Say hello to the mom of the moment! A photo of a bride breastfeeding her baby daughter during her wedding ceremony has gone viral, and the photographer who captured the intimate moment opens up to The Knot in an exclusive interview.
The moving image features the bride, Christina Torino-Benton, breastfeeding her 9-month-old girl, Gemma, mid-ceremony at her June 18 wedding. Torino-Benton posted the photo to encourage her fellow moms on the Breastfeeding Mama Talk Facebook page, and wrote, “The moment when you’re getting married and your baby gets hungry.” The couple’s wedding photographer, Lana Nimmons, who immortalized that image tells The Knot that the response and support has been overwhelming.
“The week before her wedding, I remember telling my husband, ‘This is going to be special, I can feel it,’” says Nimmons. “If only I knew.”
Nimmons and Torino-Benton have known each other for decades. “When she had her first daughter, she came to my studio to have holiday portraits taken,” she explains. “When she contacted me about photographing her wedding, I was over the moon! Christina is simply awesome. She just brightens up every room.”
Lana Nimmons, the photographer who captured a powerful photo of a bride breastfeeding her baby during the ceremony, opens up to The Knot in an exclusive interview: “It’s natural, it’s beautiful,” she says. (Photo credit: Lana Nimmons Photography)
That particular moment between mom and daughter was nothing new to Nimmons. “It was taken deliberately in the sense I knew what I photographing,” says the shutterbug, who says she didn’t realize the image would represent so much more to moms everywhere. “I wasn’t like, ‘I need to take a picture of this.’ She’s breastfed in front of me many times. We did our bridal portraits with her feeding Gemma. So it felt like a natural part of the wedding.”
Lana Nimmons, the photographer who captured a powerful photo of a bride breastfeeding her baby during the ceremony, opens up to The Knot in an exclusive interview: “It’s natural, it’s beautiful,” she says. (Photo credit: Lana Nimmons Photography)
Lana Nimmons, the photographer who captured a powerful photo of a bride breastfeeding her baby during the ceremony, opens up to The Knot in an exclusive interview: “It’s natural, it’s beautiful,” she says. (Photo credit: Lana Nimmons Photography)
Nimmons speculates why this photo has gone viral. “Somewhere along the way it became inappropriate to breastfeed in public. I don’t know why. It’s natural. It’s beautiful,” she says. “[We’ve had] so many supporters! Of course, there are a few negative comments, but that’s all part of opening a dialogue. I believe that’s how we grow [as a society].”
Lana Nimmons, the photographer who captured a powerful photo of a bride breastfeeding her baby during the ceremony, opens up to The Knot in an exclusive interview: “It’s natural, it’s beautiful,” she says. In this photo, Christina Torino-Benton holds hands with her new husband, Danny Benton. (Photo credit: Lana Nimmons Photography)
After all, the only opinion that matters in this case belongs to the bride. “She was so proud,” says Nimmons of Torino-Benton. “She was in love with them. I sent them to her the day after as a sneak peek and she was just gushing. [It made] me so happy!”
