Every once in a while, a wedding crosses my desk that leaves me absolutely speechless. The photography is beyond amazing. The details are so gorgeous. And the love and marriage part of the day is bigger and more amazing than anything I can say. Today is one of those special, special days. The days when I simply can’t say anything special enough to introduce a wedding from Alison Mayfield Photography, so I will simply leave you to take it all in. But promise me you’ll check out the gallery when you’re ready.
I am half Thai and grew up in Bangkok in the Buddhist tradition. So for family, cultural and philosophical reasons it was important to have the Buddhist blessing ceremony in Thailand and luckily Florian was also happy with this.
The other important reason is that a Buddhist wedding blessing is a communal ritual – everybody present is involved in giving alms to the monks and receiving their blessings in return. It is a spiritual rather than religious ceremony, which is very inclusive. It was also lovely (and quite emotional) to have each of our guests pour water over our hands in a blessing at the end of the ceremony (plus we got some great bits of advice!).
The traditional outfits worn for the blessing ceremony are generally specially made. We had ours made by fantastic tailors in Bangkok.
Because so many of our friends had come from far away, my main concern was that everyone had a good time and felt welcome. I think it can be intimidating to turn up at a wedding where some of your friends may not know that many of the other guests, and for an overseas wedding it might be even harder. So our “vision” for the day was to make sure people were happy and relaxed and that the logistics ran smoothly, with a few surprises thrown in! I also think a couple of the Europeans had a less-than-stellar idea of Thailand (ladyboys and drunk gap year students) and luckily we could change their minds!
The most memorable moments from our day, was really enjoying all the different parts of the Buddhist Blessing; I loved having Flo’s family, my family and our closest friends all in the same place; I thought my cousin’s singing was awesome and I loved the speeches (speeches are usually my favourite part of any wedding!) which were quite un-traditional.
As for our visions for photography on the day, I knew I definitely did not want the ‘soft-focus’ approach favoured by a lot of Thai photographers! We wanted them to be natural, documentary-style, and lots of pictures of everyone who was there. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we are incredibly happy with the nearly 2000 photos we got from the two days! I love how the photos capture the setting so well, with so many little details and the candid facial expressions. Thanks so much Alison!
Photography: Alison Mayfield Photography / Bride’s Traditional Thai Dress: Studio 88, Bangkok / Bride’s Evening Dress: Temperly London / Groom’s Suits: Chao Khun, Bangkok / Venue: Indigo Pearl / Day of Planning: Luxury Events Phuket