Ok, maybe I’m a little biased here, because Dave and I were colleagues in the same agency from back in the day. Late nights in the office, after-work drinks and weekend get-togethers over the last se7en years has made us pretty good friends, where we’ve seen each other through some of the best and most challenging times in our lives.

David is a friend who is warm, uber generous, extremely focused and someone whom I can count on. He is also the sort of guy who is a ‘connector’ of sorts, through him I have made friends with some amazing folks – from fellow sci-fi/fantasy nuts (“May the force be with you”), to a gang of whiskey/wine/beer ‘connoisseurs’ ;-). And it is also through him that a certain ladyfriend’s path and mine met.

Michelle is one of the loveliest, most genuine and sincere person I have come to know. When we met ‘Mich’ for the first time, the ladyfriend and I clicked with her instantly. We have much admiration for her cheerfulness and fortitude in face of challenges. And her love for art and fashion is a great compliment to David’s creative flair.

Together, D+M have a love for God, family and their friends. And I think I speak for all of our mutual friends, that we were all overjoyed when they got together.

So I was stoked when David told me over an espresso one day “Dude, I’m going to propose. Can you help me shoot the proposal?” He had it all planned–a custom engagement ring, permission from Mich’s parents (“I have been waiting for you to ask for a while now”. – Michelle’s Dad), a date, a time and a place – 12th February 2011, 1630hrs, The Botanical Gardens.

This short film of David+Michelle’s story has been a year in the making–from the proposal in the gardens, to the portrait sessions, to their interviews. The location of Dave+Mich’s interview at Old School@Mount Sophia is of particular significance–on the 18th of February 2012, a year from the proposal, David and Michelle were joined as husband and wife in a gallery space within the venue. Also, Old School@Mount Sophia was recently marked for urban redevelopment (read – demolished) and by the end of this year, the venue of their interviews and their wedding, will no longer be around. But it was with much joy that I was able to attend their wedding not as a photographer, but as one of Dave’s groomsmen. Their celebration was an amazing event and experience for me. So much so, that I wished all my friends would get married every weekend, just as an excuse to celebrate.

With that, I’ll let them tell you, in their own words, the story that is David+Michelle. But before we go, I’d like to leave you with a quote I love, that I have blatantly copied from Michelle’s Facebook feed–

“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
– Dr. Seuss

PS: On the techie side of things, D+M’s story was shot entirely on Canon DSLR cameras (5Dmk2) and lenses, Made on a Mac, edited in Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop, Final Cut Pro X and a whole lot of awesomeness that is David+Michelle.

So tell your friends about it and drop a note to hello_at_dazza.sg for your own 2012 Wedding Collection with Dazza.

Michelle+Jeremy got married earlier this year and decided to have a ‘post-wedding’ portrait session.

When we caught up again before the shoot, I had a fascinating time chatting with Jeremy about his collection of ‘Hot Toys’ figures – from Bruce Lee to Iron Man (I was tempted to pick up collecting again!). And I found Michelle’s specialised work with nutritional behaviors very educational.

During our shoot, I picked up a few cantonese phrases (which I must admit, I have problems pronouncing now) and had loads of laughs courtesy of their friend June.

This is the story of the ‘Hot-Toys-Obots’.

{Wedding of Lionel and Audrey}

Lionel and I spent our time in polytechnic skipping classes, sucking on cancer sticks and listening to White Zombie. Then he met Audrey and became one of the nicest gentleman I’ve known.

Congratulations you two.

\m/

Shot at The Racha in Phuket, Thailand.

Stephanie and Chung-ky are a sporty couple who met as Dragon Boat rowers in the AustCham Paddle Club (Singapore). Spending most of their weekends training with a spontaneous and wild bunch of dragon boaters, the couple knew that Dragon Boating would be a big part of their wedding celebrations.

As you can tell from the photos, ‘typical’ is not how you’d describe the couple, just the way I love to roll.

As part of their ‘pre-wedding’ celebration, S+CK organized a ‘Wedding Paddle’ with the Dragon Boat rowers from the AustCham Club. The plan was that, while we were shooting their engagement session portraits, the AustCham rowers in the dragon boats would paddle down from the Kallang River and rendezvous for drinks and snacks with the couple at the shores of Marina Bay overlooking the cityline.

The couple (and their photographer included) then hopped into one of the dragon boats, using the backdrop of the Singapore Cityline as part of their Engagement Session. From Marina Bay, the couple and the dragon boaters then paddled back to the docks at the Kallang River.

Stephanie makes funny faces. Really.

Rock la! \m/

They love jumping shots.

This might have been how a Monday morning conversation went -

“What did you do this weekend?”
“Oh, nothing much just rowing our dragon boats around the Marina Reservoir”

Stephanie striking a ‘Vogue’ pose.

This was described as “such a ck & steph moment” by Renee, a friend of the couple.

The Austcham Paddle Club.
Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oei! Oei! Oei!

Here’s a sneak peek of Linda + Ørjan who travelled all the way from Norway to Singapore for their wedding portraits. More to the backstory of how Linda found me in one of the most interesting ways – she had seen me in an episode of “Scene City: Singapore“, googled and tadah, soon.

Veronica+Kelvin are a cool and laid back couple who have known and loved each other for, I believe 11 years.

“I’ve been waiting for this day”, “Finally, you two!” were the words I heard most said amongst their friends and family on their wedding day. And it seemed that the people around them were happy these two were finally walking down the isle as husband and wife.

We took time out during their wedding day to shoot some portraits with the vintage chauffeured car that Fullerton Hotel provided. Driving just down the road from their place, we stopped by the side and spent about 10mins getting these shots. I especially loved Veronica’s cheongsum inspired gown, which I think the vintage car complimented quite nicely. Hence, the wickedly obvious title.