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Published: 12/12/2008 05:00

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VietNamNet Bridge - You just have to drive past the Opera House in Hanoi to know that we’re slap, bang in the middle of another wedding season, says Van Cong Tu .

Summer is over, autumn is here but it’s another less official season that is noticeably underway in Hanoi – namely, wedding season. This means most wedding photographers are busily snapping pictures at some of the most photogenic and iconic locations around the capital city.

The wedding season in Hanoi can stretch from autumn through till spring. While weddings are occasionally observed in the summer, the heat makes a formal dress event pretty uncomfortable for all concerned. “Lucky wedding days” are selected by fortune-tellers and determined by complicated equations involving the lunar calendar birth dates of the couple and other factors.

In addition, certain days are simply considered bad luck. The result is that, throughout the season, there will be days when no-one gets married and days when it seems like everyone is. On the lucky days, you’ll see cars covered in fresh flowers and plenty of unusually shaped pink and white balloons, hotel function rooms will be booked out, rented blue tents will jut out of houses and, of course, women will be dressed in the Vietnamese ao dai (long silk dress).

But in Vietnam, unlike in the west, the wedding photographs are often taken in advance of the wedding, not on the actual day of the ceremony. Young couples approach a ‘one-stop-shop’ wedding parlour where gowns and suits can be rented and photographs taken.

There are studios with romantic back-drops or the couple may choose to go on a shoot to one of several popular locations. On the steps of Hanoi’s Opera House is considered the ultimate wedding photo location. There will often be several couples posing in the vicinity at the same time. Hanoi’s crumbling French colonial buildings also provide an aura of rustic charm.

Other popular spots for wedding photographs include Hoan Kiem or West Lake. By the InterContinental Hanoi Westlake, near where I live, the traffic can be at a standstill from as early as 7am as numerous wedding photo shoots get underway. Once I counted eight going at the same time.

This does become annoying for local residents, especially considering that each couple is accompanied by four or five staff from the photography studio. Props and costume changes also clutter up the narrow laneways. The hotographers’ assistants often have the bride-to-be’s dress spread across an alleyway. I used to wonder if motorbikes ever drove over the dresses.

Then rather embarrassingly when I was taking my dog for a walk recently, he lifted his leg and relieved himself on the trail of one of the gowns! These shoots often involve costume changes where the woman slips out of the white western style dress into a red, pink or purple ao dai.

The fashion for the men is increasingly flamboyant, with white suits seemingly very popular this year. I saw one groom posing with a white violin the other day. Sitting astride a classic motorbike is another appealing prop. Interestingly, the costume changes occur just inside the gate of the pagoda nearby.

There doesn’t seem to be any opposition from the monks or nuns but it does seem a bit inappropriate. By the end of the day on these shoots, it’s interesting to observe the general appearance and demeanour of the couples. No-one’s smiling anymore, the flowers in the brides’ hair are wilting and the hems of their dresses are grubby. It seems getting married can be a real drag.

(Source: Timeout)

Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//lifestyle/2008/12/818384/

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