The groom, the bride, the bridesmaid and Starbucks

Just about every walk through Hong Kong Park you bump into a bridal party of some sorts. Somehow it is always compelling to watch the scenario being played out. It could be the bride on her own, but mostly the groom and bride and a few attendants as you see here. This is not the wedding day, but what they call pre-wedding photography, and already the white high-heels of the girls are scuffed as they traipse through the garden, in search of  unusual locations. In these days, when your glasses fog up as you go outside from the humidity, the bride and bridesmaids have difficulty composing themselves lugging elaborate dresses around underneath the heavy layers of make-up. Perspiration drip from their faces. In fact this whole party was made-up, including the groom. I took some pictures of them and despite the heat they looked wonderful. I was wondering if they made two matching bouquets, one for the pre-wedding photographs and then the wedding day itself. Four bridesmaids sat in our local Starbucks after a grueling session in front of the cameras, now imagine that in London!

Talking about flowers, enormous bouquets are presented at weddings or for businesses celebrations with large A4-sized hand-made writs. Bigger is better seems to be the ethos and they get carted around on delivery trollies. To my London trained eye, used to endless variations of posies or hand-ties, these arrangements seem overwhelming in their composition and choice of blooms. That is till I landed in Happy Valley, that airy neighborhood with a village feel curving around the racecourse that has a sense of space, and saw two florists specializing in the ubiquitous tight bunch of harmonizing or contrasting flowers.