It’s been two weeks since our wedding and to me, it definitely felt like our wedding was long gone and over. Now that our photos and video are ready, I am ready to share our special moments with you guys.
My thoughts
The photos
As mentioned in my previous article on the wedding vendors we’ve worked with, we’d engaged The Visual Chaps to document our actual wedding day. Prior to the shoot, I actually told them what sort of photos and videos I had in mind. For photos, I wanted them to use a warm filter so I gave them some sample photos. But I guess this warm filter I requested did not quite work for our photos or maybe no proper colour correction was done on the photographer’s part. Sam’s brilliant blue suit now looks very dull and our teeth all looked rather yellow and orangey.
From my point of view as someone who often edits photos, it’s quite clear to be that the photographer simply just copy and paste the exact photo edit settings across all the 539 photos. But I’m not complaining because we got them at a really cheap rate. Since they are also willing to share the raw unedited photos with us, I’m not budging. At least, with the unedited photos, I am able to edit them on my own using Lightroom.
In some of the photos, we looked rather unglamorous and bad. So I guess it’s quite apparent that the photographer sent us all the photos she took. But overall, she managed to get some really good shots. With that, I would give her a rating of 3 out of 5.
The Video
On the other hand, the video turned out to be exactly what I had envisioned it to be. I wanted the first look and letter reading to be the highlights of the video, with more voices from the both of us. In that way, our video would be more raw, authentic and personal. At the end of the day, I just wanted our video to be different from the usual Singapore wedding highlight videos. And I think that the videographer did just that but it would have been even better if he uses a higher-end camera to shoot. With that, I would give him a rating of 4 out of 5.
What do you guys think? Let’s view the pictures and videos together.
First Look
The Prank
For a change, we both did not want to do a gatecrash. But I wanted to do a first look because it can get rather emotional for both the bride and groom. This first look idea is rather new to people around us and they haven’t quite understood the beauty behind it. If you, like me, wanted something different for your wedding, I highly recommend that you do your first look outdoors instead of doing it in the bride’s bedroom.
On top of that, I also planned for a first look prank with Sam’s groomsman. The plan is to get his groomsman dressed up like a bride to trick the groom during the first look. Can you imagine how excited the groom must have felt during the first look but suddenly got a shock of his life when he turned around to find out that it wasn’t his bride? That’s how exactly Sam felt. From the video, I could see that the excitement of seeing me for the first time in my gown is building up in him and when he saw his groomsman, he bursted into laughter and said ‘Get lost!’ to his groomsman. I remembered that his laughter echoed throughout the estate at 7.30 am in the morning. His laughter just broke the morning silence.
The Real First Look
Now, it was my turned to stand behind him. I guess he was just so thankful that it wasn’t anyone else but me standing right behind him.
Off to the groom’s house
According to the Chinese traditions, the groom is supposed to fetch the bride to his house. So that explains why we made a trip back to Sam’s house in our hired wedding car. We not only have glutinous rice balls (tang yuan) but also checked out the room which the two of us will sleep in. Traditionally-speaking, I am married into his family and thus his house will also be my new home.
Eating Tang yuan
Eating Tang yuan on our wedding day symbolises family togetherness. The round glutinous rice balls represents wholeness and perfection. Both Sam and I are not really into wedding traditions and customs but since the folks requested it, we were somewhat oblige to do it.
My college besties and Sam’s best friend also came along with us. Sam’s parents served us breakfast, including the photographer, videographer and driver. But I guess Sam and I did not really eat much because we know that lunch is coming right up. (Plus, my gown feels rather tight at this point. Man, I should have got it altered.)
After about 30 minutes, I left Sam’s house in my Bata shoes. Yes, I did not wear heels but cheap platforms from Bata. It’s super comfortable to walk in them and why bother about wearing heels when others can’t really see it most of the time?
Morning photoshoot at Fort Canning Hill
Since we did not do a pre-wedding shot, I just thought that we might be able to do a short photoshoot at the nearby Fort Canning Hill which is just a stone throwaway from our wedding venue.
By 9 am, the sun was beating down real hard. It was rather sunny that morning so we just did a quick photoshoot and zoom off to the next location.
Wedding Solemnisation at Flutes
We chose this venue because it was already beautiful and elegant on its own. Thus we did not engage any vendors to decorate the venue for us.
The table solemnisation flowers were provided for by Flutes as it was part of our wedding package.
Wedding Tea Ceremony
Other than eating Tang yuan, we also practised this wedding Chinese custom of serving tea to the elders (Jing Cha). During this tea ceremony, we are supposed to serve our parents or any elders red date tea. The waiter helped us to prepare the tea and my friend helped to pass us the tea cups. After drinking tea, the elders will usually say some blessings to the couple and give red packets or dowry.
Solemnisation
The solemnisation is quite a nerve-wrecking experience for me. Even though we had a rehearsal way before the actual day, I still did not know what to expect. In addition, the whole ceremony was live-streamed so even though we only had 18 guests that day but there are over 100 people online watching us live.
Since I am the only daughter in the family, it was my Dad’s first time walking someone down the aisle. My beloved dad also did not quite know what to expect and it was a little awkward because he’s just like me, an introvert.
Thank goodness, the church wedding coordinator was there and we just went along with what was planned. Thankfully, the pastor’s speech was short and soon, it was time for us to exchange our wedding rings and vows.
The funniest moment during the ceremony is probably the part where the groom was supposed to kiss the bride. Because pastor did not explicitly say ‘you may kiss the bride’ so Sam was clueless and wasn’t quite sure what to do. So pastor said ‘ Do you need me to turn around?’ and that got everyone laughing. Then came this kiss. Our side profiles were strangely very symmetrical.
Holy Communion
This marks our first holy communion as a married couple. We were thankful that the restaurant prepared the wine and crackers for us so we have one less thing to worry about.
Unity Sand Ceremony
As part of our church wedding traditions, we also had to perform the pouring of the unity sand. This simple act was performed to signify the union of two individuals. We were given a choice to use either unity candles or sand. We had to go with sand because it was much easier for us to prepare. I used recycled glass bottles and fill them up with coloured sand.
Signing of the Marriage Certificates
Lastly, we had to sign the marriage certificates with two witnesses. With that, the pastor officially announced us as husband and wife. Even with the ceremony under the eyes of our Lord and signing of the official documents, the fact that we are now married has not really sunk in yet.
Thank You Speech
A couple of days before our wedding day, I had a marriage counselling session with the pastor’s wife. She advised me to write a proper thank you speech and dedicate this speech to first and foremost, my parents followed by my other family members. I could not agree more. Without my parents, there wouldn’t be me. There wouldn’t be Deenise Yang.
So as I was crafting my thank you speech at home, I was tearing real bad. And on that day itself, I cried even more. I was somewhat embarrassed because I was practically choking with tears during my speech. It felt like I’ve just unleashed all the emotions trapped inside of me at one go. Maybe I’ve been bottling up my feelings for the longest time ever and I haven’t been bold enough to express how I felt towards my parents and my two dear brothers. It felt great for me to truly pour out my feelings and I was even more surprise that my friends even texted me to say that they actually cried along with me. I wasn’t sure if my parents teared but I just hope that they understood my love for them. Here’s the video snippet of my thank you speech.
Bridal Bouquet Throw
We did not plan for this but my bestie, Eunice suggested that I should just do it, just for the fun of it. I mean, why not? So I toss my bridal bouquet in the air and it landed into Vanessa’s hand. Yes, she will definitely be the next bride since both Eunice and I are now married.
Our Wedding Video Highlights
First Look Wedding Prank
Overall, Samuel and I were just glad that the wedding was over and we have some photos and videos for us to look back on.
