Pages of INK

I’ve known Fernando & Grace for only a few months since they joined Hope Church Singapore so you can imagine my surprise when I was invited by this lovely couple to photograph their wedding alongside Merv on 19 Sep. Merv, as many of you know, is a veteran wedding photographer. Check out his cool wedding galleries here and I guarantee that you’ll wish you knew him when you tied the knot. In fact, he has gotten so good that he believes that he can somehow photograph his own wedding. We’ll see…

Anyway, the initial enthusiasm was soon met by a lot of self-doubt given that this was my first time shooting a wedding. Now, I’ve attended plenty of weddings, heck even went through one myself, but my preconceived notion till now of wedding photographers were those annoying people that interrupt you in the middle of your dinner to pose for photos. Or, who walk around with Tupperware on top of their cameras. Nonetheless, I never cease to be amazed when I look at wedding portfolios like this and this. Somehow, somewhere, in between interrupting people’s dinners, these fine local photographers manage to capture photos that are so magical they transcend merely being a record of history into a timeless piece of art.

I had big shoes to fill.

And thank God everything worked out in the end. “We have faith in you!” reassured Pris, F&G’s wedding coordinator, a few days before the wedding. Thanks for believing in me and I hope these photos go some way towards repaying that faith!

Click here for the full gallery

And, some selections here:

The beautiful bride

The rings

The happy bridesmaids

Fiesta at the entrace

YAM SENG!

Also, check out Merv’s excellent gallery here.

Popularity: 22% [?]

A big CONGRATULATIONS to MC and Sarah for being the second couple in IslandHope (ok, half couple since Sarah is from another CG) to tie the knot after WL and Yixi last year. The wedding was held at True Way Presbyterian Church which is right next to Queenstown MRT. And yet, my taxi driver still got lost but that’s another story…

I love church weddings. Every one I attend somehow or another brings back memories of my own. The flurry of activities taking place in the morning (decorating the church, folding church bulletins, rehearsals, sound checks, catering, etc), the nervous groom frantically memorising his vows, the restless immediate families who arrived much earlier (or sould I say on time!) compared to 90% of the guests. Ah, nothing like the surge of stress induced adrenaline and heightened sense of anticipation built up over many months of preparation to make one look forward to that brief but special moment where the couple exchange rings and seal their union with a kiss!

For this wedding, I was asked to help out as an emcee, an honour I gladly accepted. I mean, can’t expect MC to do it right? (Ok, bad pun! *hyuks*) My sidekick who did the Mandarin translation was Angie from WAM group and it was a privilege being able to work alongside this veteran emcee of a dozen or so weddings!

Emcees For Hire! Good, cheap (i.e. free) and full of style.

Photo courtesy of Jo

The rest of the Hope Islanders were also out in full force with Pris and Ming doing P&W and Gab leading the team of ushers including Changky and Miriam. Merv, Reina and Jo were armed to the teeth with their DSLRs and made quick work of all photo ops and Kodak moments that arose. In addition, there was also a hilarious multimedia presentation put together by Merv and Reina that entertained the crowd.

Pris: Woo, my one is coming up. Better chope some ideas from this hilarious presentation…

Photo courtesy of Jo

All in all, it was a really memorable wedding and I’m truly happy to see another dear brother and sister in church tie the knot. I have faith that God will really bless this union as both MC and Sarah have never ceased to be a blessing to those around them. Now that they’ve also got a place of their own and with MC recently taking over the reins of IslandHope, I’m sure they will bless His kingdom even more!

One for the IslandHope memories! (Click on the image for a larger original)

Here’s a picture of Ashley and me unwinding after the ceremony. I was quite surprised but this girl has rythm, being able to beat the drums to a very consistent beat and all!

Photo courtesy of Reina

Popularity: 33% [?]

Only about a month and a half left till Wee Leong and Yixi’s big day and if they are not nervous, I certainly am! For those who know me, it’ll be the first time I’m playing the guitar at someone’s wedding so naturally I better make sure I practice as much as possible. The praise and worship team met for their first practice session today at my place and we had a lot of fun running through the four songs (His Love Is Warmer, Pass It On, Think About His Love & How Could I Live Without You) with Pamela on keyboards and Andrew and Jessica on vocals. Guess which one among them has perfect pitch? Heh heh…

After two hours of practice, we then proceded to The Rice Table at Suntec City for our lunch treat courtesy of the soon-to-be-married couple for the wedding committee. The food there was very tasty and much better than Sanur in my opinion with regards to Indonesian cuisine. My favourite dishes were the satay with BBQ sauce and tahu telor (don’t know anyone who doesn’t like this dish!).

Bright atmosphere and exotic Balinese theme gives the place an “A” for decor.

Most of the wedding committee minus a few folks here and there. Our wedding coordinators are Mark (guy is bright yellow) and Theresa (girl in bright blue).

In case you were wondering, the food was free-flow!

This will help you tie the names to the faces.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Isn’t it fast how time flies! Yet again, another ex-classmate ties the knot and this time it’s good ol Wei Ping who is marrying his girl friend of 10 over years! I can still remember him buying this human-sized card for Kher Hsin on Valentine’s day (or was it her birthday? My memory fails me…) in JC2 and we were all so amazed at him; partly for finding a card so huge and secondly for smuggling it to school.

Anyway, congrats to the happy couple and here’s wishing you a lifetime of joy and happiness!

Note: Right-Click on the photos below to download the originals.

Still as cool as ever - INK, Alfred, Jiawei, Fabian.

The happy couple pouring champagne. I’ve always wondered where the cork flies to after people pop the champagne. I don’t ever recall anyone being injured by a flying cork before…

Class of 03/95 (from bottom left to right) - Shuyi, Huiling, Julia, Ker Ping, Weida. (From top left to right) - Dharma, Reynard, Weibin, Kher Hsin, Jiawei, Zhenwei, Fabian, INK, Alfred.

Apologies if I spelt any names wrongly and if I did, please let me know! My Chinese has improved but my memory is getting worse. Haha…

Popularity: 32% [?]

Congrat’s to the happy couple who tied the knot on 14th May 2005 after many years of courtship! Look at how happy they are. Need I say more? God Bless you guys with a wonderful lifetime of marriage and companionship! Here’s a photo of the wedding that was held at the Singapore Arts Museum. It’s like a nice and cosier version of Chijmes.

Speaking of a wonderful lifetime of marriage, here’s one woman who has lived it - my dear mom-in-law. On that same night, we took her and dad out to Fish-and-Co at Park Mall to celebrate her XXth birthday (not revealing! Actually dunno… ha!). The waiting time was long due to the popularity of the place and the fact that it was a Saturday night, but the food and ambience was worth it in the end. There was even this one-man-band singing and playing a guitar on stage who must’ve sang over 5 “Happy Birthday” songs that night.

Finally, to top off the hectic Saturday, we rushed for yet another birthday party at Christie’s condo near Bukit Gombak MRT. Alas, due to rain, we had to have the gathering indoors and hence miss out on a glorious opportunity to see Elaine, the birthday girl, demonstrate synchronized swimming to the happy birthday jingle. Here are some excerpts from the event (and checkout that ahhhbsolutely fahhhbulous house!).

I learnt tonight that junk food and ice cream can actually constitute a full meal.

The pillars of our church are founded upon these group of great and untiring leaders.

Girls always insist on having one photo without guys (we take up too much photo real estate).

Two language books and “A Brief History of the Human Race”.

Popularity: 14% [?]