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LUCAS CHUA Photographer

by Errolyn

LUCAS CHUA - what can I say about this extraordinary young man. He was the best to work with during my entire wedding experience. He is friendly, helpful, nice, kind, a keen listener who then translates your wishes into reality and an extremely fast worker with great results! I think I really struck gold when I found him on the internet and engaged him.

Ju Han and I had our first meeting with Lucas when he came up to KL (he's based in Muar, Johor) in Starbucks where he showed us his portfolio. We loved some coloured sunset shots of his and his photos had a real life look to them rather than the model posed Photoshoped pics some photographers showcase. We wanted candid shots that served to capture the emotion and events of the day but we knew we also needed some posed shots to get everyone in on the game. I love artsy shots - you know, through the handle of the teapotlah, soft focus in front but catching the groom scrathing his nose….that sorta thing. I showed Lucas some shots I absolutely wanted and wah la - see for yourself - I've got them all here! I love his work but most of all, I love the fact that he was so easy to work with. Our first impression of him at Starbucks was not wrong - after we left the meeting, Ju Han and I spoke together and agreed that he seemed like a man we could work with easily. And that, in the end, is veryveryvery important when you are working with multiple types in a stressed environment.

I can't speak enough good things about Lucas - he is a very busy man - I've told him to update his website because apparently there are pics from 2 years ago!!!!! Wah Lah! I said I am sending people over via my link so he must make the effort. But he does a lot of commercial shooting too I think and so is very very busy. He was in Phuket for a 2 week shoot before my wedding and was exhausted but he followed us through from morning to night and was very friendly and unobtrusive. And now? Now he's gone off to Taman Negara!

Everyone loved the slideshow he made of the morning tea ceremony to show at the dinner - the pics were great and he put them together so beautifully to my FAVOURITE song in the world - The Colours Of My Love - by Celine Dion. It seems it's his fave song too!

Lucas, within the week, uploaded all our 500 over pictures to his website for us to choose our 200 to be printed and to display in the online gallery. One week after the wedding, we got our album and CDs and he even gave me a beautiful enlargement of one of my favourite shots! The man is sooo cute! Having read stories of people chasing their photographers for their once in a lifetime memories, we am indeed grateful to Buddha and the Goddess of Mercy and God (in no particular order) that Lucas came through with flying colours!

I am sure I haven't said everything I could say about Lucas but please - if you're looking for a nice man who takes good pictures - please call him! He's at 019-6666 079. No, he's not paying me for this either but the man said I had a very nice smile - what else can I do for him? Hehehheheheehe….maybe one day he'll use me as talent in one of his shoots! J

Oh ya, he even made the effort to come scope out the route to my house and the layout of my house to ensure everything went smoothly on D Day - how's that for commitment?

Thanks Lucas for your excellent work!

Lucas and me

More examples of Lucas' work

Girl's Day Out

by Errolyn

I went to this little corner shop in Ikano to do my nails. We had a terribly hard time finding a place that could all 3 of us together (mum, sis and I) - but that was my fault too cos we went a little later than opening time when we could have SNATCHED UP all the technicians we needed!

So anyway, mum and sis went to do theirs in the Nail Saloon in The Curve and I crossed the road . They had simple mani pedis with sold colours while mum had an extra foot scrub and nail treatment. Salesman's dream I tell you!

I had a 3 tone sparkly manicure and solid purple with nail art on big toe pedicure. It cost me RM103 while sis and mum's cost RM200 over.

Jan and I also had a girl's day out at Chakras Spa in Damansara Heights. It was quite a nice place with 3 dedicated parking lots right in front of the condo. We were supposed to get a room for 3 but mum didn't come in the end. So we had a 1.5hour massage preceeeded by a 45 minute body scrub. The scrub cost RM100 and RM120/hour for the massage. We both chose chakra massages while Jan went for the marine salt scrub and I had the coffee and milk scrub. Very nice! Although the masseur doing me was a bit loud when talking and partook in some of the more common selling pushes….which I didn't like so much. It was quite nice an experience and the house was calm and relaxing though what I would really have loved is an outdoor spa! WAH!!!!!!!!

Joan Woo Makeup Artist

by Errolyn

My make up artist, I've written about before - Joan Woo - she has recently set up her own Mutiply site so it should be quite easy to locate her. I loved my make up that morning and that night. She was also very helpful in the days leading up to the wedding - I made several changes to the order of my outfits and she was unfazed throughout, even sent me pics of possible hairstyles via email for me to choose from. She evern remembered that Ju Han doesn't like my hair all up - something I myself didn't remember!

In the end, I used Joan's recommendations for the morning and in the night I chose this simple curly hairstyle that incorporated the bridal house's tiara and for my evening gown - TA DA!!!!!!!!! I told Joan I wanted to use peacock feathers to match my dress. I thought I looked reallllllly good! Actually kinda like a showboat showgirl man! Please find pics below when I can put them in! J

Joan also did my mum's hair and makeup and my sister's hair and makeup for the night. I only wished she could have worked faster. Perhaps I should have listened more to her when she suggested the timeline schedule but I really didn't think hair and makeup would take that long so I cut it down to 1 hour for myself. That wasn't enough. I guess going forward, with even more experience Joan will be be able to cut down the time - my colleague told me that an expert MUA can get everything done in 45 mins!!! Of course quality is good toolah!

But other than the timing issue, I have no complaints about Joan - she is a friendly, helpful, very pleasant lady who does a good job! You can contact her at pengjoo77@yahoo.com. No she's not paying me for this but she did give me the cutest little chinese wedding dolls!

She advised me and comforted me when I got stressed, she was a good sport - even participated in the games to tease Ju Han when he came to get me in the morning!

Thanks Joan for a great job!

Joan and Us

ISHQ The Restaurant

by Errolyn

Now after all those pics, a little bit about my vendors!

The restaurant we had our dinner at was Ishq Restaurant at the Main Lobby of the Crowne Plaza Mutiara Hotel in Jalan Sultan Ismail, KL. Looking at it in its normal ala carte arrangement gives you a nice cosy feeling but it's nothing compared to when the place is made up to look gorgeous for a wedding! Ragesh the manager was effusive, happy and accomodating from the beginning to the end. We very easily negotiated a winning combo for both sides and nearer to the actual date, we met up a couple of times to finalise seating arrangements (table layout), flowers and tech equipment - that sorta thing you know. You never realise there are so many things to decide on until you are actually in the moment. So! For you new brides out there, how do you do it? You won't be able to think of everything yourself so just ensure that you either:

1. Try to think of as many as you can, with the help of friends, family and fiance (in that order! Hahahah - just joking) and decide the colours and height, arrangement, volume, quality etc. It helps if you have a picture in your head.
2. OR you can do what I did! Which is make decisions very quickly as and when they come up, bearing in mind all other decisions that have already been made. It also helps if you have good visualisation techniques or a good imagination.

For example, we picked the colour of the tablecloths, napkins, chair covers, table flowers, table names etc. the second way. I guess with me not being a Really Fussy bride, it helped. What's a Really Fussy Bride? The sort who buys postage stamps 1 year in advance to paste on the organic envelopes created with interlaced hydrangea petals that she will be sending out her 12karat gold bordered and texted invitations in. So. It Helps.

Hehehehehehehehe.

The fact that Ragesh and his team were very helpful and knowledgeable was a godsend. Some duties we had: try the food, choose the menu, set the price, choose the alcohol, test the projector, test the sound system, rehearse the grand total of 1 time our grand entrance down the curving grand staircase and realising that I need to be on the right of Ju Han so he won't block the whole world's view of me….and remembering to actually do that on the night itself! He helped us with room bookings, car parking, flowers, the dummy cake, even talent for the night if we wanted but which we didn't use!

All in all, it was a pleasant experience working with Ragesh and the Ishq Restaurant team. It was smooth sailing from start of negotiation to the end - payment of bill. Of course I don't have any experience of working on a wedding with other hotels.

The lighting was gorgeous, the flowers and deco was great, I loved the fact that there was a water feature in the middle of the restaurant and I absolutely loved the outdoor patio with its exposed roots and climber plans softly illuminated by up raised spotlights and listening to the gently trickling sounds of the tiny waterfall. It certainly made my dream of an intimate, cosy wedding come true! Oh yeah! The food was excellent too - though I think the Main Table didn't get to eat very much at all! I know I hardly took 2 bites! SIGH!

We had a total of 18 tables with 14 on the ground floor and 4 more (with their own buffet spread!) on the top floor. They can actually hold more on the ground floor but I wanted to clear some space for my first dance.

What was also good was the free flow of drinks and free use of projector and screens which some hotels charge for. But best of all was that the food was good and the ambiance perfect! They are open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week so go ahead and check them out! You can call them at 03-2144 3440 and no, they are not paying me for this! The prices are definitely affordable for a good meal in a nice restaurant.

Thanks Ragesh and Ishq for making it all happen!

The Boy's Side

by Errolyn

I can't help but feel like I have to apologise for writing this post - I mean, after all, it is about the Boy's Side!!!! :) Well, there aren't any sides now!

So I think his hengtais arrived at 9am in stages after his briefing with them the night before. How Vey, David, Yen Yen, Yen Ping, Ann Gie, Kok Yoong - ooooh, a whole galut of them with their cars and I am sure they set about decorating the cars with the ribbons....At approximately 10.15am, Ju Han calls me to tell me they are going to leave soon so they can arrive before 11am at my house. I demur (is that the correct word???) cos I didn't want them to arrive Before 11am. I wanted them to arrive at 11am cos apparently 11am - 1pm was the GOOD TIME.

So, ok - they leave the house and arrive at my place at about a little past 11am. I was already ensconced in the room with mum and dad and could only try to eavesdrop. The jimuis outside had their fun and 1 1/2 hours later, we left for his house. Ju Sern, Ju Han's brother was driving the wedding car and lo and behold soon after we left the condo, we lost the whole convoy!!! Oh my goddddd!! Ju Sern kept reminding me to keep calm and Ju Han tried calling this one and that and got a bit frustrated with Digi for running out on us when we needed it the most! Hehehehehahaha - are you listening Sookie and Ai Queen!

Anyways, we all took our separate routes home and when we arrived, I was greeted (well, my car door was opened) by Ju Han's younger cousin - a reallly pretty girl by the name of Wey Ling. We went in and was greeted by the happy happy faces and smiles of the whole family. We quickly took a photo with the two grandmas and then settled down to taking a couple of family pictures too. Then the tea ceremony started and dad in law was really happy to receive the tea from Ju Han ('first time in 34 years', he said!). Then we served tea to the grandmas and the relatives by order of seniority. We also took some pictures with the heng tais and ji muis and then everyone set about eating the fine spread my mum in law and her sisters and relatives had pulled together. It was scrumptious!!!!

I didn't get to eat much at all cos I rushed upstairs to bathe and wash the product out of my hair for the evening do! The girls came up and mum in law came in to collect all the gold and angpows for safe keeping!!! Aiyo, it was one of the most rushed about time of the day. Madness and then suddenly, everyone had left and I hadn't seen ANYONE!!!!!!

The girls helped me gather stuff, as did Janice while Ju Han mingled downstairs and socialised. He came up to bathe a little while later and Ju Sern took the jimuis off to their hotel in town while Ju Han's Penang relatives readied themselves for the journey into town to the hotel.

When we were just about ready, mum calls and says they are already at the hotel but they can't find a booking under their name and when we check ours, they can't find ours as well!!!! OH.MY.GOD! We rifle through our papers and can't find anything while Ju Han tries to steady himself. He says if we get all flustered now, we are bound to forget stuff........

And forget stuff we did! The seating lists, the table layout, the enlargement picture of us to display at the front of the restaurant!!!!!!! EEEEKK!!!! Luckily Ai Queen, Ju Sern's girlfriend, and mum in law came through and got everything there on time!

We rushed off into town on our own while Ju Han's Pg relatives followed us in the car behind. There was a wee bit of a jam and Joan started make up on mum first. Even so, we were very behind on the makeup - Joan's results are fantabulous but the bride needs to either plan a lot of time for her or she will need to quicken her work. Mum in law in the end, didn't get to makeup (for which she was happy) but anyways, I would have preferred if everything had been more timely.

So that's where I will stop for the BOY'S SIDE! Look our for the next post on the Dinner and feedback on the Vendors!

The GIrl's Side

by Errolyn

Well, it's 2 days after the EVENT and I am still knackered! We only went to sleep at 4am on Saturday and woke up early to have breakfast with the family at the hotel. Then we rushed around a bit with a whole lot of drama happening - fetched my sis to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Singapore, discovered a leak in the petrol tank of my dad's Waja (which is now resolved) - worrying about that for half a day as we scrambled to find a workshop that was open on Sunday and/or Monday (Prophet's Mohd's Birthday). We then also rushed off to 1U to spend some time and have dinner with my closest dearest friends from school back in Penang - people who flew all the way from around the world to be with me - Szup from the UK, Melinda from China, Lisa from Australia and Thing May from good ole Penang!!!!

Not to mention Ju Han's aunt from America and his old friend all the way from New Zealand! It touches the heart doesn't it?

I am not sure what to say - so many things happened! We woke up bright and early in the Ms Tan household (I was up by 4.15am) and then my make up artist got lost so arrived just a wee bit later, my photographer arrived on time. He was so great - he came for a recce the night before just to ensure he knew the place and the layout of the home so he could plan his pictures. Then I started makeup and sis and mum and dad had a little bit of breakfast and got the food for the guests ready - of course I am guessing all this as I wasn't outside getting sweaty, I was inside getting beautiful.

My first outfit for the day was the traditional red Kwa or Qi Pao for the tea ceremony at my house for my family and then I changed into the white wedding gown to 'Chut Mun' (Go Out of Door - literal translation from Cantonese). Several times during the morning I was on the phone giving directions to people but they all arrived safely - my youngest aunt on my mum's side (so sweet of her - I had literally told her to wake up early and come!!!) She came in shorts and t-shirt and brought her cheongsams to change into!!! Then my uncle on my mum's side followed by my cousins and of course my friends too!!!!

We played a little game with Ju Han even though we had both agreed we weren't into that kind of thing - you know - the eat wasabi mixed with sambal and asam jawa.......but I did plan a little surprise. I wanted the guest to form a gauntlet of sorts that he had to work to get through. My friend Szup was the first and my sister Janice was the final frontier! He had to go through the line and give each of them a reason why he loved me or why he wanted to marry me. Of course I gave them a little lee-way, they could ask their own questions if they wanted toooooo - Lisa found out the hard way that this wasn't the best option to take!!! Hahahahahhahaa

Anyway, the door was wide open for him to stride through and we even have a video of how he got through successfully! I shall always remember this answer - 'I promise to give her oranges when she wanst oranges, and apples when she wants apples'. My sweetheart!

Chew was there filming the entire thing - he is such a good friend!!!!! He told me that undoubtedly I would be the most beautiful bride he's ever seen - well, perhaps with the exception of my sister!!! :)

So, we took a WHOLE lot of pictures!!!! When the groom and heng tais arrived, they had to run the gauntlet, and then when that was over, there was eating and drinking and resting before we commenced with the tea ceremony. Only 3 couples drank tea on my side which is really weird cos I am the traditional one - Ju Han's side had many many more couples!!!! I got gold and angpows as did Ju Han. When we were done with that, we had to give angpows to the kiddies - I gave sis a RM100 angpow so she can marry well and a Tiffany & Co. heart locket inscribed with 'Sister'.

After that, we dispensed angpows to all the ji muis who were invaluable! I really don't know what I would have done without my parents, my sister and my ji muis! They just all arrived the night before but they rose to the occasion - lucky me to have such accomplished capable people in my midst!

So there it is - the GIRL's SIDE. Following are some pics!!!!!! (ummmm.... my sis has them on her FaceBook - Janice Tan - I will get some to put in!)

Crowne Plaza Mutiara Hotel MAP

I'm putting a map link up on Handy Help!

Will also put up more pics AFTER the dinner this coming Sat....don't wanna spoil the surprise right???

Btw - Auntie Irene - I haven't forgotten your CARE package - coming soon - hopefully with copies of DVD of the night!!!!!!!!!! :)