A Wedding Helper + Photography Journey

An old friend of many years, good old Nicholas, knew him till date, of 19 years friendship since 1990 when we were Boy Scouts in Dragon Scout Group, settled down with his lovely partner, Shirley and after months of preparations, the wedding day finally arrived with close friends coming forward to help out in his wedding day.

IMG_0961

Since I was asked to be part of the “Brother” contingent of 10 close friends of Nicholas, a.k.a helper, runner, best man…. We put our life, blood, sweat, tears, stomach, physical, mental, negotiation, friendship, hardship, fun, pain ….. all in the aid of Nicholas & Shirley to make their Actual Day Wedding a great event for them !

IMG_1020

Reporting in the morning around 7am at Nicholas home, the contingent drove over to Shirley’s home, whereby Nicholas the Groom would pick up his bride, Shirley. However, before Nicholas can do so, he had to go through very severe tests, obstacles and challenges first, since we the “Brothers” are helpers, the various tasks, tests, challenges fall upon us to share Nicholas burden. Some would call it wedding traditions, although truthfully speaking, it wasn’t an old tradition but more of modernisation.

Some tests, challenges include

– Drinking a concoction of Sour 酸, Sweet 甜, Bitter 苦, Spicy 辣 juices

– “Brothers” leg hair were plucked a.k.a exfoliation

– Push Ups

– Giving Red Packets to allow the door “managed” by the “Sisters” contingent to be opened

IMG_1038

Even though I was a “Brother”, there were times whereby I was able to capture photographs for fun and beautiful “painful” memories. Once the challenges were completed, the wedding couple would proceed to Nicholas family home for the traditional tea ceremony, to the grandparents, parents and relatives of Nicholas family. For the brothers, our main tasks were completed and we get to enjoy the food, drinks and hospitality. After the formalities were done, the wedding couple would return to Shirley’s home again for tea ceremony to the grandparents, parents and relatives of Shirley’s family. With that completed, the 1st half of the Actual Wedding day is completed.

IMG_1036

I went over to Fullerton Hotel with the wedding couple along with Sam, to continue preparation for the wedding dinner in the night, as I am in charge of music and sound for the solemnisation and wedding dinner, the songs were already chosen by Shirley, who spent a lot of time and effort in the planning of their wedding day. After rehearsals and coordinations with the wedding couple, master of ceremony, banquet managers and hotel staff, it was a Go Go Go !! They were finally, legally and officially a married couple !!

IMG_1064

The wedding dinner went smoothly with a little bit of time overshot, the food was great, the ambience and decoration were awesome and very beautiful. By the time the dinner was over, I was very tired and my Canon 30D broke down again, with the pop up flash stuck, it’s back to Canon service centre soon. I wasn’t able to take the night scenes of the Marina Bay from their suite 881 at Fullerton Hotel, just the day scenery. Do check out some of their wedding photos HERE !

IMG_1066

After some rest and chatting, we left for home ….. My heartfelt congrats and best wishes to the newly wedded couple, Nicholas & Shirley !

4 Comments

  1. I will be helping out with a friend’s wedding by taking photos for her early morning bridal preparation as well as the church ceremony next month. Another friend will be helping me out at the church ceremony too.

    If I have to pick just one lens to work with, should I choose the wide angle (17-70mm) or the telephoto (70-200mm). I am more inclined to go with the wide angle if I do not have the time to change lense in between shoots.

    Would appreciate your feedback.

  2. Author

    Hi Mei Teng

    If you plan to take only 1 lense, take the 17-70mm, it gives you the wide angle and a bit of medium telephoto (On a 1.6x crop, 27-112mm).

    Do bring along the 70-200mm along if possible, sometimes, it would come in very useful during your friend wedding. Try to anticipate the upcoming changes in a church wedding and you would not rush and do not have time in changing lense.

    I used 17-40mm & 70-200mm as my main combination for all my photoshoot.

    Drop me an email if you have more queries and I would more than happy to share my experiences and tips 🙂

    Last but not least, remember to enjoy yourself taking photographs !

  3. I luuurve photographing weddings!
    Tiring but I love it still..
    Esp. chinese weddings.. 🙂

  4. Very nice photography I wish that on my wedding all my friends are around. It’s really hard to build a friendship, and everlasting friends , friends that who will be there for the rest of your life, just like your wife who will be there in better and in worst, in sickness and in health. I can say that you are really a good friend, brother, companion etc.Kudos to you 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *