people could just enjoy inspiration where it comes from and ignore it if they aren’t inspired. Why does everything have to have a backlash these days. I made the inspiration board mentioned and I also read all 3 books. It wasn’t meant to be a literal Hunger Games wedding, just inspired by it. So yes, a forest, outdoors, archery, braids, etc. People must have too much time on their hands to get up in arms about such silly things. But that’s just my opinion.
Thanks for mentioning my post, by the way :)