Another week, another great wedding to bring you guys.
Last Sunday, George Hou married Lily Chen in a beautiful ceremony at the Willard Hotel. If you've followed these posts carefully for a while, you'll know that I think the Crystal Room at the Willard is one of the treasures of Washington, D.C., a space that dates back a hundred or so years to the time when "lobbying" actually meant the lobby of this very hotel. So when I heard that's where Lily and George were going to stage their ceremony, I knew they had good taste.
The first time I photographed George and Lily, we were surrounded by beauty of a different kind. It was two months ago and the cherry blossoms had just reached their peak. We met at the Tidal Basin early on a drizzly, chilly morning. It didn't matter, of course, because the blossoms photograph much better on overcast days--there's better saturation of the flowers--and we all had fun watching me make a mess of my pants, sitting in pools of muddy water.
Luckily, there was no rain to worry about on the day of the actual wedding. May 10th was a glorious day here in the nation's capital. George and his family hail from Radnor, Pennsylvania, right near the campus of Villanova University, and I had fun chatting with brothers Tom and Will about our various six degrees of separation. (Kelly Corrigan, the bestselling author of The Middle Place and whose wedding I shot many years ago, comes from Radnor.)
On the other hand, it was a pleasure talking with Lily's father, Chen Shouyan, who doesn't speak English, and who traveled here all the way from China. Sometimes you don't need actual words to get along. He brought his daughter the beautiful traditional Chinese dress you see her wearing in some of the photos, and he was very proud and eager to see me including that garment in the pictures.
Cliff Owen, my assistant and old friend, made a beautiful photograph of Lily and her dad right before the ceremony began. It's simple, quiet and touching.
Towards the end of the night, Mr. Chen and I had an entire conversation and neither of us seemed to notice that we weren't actually speaking the same language. It made it more fun.
Mr. Chen is returning to China in a few days and I wanted to make sure I got this post up before he left. (The Hou family in Radnor is probably equally as anxious!) So for the first time in my life, I'll stop talking (or writing) and just post the galleries.
To see a mini gallery of images from George and Lily, please click here.
See ya,
Matt
