Falling hearts, Shermaine has already captured mine. ;)
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Graduates of MPC!
We've graduated from the Catholic Marriage Preparation Course (MPC) at last!
Six weeks of lectures, sharing, "couple-pak" worksheet doing, presenting and candidly ironing out our differences in views... it was a good experience on a whole, we learnt some useful and valuable lessons. Hoping it will help us to pave a smooth path to, and in our married days to come!
Next up, planning for the Church wedding caterers, guest lists, schedule for the actual day, stag/hen parties (I'm not even sure if I want a hen party... being the anti-social creature that I am), consolidating all our plans, outfits for the parents, gathering our brothers and sisters for the big day... only 3 months left, so many things to do!
Gambatte!!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Attended the first of the family weddings for 2011!
It was a lively and fun wedding, definitely not the run-of-the-mill type ending with a Chinese dinner. Even though I was preoccupied shooting most of the time, I'm glad for my family, including my aunties and cousins who kept Shermaine occupied and entertained!
This is one of my favourite shots of the evening, rendered in Black & White, a mode I'm growing to like a lot actually. Shermaine actually helped me with the composition! While watching one of the bridesmaids give a speech, I noticed Simon slipping his arm around Cherie and took the opportunity to snap a shot since they happened to be caught by the light. Shermaine mentioned that I should try lowering my framing a little and voila, the shot above was taken! Tag-team double-combo!
Next of the family weddings - my Uncle Ivan's! Then my own at the year-end of course! Busy! Thanks Shermaine for holding the fort and getting us back on track regarding the planning.
To see more of the Wise Wedding, click the link here.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Welcoming Roxy Rocket!
5 months before our big day, and we've adopted a kid! She's a 5-year-old miniature Pinscher from SPCA and awesomely cute! Sherm's been coming over daily to train and feed the little girl, I can't complain. Our first priority was to get her to assimilate into the Quah pack, including our 2 four-legged friends Jacky and October. That's sorta been done already, and we've established ourselves as the Alpha and higher-ranked pack-member. Next up - training her. She understands her name already, we just need to get her to "Come" more frequently. "Sit" has taken about 5 days and she's sorta getting it more on the dot already, so we'll be moving on to words like "Go", and "Heel" soon.
You may be thinking, that must make you quite busy before your Big Day doesn't it? Adding on the extra load of taking care and training the new member must be affecting your schedule. Well, sort of yes and no. We're seeing more of each other now, but we're not getting the things done. Take for example, we're into our 3rd week of the Marriage Preparation Course (MPC) and we've accumulated 2 couple-paks that need doing before this Sunday. We're still tossing about ideas for our Honeymoon, and we've got the guest list that still needs to be put together. Furthermore, I'm meeting up with my buddies to plan my Stag party, and I still need to make arrangements for my flight and lodgings for Uncle's Vietnam wedding in November. Phew.. Not to mention the wedding event things that we need to finalize (oops).
Oh well, Roxy's a darling, and she's getting both our combined effort and energy to keep her in check. She'll be the most well-behaved dog in the house, and we hope to bring her around where we go in time to come too! haha..
Ah well, that's the latest update for ya. =)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Keeping the parents informed
So it is just over 6 months to our wedding. During the entire process, thinking of things to do, trying to get them done, organizing and planning - it is quite easy to forget that the parents are an integral part of this as well. So as a dutiful son or daughter, one must also take the time to meet up with both sides and let them know what is going on, touch base, and check that the expectations are aligned.
For instance, if like us, your dinner venue is small (26 tables is comfortable, max of 30 incl 2 reserve tables), managing the parents' enthusiasm to invite friends and relations from way back is absolutely necessary. I have assigned a certain number of tables to them, and I hope that they are able to keep within that number.
I met up with Shermaine's parents recently, and talked to them about the Guo Da Li (approx conducted 1-2 weeks prior to the actual day). Since neither of us knew who was supposed to give what to whom, and how many, I had assured them that we will be getting the list, after consulting with the traditional wedding gifts fella. Using this list, we will then ask the parents to check off which items they absolutely must have, and which are optional. I also informed them of the exchange in Ang Paos, including the dowry (or pin jin which they have to return a portion of) and the err.. Ang Pao for Sherm's mom for bringing her up (I shan't mention the exact name here, its quite crude lol), which she gets to keep. Of the gifts we bring over during the Guo Da Li, we should also indicate the exact number which the in-laws have to return to us. This I will consult with said traditional wedding gifts fella.
The follow-up meeting between the parents where all this will be finalized will be at the official food-tasting session at Grand Park City Hall, about 2 months prior to the big day. During this dinner, all terms and requests should be brought up for discussion between the 2 families.
For instance, if like us, your dinner venue is small (26 tables is comfortable, max of 30 incl 2 reserve tables), managing the parents' enthusiasm to invite friends and relations from way back is absolutely necessary. I have assigned a certain number of tables to them, and I hope that they are able to keep within that number.
I met up with Shermaine's parents recently, and talked to them about the Guo Da Li (approx conducted 1-2 weeks prior to the actual day). Since neither of us knew who was supposed to give what to whom, and how many, I had assured them that we will be getting the list, after consulting with the traditional wedding gifts fella. Using this list, we will then ask the parents to check off which items they absolutely must have, and which are optional. I also informed them of the exchange in Ang Paos, including the dowry (or pin jin which they have to return a portion of) and the err.. Ang Pao for Sherm's mom for bringing her up (I shan't mention the exact name here, its quite crude lol), which she gets to keep. Of the gifts we bring over during the Guo Da Li, we should also indicate the exact number which the in-laws have to return to us. This I will consult with said traditional wedding gifts fella.
The follow-up meeting between the parents where all this will be finalized will be at the official food-tasting session at Grand Park City Hall, about 2 months prior to the big day. During this dinner, all terms and requests should be brought up for discussion between the 2 families.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Those Doc Marts..
About a year ago, Sherm and I came across a limited edition run of Dr Marten's boots that Sherm totally fell in love with. The boots are white and flocked with a silver baroque print in silver glitter. Apart from that, everything else was the standard DM design.
Well, by some strange/lucky coincidence, Sherm's chosen evening gown design went very well with the boots and we decided to use it during our pre-wedding photoshoot! When we presented the idea to our designer Jeff, and showed him the boots, he was so excited as he was actually eyeing a similar design in gold but didn't purchase them cos he couldn't fit in them! Thank God for a designer who was so supportive and shared our ideas! We used the boots with the short version of her skirt and practically pranced around Ubud Pasar in them. =)
Those Doc Marts are unique and beautiful and we hope it gets some 'air-wair' time on our wedding day!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Pre-Wedding Photo Shoot - DONE!
We're back from Bali! I have so much to say, I don't know where to start.. For this post, I'll just talk about the pre-wedding shoot.
On day 1 in Bali, the Aditi team manager Dedy, assistant photographer Wayan and make-up artist Annie came over to our villa and we had a sit-down discussion with them. They basically went through all our details, venues, made some recommendations, noted our outfit changes for each venue and planned the day's itinerary, including lunch and advising how to take our breakfast! We went through the style of make-up and hair as well, so everything was set. We just had to be ready by the time they picked us up early the next morning.
Day 2 was the day of the shoot. Shermaine and I, along with our entourage of friends, were driven to the Aditi Niranjan studio for make-up before our first venue - the Ubud Pasar (market)! At the studio, we were introduced to the rest of the crew that would follow us that day - Mario the owner and main photographer was a bald man with a charming smile.
So off to the market we went! What a culturally interesting place it was, offering at least 3 different looks for the background of our images! We even got to sit on a local police motorbike!
We headed back to the studio for a touch-up and outfit change before the long drive to Kintamani. The drive there offered excellent views of Mt Batur at the crest of the perimeter before descending to the valley where we had our 'lonely' roadside shoot with the mountain as our backdrop. What a lovely blue sky we had! Not to mention the Vespa that was ridden there for us by the umbrella-man =D Our friends Jackie, Jon, Mark and Justin really helped a lot here, helping bear the heat with us, knowing where our accessories and clothes were, and picking up Sherm's train and sash after every click (in order to avoid the many trucks that would pass by every 3 minutes or so!). We wouldn't know what we would have done if not for their generous help!
We couldn't have Ikan Bakar for lunch as initially planned, so Wayan drove us to the famous Ibu Oka for Babi Guling (roasted suckling pig) lunch.
Next, we proceeded to a black sand beach nearer to Ubud and had our 3rd series of shots with a rented horse which was adorned with a shiny new red bridle. The horse was lovely and perfectly well-behaved, apart from him sticking out his tongue and the occasional foamy cough! Still, Sherm was smiling from ear to ear (she really loves horses) the entire time.
Our final location was Tengal Wangi, a beach location that would replace Tanah Lot since that was a place that Sherm could hardly let her bridal gown down (it being a very wet location). We hadn't realized how much of a treacherous climb down it was to get to the beach itself! Anyway we managed to do it, and took another excellent series there before changing out to casuals so that Sherm could climb back up with less difficulty and without worrying about ripping the intricate lace on her gown.
That night, we sat up for about an hour after being sent back to our villa. With assistance from Wayan, we chose our 80 pictures to be edited. These pictures would also make up the 2 albums that came with our package, and 1 would be our blown-up large size canvas wall-hanging. During this time, we could specify the edits we wanted to make to any particular image, or simply leave it to their good and capable hands.
Two days later, some staff from Aditi came to deliver our 2 albums, CDs, video DVD and the canvas. We spotted a few images which used a green filter which we really didn't like at all. So we told them about our dissatisfaction. Luckily we had 1 extra day to our holiday, so they promptly returned to make the alterations and could deliver our perfect album early the next day, before we set off for the airport!
There were some issues with their service, of which I will state here:
1) The make-up tended to the heavy side... Annie's initial hair arrangements was not to our liking as well, but that was fixed with some advice frm Jackie - thanks!
I would suggest bringing more pictures of what you want done, or examples, which will help greatly.
2) Effective communication in English is not so perfect either. It would be good if either the bride or groom spoke some Bahasa Indonesia, or have a member of your entourage help in the communication, to express ideas, or make specific requests.
However, on the whole, we were VERY IMPRESSED with the service we received from the company throughout, and I would whole-heartedly recommend their services to anyone wanting to do a pre-wedding shoot or even a family shoot in Bali.
Some acknowledgements:
Once more, thanks again to our friends, Mark, Jackie, Jon and Justin without which this shoot would not have turned out as fun, as relaxing or as enjoyable as it did. =D
Jean, Jessica and Kelvin who accompanied us on our holiday to Bali.
Finally, to Mark and Jackie again, who fervently recommended the studio to us after going through a similar experience 2 yrs prior, a heartfelt thank you to you both!
At the Goa Lawah bat cave,
not one of our pre-wedding photos!
So our pre-wedding shoot arrangement with Aditi Niranjan Photography was discussed entirely over email with Thea, Aditi's marketing manager. The discussion started months earlier and only within the last 2-3 weeks did we finally get down to the nitty gritty details of planning the locations and props to be used. On their Facebook page, Aiditi called us their "most creative and organized couple" haha.. I wouldn't say we were organized, we just knew what we wanted!not one of our pre-wedding photos!
On day 1 in Bali, the Aditi team manager Dedy, assistant photographer Wayan and make-up artist Annie came over to our villa and we had a sit-down discussion with them. They basically went through all our details, venues, made some recommendations, noted our outfit changes for each venue and planned the day's itinerary, including lunch and advising how to take our breakfast! We went through the style of make-up and hair as well, so everything was set. We just had to be ready by the time they picked us up early the next morning.
Day 2 was the day of the shoot. Shermaine and I, along with our entourage of friends, were driven to the Aditi Niranjan studio for make-up before our first venue - the Ubud Pasar (market)! At the studio, we were introduced to the rest of the crew that would follow us that day - Mario the owner and main photographer was a bald man with a charming smile.
So off to the market we went! What a culturally interesting place it was, offering at least 3 different looks for the background of our images! We even got to sit on a local police motorbike!
We headed back to the studio for a touch-up and outfit change before the long drive to Kintamani. The drive there offered excellent views of Mt Batur at the crest of the perimeter before descending to the valley where we had our 'lonely' roadside shoot with the mountain as our backdrop. What a lovely blue sky we had! Not to mention the Vespa that was ridden there for us by the umbrella-man =D Our friends Jackie, Jon, Mark and Justin really helped a lot here, helping bear the heat with us, knowing where our accessories and clothes were, and picking up Sherm's train and sash after every click (in order to avoid the many trucks that would pass by every 3 minutes or so!). We wouldn't know what we would have done if not for their generous help!
We couldn't have Ikan Bakar for lunch as initially planned, so Wayan drove us to the famous Ibu Oka for Babi Guling (roasted suckling pig) lunch.
Next, we proceeded to a black sand beach nearer to Ubud and had our 3rd series of shots with a rented horse which was adorned with a shiny new red bridle. The horse was lovely and perfectly well-behaved, apart from him sticking out his tongue and the occasional foamy cough! Still, Sherm was smiling from ear to ear (she really loves horses) the entire time.
Our final location was Tengal Wangi, a beach location that would replace Tanah Lot since that was a place that Sherm could hardly let her bridal gown down (it being a very wet location). We hadn't realized how much of a treacherous climb down it was to get to the beach itself! Anyway we managed to do it, and took another excellent series there before changing out to casuals so that Sherm could climb back up with less difficulty and without worrying about ripping the intricate lace on her gown.
That night, we sat up for about an hour after being sent back to our villa. With assistance from Wayan, we chose our 80 pictures to be edited. These pictures would also make up the 2 albums that came with our package, and 1 would be our blown-up large size canvas wall-hanging. During this time, we could specify the edits we wanted to make to any particular image, or simply leave it to their good and capable hands.
Two days later, some staff from Aditi came to deliver our 2 albums, CDs, video DVD and the canvas. We spotted a few images which used a green filter which we really didn't like at all. So we told them about our dissatisfaction. Luckily we had 1 extra day to our holiday, so they promptly returned to make the alterations and could deliver our perfect album early the next day, before we set off for the airport!
There were some issues with their service, of which I will state here:
1) The make-up tended to the heavy side... Annie's initial hair arrangements was not to our liking as well, but that was fixed with some advice frm Jackie - thanks!
I would suggest bringing more pictures of what you want done, or examples, which will help greatly.
2) Effective communication in English is not so perfect either. It would be good if either the bride or groom spoke some Bahasa Indonesia, or have a member of your entourage help in the communication, to express ideas, or make specific requests.
However, on the whole, we were VERY IMPRESSED with the service we received from the company throughout, and I would whole-heartedly recommend their services to anyone wanting to do a pre-wedding shoot or even a family shoot in Bali.
Some acknowledgements:
Once more, thanks again to our friends, Mark, Jackie, Jon and Justin without which this shoot would not have turned out as fun, as relaxing or as enjoyable as it did. =D
Jean, Jessica and Kelvin who accompanied us on our holiday to Bali.
Finally, to Mark and Jackie again, who fervently recommended the studio to us after going through a similar experience 2 yrs prior, a heartfelt thank you to you both!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tried on the custom Wedding Gown + Suit
And they are fantastic looking! Sherm fit her gown excellently, and Jeff even took off 1/2 an inch off her previous measurement, but she still can breathe easily and looks marvelously gorgeous in it! Sherm's fitness fanaticsm has paid off! How do you like the preview above? It's been mosaic-ed to preserve an air of mystery =D That's the Italian lace that Jeff (our designer) is really proud of. He hand-carried it all the way from Europe, and told us about how he was watching his tailors like a hawk since he only had that one piece. If they had ruined it, that would've been it!
We really love working with Jeff, Jolene and Louis from La Vie Bridal. They incorporated all our suggestions and the gown looks great! No problems here at all, and they're really really accomodating - super highly recommended! Oh and my Armani-inspired suit looks fab too, and the colours for the suit & Sherm's gown complement each other! I love the inner lining detail that they actually bothered to sew in - will get a shot of that during the photo-shoot and upload it here next time.
We'll have to pick-up the outfits a day before we take off for Bali next, then its a full day of shooting - all arranged already, including the hand bouquet and style of shots we want (there'll be a meeting on the day we arrive where we can discuss with the photographer how we want our shots). Email liaisons with Thea from Aditi Niranjan has been smooth and they seem to excel at top notch service as well. I sent her all our preferred locations, sample of shots we like, and the style of the hand bouquet that Sherm likes, so they'll be taking care of all that. Requests were well-handled too, and after discussion with Mark Tan who introduced them to us, I realized too that they really say OK to everything we ask! Very excited about the upcoming shoot - it'll be fun fun fun! =D
Just a Thank You note to my friends who've been helping us out so far:
Jean, Justin & Jon, for helping to plan and make arrangements for our Bali holiday. Jean dug up a whole tonne of activities for us to choose from, sure made it easier to plan our itinerary as a group!
Jackie for graciously accepting to help Sherm as her ad-hoc bridesmaid during our upcoming photo-shoot.
Mark also for sitting down with me yesterday to recreate a logo from scratch.
We are grateful for your help and all the offers of contribution from the rest of our mates - we will be calling on you for help as the big day draws closer! =D
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Working Out
So we've been pounding the gym for the last couple of months in preparation for our shoot in May. Shermaine especially has been very consistent and focused, going up to 4 times a week! She uses both her office gym and the Yio Chu Kang Club Fitt with me. She also takes October out for hour-long walks/jogs on the occasion, and you can see the benefits of these sojourns that both of them are reaping! haha..
Shermaine, an avid reader of all things mostly non-fiction, has been picking up health books and trying out different diets. She mainly watches her calories these days, limiting her intake to a certain amount. This is a great system, because if you plan to eat heavier for dinner, for example, then you should cut back on your breakfast and lunch. In the end, you will have eaten your heavy dinner, and still be within the required calorie intake per day, but you would have effectively balanced it out without eating extra! Fantastic!
I must praise her on her very effective and non-tortorous diet and workout regime because she has really put in a lot of effort! Actually, I don't even have to praise her, cos all her office colleagues and friends are already doing so! They're quite taken aback by her new look. Good job Shermy!
As for me, well, I'm not trying to lose weight, you know I've always had the unusual problem of not being able to gain weight! After 3 months of gymming, I didn't look much harder or bigger, though I definitely feel more lean. But I needed to gain weight, and the usual fruits and protein thing didn't seem to change anything, except make me healthier.
But that was fine, since I had my office Banana Run in early April, and all that running on the treadmill allowed me to go into the competition as a Pro-Runner without much need for additional training. I came in 2nd for the 5km run, at a time of 19 mins 40 secs, which is not bad considering I used to run cross-country, when I was 18, at 19mins +! 10 years later and I can still kick it eh? haha..
So once the Banana Run was over, Shermaine jumped in to the rescue again! She's been force-feeding me consistent 2nd breakfasts that I eat at work about 9.30am, and ensuring that I eat a substantial post-work snack at about 4.30pm, along with my usual 3 meals. Also, I'm not avoiding the fried foods now.. yay! love those unhealthy fried edibles..
The result? I'm putting on about 1kg per week now for the past 2 weeks. Yay! Looking forward to hitting 65 kg just in time for the photoshoot in Bali..
So, in summary, this is another reason why I'm very happy with my chosen life partner - Shermaine. =D
Shermaine, an avid reader of all things mostly non-fiction, has been picking up health books and trying out different diets. She mainly watches her calories these days, limiting her intake to a certain amount. This is a great system, because if you plan to eat heavier for dinner, for example, then you should cut back on your breakfast and lunch. In the end, you will have eaten your heavy dinner, and still be within the required calorie intake per day, but you would have effectively balanced it out without eating extra! Fantastic!
I must praise her on her very effective and non-tortorous diet and workout regime because she has really put in a lot of effort! Actually, I don't even have to praise her, cos all her office colleagues and friends are already doing so! They're quite taken aback by her new look. Good job Shermy!
As for me, well, I'm not trying to lose weight, you know I've always had the unusual problem of not being able to gain weight! After 3 months of gymming, I didn't look much harder or bigger, though I definitely feel more lean. But I needed to gain weight, and the usual fruits and protein thing didn't seem to change anything, except make me healthier.
But that was fine, since I had my office Banana Run in early April, and all that running on the treadmill allowed me to go into the competition as a Pro-Runner without much need for additional training. I came in 2nd for the 5km run, at a time of 19 mins 40 secs, which is not bad considering I used to run cross-country, when I was 18, at 19mins +! 10 years later and I can still kick it eh? haha..
So once the Banana Run was over, Shermaine jumped in to the rescue again! She's been force-feeding me consistent 2nd breakfasts that I eat at work about 9.30am, and ensuring that I eat a substantial post-work snack at about 4.30pm, along with my usual 3 meals. Also, I'm not avoiding the fried foods now.. yay! love those unhealthy fried edibles..
The result? I'm putting on about 1kg per week now for the past 2 weeks. Yay! Looking forward to hitting 65 kg just in time for the photoshoot in Bali..
So, in summary, this is another reason why I'm very happy with my chosen life partner - Shermaine. =D
Saturday, April 9, 2011
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