The Wedding Day

 

 

We met Laurie on the day of the wedding (12th Dec 2013) and walked to our local brunch restaurant that we have now been almost every day since arriving.

 

After eating gorgeous eggs Benedict and orange juice, we all headed back to our hotel room to get ready together and use the iron that the staff had provided us with. I couldn’t decide on whether to wear a bow tie or a normal tie, but decided on both in the end, pocketing the bow tie for later use.

 

Laurie and I decided to learn once and for all how to tie a Windsor knot, but as you can see from the picture, my first attempt failed terrible. The knot is quite a hefty thing, but looks nice and solid.

 

It was quite surreal knowing that in a few hours we would be married, but it was nice to be getting ready with my brother and wife-to-be without all the stressors of a normal wedding such as wondering if the bride will even turn up. Fiona headed out for an hour to find some place to wash and style her hair while I practiced doing up my bow tie.  Luckily, I can still remember how to do it from my graduation day and can even do it without a mirror!

 

When she came back we all went down and asked reception to call a cab. The staff escorted us out onto the street and tried to hail a taxi for us. We had to wait for over 10 minutes on the curb, as the concierge seemed to pick the most inconvenient place for a taxi to pull over.

 

Luckily the drive to the Cotton Tree Drive located in Hong Kong Park is only 15 minutes and we arrived in good time. Here we met Fiona’s cousins, and walked up to the registry office. There was already a wedding party 50 strong who were taking the opportunity to take pictures in the beautiful park, and the guests were all dressed to the nines. We were very lucky that the marriage registry was located in such a lovely place and it saved renting out an expensive venue for the occasion.

 

Linda and Patrick, Doris’ parents arrived shortly after and we headed inside to check in. Once checked-in, we headed back outside to take some pictures and have a quick Skype with my sister and parents.

 

at 4:30pm we were called inside, and entered into the ceremonial room where we were told the process. A few moments later, an unusually young and attractive official came in to do the legal bidding. We each had to stand and listen attentively to the countries rules and regulations, as well as the conditions of marriage etc, and then we had to read a statement to the tune of ” I hereby take thee….” .

 

She then said I could kiss the bride and exchange rings, and that was that. After this, we collected our wedding certificate and walked around the park some more, snapping pictures along the way, until we made it to a bar where we had champagne, beers, and warm whiskey with honey.

 

After a merry hour we decided to get out of our restricting clothes, and headed back the hotel room to change. By this time we were all quite tired, but we met up again in search of nice food and more fun times in the evening.

Day 1 of Filming

The day started at 5am and we walked across the hall to our directors house for hair and makeup. I needn’t have arisen so early because she took about an hour on Fi and then did me in about 5 minutes, mainly just shaping my eyebrows. I’m clearly more photogenic and need less time for makeup.

The crew headed off to the beach to clear away some of the drift wood that the previous typhoon had brought in. We picked up the child talent (a talkeasy student) and shot his scene first on the beach. While we were filming, the army decided to drop by and clean up the beach around us, and then the local athletics club were doing their morning jog up and down the beach.

After 8 takes, it was mine and Fiona’s turn. The first scene was a close up of my face looking nervous and then proposing on bended knee while the waves lapped againt my hairy legs. As I pull the ring from its case, it flies out and lands in the sand, lost.

The nervous scene was done in two takes which added to my confidence, but getting the ring to successfully fling out of the box was more difficult, and after 8 or so takes, the crew decided it was simply too bright to continue filming, and that all the scenes bar one would need to be reshot.

The previous day has been perfect, with their test shots looking lovely, but today was far too bright and overcast and the contrast between the sky and sea was to similar. Another typhoon is on its way and so could disrupt filming further. I guess this is all part and parcel of shooting movies. At least we’re not in the jungle trying to capture a tree frog mating once every blue moon.