Procrastination – all of us are guilty of it… And as I sit here and acknowledge the fact that I’ve put off working on my dissertation for the past 2 months, I just can’t seem to get myself to started! Yesterday, I told myself, I’d start today. Now, I’m telling myself I’ll start tomorrow! Argh!!!

Lauren & Shahrul’s numerous wedding events were held over a few weekends prior to my departure for the US. Following the weekend of their akad nikah in KL, Shahrul’s bersanding was held in Penang at the Equatorial Hotel. It was good to be back in Penang and it was a jaw dropping breakthrough to finally watch Jason Highway eat! ( yes, i’ve been curious about his dieting habits- he survives on coffee all day and apparently eats his meals at midnight)

At these bersanding receptions, the brides are usually supposed to act demure and composed.. Of course, Lauren being Lauren, her bubbly extroverted and zealous self shone through during the merinjis ceremony and they kept light-hearted! I was also pretty impressed with Shahrul’s ability to understand and converse in Hokkien which I guess it not surprising for someone from Penang and is 1/4 Chinese!

On Lauren’s side, the Chinese tea ceremony and dinner reception was held in KL. The tea ceremony was a short and sweet one and we ended the day with some hilarious shots of the bouquet/Ang Pao toss!

Lauren & Shahrul’s dinner reception in KL was held at the Holiday Inn Glenmarie in Shah Alam. This was a party for their friends, colleagues and Lauren’s relatives.

As I went through the photos of their dinner reception and got to the part of the couples’ speeches, I started tearing… Lauren had a surprise for Shahrul – after her speech, she dedicated a song by Adam Sandler, “I wanna grow old with you”. It was so sweet and touching – they stood on stage, hugged each other and at intervals of laughter, there were tears of pure joy and happiness…

Tearing uncontrollably behind my camera, I really never expected to feel the same urge again sitting alone behind my laptop..

It’s moments like these that keep me going and loving what I do most about my work!

Congrats to Lauren & Shahrul!

I was stuffed when I left Austin last week. Stuffed from eating soooooooooooooooooooo much in Austin. Sooooooo much that Steve said “No” to Amy’s Ice cream at the airport…. sooooo much that Steve commented that I had transformed 180 degrees as he’s never seen me eat so much before!

Julie & Peter’s wedding two Saturdays ago was what brought us to Austin. Of course, with that, it came with a checklist of food to eat! The best part of the trip was getting to see all my friends again… Rita, Angela, Raina & Susan (they both made a 2nd trip out to see me in Austin, after meeting up in SF the weekend before! Thank you girls!) and Giles, who I haven’t seen in years! ZULTAN!

Day 1

3pm Arrival at Airport – Amy’s Ice Cream!

5pm – Krispy Kremes: All of us got 1 free doughnut each, right out of the oven! We ended up buying 2 dozen!

5:30pm – Chik-Fil-A: My top 2 most favorite fast food places, apart from Mos Burger!

We had eaten so much we didn’t have dinner that night but went out to 6th St for drinks instead and ended up having bratwurst and a pizza… yum!

Day 2 – 1:30pm Chuy’s: Lunch with Rita & Chris

5:30pm Amy’s Ice Cream on the drag – Steve & Aips bought a pint of Shiner ice cream and finished it right there and then!

A pint of Shiner (Shiner Bock is a yummy Texan beer)

8pm Drinks at Doc’s – to watch college basketball before heading out to dinner

9:30pm Malaga for tapas – My first time there but awesome tapas!!!

Day 3 – 1:30pm Pluckers: We ordered 100 wings among 7 of us!

3:30pm Amy’s Ice Cream!

The rest of the evening, we were shooting the wedding…

Day 4 – 1:30pm Rudy’s: Due to miscommunication, a group of us ended up in the 183 north one and Rita & Angela ended up in another one I think off Loop1… The bad news – we had ordered for 12 people! The good news – Rita had ordered too but only for themselves.. Whew!!!

Tine this photo’s for you!!!

3:30pm Austin Java Co for coffee and to hang out with everyone (Rita, Angela and Raina) one last time before they left…

7pm Amy’s ice cream! Steve & Aips bought a pint of White Chocolate this time! We were soooo full from that, we skipped dinner but…

11pm Magnolia’s Cafe – coz we didn’t want to go to bed hungry!

Day 5 – 2:45pm Hula Hut for my favorite coconut shrimp! Aips loved the chips and salsa so much she finished 3 bowls of it! (Salsa, I mean!) And Steve was making orgasmic noises with the Enchiladas!

I was soooooo excited about the coconut shrimp, I finished it before I took a photo! So here’s what was left of it!

3:30pm Mozart’s for Strawberry shortcake but they didn’t have that anymore so we tried their Rasberry Tres Leches – it wasn’t very good.. disappointing…

10pm Ushi – Julie & Peter brought us to their favorite restaurant in Austin and boy was the food good! The food and presentation was just exquisite! Steve and Peter drank sooooo much sake!

This is a bad photo of a really yummy dish! I must say, this Ava bake is my favorite dish of the night!

Deep fried Bree! I don’t usually eat Bree cheese but this was good!

Peanut butter cream/mango sorbet dessert!

We skipped Amy’s today!

Last day – I had checked off almost all things on my list except for a 2nd round of Chik-fil-A, Fuddruckers and Schlotzsky’s… so, we had planned it properly…

10:30am Breakfast at Chik-fil-A at the Union

Again, we were sooooo excited about the food, I totally forgot to take a photo! This is what’s left of it!

1:30pm Fuddruckers – Best burgers ever! And yes, sorry to disappoint Felicia & Chamath… but it’s better than In-and-Out!

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3:45pm Amy’s Ice Cream – We had to have our last 3 cups of ice cream for me to get a free tshirt!

5pm I had planned to have my favorite pizza from Schlotzsky’s at the airport but was very disappointed to find that they only served sandwiches at the airport branch! Argh!!! So, that was the only thing I missed on my checklist!

6pm Amy’s Ice Cream – My last round. This time, I was on my own! Steve gave up… I have never heard him say “No” to food before!

I will be missing Austin and can’t wait to be back the next time… the next time will be for someone’s wedding…. Hmmmm.. I wonder who’s!

To my girls – Raina, Susan, Tina, Rita, Angela and my Zultan buddy, Giles – thanks for making a trip (or two for Raina & Susan!) to see me! Love y’all lots!

CONGRATULATIONS TO KELVIN YEO & HUN YEE!

You have won a 2-hour pre-wedding shoot with us!

After a vote from the team at FIFOTO, we have decided that Kelvin Yeo & Hun Yee’s story swept us off our feet and kudos to Kelvin for having the courage to play the piano in public! (You are now famous at FIFOTO as the “Paino Man”!) Having a videographer and photographer to document your proposal also shows great planning!

A big “Thank you” to all the couples who submitted their entries and shared their special proposal story with us!

And here’s the proposal story…

Couple’s name: Kelvin Yeo & Hun Yee
Date of Proposal: 11th Oct 2008
Date of Wedding: 10th Oct 2009 and 11th Oct 2009
Email Information: kelvinyeo99@yahoo.com

The proposal story~
“Surprise! Surprise?”

“Tick…tick…tick…” the clock was playing in the background for the most important moment of my life. Trust me, my heart was beating at least twice as fast as the clock when time was approaching 7:30 pm. ‘There she is!’ Hun Yee walked into the restaurant with her girl pal, Zoe. Everything happened in a Victorian designed restaurant that is looking at KLCC with a cozy and romantic ambience. These bubbly girls were lead to a couch at the waiting area, and Hun Yee was left alone as Zoe disappeared to the restroom. Obviously, it was just a trick…

Jerry, Shann and I were hiding and peeping behind the pillar, without knowing what was happening outside, all of us became even more nervous and agitated. After confirming that Hun Yee was left alone admiring the menu, I thought “THIS IS IT!” My lungs were inflated by a long deep breath and I walked directly to the baby grand piano seated at the heart of the restaurant.

After taking a deep breath to calm myself, I started to work with my fingers on the piano. Though I had taken a few years of piano lessons when I was little, I needed approximately 20 hours of practice by renting a piano room near my place. Renting a piano room in Singapore is not easy, and it was even tougher to start practicing a song from a few notes, to a few lines of scores, till I managed to memorise the entire song without the score. Fortunately, selection of song is very obvious, as this is one of our songs that we both love – “Tonight, I celebrate my love”.

The song was played smoothly at the start due to the adrenaline rush. I was waiting for the expected reaction from my girlfriend but none came. Curious, I turned my head to look at her on the couch since my back was to hers. To my surprise, there was NO reaction from her at all. She MUST be very hungry…all her concentration was given to the boring menu! I started to slow down, hoping that she will notice the change and be curious of who the pianist was. I began to feel distress, because things were not happening as planned, despite so much effort has been put in.

Left with no choice and starting to panic, I had no choice but to turn to Jerry and Shann who were the photographer and videographer of the night. Both my buddies did not help me out and remained at where they were, and I realised that I was on my own for this. After the adrenaline effect has weaned off, my fingers finally failed me by playing a number of wrong notes, and I could not continue anymore. Without hesitation, I quickly requested the manager to hint my girlfriend to have more interest in the pianist of the night.

With reluctance, Hun Yee popped her head out of the couch and she was so shocked to realise that I was the one playing her favourite song. She walked towards me and encouraged me to continue playing, while she quietly sat by my side. The tune went on with all my love, while Hun Yee was holding tightly on my right arm and her head leaning onto my shoulder. THIS was what I had been dreaming of, to play a meaningful sentimental song for my soul mate at the proposal. The song ended with a string of soft notes, followed by a bouquet of her favourite flower, purple roses. She finally saw the cameras focusing on us and felt shy and embarrassed. I held her left hand, and told her with utmost sincerity that ‘I am not a perfect person, but I will be a complete person if you are right there beside me’. Then, down on one knee, I took out the engagement ring and asked “Will you marry me?” With tears in her eyes, she nodded with a smile. I swiftly and gently place the ring onto her finger, and held her close to myself, close to my heart.

Allen, Steve, Aips and I took a special road trip to LA to meet with Jasmine Star, a young, fresh, up and coming photographer in Orange County. We were excited about the shoot as we are huge fans of her work!

The shoot started out early – 6:45am in Laguna beach, which meant we had to leave our hotel at 5:15am! It was all worth it! Although I had to withstand the cold and windy weather at dawn, it was all worth it! The lighting was just beautiful and Jasmine was just fantastic at making us feel at ease in front of the camera!

Many thanks to Jasmine! It was soooooo much fun! We hope you visit Malaysia/HK soon!

I love the yellow flowers!!!

One of my favorite shots! The lighting was just perfect! Made waking up at 4am all worth it!

Click here to check out slideshow!

[BEHIND THE SCENES W/ J STAR]

Jasmine – it was a pleasure meeting you! Thanks for all the fantastic photos!!! YOU ROCK!