Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Feelings

Happiness and Gratitude….

A big THANK YOU to all of you (you know who you are… :)) for taking the time to message me one way or another and for all of your kind words. I am really lucky to have family and friends like you. And I will pass your messages to my designer and photographer when I see them.
To those that I did not manage to inform personally but you somehow stumbled into my blog, my apologies as I have lost your numbers. My handphone drowned in the washer… :P Can you kindly sms me your contacts again?

Guilt and Joy

As you all know, I tore my gown during the photo shoot and felt really bad. So I called Jit, told him all the bad news and arranged to meet him today. When I arrived, the place was beautifully litted. It was my first time over there at night. He saw the gown and said it was no problem. Phew… Always so nice… But he told me I would have to take sewing lessons from him… haha. Of course he was kidding. I wouldn’t mind actually. Maybe I can be half as good as him… :P Then I asked him if I could put his photo on my blog and poor fella, ‘no’ was really not an option… I will take a proper one with my gown next day… :)

Joy and Love

The excitement is finally starting to subside. Maybe just an inch… :)Hehe.
But the memory will always be there. And I am glad that my husband, parents and parents-in-law are in it too… They are a huge part of this process… Now, all I have to do is to wait for a hard copy of my memories…. :)

Love you all …. XOX

Monday, July 7, 2008

The Making Of The Dress (Part 1)

I have always wanted to make my own beautiful gown…. That way the gown could hide all my flaws… After some searching, I found a designer called Jit. He is always smiling, even in his emails…. :)

As usual, I left it in the hands of the expert and he immediately sketched me a beautiful gown. After the first try and some alterations, I was happy except for the loose top. However, he told me he doesn’t want to have any flesh bulging out. So I went along…. :) (See A Journey Outdoor blog on how it went on the shooting day).

He also suggested a champagne coloured sash instead of the white one only. I was a bit hesitant as I thought it would clash but he said the photographer will know what to do. He was right. It turned out beautifully in the photos. Thanks to Kurt too, my photographer.

Everything was going fine right until Sex and the City was airing at the cinemas. After watching the show, I asked Jit if he could make my skirt puffier like the one Sarah Jessica Parker had in the movie. But at the back of my head, I knew it won’t look nice. :P Anyway, no harm asking. And he confirmed it, it would not suit me but always informing me nicely. So I took it back as it is for the photoshoot but it will not return as it is… :P It has some rips on the can can.

I will continue with Part 2 after returning the gown to him for fixing. Hehe

A Journey Outdoor

Cuckoo cuckoo.... It's friday, 4th of July, Independence Day and also the day I am finally going to have my photoshoot- in my wedding gown. I have dreamt of this day for ages and it's finally here. That's why I'm up way before the start of my photoshoot. Couldn't really sleep the whole night. Not exactly what I had planned. I was told to have plenty of sleep the night before.

Leading up to this day, I was silently counting down the days on my calendar. I had originally scheduled my photoshoot for June but as my photographer, Kurt was unavailable, I had to postpone it to July. So as it got closer, I kept my finger crossed that I do not have to postpone it again.

But to my horror, it started drizzling in the morning. But through the drizzle, I could see blue skies. So I prayed to God for a good day. Will see how that goes.

When I finally arrived at 10.10 am (Somehow I managed to arrived late :P), I rushed in and saw my makeup artist, Corinna waiting for me. She was very friendly. After asking me some questions, she proceeded with my makeup, explaining to me the process. I told her to go ahead and do what she needs done... :) I closed my eyes, soaking in everything and enjoying the moment.... Slowly drifting into a daze. That's when I heard my parents. :) Not too long later, I heard my in-laws. Yay, everyone was here. I can't wait to move on to the photography.

Then Kurt and his assistant Lok came (or maybe they were already there earlier). Showed my hubby some clothes. Not bad so far.... So it's my hubby's turn with the makeup while I go and help my mum with her makeup. When I next saw my hubby, he was all cute and charming... :)

I changed into my Kua and we started off with a family portrait. Kurt was trying to get us to smile and smile naturally, not a fake smile. You know you are not really smiling when he says 'hou kah' (very fake in canto).

After the shots, we changed into my wedding gown (see The Making Of The Dress (Part1) blog). I felt the top was a bit loose but now as I am writing this, I know why Jit, my designer made it that way. So that I can do all the difficult poses while still breathing. :P Though during the photo shoot, I was a tiny (maybe more than tiny) bit conscious.

Then we took more shots indoor and moved on to more difficult poses and hotter poses. And by hot, I mean sweating hot and the sun was showing off its might. Hehe.
I think our photographer was feeling the heat too as he asked us to quicken the pace. :P

Then off we head to Port Dickson in my wedding gown, all the while looking around wondering what other drivers will think. Two cars went. One, with 5; Two of us, Kurt, Lok and Corinna and a whole lot of stuff. The other, my parents.

I was disappointed my camera was at the back of the car. Otherwise I could have taken some photos to capture our journey there. :( Anyway, I just wanted to get to Port Dickson as soon as possible. The sign says 9km. My heart is beating faster… Only to find out from Lok, the sign is incorrect. Sigh, we still have another half an hour.

Tick tok, tick tok… Are we there yet? No….

Half an hour passed and we are finally there, at 3.30pm…. A dying patch of grass which I must say looks good in the photos. My prayers were answered… The skies are blue and clear. Thank God. But it was also burning hot. Nevermind, a hot sun will not stop me from enjoying it all. Corrina says the boys can go out to prepare first while we girls stay in… :) But it only lasted a minute… :P

Then Kurt appeared with a pink towel around his head. I asked him if it is for the protection from the heat or rather to make us laugh naturally. Both I guess. :D So off we went with all the poses. Always looking at Lok’s hand as a guide on where we should look, even when his hand is right in the pathway of the sun. I kept wondering if I will go blind looking at the sun.

Two memorable things was my hubby carrying me up. I am not exactly small and I was amazed he could lift me up long enough for a good shot. The other was us running as Kurt lay on the ground. I kept thinking of the possibility that I will crack his skull. Corinna told us we look quite humorous and told us we are actually quite lucky to have some wind as usually there’s none. Zilch.

Next stop was the beach…. Finally…..
Off I went into the sand. My hubby and Kurt took off their shoes. Bad idea, the sand was hot. But unfortunately, my hubby had to bear with it. I had flats under my gown. Snap, snap, snap. Laugh and laugh we did. It was fun. Kurt and Lok purposely or not, made us laugh. One funny moment was Lok throwing the aeroplane. No matter which angle, direction, help or no help of the wind, the plane would not fly into the photography view. It would just make a u-turn at the last minute. My hubby had to throw it by himself eventually. There’s a photo that puzzled me - A hand holding the plane. I’m still wondering whose hand it was. :)

While we were on the jetty, another couple came. No worries, we were up, they were down (But in a test shot, they were in it and I liked that shot, so we had to crop them out). While getting up, I managed to tear my can can lace. I hope Jit will not mind fixing it. He is very nice after all. I will tell you his expression when I inform him of the tear. I also had a splinter in my feet. While taking it out Kurt appeared and somehow managed to capture the moment. Good shot! Did I mention I had to climb up rocks in my dress too?

I was really enjoying myself. But it’s time to change gowns. I changed into a gown they provided and a super long veil. It should do a better job at covering my arms. My mum brought 3 bagfuls of beautiful pink and red petals but we only used a box of it. What a waste. Initially we wanted to make a heart from it but I think that it’s quite the norm so we skipped that. We also skipped an old building cause it looked haunted… :P (but that’s just me)

Btw, did I mention that I like the makeup that Corinna did? Earlier and now for the second outfit. Very natural looking and she managed to cover a pimple that appeared too. Bubbles were next. And again, the bubbles just goes everywhere except to us. Finally Lok shoot it from our backs. I must give him compliments also for hiding behind the tree while throwing up my veil. Now I know why the veils are always so flow(y) in photos. There’s always a Lok to throw it up. :)

I can’t believe how time flies. It’s 5 something already and off we went to change into our casual wear and another round of makeup. Lok took some candids too. Quite good. Finally, we were off again with my in-laws’ corals and seashells in hand. Rather, in a box as they were big and beautiful. We were told to take a stroll while Kurt snaps and Lok arranges the shells. Love that shot. The sun is starting to set. The wind is blowing. I feel like I am on a holiday. I don’t want to leave…. The shots after that were easy and we both could go on and on…… Unfortunately, it’s already 7.30pm and it was time to go….

The whole day was fun and beautiful. I wish I could do it all over again. My only regret was forgetting to keep my false eyelash after removing it… :P Oh, and not applying mosquito repellent as I have 8 big bites that won’t go away and keep on itching ….

I have seen the photos and I must say thank you to Jit, Kurt, Lok and Corrina for doing their job well for my journey outdoors….. :) And of course, to our parents! :)

NOTE: I received a lot of feedback that my photos are too small.... You can actually click on my photographer's link on the right to see a larger version of the photos.