Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Cameras/Photos statistics in our wedding

I mentioned to a friend after our wedding, that after I collect all the photos taken by everyone in the wedding, I will do a tally on the cameras used... so here it is after much delay.

  • By brand:
    • Canon: 17 (6 SLR)
    • Nikon: 7 (7 SLR)
    • Panasonic: 2
    • Sony: 2
    • Pentax: 1
    • Kodak: 1
    • Fuji: 1
    • Minolta: 1 (1 SLR)

  • By type:
    • SLR: 14
    • P&S: 18

  • By megapixel:
    • more then 10: 8
    • between 6 and 10: 18
    • less then 6: 6



  • Total Number of photos taken on the wedding day (that I got a copy of the photos): 3857

  • Total in size: 12GB

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Engagement Photos


Several friends asked us about our engagement photos. And we realized we never posted them. Here are the links:

And for those getting their engagement photos taken soon...

Useful Hints for Taking Engagement Photos


1. Do plan ahead the clothes you will wear for your shots. We picked our outfit based on our wedding website :P Our wedding website theme colours were brown and pink, and not too many colours go well with that.

2. The night before the shoot, don't drink too much water to avoid being bloated up (水腫).

3. Even if you do casual shots, do put make up on (the photographers made me apply extra layers after I applied some). Some people go for a wedding makeup trial, and then do the engagement shots with that make up. That could work for some, but some might feel it's too heavy for engagement shot with casual clothes.

4. Unless your photographer has cheap equipment... Ok, Micky + co. used some extremely nice and expensive lenses that other photographers might not use for engagement shots normally... You can see every strand of our hair in our engagement photos. Make sure, both guys and girls, comb / style your hair the way you want it. Use gel/mousse to fix your hair to minimize hair flying in your (or your spouse) face. I wouldn't have the bridal hair trial and used that hair for the engagement shot (unless you already know your hair person is good, and she can help you fix your hair just for the engagement shot.)

5. Every little counts. Your nails, your teeth, your eyebrows, dark circles... We didn't do this, but a good idea to sleep more before the engagement shots to minimize dark circles, and keep your skin in good condition (no fried food, more water). Also, use teeth whitening strips to keep your teeth white.

Our Engagement Photos - Part 2

We printed a photo book with our engagement photos as a guest book. We were extremely fortunate to have Patricia to help design the guest book (I was not expecting our guest book to look this fancy at all!) She designed our wedding invitation, place cards, and the guest book. Everything matched! Look at what a fine job she has done! Everything was printed at her photo shop (GTAPhoto.com) as well, including our enlarged engagement photo. (They do a much better job at printing than anyone else. They did Thank You cards for another friend, which I also love.)

Sorry about the screencap quality. But hopefully you can get the idea. I love this photo. :) We look relaxed.

Kekeke. A funny (and very typical) photo of us. The lines are for guests to sign their names on.

Fight fight fight.

We enlarged the photo (the full colour version) as our engagement shot.. If I were to do this again, I would not have enlarge a huge photos, but frame several 8x10, or 11x14 photos instead.

We used ths photo on our placecard. This would have been my choice for the enlargement photo, if it wasn't for the shade from my hair on my face. Hair is definitely something you should be careful when taking engagement shots to get in your way.

Our Engagement Photos - Part 1

We asked one friend to do our engagement shots, and ended up with three. :) Micky was also our wedding photographer, but he went back to Hong Kong already. Cater on the other hand, only took our engagement shots, but was in HK on our wedding day (to avoid the red bomb :) ). Both are great photographers, very professional, great quality photos, patient, and experienced. I do highly recommend them for engagement and wedding shots. MSN me if you want their contacts.

One of my favourite photos. We were such bad models. If it wasn't for the photographers, we probably wouldn't have any decent photos.

我都幾鍾意呢張相, 幾自然... 唔記得我哋講緊乜咁好笑.
Nust hav been something funny that was said for both of us to be laughing. Good thing they caught the moment.

影嗰時忍住唔好大笑, 又唔可以太呆. 原來扮恩愛都幾難...Pretending to be a loving couple.

咁多張張相, 影得最容易就係呢張. This is the easiest pose..

玩手指.. It's really hard to get a photo of us making "loving gestures" while looking natural. All credits go to the photographers.

我地好高呀! Tall people.

Dude dude 嘴
They just found these props in the park.. a little pretty yellow flower. Kekek. And we look prettier blurred..

I picked a white t-shirt for Ka for our engagement shot, which was a bad idea for a sunny day. We had to keep him in the shade to make sure he didn't get over-exposed.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Corrie's Dad's Speech

Sorry to folks who don't understand Chinese. Originally I thought my dad's speech was only three minute, thus I told him a Chinese-only speech is fine. Well, let me just say, the speech was definitely not *only three minute*.

Though it was "a bit" long, I was still truly touched by my dad's speech. Though I sometimes find him a stubborn father who nags a bit too much. He is an intelligent man who can manage everything very well [I am still amazed by how he could draw such a perfect balance to everything]. I see him as my role model. I always turn to him when I am stuck with a problem and he's been there for me all the time. I used to think: it will be impossible to find a man who I trust as much as my dad.

I know he's put in a lot of thoughts in the speech. This is also something I admire about him -- he gives 150% to everything he does. So folks, here it is:

Good evening ladies and gendtleman. I have prepared 30 pages of speech. You better be patient. For those who don't know me, my name is Alan. I am Corrie's father. Corrie and I have one thing in common, our names are the same.

First of all, I would like to welcome you to be here tonight to celebrate the wedding of my daughter and Ka.

My speech will be in Chinese. For tables with non Chinese speakers, I hope the Chinese neighbours at your table to help translate.

(Speech in Cantonese)

First, I would like to thank the friends and relatives who traveled from out of town to be here for Corrie and Ka's wedding. When I was walking down the isle with Corrie, I had mixed feelings. One one hand, it was hard for me to let go of my daughter after 20 odd years; on the other hand, I felt relieved. I felt I have passed one of my biggest debt over to Ka.

There are many things I could say about Corrie. One simple question: Do you guys think Corrie is pretty tonight? (Crowd: yes!) Corrie, remember these people here, they only think you are pretty tonight.

When Corrie was born, she looked a lot like an actress in a movie -- Mrs. Cone Head. She was just too comfortable being inside her mom and refused to come out. The doctors had to use a pump to get her out. You can imagine what shape her head will be. Thank to her mom rubbing her head often, Corrie's head rounded up, and thankfullly, looked less weird.

I was surprised when Corrie told me she joined the Chinese Debating team during her university days. At first I couldn't believe with her Grade 5 Chinese, she could debate in public competitions. But come to think about it, she has been "debating" with us at home for over the past 20 years, and she always win. With all the training at home, I shouldn't be surprised if she could win the best debator award.

Corrie seems to have endless amount of time. No matter what time you email her, she would reply right away. She also does a lot of volunteering work. Just last year, she volunteered in Peru, where she met two good friends, Donna and Bruce, they traveled all the way from New Hamshire for tonight's wedding. Donna and Bruce, I appreciate you coming tonight.

For those who don't know. Corrie has two great friends. One - her laptop. She carries it anywhere she goes. I think she even sleeps with it. Second friend is "Ah Mou" (Baker). She makes a lot of cakes and desserts at home. Now that she is starting a family with Ka, we will no longer need to be her only guinea pigs.

Talking about Ka and Corrie's wedding. I have talked to my friend about which type of men is right for Corrie. My friend answered: Archeologist. When I asked why, he answered: Because they cherish things that are old, and the older the better. The worst would be to find someone in IT. Then I got worried because both my wife and myself, and Ka and Corrie are both in IT! My friend then said, people in IT love to upgrade. They would upgrade their software every year, and after a few years, they would even upgrade the hardware! Good thing my wife works on the legacy system, so we are still together after 30 years. Ka and Corrie, don't worry. I am sure there will be exceptions.

Ka and Corrie are meant for each other. They respect each other. Ka cares for Corrie a lot, Corrie would go to Ka when she is faced with a problem.

when always asked if I needed to provide help to Corrie and Ka's wedding. It always "No". The two of them got everything under control. And during the last week, everything was handed over to Tung and Ta (Gabriel & Anita). Them and the groups of friends made tonight successful. Thank you.

Lastly, I would also like to thank Mrs. Lam (Ka's mom). She always cares a lot for Corrie. She also makes great food. Everytime Corrie returns from Ka's home, she would do a show-and-tell, and let us know what Ka's mom cooked and how good the food were. Corrie is very fortunate to have such a great mother in law.

I wish Ka anc Corrie the best. Please join me for a toast to the bride and groom.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Our Little Guests at our Wedding (4)

We interviewed our little guests to ask them what they think about Uncle Ka and Aunty Corrie.
Market research has shown our wedding is more popular amongst females. Out of the sample population polled (photographed), all girls are happily satisfied, while boy seems to be horrified. 
 
"I have no comment. See for yourself in the next picture."
 
Our youngest guest at our wedding: "I think it's good overall. Open bar was great. Hey.. Is that a drink in your hand?"
"I think they have the best bestman (my dad) in wedding history!"
"The best wedding in town! Two thumbs up!"

Our Little Guests at our Wedding (3)

While some are staying far away from the bouquet, some really ran for it.
"Let's go catch the bouquet!"
Corrie: "Una, are you ready?"
"I am ready!!"
"Wah! It's flying towards the other side! Better run for it!""Runnn!""Aww Boo..."

Sorry Una, Aunty Corrie can't even aim a softball straight while looking, not to talk about throwing backwards. Thanks for running for it :) It's a nice feeling to know someone wants to catch it.

Thanks Kevin and Micky for taking and providing the pictures.