After Azrin and Samiul’s holudh, we photographed their mehndi event. It was another colourful event with lots of beautiful fairy lights, which made it really dreamy.
Featured at the wedding was this Bumble Bee car… we couldn’t stop taking portraits with the car.
Prior to the wedding of Azrin & Samiul, I had a foretaste of what a Bangladeshi wedding was like. I had a little insight on Bangladeshi weddings when I did the image editing for Nabil & Maisha back in 2011. With great anticipation and excitement, I was given the honour and privilege to cover the wonderful wedding of Azrin & Samiul in Dhaka Bangladesh together with Eric Ooi.
It was indeed an eye-opener for us to be able to witness the sights and sounds of a cultural Bangladeshi wedding. It’s a real life experience & nothing beats the “real deal”.
Azrin and her family greeted us with such warmth. We even got the chance to try out some delicious Bangladeshi cuisine at her home. They were so yummy and we had a hard time controlling ourselves! I was greedily trying all of them but Azrin warned us not to overeat or else we might get an upset stomach, which did happen to Grace during her last trip to Bangladesh (She claims it was the delicious biryani that tempted her).
Azrin and Samiul’s wedding started off with 2 individual events, called the holudh. They were held on different nights, each day to celebrate bride and groom separately. I was amazed at the detailed decorations and the vibrant colours. It was really eye-catching and beautiful! Here are some images from Azrin’s holudh.
Ever since I delivered baby Krysta mid December, I have discovered the joys of motherhood. Everyday, my heart swells with even more love for this cute little baby of mine, especially so when she looks adoringly into my eyes and coos in her baby language telling me all sorts of things that happened in that day. Six diaper changes, lots of good yummy milk, and recently… her first overseas trip to Krabi, at 2 months old! While I was out shooting, Alex, my husband, was the baby sitter to Krysta!
* Krysta’s newborn photos, when she was 14 days old.
Though I have tried to stay away from work and enjoy my maternity leave, I realized I can’t ‘stay’ still… in fact, I didn’t really observe most of the confinement practices (to the horror of some people). By the first week of her birth, after the C-section, I was up and about, attending Christmas events and even brought her for a theatre production at church. While on maternity leave, I was still replying work emails, meeting up with potential clients, skyping, and blogging. I now completely understand how difficult it is for working moms to balance between working at home and taking care of a child. All I can say is… thank God for the help of my maid, and the pacifier!
Now that I have officially starting working and shooting, I hope that the transition is not too difficult. I am a little concerned about being away from her for some of my outstation shoot jobs, especially since I am still breastfeeding, but I guess I’ll jump over that hurdle once I get to it.
* Krysta looking really happy at getting her very first ang pau for Chinese New Year!
I know the blog has been silent for 2 weeks, so here’s a teaser image from the recent pre-wedding session at Krabi, Thailand for Nicholas and Lina… my first client after delivery! More to come later!
Some time back, I blogged about Destination Weddings, a TV program that I worked on for the Travel Channel with Deborah Henry as the host. I finally got my act together and managed to sort through some photos that I took during the shoot. This episode is my favourite out of all the episodes I directed, so I’d like to share some images from 2 very different weddings that we covered in Bali.
Firstly, a traditional Balinese Hindu wedding that was held in a small village about 1.5 hours away from Kuta. One of the sights that greeted us when we arrived was this man walking his giant pig! It was seriously huge and apparently a gigolo pig! I got so excited, I ran across the road to photograph it. Ok, I digress…back to the wedding…
The local wedding was held at this home which was a dedicated space for community events, and even for tourists to come and learn cooking from Pak Wayan. The couple dressed up in elaborate costumes with ornate headgear. I heard that some foreigners actually go through a traditional Balinese ceremony like this for their wedding. Personally, I still prefer my groom to be in a suit… (more of this wedding in a bit).
The second wedding was a western beach ceremony held at the Westin, Nusa Dua and dinner reception at the Melia, Nusa Dua. The weather was perfect, and it was a really breezy day… I wish all my Langkawi beach wedding shoots would be as cool (temperature wise!) as this! Here’s Deborah posing for a promo shot.
Sam and Kathy’s wedding has all the elements that make our hearts beat a little faster. Their wedding day started out traditionally with Chinese and Vietnamese influences, and then progressed to a beautiful outdoor, garden wedding at the Morning Star Estate in Melbourne, Australia. Dinner reception was held at The International of Brighton.
Sam and Kathy engaged us for a pre-wedding some months back, which was photographed by Grace. I’ve not personally met them till the day before their event in Melbourne, Australia. Sam seemed like a laid back, chill kind of guy but one who is particular about his coffee. Kathy is bubbly, cheerful & fun girl who’s into video games along with Sam. They are both really wonderful and easy to get along with.
This was my first time covering a semi-traditional Vietnamese wedding and it was pretty interesting to witness it. There were some similarities to the Chinese tradition like exchange of gifts, the games and negotiation prior to ‘picking up the bride’. The wedding day started beautifully though it was a little cold in the morning (both Alex and I were too used to Malaysian weather!). Blue skies and fluffy white clouds (plus vineyards!) were perfect ingredients for a beautiful garden wedding.
We love how Sam and Kathy personalized their wedding invitation with a wax seal and beautifully handwritten calligraphy by Sam (you’ll see a sample of that later!).
