I’m finally back in Singapore again! I traveled home with Legend (yea, his self-crowned nickname) on Friday morning so that I could make it in time for my dental appointment on Saturday morning and more importantly, my dearest cousin, Daniel’s wedding on Sunday. It was a really sweet event – nothing big, full of flair and extravagance, but it’s the simple wedding ceremony and the dinner thereafter that really captured my heart. Who needs to book the whole restaurant and big bowls of shark fin soup to complement a wedding? I love it how Daniel and Emily picked a simpler alternative, with close friends and relatives attending the ceremony and dinner. I really, really enjoyed myself.
The happy couple, Emily and Daniel.
Oh and I’m hereby dedicating this classic wedding song to the happy couple :) We’ve Only Just Begun by The Carpenters.
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The day started off with everyone arriving around 8.30-9am in the morning to gather at the empty home beside my uncle’s house. Everyone brought food and drinks, and we sat around inflating balloons to decorate the place :)
Daniel's sister, Alicia, and my mom.
That’s Alicia and my mom tying the balloons together and hanging them up for decoration. I remembered the heart-shaped balloons were notoriously difficult to inflate and we all suffered from the gag reflex somewhere during the process. Nonetheless, we have now cute little balloons greetings anyone who’s arriving at the house!
Daniel left for Emily’s home and had to charge through various obstacles before being allowed by Emily’s bffs to bring her back to his home. That meant a two-hour wait for us and I happily chatted away with cousin Kenneth. The entire house was swarming with life and activity all thanks to the endless chatters from the ladies. Well, at least that kept us up and awake too! Teehee!
Words started to spread that Daniel is on his way back so we made our way to my uncle’s house next door. Soon before I realized, we heard blaring horns in the distance – an act to tell everyone that somebody’s getting married today and the bride and groom are in the car.
Aunt Chris helping Emily to put on the jewels.
Emily looked absolutely gorgeous in that gown she’s wearing! Simple and yet very beautiful. You know what, you don’t need a Vera Wang to make you look like a bride. It’s the bride that matters, not the dress, isn’t it? :)
What a ride!
Definitely the coolest ride I’ve ever seen. That dude in red in the background is the official photographer and he was lugging around two huge cameras – Canon 5D and 40D as I learned from him later at night during the wedding dinner when he shared the same table as me.
Tossing the bouquet over her shoulder. Catch it!
Did I mention the weather that day was one of the best one I’ve ever seen? Clear blue sky with rolling clouds, as hot as hell outside but it makes a good weather for high speed photography! Emily tossed the bouquet over her shoulder and as superstition goes, the women who catches it will be the next to wed.
A group photo before the wedding reception ends.
Most of the family group photos were covered by the official photographer so I was just there to take photos when I see fit. I can’t wait to see the official wedding photo album once the photos were all developed!
The wedding reception ended around noon and we all returned home to prepare ourselves for the dinner. I took a four hour nap because I was too tired running around the place taking photos. I never knew it could be so tiring! But then the experience gave me a first-hand feel of how being a photographer at a wedding feels like – no toilet break, man and camera at all times and being a shutter-bug is a must! One can’t afford to miss out any of the precious moments and it’s always good to have another photographer buddy to get your back just in case.
Outside the restaurant. Crystal, Boon, Alicia, Emily and Daniel.
My cousin Crystal and Alicia were sitting for their papers tomorrow and yet they helped out with the seating. Boon too! All the best for their exams… speaking of which, I’m glad to get mine done with but my heart goes out to those who haven’t finish their exams yet. Hang in there!
Wedding cake bokeh.
A failed attempt to create a lovely bokeh photo from the figurines on the wedding cake *weak smiles*
Going table to table for drinks.
It’s ingrained in our culture that the newly wed have to go to each table at the wedding dinner for drinks! Usually the poor groom will end up dead drunk, but Daniel still looked okay after going past 8 tables. A little flushed but still holding up good! I stuck to my cup of iced coke for the cheers.
So that wraps up my weekend trip to Malaysia for my cousin’s wedding! The next week in Singapore will be full of lunch/dinner dates and appointments, plus a long overdue Starbucks treat for Dayna. Have a great week ahead everyone!
Congratulations to your cousin and his wife! I hope they have a blissful marriage.
I love the toga dress the bride is wearing in the 3rd photograph. She looks absolutely gorgeous! I haven’t seen toga wedding gowns before. It’s simple yet very elegant on her. I guess the saying that “the bride looks the most beautiful on her wedding” is true. :)
Looking forward to our Starbucking session tomorrow. See you! :)
Me too! Wishing them all the happiness. Oh so that’s a toga dress *facepalm* I only know it’s a gown but didn’t know the proper word for it. I love the red band she wore around the gown too.
Brides always look the best on their wedding day – they’ve got this unique glow on them :)
Aww, a big congratulations to your cousin & his new wife! They look absolutely adorable and quite happy. I love the simplicity of their wedding, it looked lovely! Everyone seemed so genuinely happy, it must have been exciting to be a part of something like that. :)
Great photos. lol, I love the tradition of them having to go around to each table for a drink, lol. I’ve never heard of that! There’s no way I could handle that. :P …unless of course if the drink of choice is cran-apple juice, mm. :D
OH! And that CAR. Holy cow. That is something nice. :D
Same here! Their wedding reminds me of yours and although simple, both theirs and yours are absolutely sweet and lovely. One doesn’t need a huge ceremony to be married, right? :) I didn’t take part in most of the preparation part though, and I can’t wait to be really in charge of a wedding in the future (preferably as a backup photographer or something heh).
Oh, I think that’s a Chinese or a Cantonese tradition. Usually the groom will be dead drunk after the whole thing because he’ll usually help the bride to drink her share too (in that wedding, Emily had plain water to replace alcoholic drinks).
Aha! Cran-apple juice! I love anything that’s mixed with cranberry or pomegranate.
Yea that car is really something! What a ride! It’s a two seater though haha.
Thanks coussie and all ;)
that’s one of my fav songs as well…and both of us are glad that you can make it back for our big day (^o^)
What a beautiful day. I love going to Weddings – of all types, whether they’re casual, or classy. My cousin Larry got married in September, and it was a beautiful ceremony. Can’t wait until I’m married someday. :)
Congratulations to them! Did you guys have a tea ceremony? Usually back home during we’d have one at each side’s houses and the elders would usually say well wishes with innuendos all over. Hehe
The bride’s gown is lovely. It was simple but elegant and yet it makes her the queen of the day! I love seeing how everyone is dressed in red. It superimposes the festive mood!
Gosh, I miss wedding celebrations :P My favourite part is the dinner actually! Usually for my relatives, the groom and bride has to play a few games to test their love. In Brunei we can’t have alcohol, so usually the bride and groom go around with sparkling wine so they never get drunk.
For my cousin’s wedding this year I was in charge of the computer (audio visuals, the flash video I made for her, slideshows, music, etc) and also being a photographer. Boy it was hectic! Thankfully my nephew was in charge of photography and hence told me to be his backup rather than the main since I had just too much to do!
Yeap, there were two tea ceremonies – one at the bride’s place before the couple came over to the one over at my uncle’s house. I pity the groom though because he had to endure all the silly and torturous games before he can whisk his dearest wifey away to his home for the second tea ceremony.
I really love this line of yours:
I could still vividly remember a wedding I attended a few years ago when the bride’s BFF asked the groom and his gang of friends to produce 5 different types of hairs. No prize of guessing where else did they get the hair from besides the head. LOL.
Wow, I think it isn’t easy to be in-charge of a wedding – there’s so many things to do and you’ll be pretty tensed up the night before the wedding reception and dinner. The poor photographers have to run around all day and shoot non-stop, gosh.
I never thought how beautiful a red motif is. It’s a color of love best for the newly weds. I’ve noticed though that the celebration is simple yet so happy and full of joy unlike with what the usual wedding ceremony, a church, a wedding venue and a little program with the couple and their closest friends and families. By the way, she’s such a lovely bride. I keep on wishing I’d be like that someday.:)
Ah, the red motif of the wedding actually stems from a Chinese belief that red represents prosperity and luck. It’s a very common colour in traditional or semi-traditional Chinese weddings, although many of the weddings nowadays tend to incline towards the Western white wedding theme.
Congratulations to your cousin and his wife on this great occasion. It seems very simple and sweet function at all. Engagement Rings