I always hope to write about every weddings and pre-weddings photos here, but the fact is, it is getting more and more difficult for me. So, if you can’t see your photos here, don’t worry, there is nothing wrong with your photos, it is just because of my busy schedule.

Anyway, love to share the same day photo edit of the wedding of vicky and daniel here, which I did last week.

ceremony: bethanie chapel
reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
make up artist: polly of faces hk
celebrant: anthony lam
video: ken of simon.the.photo

here is the same day photo slideshow. slideshow is shortened for web display purpose.

it ’s not an exception for the wedding of vanessa and jacky, without the beautiful bride and groom, their friendly families, the wonderful wedding party and the awesome wedding planner, we could never capture so many nice pictures and video.

If you have seen the same day photo edit of their wedding before, here is their nice wedding video.

ceremony and reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
video: ken of simon.the.photo
wedding planner: the theme wedding

Let me talk more about this in next few blog posts.

just finished another very happy wedding this week, and love the same day photo edit very much. Hope you like it as well.

ceremony and reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
video: ken of simon.the.photo
wedding planner: the theme wedding (feel so happy to work with a professional wedding planner like them, highly recommend)

I seldom put a photo without a bride as the first photo in a blog post, this is definitely an exception. joji ’s friends prepared an interview video themselves in which lots of joji ‘ s friends shared their happiness and greeting. That video was so touching that made everyone cried.

ceremony and reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
video: ken of simon.the.photo

I love this shot as it is not common to capture the emotion between boys in a wedding. hope you enjoy all photos below.

getting ready shots, evelyn is pretty bride, isn’t she ?

preparing the game

they never stopped making fun in front of the camera

the game !!!

tea ceremony

a moment shot with interesting details

arrived at hotel and had a break….. finally ….

just 30 min portrait in the afternoon, I love that arrangement.

the cake cutting

we had the wedding ceremony just before the start of the banquet

congratulations !!!!

lots of emotion to be captured throughout the whole night

joji, your speech had made everyone cry …. …

going to the after party … …. poor guys … …. these gentlemen got trapped in the escalator for one hour (finally got saved by the firemen)

a 5 min of DIY video that is full of love and blessing !!!!

ceremony: bethanie chapel
reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
make up artist: chris wong
hair stylist: harris louie
wedding day video and same day edit: freddy of more production

a DIY video that made all of us laugh and cry

here is the amazing video, don’t miss it!!!

getting ready

ready to go to bethanie !!!!!

we had very beautiful sunset light at the bethanie during the ceremony

a few portrait shots after the ceremony

best friend ’s speech

very nice singing by chapman

eliza was “invited” to sign a “contract” on stage to give chapman PERMISSION to keep his most important interest  — —– playing MAHJONG with his friends …. … hahahahaha

congratulations !!!!!!

I always tell them, my clients are neither models nor celebrities, and most of them are just average persons.  However, every girl in her wedding gown should be the happiest and the most beautiful girl in the world on her wedding day.  So it is always the responsibility of the photographer to capture the best picture for the bride. There are so many ways to make a person look good in a photo (at the same time, there are lots of other way to make a person look bad), and every WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER should spend time learning all these technique (And I am still learning !!!!).

After having said all these, what if we have some really good looking clients?  this is exactly the case for Kristy and Wilson!!! They are such a good looking couple that the pressure is on me, because, if they don’t look good in the photos, the fault is always on me, isn’t it?

Kristy and Wilson, it is a blessing for me to be part of this wedding and thanks for having me as your wedding photographer.

Hope you enjoy the photos below !!!

ceremony and lunch reception: bethanie chapel
banquet: four seasons hotel
make up artist: Man Chan

what a happy newly wed !!!!!

kristy and her father in the morning

the tea ceremony was full of happiness and emotions

love this gentle moment

ceremony at bethanie

the blessing

lunch reception at the roof of Bethanie

my fav bridal shot of the day, we did it at the lift lobby of four seasons

a different way to show the beautiful wedding dress

520 roses, something BIG ‘’s going to happen !!!!!

mother ’s speech

congratulations !!!!

I always find that the less crew member there is, the more natural the people  look in front of my camera. Of course, being working alone doesn’t guarantee you good candid photos, you also need other techniques and experience to get it …. ….. still lots to learn.

gisa and chris, one of my fav wedding in last season. a small but very warm wedding. I didn’t start shooting before 4:00pm, and as a winter wedding, you can expect the light is on the low side after 4:00pm, so i had to work in a very low ambient light level for the whole evening. It was even more challenging that the wedding ceremony was held at the bar area inside the fine dining French restaurant Capise  inside four seasons at 7:00pm. what light level can you expect at a bar area after 7:00pm ??? It ’s so dark that I could only see shadow moving around  inside  the viewfinder of my camera … … very challenging !!!!

ceremony and dinner: caprice, four seasons hotel
make up artist: eva of faces make-up studio

my fav shot of the day
love the way they kiss each other, Oh …. ….  so much love inside !!!!
the bar area ’s very small, with all the guests, there ’s not much room I could move around. Before the ceremony, I already planned to take the most important moment at this location,  and hoped to include the  guests in the photo so that you can have a sense of the atmosphere of the ceremony. There is not much light, even I pushed the ISO to over 2,000. flash had to be used, the tricky part is how to balance the flash and ambient light while controlling the light quality of the flash, and didn’t let the flash to kill the atmosphere.  

some of the getting ready shots

what a happy, cheerful bride gisa is

we did a very fast 30min portrait just before the ceremony

other ceremony shots

what a nice and fine dinner location, isn’t it?

we love seeing surprises prepared by the wedding couple.

but we never expect to see so many big diamonds on a wedding day … …

After changing into a evening gown, venice walked into the ballroom from the changing room. To her surprise, “I have prepared a special desert for you” , said kenny. When the dish was uncovered, we saw shining light – it is a  set of diamond jewelry. Under the spot light, kenny helped her to put them on in front of all the guest.

Hi, all the other groom, if you are still thinking of what surprises you ‘d like to give to your bride on the wedding day, you may consider kenny ’s idea !!!!

reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
ceremony: no wedding ceremony on the day
video: ken of simon.the.photo
wedding planner: the plan

love.surprise.diamond

diamond of love

whole day summary prepared by ken of simon.the.photo

get ready shots in the morning

kenny in the morning

the game. kenny was asked to do the proposal again

happy tea ceremony

a beautiful moment at home

changed into wedding gown. As they already had the wedding ceremony before, the rundown of the day ‘re very relaxing, we got an one-hour portrait session inside hotel in the afternoon.

a very very nice veil shot

another surprise prepared by venice. she asked her friends to perform a dance for kenny. Cool !!!

lot of nice nice details of the dress

Most of the girl would dream – one day she walks into the hotel ballroom in their beautiful wedding gown, in front of all their friends and families. However, virginia and Jerome liked to have something special, that they finally decided to wear the very tranditional chinese dress at the start of the banquet at four seasons hotel. Really Cool !!!

ceremony: st. anthony’s church
reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
wedding planner:  marriage maestros

virginia in “掛” ，”鳳冠” and “轎”

踢”轎”門

get ready shots – virginia, her mother and all the happy bridesmaids

wow !!!! Jerome and his ice hockey friends

love that shot. Jerome was looking forward to see the bride !~~~

tea ceremony

tea ceremony at jerome ’s family

finished all the games and chinese rituals – finally got some private time for the two

changed into wedding dress

love this shot so much. just before the ceremony, virginia was waiting alone

flower boys and girls.

very very nice details of the flower girl dress

the bride !!!!!!

the happy couple

congratulations !!!!

we only did a few portraits at four seasons, here are two of my fav.
very beautiful sunlight at the hotel lobby

nice decoration

a surprise from jerome – he prepared a video secretly himself as a gift to virginia

You may notice there are several wedding locations/venues got very very popular among my clients.

for reception venue, AMC, four seasons, peninsula, island shangri la and repulse bay are the most popular

for church, bethanie chapel, St. Margaret church – almost go there once every week during the peak season.

Shooting at the same location every week is a good and bad thing – you get very familiar with the places, but easily get bored at the same time. To avoid getting bored, I ‘ll try my best to get a few new and creative shots every time, if I can get 2-3 new shots on the day, then I am satisfied, and don’t have pressure at all for the rest of the day. 2-3 new shots may sound too less for you, but please remember, we may have over 20 weddings in a month during the peak season, that translates to creating 40-60 new shots in a month, it ’s pretty challenging in fact.

here are the 2-3 new shots in the wedding of vivian and vincent.

ceremony: bethanie chapel
reception: four seasons hotel hong kong

love love this shot !!!! with this camera position, I always scared that I would fall onto the bride one day (touch wood !!!). the wedding ceremony was at 1200pm, so the chapel was very bright with diffused light from all directions. One flash (just outside the top of the photo) was used to create the dramatic lighting of this portrait. The challenge here is to confine the light to the bride only

another off camera flash shot, flash was just outside the top right corner of the photo.  To make it look like a window light from the top of the chapel, had to position the flash very very high.  Also have to balance the color, size and direction of the light very carefully to make it look natural.

another fav of the day. Here is the corridor connecting four seasons and the podium of IFC. There is a big mirror with very beautiful pattern. I tried to challenge myself to shoot in front of the mirror, but without seeing my image in the mirror reflection.

some of my fav shots in the morning

Oh !!!!!

vivian is a happy bride, isn’t she?

ceremony at bethanie

so much in love

congratulations

thanks everyone ’s help to get this shot done

a few other portraits after the ceremony. I put a flash outside the window to create the “sunset” look.

reception at four seasons

nice backdrop and evening dress

same day video edit

lots of happy moments !!!!

Central on sunday morning is very very different. It ’s  so quiet, not many people and traffic.  Though it ’s almost middle of the day, but we could still find beautiful directional sunlight through the gaps of the buildings.

I had mentioned in my previous blog post that both clara and thomas ‘re very nice couple. Working with them is such a joyful experience. Not only are they nice to us, but they are nice to each other as well – always heard “辛苦晒你啊，老公”  from Clara throughout the whole day.  Canly told me that she really felt the words “相敬如賓” from them. very impressed.

reception: four seasons hotel hong kong

a break – having fun at a noodle shop

very very beautiful light at various locations . All photos shot by available light only

never imagine we could find such a beautiful location in Central

reception at four seasons hotel

ready to march in

thomas ’s mother

clara ’s mother

their families

toasting time. some photographers may find the toasting time very boring. For me, I ‘ll take the time to try something new in lighting, as you have time to try it over 30-40 tables, there is no harm you messed it up sometimes – good for trying something new.

lots of great moments

congratulations !!!!

Recently I got an email from a bride, she said she got upset on the day because of all the hassles – not enough sleep, rushing schedule,  the arguing wedding party … … My respond is, from my experience, there is no perfect wedding, no matter how much you have prepared. And that ‘s all these “little surprises” that make your wedding memorable and unique.

I love the wedding of clara and thomas a lot. It ‘s so relaxing on the day, not only they separated the wedding into two days, but they are indeed very relaxing, nice, easy going couple.

Something really terrible happened on the day. They planned to have the wedding ceremony at 3:30 pm. Guess what? the celebrant didn’t show up before 3:45pm, and there ‘s no phone call, no message from her. To my surprise, Clara didn’t get upset at all, and she could still enjoy and have fun with her friends. I was really impressed. Happy couple is happy couple, nothing can stop them enjoying the day.

This is my 1st time to have wedding at the government LCSD wedding venue (there are six of them). What a  good idea, but I believe there is a lot can be done and improved by the government. We had the ceremony at the repulse bay beach, very very nice location, but all the facilities are very minimal (and raw, I can say), not up to a modern wedding venue standard. Not to mention, the restroom is very very far away … … Hope it can be improved in the future and don’t waste this beautiful scenic location.

get ready: four seasons hotel
ceremony: repulse bay beach, LSCD Venue
video: Chan Kai

one of my fav shot of the day. I took this at the Stanley Market, BTW, thanks for the very nice dinner.

a few fav shots in the morning

I was challenging myself in this pic. a very dark corridor,  shot by 50 1.2 wide open, all by available light, moving subjects and manual focus.

thomas ‘s mother

it ‘s so warm

changed into wedding gown

:-p

nice weather, nice view, nice location

lots of beautiful details in the ceremony

happy couple enjoying the day. Can you imagine that  the celebrant didn’t show up without any notification just 30 min ago.

congratulations !!!!

we had a special guest – a sea gull

nice sunset shot

stunning !!!!

don’t know how to do the above pose, don’t worry, the crazy simon can do the demonstration for you.

the working team: Chan Kai, karen from yung ‘s harmony, SoFie, Simon and Canly

another night shot at the stanley market

stay tuned for the update of the 2nd day of their wedding.

a touching summary video prepared by ken of simon.the.photo.
Great works!!
it may takes 1-2 minutes to buffer before it plays

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if you can ‘t watch the video above in IE, you can  try the following one

BTW, I asked you to guess where I took the following photos in Four Seasons. Sorry, I almost forgot to give you the answer. Click the following link to SEE !!

this is really a difficult guess!!!! We took it under the coffee table at the lobby !!! I can still remember how shocked the banquet manager was when she saw us. hahahah, don’t worry, I don’t think I can do it again as it would never get another couple as crazy as Charis and Tsui Kit in the future … … Thanks the bridesmaid taking this photo for us, or no one will believe me.

And I have implemented a new commenting system here, now you can link your facebook, twitter or yahoo identity with this blog and no need to re-enter information everytime. TRY IT and see if it works. Big thanks !!!

(update: OK. can’t make the facebook connect to work, give up, give up … … )

Happy wedding is definitely my answer.

lydia and wales ‘ wedding is one of the happiest wedding in last wedding season. Not only we have happy couple, but we have happy wedding party and families as well. I was very very impressed that when they finished the wedding ceremony, both of their parents came out on stage and gave the blessings to the newly wed. Very very touching !!!!

ceremony and reception: four seasons hotel
video: ken of simon.the.photo

I did the same day photo edit.  click the following link to see the same day photo slideshow

here is the same day photo slideshow. it may take 1-2 min to load [hana-flv-player video="http://www.simonthephoto.com/customers/09/1206-lydia-wales-flv/video.flv" width="586" height="328" description="lydia and wales same day photo slideshow" autoplay="false" loop="false" autorewind="true" splashimage="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4330384406_dce25a4a45_o.jpg" /]

if you can ‘t watch the video above in IE, you can  try the following one

From my experience, after the very busy season from Sept – Dec, I will start to get sick in Jan. This was the case in last two years. But it happened earlier this year, both Canly and I got sick since early dec. It was really tough as all wedding jobs ‘re very demanding and we had to work long hours.

When I started to get well last week and thought that the sickness was over, my daughter Shulin got inflected (from playgroup I believed), and started to vomit since last wed. And after that, my whole family got inflected and we all had vomit and diarrhea since last Thu and Fri. Yes, I had diarrhea, a disaster for a wedding photographer (and I had wedding jobs on last Thu, Sat and Sun).

Thanks that the anti-diarrhea medicine really worked, though I was very tired on the weddings days.

As of today, I am completely recovered and ready for all the challenges again !!!!!

********************

mimi and ramsy ‘s wedding was on last sat. I was blessed that, I had a beautiful and nice bride on the day, with a very handsome groom, and a super happy bridal party. Though I was not feeling very well, the photos turned out great – and it is definitely one of my fav wedding in dec.

ceremony and reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
video: ken of simon.the.photo

my fav shot of mimi and ramsy of the day

a few of the “getting ready” shots
the “groomsmen” and the bouquet

the girls

love the colorful dress and all the happy bridesmaids

the tea ceremony – the happy mimi ‘s sister

lovely – “mimi is mine, ramsy don’t come close”

mimi had prepared gifts for every bridesmaid

1100 am at Ramsy ‘s family

ready for the ceremony

everyone ‘s ready !!!!

1430 ceremony at the four seasons hotel

love this shot, look at mimi ‘s mother, she started crying already

congratulations !!!!

laughter and tears

who is the lucky bridesmaid?

a few of my fav portraits at four seasons

OH !!!!! So beautiful !!!!!!

love the idea of this group march in

as ramsy said, he is a very bad dancer, but he ‘s willing to dance in front of everyone (like a terminator) , it ’s all because of mimi

a thank you speech to parent and family

ramsy ‘s three sisters

love this big big screen. So good for the same day video show!!!!!

a very very good band. the ballroom ’s full of applause throughout the whole night

ceremony: union church
reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
video: ken of simon.the.photo

here are a few fav of the day

the light, contrast, body shape, and the gestures make this silhouette shot work

another fav of the day. ceremony at union church

the beautiful and gorgeous verena

time for game preparation

getting ready shots
verena ‘s father is also a photo lover, taking photo all day

benedict ‘s singing

very lucky to get this shot when verena suddenly stood out from the door

big hug from father

a big tea ceremony at benedict ‘s family

a detail shot

ready to go to the church

gorgeous

ceremony at the union church

bridesmaids ‘re ready

very lovely

I do

congratulations !!!!

one of the fav during the 10 min portrait session

love this shot,  feel so peaceful

the ballroom ‘s ready for all the guest

the newly wed speech

love this sequence – especially the “OK” from verena ‘s mother

same day video edit by ken of simon.the.photo

best man and bridesmaid ‘s speech – and happy to see barbara again. She is my client in 2008 and thanks for her referral

Honestly, I personally feel that tsui kit has a “hyperactive” problem , he just never stop, full of energy anytime, anywhere !!!

But, on the wedding day, I learn the other side of him, and it is very touching to me.

In the middle of the day, charis took me into a room and asked me to take some photos of a present that she received the day before – this is the last present she received from tsui kit as his girl friend.

What is it? This is a box full of notes, paper, letter … … Since the 1st day they met eight years ago, tsui kit believed that he ‘s going to spend the rest of his life with charis. Day by day, he wrote down what he felt about charis onto this little notes, paper, he never showed them to charis for eight years, and never told her about this. He kept this box of papers to himself, until the day before their wedding, it became the last present to his girl friend.

what a man, very impressive !!!!

ceremony and reception: four seasons hotel
makeup artist: Eva of faces hk
video: ken of simon.the.photo

a box full of love and memories

charis ‘s reading one of the letter

the same day video edit by ken

the flower girl – very adorable

I felt happy to meet a group of happy bridesmaids on the day

“papa, more smile please,” said Charis

the crazy team

love this photo, it is expression of everyone that makes this photo work !!!

a big hug from mama

I love you two !!!!

a getting ready shot – wedding ceremony at four seasons hotel

everyone of tsui kit ‘s family was busy at this moment

when I was taking picture of charis walking down the aisle. I heard someone was sniffing next to me. OMG, tsui kit was non-stop crying already.

the beauty

and the handsome !!!!

when a crazy couple met the crazy photographer
can you guess where I took this shot, feel free to put your answer at the comment below, I ‘ll put the answer a few days later.
[hint: somewhere inside four seasons hotel]

a scene setting shot

are you ready???

tsui kit singing a song – very impressive when he talked about the details of why he choose this song

the wedding of purdy and hok pui ( a referral from my previous client tsui kit) was in Sept. This is my first time to have the bridal pickup game on the beach (and at the noon time). It ‘s still very hot in Sept (in fact, we had the “very hot warning” from the HK Observatory)!!! How hot is it? Don’t miss to see the “behind the scene” video below.

ceremony and reception: four seasons hotel hong kong

the awesome hok pui and his team of crazy groomsmen !!! We found this construction site near purdy ’s home – and thank everyone for making this photo work. The title of this photo “getting ready to fight with the bridesmaids”

the gorgeous purdy

a few details shots

the crazy team !!!!

a very nice makeup room – but too crowded for any good photo

“I love you” shouted loudly by hok pui

about to meet the groom

when the bride meets the groom

father and daughter – love this moment a lot – it is timeless !!!

get changed and ready to go to hotel

purdy in the limo – one of my fav of the day

portrait inside the four seasons ballroom

ceremony before the start of banquet

a touching speech from the best friend of purdy

ceremony: St. Margaret ‘s Church

reception: four seasons hotel hong kong

video: tomoko of simon.the.photo

on arrival at the church. Karen was still in the limo, with the reflection of the bridesmaids on the window. My fav photo of the day

the whole day summary prepared by tomoko. A brief introduction of tomoko: she joined my team since last year. Prior to joining us, she has been working with NHK for years and with experience producing over hundred documentary films before. I really love her style – documenting a wedding, with lots emotions and details.

wanson in the morning

bridesmaids in the morning

karen and her mother

karen and her two brothers

still remember MO Chai (毛仔) in their engagement session ??

waiting for wanson

the tea ceremony

the departure time

wow !!!!

nice shoes

preparing for the ceremony

love this shot – it doesn’t work without happy bridesmaids

nice moment

the ceremony

happy karen

crying karen

the crying wanson

two thumbs up !!!

congratulations

love this backdrop, thanks for using the e-session photo on it

“媽咪，你唔好唔開心呀。”Karen said in the video

you can click this photo to see who is who

Though the weather was a little bit too hot, I love the idea, especially, we could have a lot of fun with such a big group of awesome people.

ceremony and reception: four seasons hotel hong kong
video: ken of simon.the.photo

don’t miss to go to my facebook fans page to see the “making of” video (with the help of 5d mk II)

BTW, the blog software was upgraded in last few days (you shouldn’t notice any difference at the moment), with the upgrade, I can add more interesting features to this blog later. Thanks Kaiser ’s help on the upgrade. If you find any misbehaviour of this blog, pls let me know so that we can correct it asap.

like the color, the pattern and lines.

the dream team !!!!

all the boys

and the girls

nice shoes

the bouquet (in spaceship ??)

the iron cage was taken from a stand of a coffee table. thanks the help from canly and ken

a moment in the morning

love the expression and the feel of action. Mrs Leung (大妗姐) ‘s very good, worked with her so many times.

practicing the jump

two nice shots at jason ‘s home

the bridal room at four seasons hotel. it ’s challanging to take photo as it ‘s quite dark here.

the ceremony at four seasons

very nice decoration – simple and colorful

the table setup

waiting for the march-in. without the new 5d mk II, I was unable to take this shot
technical details: 85 f1.8 wide open at ISO 3200. Amazing noise performance.

the four seasons ballroom

gigi and her sister

a surprise from jason