I think I panicked and gasped at the same time for a whole 1 minute.

Actually, Yee Xing’s sister Yee Ming had contacted me a few weeks before the ROM and asked if I was available to shoot the event and also some family portraits on that day. I was mentally prepared for a family shoot but wasn’t prepared for such an elaborate event. What made matters interesting was that there were 2 other videographers hired on that day, plus one other photographer from Singapore. Can you imagine all of us trying to squeeze on that tiny platform in the middle of the pool, including the bride, groom & wedding officiant? I had to do a lot of creative framing on that day . :)

In the end, everything turned out well and I am pleased with the outcome of the images.

Colin & Yee Xing, I hope you like these images and I look forward to your wedding banquet!

Yee Xing was one really calm bride. While we were getting ready in the room, her zip actually broke and we couldn’t zip up her wedding gown! Her make up artist and my assistant Yih Wen was busy trying to sew up her wedding gown, and everything was delayed by 45 minutes. But through it all, she was smiling, completely unfrazzled! Of course, that gave me more time to take portraits of Colin!

Some family photos before the ROM starts.

Before she walked down the aisle, Yee Xing actually sang a beautiful song for Colin. So sweet!

Another family photo for the road.

Credits:
Photographer: Grace, assisted by Yih Wen
Location: Capella, Singapore 

I hope you are having a great time with your family members this Chinese New Year, and for those who are not celebrating, hope you are having a good holiday. I want to kick off the dragon year by sharing the wedding of Saw Wen & De Way.

Now, Saw Wen & De Way had come to enquire about our services more than a year before their wedding. At that time, my business was just starting to bloom, and I was stoked that someone wanted to book us that far ahead.

Saw Wen & De Way’s story started 11 years ago while they were still in school, meeting at the sweet ripe age of 16.

That girl in the Calvin & Hobbes t-shirt

De Way: I remember, 3 girls. That was in a tuition class for Bahasa Melayu when I was in Form 4. 3 fine looking girls from SMK Seafield, 1 tall, 1 pretty and 1 nerdy. Fast forward to SPM year, I noticed her. She was generally louder than other students during class, gave opinions when not asked for, irritatingly completed the teacher’s sentences every now and then etc. Oh yes, she wore a Calvin & Hobbes t-shirt to class, just like me.

Saw Wen: De Way was a perpetual sleepy head and seemed like the quiet type. At the beginning, we hardly spoke to each other until form 5. We got to know each other better during our after BM tuition yum cha sessions, went cycling and hung out in a nearby park together with a bunch of friends. As the months went by, I found De Way to be charming and had such “beautiful eyes”. He made me laugh (he still does) and I found myself to be falling for this guy.

De Way: She used to tell her stories when we met at a mamak for drinks after tuition. This went on for a while and it felt normal spending time with a girl, no special feelings I dare say. Then, one fateful rainy evening, I had to send her home with my bicycle, with her holding the umbrella. That was when something felt odd…good but odd. Since that day, I made it a point to accompany her home after our mamak session.

Prom Night

De Way: Fast forward after SPM… one of the most crucial moments in high school – prom night. I knew who I wanted as my partner and this was what I went through to get her agreement. It was during her open house with all our friends present, I deliberately cycled back to her house after all of us left just to ask her. Unsurprisingly (ahem ahem), she agreed. That night, the moon was high and so was I.

And so, prom took place and what set me on the course of having this girl as my wife 11 years later happened that night. We danced towards the end of the night and I asked her if she would be my girlfriend.

Saw Wen: I actually said, “No, I don’t think so.” At that time, I was planning to further my studies overseas and didn’t think that it would work out. Worse still, when De Way said he would wait for me and I had to rub salt into his crushed heart by saying “Ya right!”

De Way:  After breaking my heart into pieces, she crushed it further into atoms, by mocking about my promise to wait. Bah!

Saw Wen: Till today, I am still reminded from time to time how mean I was back then to him.

Two Hands

De Way: We parted ways after that dreadful night, only to meet again in college a month later. We were still on good terms and 1 day she saw me walking with my classmate – a girl.

Saw Wen: I thought this might be his new love interest. Regret was within me and knew I had to do something about it. One night after yum cha, being the gentleman that he was, he offered to send me home. During the ride home, I asked De Way how were things between us and he replied that we were still friends. I needed further confirmation and asked him if he still likes me and he said yes. I said “It takes 2 to clap.” Much to my surprise, the reply I got was “I will take my hand out to clap with you.” It has been 11 years and the rest was history. We have been together ever since. He sang his proposal last year and we got married on 9.10.11.

De Way: At the risk of sounding cliché, the rest is in fact, history. But that was how I met my wife – the one who is loud and opinionated (now not so much already *phew*), who took my heart and crushed it into atoms, who got jealous/upset after seeing me walking with my female classmate, who set me up with her friends’ help and lastly – the nerdy one in the tuition class. Who would have thought? The nerdy one. Hah!

What made this wedding so memorable were the many funny expressions we managed to capture that day. De Way also started learning the saxophone a few months before the wedding day, practiced really hard and performed to hundreds of people that evening. If I was wearing a hat, I would have taken it off as a salute to him!

Reflections…

Saw Wen: Why Stories? We started our wedding preparation early and were looking around for wedding photographers. Don’t quite recall how we tumbled across Stories’ blog and love the rich and vibrant photos which captures the moment and details of the big day. Stories, we truly love the photos captured during our wedding and a BIG thank you goes out to Grace, Johan, Weiming and the entire Stories team! We hope you guys had as much fun as we did! :o)

De Way: Photographically, this is what I have to say – most importantly, what I fancy are photos that are lightly edited. They should look as close as the one out of the camera even after editing. Long story short, Stories was able to provide that feel. Being passionate about photography, I believe the depth of FEEL is larger than the depth of field. And this goes beyond Stories’ photos but also the service by the team as a whole, which is awesome.

In a nutshell, Stories team was able to:

Keep it simple. Make it elegant. Keep it personal. Make it happen. Keep it coming. Make it great!

Credits:

Photographers: Grace, Weiming & Johan
Location: Sime Darby Convention Centre
Wedding Gown: Valerie Fan
Groom’s Attire: Fit & Match
Make Up: Leric Yap
Cake: bejewelled*
Flowers: Weng Hoa
Dinner Entertainment: One Under the Five

* What the Duck is one of my favourite comic strips!

So yeah… part of my new year resolution is to not be overly nerdy, keep a good work life balance, and to be more up to date with my blogging! There are many weddings which are still sitting patiently in my hard drive, waiting to be blogged.

Here’s one that I absolutely have to share with you. Top 3 reasons why I love this wedding:

1. It’s a fun fun fun wedding! It all started when I read their wedding invitation card…

Seven years ago, in the faraway land of Cyberjaya, Ian met Joanne at a Christian Fellowship gathering and was smitten ever since. Thankfully, Mr & Mrs Lee Kah Meng and Mr & Mrs Chow Cheng Hock approved of their relationship and they didn’t have to elope. So come and witness the union of these two souls on 5 November 2011. They will profess their love and commitment to each other at Good Shepherd Church at 11am, and share the rest of their story with you over food and drinks at The Bankers Club from 6pm onwards.

2. The groom uh, looks a little unconventional.

3. The bridal party were dressed in our Stories’ theme colour! (light blue & brown!) Hip hip hurray!

I had a blast at Ian & Joanne’s wedding! Thank you for inviting us to be part of your wedding day!

The guys in super hero outfits and the girls just looking stunning!

Actually, we had heaps of fun with the games session… Ian had a bagful of expressions for us!

And the funny thing was that he snuck into the Sekeping Terasek room through a window! (Tip for all brides who are planning on having their wedding there, please make sure the window is barred!)

He got the bride, now off to church for the wedding ceremony!

Parents of the bride & groom…

Love this gown by That Special Occasion! And I love Joanne’s cute expression!

Custom made flags by a friend…

So let me expand on the little intro chapter of how they met. MMU Christian fellowship is a great place to make friends, encounter God and… well, meet girls. Joanne was rather cute, so she immediately caught his attention. Soon, Ian found out that Joanne needed transportation to get to church, and guess what? Ian had a car!

But there was a problem. Joanne was oblivious to Ian’s feelings. One day, he asked Joanne about the status of their relationship and that prompted her to start thinking about it. Sadly for Ian, he was given the dreaded answer…let’s remain as friends first.

After that, Ian left for a mission trip in Sarawak and didn’t have a phone connection for a few days. It was then that Joanne discovered she actually missed him! So she plotted a way to get out of this mess. After Ian came home, Joanne created a fake chat ID with the name of Joanna (she really does have a friend with that name), and messaged Ian as Joanna, trying to understand whether he still had feelings for Joanne.

He said yes!

Not long after that, Joanne was involved in a car accident and needed to be brought to a clinic for a check up. She called Ian who willingly came to the rescue. During that car ride, she brought up the subject of a relationship… and sealed the deal by holding his hand!

Every tea ceremony should have lots of laughter like this one!

During the dinner, guests were invited to take photos at Ian & Joanne’s little vintage corner.

Oh, and I absolutely adore this cake! The cake topper is gorgeous!!

Here’s another perspective of the cake topper. See the resemblance with the image on the right?

Great speeches.

Awesome yum seng sessions.

Warm friendships.

All the ingredients you need for a great wedding.

Congratulations, Ian & Joanne! And for those who read my blog regularly, you’ll notice that the vendor credit list has been moved to the bottom (just like the movies, the credits appear at the end!)

Photographers: Grace, Weiming & Alex
Wedding Gown: That Special Occasion
Bridesmaids Dresses: Cordino Creations
Groom’s Attire: Lim Trading Co, Setapak
Make up: Meoki Tong
Decorations: DIY
Stationery: Faith Books & Stationery
Flowers: Denise Flower Shop
Church Ceremony: Good Shepherd Church Setapak
Dinner Reception Venue & Cake: Bankers Club, KL

What a totally memorable wedding this was for us and for Alvin & Melissa. It was at this wedding that I am reminded, at the end of the day, what matters is the marriage, not the wedding event itself. It is at weddings like these where I confirm my conviction… that being a photographer is one of the best jobs one could have. Capturing love between two individuals, helping them remember the day, how they felt… it makes me truly happy. I am overjoyed.

You see, this wedding day started very differently than most other weddings I have shot.

It started with Alvin being sick, and landing at the hospital…

But the good thing for them is that the day ended very differently…

If you have seen Alvin & Melissa’s pre-wedding photos, you’ll know that they are a totally fun loving couple. From the time of our shoot, we had a special kind of bond. :)

You’ll also know that Melissa has a great eye for detail and beauty.

Melissa had planned the wedding months in advance… everything was meant to be perfect…

But on the morning of the wedding, Alvin fell ill. A really worried Melissa insisted he that he go to the hospital to get a jab, even though that would mean everything would be delayed. Alvin had awesome guy friends who supported him all the way, and accompanied him there.

So did Mark, who took a few photos at the hospital.

Eventually, Alvin made it through… and finally reached Melissa’s home. Good thing he only had to sit down, while the rest of the guys went through the whole ‘torturing’ process…

The words Alvin read to Melissa totally sums the mood of the day.

Today’s the day my life begins.
All my life I’ve been just me.
Today I become a man.
Today I become a husband.
Today I become accountable to someone other than myself.
Today I become accountable to you.
To our future.
To all the possibilities that a marriage has to offer.
Together, no matter what happens, I’ll be ready.
For anything. For everything.
To take on life, to take on love.
To take on possibility and responsibility.
Today, Melissa Chew, our life together begins.
And I for one can’t wait.

In some amusing way, this hospital theme runs through their relationship…

Mel’s Story:

We met at a friend’s birthday pool party. I came late and Alvin was half naked and in yellow board shorts. I thought he was gay! And we asked the same girl to introduce us at separate time during the party. I was taken aback by his persistent and forwardness because I wasn’t ready. And it didn’t help that all our friends where pushing and playing match-makers. When our friends left for a vacation, that’s when magic really happened. We went out on our first date and our second date the very next day less than 12 hours after!

Just after a week of starting a relationship, I had to fly to Manila for work and ended up in the hospital for a liver infection! My first time being admitted to a hospital and I was far from home and comfort. Alvin flew over just to be at my side! And they say… the rest is history. When he proposed, he didn’t even have a ring but I said yes anyway

Alvin’s Story:

When we 1^st met, I had my eye on the new gal that came late n asked to be introduce. We had our 1^st date at mezze and the next day again. That’s 2 days in a row. Mel gave me a Fuji instant camera on our 2^nd date n that was a shock to me. Hmmmm…..not bad! Brownie points indeed. As Mel mentioned, I flew to Manila to be with her when she was admitted. I wasn’t sure at first but when I got in and saw her, I knew she was the one. (even though she had “chankles”). The rest is history as they say but she really did swept my heart with her smile even from the first day we met. I can still remember that day at the pool party.

I love it when couples include personal items into their decoration list.

Alvin & Melissa, after being there for your wedding and seeing the love you have for one another, I am sure you will be able to stand through any storm that comes your way. Life will never be perfect, but what matters most is that you have each other to walk through it. I am honoured to have been there to document your love.

Hugs!

I experienced a few new things while covering this wedding. Firstly, I traveled about 100+km around Singapore. For real. Ian checked the odometer in his car, and it was a long drive! We literally rounded Singapore… traveled from Bishan to Jurong West to Bishan to Punggol back to Jurong West, then to M Hotel in the city. Phew…

The other thing I experienced was photographing the bridal pick up games in the narrow HDB corridors.

Finally, it was the first time I saw a pink London cab – the one and only in Singapore!

Some of my regular blog readers might have seen Kevin and Katherine’s (also known as Feng & Shan) pre-wedding photos in Nikoi Island before. About a year before the wedding, Kevin and Katherine made the trip to KL to discuss their wedding plans and book me for their wedding day shoot. (Actually, I think it was just an excuse for them to eat at A&W which I found out later that they love!).

Since that meeting, we’ve been on a great journey together… as clients and now, friends. It’s really awesome to be able to photograph a client before the wedding day (pre-wedding) so that we could get to know each other better. It breaks the ice, and both parties would feel more at ease with each other on the wedding day!

You know a couple is really well organized when they planned their wedding 2 years from the proposal date. They had the perfect sunset at Japalama Resort, Tioman, perfect row of surprises from Kevin… which led to the perfect surprise proposal in 2009! While they dined under the stars that night, Kevin gave Katherine a series of envelopes to open in sequence. He was a little worried initially that she would see his bulging pockets but she didn’t notice a thing!

So one after another, she opened the envelopes, and he placed the messages next to their soft toy mascots for her to read… combined, the message read… “Baby! Happy 66th month anniversary!”

Finally, he gave her the last envelope, and while she moved towards the light to read what it said, Kevin promptly went on his knees, took out his proposal ring… and verbalized his love…

The words said, “Will you marry me?”

And so, the journey began…

Definitely an interesting one for Kevin, and for the guys! (I have to let you know that they tried to dance… they did… )

Love the little customizations that were done for the wedding, including these t-shirts! Each pig had a different personality, specific to the wearer, and was drawn by one of the guys! My favourite is the one in the paintball outfit.

The highlight of the dinner was the 2nd entrance… which was also a surprise dance performance for the audience! It was really great seeing Kevin and Katherine perform, especially after they had practiced hard for this day!

Congratulations to the both of you! Do come back and visit us here in KL more often… you can do some shopping and eat at A&W! :) Wishing you lots of exciting moments ahead and more perfect sunrises / sunsets to come!

I distinctly remember our first conversation regarding Ben & Mui Yen’s wedding. Mui Yen and I had a coffee at Starbucks, discussed her wedding plans, and one of the things she said was, “I would love to see images of people’s faces, scrunched up in glee.” From that moment on, the thought stuck in my head. In reality, Ben and Mui Yen’s wedding was one that was totally filled with fun and unpredictable moments. Everyone had so much fun at this wedding, and our team definitely captured many images of people’s faces scrunched up in glee.

I got to know Ben & Mui Yen through my husband Alex who went to the same school as Ben. Those Lasallians are a fun and noisy bunch! It’s always fun photographing a wedding where you know so many of the guests.

When Mui Yen told me she had in mind a vintage theme for her wedding, I was all up for it. Little did I know she wasn’t going to wear a formal white wedding gown… instead opted for a understated but classy custom made vintage dress from Mrs Pomeranz, ordered through Etsy.

This image taken in Classic & Vintage’s jaguar is one of my favourites from this wedding. It was such an impromptu shot – I just told Mui Yen to go for it, and she did!

The heng tais (which included some girls, in case you got a little confused) came dressed in classic outfits!

Ben and Mui Yen met at the wedding of Reza and Lavinia, who were their Masters of Ceremony at the reception. Reza and Lavinia had an idea of putting together their single friends at one table to get guests to mingle. (great idea, if you ask me!)

One union emerged from that effort.

Ben was then still sporting his funky long hair and rocker wannabe look that did little to impress. He did however have a magnetic personality and a crazy sense of humour, which kept Mui Yen entertained and interested to no end.

Mui Yen, on the other hand, was a spicy little lass with plenty to offer in both personality and beauty. Her adventurous attitude and knack for trying anything attitude was a great pull for Ben!

Cute family photo below…

The chee muis came in colourful outfits!

A little Justin Bieber wouldn’t hurt… (maybe some egos… just maybe)

Mui Yen chose to do the unconventional thing, and waited in the living room for Ben to arrive. That gave her lots of opportunity to mingle with guests instead of being stuck in a room waiting for the groom to pick her up!

He brought a fun gift for her…

Guess who was spotted at this wedding? Kris Wong from That Special Occasion / Weddings Malaysia who is well known in the wedding industry! Mui Yen’s cheongsam was designed by Kris.

I like this idea…the car on the canvas is actually Ben’s car! Hand drawn by Mui Yen’s sister, if I recall correctly. As I was a guest for the dinner, I got to sit down and eat a proper 8 meal course for once! The dinner photos were taken by Ben & Weiming.

This is how the final canvas looked like… it reminds me of the final scene in the movie Grease, where the car flies up into the air! Congratulations, Ben & Mui Yen! Here’s wishing you lots of great moments filled with scrunched up faces for the future!

For those who are interested, you can view more photos from their same day slideshow below:

I am really looking forward to the Christmas holidays though, as that will be the first break I am getting in many months. I will be planning for next year and also trying to sort out everything for the new office… we will be moving into SS2 mall early next year! Once the studio is opened, we will have some promotions, so do keep a look out on this blog!

Just as a little teaser, here are some images I took yesterday at the gorgeous Capella Hotel in Sentosa, Singapore. Definitely one of the prettiest outdoor locations I’ve seen so far!

Have a great Christmas season and happy shopping!

A few months ago, I photographed Adam and Dalilah’s engagement event, held at her beautiful home. Considering the engagement event was done really tastefully, I could not wait for the nikah and wedding reception to see what they had planned. I was not disappointed, for on that day, I was greeted by beautiful decorations that satisfied my taste buds and my shutter happy finger. Adam and Dalilah were surrounded by friends and family who were extremely warm and who obviously loved them very much.

I felt a little sad for them though that Adam’s mum was not able to attend the wedding as she fell ill during that period. Luckily for her, the videography team recorded every moment and she even witnessed the event online as it happened.

The dinner reception was held at the Mandarin Oriental for a large group of 800 people. There were royalty and VIPs present for the dinner that night. The ballroom was transformed into an elegant and grand space – the entire ballroom was covered with dark purple curtains. I love the colour theme and I think purple just looks great in every wedding! (That was why my wedding had a purple and white theme too!).

Hope you like this series of images, as much as we enjoyed creating them! To start off, here are some more decorations from the day of the nikah ceremony.

Some of the many hantaran that were exchanged that day.

Dalilah, you look gorgeous!

And Adam, you looked a little nervous! :)

And now, some dinner reception images…

Love the main table decorations…

And this amazing cake by Delectable by Su and of course, who can go wrong with Jimmy Choo’s?

Look who was the emcee… Yasmin Yusoff…

Congratulations, Adam & Dalilah! Thank you for giving us the honour to photograph your wedding and for booking us even though you did not meet us in person till much later. I appreciate your warmth and thoughtfulness towards the team. Have an awesome marriage.

Howard & Seok Poh have been dating for almost 10 years ever since they got to know each other through the Malaysian Society in Imperial College, London where they were studying. A long distance relationship was inevitable but eventually, the both of them ended up working in Hong Kong.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of city life in a huge metropolitan area where the human density per square kilometer is one of the highest in the world, both Howard and Seok Poh decided to come back to Malaysia and have a wonderful wedding ceremony and dinner amongst close friends and family. Not only that, it was held on the beautiful island of Langkawi.

What more can you ask for? Beautiful white sand for a beach wedding, a huge tent by the seaside for the dinner and great friends and family to celebrate with. That is definitely a dream wedding come true. The atmosphere was perfect, the wind was blowing and both the couple were so relaxed that they decided to have fun and games before the ceremony. So much so a group of them decided to have a water polo match!

Housed at the beautiful and new Danna Hotel in Langkawi, it was great fun shooting and capturing their moments. Even through the weather and rain, both Howard and Seok Poh continued on with the events and everything turned out beautifully including the after party party!

Have a great marriage!

- Mark -

“When you wish upon a star… your dreams come true”

Just like the lines quoted in the famous Disney film Pinocchio, Stephen & See Wan’s dreams came true. Ten years ago while they were in secondary school, See Wan caught Stephen’s eye. Even though they were from a different class, but they got to know each other better while performing their prefectorial duties. Before they graduated, Stephen’s heart was already captured.

In May 2007, See Wan said yes to becoming Stephen’s girlfriend.
1080 days later, she said yes to becoming his fiance.
In September 2010, they signed on the dotted line.
And on the 17th of September 2011, they said their vows on the beach at Avillion Resort, Port Dickson.

It was obvious to me that Stephen absolutely adores See Wan. He planned a surprise for her during the dinner reception by releasing balloons followed by fireworks in the sky!

Stephen and See Wan, thank you for your generosity in putting our entire team up at Avillion, PD! The both of you are extremely warm and friendly – caring for your vendors just like friends. I pray for many years of fireworks for the both of you! All the best for the future!