Jasmeena & Doug in Ottawa
After an amazing intimate wedding in Italy, Jasmeena & Doug came back to Ottawa to celebrate the occasion with all of their family and friends...
This time around there was more emphasis on the Thai-Cambodian traditions. The ceremonies were stunning and incredibly colourful:
They chose a beautiful manor for their primary wedding location - The Olde Virginia Manor:
Friday evening was centred around a blessing by 5 Buddhist monks. It was pretty cool! It took a few attempts to catch the holy water in action:
Some colourful accessories for one of the 7 outfits to be worn on Saturday:
One of the groomsmen heading out for the elaborate processional:
The processional, complete with treasure bearers, musicians (not pictured) and many family and friends:
The ceremony was no shorter than 3 hours and was a joy to witness and photograph. I could have taken detail shots for another 3 hours:
It was very intimate with all of the family and friends gathered closely around the couple. It allowed me to get in really nice and close (with a long lens, mind you) for frame-filling details like this one:
A couple of quick portraits of the beautiful bride in between one of the many wardrobe changes:
Even the groom had a few ornate outfit changes throughout the day:
Check out the detail in dress number 3 (or was it 4?):
Next up was the "hair cutting ceremony" where guests would come up to the bride and groom and symbolically cut their hair and spray them with perfume:
I love this detail of Doug helping Jasmeena into her shoe. Check out those bracelets and anklets!:
This one is one of my favourite shots of the ceremony. There was a great feeling of togetherness and celebration in such a close and intimate environment. This part of the ceremony involved the guests passing around candles and what looked like wafting the flames towards the couple. Not sure what the symbolism of this is, but it looked cool:
Next, it was time for the guests to dip threads into holy water and tie them around the bride and groom's wrists. I believe they're supposed to keep these threads on as long as possible (until they fall off...but I'm not sure how often this happens):
Next, the guests would take flower petals and toss or lightly adorn the couple in colour.
Then it was time for the fruit teasing. I'm not sure what the official name of this part of the ceremony is, but the premise appears basically to tease your partner by dangling fruit just out of reach. We got some fun shots here, but here's a more serious one:
Some portraits of the happy couple and their wedding party:
Skipping ahead to the reception...A closeup of the first dance highlighting the blessed threads and wedding ring (now with dress number 6, I believe):
It was a long 23 hours of shooting (over 1 1/2 days) but what a great experience for someone who's never witnessed a Buddhist wedding celebration - not to mention a photographer's dream! Congrats to Jasmeena and Doug (again)!
Michael
This time around there was more emphasis on the Thai-Cambodian traditions. The ceremonies were stunning and incredibly colourful:
They chose a beautiful manor for their primary wedding location - The Olde Virginia Manor:
Friday evening was centred around a blessing by 5 Buddhist monks. It was pretty cool! It took a few attempts to catch the holy water in action:
Some colourful accessories for one of the 7 outfits to be worn on Saturday:
One of the groomsmen heading out for the elaborate processional:
The processional, complete with treasure bearers, musicians (not pictured) and many family and friends:
The ceremony was no shorter than 3 hours and was a joy to witness and photograph. I could have taken detail shots for another 3 hours:
It was very intimate with all of the family and friends gathered closely around the couple. It allowed me to get in really nice and close (with a long lens, mind you) for frame-filling details like this one:
A couple of quick portraits of the beautiful bride in between one of the many wardrobe changes:
Even the groom had a few ornate outfit changes throughout the day:
Check out the detail in dress number 3 (or was it 4?):
Next up was the "hair cutting ceremony" where guests would come up to the bride and groom and symbolically cut their hair and spray them with perfume:
I love this detail of Doug helping Jasmeena into her shoe. Check out those bracelets and anklets!:
This one is one of my favourite shots of the ceremony. There was a great feeling of togetherness and celebration in such a close and intimate environment. This part of the ceremony involved the guests passing around candles and what looked like wafting the flames towards the couple. Not sure what the symbolism of this is, but it looked cool:
Next, it was time for the guests to dip threads into holy water and tie them around the bride and groom's wrists. I believe they're supposed to keep these threads on as long as possible (until they fall off...but I'm not sure how often this happens):
Next, the guests would take flower petals and toss or lightly adorn the couple in colour.
Then it was time for the fruit teasing. I'm not sure what the official name of this part of the ceremony is, but the premise appears basically to tease your partner by dangling fruit just out of reach. We got some fun shots here, but here's a more serious one:
Some portraits of the happy couple and their wedding party:
Skipping ahead to the reception...A closeup of the first dance highlighting the blessed threads and wedding ring (now with dress number 6, I believe):
It was a long 23 hours of shooting (over 1 1/2 days) but what a great experience for someone who's never witnessed a Buddhist wedding celebration - not to mention a photographer's dream! Congrats to Jasmeena and Doug (again)!
Michael
Labels: wedding
posted by Michael Moore at 12:06 PM
10 Comments:
I LOVE YOUR WORK. ITS SO AMAZING.
I came across your blog while Googling for Khmer wedding photos to show my boyfriend. This wedding party is exactly what ours will look like when we get there. Your pictures were beautiful!
i found your site while Googling for Khmer wedding to give me some ideas. I have friends that describe the wedding to me but i couldn't picture it. but after looking at the pictures it helps me a lot. Now I can't wait for my own Khmer wedding. So thank you! the pictures were amazing. my favorite one was the picture of the couple for the fruit teasing!
Thanks for your kind words. I'm glad my photos helped. BTW, do you have a photographer already? ;)
Your wedding pictures were AMAZING and it has the artistic eye that many wedding photography lack and as an amateur photographer myself I was extremely anxious in eventually choosing a photographer for my own wedding. Though it won't be for a little while I now know who to call :) My own will be a traditional South Asian wedding which is equally colourful and seeing how you captured such beautiful details I know I can rest easy :)
Hi Anika, thanks for posting and I'm glad you enjoyed the photos! I look forward to hearing from you when you set the date and if you have any questions in the mean time, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.
Cheers,
Michael
Hi there. I just wanted to answer your question about the flame passing ceremony. This is what is have in our program explaining it: Bongvul Pbopul - Passing of Blessings
In this ceremony, currently married couples are asked to gather in a circle around the bride and groom. Three candles are lit and handed from person to person. Each participant passes his or her right hand over it in a sweeping motion towards the couple, sending or throwing a silent blessing to them. Only married couples are asked to participate, as it is believed that they will pass along the special quality or essence which has preserved their union. The candles are passed around the circle clockwise seven times to complete the ceremony.
I love it! Beautiful work! Can't wait for my Cambodian wedding this summer! I also came across this while googling for wedding pictures to show those who aren't familiar with the traditional Cambodian wedding ceremony. Thanks!
Found you on google images. I love it! Especially the first picture and the ankle one. I love how you captured the beauty of the attire.
I love your photos. Maybe I can have you at my wedding in a few years. I have never seen any Cambodian wedding pictures this nice. I love love love your work! I'm glad you had a fun experience with Cambodian traditions.
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