Just finished putting together an album for a wedding held at the historic Bramall Hall this summer. Bramall Hall for those not familiar with it, is a manor house built in tutor style timber frame, the oldest parts of the hall dates back to the 14th century and the whole house is full of character.

Bramall Hall is licensed to hold weddings, and it is one of my favourite places to photograph weddings at. With a generous court yard perfect for the group photos and many rooms decorated with interesting historic artifacts.

The events team at the hall is friendly and efficient. When weather permits, brides can expect a red carpet welcome on arrival – the perfect start for a special day.

As a licensed venue for weddings, the ceremony at Bramall Hall must be non religious, but it is popular to have a close friend or family to do a reading or two to add that personal touch to the ceremony.

As well as the Great Hall where ceremonies are held, a banqueting room is available for the wedding breakfast, and because it is a separate room, it can be decorated in advance of the ceremony, just one less thing for the bride to worry about on her big day. Of course, many couples opt to go to another venue for the wedding breakfast, but it’s always nice to have the option to dine there.

What makes Bramall Hall especially exciting for a photographer is the different rooms upstairs, offering endless photo opportunities. But of course good photos need time, and I recommend couples dedicate around an hour of their time (or separte half hours) to make the full use of the hall.  I promise you that you’ll not regret spending the time walking around the hall with me when you see the pictures.

Ray Ho – RHOTOGRAPHY

When guests gathered at the Swettenham Arms on a typical English early summer afternoon in leafy Cheshire to witness the marriage of Elaine and Richard, they were in for a celebration with a difference.

The function room at the Swttenham Arms was decked out in a fusion of colours, from the traditional white of the English wedding, to the bright red and gold that is traditional for a Chinese wedding. A busy schedule was planned for the day and the wedding coordinator for the venue was there all the way from the start to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible.

The day went smoothly of course, and after everyone has been fed and watered sufficiently, the happy couple gave the signal for the evening’s surprise entertainment to begin. All through the meal, there have have been much speculation about what the surprise would be, non of the guests knew, even the catering staff came out to see find out what the surprise might be.

Suddenly the loud steady beats of a drum came from the edge of the dance floor, and a Chinese lion danced its way proudly through the patio door on to the dance floor amongst applause from the guests. Then, a second lion came in to the room from the opposite entrance. The room was filled with the rythmic sounds of the Chinese drum drumming and symbols guiding the two lions through their routines.

So what’s the actual purpose behind the Chinese Lion Dance? Other than being a thoroughly entertaining spectacle to watch, the Chinese lion dance was traditionally used to ward off evil spirits and give the happy couple the best start possible.

In this lion dance routine, the lions “chewed” on a lectuce and “spat” it back out at the watching crowd. This is a good luck gesture by the lions. The Chinese name for lectuce is “san choi” which literally translates to “growing vegetable” or “alive vegetable”, and “san choi” sounds like “growing wealth”.

Everyone enjoyed the lions and I have no doubt they will remember this wedding for many years to come. It was of course my job as the photographer to capture the day to its full, and it was my pleasure to be capturing this surprise for the happy couple.

Lions holding scrolls of well wishes

The Lion Dance was performed by Northern Tigers.

Ray
RHOTOGRAPHY.co.uk

Chinese pre-wedding shoot London Eye

Every wedding booking with RHOTOGRAPHY includes a pre-wedding shoot with the bride and groom to be. The idea of a pre-wedding shoot is to allow us to get to know each other a little bit better, so we’re not total strangers on the wedding day. It lets me find out how much directions the couple need during a shoot and how whether they need any special attentions like blinking or extra help with relaxing. This always reminds of of the TV series Friends where the character Chandler just cannot relax in front of a camera.

Anyway, I did a pre-wedding with a difference last weekend however. A “Chinese style” pre-wedding if you like, it’s like a trash the dress shoot backwards. Why backwards?

As the name suggests, a Chinese style pre-wedding shoot happens before the wedding and unlike a trash the dress shoot, preserving and cherishing the dress is one of our aims. I know English readers amongst you will immediately wonder how this can work, with the tradition of not letting the groom see the bride in her dress before the wedding being still widely stuck to; and this, I think, is why it’s usually only a shoot requests for by Chinese customers, because Chinese culture doesn’t have the same tradition / superstition of the groom avoiding seeing the bride in her dress before the wedding ceremony.

Chinese pre-wedding shoot London Palace of Westminster

The result of dressing up in formal gear, and not being at the time constraints of a busy wedding day can be well worth the effort and breaking the English tradition.

I met up with one of my Chinese wedding couples in London recently to do their pre-wedding shoot – Chinese style. The shoot was never going to be easy in terms of navigating the busy streets of London, I had my heavy camera bag, and they had their formal clothes on. Just to make it difficult for ourselves, we had planned 6 locations that is fairly spread out, with the only ways of getting around being walking and the tube.

I shall not bore you with too much details, let’s just say that looking a the pictures on the computer screen made the shoot all worth it.

Few more shots from the shoot can be seen on RHOTOGRAPHY fan page on Facebook
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RHOTOGRAPHY