Chapter 8. Part 3. Stale Potato Chips and More Outdoor Pics.

My Big Fat Guangdong Wedding

Chapter 8.  Clothes, Photos, Swords, and the World’s Most Unsubtle Spy.

Part 3.  Stale Potato Chips and More Outdoor Pics.

 

We survived the morning of day one of the wedding photo shoot.  Lunch at the wedding studio was takeout.  The studio kept a menu for the Kung Fu fast food chain handy.  After 3 bites I shoved mine aside and went out (still in my traditional red shirt) looking for a convenience store to buy some snacks from.  I don’t know what that restaurant chain’s problem is.  They seem to have a firm policy against serving food that’s even close to warm, much less hot.  The time of day and the amount of business of the restaurant don’t matter.  The food always seems to have been allowed to cool for 2 or 3 hours. 

 

 

That entire restaurant chain has now earned a permanent place on my “I’d rather just eat a bag of stale potato chips from a convenience store than pay for yet another bitterly disappointing meal” list.  (Note:  the pic above is a bag of very fresh and tasty potato chips posing as the bag of stale potato chips.  No photos of the actual stale potato chips were taken.)

 

 

After eating my lunch bag of stale potato chips, it was time to change.  The white jacket I’d picked out had not been set aside, so I had to try on each and every white jacket again (and run between the rack with the jackets and the room my darling’s hair was being redone in to get her opinion on each) to find the best fit.   Per prior agreement with my darling, I let them tie my hair back for that scene.

Our dearest daughter had something else to do, so didn’t follow us to the second park where scene 2 of the wedding photo shoot was to take place.  That park is about 30-40 minutes from downtown, is some sort of botanical garden and I saw a sign pointing to a monastery as we drove through the front gate.  Beyond that, I’m not sure where it was or what it’s called.  (Edit: I later checked and was told the lake at the park is either Songshan Lake or is another lake very near to it.)

 

 

The amusing thing was large the number of other couples getting photographed at the park.  There were wedding photo shoot traffic jams a couple of times (alas, no photos of this).  It looks like white suits for grooms are very much in fashion this year.  I didn’t see even one groom in any other color there.  My dearest one asked my opinion on which of the other brides was the prettiest.  I told her that without my glasses on they’d have to get a lot closer for me to tell, but I did point out a surprisingly large bride to her and whispered “She’s at least twice the woman you are.” 

One impressive thing was the massive size of the bridal train used during the photo session.  Despite dragging it all over the place, it only ended up in a few photos.

 

 

The hardest part about this later edit where I add pics is narrowing down the selection.  Here’s another one of my lovely bride-to-be.

 

 

I’ve finally resolved the mystery of the amazing airborne bridal trains and veils I see in so many Chinese wedding photos.  I thought maybe they brought along a portable fan to keep it afloat (or maybe only did those photos on windy days).  Sadly, the explanation isn’t quite as interesting.  Either the prop girl or the photographer’s assistant lifts the end of the train up, waits for the signal from the photographer, and tries to crack it like a whip before leaping out of the frame.

Our photographer was also trying for a special effect shot while the prop girl did this to the veil.  It would have probably worked indoors, but there was too much ambient light.  Sadly, this makes the guy holding the lighting equipment clearly visible in the photo.

 

 

Some of the best photos from the session involved a couple of flowers picked I picked from the park’s foliage and a conveniently located bench.

 

 

Finally, we went back to the studio, recovered our clothing, and had dinner.  Then I got my camera back from my failed/successful spy.

 

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