After seeing countless Western-inspired wedding setups and styled shoots, aren’t we glad to come across something that highlights the beauty of the Orient in a fresh alluring way?
This team of visionary wedding professionals gives us their take on how a setup inspired by ancient Oriental paintings could look like. They have redefined the world depicted in these ancient paintings, put their contemporary twist to it and has presented to us three series of photos that turned out to be works of art on their own.
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Each series is like a painting brought to life and have been given titles to evoke feelings as when one is appreciating a Chinese work of poetry, calligraphy or painting – ‘‘Chinese Landscape 山水’, ‘Pavilion 亭院’ and ‘Portrait 画中游’. Collectively these series formed the “Three Perfections”.
The level of intricacy and feeling of Zen that comes out of these visuals is breath-taking, so let us indulge ourselves and follow along as the team reveals the thought process behind conceptualising each scene.
CHINESE LANDSCAPE 山水
Description | 山水(Shan Shui) refers to a style of traditional Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes.
Synopsis | A continuous synchrony of limpid ripples and sublime landscapes
Behind the scenes | We wanted to build a massive mountainous backdrop which resembles a Chinese landscape painting, and so we went ahead to study the key features of Chinese landscapes and how we can miniaturize larger natural landscapes. We built the mountainscape installation in a way that you can’t see or experience the entire installation all at once. Instead, small scenes were set up so that as you wander through the installation, you come upon several intimate settings to view.
PAVILION 亭院
Description | Chinese pavilion refers to a garden pavilion in traditional Chinese architecture.
Synopsis | An affinity with people and the landscape, a sanctuary to share
Behind the scenes | This particular scene stresses the harmony and affinity between man and nature, and how man interacts with nature. We wanted to achieve that poised and tranquil look, just like ancient Chinese pavilion paintings. We also went for the more high fashion oriental look, with a touch of quirk which we feel will best express such beauty of nature.
PORTRAIT 画中游
Description | In traditional Chinese art, the self-portrait is never the mainstream, and has been heavily influenced by figure painting, in which the figure is situated in a specific setting to form a narrative. More importantly, traditional Chinese portraits emphasize less physical appearances but focus more on the spirit of the subject.
Synopsis | Portrait imagery, the painter’s soul
Behind the scenes | In a portrait painting, the self as a subject seems worthy for focus and attention, equal to other subjects like landscape, still life or other natural subjects. As such, we kept this scene as simple and direct as we can, to bring out that adventurous individualism.
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What do you think?
To us at The Wed Mag, this shoot has re-defined not just the new ways oriental elements can be weaved into a wedding celebration, but that wedding floristry and styling is more than just flowers and table centrepieces. For nature lovers, this form of botanical floristry coupled with immaculate carpentry may be just what you’re looking for to provide a more novel and immersive experience at your wedding.
Professionals behind the shoot:
Photography: Iki Company @ikicompany
Florals and space styling: HellofromFlour @hellofromflour
Gown: Caramel & Co @caramelcompany
MUA: Autelier Makeup @sarahlee_autelier
Stationery & Invites: A Brush with Mel @abrushwithmel
Staging: Onstaging @onstagingsg
Model: KC from Basic Models @kacibeh @basicmodels