this was it, the longest wedding day of the year for me: almost 13 hours of shooting and it turned out to be the hottest day of the year. we don’t experience many heat waves in vancouver… but when they come, the city complains in sweaty moans. haha! that being said, marisa and anson did not utter one complaint the entire day. even when anson took sick in the afternoon from heat stroke [no word of a lie] he promised he was doing just fine… the colour of his face said otherwise. ;) it must be all the perseverance marisa & anson both developed through their 8+ years of medical school each. the blazing hot day started with traditional chinese games outside of marisa’s parents home. anson wasn’t allowed to enter until the bridesmaids granted him permission.

the poor guy had to dance like a fool, make marisa’s name out of slices of bread, answer impossibly hard questions about his bride [eating a banana every time the answer was wrong… banana-eating in 30+ degrees celsius doesn’t sound nice], spin 10x around an umbrella and then run to the other side of the yard [once again, the heat! the heat!] and the grande finale, serenade his bride with a love song. oh and let’s not forget, anson had to fork out a couple hundred dollars to bribe the bridesmaids. boy, they made it tough on the poor man! but anson made it inside and found his bride! so cute.

after a tea ceremony at her parent’s house, it was time to change into her traditional western dress and make the long-drive out to pitt meadows to the beautiful swan-e-set country club & golf course. the hour drive east brought us into more heat [hence anson’s heatstroke mid-day] and very little shade around. we worked it out, scoring some beautiful portraits in time to rest a little before the outdoor ceremony. i was blessed to work with an incredible coordinator for the day, erica of white dahlia weddings and she kept everything on schedule and in control. [she’s also hilariously entertaining. hire her.] i also worked with my two favourite videographers in the world, erin and maclean of hello tomorrow videography. they created my promo video and i love love love them. anson & marisa’s reception took place right after the dinnertime ceremony and it was full of activity — including marisa wearing three dresses [her red chinese dress for toasting, her white dress for their waltz and an evening dress for speeches and evening games.] it was a party all day long — congratulations marisa & anson!

makeup by melanie of mink hair & makeup. she’s awesome.