Balloons + Weddings

Recently during a consultation meeting, a bride told me that she absolutely does not want any balloons at her wedding. She said they were tacky and reminded her of children's birthday parties. Honestly, when she said "balloons" the first thing I thought of was the colorful balloons that carried the house from UP away. Back to reality, we were able to design a wedding for this bride without a stitch of balloons. No one is even going to be allowed to mention balloons.

After the meeting, I did some research to determine whether it is possible for balloons to be incorporated into weddings. I found a ton of balloon arches which made me cringe a little bit. I eventually found huge balloons from Geronimo Balloons. Here are some pictures of how these huge balloons can be used in wedding pictures. Stay tuned for ideas on how to incorporate balloons into wedding decor!











Photo credits: 1) )Pixar2) Style Me Pretty 3) Ohana Photographers 4) Wish Special Events 5)Brooklyn Bride

Asia Trip

Earlier this month I took a small break from weddings to go to Hong Kong, Macau, and Bangkok. I found inspiration all around me and managed to relax a little bit too. I think I am now ready for the 2012 wedding season to start! Here are some pictures of my trip!

Baby Cousin's Wedding

This blog post is a little different. The bride is my cousin and all of my dealings was with the father of the bride, my uncle. What started out as a small dinner turned into something a little bigger with more responsibilities (on my part). It is always fun working with family (I mean it!) Especially when you can tell them that they are turning into a Father-zilla.

I heard the news from my aunt in Hong Kong that my cousin, Katie, got engaged in Thailand during her and Shaughn’s vacation. I only met Shaughn once but I absolutely adored him and approved that he is a great match for my baby cousin. After I heard the great news, I contacted my uncle to congratulate him for becoming a father in law soon! After the news sunk in, my uncle said he would like to organize a small dinner reception for the family members that cannot make it to the wedding reception held in Hinton, Alberta.

During the initial planning stages, my uncle kept saying that he would like a small dinner with the closest family members. I told him that the first thing we should do is to write down a list of invitees. He was shocked by the number of family members we have! (He must have forgotten about some along way!) The next thing that we did was to book a venue. He wanted a traditional Chinese ten course dinner reception. We went with Regency Palace Restaurant because it had a private room for 50 guests. One thing that my uncle stressed throughout we he wanted a good atmosphere. He wanted everyone to have fun and not just come, eat, and leave.

In the end my cousin and I decorated the event with chair covers, chair sashes, custom table linens, floral centerpieces, and a backdrop for pictures. We hired a close photographer friend of mine to do pictures of the tea ceremony and pictures with the bride and groom. The time we had to decorate and organize everything before the guests arrived was tight. As such, I didn’t take a single picture of the venue! (I have no idea how I could have forgotten to take pictures or ask the photographer to do so.)

None the less, a blog post is not complete without some pictures. Here are some pictures of Katie and Shaughn at their Hinton afternoon reception. The pictures were taken by Paper Tiger Media. Congrats again Katie and welcome to our family, Shaughn!

Summer of 2011!

This summer has been busy and full of happy weddings. I am not complaining at all! In between weddings, I managed to squeeze in some time for short breaks and mini vacations. If you have been a long time follower of my blog, you probably already know that I got a SLR camera a couple of years ago. Each time that I think there will be picture worthy shots, I will lug my camera and accessories out to take some "artisy" pictures. I still haven't finished reading my camera instruction manual, but hey, I have been learning through trial and error.

Here are some pictures that I took during my mini vacations. Of course, they are only 1% of the 5% good pictures I took. Thank goodness I don't take pictures with film!

BT Photography

I love what I do! I love meeting new clients, helping them to design a wedding of their dreams, and decorating on the day of the wedding. There is only one aspect of my job that I don’t love - that is missing out on the actual wedding. I always arrive at the venue before the wedding to decorate and return after the wedding to take down all the decorations. At the end of the night, I sometimes get to see my clients and have the opportunity to give them a big hug to congratulate them for tying the knot.

Recently, I started asking my clients who their wedding photographer is. Feeling a little “left out” of the wedding, I would check the photographer’s blog weekly (sometimes daily) to see if my client’s wedding pictures have been posted. (A big sorry to all the photographers that I have been checking on. I think I really messed up your stats on google analytics.)

Since I am snooping already, I thought I should share the pictures with everyone that reads my blog. Here are some pictures taken by Brian and Amy from BT Photography of my clients, Huong and Steve, on their special day. I love these pictures of Huong and Steve. They looked so happy on their wedding day. I absolutely wish I was there! (I always do!)

Calgary Zoo

Yesterday I went for my second photography outing at the Calgary Zoo in keeping with my "New Years resolution." I haven't been to the zoo in ages! (Not going to specifically say how many number of years!) I thought the Calgary Zoo would be a good place to shoot some "action" shots of animals. However, what I forgot was how inactive these animals are. Most of them were either sleeping or had their backsides to me. Taking pictures at the zoo made me realize that I need a new camera lens, maybe one with more "zoom." I think the next thing I need to learn is the proper name for these lens. Here are some of my pictures!

Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

In keeping with my non-New Years resolution of learning a little bit about photography, I traded in my high heels for hiking boots today and headed off to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary to take some pictures. This was the first time I took pictures with my new digital SLR camera. I prepared for it by reading the first three pages of my instruction manual. (I just wanted to know what all the icons on the top represent.) Here are some of the pictures I took. Hopefully, my pictures (and skills) will improve in time.


To my photography friends: Please feel free to email me some photography tips!

Daniel Tiu Photography

I have always gotten a lot of complements on the pictures in my hard copy and online portfolio. Clients always comment on how professional and pretty my pictures look. Each time I tell my clients that there is no way I could have taken these pictures myself with my point and shoot camera. (People still use these right?)

Most of the pictures in my portfolio have been taken by Daniel Tiu. He does all sorts of photography, including weddings, cars, landscape, and architecture. Daniel is a great photographer to work with and he is always able to get an awesome picture with his artistic eye. Check out his website, http://www.danieltiu.com/ if you are in need of a photographer!