http://julianwainwrightweddings.com/blog/2011/09/23/jing-alex-hoi-an-wedding-day-one/

http://julianwainwrightweddings.com/blog/2011/09/29/jing-alex-hoi-an-wedding-day-two/

 
Aidan

Both Leanne and Falk are conservationists, doing wonderful things for Vietnam’s wildlife. They met in Cuc Phuong National Park when Leanne was veterinarian at the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program and Falk was working next door as the Head keeper for the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre. As Leanne says the odds of meeting in Cuc Phuong were fairly slim, and people like to remind them that they probably didnt have much choice!

In 2009, Leanne moved to Tam Dao National Park, to work with Animals Asia at their bear rescue centre, and Falk went home to Germany to finish his contract with Zoo Leipzig. So they spent 12 months in a long distance relationship, conducted mainly over skype and with lots of expensive flights to meet each other in different locations. In 2010, Leanne got a job with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Falk moved back to Vietnam so that they could live in the same time zone, and he ended up getting a job at Tam Dao.

I met them in Hoi An at a welcome BBQ on recently developed An Bang beach. The next day was a motorbike trip with the team at highly recommended Hoi An Motorbike Adventures taking in the lush countryside around Hoi An. The wedding day was held at the consistently excellent and beautifully set Red Bridge before late night cocktails at Mr Duc’s very famous Mango Mango!

Everyone had a real experience travelling down through the country and the wedding was nothing but fun and laughs. Thank you Leanne and Falk so much for asking me to cover your special day and I will see you both again soon!

Aidan

The wedding was held at the famous Nam Hai Resort Hoi An and it was everything you would expect from such a prestigious resort, overlooking their palm tree lined pool and private beach. We then made our way back to The Palm Garden Resort Hoi An for dinner and dancing on the beach late into the night.

Superb organisation, stunning resorts, and great guests! Thanks to everyone for a  really wonderful wedding.

Aidan

Slideshow

Sarah and Lance held a wonderful, laid-back wedding affair in Hoi An this spring. And I think Sarah’s vintage-look 1940s wedding dress is now my all-time fave. Red Bridge once again proved itself the best venue in town, and big thanks to Nadine for helping organize everything. I’ll be back in Hoi An at least twice for weddings this year, and to be honest, I can’t wait to get back.

And I couldn’t have hand-picked a better couple to shoot with if I wanted to. Ngoc and Tyler are one of the most fun and friendly couples I’ve had the luck to meet in this line of work. And to make it even tastier, Tyer is a kickass wedding photographer in the Bay Area, so it was great shooting another photographer and talking shop the whole time. We banged out some ideas on the fly together during the portrait shoot, and although you might think it would be stressful having another photographer as a client, it was actually really interesting and a whole lotta fun.

We managed to get in a morning shoot in Hoi An, nice and early before all the shops opened and tourists descended on the old town. Hoi An is great at that time of day, and you can just wander around and use the simple colors and lines of the old doors and walls to frame your images, before they get cluttered with Coca Cola stands and mannequins wearing garish clothes. It’s hard making a clean frame between 8am and 6pm in Hoi An, and getting up early always pays off.

In the afternoon we reconvened for ceremonies at Ngoc’s family’s home in Danang, and then headed out to a massive wedding hall for a much larger reception for friends and extended families, where we roamed from table to table toasting all the guests, as is Vietnamese custom (see last image below). It’s a great custom, showing respect to every guest that attends the reception, but the one problem is that the bride and groom never get a chance to eat, and after toasting 40-50 tables it can get a little exhausting. At the end of the day, we drove to a little fried chicken place and wolfed down some delicious food after a long day. A beautiful day. A long, beautiful day with wonderful people and amazing food (ask Ngoc and Tyler about the banh my stand in Hoi An. That woman is a sandwich artist!) And a whole lotta humidity. And beer. And on that note…. Một, hai, ba… Yo!

In the meantime, a preview from the awesome Tyler and Ngoc in Hoi An, Vietnam.

From a cyclo processional to a stroll with a bottle of champagne in-hand through the streets of Hoi An, Katie and Dave proved that keeping things simple can be the key to actually enjoying your wedding day. No stress, no problems, no worries.

Katie dropped a bit of a surprise on family and friends, who expected the ceremony to be on China Beach. Instead, everyone was whisked off to the Hoi An old town for an impromptu cyclo ride to Hai Cafe, where the ceremony took place in a lovely little courtyard of an old shop house. Just perfect.

Oh, and it didn’t hurt that Kim and Dane both have a great sense of humor, laugh a ton, and were up for anything we suggested throughout the day. And we were able to photograph them at the stunning Nam Hai resort on China Beach. AND at the newly renovated Life Resort in Hoi An. AND at our favorite wedding venue in Hoi An – Red Bridge. Oh yeah, AND the sun was shining all day. It was like everything on the wedding day photography checklist was ticked for us. These days are rare, so I think we probably logged more shutter clicks than usual.

A big shout out to my man Justin who shot with me on this one – always great pictures and always a pleasure to work with.

Image by Julian

The ceremony was set for the fantastic Red Bridge cooking school, a few minutes out of town along the lush backwater canals leading towards the South China Sea. It’s a gorgeous little venue if your having an outdoor wedding, with tropical gardens, swimming pool, beautiful lawns and a bucolic spot along a river.  Only one concern – it’s really an outdoor venue that can’t use it’s best assets if it rains.

And it rained. And rained. And rained.  All day long.

So we all had to adapt to Plan B, which my good friend Nadine – the event planner at Red Bridge – put into effect without a hitch, moving the ceremony from the pool area to inside the bamboo cooking class enclosure. Joleigh and Marcus really didn’t seem to care one bit – there was no way a little rain was going to dampen their big day. And judging by the dancing by the end of the night, everyone else felt the same.

Image by Julian

Image by Aidan

Image by Julian

Image by Julian

Image by Julian

Image by Julian

Image by Aidan

Image by Julian

Image by Julian

Image by Aidan

Image by Julian

Image by Aidan

Image by Julian