From the fun chip san leong games to the religious akad nikah ceremony, Zaha and Rachel’s fusion wedding was filled with laughter and tears. I love how the bride DIY-ed a tissue paper flower wall for her Chinese tea ceremony, which turned out gorgeous in the photos. The red contrasted so well with the white gown!
You know the saying, “You mess with the bull, you get the horns!”. That, apparently, is Elizabeth’s life’s mantra. I wouldn’t want to get on her blacklist! But as a lawyer of 11 years, I would definitely want her on my team. Realistic and sometimes cynical, she said she can’t help but sometimes be a smart-ass! Elizabeth was born and raised in Indiana, USA. To give her credit, she has a really soft side to her tough exterior… she is an old-fashioned romantic…an extroverted person who loves to make people feel comfortable and at ease. She loves to travel, eat and is totally into sports… more than most guys!
Which are all of Desmond’s favourite activities! Traveling, eating and sports! (Tennis, specifically!). The only other thing in his list is that he adores shopping, but mostly for other people! He is an introvert with extroverted tendencies (not too sure how that works!), is kind, caring, thoughtful and a romantic at heart. Born and bred in Penang, Malaysia, Desmond moved to California when he was 19 for college and medical school.
It was there in the States that they met one night through a mutual friend. It was trivia night, and he came with some colleagues from the hospital. His first impression was that she was easy going and fun to talk to, though he thought that she was a smarty-pants through out the whole night!
Her favorite memory about that evening was when the question “What does the ‘A’ in DNA stand for?” came up and how all the doctors at the table looked at each other and said “acid?”. It made her concerned that the lawyer knew it was “acid” but the doctors were not so sure! Elizabeth is bad with names, so she had ‘labels’ for everyone to help her remember better – there was a ‘guy leaving early’, ‘guy with no sleeves’, ‘Yoba’, and Desmond was apparently the ‘hottie doctor’.
Despite the smarty-pants label, Elizabeth made an impression on Desmond, and so to enlarge his social circle, he asked for her number before leaving (which made her think that he was trying to pick her up!). But I guess she gave him a chance because they started hanging out more often, and the interest kept on growing…and the rest, is history.
Desmond & Elizabeth: Wedding Video Highlights from Stories on Vimeo.
Credits:
Videographers: Nick, Delvin & Ivan
Location: G Hotel, Penang
Photographer: Alex Tan
Wedding Gown: M.H. Pomander’s Bridal, Indianapolis, USA (Designer: Lea-Ann Belter)
Groom’s Attire: Blaine’s Mens Apparel, Ohio, USA (Designer: Canali)
Shoes: Salvatore Ferragamo (Groom) & Nina (Bride)
Make up & hair: Stella Inn International (Leslie Hong)
It was in January 2011 that Tjin met Dawn for the first time through his close friend, Lynsey. Lynsey and Dawn were close, childhood friends in Singapore. Interestingly, Tjin and Dawn’s first point of contact was an unintentional ‘romantic’ Singapore river cruise overlooking Singapore’s city lights. So, Facebook did it again… it connected Tjin and Dawn after that first encounter in Singapore. Their Facebook messages soon turned to Whatsapp messages which then transformed to Skype calls.
This is where it gets interesting. Since 5th January 2011, Tjin and Dawn communicated EVERY SINGLE day, whether it was early in the morning or late at night. But it was a grey kind of relationship for the first 6 months. Were they friends, or were they friends? It would seem obvious though that Tjin’s purchases of flowers for Valentine’s day and whenever Dawn was sick would indicate more than just a friendship. But still, it was not really clear.
Over the first 6 months, they grew to like each other’s personalities and qualities…but one thing was missing… meeting that ‘head’ image with a more concrete ‘face-to-face’ encounter. So June 2011, Tjin decided to make a trip to Singapore, and together with friends, they embarked on this Singapore – KL – Lombok – Hong Kong – Singapore adventure. It was during that trip that Tjin decided to end the uncertainty, and asked Dawn to be his girlfriend in Hong Kong.
Tjin made a promise to Dawn that he would visit as often as he can. This resulted in a long list of flights every 2-3 months over three years – becoming Jetstar’s unofficial number one customer. Some trips were long trips to Hanoi, Bali, Seoul or KL. Some trips to Singapore were only 3 nights over the weekend. Many exciting hellos, and equally as many heartbreaking goodbyes. Dawn would also visit Melbourne at least once a year. Story of their lives for 3 years.
So finally, in March 2013, Dawn visited Melbourne and was put on a surprise flight to Launceston, Tasmania. It was there that Tjin asked Dawn to marry him over a romantic dinner. He made a photo scrapbook of their travels and adventure together, but the last 2 pages were blank. It was meant to be continued!
Congratulations, Tjin and Dawn! I am really happy for the both of you! Sorry I couldn’t be there to witness the wedding, but seeing the images taken by Johan and Weiming, and also the video by Nick, Delvin & Felicia made me feel as if I was there.
Watch the Fusion slideshow of their wedding here.
As I was growing up in Malacca, I always wondered who lived in this really grand, elaborate home along Heeren St. It is undoubtedly the nicest looking building on that street, and usually many tourists would stop by and take photos of the house. When we photographed the wedding of Dexter and Michelle, I was excited to hear that I would be entering it for the first time ever. It was Dexter’s ancestral home, and we had full access to all the floors! Naturally, as we were shooting in the front yard, tourists stopped to take photos!
Dexter and Michelle’s wedding was a 2 part event that started in KL and ended in Malacca. Where can I start about this couple… well, I first met them at the Westin wedding fair where they signed up for our photography and cinematic film service. It was an instant click – the feeling that you have bonded with someone even though you’ve only just met. They were humorous, ‘in-your-face’, fun, spontaneous… I guess part of it had to be the fact that Dexter is from Malacca…and you know what…Malaccans are a FUN and loud bunch! (Read: Grace is fun and loud too).
We created a fusion slideshow for them to show the next day at Equatorial hotel. Look out for the middle part of the slideshow where he strides in and lifts her off her feet!
