Based on the stress-o-meter on RK’s face, I’d say that the pre-wedding shoot (PWS) was one of his most stressful moments in life. Simply because the two biggest pimples of his life popped right before the photo session. 😂
Honestly, I didn’t know he felt that awkward about the photoshoot. All I knew was that I hardly get photos with him because he doesn’t like it. And in most photos that we took together during our years of dating, he didn’t smile. In fact, a friend (who has known RK for many years) told me that she only saw his real smile for the first time during our proposal event. 😅
With that said, of course he didn’t even want a pre-wedding shoot in the first place but I wanted to have photos of us professionally captured during this pivotal stage of our life — hopefully still considered youthful, before the wedding.
So we met in between.
We agreed to do a casual shoot ala couple portrait instead. We’d wear our own attire. He’d be bare-faced (no make up). We’d just play and fool around for two hours. And the photographer will capture all our moments on camera without making us feel awkward. We’d look like ourselves in the final photos without any airbrush.
Spoiler alert: we pulled it off. In fact, the experience was better than expected — according to RK. Weee~! 😁
Preparation for the Pre-Wedding Shoot
The day started at 4am for me when the Make Up Artist (MUA) arrived at my house for my make up. I was secretly hoping she wouldn’t agree to an early morning session so that I can do a sunset (instead of sunrise) shoot instead but she was up for it.
I think RK only woke up like half an hour before we headed out to style his own hair. How lucky.
Pre-Wedding Shoot at Tamarind Square
We left home slightly past 6am and arrived at Tamarind Square, Cyberjaya before 7am. Gim, our photographer, arrived from Klang shortly after.
The sky was pretty cloudy that day. I was concerned it’d be too dark but Gim seemed indifferent about the poor lighting. We headed into the beautiful tiered garden once light peeked through at about 7am and Gim started working his magic to ease us into the shoot.
Picking up flower from the floor for him 
Him making me laugh so much 
Becoming an expert in kissing, thanks to Gim 
Taking a peek at my husband 
Surprised by his enthusiasm to seal a kiss
Our first outfit was our ROM attire. We didn’t hire any professional photographer for ROM so I thought it’d be nice to have Gim take photos of us in that outfit. It’s also more formal, to bridge the gap between the typical pre-wedding shoot and our idea of a couple portrait.
I was so ready to ditch the heels and bodycon dress for our second outfit after about an hour. My feet were aching. That was the moment I decided I’d not wear heels the whole night during our wedding too.
Not sure if it’s because of the outfit change or the sense of familiarity going into the 2nd hour of our photoshoot. RK was very much more at ease in our yellow-themed casual wear.
Run, run, run! So fun 
Ala korean drama 
Time to annoy one another 
Gim said marriage is a one-way street 
Piggybacking on the street 
We had more fun during this shoot also. We got to climb, piggyback, run, lie, sit, etc. The golden morning ray was piercing through beautifully so that created more opportunity for Gim to have fun as well.
At the end of the shoot, we had the best feeling ever: that we wouldn’t mind doing this again because we had so much fun with each other and Gim. ❤️❤️❤️
Funny thing was that when we were done at 9am, the shops at Tamarind Square were still not open yet and we could have gone to work also as usual. The fact that we weren’t drained out from the shoot was another sense of achievement for me.
After The Shoot
Right after the shoot, Gim handed us his camera so that we could view the photos first. He then told us that he’d likely take about 3 weeks (instead of the projected 2 weeks) because we took quite a lot of shots within 2 hours. However, we got our photos within 3 days in the end. Whatttt?! Gim spoiled us with the surprise express turnaround 😁.
And the funny thing was that I spotted the photos on his Instagram first before he said a word to us. That’s a surprise.
Anyway, the package we chose came with all photos returned in softcopy — we received close to 300 photos! This was an important requirement for me because I didn’t want any bulky photo album that’d end up collecting dust under the bed or something. And in this digital age, softcopy photo is the way to go, especially for RK and I.
Then for display purpose during the wedding, I printed the photos myself on Photobook and at Harvey Norman.
We also used these photos in our Love Story video/slideshow during the wedding.
Oh did I mention that RK and I spot fixed our pimples ourselves since the photos were not airbrushed? LOL. That was quite an interesting couple activity for us.
Hope you liked the photos as much as we did!
Credits:
- Photography by @hplusstudio
- Make up by @soohanyeoh.makeup
- Venue at Tamarind Square, Cyberjaya