DAY ONE

Oh my goodness – where to begin with this one…

I first met Shafeena and Derek when they travelled from Seattle to London and commissioned me for their engagement shoot – I knew they were planning a wedding in Thailand, but guessed they’d find another photographer and that the few fairly awesome hours we spent together in London, dodgy the rain and trying to find the best pint of craft beer in a fairly average pub, would be it. So I was ridiculously excited to receive the email asking if I would consider going to Thailand to shoot their Phuket wedding.

Taking place over 2 days, with a Sangeet on the first night, a nod to Shafeena’s Ismaili heritage, and the wedding ceremony itself on the second day; so it seemed to make sense to split this magical wedding into two posts.

The day began as Shafeena had her mehndi on the balcony; friends came and went as wonderfully intricate henna patterns were painted onto Shafeena’s hands. Later in the day, they and all their guests donned their Indian outfits for the festivities. The evening was a mix of ceremony and celebration – the Piti where family and guests came to bless the couple, or Derek’s own version where he got doused with all manner of crazy Thai ingredients – fish sauce anyone?

And, OMG, do these guys know how to dance? The wild dancefloor antics make most English weddings seem pretty demure. Everyone partied up a storm in the Indigo Pearl’s Jomon Pavillion. But without further ado, here’s some shots from the day.

Day two is served up tomorrow.

 

 

DAY TWO

 

A Phuket destination wedding…

On the second day of Shafeena & Derek’s weekend long celebrations – they married as the sun began to set over the beach, under the pine trees of the Siriwat National Park, drank lemongrass cocktails and ate the most incredible Thai food, danced under the stars (seriously – these guys can dance, I’m exhausted even thinking about it), enjoyed pyrotechnics, got driven around in air conditioned vans whilst all the guests had to sit on tradition Thai buses waiting for me to take photos, wandered along the beach as the sun set; watched me wade out into the sea avoiding floating bits of flotsam as I had a specific shot in mind and generally had an awesome time. By the time everyone formed a conga line, dancing around the grounds of the Indigo Pearl, I knew I loved this bunch!

There’s something about working somewhere brand new, somewhere exotic that really excites most visual people – new sights, new smells, gorgeous light, that made this such a treat to photograph.

As before, the wedding was shot at the Indigo Pearl in Nai Yang, Phuket and the day was co-ordinated by Jeanette at Luxury Events Phuket .

As always I hope a picture can tell the story of the day way more effectively than I can by trying to describe, after all, images are my trade, so here we go…

I love to travel and see new places, so if you’re planning a wedding in sunnier (or in fact not so sunny) climes, then do get in touch, you might be surprised that the quote isn’t quite as astronomical as you might expect!

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