I’ve always said and always will believe that getting your day captured on film is one element every wedding should have. Having the opportunity to re-live your day {it’s true what people say, the day goes so fast!} seeing the people who shared the day celebrating with you again, hearing their voices… and I promise, you really do feel like you’ve stepped right back into those very magical moments. You wedding day.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful film of Amy and Lee’s wonderful day captured by Beautiful Life.

Today I’m so happy to be sharing a very lovely {and fun!} Double Happiness day with you from Beautiful Life.

Joy and Shaun of Beautiful Life have a huge amount of experience in capturing Chinese weddings in both photography and in film, and I’m always excited to share their work with you.

This is the wedding of Lee and Amy. The bride and groom had their fun Door Games, the Chinese Tea Ceremony and also their beautiful civil ceremony at Down Hall Hotel.

Amy and Lee’s wedding day had the combined elegance of a beautiful English country house and the traditional banquet at the contemporary Yi Ban restaurant  in London. Perfect!

No Chinese wedding is complete without the Door Games! I spy leg waxing and sticky seaweed!

One sweet moment…

It seems to me that just having the morning games didn’t satisfy their Tze-Mui’s and Hing Dai’s… so for their evening banquet, more games there were. This time for the bride and groom!

What a lovely day it was! Thank you so much to Beautiful Life for sharing with us. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow as I’ll be sharing Amy and Lee’s film highlights.

Carms xo

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Photography + Fiming – Beautiful Life | Ceremony Venue – Down Hall Hotel | Chinese Banquet - Yi Ban

]]> http://www.carmenweddings.co.uk/blog/double-happiness-chinese-weddings-blog/lee-amy-down-hall-yi-ban-wedding-london-england/feed 0 http://www.carmenweddings.co.uk/blog/double-happiness-chinese-weddings-blog/five-minutes-with-she-make-up-studio-hong-kong http://www.carmenweddings.co.uk/blog/double-happiness-chinese-weddings-blog/five-minutes-with-she-make-up-studio-hong-kong#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 10:17:16 +0000 Carms http://www.carmenweddings.co.uk/blog/?p=12854 Wedding. Make Up. Hair. Now this is one popular topic when it comes to my email inbox.

I receive regular emails from brides asking for my opinion when it comes to their make up for a Chinese wedding or where to begin their search for an artist who has experience applying make-up for brides with East-Asian skin tone. Well first of all there is one thing I really believe in – an experienced and professional artist can work with all skin tones and eye shape {something I get asked a lot about!} and my opinion is you need to find that very artist who is experienced and has an amazing kit! But you must also communicate very clearly to the artist the look you would like to achieve… and please have a trial if you can! Collect images online or from magazines to help you illustrate your point. Bridal hair and make-up in the UK can be slightly different to the looks in Hong Kong but I feel brides in Hong Kong are edging towards the natural look. Which is a big Yay from me! However, if a bride is wearing a traditional Kwa, you can get away with  stronger colours to complement the rich and elaborate dress.

For some time I’ve been wanting to share more with my Hong Kong readers and with brides who are planning a Hong Kong Destination Wedding. For this reason, over the next few weeks you will see more posts on vendors who are based in Hong Kong and today I would like to introduce to you make-up artist, Sara of She Make Up Studio. I worked alongside Sara while I was in the city on a styled shoot and she’s fantastic.

Hello and welcome to Five Minutes With She make Up Studio.

Hi Sara, so lovely to meet again! Please tell us a little about who you are and what you do.

I was born in Hong Kong but studied in Australia.  I went to a make-up school at the same time when I was at University doing my Bachelor of Communication. After I graduated I worked in the PR industry full-time and as a freelance make-up artist, but gradually I turned my make-up career as a lifetime job.

Where are you based?

Hong Kong, but I’m available for destination weddings too.

Brilliant! So, do you work with international clients?

Yes, sometimes I have a bride travel from overseas who are hosting their wedding in Hong Kong. I’m in a lucky position where most brides book me based on my portfolio on my website.

Please tell us about what you did before you launched She Make Up Studio?

I was in PR for a Thai cosmetics brand called Giffarine and also for La Mer. I was also freelancing for bridal, commercial and studio shoots in hair and makeup.

Most brides want something a little different and I find at times the bridal make-up look in Hong Kong is quite different to here in the UK. Is there a particular look you are asked to create more of?

Personally I think Hong Kong bridal hair and make-up is a little heavier, even in terms of service time. I usually get booked for 8 – 12 hours a day where I have to be on standby to help them change their hair and make-up – a natural day time look then to the evening red carpet glamour. However I still believe natural elegant hair and makeup is timeless, so I will consider my style to be in-between the Western and Chinese look.

Many of my readers are Chinese brides who are wearing a Kwa or Qipao on her wedding day – do you have any make-up style tips for them?

Always have your hair up for Chinese gown since it already has a mandarin collar which covers your neck. Lighter shadow but red lips match red Chinese gowns perfectly.

What advice would you give a bride-to-be when looking for her perfect make up artist?

Think about what sort of style or look you are aiming for, look at the artists’ job reference and see who matches what you like. Never just take recommendations from friends without looking at the work yourself, because you may find the referral from your friend is not really doing exactly the style that you actually want.

Is there a trend you’re seeing right now?

Even though I’ve mentioned that the Hong Kong bridal makeup are with more colors, I see more brides now prefer to go with natural and timeless. They understand how they don’t want any regrets when looking at the photos 10 years later!

If you wasn’t based in Hong Kong – where in the world would you like to be?

I always want to go back to Australia, I miss everything there! My fiancé’s an Aussie too, so perhaps we might move to Australia some years later, no plans yet of course! If I can work around I would be so happy to work in UK too

And so I hear you’re getting married next month – so excited for you! Do share with us your top wedding planning tip!

Thank you! My advice is don’t ask for too many opinions from other, regarding things like the dress, make-up, decoration, venue etc. Opinions will just lead you to confusion.

Tea or Coffee? And how would you like it?!

Just water please! I need to keep me teeth white for my wedding  :)

Thank you so much Sara! Below you can find the details for She Make Up Studio if you wish to get in touch.

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www.shemakeupstudio.com | facebook www.facebook.com/shemakeupstudio | email – info@shemakeupstudio.com

Hannah and Michael are incredibly busy people. They work 7 days a week around the clock for the family business and to plan a wedding too was impossible, so they knew it was time to get in touch with me to help them. With so much to do and each week was getting closer to their big day, I was virtually working round the clock myself! We had late night meetings as they start work early and didn’t finish work until 7-8pm and we had to get every small detail in place from invitations, flowers, the most incredible vintage Porsche for the groom, decorative items, finalise the catering, car parking for guests for the city banquet reception, arrange timings for all four dress changes for Hannah, including make up and hair, finalise the lion dance route and instructing bride and groom… the list seemed never ending. But the day went so perfectly and smoothly! A huge thank you to the team who worked from early until late for Hannah and Michael’s big day and to Butterworth Photography for these lovely photographs!

Oulton Hall -

Hannah and Michael had chosen the beautiful Oulton Hall for the ceremony and on the morning of the wedding we had gorgeous blue skies and sunshine. The bridesmaids were preparing for the door games and I had selected the most perfect suite for this. Big enough for the brides family to remain in the suite and a private hallway for the Hing-Dai’s!

The fantastic Louise Ingman Hair and Rachel Liney Make Up remained with us all day for Hannah’s hair and make up…

Chinese Door Games

Nervous Hing-Dai’s ready or maybe not so ready?! The Tze-Mui’s were certainly ready!

Seaweed and something super sour! This is for the Sweet, Sour, Bitter and Spicy tradition

Firenza Floral Design was a great pleasure to work with and both of Hannah’s bouquets were gorgeous. We decided to have a bouquet to complement Hannah’s different dresses in particular one for her Chinese Kwa and another softer bouquet for her white wedding dress.

Oriental City -

The bride and groom were greeted by the traditional Chinese Lion Dance on arriving at Oriental City, where the Chinese Banquet was hosted. This was also a very well known restaurant in Leeds owned by Michael’s family.

May I take this opportunity to once again Congratulate Hannah and Michael on a very long and blissful marriage!… Carms xo

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Wedding Planning – Carmen Weddings | Photography – Butterworth Photography | Ceremony Venue – Oulton Hall | Reception Venue – Oriental City | Florist – Firenza Floral Design | Make Up Artist – Rachel Liney | Hair Stylist – Louise Ingman | Porsche Speedster – Private Hire

If you’re not familiar with this Chinese tradition, the Tung-Shing is the Chinese calendar and is used to select ‘Good Wedding Dates’… if you visit this website, you can see the full calendar with a list of the complete recommended dates for a wedding. Or click here to download the printable version - please bear in mind the dates are in Year/Month/Day

For a traditional Chinese wedding, a date is normally very difficult to set until the couple have either consulted a fortune master at the temple or they normally wait until the Tung-Shing is published at the very end of the previous year or at the very beginning of the current year. You can purchase the 2013 – year of the Snake Tung-Shing on Amazon also – this version is most popular among the people of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China.