Jimmy and Bertha: Wedding

Summer often brings with it, orange sunsets, long lazy afternoons with cold lemonade, extended holidays, the promise of fun and laughter, reunions with friends without the worry of work, and in the midst of all that goodness... it sometimes ushers in the poetic idea of summer love.

Over the longer days that dutifully showed themself in summer, and under the swelter of the sun, met a boy and a girl. A boy who loved music, who held an innate ability to create food, who was popular with every soul he came to face with. And a girl, who was sweet in every sense of the word...she was thoughtful and kind, warm and down to earth, all wrapped together in a sugary personality that you just couldn't dislike, no matter how hard you tried.

And while Jimmy and Bertha knew of each other before hand, it wasn't until that fateful summer where serendipity threw them together to do God's work filled with music, and children, that the seeds of love were so carefully planted by our heavenly Father. Because when the work was done, love began, love blossomed, and love grew in such a steadfast and certain manner, that Bertha knew from the very beginning she was going to marry this boy, with whom her heart had already begun intertwining with.

And she was right.

Four years since those seeds of summer love bore fruit, Jimmy and Bertha made their love official, promising their ever afters in front of hundreds of close family and friends (I did mention that Jimmy is very popular, and that no one can dislike Bertha ;) ) , and kissed then laughed the night away with their fingers woven into each others, soaking in the hope and joy of being able to walk side by side as husband and wife for the rest of their days.

Thank you so much Jimmy and Bertha for trusting me with your memories, and for being so awesome in listening to my advice on getting the best photos, and especially for just letting me be there to document your big special day - I know you have been dreaming about it, and looking forward to it for so long!! And lastly, I know I'm your sister, but it really was such a privilege to be given THE duty of planting your memories, your joy, and your love into pictures that you can look back on. I hope that you hold as much fondness with these photos as I do. I smiled, then teared, when I was editing some of these. I love you both :)

Here are some of my favourites from your wedding...yes some *ahem* *coughs* :P

As jimmy is my brother, this is what happens when I photograph a sibling's wedding :P I take way too many photos :p

.... MONSTER POST AHEAD!!

The pretty, pretty bouquets, designed by Bertha's mother :)





The heels, from Alan Pinkus










All done and ready!! I thought this was the pretty spot for photos, and then Bertha went and told me that it was their regular 'photo spot' in the family. hah! And I thought photographers were the only ones who had an eye :p


The boys getting ready, courtesy of Linda :)




A short prayer just before the day started... then Bertha began to tear up. I think when you realize you are about to officially 'leave' your family, it gets quite emotional.


The laughter followed shortly after that, as the tea ceremonies began :)


Then it was off to the place where I grew up for the other tea ceremony!! I'm not in this set of photos - haha, you'll have to watch the slideshow to see me :p


Arriving at St Peter's Presbyterian Church. Bertha's smile is absolutely contagious. It breaks open like sun rays through grey clouds. It just radiates, and I love it!!


Saying a quick prayer before the ceremony.






There's that Bertha smile again!




Woohoo! Mr and Mrs!! :D






At every wedding, I always have very STIFF competition vying for the best spots and moments to capture photos. Here is another TYPICAL example of what I am talking about! Look at all the cameras!! You wonder why you need a professional at this rate!! haha... KIDDING ;)


I love how the kids were just watching so leisurely, while the ceremony was underway...


Jimmy, giving my mum a hug :) Guess her age... no one has ever got it right! haha...




People often ask me, why I get my second shooters to do the group photos... this is why. If I was madly rushing around getting the groups together, its moments like this I miss. And its moments like these, I LIVE for in my line of work. I love how candid and happy they are :)


Then off to Rouse Hill Estate for location pictures. The light was harsh and the management were super strict in not letting us go/use/sit in alot of places, but hey... here's what we got regardless :D








We found out on the day that my sister in law is a POSER!! She is a little miss POSER! hahaha... and very good at it! I didn't tell her to do these kind of poses. She just knows how to WORK IT :D




I absolutely love the light and gentleness in these 2 pics.




I made the girls do a REALLY cheesy pose... but thats so I could get them laughing like THIS! :D


The boys!! :D


This is another poser moment by Bertha. I did not ask her to do this :) I was merely there just to snap as she played with Jimmy's accessories! Why girl?? you have your own!! haha... *JOKES* :D


One of my faves.




My FAVE of the day :)


These last two can also be added to my faves list of the day. There you go bert! The 2nd is your 'look into the camera' shot you wanted!! ;)


The beautiful little details that were set out at their reception venue - Rhodes Phoenix Restaurant :) Bertha loves details and her taste is very good :)


Bertha and Jimmy opted for NO table shots the whole night (YAY!!! I LOVE that :D) - instead, they took my advice and did a fun 'photobooth' JSP style ;) I think these kind of group photos are way more fun... no? YES!!! :D


And here is ANOTHER poser moment from Bertha again!! haha... we should give this alter ego a name!! Suggestions??


Then the speeches followed... and they were filled with tears and emotions, from all the kind and reminiscent words uttered.


Plus tonnes of laughs following that!! The best man speech was the BEST I've heard... EVER.






The night ended with my brother serenading Bertha with a song he wrote himself. It was lovely :)




And since Bertha is all things sweet, pink, and sugary, I thought it only appropriate to have their ring shots like this:


Alright!! If you want to see more on top of the monster post above, watch the slideshow below! It features a song which I've recently discovered while watching some very old girly movies :D It pays to watch your old DVD stocks now and again :)



Okay everyone, I gotta run now. I'm nursing a cold and a sore throat, which means I need a huge dose of sleep, vitamin C, and rest, so til next post!! :D

Server and Email Issue

Hi Everyone!

I PROMISE I was going to post and blog this wedding yesterday, but as luck would have it, our lovely *cough* server decided to chuck an hissy fit at us, and as a result, we are unable to upload/download anything to our FTPs. And to top this totally convenient situation, it has meant that we are also unable to send out emails at present.

To cope with the downtime, we are sending emails out from our webmail interface but this is ALOT slower, so please do bear with us. We hope to be up and running by LATEST - early next week!

In the meantime, if all goes well, I hope to have this blog post out by the end of today if I can find an alternative to do these uploads.

Many thanks for your awesome patience everyone!! :D

Jenny

F is for F1, and Featured!!

Hello world! :)

My my, was the weekend too short or what?? I don't know about you, but a 2 day weekend seems to be on the SKINNY side and definitely NOT enough. Especially for workaholics :p

After meeting some AWESOME couples on the weekend (I am SO EXCITED to do their shoot!! I love it when I meet clients who are as enthusiastic as I am, and bring their creative hats on to our discussions. Hearing their thoughts and visions, always pumps me up to do their shoot :D), the husband and I rocked up to the F1, at the Sepang Circuit.

Ju has been wanting to go for YEARS. Year after year, he always unsuccessfully tries to convince his friends to follow him and sit on the hillside seating area. I mean, its incomprehensible WHY no one ever wants to go. Sitting under the 30+ degree celcius heat with no shade is the perfect way to watch a 2 hour race right? I'm dumbfounded :p

So, as a treat to him, and wanting to surprise him with something awesome for our 1st year anniversary (gifts are supposed to follow a paper theme apparently!!), I bought us some tickets in the grandstand to enjoy it properly. And BOY AM I GLAD I DID!!! Why?? Well....

(1) It poured like the world wanted to drown in its own tears! I'm telling you, the rain was so crazy, the race got cancelled half way!! You could see the lightning and hear the thunder, amidst the skidding and splashing. So it was great to know we had the grandstand roof above our heads :)

(2) I am officially ADDICTED to the F1. I have to admit, I find the whole race thing boring as anything on TV. And have never given the light of day or a blink of a second of time to this thing we call the F1 on TV. But watching it L.I.V.E was a WHOOOOOLE new experience. I loved seeing the cars screech past, all vying and fighting to overtake the corners, I loved seeing the odd crash here and there, and I even loved the INSANE sound that the cars were giving off - it was the loudest thing I've ever heard in my little sheltered life. So much so you need ear plugs, and even THEN its loud!! Its like they were all competing to see who could break the sound barrier faster!! Anyway.... I wanna go see another race!! :D

Here are some photos I stole from my husband's facebook account. They are happy snaps, so they look crappy and unprofessional, but I don't care :) That's what happy snaps are :) I love the fact that you can just point, shoot, and not give a whif of a thought about how pretty the photo should look :D Thanks Ju for taking photos so I could really be off duty :)



And the other really exciting piece of news is that the lovely Evonne who is the awesome brains and hands of Events by Evonne (which is an AWESOME resource for anyone who is planning a wedding and wants fabulous, creative, and original ideas - please check it out! You'll be sorry you missed it if you don't click and have a peep! Brides, you will LOVE it!), has featured Samantha and Ben's Phuket Wedding on her site. You can check it out by clicking [HERE] :)

Thank you so much Evonne! You're a gem! And thank you to Samantha and Ben!! You two were fabulous and the photos wouldn't even be 10% of how awesome they are without your star quality :D

Alright everyone, I am now in the very thick of the craziest month of 2009. April is INSANE I tell you, and even with all hands on board, it's going to be a circus act juggling the 1, 203, 796 things I have to complete this month. And on top of that, my inbox and I are in another kickboxing match with one another - one I suspect will be a long one! :D So bear with me if I am a little nutty around the corners this month. Love to you all! :D

Gotta run now to sleep, to awake to a pre-dawn get up, and shoot! :D

Full

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all having a fabulous friday there! The weekend is coming up and I can't wait for it to be here :)

I wanted to announce here officially a bit of news about my 2009 schedule - if you are from malaysia, do pay attention because this announcement is mainly for you! :)

We are full!!

It has been this way for awhile already, and I didn't intend on making this public, but I've realized in the last couple of months we've been writing the same emails very frequently, so we thought we would announce it officially here :) 

Malaysia/Asia Wedding Clients:
1. Actual Wedding Day - For Malaysian clients, our actual wedding day schedule is ABSOLUTELY packed and full to the brim for the whole of 2009, inclusive of January 2010 as well.

2. Pre-Wedding Photography - we have a very VERY tiny handful of slots left for the rest of this year, so if you have been sitting, waiting, and mulling over whether to have your session done, please do drop us a line now because the number of sessions left are becoming as scarce as the cold weather in a tropical country :)

Australia Clients:
1. Wedding Day - We have a small number of slots left. And I mean a very small number. And even those slot are being asked for by people already, so if you have also been thinking hard about having your beautiful special day covered by us, please drop us a line!! We'd love to hear from you!!

2. Engagement sessions - Our engagement sessions in Australia are now closed to non-Australian clients. We are really UBERLY sorry to have to do this, unfortunately our 2009 schedule has become so very very full, that we need to leave some time for our Australian clientele to have their sessions done - otherwise I'm sure they will come running after me with pitchforks and tomatoes to be thrown if there isn't anything left for them :)

PORTRAIT SESSIONS:
For the rest of 2009, we'd love your beautiful faces in front of our camera :) However, because of the really packed schedule, we are limiting this to by application/appointment only. Drop us a line! :)

To those who have already emailed me and held down your date, but are still waiting for paperwork to finalize and clear up, don't worry! Nothing has happened to your date yet :) It's still yours! So, you can breathe :) 

To everyone else, THANK YOU so much to ALL of you who have supported, encouraged, and made 2009 our HUGEST year to date. I'm so excited for all the sessions we have coming up :) We are passionately a boutique wedding and portraits photography company, and we service two massive regions in the world, so we operate on a very tight quota for our wedding and portrait/engagement sessions - this is so we can maintain the quality of our work for each and every one of you, and still have 100% energy for our time together - which is what I want. There's nothing less cool than having your photographer turn up all tired, dragging her legs there, right? :)

Have a beautiful weekend everyone!

Culinary Adventures

One of the curses of falling into the busy life, is that time is so dearly scarce. As a result, alot of the things that I love doing, I just can't fit into the anorexic period we like to term as 24 hours. If I had my way, I'd program my body so that I could stay awake for 72 hours without sleep, and sing and dance to the sun so it will stay up while I run around and get all the things I want to get done, done.

Amidst the many things that fill my low-boredom threshold mind, such as wishing I could play the guitar, wanting to travel more, doing the laundry (yes!! When you work all the time, and are always out, I actually find folding clothes and putting them away kinda relaxing!), playing more sport (or exercise!), cooking sits quite high on the list.

The husband thinks my lack of culinary activity is because I'm just lazy, but really, I like to just think I'm very very busy. Because you see with me, when I want to do something, I want to do it well. Perfectly. And if I know I wont have the time to do that, then I won't do it at all. Ahhh, the curse of being born a perfectionist!! Anyhow, since Ju had been wanting more homecooked food that we didn't have to drive out to buy, I thought I'd whip out my love for making food and be more devoted to this aspect of being a wife. Granted, I am not Jamie Oliver (that hat, goes to my brother in our family - put him in ANY kitchen, and he will know how to pull whatever he can find to make the yummiest thing ever. I'm more of a recipe or watch-and-analyze other people's food kinda person! hehe), but I can pull a few things together which make my tummy happy. And being a busy busy person, I love recipes that can be whipped up in a flash. Recently, I've fallen in love with our oven all over again - don't you just love food you can just throw inside and it cooks itself?? :D

So last night, we had some guests over. Sorry there are no photos of that, because we ate every last morsel of the spare ribs, and grilled chicken wings I made, but here is what was my fave from the night:

Watercress Soup. Chinese Style. With all my favourite bits including longan and scallops. MMmmmmm :D And when Ju said it tasted like his mum's, I knew we had a winner!!

And here is what I plan to have on the menu tonight. Don't be deceived. I don't like to toot my horn, but I've been told I make a mean spaghetti bolognaise. Little do they know its thanks to my secret ingredient!! :D

ps: A small special announcement will be up tomorrow on the blog. Stay tuned for that! :)

Jane and Rob: Wedding

As I opened the brown glassed doors, there stood a tall slender lady, with sun kissed blonde curls, and the most sparkly smile... The kind of smile that radiated an abundance of sprightly enthusiasm and a warm gentle down-to-earth spirit. The man that was sitting by her side laughed deeply as the three of us chatted, and I knew it was a perfect fit. You know, it's going to be a fabulous experience witnessing and documenting a love, when you sit down and talk as if we were already friends.

I think that's how Jane and Rob make everyone feel. Like you are an old friend. From the moment we walked into the house as the big day began, Linda and I were embraced with beaming smiles, excited laughter, and real warmth. And as I was snapping away, I was reminded why I love weddings... people and families like Rob and Jane's make you hug your images, and then want to love them some more because of how real everything about them is. Everything and everyone felt so genuine. From the hugs, to the kisses, to the hands waving at you to come see something. You really felt like a welcomed piece of their special day.

Thank you so much for the incredible honor to document your love on such a momentous occasion Jane and Rob! Even after all these years, to me, you still laugh, hug, and love like a newly blossomed couple. And that makes my heart smile.

Here are my favourites from their wedding. The sky thickened with twirls of grey, and was enveloped in the cool hues of a storm-pending expanse... but the joy was apparent, and sweet, and to a photographer like myself, these kind of emotions are more special than the prettiest light or the most gorgeous scene nature can throw at me. And if I had to choose, I'll take the former... anyday :)

These looked yummy. Even I wanted some! No drinking on the job though! :)


A final toast before going off to say the vows.




here comes the bride!!


The boys anxiously waiting...




I love garden weddings!! There's nothing better than getting right into the beauty of nature and saying your i do's there. Jane and Rob got married at Carisbrook Historic House - and it was so pretty!! Beautiful touch of vintage and green all rolled into one :)





Married!!


I LOVE Jane's laugh. Its kind of infectious when you are around her! :)




Some quick portraits by the Lane Cove creek before heading off to the reception.












Pretty details!! :) It was a blast from the past when I got to the reception, because Jane and Rob celebrated their wedding at Mandalay Reception House, which is where Ju and I had our wedding! It was so lovely to be greeted by the manager who still remembered who I was!! Now THAT is great service!!



The speeches were HILARIOUS!!! I know I always say that about speeches, but these were really really funny. Laughing-til-your-tummy-hurts funny :)


Some of the guests even had to wipe their eyes from the tears :)


Cheers!




And as always, my favourite part of the night - the bridal waltz :)




Followed by some awesome partying!!!




Congrats to the Mr and Mrs!!


And for more images, watch the slideshow here:

Thank you to Linda for your awesome hard work on this wedding with me!!! :D

And for those wondering, and have been asking - where are all the malaysian wedding posts?!?! Don't worry!! BREATHE :) hehe...We've shot a WHOLE LOT OF THEM! :) Promise! :) In between travelling, sleeping 3 or 4 hours a night, editing, and running a business, blogging about every shoot has taken a little bit of a back burner, but trust me, we are working on putting them up here for your viewing pleasure :)