Everybody loves a pre-wedding photo shoot... you either love the creative romanticism or love to hate the tackiness of it all.
From a white horse trotting on a sandy beach to the lost bride waiting for her Prince Charming in Buskett, pre-wedding shoots are generally make-believe creations of happy, smiling, romantic couples.
Apart from the ‘plot’, location is the most important element and along with Mdina and Golden Bay – two popular sites – couples will soon be able to opt for the private gardens at San Anton Palace.
In this way we will be able to continue extending help to vulnerable people
The idea is the brainchild of President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, who confessed on television that she was inspired after watching a couple shooting their pre-wedding photos in the public area of San Anton garden. People were getting in the way, she told the presenter of One Night Stand, a light chat show on One TV, and she offered to open the private garden.
When asked about the proposal yesterday Ms Coleiro Preca said San Anton Palace, which is the President’s official residence, had major assets that could be used to collect more funds for the Malta Community Chest Fund. “In this way we will be able to continue extending concrete help to vulnerable people and those in need,” she said.
The proposal had its supporters on the comments board of timesofmalta.com, who viewed it as an innovative way of raising money for a worthy cause. But it also attracted some tongue-in-cheek reviews with someone asking whether he could hold a barbecue there.
In many ways Ms Coleiro Preca’s initiative, romantic or tacky as it may sound – depending on what your view of a pre-wedding shoot is – continues the trend adopted by her predecessors to tap different ways of fundraising for the MCCF.
To many the presidency is nothing more than a massive charity organisation that engages in national fundraising events. That it is also the country’s highest constitutional institution is almost an afterthought.
This imbalance has irked the Voluntary Organisations Commissioner Kenneth Wain, who believes the President has ended up competing with other voluntary organisations. It was an observation he made in the 2013 annual report released last month. In the report, Prof. Wain called to downsize MCCF and urged it to register as a voluntary organisation.
“[In this way] the President can support, sponsor and extend patronage to all the voluntary sectors instead of competing with them,” he wrote.
Without entering into the merits of individual fundraising events, Prof. Wain stood by his comments when contacted yesterday.
“I don’t think the President should compete with other voluntary organisations. That was my opinion in the annual report and I have also relayed it to the current President,” he said.
It is a comment Prof. Wain has repeated often over the years and has gone unheeded.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com