MEXICAN BRIDES, OR WHY BELIEVE IN LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID19

I started looking for the origin of the word "love". Because I wonder, how can I talk about love today, when apparently someone's mother wasn't saved by love, and then, it would seem that love isn't so important. "The word *Amma- meant mother, that initial love that all human beings experience. We find a similarity with the word amare from Latin, which distinguishes a mother's caresses, those pampering or cuddling received from true love. A concept that is most recurring throughout the history of humanity." *

A few weeks ago, after being cooped up for a long time, my body was begging me to go out, so I grabbed my face mask and decided to walk around Mazaryk. The shops were closed, red signs saying "Lifesavers, stay home"; and suddenly a bridal gown boutique was being emptied. I asked the mover why they were taking everything, and he loudly and proudly shouted: "it went bankrupt, nobody wants to get married anymore, it's proven it doesn't work." I thought... if he knew that in my case, three people work to make that dream of it working possible, perhaps only with the wedding dress, but it is about working with people's illusions, with their hopes.

And what would humans be without hopes of love? Robots, animals? Evolved beings without attachments? Perfect machines?

Well, honestly, I don't know, all I know is that I feel more alive when a bride looks at herself happily in the mirror with her dress. Everything makes more sense when excited couples and families come to my studio to prepare an important part of what they consider valuable. Yes, I think this today, and perhaps people who knew me before wouldn't believe it. Once with a broken heart, I wanted to deny the existence of love, I wanted to think it wasn't necessary, of course, as self-defense, if it didn't exist, I wouldn't have to suffer its loss. However, the more I tried to distance myself from this feeling, the more it pursued me, found me, flirted with me, took care of me.

Today I am still afraid of having my heart broken, and who isn't? But still, I venture, I learned to feel and let go, and I learned that love is something I always want and can have in my life in different forms if I choose to.

So if this COVID19 situation breaks your heart, I tell you, believe in love, because with it, fighting to live makes sense and even the departure of important people also gains more value, the nourishment in their absence, which becomes presence.

Here are some photos created by people who believe in love, in the celebrations it creates; and perhaps everything we do doesn't make it exist, but it makes it more evident, more present. That's what we dedicate ourselves to, to make you believe, to make you excited, to make you dream, to make you live it, with all your might. The right time and format will come.

Photography by Rubén Faz @rubenfazfoto.

Makeup and hair by Berenice Chavez @berechavez_muah.

Dress design: Débh Herrera @debhherrera.

All a team in the project of @ bodas_mexico2020 www.weddingsmexico.com.mx

Special thanks to my client and model Cinzia Pecci, who shares a bit of her love story.

* 1https: //etimologia.com/amor/