A four pages research paper due tmr.

16 the spectator | 5 may 2018 | www.spectator.co.uk

If you’ve walked by the red telephone boxes on Parliament Square, chances are you have seen an Asian couple in full wedding dress posing for a photographer. A strange place to go after a wedding, you might think, but the odds are that they’re not (yet) married — and won’t be for some time. This is, instead, a new Chinese phe- nomenon: the pre-wedding photo shoot.

Pre-weddings are now as essential to young Chinese couples as honeymoons are to the British. With ever more money to splash, and their sights set on farther horizons, a sweet pose under a blue sky is no longer enough, as it was for my parents. Today’s twentysomethings demand to see what it would be like to be the protagonists in their own global fairy tale: gown, tiara and all. Pre-weddings are popular because they can be staged, edited and shown at the actu- al wedding.

As the Chinese become more inter- national, you can see them at landmarks all over the world. The Eiffel Tower is for romantics; the stone temples of Bali for the spiritual; the blue painted roofs of Santorini for anyone fashionable. And London, well, that’s for those with refined tastes.

I tracked down Ceng Hao, a wedding photographer based in Putney, and joined him on a shoot last weekend. It meant a 2 a.m. start. After three hours of hair and make-up for the bride and groom, we arrived at Parliament Square as dawn broke. This was the beginning of an eight-hour shoot.

The demands for fantasy and storybook romance mean that these Chinese love- birds never look for western photographers, who too often value authenticity over per- fection. So the photographers in the pre- wedding industry are all Chinese, too. Hao has never studied photography, but his pic- tures are fit for the most difficult of clients, precisely because he understands their extravagant aesthetic sense.

Owning a good camera isn’t enough; Photoshop skills are also essential. Hao digitally enhances all colours and skylines to make them surreally vivid. I ask how he has managed in recent months, with Big Ben covered in scaffolding? ‘I’ve found a good quality stock photo, and spent a little longer in post-production,’ he laughs.

The early start at Hao’s little terrace house was largely for that hair and make-

up session. But it would also have allowed the couple to pick from the dresses and suits that overflow in Hao’s spare bed- room — he has 40 bridal gowns and 30 suits. In fact, though, today’s bride and groom brought their own outfits, for which Hao gives them a discount.

Even then, none of this comes cheap. At £1,680 for an eight-hour shoot, Hao’s pricing is on the moderate end of the spec- trum. VM, a leader in the London market, would charge £2,400 for the same session and £5,000 for a whole day. A three-day shoot will work out less per day — a bargain at only £11,800.

Hao doesn’t think much of those who splash out for the sake of it. ‘There’s a noticeable difference between my clients and those of more mainstream places.’ Does he mean that those other customers are rich- er? He says it’s more that: ‘Those clients are more nouveau riche.’ The irony of making this judgment in an industry whose raison d’être is materialism is bemusing. But Hao has a point — a quick look at his portfolio shows that his pictures emphasise the happy glint in his lovers’ eyes, rather than the opu- lence of the location you see in other cata- logues (or, as in one photo, a classic sports car the bride just happened to lean on).

Although no young person would admit it, globetrotting wedding photos are real- ly just another way to flaunt wealth, and no doubt they’ve gained such traction in recent years because there is so much new money around, as a fresh generation of Chi- nese youngsters make the best of the educa- tional and financial perks of being the only child. For their parents, those infamous tiger mums and dads, the photos are also useful for displaying their cosmopolitan, success- ful and beautiful children. My daughter is a banker, and she went to Prague for her wed- ding photo, see?

But, again, Hao’s shoot doesn’t feel as much like showing off as some. On the South Bank, the bride and groom lean over the Thames, chatting sweetly as he captures a few candids. By 9 a.m. Westminster is well and truly photographed (Parliament, Abbey, and telephone boxes all ticked off). We take ten minutes in McDonald’s to warm up and scoff down a breakfast wrap. Was the future bride having fun? She beams at me: ‘It’s a very special experience.’

The wedding tourists Why do Chinese couples spend thousands to pose by landmarks?

CINDY YU

DUMMY Main story web headline goes here. Try not to go past the red stripe or you risk being cut off

Is this thing on?

Sainsbury’s Chief Executive Mike Coupe was recorded singing ‘We’re in the Money’ as he prepared to go on ITV news about his company’s proposed merger with Asda. Other embarrassing microphone moments: — Ronald Reagan was preparing for his weekly broadcast on National Public Radio in 1984 when he joked to technicians: ‘My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.’ The recording was later leaked. — During the 2010 election, Gordon Brown called a voter a ‘bigoted woman’ in his campaign car, unaware that he still had a live Sky News microphone on his lapel — In January, Today’s John Humphrys discussed Carrie Gracie’s complaint about her pay, telling colleague Jon Sopel: ‘How much of your salary are you prepared to hand over to Carrie Gracie to keep her?’ — In 2005 the Prince of Wales, posing for photos in Klosters with his sons, singled out the BBC’s royal reporter, Nicholas Witchell: ‘Bloody people. I can’t bear that man. I mean, he is so awful. He really is.’

Home and dry

The Home Office is often described as a political graveyard. How have Home Secretaries fared since 1945? Became PM 1 Moved to another Commons job 6 Moved to a job in the Lords 3 Resigned under cloud, and did not take up another government job 5 Removed in reshuffle and did not take another government job 3 Party lost election, took opposition job 5 Party lost election, no opposition job 2 Resigned to take job outside politics 2

Talking shop

It was announced Sainsbury’s and Asda are in merger talks, with the Asda name likely to disappear. How long have common brand names been on the High Street? Years Asda 53 Tesco 94 Morrisons 119 Marks & Spencer 134 Sainsbury’s 149

Battle of the bottle

The Scottish government introduced a minimum price for alcohol of 50p per unit. Some deals at Bargain Booze in Carlisle which will now be banned further north: Price 70cl bottle Kirov Vodka £11.99 12 cans of Carlsberg lager £10 Two bottles Lambrini Bianco £6 3l bottle of Amber Harvest Cider £4.45

barometer

Cindy Yu_05 May 2018_The Spectator 16 02/05/2018 12:43