Pre-Wedding Photoshoot - Thanksgiving!

SNEAK PEEK! (For those who've not seen it on facebook!)

(Credit: Deborah Quek)

So it has been a week since we officially completed our pre-wedding photoshoot! It's been such an enjoyable process, really, and we really cannot thank God for more. These are the many reasons why we're so thankful and blessed:

1. We not only had our professional photoshoot (with gowns) done by LaVie, we also were blessed by a very good friend and sister-in-christ (deborah quek) who has offered to help us take casual engagement shoot! And it's extra bonus that she's superbly good in photography, no doubt blessed with a special talent.

2. What else can we say about the weather? Throughout the whole month of March, the weather has been extremely unpredictable - with thunderstorms, showers of rain persisting for long periods of time, short spurts of heavy rain, super hot and dry days...so much so we kinda gave up monitoring the weather forecast because almost everyday has been predicted to be cloudy, showers and thunderstorms. It's totally not what we expected since we thought March should be a dry month without any monsoons. But since we have fixed the date pretty early and have already applied for leave, we decided to go by faith. We prayed so hard, had friends to pray for us, and really, we were blessed with hardly any rain on our professional shoot. Even though it was grey in the morning, by the time we started out shoot, it was slightly cloudy and wasn't that hot. In fact it was pretty cooling, and were extremely surprised at the sunset God gave us at the end. It was just a short 5-10 minutues sunset, but it was beautiful by the reservoir and we had a nice shot there. Taking into account the clouds that day, that beautiful sunset really came as a surprise to everyone. For our casual engagement shoot, wow, we woke up at 6am by a strong gust of wind, rain, thunder and lightning. Thunderstorms - there you go, we had an overcast morning with rain that persisted till the afternoon. No doubt we were disappointed cos we were looking forward to having a nice shoot in the cool morning, but God knows what's better for us. Instead of our original plan, we decided to head to NUS in the late morning for our indoor shoot to capture our memories where we first met and dated. And when evening came, lo and behold, the sun was out and was extremely radiant. It wasn't that hot anymore and yet it was sunny. We were so excited and went to our main photoshoot destination and had a time of our life posing and snappping away. Laughters filled the air, and we really fell in love with the sun's rays. We even saw a mini rainbow from afar =). Our photos turned out really beautiful with the natural light. How can we deny God's presence in our photoshoots? Truly, an answered prayer.

3. People - God has blessed us with people to really take time off and help us in our photoshoot. Min Hwee - a really big hug and thank you to you. Not many are able to sacrifice their leave - but you did. You didn't have to take leave, as you said, for your research - but you still did to "play safe". When I first asked you, you were willing to help out immediately without any hesitation - and that really touched me. I am so thankful for you. You even ran the extra mile during our photoshoot - helping me with all the menial chores of putting on my shoes, being called "mariam" by the photographer as a teaser, flipping the tail of my gowns, carrying my gowns and long veil, lugging the luggage of props all over, stuffing all my barang into your backpack and faithfully carrying it with you wherever you go, helping us throw petals to create a nice atmosphere for the photos, a whole lot of hard physical work for the day - how can we not thank you? And how can we not feel blessed? :) Thank you girl, we really really appreciate you! Deborah - although it's a pity you aren't able to help us take actual day photos cos u'll be away, you were God sent when you came to offer and help us take casual photoshoots. It's a gift from God and we enjoyed our photoshoot with you so much last saturday! Thank you for taking the time, amidst your fyp grad show, to wake up early and even faithfully monitored the weather forecasts from numerous sites. We felt so much at ease during our photoshoot cos u made us feel so comfortable. You had so many creative ideas, and had so much fun under the sun with you. Because of you, I also get to hear sweet messages from matt, and you really know how to capture our most natural reactions! The photos you showed us were so pretty - and how much honored can we be to have our photos printed the largest on your panel for your grad show? With the public looking at our photos - that's something we've nvr dreamed of :). So so thankful for you deb! Dorea - Thank you for being such a great help for our photoshoot with your sis! It was really hardwork blowing bubbles, taking confetti from the ground and throwing again and again, and carrying my bag and all. You made our photoshoot so much more fun and lively! You sisters truly make a great team! To prove to you how good Deb and Dorea have been - just look at the number of likes on this photo that Deb took! We've NEVER had so many likes before - 90 likes!! It's amazing. All credit goes to deb, dorea and God!


4. Props - I really have to thank certain people for allowing me to borrow props from them for the shoot! Yuting - Thank you for allowing me to go down to your place to borrow props from your place! You were really accommodating and gracious to lend us your picnic mat, nerdy specs, picnic hat, umbrellas etc etc. They really came in handy! Auntie Penny and our Parents - Thank you for your jewellery! We borrowed so many sets of jewellery - coming in all sizes, shapes, colors and material. I was so spoilt for choice, and had the chance to try out different jewellery to match my gowns and dresses. I really felt like a princess, while it lasted, actually! Haha.

5. To my hubby-to-be: Without you, this shoot would not have any meaning. It was pure joy having our love captured by the eyes of our photographers. Though it was a little awkward trying to pose at the start, we kinda got the hang of it ya? And we became more natural and relaxed. We had so much laughter and smiles, hugs and kisses, hand-holding and nose-touching, haha, we have to say we've nvr been so "open" in front of people that we know before. It was great fun, nontheless, and I wanna thank you for being so accommodating to me and for being so willing to take these photographs even though I know you don't really fancy being snapped by the camera.

6. Without God - there is no love. This photoshoot would not be any special without God. He is the reason we love, and all these blessings that we've experienced comes only from Him. Thank you, Father. May our photos radiate Your love through us and may all who see our photos, see You in us.

I have been repeating myself so many times now - but really, we're very blessed and we want to count our blessings. Good Friday, today, is good because Jesus sacrificed Himself for us in order for us to be saved and be in paradise with Him in time to come. He took away our sins, and forgave us with pure love. This amazing love, is free for all of us if only you just believe and accept Him into your heart. What's holding you back from receiving this infinite love and forgiveness? Hesitate no longer!