Outdoor Weddings

Garden Wedding at The Club, Saujana: Jason & Annette

It was a season where masks were sold out at pharmacies. Everyone stayed indoors as much as possible and no one wanted to do any outdoor activities. But Jason and Annette had set their wedding date months ahead of time, not knowing that the haze would hit them smack in the middle of their wedding festivities. I was concerned too… after all, it was a garden wedding at The Club. I wondered if any of the guests would come prepared with masks.

A few days before the wedding, I sat down with Annette to run through her wedding program. She said she’ll pray really hard for the haze to go away, and so we both did. On their wedding day, God did a miracle and there were blue skies and the sun! Oh, the sun shone so brightly and made everything look perfect.

You couldn’t tell from these photos that just the day before, everything looked bleak and dreary.

I think Weiming and I jumped in joy (not literally!) when we saw the skies. Jason and Annette, it couldn’t have been better. I love intimate weddings and I think yours was truly warm and meaningful. I hope your dad is feeling much better and that Jason is more comfortable in front of the camera by now? :) Jason, thanks for being so accommodating and also for the bottles of wine after the party! Wishing you lots of joy and sunshine for the future.

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A blend of cultures: Roy & Pek Yee

It was an epic wedding – full of wonderful moments that will be etched in my mind forever. Roy’s humour brightens the day and keeps us entertained while Pek Yee’s infectious (loud) laughter reminds me of my childhood friends who are equally boisterous. The wedding was split to 2 days… the first half was the Chinese wedding ceremony in KL, followed by a beach wedding at the colonial-looking Danna, Langkawi. Seriously, I consider this a 6-star wedding…not just because of the gorgeous location and beautiful decorations that adorned the venue, but because it had all the elements that made it special – a superb couple that was so easy to click with, really fun guests who made the party happening, and family members who treated us like… family. Most of the decorations were done by Roy and Pek’s friends and family members… amazing flower decorations by Pek’s aunt June and stationery by her friend Hooi Yee.

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Through out my stay at The Danna, my team were treated so well by the staff there. I appreciate it that they didn’t see us as merely vendors, and saw to our every need, making sure we had water to drink all the time, made sure we had a decent place to have our meals, brought us cutlery and even offered us home made butter when it wasn’t necessary! Needless to say, the team ate well and slept really really well the night before and after the wedding, which made us really happy campers!

I love it how Roy and Pek Yee blend so easily into each other’s culture. Swiss and Malaysian cultures are worlds apart, yet, they seem so at home with each other, and even speaking a little of each other’s language. Roy’s Mandarin is definitely better than mine, since I am a pure ‘banana’ as how Malaysians would put it (yellow on the outside, white on the inside – someone whose first language is English).

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So, they met in Shanghai, China about 3 years ago… and here’s how the story goes…

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Beach Wedding, Andaman: James & Brielle

It was the perfect setting for a summer romance. The venue: Penang. Two families from 2 different continents – James from UK and Brielle from Australia happened to meet by chance at the very same resort. They were 15… young, adventurous and naive. From the moment James said hello to Brielle by the pool side, they were inseparable for the week of the holiday.

What started out as a teenage holiday crush, turned into keeping in touch regularly as pen pals. Naturally, they took every opportunity to meet up whenever Brielle came to the UK to visit family as she was growing up. Soon, the teenagers grew up, and after a backpacking trip to the UK when Brielle was 21, they both realized that their teenage crush was more than just a crush.

It was then that they started a relationship. Their first holiday as a couple was in Langkawi, and so Malaysia was a place where many memories were born.

Brielle returned to Australia and James to UK…and 6 long months of being apart made things really difficult for the both of them. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out. But circumstances changed in 2008, when Brielle returned to the UK to live there. With some persuasion from James, they met up and rekindled that teenage romance once again. From that moment on, they went on from strength to strength, and in 2011, he proposed.

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Beach Wedding, Andaman: John & Tiffany

He was there to attend his ex-roommate’s birthday party. She was fashionably late. A stranger to John. But the moment she walked through that door, his heart literally dropped. John had no idea who she was, how she was related to the birthday girl or what ethnicity she was, but all he knew was that he HAD to meet this girl. Throughout the night, he tried to be as close as possible to her so he could initiate conversation with this mystery girl. That was all he needed to motivate himself to ask her out on a date the next morning, at 6am when he got home!

Over the next few months, they went on numerous dates, but though they were really comfortable with each other, John never worked up the nerve to hold her hand till 4 months later. But after he started, he knew, from that day onwards, he could never let go of her hands.

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I only met John and Tiffany on the day of their wedding. They had flown all the way from the US to be wed at The Andaman, Langkawi. Some of their family members came from Hong Kong to witness the ceremony. When I walked into the room, Tiffany said to me, “Tell us if you need anything…Do whatever you need to get the shots.”

Yes! To me, that was like a free ticket to move furniture in order to get better photos, and the freedom to control timing so that I can give them the best possible coverage in the time we have together.

That day, I witnessed one of the most amazing sunsets I had ever seen in Langkawi. John and Tiffany, the day couldn’t have gone any better. Enjoy the wedding video highlight below, and the photos in this post!

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Beach Wedding in Hua Hin, Thailand: Vut & Yan Yan

He was known as the “Thai guy” at church in Melbourne. There, Vut was almost like furniture, since he’s been there for ages. Yan Yan didn’t really know too much about him personally, though she heard that he liked soccer and food. Rumour went around that Vut once ate dog food because he was too hungry (which she later discovered was indeed a rumour!). It was only towards the end of her 3rd year at uni in 2009 that she got to know him better through gmail chat.

And so, a Malaysian girl fell in love with a Thai guy on Australian shores.

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In 2013, Vut and Yan Yan tied the knot on the beautiful beach of Hua Hin, Thailand, witnessed by close family and friends.

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One of the things I really enjoyed about this wedding was that it was really windy on the day of the wedding. It didn’t feel humid, like most beach weddings I have photographed. The wind did make it challenging to change lenses though! I was a little concerned about the fine powdery sand going into the camera and how I’ll need to get it cleaned after the wedding! That thought didn’t last too long though, cause I totally enjoyed the cool sea breeze as we photographed the ceremony that evening.

It was also a special trip because it was Weiming’s first trip to Thailand. Alex and Krysta also tagged along on the trip, so that was really nice to go back to my family after a long day’s work. Of course, the Thai food was awesome too! I could eat Thai food almost everyday!

Thanks Vut and Yan Yan for your hospitality and thoughtfulness. We were touched when we received little cupcakes from you after the wedding too! (The entire studio enjoyed the cupcakes!). Just like your awesome wedding favours below, I wish your marriage a spoonful of devotion, a heap of perfection, a dash of kindness and a pinch of bliss… except that may it multiply a hundredfold beyond what you can imagine!

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