We weren’t exactly sure what to expect from a destination Singapore wedding – and we (nor our gear) were not prepared for the intense humidity. We had some serious flash contact/operation and lens fogging problems in the early morning hours, but as always, we managed to adapt! 

Ting had told us their wedding ceremony was to be pretty “Americanized” and similar to what we consider a traditional wedding, with some cultural customs thrown in here and there. We were thrilled to have a day before the wedding to go over the schedule in person, and they were so kind to tour us around Singapore as well. More on our Asia adventures in a future series of posts, stay tuned.

One detail that’s entirely different from American weddings is the timeline. Our wedding photography coverage began at about 4am local time, and ended by about 3pm. We also had a 1-2 hour intermission around 11am (we had a snack and napped!).

Our break of dawn coverage began with what’s known as the gate crash.  This was by far my favorite part of the wedding day. This is where the groom and his groomsmen arrive at the bride’s/bride’s family’s house to essentially crash the gate down to prove he’s worthy of his bride. The bride and groom each begin their morning getting ready at their parents homes, performing various ceremonies, one of which is performed in perfect synchronicity with each other (I was left to wonder how they did this at the same time prior to the invention of cell phones…?)

The groomsmen and bridesmaids are all dressed in themed costume style attire for the games and festivities. In Ting & Jason’s case, the guys chose cops and the ladies chose mob bosses.

Then, the men arrived and had to get through the bridesmaids, before making his way to his bride’s front door to get her hand. The bridesmaids had spent all morning finishing up funny games and puzzles, all with cruel punishments and hoops to make all the guys jump through to make sure he really wanted to marry his bride! A few of the notable punishments included wasabi filled cookies, shots of foul mixtures (spicy, sour), and incredibly embarrassing tasks such as dancing to the choreographed Backstreet Boys soundtrack. We quickly learned the games were all rigged and there was actually no way to get the “prize” – all games ended with the punishment. Somehow toward the end, Austin even got roped into drinking one of the gross concoctions… The look on his face was priceless.

After what probably felt like hours of torture, Jason was finally able to make a break for the elevator to get to Ting’s front door. He then had to pay to unlock it, and find Ting (who was hiding!). Once he found her, they prepared to leave to their portrait locations. It was amazing, each milestone of the day held ceremonial significance. In this case, Ting dropped a fan out of the window as their car drove away from the gate crash.fluorescent