Our coverage of the Sydney wedding photography / videography scene
Veronica and Allan Wedding
Veronica and Allan’s wedding was one of my most awaited event. Reason being is that it was to be held at the beautiful Chinese Garden in the Sydney CBD. I had always been a big admirer of oriental gardens. It was also my first time covering a wedding there.
It promised to be a beautiful sunny day. Our day began at Veronica’s home in Chatswood where everybody was preparing (including the groom)
Since the groom is not suppose to see his bride until a certain time, poor Allan had to get dressed outside the house.
While Allan and his groomsmen are waiting, we had an idea (for fun) to get him to join the people performing Tai-chi in front of the house. He was game enough to actually do it!
After that relaxing Tai-chi session, our groom was now ready (supposedly) to face the challenge that awaits him. As customary with Chinese culture, the groom is to perform certain “tasks” to prove that he is worthy for his bride. Allan was greeted at the door by the maid-of-honour Amanda. He gave her some monetary gifts. He was then made to read aloud from a script professing his undying love for Veronica. Little did he know that it was the easy part.
The final task for him was to eat a biscuit sandwich filled with pure wasabi fillings. I love my Japanese food but I would not even try this.
As you can see, our groom seems to enjoy it…LOL
He did finish his tasty snack and finally, was proven “worthy” and can now receive his bride from her Mom. Whew, that was tough!
Another Chinese wedding custom is the tea ceremony. The first was held at the same place.
The tea ceremony involves the couple serving tea to their relatives. After drinking their tea, the relative would in turn provide a valuable gift to the couple.
When the tea ceremony was concluded, Veronica had to change to her wedding gown for our location shoot.
We arrived at the St. Mary’s Cathedral in the City to a crowd of demonstrators in front of the church. To avoid them, we had to do our shoot at the side and away from the church.
We then proceeded to the Chinese Garden for the wedding ceremony.
From the Chinese Garden, it was just a short walk through Darling Harbour into the reception venue at The Star Room
There was a final tea ceremony at the reception. Veronica is showing off her bling!
Veronica and Allan’s wedding was a unique experience for me as this was the first time I’ve seen where guests can actually upload photos taken during the day from their mobile devices into an online site created by our couple. Also, the guests voted (using their mobile phones) which act Allan will perform as entertainment. He ended up singing a Cantonese song (which he doesn’t speak) and a dance routine.
It was another beautiful and fun-filled wedding that I’m grateful to have the privilege to cover.
Dodie Labial is a leading wedding photographer that services the Metropolitan Sydney area and other locations.
Hey Dodie, well done fabulous photos! The day went by so quickly so it was nice to see you took the time and effort to capture everything we may not have think of or missed, truly amazing, can’t wait to see all our photos!