Space has Memory “In the darkest hour, that’s where the light shines.”We are in a Vietnamese restaurant with a long history. The courtyard is filled with tropical green plants and the cool tiles on the ground. This space, through the baptism of decades, brings fond memories of San Francisco residents (birthdays, weddings, wedding anniversary, first date). After experiencing the ups and downs of city development and expansion, this building is still – Thriving strong, strength is made.
Photography/Text: Zabrina Deng (WPPI Award Winning Photographer)
During the week when I went to Vietnam to take wedding photos back in 2015, I originally went there just to capture the beauty of my clients, the mountains and rivers. Although the scenery of Halong Bay is very beautiful, I was even more impressed after seeing many French style buildings, with their interiors use of green, & white color tiles. Also its rich food culture offers creative plates that combine Vietnamese, French, Chinese, and Western. Such as Vietnamese-French Sandwich with Pate & Ham, and the fusion fashion culture, etc., which made me understand France’s long colonial history has a profound influence on Vietnamese culture and food. Human feelings are complicated. Regardless of whether the colonialism is good or bad, we as foreign tourists, perhaps with a little more compassion, a bit more appreciate the strength of the Vietnamese people. Even in unstable political time, we should use creativity to work with our heart & soul.
As the creative way of Survival from desperation.That’s why I agreed to wedding planner Christine Eng in September to shoot this project in San Francisco. We have women vendors from all walks of life to participate in this project. Starting from the month of March, our restrictions on gatherings, shelter-in-place order, the pause of all industry events has made many small businesses suffer for more than six months. Many of them have already closed down because of the domino effect. As one of the members of the creative community, I want to stand up and support this female community through each other. These small businesses, especially female small businesses, are very creative and passionate about their work. There are many others who are full time mothers during the day but had to climb out of the warm bed in the middle of the night in order to take care of work on their own business. So when she asked me to take this editorial project, along with my affection for the Vietnamese colonial culture, I immediately SAY YES! We are in this together. I hope to encourage each other in the wedding industry with creativity.
“Behind every successful woman is a tribe of other successful women who have her back.”
Christine Eng said that when she was designing the idea for this project, she was very careful to select those small businesses to participate in it. She invited women from different backgrounds and skin tones, their talents are incredible. They’ve shown off their creative and unconventional flower designs, delicate details on wedding cake. Various designers use beauty to knit dresses and shoes, veils, hairstyles, precious jewelry, French desserts and venue decorations. They all generously demonstrated their professional enthusiasm and strength. The craftsmanship of calligraphers and photographers can make you cry. We are women who are passionate about work. For herself, and for us, the most important thing is that we together overcome this epidemic.
Vendors
Tiffany Mann, MiGoodies BakeSale
www.migoodiesbakesale.com , @migoodiesbakesale
Bridal Gown Boutique
Helen Miller, And Something Blue Bridal Boutique
http://andsomethingblue.com/, @andsomethingblue
Calligrapher
Shaochen Wu, Monstera Gold @monstera.gold
Florist
Monica Lomas, Verde SF
http://www.verdesf.com/, @verdesf
Headpiece Designer
Kalico DeLaFay for Dark Garden
www.darkgarden.com , @darkgardencorsetry @kalicodelafay
Jeweler
Elaine Abesames, Elaine & Co. @elaineandco
Macarons
Chef Alex Trouan, Artisan Macaron @artisanmacaron
Client of Hope Patricia Daly, HPD Public Relations www.hpdpublicrelations.com
Makeup/Hair Stylist
Jasmine Chan http://beautybyjasmine.com/ , @beautybyjasminechan
Photographer
Zabrina Deng, @zabrinaxyz |contact@jezaphoto.com
Photo Retoucher
Karla Cordova
www.karlacordova.com , @talitac8
Prop Stylist
Ethel Brennan
@ethelwbrennan
Shoes
Alice Tsou, Jimmy Choo
https://us.jimmychoo.com/en/home , @jimmychoounionsquare
Stationer
Alex Korynne, Korynne + Company
https://korynne.co/, @korynne.co
Venue
Michelle Cheng, Le Colonial
Sales and Private Dining Manager
www.lecolonialsf.com, @lecolonialsf
Wedding Coordinator
Christine Eng
www.weddengboss.com, @weddengboss
also click to view recent posts from the past –
prewedding shoot – paris, seville spain.
prewedding shoot– chefchaouen morocco.
prewedding shoot – sahara desert morocco.
about me
zabrina is based in california who travelled the world to do wedding, engagement & portrait photography. she is an sony artisans of imagery and a holder of wppi master photographer. a processor for over 60 international award winning photos. zabrina is one of the world’s top 50 world’s best destination wedding photographer from junebug weddings and has been featured on rangefinder magazine’s 30 rising stars of wedding photography. she has accumulated 6 times 1st place winner and two international image of the year awards from wppi since 2011. her work has been published on international master photographer vol 1, vanity fair (usa), grace ormonde wedding style (usa), town & country (thailand), cosmopolitan bride (china), elle (hong kong), stuff magazine (uk), vogue italia’s photovogue. zabrina has also photographed the grammy award winner r&b band all-4-one for their 20th anniversary album cd cover. zabrina is also a popular speaker for major photographic conferences across america & asia to train professional photographers taking their craft to the next level.
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