When crazy meets crazy
You know how important it is for couples to vibe with their photographers to ensure that they know each other well to not just bring out their personalities best and to remove any form of apprehension? Yeah, I remember meeting Kiew Yuan and Victoria over zoom during the Covid-19 downer period. In fact, I don’t even know how we found each other. But what mattered is that we vibed right off the bat from day one over our call.
It didn’t seem all right when we made it to our pre-wedding shoot though. We started slightly late at our morning slot in what I personally remember Vic saying were “wardrobe issues”, but oh boy they looked tense. But if I may add that it’s perfectly normal to have a little tension in the morning, even I sometimes get grumpy too when I have to get up at an unforeseen hour to make the sunrise worth it for all of us frankly! But that’s why I like taking a good 15-20 minutes warming up with some basic poses and getting everyone into the vibe.
Honestly speaking, I only later found out that they had a little tiff the night before. But within minutes we got all warmed up (yay to dynamics!) and got right into making some solid images in that time we had at the National Gallery!
Most people like starting from the bottom and then make their way back up to the roof. I like to work the other way around because of the soft hues I get from the morning glow of the sun. Regardless, that’s one of the things I enjoy so much about wedding photography in Singapore; we’re all so diverse and anything works in different ways each of us interprets it with our styles!
One of the really fun things about meeting prior to shoots is getting to know each other. Yuan and I vibed together over our love for reading mangas (I even got a few really good manga suggestions that I still enjoy reading til this day), so taking that into consideration, I casually asked “Hey what if you guys did the Naruto run?”. Being the crazy couple they were, Yuan and Vic were all game. I’m certain nobody - and I mean nobody has ever done a Naruto-run in the National Gallery. Guess there’s a first time for everything!
As we eventually ended our time at the place, I knew their actual day wedding down the road was going to be nothing short of a blast that I would enjoy through and through. I promise you, I wasn’t disappointed. Even with the little hiccups and plan changes along the way, like Yuan going down with the Co Co, or the change of starting location we took things in our stride and made it work.
Did I mention already that Vic is one of the unique few brides whom I trust to do their own makeup? With the enlistment of her closest friends who made short work of her hair, Vic went to town on her face. At points in time I even started wondering whose deft hands were painting her face too!
Quick cut scene to 1-Atico where Yuan was waiting for his bride - to be fair, it was my first time up here. WHAT. A. VIEW can I just say? I love the 360 degree view of practically the whole Singapore here. I spent a good few minutes taking everything in myself and secretly applauded Yuan and Vic’s choice and decision to do this at a lunch timing because man the views were to die for. Clearly I wasn’t the only one in agreement from the number of guests who found themselves glued to the windows when they arrived.
After peeling my eyes away from the mesmerising view, I started hunting for fun details (as I always do). Found this little nugget that tickled me greatly on the seat identifiers for late minute additions. Disclaimer, IYKYK.
As Vic made her way down and after we got most of the pleasantries out of the way, we made sure we had time for her to catch her breath, spend some time with her parents before marching down to the front to be given away to Yuan.
We didn’t have much time, but I stole a quick minute to grab a nice clean image for this queen so we could all remember her radiance and unique beauty. Worth it against that clean backdrop!
As we made our way down to raptuous applause, I felt the joy and elation the crowd felt as they saw Vic coming through with her parents. I stole a quick look over at Yuan too and the man was beaming ear to ear.
I really do love every wedding I shoot, I truly have found that like a fingerprint, no two weddings are the same. I hereby argue however, much to even Vic’s disbelief, that this was one of my favourites so far this quarter. Hands down. The dealbreaker? The vibe of everything from location, to people.
You know, I usually tell our couples to relax and pretend I don’t exist while I play the fly on the wall, but I don’t shy away from the occasional playing up to the camera moments too. They DO make for some wacky pictures.
As the day wore out to the end, Vic and Yuan handed me a succulent knowing my love for plants. I’m more of a Philodendron or Alocasia kinda guy, but til this day, the succulent sits neatly in the study, soaking in some lovely morning sun (yes, it’s still alive). As I took my new baby home after leaving these two cutesies behind, I knew this wasn’t going to be the last I saw of Yuan and Vic. When crazy meets crazy, the world explodes and implodes at the same time. But even though nothing happens on the outside, I count my life forever changed already on the inside with this encounter. Here’s to the next!
Loved this blog post? Enjoy the gallery down below!
