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So... I browsing Jezebel and came across this piece. I happen to think it's really, REALLY innapropriate. I mean, if she had wanted to do say...Africa in the 19th century, or vintage Africa...okay, whatever get all the old guns and chandeliers you want. But to invoke colonialism (in South Africa!) and have an all black staff? That is just too far for me....
I swear if this couple has any black friends, I will be even more embarrassed. I PRAY that they actually know NO black people and are just ignorant as hell.
I was reading some of the comments and someone said maybe they didn't know the wait staff was going to be all black, and maybe they called it a safari theme and the photographers called it "colonial africa"... but either way... it doesn't sit well...
I would be so uncomfortable in there being served, I'm sorry....
I think that's an epic fail of a theme.
wow. And i like how in the comments people were saying they didnt mean to be racist. If you dont see the racism in this you are beyound ignorant, and the lack of intent does not make it ok. So sad.
I really hope this 'theme' was not intentional, but either way, it is still very unsettling.
I started hearing about this yesterday. I am anxious to get home and read into it!! I've heard all kinds of comments on it..
In the words of Jennifer Anniston: There's a sensitivity chip missing.
Aaaaaaaaaah! Nooooo! No, no, no, no, no. Omg. I am in shock. Whew. Deep breaths.
Seriously? Did NO ONE say, "Hey guys, 'Celebrating Oppression' (er, I mean, 'Colonial Africa') might not be the *best* theme"?!?!
Talk about dumb. Sorry. This one really gets my goat.
@ohheavenlyday: it went PAST distrubing.....
Sheesh... and people actually SHOWED UP???? And STAYED????? Yikes! I'd have just turned around and LEFT!!!
Just read the story, and I realise I might get flamed for this, but a part of me feels sorry for the couple... for all we know, they planned a safari theme. Nothing wrong with that. And, unfortunately, as much as I don't like it, the majority of wait staff in South Africa is black. That isn't something the couple is responsible for.
However, if they knowingly chose a 'colonial' theme, rather than just 'old safari' africa, then it's appalling.
@Zinzerena: Yeah. I actually would have left, too. My hubby would have had to stop me from hijacking the microphone and unleashing a little diatribe on the way out.
Ok, let's give them the benefit of the doubt for a second...
First of all, they are in South Africa...so an all-black staff isn't unusual.
Second, nowhere does it say they actually chose "Colonial Africa" as their theme...I think they went with a period in their history (I'm assuming they are South Africans themselves) that was vintage to them.
It does mention they rented props to create the vintage feel...I think this article has some creative editing to make it sensationalized.
@Mrs Moose:I mean, that could be the case, and it could just be a vintage themed wedding, and we're only seeing 2 pics out of the many... We don't know them and maybe it was safari or vintage safari... But I think I would have a really difficult time being friends with this couple if I showed up at the wedding and saw this. I mean, post wedding I'd have to ask, did you really hire an all black staff? Did you think about the implications of having a colonial africa themed wedding in south africa?! I don't get it.
Yeah but... a colonial theme in South Africa is just not the best choice of theme because of the connotations inevitably associated with it. It would be like having an Antebellum South wedding in Georgia at a place where the staff happened to be all black. Even if you weren't directly trying to say, "Yay remember when there was slavery and it was awesome!?" a theme like that pretty much gives that impression no matter what. At worst, this is racist. At best, it's embarrassingly ignorant. Some "themes" are not vintage as much as they are reminiscent of a very dark time in a country's past. This is that.
But what is the difference between this colonial africa wedding in south africa, and say a gone with the wind, or old south, or civil war themed wedding on a plantation with an all black staff? I mean, aside from the african staff having lived during apartheid and that there aren't any living slaves in america.
annnnnnnnnnd oh heavenly day and I posted at the same time, oops!
@PinkPinstripes: The props were from Colonial Africa though, so even if they were shooting for "Vintage" by wearing Campaign hats and hiring "actual colonial pieces from a prop-house" they were at the very least being ignorant to the history of South Africa.
See above comment. No difference. What is a cute "theme" for one demographic is a completely different animal for another.
@dorsay - as much as I don't like it, I believe it's quite hard to find white serve staff in South Africa. And as pink pinstripes mentioned, the couple is South African, and might just have been planning a 'vintage themed wedding.' So their props / items are safari like. It may never have occured to them that it would look that way. I dunno, I just feel like giving them the benefit of the doubt...
: O
This to me is no different than having a Third Reich themed wedding in a predominantly Jewish city. You can claim "Hey, just history buffs!" all you want, but come on! The "vintage safari" theme just doesn't fly with me. The waitstaff are not wearing khaki safari suits and wide brimmed Crocodile Dundee hats; they're wearing what appear to be traditional, colonial SERVANTS uniforms.
WOW I agree I would not feel comfortable AT ALL at that wedding, I would leave , that is just crazy
@Mrs Moose: I don't think it really matters that they couldn't find waiters of the right color. Sometimes there are more important things than a bridal vision.
I think the correct response in that sort of situation would be to pick a new theme.
It's obviously coming across in extremely bad taste! I don't know much about South Africa and at the risk of sounding really dumb, maybe just all of the waiters happened to be black? Because I doubt any of them would actually sign up for that. But still, it looks bad.
Edit: Clearly I'm overreacting. I apologize and will vacate this topic
@teandtoast - I agree with you 100%, if 'colonial africa' was the theme.
If it was, however, 'old safari' I feel sorry for them. I think it could be an honest mistake.
Anyway, that's all I have to say on it.
?????
Did you ever take history in school? I'm not saying "NO VINTAGE ON A PLANTATION." These people didn't choose milk glass and hankies for decor; they chose guns and the traditional garb of colonialists, who were specifically in Africa to oppress Africans and steal their resources. I'm saying if your idea of vintage is, oh, I don't know, bullwhips and bags of cotton and you want to have your wedding at a plantation in the Deep South with a predominantly black staff, that's going to look culturally insensitive and ignorant. That is what happened to these people. They chose decor and props of a time that is documented to be one of oppression to black people in Africa and, as white people living in Africa, seemingly didn't give a crap how that might come off.
Ok and you just deleted your comment so now this makes absolutely no sense but whatever.
At first, I was horrified.
Then I read the article, and realized that, as said above, it's completely sensationalized. The couple did not choose "Colonial Africa" as a theme - the journalist may have chosen those terms, along wtih some (I'm sure) carefully chosen photos. The journalist may have been spot on with the theme, but there's not enough detail to know.
Before jumping down this bride's throat, I suggest finding out if she wanted 'vintage safari' and, being in Africa, happened to have an all-black waitstaff (or perhaps there were white waitstaff, but they didn't make the photos?). How bad would one of the weddingbee ladies who got married in a plantation mansion in a dress reminescent of the 19th century feel if one of their photos with an incidental african-american waitstaff behind them got posted on that news site showing how inappropriate it is to have their "Slavery-era Plantation-themed Wedding"??
Context, ladies, is invaluable. Don't let the media's sensationalist approach lead to snap judgement! This wedding may have been done in extremely bad and inappropriate taste. Or it may have been taken out of context.
(As for all the comments on the guns and props: let's hear the story behind them. If you're doing a 'vintage safari' theme, you'll have rifles.)
This is why I'm not a fan of theme weddings - so easy to get something awkwardly out of context...
I'm gonna go on a different way and say I'd have LOOOOVED to been a bug on the wall in the kitchen and wherever the wait-staff congregated.
It's impossible to know EXACTLY what they were wanting from that article. It'd have been nice to see more photos and know what actually went on.
But on appearances alone? It was definitely in poor taste.
The original link to their photos on their photographer's blog, which is now taken down, is titled "David and Chantal's Colonial Africa theme." So, I think it's pretty safe to say the theme was Colonial Africa and the writer of the article did not just pull that out of thin air.
@ohheavenlyday: I just noticed that myself. The cashed page is still available, but I doubt you'll be able to view the photos (a lot of stuff is blocked at work, so I can't tell if the photos are blocked or just unavailable to it being a cached page...).
That first picture makes me so disgusted. I realize its in context but wow.. this photographer sure did seem to snap some incredibly unflattering pictures for this event.
Just a quick sidenote, and I don't know if this makes it worse or better because I haven't seen the movie, but the photographer came up with the colonial africa theme wording. The couple was going for an "Out of Africa" theme.
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