Pon and Tay's Wedding - 17 Nov 2007

Last weekend, was busy with my old friend's wedding. I have know him from my former company (which neither of us are working in today), since 1999, when I first started work.

The night before the big day was the bachelor's night. Unfortunately, only I and my friend Ho (+ his wife) cound make it.

The next morning, was at Pon's place at 8am+. Was a good thing too, as we had to leave for the bride's house already. Through some calculations that involved some inputs such as the bride and groom's date and time of birth (as well as that of their parents), it was computed earlier that we should get there before 9am, but cannot return until after 11am.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by their relatives. As per Chinese tradition, usually the bride will be inside one of the rooms, with her "sisters". The door will be locked. In order to gain access to the bride, the groom will need to overcome a series of Challenges posed by the "sisters". To aid him are his band of "brothers". Well, I feel that this was the shortest ever challenge phase that I've seen. I think it took only 30 seconds. Remember that my time it was maybe 15 minutes or so. Must be a new record...!

Once that's over, time for the customary tea serving ceremony, where the bride and groom will serve tea to the elders and other members of the family.

There was one bit I still figure out. That's the requirement that the couple get into the wedding car, go for a round and come back, before we all took off for the groom's house.


Anyway, back at Pon's house, we had lunch there before the tea serving ceremony at the groom's side. There was still much to prepare for the dinner, so all of us left soon after.

Dinner time was officially at 7pm. I made it there at 6.30pm to beat the traffic jam. It seems that it was a good day to get married, there were many other wedding cars on the road on that day.

Pon and Tay arrived a little after 7, due to a long queue at the hair-dresser. Dinner started at 8.15pm, shortly after the Wedding March (this timing is normal).



On the stage, was some hired entertainment, with some karaoke session involving members of the floor. Midway through the dinner, the couple went up on stage for the cake cutting ceremony and was joined by the other members of the family for the wedding toast.

Towards the end, was the table-to-table Yam Seng session, where the couples toasted with all of the guests.


Well, I've done my best to support my friend on his wedding ("Brother" + "Photographer"). Have compiled all the photos into the many albums here accessible to my friends:-

• Bride's house I, II, III
• Groom's house I, II
• Arrival of guests I, II, III
• Stage Antics I, II
• Yam Seng Time I, II, III
• Other Photos
  

From a photographer's point of view, I used my:-

• Nikon D70 + Nikkor 85mm D f1.8
• Nikon D200 + Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

My choice was that the Tamron 17-50 was a superior choice, especially at night where I needed the large aperture. The Nikkor 85mm, to be honest, has never been used in real action before, so I wanted to see how it performed as a low light, mid-telephoto, portrait lens. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed!