hweestudios journal blog

Originally started in 2009 as an add-on package for Hweestudios wedding services, PUSH Media Labs (PML) took a life of it’s own and was successful enough to operate as a separate entity.  PML is managed by Ben and Apple Lim with strong support from our front and back-end staff in the form of operations managers, photographers, digital artists and editors.

PUSH Media Labs specializes in Instant Photography, Prints and Projections for Weddings and Events. Our free roaming photographers are personally trained by Apple to take really good group photos. The photos will then be printed out in credit- card size (2R) by our Canon professional printers onto waterproof paper. Photos taken will also be randomly displayed by the projector(s) connected to our laptop. For greater efficiency and speed, all photos are transmitted through our internal Wi-Fi network.

Instant photography packages starts at $750 (lite) for 3 hours unlimited prints to $900 (standard) for 4 hours unlimited prints with photo projections. Discount of $100 if you’re signing-up with any Hweestudios packages.

For more information, do visit PUSH Media Labs Instant Photography at www.pushmedialabs.com

cheers,

Ben Lim

As part of our expansion plans for 2011/2012, we would like to announce our recruitment programs for Videographers, Assistant Videographers and Video Editors on a full-time or part-time basis.

So if you have a keen interest in wedding productions or know of someone else who might, do give it a shot at http://www.hweestudios.com/hweerecruit2011.html

Join us and be part of our team!

cheers,

Ben Lim

The term “Uncle Bob” is a rather generic term used to describe a wedding guest, usually with a DSLR camera who decided to be the un-official photographer during the wedding. They end up either bumping into you, blocking your shots or ruining the perfect moment by shooting opposite you and becoming a distraction.

If that’s not bad enough, here comes a new generation of Uncle Bobs, I shall term them the Pro Johns. Pro as in Professional in a sarcastic sort of way. The P in Pro can also mean Practising and Portfolio. Combine them together to get a Professional John Practising his Photography skills for Portfolios. (try saying that really fast ).

The major difference between an Uncle Bob and a Pro John is that while Uncle Bob is so caught up in taking the shot that he doesn’t know he’s in our way, the Pro John does acknowledge our presence and yet still jumps in to get that shot and gets in our way more often than not. The major difference between us and them is of course the fact that Hweestudios is being contracted and paid (CAP) to do the job well. If a Pro John missed a particular shot, there’s always another wedding to practise at. In some cases it’s the Pro John demanding us to give way and warning us not to block his shot.

Pro Johns are usually not on very close terms with the couple. They can be a boyfriend of the relative, a distant friend, somebody at work or in a recent case the instant print vendor looking to train their staff by bringing the whole lot of them in without permission. Thus if any Pro Johns approaches you the couple for permission as a “standby”, politely decline their offer as you have the trust of the official photographer and videographer.

As with Uncle Bobs, dealing with Pro Johns is rather tricky as some can get aggressive in the heat of the moment. Although they’ll promise to not to block you and such, they will and do get in our way. Guaranteed. They’re actually devaluing the quality of the photos and video that is expectet just by being there. Wedding guests should really behave like guests, leave the photography and videography to the ones being contracted and committed to bring out the very best in your wedding.

Ben Lim

The following weddings tips are not finalized yet as we wanted to publish it first and slowly edit it along the way. Apologies for any typo and grammatical errors.

Wedding Solemnisations are solemn affairs and the atmosphere are usually tense to reflect the seriousness of it. We hope the guests can understand by actually muting their electronic gadgets (mobile phones, ipads and digital cameras etc) and not being so close to the ceremony area.

(G) – Groom, (B) – Bride

(G) – Ensure that the wedding rings and the ROM certifications are on the ceremony table at least 20 minutes beforehand. We’ll need the time to take good detailed shots of the items.

(G) – Whenever possible, everyone present should be seated down and those with personal DSLRs, handheld cameras and camcorders are to take the photos and video discreetly while continuing seated down. You won’t want your photo and video look distracting with a guest standing in the background while you’re taking your vows and even worse, standing in the middle of the aisle when you’re kissing.

(B)(G) – If there’s any flower girls / ring bearer in front during your entrance, do leave a big gap between you and them. Better yet, let the kids walk-in and settle down first before you do your own walk-in. 

(B)(G) – When putting on the rings, remember it’s the fourth finger of the left hand. Practise! Seriously, it won’t look as nice if you’re doing it ‘live’ without first practicing the sequence beforehand.

(B)(G) – Exchange of rings. If possible both of you should standup from now on. Slowly slide the ring in, do not cover the top of the ring with your fingers so that we can do a close-up shot. Again, practise.

(B)(G) – Say your vows loudly, confidently and do not mumble. Glance into each other’s eyes occasionally and smile if you can.

(B)(G) – Finally the kiss of the lifetime, again it’s not just a peck – kiss like you meant it and enjoy the moment for that few seconds.

(B)(G) – Signing of marriage cert. It’s not a cheque so don’t just scribble but take the time to ink the paper.

(B)(G) – Don’t forget the Justice of Peace’s red packet!

The following weddings tips are not finalized yet as we wanted to publish it first and slowly edit it along the way. Apologies for any typo and grammatical errors.

So now everyone’s ready at last and now waiting for the groom. The Sisters are just so eagar and are rolling the red carpet over while awaiting your grand arrival…NOT!

The rather enjoyable and memorable gatecrashing games with better pictures and videos are usually those that feature props, obstacles designed to tease rather than torture. The games are after all, suppose to be fun!

Be a gentleman, keep your cool and don’t underestimate the Sisters as they can be stubborn at some points of time. Do not to insult them and please do not be vulgar or degrade them no matter how pissed-off you all are. Remember you’ll all be hanging out with each other the rest of the day and night.

(G) – Groom, (B) – Bride, (S) – Sisters/Jiemeis, (X) – Brothers/Xiongdis

(G) – Do give a call to the photographer/videographer  about 15 min prior to your arrival. We should have a good estimate if there’s going to be any delays. Do not just arrive unannounced and expect everyone to scramble with the games. 

(G) – As the bridal car arrives, turn on your headlights and honk just a little.  Smoothly decelerate  and come to a stop.

       - After the car door is opened, step out of the vehicle to receive the 2 oranges and give the red packet. Put the 2 oranges back into the bridal car.

       – Assemble all your Brothers and proceed as a group, assume front pole position and lead the way!

(G)(X) – Always leave a distance between the gates and you so that we have space to manevour.

(G)(X) – Infruiting the Sisters with $2 or $4 red packets is just asking for it. Market-rate is about $100+ (total sum) per Sister.

(G)(X) – Play the games with gusto and in the spirit of fun. The idea is to impress the ladies and win them over so they are satisfied in your sincerity in fetching your wife.

(G)(X)(S) – Don’t shy away fron the cameras, just pretend we’re not there and be cool about it. You’re most welcome to pose for the cameras if you want to.

(G)(X)(S) – The most boring yet time-consuming part is haggling over the red packets. Negotiations often break down as both sides refuses to give way. That’s not something you would want to remember your wedding by with the repetitive actions captured on film and photos to be the opening and closing of mouths to shout and the snatching of the red packets. Seriously, the doors can be open wide and you ain’t getting in unless the amount is correct. Forcing your way in won’t reflect good on you, especially on your big day.

(G) – You’ve finally convinced the ladies to let you in. Do not remove your shoes,  just stroll in, look ahead and be confident.

(G) In the house, do out read out loud the vows no matter how ridiculous they may be, all in the name of good fun!

(G)(B) – Once inside the bride’s room, half-kneel and present her with the bridal brouquet. Then stand-up and open the veil smoothly gwith both hands. Take your time to unveil all to the way back. Hold her arms or hands and give her a good kiss on the lips – not a quick peck but a real good kiss lasting a few seconds! Don’t turn and look at the cameras straightaway, continue glancing into each others eyes. Everyone is welcomed to cheer out loud to liven up the atmosphere.

(G)(B) – Now that the diffcult part is over, just relax and hold hands, glance and smile at each other just like when you’re still dating – for the rest of the day and night and ever after

Yes, finally!

We’ve shifted from our home office to our new place at 38a Jalan Pemempin, Wisdom Building. About 7 – 10 mins walk from Marymount MRT station. Ample free parking if you’re driving in.

We’ve divided our area into 3 rooms. 

• Our working room with all the workstations and laptops.
• A cosy presentation and discussion room with albums and a HD TV.
• Small photography studio (still underway).

Photos of our new place will be up soon!

Apologies for the lack of updates here and Facebook, still concentrating on completing all the backlogs for handling over so can’t really spare the processing power for video rendering and uploading.

But do contact us if you’re interested to view our latest portfolios or better still, make an appointment with us to drop-by and visit us!

cheers,

Ben + Apple

A very exhaustive yet rewarding string of weddings over these past few months, Christmas and NYE just whizzed by us without any proper celebrations – we’re due for a much needed break soon.

Once again, a word of thanks to our couples and viewers for your faith and trust, it’ll be another spectacular year yet from all of us at Hweestudios!

Cheers,

Ben + Apple

Wedding Tips for Actual Day Weddings – Preparations

After several months of painstaking preparations and before you know it - Today’s finally your Big Day!

We’ve experienced some smooth and not-so-smooth weddings and along the way, identified some issues that can be easily rectified with just a little bit of tweaks here and there. But it’s still your wedding after-all and you can just let the course of the day run by themselves. We’ll still want you to look as natural as possible without too many details clogging up your mind.

The wedding tips we’ll be sharing will be constantly updated with inputs from the both of us, fellow wedding couples, friends in the wedding industry and our readers. Drop us a comment if you have some useful information that you’ll want to share it with us too. In this post, we’ll be focusing more on the morning preparation of a traditional chinese actual wedding day but parts of it’ll still be applicable for weddings preparations starting in the afternoon or evenings. Do look out for our later posts on wedding tips for the gatecrashing, church ceremony and solemnisation segments.

Here we go!

(B) For the Bride , (G) For the Groom

- (B)(G) Do have that few hours of sleep, no matter how difficult or short it is. Your mood will be better and you’ll look better too.

- (B) Try to have a bit of food before you start your make-up as not to smear your lip-stick once it has been applied.

- (B) It’ll be good if the room you’re doing your make-up is solely for you only. Your family and friends can do their make-up/preparations somewhere else if they can help it. This will help to minimize the distractions to you, make-up artist and us.

- (B) Remove the protective covering from your bridal gown and hang it up in a nice uncluttered part of the room where you’ll be doing your makeup. Doors or window frames are usually used to hang it up, a nice clothes hanger is also encouraged.

- (B) Likewise, do bring out your bridal shoes and place them near your gown where we can see it. If you have any specific items of sentimental value such as jewelleries or hand-made decorations,do let us know so that we can get some details shots of them.

- (B)(G) Work your timing back-works. For example : If the groom is to arrive at 8am, the bride’s make-up must be completed by 7.40am (+20 minutes buffer time). So the make-up should start at 6 – 6.30am depending on the speed of your make-up artist. Alternatively, the groom can arrive at a slightly later time.

- (B) Before your makeup begin, let your make-up artist know the time that your make-up must be completed. Allow another 20 minutes buffer time for the veiling of the bride and some photo/video taking.

- (G) Do give a call the bride’s side before you step out of the house, be it the sisters or the photo/videographer. If the make-up happened to be delayed, you can standby at home first or go for a quick breakfast!

- (G) Try not to arrive at bride’s side too early or else everyone will be in a harried state of mind. There’ll be a flurry of last minute activities, some shouting here and there and tempers might flare -  not pretty sight to witness. The groom will still have to wait for the bride to be veiled before we can proceed to the bridal car for the customary opening of the car door. So if you feel you’re too early, stay and relax in the car(don’t keep honking!) or go for a quick breakfast!

- (B)(G) Go for a quick breakfast! You’ll need the energy to sustain both of you throughout the morning and it’ll be quite sometime before both of you can get a chance to eat.

With a good start in the morning, half of your wedding day ‘battles’ are already won. So remember to smile often,  relax and have a great time enjoying the rest of the day!

More to come, stay tuned

Ben & Apple

- Hwee Studios 4th Anniversary -

Thank you for your wonderful support all these years, especially the words of encouragement and appreciations, referrals and most of all - having us the honour to share the biggest day of your life.

More wonderful years and pixels ahead!

cheers,

Ben & Apple

(We’re using the date of domain name registration for www.hweestudios.com on 5th Oct 2006 as our official start-up day)

Have uploaded a few selections of our videography portfolios to our Vimeo Plus account. Now you can view our works at the comfort of your home and with your partner. Hope this gives us more time for discussions and getting to knowing each other better when we meetup.

http://www.hweestudios.com/hweeportfoliovg.html