The festivities started with Mehendi, followed by a Sagri ceremony…

and a Sangeet for the bride’s side…

The next day, an oil ceremony for the groom…

And the groom’s Sangeet….

Finally the wedding ceremony, the Anand Karaj at Gurdwara Sahib Greentown…

And the final event, the reception at Impiana Casuarina Ipoh…

I will be in Melbourne from 1st to 11th October 2009, to photograph a wedding on 3rd October 2009. If you would like to have your photos taken by me within the Melbourne and surrounding areas from 5th to 7th October 2009, please contact me for rates.

As I would already be there, there are no airfare and accommodation charges! This offer is only valid for 1 couple. Applicable to wedding portraits (pre-wedding or post-wedding), actual wedding day photography, or simply casual portraits.

Possible spots are within Melbourne city itself, or the rugged outdoors along the Great Ocean Road (Bells Beach, Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell etc), Otway National Park (meadows and forests), and Bellbrae (lakes and farmland). Feel free to offer suggestions. The bench pictured above was taken at Port Campbell National Park.

Check out Malaysia Airlines’ promotion!

John played the violin during the bridal march

Bottoms up! The biggest toasting glasses I’ve seen!

Finally a short portrait session around the hotel

A fantastic performance by Weyn’s sister and friends at the reception at Saujana Subang

And a very fun second reception at Courtyard Garden

Weyn guessed the right handkerchief, to everyone’s surprise

The most whacky first dance I’ve ever photographed

Arrival of the bride

Batman and Wonder Woman wedding cake!

The couple’s first dance

And the guests join in!

The Bride’s and Groom’s respective waiting rooms before the ceremony.

Blessing ceremony at Zion Cathedral, just love the way the neon cross stands out against the deep blue sky

They even had a magician perform at the dinner reception

The flare was from an overhead speedlight, thanks to Sze who helped me out that day as second shooter!

We spent 3 days at the foot of Mount Kinabalu, woke up really early to catch glimpses of the mountain without clouds covering the peak. We also managed to see a double rainbow immediately after it stopped drizzling! A very rare sight.

A short visit to Poring Hot Springs rewarded us with this shot.

Then we went to Sipadan Water Village on Mabul Island for some diving. Here are some of the things we saw, including lots of stonefish.

crocodile fish

leaf fish

and feather stars

This is where we stayed.

Here’s a self-portrait of ourselves in the water, taken during our safety stop… the vignetting at the top edges was due to my underwater wide-angle lens attachment which came a bit loose.

The Sangeet celebration, a colourful event with food, music, dancing and singing…

The day of the wedding ceremony…

And a blessing ceremony the day after…

And the grand finale at the reception!

Changing into a traditional Thai costume

Quickie portrait session nearby

Suwalee, touched by the best man’s words

Long overdue, this redesign addresses a few issues that were bugging me. The earlier design was simply a hack of an existing Wordpress theme, due to a lack of time. I was (and still am) juggling at least 3 to 5 concurrent design projects and almost weekly photography assignments, so my own blog design took a back seat. The new design is entirely designed from the ground up. I’ve now repositioned the ads to a less intrusive location, removed unnecessary stuff, simplified the navigation and reprioritized functional areas to a more logical layout.

Let me know if you find any issues with this new design

I’m proud to announce the launch of Exotic Escapes: www.exoticescapes.my

Exotic Escapes approached me a few months ago for their brand identity and website needs. I developed their logo and business cards, as well as the website which employs a content management system (CMS). This allows them to update most parts of the website as often as they wish, an important feature that is growing in demand.

Elaine, very touched by her sister’s moving speech.