The Bharatanatyam is an Indian classical dance. Believe it or not, I used to perform it when I was young which explains my affinity for all things Indian! Steve was so surprised he couldn’t believe the framed picture of this chubby little girl in an Indian costumer sitting on top of the organ back in my Penang home, he took a photo of it with his phone! If you’re lucky, he might post it for you to see!

Yogi and Syamala’s engagement ceremony was the first wedding I shot after my long break over Christmas, New years and a 2-week study break in Jan. I was thrilled to start my year with an Indian wedding! The colors of the sarees, jewelry and ornaments were just mesmerizing! Their family was warm and friendly and we managed to get the boys to pose for a few shots at the end of the night!

The Engagement

Temple Wedding

Their temple wedding was held a few weeks later and during our recce to Yogi’s, his brother-in-law was kind enough to delineate the ceremonial proceedings and educate us on what each ritual signifies. The Thalli Tying ceremony is the main part of the marriage ritual. The groom ties three knots to string with a pendant for the Bride to wear. For Hindus, this signifies a sacred wedlock, much like the exchange of rings in Western cultures. There is a pendant on the Thalli, an emblem-like design passed down from the Groom’s family tree. The Bride wears the Thalli to show that she is married. In the olden days, these were not supposed to be taken off and in fact, I had assumed it was still the case today, until their visit to our studio for photo selection! Syamala did not have hers on! Apparently, in this day and age, women only wear it for special occasions.

I just couldn’t't help myself with these photos and had to post my many favorites!

The couple then circles the holy fire seven times, making seven promises to fulfill in their married life. The Holy God of Fire signifies trust and power.

The next part is my favorite! The groom washes and cleanses the Bride’s feet and places a ring on her toes. Rumor has it that this is the only time the man will touch his wife’s feet! (Syamala, hope you cherished the moment! At least now you have photos to look back on!)

This is a game they play to see who can outsmart the other. The priest drops a ring and a shell in the bucket and the smarter one will pick up both and that signifies who manages family matters. Symala won!

Dinner Reception

The dinner reception was held at the Istana Hotel. The couple made grand entrance with Arabian dancers paving the aisle with rose petals and an entourage of family members following behind them! Both Jason and I were taken by surprise as we didn’t expect the entourage to follow behind the grand walk-in! The funny thing is, later, I found out that neither did Yogi or Syamala! They definitely win the title of The Most Chilled Out couple!

My favorite part of all weddings is the dancing bit!

These boys were going for it!

Later on, everyone joined in!

Click here to view more for hindu weddings.

It’s been a long time since I shot 2 full day weddings back-to-back. In fact, I seriously can’t remember the last time I did! (Thanks to Steve! hehehe) Surprisingly enough, I still have the energy to update my blog! Don’t get me wrong – I AM tired – my feet are aching and my wrist is hurting, slightly. But it’s been a blast this weekend! Both couples, Lauren & Shahrul and Iryne & Chua were super fun and candid to photograph! Maybe it’s also because it’s my last weekend of work before I head to the US and I’m just psyched about my trip! For now, I think I’m running on adrenaline!

Here’s a preview of Lauren & Shahrul’s shoot on Saturday (Jason and I were back in Penang last weekend to shoot the Bersanding at Shahrul’s side of the family). This weekend was the tea ceremony and the dinner reception on Lauren’s side (I will post all the photos from the many events soon!).

And here’s a preview of Iryne & Chua’s wedding we shot today! (I will blog more on the infinite number of poses this girl can do!)

On this day, two weeks from now, I would have just arrived in San Francisco! I am super excited about my trip to the US! The last time I was there was in 2007 for Tina and Alex’s wedding in Scottsdale, Arizona. After the wedding, Allen, Rita and I had a mini vacation in SF before we headed back. I must say, out of all the cities I’ve been to in the US, SF is still my favorite! I just love the city, the shopping, the people, the hilly streets… Best of all.. the weather!

I had planned to arrive on Tues but I’ve decided to fly in one day early to do some shopping! Steve and I will be doing a pre-wedding shoot on Wed and then all my girlfriends fly into SF on Thurs so it’ll be girly time from then on!

It’ll be part work but mostly play for me! (More work for Steve as he has two weddings to cover! hahahahaha) We’re also doing a special road trip out to LA to meet the famous Orange County photographer, Jasmine Star. Allen and I will be having our portraits done by her! We are really looking forward to meeting her – she does amazing work and writes just as well! And for someone like me who hates to read, it says a LOT that I’m reading her blog!

I’m still trying to decide whether I should bring my laptop or not. This would be my first trip to the US where I will have with me my full set of equipment and I’m not really sure if I’d wanna add another few kilos by bringing my laptop! Besides, I doubt I’d have time to be updating my blog! (Maybe I will just use Steve’s if he’s bringing his!) I’m leaning towards a NO….

Here are two location shoots I did on the first day back to work (two weeks ago! Oh how time flies!)

Calvin Klein at KLCC

Click here to view more Calvin Klein store photos!

DKNY at KLCC

Click here to view more Calvin Klein store photos!

You can call me a workaholic. I usually work in the studio and even when I come home, I continue working… It’s not that I’m addicted to work (well, Allen might not agree with this, he thinks I am! Ok, maybe yes, a little…) but it’s coz I am overloaded with work. Sometimes I wished I had more hours in a day so I can have some leisure time. Today, I forgot to bring my hard drive back from the studio so I’m stuck – can’t work without my photos! It’s quite a blessing in diguise as I’m promptly updating my blog and managed to go through some notes for my dissertation!

Lauren & Shahrul are both lawyers whom I met through Peter (Client-turned-friend) and KJ (my BFF), and yes, they are all lawyers! One thing I really like about lawyers is how detail they get! It’s great to work with details – the more you know about the couple and the event, the better we can prepare ourselves!

Jason and I shot their akad nikah last Sunday. This was the last shoot of the week and I was running on adrenaline! The nikah ceremony was a short one, the shortest one I’ve ever shot! We shot some portraits around their garden before lunch and as my faith in the weather beholds – it got cloudy for awhile for us to shoot!

Shahrul’s reception will be held in Penang this weekend and needless to say, I’m so looking forward to my trip back! It’ll give me a chance to catch up on all the Sister’s char koay teow I didn’t get to eat over NY and CNY!

Here are some of my favorite shots of the day!