Pre-Wedding: Laurence & Arjen

byNoelYeo — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:05:58 +0000

Still very much in love… Laurence and Arjen tie the knot in Singapore.

A fellow photographer friend of mine, Jérôme Meyer ( aka thinklad on Flickr) was invited to shoot the wedding of Laurence & Arjen – a beautiful couple who have been in love for about a decade. From the photos you can see that they’re still very much in love.

As it was one of Jérôme’s first official photography gigs – and because I always wanted to shoot with him – I offered to be his backup on the day. I think it worked out really well, the night before we had dinner at Rocks: Urban Grill + Bar and prepped for the full day of photography. Jérôme’s lens of choice is the 50mm F/1.4 (yes he’s a Nikon user but we won’t that against him – joke) so I opted for the divine Canon EF 70-200 F/2.8L IS USM so that I wouldn’t get in his way too much.

note: The EF 70-200 F/2.8L IS USM is fast becoming my most used lens – despite me having dropped it down a flight of jagged, muddy stairs in Cameron Highlands, it still takes extraordinary photos… but back to the couple.

So Laurence & Arjen had just half a day to get their pre-wedding photos, followed immediately by their solemnisation, reception and dinner. So with fingers crossed for good weather, we set off at 10am for the following locations: the Botannical Gardens, Raffles Hotel, the Old Supreme Court, Cavenagh Bridge and The Fullerton Hotel)

Here are the highlights of their pre-wedding photos with a series of Lightroom 2 presets and optimisations.

I have a great deal of respect for Arjen, traipsing around the humid Botannical Gardens at 11am in a 3 piece suit. If I were in his shoes, I don’t think I would be nearly as chirpy.

We then happened to drive past the Raffles Hotel… it was there that Arjen proposed to Laurence, so after some last minute swerves by the maxi-cab driver, we pulled up for an impromptu shoot at where this journey began.

Off to the Old Supreme Court Building…

Then off to the final leg – along the Singapore River, Cavenagh Bridge.

By this point we’d been shooting in the full afternoon sun for about 3 hours and I all four of us were totally wiped out. But a we wrapped up the shoot… Laurence runs into The Fullerton (followed closely by Arjen), down the flight of stairs, up to the Koi pond in the basement, and sticks her fingers into the water. Both of them are in hysterics, giggling like school kids, and that was it – the perfect way to wrap up an exhausting but amazing shoot.

While the couple retreated to their homes to freshen up, I ducked home, emptied my CF cards, got my kit ready for the solemnisation, had a shower, then promptly fell asleep on the couch for a 45min nap (if you do the same don’t forget to set the alarm!)

Next up on byNoelYeo.com, Laurence & Arjen’s solemnisation, reception and dinner.

Noel

In Noel’s bag:

Canon EOS 5D Mark II
EF 70-200 F/2.8L IS USM
EF 24-70 F/2.8L USM
4x Water Bottles
1x big stack of napkins

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Wedding Day: Bridgit & Alan

byNoelYeo — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:18:27 +0000

On 16th January 2010, Bridgit O’Donovan and Alan Soon officially became Mr & Mrs O’Soonovan.

A magnificent wedding by all standards, the garden ceremony was held at The Lawn at The Raffles Hotel in the presence of relatives and close friends.

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to work with Bridgit & Alan, and share part of their happiness.

It was also an opportunity for me to really stretch the legs on my new Canon EF 50mm F/1.2L USM lens.

I have to say though, that Bridgit must be one of the most effervescent brides I’ve ever come across. The moment she rounded the corner of The Lawn, she was smiling from ear to ear and pretty much didn’t stop giggling the entire way through.

You can see that it even started affecting the groom and the maid of honour too (her sister).

The tea ceremony was interesting…

On the one hand you had Alan’s parents who took the whole affair very seriously, whereas Bridgit’s parents just laughed and had a ball – I’m surprised I managed to get this solemn shot in between the smiles.

Mr and Mrs O’Soonovan were then official!

With the official business over, first fix the hair, then the bride received some much needed champagne.

While the children seemed to understand that there was an ‘adults’ thing’ going on, nothing was going to stop them having fun – I think we found ourselves a new Singapore Idol (see kid with mic), a real showman.

Photos with family and friends – you can tell from their expressions that everyone was having a brilliant time.

The bride and groom with all the girlfriends (and one extra person – how’d he get in there?). What a gorgeous group of individuals.

And that wraps up Bridgit & Alan’s wedding.

I spoke to the bride today and she commented “You know, it was hectic leading up to the day, but it all went by so fast… and I wish I could do it all again”.

Now when a bride says that she wants to do it all again, you know it was a great wedding!