Anyhow, last weekend, on the 8th of February, I tagged along Kabir and Waa for a cocktail wedding reception at Shah Alam. The bride, Ida, was introduced to me by her sister, Mas who’s my schoolmate back in Hartamas. Though I was just the second photographer, I thank Mas for recommending me for this assignment. Due to lack of experience in this field, I dragged Kabir in as the main photographer with Waa as the additional photographer.

As I’ve mentioned, I don’t have the expertise in wedding photography. I guess since my background in photography revolves around controlled-lighting situation, i.e. studio and outdoor portraitures, the task of not being able to control a moment or series of events to be captured terrifies me.

The day started out around 5.30pm in Shah Alam at Ida’s residence where to cocktail reception was to be held. As I arrived, I found both Ida & Mas busy running around handling favors and guest list. To my surprise, I also discovered that the makeup artist hired by Ida is Najib whom I worked with during a photoshoot with Hunny Madu, Aishah Sinclair and Fino last year. (Oops, makes a mental note to send some pictures to Najib). While waiting for Ida to settle down for the makeup session, I tried my best to inspire myself by shooting the various details around the house such as flowers and cakes. Did it help to calm down my nerves? Not really. Haha.

The makeup session was not too bad. I was amused at Kabir’s attempt to use Waa as both the foreground and background in a shot. Hmm, did I just spilled out the beans Kabir? Its ok, that’s one new tip for the readers. If you need a black background or foreground in your makeup shots, get a person to stand beside the bride. Of course, thats person needs to be dressed in black for this effect and set your aperture wide open on your tele lens.

A steady stream of guests started to arrive around 8pm which mainly consisted of Ida’s colleagues, close-friends as well a handful of my friends from school. It was a very casual reception; no bersanding. Just dinner, entertainment by a live band, bride & groom singing (adorable!) and fireworks (awesome, my first wedding with fireworks display). The night ended with the bride and groom cutting the wedding cake which was three-tiered and decorated with pink butterflies.

Only once the guest left at 11.30pm did we began what I call the post-wedding portraiture session. We started from the bride’s room, up to the viewing deck/balcony on the third floor and finally to the entrance of the house which was decorated with christmas lights which spelled out the bride’s and groom’s name. I think it was about 1.30 am did we finally wrap the session. With that, the whole shoot lasted for 7 to 8 hours. All three of us left home literally limping and stomach’s growling.

Gosh. I totally respect the photographers who do this for a living. Salute!