Ly & Ali brought us back to the Vietnam capital for their splendid wedding at the Sheraton Hotel on West Lake, Hanoi. The morning was spent at Ly’s family home in Hai Ba Trung District  before making our way to Tay Ho where The Sheraton put on a spectacular feast in their ballroom.

We loved to be photographing  back in Hanoi and want to thank Ly and Ali so much for giving us the opportunity to do so at their wonderful wedding.

With Julian is Canada and Aidan on assignment in Nepal, a big thanks to Hanoi based photographer Dominic Blewett for helping  us out with this colourful wedding!

Dominic: “The Ly Club s a great venue and they threw a fine party for their awesome and eclectic group of friends. Thankyou to all of them for making me very much a part of the celebrations rather than just an observer, chup su khoe! I wish Marion and Camilla and all their friends a happy and fun-filled future together.”

Please check back early next year as we have weddings from Hong Kong, Pleiku, Siem Reap and Hanoi waiting to be posted. Happy New Year!

Led by Van Ha and Alex, all the family had made a real effort with their wedding attire and this was one of the most colourful collections of Ao Dai I’ve ever seen!

Although we have weddings next month in Vietnam, Cambodia and Hong Kong this will be our last post for 2010. We would like to wish all our beautiful brides, grooms, families and everyone reading this blog a very happy new year and we’ll be back in 2011 for some more fantastic weddings!!

Thank you to Demetrius Philips for covering the event, we hope to see his images soon, in the meantime here are some snaps from the evening.

HANOI

The 10th October 2010 is a great date to have your wedding ceremony, however Hanoi decided to have its 1000 year anniversary on the same day. Whilst this didn’t cause us any problems, it meant we had to set the alarms for 0330hr to beat the traffic and head out of the city.

And it was really worth it! Nom Pagoda, a little over an hour from Hanoi, is a beautiful spot in a peaceful village. We had the opportunity for a morning photo shoot before the ceremony which was conducted by the monks who lived there, a very special ceremony and the first they had carried out there. Thanks to WedinStyle Wedding Planners for organising the day.

HALONG BAY

The next morning we headed off to Halong Bay, the weather was perfect and “Descending Dragon Bay” was glowing! A leisurely cruise around the bay on The Emotion was followed by a small ceremony and a big reception on the top deck of the boat.

Aidan: Hong is the cousin of a good friend of ours, Mr. Vinh from highly recommended travel agency, Handspan Tours. When she got in touch with us for a pre wedding shoot we knew as she was part of his family it was going to be fun!

As Hanoi is approching it’s 1000 year celebrations, much of the city is in a state of repair and many of the sites we wanted to visit were unapproachable. But not to worry, Hong and The Anh were up for anything and we made our way from Hoan Kiem Lake to Bai Da by the Red River, Long Bien Bridge, The Old Citadel and finished the photo shoot at sunset by West Lake.

The day had brought up quite a thirst and Hong announced she wanted to go for a Bia Hoi (large drinking establishment frequented predominantly by men). Undeterred, in full wedding gown, she gracefully made her way through the spitting and profanity and knocked back a couple of cold ones to recharge from the long day!

What a great couple. It is their An Hoi this weekend and their wedding is coming up very soon. We wish them all the very best!

Big, big “thank you’s” to Kim and Dane (that’s Kim above, looking gorgeous), Vinh and Diep, Anthony and Sammi, and Marc and Hien, whose images are in the magazine.

After the wedding presentation on stage, the new bride and groom and their parents made their way to each and every table, as is custom, to share a toast with their guests. Like I said, there were over a thousand people here, so there was a lot of toasting. After a beautiful evening, I’m sure Thuy Linh and Andy were excited to head back home to start their new life together.

A lost passport and canceled flights due to heavy snow didn’t prevent Thuy and Evan making the long journey over from the US to Vietnam. Evan’s mother was making her first ever trip out of the US and his father’s first for 40 years. However he quickly picked up the language and his speech, delivered in Vietnamese was met by loud applause by Thuy’s family and friends!

Unfortunately Thuy, a semi professional singer had picked up a cold in Hanoi’s cool weather and could not perform her scheduled song but both families thoroughly enjoyed their evening at The Melia hotel Hanoi.