I had the absolute joy of photographing my lifelong friend's wedding over the past few days. Dan and I grew up together through our parent's friendship which has spanned our whole lives. His family are all photographers and most of his friends are aswell - it was the ultimate honour to be asked to capture his special day. Dan married his Japanese bride Ai at the Swan Hotel, Southwold in Suffolk. Dan and Ai met whilst Dan was travelling and working his way around the world a few years ago before returning home with his bride to be.Dan and Ai are 2 of the most dynamic people I have ever met. Dan has established himself as an amazingly successful news/sports photographer in London and Ai has worked her way through a linguistics degree and then gone on to work for NEC helping to coordinate conferences for the company all over Europe. You will never meet a harder working couple!
I arrived with the groom on Thursday night and began to meet all of the wedding party who had arrived from the 4 corners of the globe. Marcus, Dan's best man, had flown in from New Zealand and it had been 4 years since they had seen each other. Marcus was totally pivotal in helping Dan bring off this totally unique wedding and is one of the nicest/wittiest/driest men I have ever met.
A small civil ceremony for family was held in the Reading Room at the Swan Hotel followed by a jaunt down to the beach for family photos. Southwold is a very traditional Suffolk beach town and just oozes class. The beach front is lined with beach huts in an array of striking colours that made a perfect background for our images. After a 'penny drop' session on the beach we returned to the Swan for an amazing meal.
The next day (and about 1700 images taken already!) was the most amazing wedding reception - a garden party cum mini-Glastonbury festival held in the grounds of Dan's mum's house. Jenny (Dan's Mum) and Chris (her husband) converted a derelict barnhouse into an amazing home about 15 years ago and was the perfect environment for the event. Tents were pitched around a fire pit (Well dug Marcus!) in the paddock at the rear of the property whilst the garden at the front was perfect for the hog roast, DJ and live band.
I joined Ai in the Swan hotel a few hours before the party to photograph her being dressed in the traditional kimono - this was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. Yuka, Ai's friend, had spent 2 years at college in Japan to learn the traditional art of kimono dressing and the level of skill, precision and attention would surely take a typical westerner 10 years to learn! It was so graceful to watch how Yuka and Ai worked together to present something that was so breathtaking and I will never forget how fortunate I felt to be witnessing it.
Once dressed, Ai and Daniel took to the streets of Southwold for a photo shoot and the reactions from the passers-by was so cool! Onto the party — the couple arrived at the Barnhouse to a rousing reception and although it was raining at that point, it didn't dampen anybody's spirits. The weather cleared shortly after a delicious meal was served and we then enjoyed live music and pumping dance music late into the night. The evening was topped off with a camp fire by the lakeside and the warmest feeling ever.
Dan and Ai are leaving for a year long round the world trip next Friday, they will fly straight to Cape Town for the World cup and then travel clockwise around the globe as the happiest married couple I have met for the longest time. I wish them both all the love and happiness in the world and just hope the world is ready for them!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment