just the day before the shooting, the weather forecast was bad, thunderstorm was expected. I thought the session would be postponed, but out of my expectation, queenie told me they would keep going no matter what.

So what happened? The very second we got on the 7-seater van, it started pouring, and it ’s so bad that we couldn’t even get off the van any more. six persons in car, we kept  discussing where we could go. They liked going to the peak, but I said there ’s no way I could take photo at the peak under the thunderstorm.  Then Gracy suggested the Central pier, at least, we could  hide under the pier ceiling … .. That ’s how we started the day …. ….

finally, I learned that the day  was their 8th anniversary of dating …. …. wow !!!! No wonder not going to postpone. And that ’s why I felt so romantic in the photos.

and this is real  special for simon — never shoot in rain for such a long long time, again, I like challenges and these push my focus, ability and creativity further. And also thanks Canly for hold the umbrella for my camera and lens and got wet outside.

and also special thanks for gracy for buying such a beautiful umbrella for them, it gave a very nice color touch to all photos.

locations: central pier, the peak, HKU, the elements shopping mall
make up artist: gracy of JustGracy

like this photo, showing something unique in Hong Kong, but doesn’t look cheesy.

the photos will not look good without their smile and happiness

wow!!!! Gracy ’s using her secret iPhone hair spray !!!!

seldom take such a wide angle shot, this is an exception for me

really love this one, a very special background

when the thunderstorm stopped, we went to the peak. know what?? It ’s so romantic there with all the mist and drizzle surrounding us.

finally, with the non-stop raining, we didn’t  have any other place to go but HKU. we didn’t apply a permission this time, but lucky that we didn’t get stopped.

finally stop: the elements shopping mall. never thought we can take night photos there. good experience for me.

all the following photos ‘re taken outside a very nice dining location.

love this shot so much. did something new this time. you can see the behind the scene below to find out how I got this shot

another dining place, I used a flash to throw light throught two windows and curtains at the corner.

ceremony and reception: Intercontinental Hotel Hong Kong
makeup artist: Man Chan of Miracle (tel:27391988)
music and band: unison production
video: ken of simon.the.photo

my fav bridal portrait of the day, taken at spoon of intercontinental

getting ready shots

the happy wedding party !!!

wow!!!

love all the games of the day, everyone was so involved

the poor groomsman

beautiful words from charles

and the happy tears from rachel

don’t miss to watch the summary video below prepared by ken

split second moment, just have to make sure 100% focus to take this shot !!!

rachel ’s father @ tea ceremony

charles ’s family @ tea ceremony

LOVE this shot – four layers in composition.

the happy charles  family

get ready before the ceremony

after learning that they got to know each other at a wine tasting gathering, then I thoughtwe should take some photos at the wine shelf at the spoon

the ceremony

nice decoration

“my love for you ….. …… ”

“Hi Simon, I have a special request … … “ asked cordelia.

“ yep, what ‘s that ?”

“I ‘d like to wear glasses in front of the camera, I just can’t get used to my look without glasses, it is not me!!” replied cordelia.

“No problem, why not?” I answered quickly.

However, after this quick answer. I am thinking if I had any other bride wearing glasses in their photo session – the answer is NO.

Did I see any similar bridal photo photo before on internet – the answer is NO.

sounds interesting and challenging, right?

HI cordelia and fred, thanks and see you soon again in your wedding in Jan 2010

locations: Central, Shek O, home

been to Shek O hundred times. No rush, no planned (or must have) shots required, the day was so relaxed and we just walked around in Shek O,
so happy that I could get this interesting shot at Shek O

Let me introduce the cordelia with glasses

our first location: the old central police station

our 2nd stop: Shek O – very nice color. this is what people calls “海天一色”

last stop: at their home
They love traveling a lot, lots of travel books at home. Peru !!!! What a wonderful place !!!

Hi cord and fred, see you soon.

it was as very relaxing day, no game, no bridesmaid, no groomsman, no need to travel around, in fact, we stayed at home whole day until the ceremony at 5:00pm.

We took a few portrait of them at home in the afternoon, then we planned to continue the portrait session at the club house. Unluckily, soon after we started, we ‘re stopped by the club house staff … … Still wondering why they ‘re not allowed to take a few wedding photo at their own club house !!!!!!

date: 28 sept 2008
ceremony: Methodist International Church, HK
reception: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Happy Valley Club house
video: Ken of Simon.The.Photo
makeup artist: Maggie Li

Don’t worry, we could still take beautiful photos at home !!!!! This was taken on their bed !!!!!

Telun – Getting Ready

the flower girl – so adorable.

the short portrait session

I love their wooden curtain a lot

always love veil shot of the bride !!!

on our way to the club house … …

ceremony at the Methodist Intl church

the ceremony started at 5:00pm. Never been so late for a church ceremony.

exchange of rings

reception at the jockey club

Let ‘s welcome the newly wed. They ‘re singing the song “漫步人生路” to kick start the night !!!

arron is a WPJA award winning wedding photographer from California and came to Hong Kong to shoot the wedding of Catherine and Kevin here. I got to know him because he hired me to second shoot with him for this wedding. (Sorry, I can’t post any photos of this wedding here … …) As he stayed in Hong Kong for a few days, I invited him to help shooting in one of my wedding, and it ‘s so inspiring to see a foreigner shooting a local Chinese wedding.

date: sept 27, 2008
ROM: wedding registry at Hong Kong City Hall
BBQ reception: Royal View Hotel

one of my fav of the day.
It ‘s very difficult to take photo in the cross Harbour tunnel, not to mention a wedding photo inside.
ida and errol hired an open top double deck bus for their transportation, and that ‘s why I got a chance to take this photo inside

arron in action !!!

get ready – the yellow color curtain gave us a look of sunset light

my fav moment

the bouquet … … thanks wendy (bridesmaid) allowing me to use her back as background in this pic

arron and I got a lot of interesting shots at this location

throwing rice !!!

another bus in the morning

Hi everyone !!!!!

thanks arron for inspiring me for this photo – we had to play with off-camera flash, slow shutter speed, available light and motion in this pic.

always love to see happy tea ceremony

who ‘s who

getting ready on the bus

So happy to see Mandy (maid of honor) !!!!
she was my student of bible study in church xx years ago. Sorry, I couldn’t recognize her until she told me. 真係女大十八變！！

we got a lot of beautiful pic of the veil

arron … … never give up any chance taking good photo !!!

are you ready?

I am yours !!!

arron always had a lot of new ideas for interesting photo !!!

“you ‘re mine !!!”

this boy ‘s so interested at the veil

and so are the bridesmaids

let ‘s go !!!

thanks everyone for helping me to take this photo (even though all of them got a new hair style !!)

another two fav photos of the day. We got some free time before the BBQ reception, and I was so happy to see all the bridesmaids could sit together and share the happiness with ida

pretty ida

congratulations !!!!

thanks for your trust on me in your wedding. there is a little story. About 1 month before the wedding, we arranged a pre-meeting to discuss the rundown. However, I forgot to mark it in my personal calendar and made them wait for me in the coffee shop whole night. At that time, I guessed they must be very worry about me … …

On the contrary, they ‘re very nice on their wedding day and showed a lot of trust on me. Big big thanks to you !!!!!

date: 12 jan 2008
ceremony: Eden Marriage Registry, TST
reception: Langham Place Hotel

this is the fav of the day. location: the swimming pool at 42/F of the Langham Place Hotel. I decided to go there at around 5:30pm as the weather of the day was very good and we expected that there would be very good light at sunset, and I was right. The cool color reflection from the pool (lucky that we didn’t have other swimmer, the water was very quiet) made the photo even more interesting and gave more contrast.

the beautiful sunset. Not many hotel ballroom in Hong Kong have a sunset view.

agnes waiting for jim in the morning

amazing details

the happy bridesmaids preparing the game

amazing!!! they paid a lot of efforts in preparation

jim in the morning

the handsome jim

at jim ’s apartment, changed into wedding gown

did you see the veil above? I got a new idea suddenly and asked my assistant to hold the veil between agnes and my camera, this created a soft lens effect without using a soft lens or Photoshop

some portraits under jim ’s apartment

poor crying boy

kids always got a lot of attention in wedding

agnes waiting for the ceremony at the bridal room.
This is a high key image with cross process effect

ceremony at the Eden marriage registry. this is my second time taking photo there. I found it challenging as the area was always very crowed, the ceremony was very fast, and the worse was the quality of light (with a mix of purple curtain, yellow light and windows light). This ’s a situation that you can’t rely on the available light. To cope with it, I removed most of the ambient light this time (make it 1.5 stops dimmer) and used 3 lights to light up different parts of the area.

kissing the bride

everyone, let’ s have some fun together !!!

a bridal portrait at the Langham hotel

this pic was taken 15 min after the pool photo above, soon after the sunset, the color of the sky changed to blue very very fast. That ’s why all the photographers call this period of time — the magic hour

look at their friends ‘ expression, their wedding photo in Taiwan must be very gorgeous

jim was singing to agnes

(updated: 11 june) thanks for agnes and jim ’s comment, here are their two fav photos that I ‘d like to share with you

the is agnes ’s fav.

this is jim ’s fav — another version of the 1st photo above

Ceremony: Bethanie Chapel
Reception: Aberdeen Marina Club (AMC)

My fav of the day. I love taking picture of putting on the veil. Not only it looks beautiful, it also marks the change of a lady into a bride

Gwen ’s sister and the bridesmaids ‘re helping her

Looks gorgeous, doesn’t she?

I love this picture — a nice curtain at the back and nice windows light from the left

a happy moments between Gwen and the bridesmaids

Before the ceremony, we had 15 min portrait time at the Bethanie.

A long waited moment

A top shot by my assistant "Siu B"

the father ’s giving away the bride

a very nice chapel

the paper signing. I shot this pic at the back of the chapel

another nice shot by "Siu B"

Hi Hi !!!

They kept talking and laughing all the time, it ’s not difficult to take picture of them

We got 30 min to take some portrait before we went to AMC. I really love this location, we got a lot of colored window light and look at the window pattern at the top right corner, it is just beautiful

Another nice location with beautiful light from the door outside. and there are lots of details on the door — something we can’t fine in other locations.

dancing with the bride

Thanks Gwen and Ian waiting for this moment. Instead of going to AMC, we waited for the sunset and went to the top floor of the Bethanie to take this shot

Another sunset shot

Congratulations. I believe we broke the record again, can you count how many of us in the pic?

Date — 28 July, 2007
Wedding – St. Andrew Church 
Reception – InterContinental Hong Kong hotel

the flower girl — Maggie. while Valerie & Cypri ‘re having the group shots, I walked around in the church and looked for something interesting. I found the flower girl was sitting at the back and watching other people. Wait for a good moment with dramatic lighting

lovely hair style, isn’t it?

Cypri and the groomsmen

Valerie ’s smiling whole day, it was not difficult to get this shot of her.

Hi Hi. After the tea ceremony, I gathered everyone for this shot

the bridesmaids ‘re helping Valerie putting on the necklace

I love this shot of Valerie, with all the hands of bridesmaids helping her. I was hiding behind the curtain

it ’s pretty !!!!

We ‘re ready !!!

the ceremony was at St. Andrew Church

Praise the Lord

I was touched at this moment when Cypri started to cry

after the ceremony, we got a few minutes portrait session inside Church

portrait session inside SPOON of InterContinental

having fun outside SPOON

the venue decoration was done by Wedding Garden

Eric of One Shot prepared the same day video edit for them

Eric ’s work ’s awesome !!! You never get disappointed

We also had "wonderful" weather — in the morning, there was sunshine & everything ran smoothly. After the lunch, we planned to have location shooting at the car park of Ocean Terminal. However, when we ‘re on our way there, the weather turned bad and a big thunderstorm came so that we had to turn back to hotel finally. (I found out later that we had a "yellow rain" warning signal this afternoon.)

So we had to change our plan and just do the location shooting at the hotel. Even though we only had a very busy hotel lobby for location shooting, they enjoyed the moment a lot and I got some of the best pictures for the whole day. My partner Ken and I ‘re very excited and we spent over 1.5 hour there.

Before the wedding, Tina & Man Po told me they ‘d like me to show a few pictures of the day during the banquet, and finally I had selected 7 pictures from this 1.5 hour shooting, they are all my favorite pictures. In fact, I found it difficult to choose, as there are so many great pictures.

My favorite one. It was raining outside and we had rain drops and moisture on the glass wall. Tina just looked gorgeous!!!

the decoration was almost ready

Man Po was helping Tina going down the stair

This wonderful backdrop was the glass wall with curtain. I liked the color,

A shot at the piano

A great picture. Nice expression of Tina, the warm & cold color contrast, the mirror image at the top of piano. everything was perfect at this moment

One final shot at the bar