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Garden Wedding at Saujana: Si Howe & Joanne

20141220_WEDDING_SIHOWE_JOANNE_322I must say, Si Howe and Joanne’s description of each other beats anything I have ever read before!

Si Howe:
Si Howe is loud, Joanne is quiet.
We are both from Ipoh. Yeay!
Si Howe loves to eat, Joanne eats mainly to survive. She is learning to enjoy a larger variety of food.
Joanne loves sleepy weekends spent in the house.
Joanne shops for therapy.
Both father’s are known as KH. So KH’s son married KH’s daughter.
Si Howe always the youngest suddenly has 3 younger siblings (in law).
Joanne always the eldest suddenly has 2 older siblings and one niece. (in law).

Joanne:

Si Howe is gregarious and loves being at the centre of attention. Joanne likes watching by the sidelines.
Si Howe enjoys watching sports on TV and Joanne like reality TV shows (erm.. like the Kardashians. Hehe)
Si Howe has good motor skills and loves competitive sports. Joanne has very bad hand eye coordination and cannot play a sport to save her life. Hence, she does yoga.
Si Howe observes the details. Joanne is a daydreamer and gets lost in her own thoughts…
Si Howe loves cars! Joanne just needs a working air con and a radio.
Si Howe is a tech geek and has a 3G watch, Bluetooth headset, Microsoft surface, etc. Joanne has never downloaded an MP3 in her life. (though Si Howe claims that he is not ENTIRELY a tech geek – he does listen to LP’s on a record player!)

20141220_WEDDING_SIHOWE_JOANNE_002You might have seen Si Howe and Joanne’s Ipoh wedding photos before, so here’s the promised blog post about their other wedding ceremony – the garden exchange of vows at Saujana. This time, the event was photographed by Nigel and Ben. It was very much an emotional ceremony for all.  Continue Reading

Chinese Ancestral Home Ipoh Wedding: Si Howe & Joanne

Some time back, I photographed some portraits of Joanne for her 30th birthday and it was on that shoot that I met Si Howe. He struck me as a really fun loving, supportive guy who was ever willing to give Joanne a hoist to entertain her ideas of climbing trees for pictures. As we got to know each other more later, it struck me that they were two opposite personalities totally in love with each other. Si Howe, an obvious extrovert, was telling me all about his Ipoh wedding at his family courtyard home (where EVERYONE in their family holds a wedding!) and enticing Nigel and I with stories about giant Tanjung Tualang prawns served during the luncheon.

Needless to say, we were definitely looking forward to this wedding!

We were really smitten with the wonderful classic family home that we had the privilege of shooting in. Since Si Howe’s family was a large one, the tea ceremony took quite a while, serving approximately 180 people! One of the biggest challenges we had was doing a huge family photo that could accommodate everyone. At the entrance of the home (image below), it was hot in the midday sun, so to get everyone to stand / sit there even for 15 minutes would be really challenging. But the worst thing is that everyone would be squinting as they had to look towards the direction of the sun. So we moved everyone to the back of the house instead for the photos. Though it was very warm still, at least people weren’t squinting as much!

20141213_WEDDING_SIHOWE_JOANNE_0743I love this marital bed that symbolises their union. Si Howe told me how he and another cousin  had to painstakingly take the bed apart from another cousin’s home and transport it to this place. And then he had to put it together again, pretty much like a jigsaw puzzle. If you look carefully, you will see his yellow sticker notes on the bed frame which we ‘conveniently’ left in the shot. Tells a story!

20141213_WEDDING_SIHOWE_JOANNE_0717 Continue Reading

Blue & Yellow Sunflowery Goodness: Wedding of Steven & Marilyn

Steven and Marilyn are such bubbly, fun characters, it’s no wonder they chose a bright yellow, sunflower theme for their wedding. We love how the bright blue pops in relation to the yellow too. Everything from the wedding invite, to the flowers, decorations and even Marilyn’s custom made cheongsam adhered to the theme colours!

Some of their friends also came dressed according to theme. From Day1 of the proposal, both Marilyn and Steven were really involved in the whole wedding planning process. Steven’s one of those grooms who actually ENJOY planning a wedding (not like some other grooms we have encountered who prefer to just pay and let the bride plan the wedding!). He is a meticulous guy, always looking at details whereas Marilyn’s a big picture person. So they complement each other in so many ways.

By the way, a bit of interesting info about Marilyn… her dad used to own the one and only ‘go-to’ photo studio in PJ called Photo Beauty Light. Apparently, everyone used to go there for graduation and family photos from the 70s onwards!

My friendship with Marilyn has gone back quite a few years as we have traveled together spiritually as Christian sisters through our DUMC cell group. I am really happy to have met Steven when they first started dating, and now to see her get married. Congratulations to the both of you, we love you very much!

Here are the beautiful photos taken by Weiming and Jamie.

20141206_WEDDING_STEVEN_MARILYN_061720141206_WEDDING_STEVEN_MARILYN_0517 Continue Reading

Church Wedding Video Highlight: Oleg & Stephanie

Oleg and Stephanie’s Story

We first crossed paths several years ago at an airport overseas while we were on very different journeys in our lives. At that time, I was facing a particularly challenging time in my life. I was in between jobs and feeling rather hopeless about love. We talked a little and exchanged details.

Oleg was very persistent in getting to know me. He sent me emails often, skyped me several times and eventually we started to speak over the phone. He was trying to convince me that a long distance relationship will work if two people really love each other.

During Christmas of 2012, I could not go home to KL. I was very disappointed. Oleg completely surprised me by showing up in Melbourne. It was during this time that we really got to know each other. We went on our first trip together to Sydney and had an awesome Christmas together. It was such an amazing trip. We spent 3 weeks together, and each time Oleg and I went somewhere romantic, he would whisper into my ear “please be mine”. At the end of that trip, my answer was “yes”.

It was quite challenging moving forward as we loved across miles. Oleg was based in Hawaii and I in Melbourne. We travelled back and forth every couple of months to see each other.

In the winter of 2013, Oleg came to visit me in Melbourne. He was insistent that we take a little trip somewhere. I organized a short weekend gateway to Phillip Island. We were really hoping to make it in time to see the penguins, but unfortunately, while driving there, I had to attend to an urgent work call. There we were, pulled up on the side of the highway while I attended to work. Oleg was so furious that my work had disrupted our little trip and that I even allowed myself to be on call (truth be told, I completely forgot that I was on call that weekend). Little did I realize that I had spoilt his proposal plans. Anyway, we finally reached our destination and he organized for a romantic dinner and towards the end of the evening, he popped the question.

Our relationship has been anything but convenient. But, never once did we feel that this is not worth it. He is my best friend and my true love (Oleg says: She is an amazing woman, my best friend and marrying her is the best thing I have ever done!)

About the Video

Dear Stories team, Thank you for putting together a beautiful video for Oleg and I. We are extremely happy with the final cut. Watching the video brought so many memories back.. at the end of the day, memories are all we have. Thank you for being part of ours.

From Us

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be involved in your special day! We are really happy that everything went well for the both of you on that day. Wishing you a wonderful married life together!

Credits:
Videographers: Stories Team (Nick, Delvin, Chi Yin)
Church Ceremony: Our Lady of Lourdes, Klang 
Dinner Reception: Sheraton Imperial Hotel, KL
Wedding Planner: Mun Tzin of Milestones
Wedding Gown: Vasiliki Couture, Melbourne
Evening Gown: J’adore, Melbourne
Groom’s Attire: Hugo Boss
Shoes: Shoes of Prey
Photography: Anna-Rina
Make up & Hair: Carmen Ng (morning) and Mabel Toh (evening)
Decorations & Flowers: Wishing Tree
Stationery: Etsy and friends
Cake: Diana Machado
Dinner Entertainment: Small Stones 

Wedding at Four Seasons, Langkawi: Masafumi & Yuko

20141123_WEDDING_MASAFUMI_YUKO_249For someone who works in the hotel line, Yuko knew exactly what she wanted for her wedding. Since she works at the Four Seasons hotel in Shanghai, Yuko decided to have her wedding at another Four Seasons hotel… but in Langkawi! It was Nigel and Jamie’s first wedding shoot at the Four Seasons so they really enjoyed going around the resort, taking portraits for the couple before the ceremony. Beautiful venues always inspire creativity!

One of the challenges they faced though was language! Everyone was speaking Japanese, and unfortunately, Nigel and Jamie’s vocabulary was limited to “Arigatou gozaimasu” and “So! So! So! So!” Good thing for them, they could converse with the couple in English.

Honestly, language has never been a barrier for us in creating beautiful images. For someone like me who can only speak English and Malay even though I am of Chinese heritage… almost EVERY single wedding in Malaysia has bits and pieces of conversation I cannot understand! There is one language that is universal though, and that is the language of love.

That gentle touch… a smile… hands lightly caressing each other… two people just sharing a moment together.

For Masafumi and Yuko, those moments were captured on camera and yes, it made us smile.

20141123_WEDDING_MASAFUMI_YUKO_04920141123_WEDDING_MASAFUMI_YUKO_056 Continue Reading