I first received Dorothy’s enquiry for our services early this year and found out that they actually lived in Germany. Volker is a policeman in Germany whom has met Dorothy on the plane when Dorothy was then the flight stewardess. When she told me about this, I thought this must be those stories that we have so often seen in the cinema, except this one was a non-fiction one. I was convinced that their story was real after Dorothy shared the details of how they met. It was such a unique one and very personal to them. After exchanging a few emails and sending them our rates, Dorothy came back to us and told us that we were way off her budget. However, I had earlier decided to film their wedding because i really felt a connection with them and excited at the same time. So we told her that we would customized our services for them according to their budget . Dorothy was so happy..and so were we!

When we first met them at the ceremony rehearsal at Equatorial Hotel, Bangi , the entire family have already known us. They were so friendly and hospitable with me and Sharon. We really felt we were part of the family. We were treated with care and love. Its an amazing feeling when couples connect with us that way. After the rehearsal, we were invited to dinner. You see, when Dorothy was chatting with me on facebook one day, I found out that she was from Kelantan. I was commenting how great the “Nasi Dagang” was and she told me that she will get her mom to cook nasi dagang for us. Wow! How great was that? We had Nasi Dagang for dinner and it was really awesome! Oh…a bonus was the ayam percik!

All these wonderful experience has led me and Sharon to surprise Dorothy and Volker with a Same Day Edit. I recall after screening the SDE, the couple hugged us and the ovation we got from the guest was all worth it. I am happy everyone appreciates what we did.

A little side note here, I wanna appreciate a few of our international peers out there whom has unselfishly shared and inspired us when I went back to Sydney to learn from them last July. A shout out especially to Michael Y Wong, Konrad, Jason Magbanua and Alvin Paver!

Enjoy the Same Day Edit which was shot and edited with lotsa love from us at Wedding Story.

Edited by Sharon Koo
Cinematography by Kee Sitt & Sharon Koo

View on Vimeo.

Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/weddingstory

Our day started with coverage at Sue Ann’s home at Mont Kiara at 7am. Upon arrival, I was indeed happy to find large windows that enables the beautiful morning light into the home. The place had plenty of space. Importantly, all three Sue Ann’s sister were there getting their make up done as well. This adds meaning to the film as they are all close with each other. I was glad to find Sue Ann had a good night rest before. She was full of energy in the morning and was really excited about the day. Slowly, the “chee-muis” arrived one by one and started to plan the challenges for James. Sue Ann’s parents were very happy parents that morning because they waited this day to come for a long time. I really like the parents because they are so friendly and humble, especially Mr Chew who is really funny. All of us felt so comfortable to be at this wedding.

James is such a sport during the gate crashing games. He was all prepared for the challenges and nothing will stop him from getting his beautiful bride. The highlights of the games was they had to consume pig stomach, tongue, testicles and ear. Lookout for Sue Ann’s brother-in-law, Mark who took a big bite at the pig’s tongue.

The wedding was solemnized at One World Hotel by Sue Ann’s close friend, Elise. Sue Ann and Elise were good friends back in their days at Biola University. Since then, Elise has went on to become a church minister. Elise started the ceremony by reminding what the couple love and admire about each other. This makes it meaningful because it really remind them why they have made the decision to get married and to stay in love for the lifetime.

We truly enjoyed ourselves at this wedding despite we were extremely tired by the end of the night. It was a real honor to have been chosen by James and Sue Ann to be the storyteller of their day.

Edited by Sharon Koo
Cinematography by Kee Sitt, Sharon Koo and James CK Tan

View on Vimeo.

Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/weddingstory

I truly enjoy getting to know how two lives come together as one. Its so enlightening when they tell the guest about their love story in their speeches they make. The stories just makes you feel so happy for them. This wedding was a challenge for me as I was covering it alone with 2 cameras. It can be really stressful when I have to deal with the cameras, audio and running around. However, I am glad I did it.

View on Vimeo.

Cinematographer: Kee Sitt at Wedding Story
Editor: Sharon at Wedding Story

Garden Ceremony & Dinner Reception: Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort, Penang, Malaysia
Photographer: Stories

We covered the preparation at 6.30am and it was a mad rush as the wedding ceremony starts at 9am. I am glad everything happened at the same location. This minimizes logistics and we don’t have to lug all our equipments from one place to the other.

A little bit about the couple. Victor and Sophia are both doctors in Ireland. They met when they were in medical school. Their relationship bloom from close friends to lovers. Victor is originally from Johor and Sophia is from Sarawak. Meeting them for the first time one week before the wedding, we had so much fun talking to them. I realized that Sophia can actually speak fluent “hokkien”. Its amazing how our Malaysian cultures are so diverse!

During the wedding ceremony, Victor and Sophia wrote their own vows. I won’t tell you here but you gotta hear it yourself in this SDE piece edited by Sharon.

Our new i7Dell mobile workstation is amazing. Its lightweight but powerful. Editing HD footages has never been this easy. I am glad we invested in it.

Edited by Sharon Koo
Cinematography by Kee Sitt and Sharon Koo

View on Vimeo.

We flew in to Langkawi a day before the wedding and rented a car to drive around. Gosh, Langkawi is such a big island! Took us like 30 mins from one location to another location. I am glad we got there a day earlier to recce the wedding ceremony location. We manage to film some moments during the wedding rehearsal as you can see in this wedding highlight.

One things that made this wedding more special was we got to do some sunset shots in a yacht. As they sail towards the pier where the restaurant was, all the guest were cheering on as they arrive. Now this is the most awesome couple entrance to the reception location I have ever shot!

They look stunning and perfect for each other. We are so blessed to be able to capture their wedding day.

PS: Press play and pause it immediately, let it load fully before playing.

View on Vimeo.

Credits:

Cinematographers: Wedding Story – Kee Sitt & Sharon
Film Editor: Wedding Story – Sharon

Wedding Planner: Touching Hearts Wedding Concepts – C Hun & Suan Bee
Ceremony Location: The Four Season Resort, Pulau Langkawi
Dinner Reception Location: Tapaz, Pulau Langkawi
Photographers: Stories
Wedding Gown: That Special Occasions
Evening Gown: Keith Kee
Suit: Ian Chang from Bespoked
Make-up & Hair: Michelle Touche

One of the most vivid memory I had about this wedding is during the couple’s exchange of gifts during their preparation before the ceremony. Its such a rare opportunity for me to capture gift exchange between the couple because we don’t practice here in our country. Their expression was priceless. Look out for it in the highlights film.

View on Vimeo.

Credits:

Ceremony Location: Eastern & Oriental Hotel, Penang
Dinner Reception Location: Eastern & Oriental Hotel, Penang
Wedding Planner: Touching Hearts Wedding Concepts
Master of Ceremony: Jason of Trinity Events
Photographer: Louis Pang Studio
Cinematographer: Wedding Story

We did a websearch and found out what the title means in biblical concept by Gavin Finley

“The two turtledoves in holy scripture and in literature present a picture of devotion and covenant lovingkindness. It is a sublime vision of earthly love and friendship.”

Here’s some screengrabs from our HDSLR camera at the wedding!

Finally, here’s the Concept Film Same Day Edit! Do press play and pause immediately to load the complete film before watching!

View on Vimeo.

Credits:
Ceremony Location: Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa
Luncheon Location: Hardwicke House
Dinner Reception Location: G-Hotel
Make-up: Sam Khor
Band: The Starz
Photographer: David Thian
Cinematographer: Wedding Story

There is so much to learn from Patrick, Konrad and Amina. Our first day at the workshop taught us so much about building a good engaging story of the couple. They have helped us to really see the inner meaning of being a wedding filmmaker as opposed to an ordinary wedding videographer.

The storytelling process is so detailed. Everything we do, from the composition to the music selection places meaning to the entire story.We were constantly challenge to ask why do we shoot or edit the way we do. What is the purpose of that shot? Why do we choose that piece of music? Why the camera movement? By constantly questioning the motive of every shot, that ultimately differentiate a wedding filmmaker from a typical videographer.

Konrad even went through with us the art of the same day edit. They do not have special hidden superpower that enable them to produce their SDE. Its all hard work and they think on their feet as they go. Its really amazing to see how their first same day edit was like and how it evolve to what it is today.

If you asked me to name just one highlight of the day I enjoyed the most, I would say it was Stillmotion’s full feature length wedding film. We were the first batch of Evolution Experience attendees to be able to watch it. It lasted less than 20 mins but told a very strong story of the couple and the wedding day.

After going through today, it inspires me to rethink how we do things at Wedding Story and why we do it. Do we shoot everything for the sake of just needing to document it? What value would it be adding to the story with every shot?

Patrick Moreau of Stillmotion, Canada

This is the place we stayed in Sydney.

Self portrait of both of us at Sydney Opera House in the evening.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge that connects to the CBD

As the workshop started at 5pm in the city of Sydney, we took the earlier part of the day to visit Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay. Thank God the rain stopped. We bought a 7 day pass for unlimited travel on their Cityrail subway trains. The Sydney train network is so huge. The trains are double decker and mostly filled with seats for commuters.

We spent about 3 hours at Cockle Bay taking pictures and enjoying the harbour view while having lunch. Some of the places you can visit are the Sydney Wildlife World, Sydney Aquarium, Australian National Maritime Museum and LG IMAX Theater there. We crossed the Pymont Bridge which dates back during the colonial times. The middle portion of the bridge can swing sideway to let vessels below to pass through.

Just right outside the Australian National Maritime Museum, there were a few military ships that were docked there. The one that caught my eyes most was the barge. Its so huge and nice.

We took a 20 mins walk to Vibe Hotel to attend the pre-workshop session that started with an introduction of Stillmotion. The rest of the evening was filled with everyone presenting their work. It felt like we were on American Idol as Patrick, Konrad and Jaime gave their constructive critiques. We truly learn a lot from this session. Most of all, we were given tips on how to improve our pieces.

When I got home, it already got me start thinking about how we do things and some of the changes we need to make. Its amazing what we learnt from just 3.5 hours listening to them while learning the works of others. Also, its awesome to see some of the best cinematographers work in Australia. I am all excited for Day 1!

Oh, did you know that the sky starts to get dark only at 8.30pm here? We are enjoying the long daylight!

I have been keeping this news for the longest time except to a few close industry friends. I have been waiting for this since early 2009. I am totally excited and grateful. Sharon and I will be in Melbourne and Sydney in a weeks time. The highlight of our trip there would be attending a workshop conducted by one of the world top boutique wedding film studio: STILLMOTION.

Ever since I started Wedding Story back in 2006, I have been educating myself via the internet. Despite there is a yearly WEVA EXPO in USA, we just couldn’t afford to go. The only way we educate ourselves was to buy training DVDs and build relationship with successful videographers in the world. We owe our success to people like Jason Magbanua, Loi Bahn, Chris Watson, Mark and Trisha Von Lanken and Louis Pang who are so willing to share when we first began our journey.

I am glad Stillmotion is able to bring their Stillmotion Experience workshop to Australia. Even though the workshop fees are steep, we exhaust our resources to make this trip happen. Why? This is because we believe in investing in education. We want to be better in what we do and how we do it. We want to rekindle the passion in us. We want to be able to make greater wedding films for our clients and friends.

So, while we are away, if you send us an enquiry, do be patient with us. We will revert asap.

BTW, many of you may have heard of Papercranes. Yes, they will be our classmate! Yay! Its so wonderful to be surrounded with so many world class wedding filmmakers!

-Kee Sitt-