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I think the smile on my brother's face has been worn out after he has had to pose for over 700 photos to be taken for his wedding photo book over the last two days. Him and Ha had to endure almost nine hours with the photographer and change in to four different outfits each to get enough photos to pick their way through so as to whittle this number down to 100 and then for the studio to whittle this down again to just 30, after touching up the chosen ones. It is a mammoth task but well worth the effort as the photo album is a beautiful book that can be cherished for years to come by the happy couple.
The whole thing started on Monday afternoon where I was allowed to travel with Ash and Ha to the studio to start the task of prepping them both for the shoot. It took roughly and hour and a half for them to do Ha's make-up, hair and get into her first outfit and about ten minutes for Ash to change into his! We were then taken off in a minibus to various destinations starting at the bottom of this mountain and slowly making our way up and down to a resort and beach where the outfits and hair-do changed for more shots. Ha first wore her Vietnamese traditional dress and then a white wedding dress while Ash started with a suit and changed into his Kilt, handmade in Scotland for this very event. Looking very dapper they had to walk, pose, kiss and cuddle for all different scenes for the romantic theme they had chosen. I was fortunate enough to watch all of these things take place and, like a fly on the wall, take behind the scenes shots as memories from the day.
By this point we were all getting a little sweaty and I wasn't even the one changing in and out of clothes all the time! With water and ice cream consumed they then changed into their matching casual outfits for fun pictures on the beach. I helped blow up a load of heart balloons that Ha and I had chosen that morning, for them to use in the beach photos.
Dried off and back in their formal wear, a few more photos were taken before packing up and getting back into the minibus. We went back down the mountain stopping at a few scenic spots a long the way. This was particularly notable at one where I counted six other couples having their photos taken and with the photographers and make-up and hair artists plus the other 'groupies' hanging around each couple, there was barely room to set up any clear shots. It was also interesting to see how the other couples were going about it and the 'props' they had decided to use in their photos. We and two other couples had white bicycles to pose with; others had gone for giant paper flowers. The sunset gave a beautiful light for the photographers to play with and, with a stunning panoramic across Da Nang, you could understand why it was such a popular spot.
We got back to the studio at around 6:30pm. The makeup that had taken so long to meticulously apply, only took a couple of minutes to come off, but I knew Ha would have had a bit more of a problem trying to get the rock hard hairspray out of her hair!
Then on Tuesday Ash and Ha headed back to the studio for more photos but just against a screen (no more trekking round outside!). This was because they had run out of time (and energy) to get the formal photo to be used at the entrance to the wedding reception, which will be blown up and framed for them to hang in their marital home.
As a reward for all the smiling and posing they had to endure, we went out as a family for seafood at the beach. This is a totally different experience than the UK as you choose your meal from the various tanks of swimming creatures before they take it off to the kitchen and cook it up. We chose a load of sharing platters, cockles, squid and a great soup dish where they bring out all the fresh ingredients and a steaming pot on a little gas stove and it's up to you to cook it all up into a rather lovely seafood soup. It was a gorgeous meal and a bit of an indulgence but you can't say know to platefuls of fresh seafood!
On the way home we had to pick up the CD of photos from the wedding photo studio so Ash and Ha could choose which ones they want to put in the album. We had left a few of their things their while we ate our dinner so I went all Vietnamese style and carried my brother's kilt and suit back home, across my lap, on the scooter.
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