18 March 2025
A Chinese-British Wedding at Blake Hall | Yiran & Jeffrey
A Beautiful Fusion of Chinese & British Traditions: Yiran & Jeffrey’s Wedding at Blake Hall
Yiran and Jeffrey’s July wedding brought two cultures together in one of Essex’s finest barn venues – door games, a tea ceremony, golden hour portraits, and a day that moved between traditions with complete ease.
Some weddings have a single thread running through them. Others weave several together, and the result is richer for it. Yiran and Jeffrey’s day at Blake Hall in July 2024 was very much the latter – a wedding that moved between Chinese and British traditions as naturally as the couple themselves move between the two cultures those traditions belong to.
Blake Hall provided the setting: 60 acres of Essex countryside near Ongar, two restored 17th-century barns, and grounds that photographed beautifully throughout a warm, slightly overcast July day. The soft diffused light that comes with a sky like that is genuinely useful for a photographer – no harsh shadows, no squinting, just clean, even illumination from start to finish. And then, as a bonus, the sun broke through at golden hour and gave us something else entirely.
A lively start – the door games
The day opened with the Chinese door games, which set the tone for everything that followed. Jeffrey and his groomsmen arrived to find the bridesmaids in no mood to make things easy for them. There were challenges, questions about Yiran that Jeffrey either knew or didn’t, and a considerable amount of laughter on both sides of the door. It’s one of those traditions that photographs brilliantly because the energy is genuine – nobody is performing, they’re just caught up in the moment.
Once Jeffrey had earned his way through – and found Yiran’s hidden wedding shoes, as tradition requires – he got to see his bride for the first time. That moment, after all the noise and laughter of the morning, carried a particular quiet weight.
The tea ceremony
Before Yiran changed into her white wedding dress, she and Jeffrey observed the Chinese tea ceremony – the most intimate and emotionally significant part of the day. Dressed in traditional Chinese wedding attire, surrounded by red and gold, they served tea to their parents and closest family members in turn. Each exchange of tea and blessings was different; each carried its own particular feeling. The contrast between the ceremony’s formality and the warmth in the room was something I found genuinely moving to photograph.
The ceremony and reception
The main ceremony took place inside Blake Hall’s barn – a beautifully decorated space that provided an intimate atmosphere for their vows. The reception that followed balanced both sides of the day’s cultural mix: a traditional wedding breakfast, heartfelt speeches, and an evening that gradually gave way to dancing and the kind of looseness that comes when two families who didn’t know each other in the morning feel entirely at home with each other by nightfall.
Golden hour
As the evening progressed the sun arrived, and Yiran and Jeffrey slipped away from the celebrations for a short portrait session in the grounds. The light was exceptional – the kind of low, warm, directional evening light that makes every image feel considered even when you’re simply reacting to what’s in front of you. The gardens at Blake Hall in July, in that light, are difficult to argue with.
Wedding suppliers
Venue – Blake Hall Weddings, Bobbingworth, Ongar, Essex CM5 0DG
Makeup & Hair – @yumakeup_styling
Videography – @vincent_rowley
Music – @lovelighters
Getting married at Blake Hall? I’d love to hear about your day →
