Here’s a random update on what’s happening at Raymond Phang Photography today. Raymond and Ben are out shooting since morning, will be back later for a break before continuing the next session till past 11pm. They’re both dressed in sleek black formal attire, so they look something like this now;

RayBen the Men in Black. Minus the watches, the hair for Raymond, the white shirts inside, and the tie. -_-”

Susu’s ears are feasting on loud music with her earphones plugged in, and her eyes are feasting on photo editing.

I became a chef and prepared lunch for the RayBen and text them the menu;

Fragrant Lice with Dragon Scale
Why the Cow jumped over the Fence
Together we Trotter
The Love of Panda
The Wedding Luncheon
Poppy Tuesday Water

Which are actually Plain white rice with Bak Kwa, Broccolis and Veggies, Pig Trotter in Vinegar, Bamboo Shoots, Luncheon Meat, and Corn/Carrot/Potato/Tomato soup.
Now the Chef is back to blog and then reply the emails.

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Anyway, here’s a quick update on one of our conceptualised pre-wedding series. We actually shot this last year in August, and we still have quite a number of backlogs which we haven’t got the time to share.

This is a Poker card game themed concept photo shoot, shot on a rainy day in Singapore.

Diamond – It works everytime. “Queen of Gambler” showed hand for this round and the “Saint of Gambler” won the game with the Diamond 3 card in hand. It’s also actually an intended pun. Kekeke. Diamond is a girl’s best friend, and for this case the Diamond happens to be a guy’s best friend too!

Disclaimer: No pocket was burnt in the process of the photoshoot and gambling as a vice activity is strongly discouraged.

Special thanks to Deming for helping out at the photoshoot, throwing poker cards, throwing “money”, playing the role of the Croupier plus right hand man, and carrying the props! Raymond, Ben,  myself and Susu enjoyed this session, especially when we have such a dedicated and committed couple! Cheryl (“Queen of Gambler”) is an awesome help and she is extremely capable! Tony (“Saint of Gambler”) was super funny and very good in creating the mood for the shoot. Hahahahaha!!  We’re really thankful for their trust and co-operation, and most of all for appreciating our photography work!

Awfully Raymondlate. HAHAHA~ Actually it’s a post-it note with Raymond’s name on the box and I stuck it to cover the Chocolate word.

There you go! Damn awesome damn chocolatey chocolate cake!!

And there’s a Thank You note as well… Hehehe…. As usual, the cake monster finished most of it at one go.
Till the next update with more images, take care!

Lots of Love,
Angeline

We did a quick Lou Hei together, but instead of the Four Lettered Words, we spewed things like “10 boyfriends for Susu”, “早生贵子” for Ben and Becky (even though they’re not yet married) etc. It’s a 乱七八糟乱乱捞 lou hei session for us… and we actually forgot to say RPP HUAT AH! Hahahahaha! That gives me the excuse to Lou a second time… then I can feast on the yummy Yu Sheng again. Kekeke.

Anyway, Roy and Amy engaged Raymond to do their conceptualised pre-wedding where Ben and I assisted for the shoot on two different days.

Conceptualised pre-wedding by Raymond Phang – this was shot when the Adidas Sundown Marathon race was about to begin. Chaotic, mad rush, but glad it turned out well.

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And here’s the set of actual day wedding images by Ben, with MooMedia for the Cinematography;

Ben will tend to take note of little details on the wedding day, such as the time, the surrounding area (which most people don’t really take the time to have a good look despite living there for years), couples’ love momentos to each other, trophies etc… which speaks a lot for the couple throughout their growing up years.

While Amy was in the room having her hair and make up done by Joanne Low, here’s what happened on the outside… Love the mood here.

Here’s Amy the bride and one of the jiemei peeking out. Love her expression! Hahaha~

Top :: The convertible dresses on the sisters are really versatile, you can wear it in a million ways! Maybe not exactly a million, but you get the drift… you can wear it in many many different ways! Love the royal purple color!

Just a side note, for brides looking for bridesmaid dresses, maybe you can also check out this shop named Occasion at Raffles City Shopping Centre. If I’m not wrong, the shop is located at #03-29B. I happened to pop by few months back and saw quite a number of bridesmaid dresses in different patterns and sweet colors. Price is reasonable, and if I didn’t remember wrongly, they have a price tier for the number of dresses you purchase.

Bottom Left :: The cakes seemed too good to be true for a gate crashing right? Heh heh heh heh…

Bottom Right :: Here’s the actual one… instead of delicious Nasi Lemak wrapped in Banana Leaf or Fried Hokkien Mee wrapped in Opeh Leaf, the sisters wrapped the food in diapers. *coughs*

The bride is ready!

And now… let the gate crashing begin!


Roy is now a certified and highly trained daddy because he now knows how to take care of a Baby! Kekeke.

Yes, an empty red packet for the sisters.

Moving off to Roy’s place…

We have Vince and Yubing here for the tea ceremony!! Vince and Roy are brothers, and we shot Vince’s wedding in November 2010!

This image came about right after Roy carried Amy into the bedroom. Teeheeheehee~ So cute!

Loving the cute moments… I mean, how often do we get to see something like this when the wedding ceremony is over? Especially the image on top where Amy fed Roy with the Tang Yuan?

Here’s one of Ben’s Feet Touch Feet!

The view from opposite.

Love Nicole and Kaylyn’s expression.

Here comes a ring shot.

An image of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Wedding Cake.

Roy and Amy had their solemnization on the same day, and they engaged my favourite Justice of Peace/Solemnizer (JP) Dr Phua Tan Tee!

Dr Phua Tan Tee gives people a warm fuzzy feeling with a fatherly figure, he’s good with English, Mandarin, and also Hokkien! He never fails to liven up the ceremony with his jokes and advices.

And I loooooveeeee.. the way you loooook at meeeeee….

Amy’s beautiful wedding dress is from Divine Couture!

A close up shot of Dr Phua Tan Tee!

Here’s Kenneth & Martin the awesome emcees for the evening.

Ashton the Page Boy holding the bouquet of flowers, quietly following behind Nicole and Kaylyn the two flower girls.

Lights dimmed for the next segment of the dinner banquet – The Wedding Dance!!

Champagne Popping – one of my favourite part because of the interesting expression when couple try to pop the champagne. Hehehe.

Again, it’s the various interesting expressions which works for me here.

Couple gave a speech..

And the guests don’t know whether is laugh until cry or cry until laugh. :p

YUUUUUUUMMMM SEEEEEENNNGGGGG!!

The farewells with plenty of hugs..

Love this image too!

More hugs..

And a kiss to end the day.

Mandarin Oriental is one of our favourite hotels with impressive quality of service and food. Not forgetting they have a powerful weapon – the all capable Bethany!! She has a super duper powerful memory, she remembers the slightest details and names of couples getting married in Oriental even though their wedding is not handled by her! Do consider Mandarin Oriental if you’re clueless on where to hold your wedding banquet. Of course it will be good to check for availability and book early to avoid disappointment as well. That’s a piece of advice we give to couples, and the same advice that couples feedback to us after the wedding too. Hahahaha!

Have a happy weekend! Cheers!

Lots of Love,
Angeline

Hero or Villian? Hmm… But sweetheart is definitely most appropriate for she is a sweet lady! (:

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And here’s a long overdue update on Raymond Phang’s recent achievement on winning the third place for the WPPI 2011 Second half online competition for the Bride and Groom Together wedding category. This image of the couple with the star trails was taken in New Zealand last year in April. Everytime when I see this image, it never fails to bring back fond memories. Shooting in New Zealand was awesome! Although the weather was a little chilly and the wind was super strong, we had a lot of fun! It just feel so relaxed in New Zealand as compared to shooting a conceptualised pre-wedding in Singapore.

We will be visiting the beautiful country again this year in April, and we are currently left with 1 last slot for our Botaks Combo (super affordable package for local actual day + conceptualised pre-wedding in new zealand + casual bridal in new zealand). Do email us at contactme@raymondphang.com to enquire ya? This New Zealand shoot is for couples who are getting married in the months of late September/October 2012 onwards. Cheers!

Love,
Angeline

Nonetheless, disclaimer first and foremost, I did not want to bring my usual gear to shoot for a couple of reasons. Namely, if I was to be the “xiong di”, I naturally gotta be the hands to carry items throughout the day and very likely be involved in the gate crashing games which means it’s pointless for me to be bringing tons of gear. Most importantly I would not want to intrude and block the photographer’s angle who happens to be Derrick Ong, an established photographer in the industry.

Moving forward, I did not went as a photographer this time round. I went as a buddy with a Micro Four Third system - Olympus EP2 (Angeline’s precious camera which she named it “Pok Chui”) and her manual prime lens – Kern Paillard Pizar 26mm F1.9 which is older than alot of us I think. My purpose was to absorb in the whole event and forget I’m a photographer but to document with the manual focusing lens as an observer, a brother, a friend and to keep the colors and shots as RAW as possible. The more film like, the more blurry, the more technically wrong as I possibly can. Hope you enjoy the series as much as I had documenting them!

Somehow love the empty space next to Sherlyn, waiting for Jeff to come. Haha.

Love,
Raymond Phang

Feedback welcome on this set of images. This is the first time im trying a rangefinder so please be gentle! Most of the shots are taken at waist level without focusing thru the rangefinder with a rough gague of the distance. The m9p makes me feel like a photographer again! Haha!

Hope you guys will enjoy this series – my virgin try at wedding with the Leica M9-P. Happy Boxing Day!

Happy Boxing Day to you guys!

Love,
Raymond Phang

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And here’s an interesting quote from a friend, which sets me thinking;

‎”We are often too busy with our own things and not aware of what is around us. We tend to rush even taking pictures of beautiful things we see. A friend told me that the actual scenery is much more beautiful than the photo. A camera could only capture 1/10 of what we can see. The best camera is your eyes, the best album is your memory. Use your eyes and heart to feel…”

Hmm… So what do you think?

Love,
Angeline

Raymond went for the MPA (The Master Photographers Association) judging with the following 20 print images and he has been promoted to be a qualified AMPA (Associate) Photographer. That’s a good baby step from the previous Licentiate qualification.

Other than the MPA judging for the qualification for Associate, Raymond’s images has also received a Highly Commended award in the Contemporary Wedding Category, Winner for the Contemporary Wedding Category and Finalist for the Yervant Bridal Award, Award of Excellence in the Dennis Hylander Wedding Award in the Master Photography Awards 2011 competition, together with 10 Merits achievement.

The following are the 20 prints submitted for the judging;

Featuring Roy and Amy who have been really supportive of us since the beginning! I remember having to squeeze myself against the wall as much as possible cos of Raymond’s specific requirements for the lightings. And also how the security personnel was watching us and so on-the-dot to help us keep track of the remaining time we have to shoot in the museum.

Known as the Sleeping Beauty, this is Shuqin doing a super good job in looking all peaceful and serene despite having to suffer by laying on the steps for this shot. I’ll never forget how I drove the golf buggy and flung Raymond out cos I mounted the kerb on full acceleration. The remaining of the session was shot by a “handicapped” Raymond with bleeding knees cos he suffered quite a big patch of wound. Kekekeke. :X

Lokie & Lydia with the inverted “Love” or Super Mario Plant…This is the image that bagged the Winner for the Contemporary Wedding Category, as well as Finalist for the Yervant Bridal Award.

Don’t you just love her feathery gown with so much details?? Susu loves gown with so much details… An awesome and enjoyable session with the couple depiste the many many mosquito bites.

Lokie and Lydia holding hands, skipping here and skipping there. Poor Susu had to sit far away at the bench alone and look after our belongings while Raymond, Dominic and I went ahead to explore the area and snap snap for Lokie and Lydia.

Lokie and Lydia sneaking a dirty kiss! Muwahahahaha~ Early in the morning and we were carrying quite a lot of barangs barangs, especially the peachy pink color coat, the fatty jackets, bags of equipment, tripod, lightstands and all.

Lokie and Lydia on Charles Bridge… By the way a lot of people have been asking about the smoke from the Chimney..  It’s real. It was quite a challenge getting a clear shot cos the bridge is filled with people and Raymond was shooting from far. Some of the passerbys actually stopped infront of our camera unknowingly to see what’s going on, and we had to NG a couple of times because of that. Some people even kept taking pictures of Lokie and Lydia too! Hahaha~

Kangwei & Shuqin surrounded by walls of psychedelic colors. :P
I can’t describe how scorching hot the sun was, and they were standing at the balcony with the sun shining from the top. Imagine a person can perspire even wearing just a tshirt… what about the couple in heavy gown and full suit! But they were still very game on for the shot.

Colin and Emily in New Zealand with the Star Trail! Still remains as one of our all time favorite piece. This location was not our intended place of shoot for this scene, but Raymond was exploring the area and happened to discover this off road place perfect for this scene. No buildings, no lights, no nothing! Except the prettiest moon I’ve ever seen in my life and the billions of stars in the sky… Kekeke. It was super chaotic, with the strong wind blowing! We spent quite some time setting up the tent (which broke in the end by the strong wind), and we had to keep attending to the “campfire” cos it kept going off.

Then Raymond sent the couple out to the roads to get their car so that they can go back to their hotel, while Susu and I were left in the wilderness and it was super dark! We could have just died there if a pack of wolves or vampires decide to come out and hunt for supper, and it was soooooooooooooooooooooooo freaking cold I suggested to Susu to squat down so that we minimise wind exposure to our body. Then we decided to take a picture of ourselves just in case anything happen to us and this would be our last picture together. It was too dark for the camera to focus and we had to take 2 torches out and shine on ourselves. -_-”

Eddie and Aileen kissy kissy inside the Honda Airwave. Love the skyroof of this car. Kekeke. I can still remember the car battery was dead by the end of the shoot, and we had to call our beloved friend Mr Ang ZQ for help. He was so sweet to bring dinner for us, and very thoughtful to keep it warm by putting it inside his boot!

Eddie and Aileen kissy kissy again in Zouk! I remember seeing how Aileen was doing her own make up in SOHO before they head out for the shoot, and I couldn’t tag along cos I was feeling unwell. But super glad everything turned out so nicely with the help of Dominic, Joy, Majella and Susu!

Lokie and Lydia in Prague, kissy kissy on Charles Bridge on a freezing cold super early morning. While shooting the security personnel kept coming to us and told us we’re not allowed to take wedding pictures there… Hmm…

That’s Irvin and Carrie, shot at the railway track. Makeup artist Jyue Huey was super duper nice to stay on and help around, and also went all the way out to buy us MacDonald’s for lunch despite the rain! I will remember how Carrie specially ordered the giant Red Balloon from US and how the Balloon flew away when Kenneth was “looking after it”.

We had Bush, Joy, Majella, Susu and myself assisting for this session! We explored quite a number of places which required a certain level of PR skills to get in to shoot. Kekeke. Love this Peeping Jane image! Luckily Aileen was not wearing those long gown otherwise confirm chop it’ll be wet cos the floor was slippery with soap water. Despite the rainy weather, we still had a lot of fun and managed to capture some yummy pictures!

Oooohhh one of my favourite and the only series where the couple did a cross dress!! Do you know Private actually dislike having pictures of him taken? Yet he was so game to agree to doing a shoot with us! Not an ordinary shoot, but a cross dress one! BRAVOOOO!! Very happy for you guys that you’re finally married!! Hehehehehehe~

Ok this “painting room” is hot and stuffy cos before we took this shot, the workshop folks were actually baking a freshly painted car inside here. You know, car workshop environment is pretty hot and noisy, and the couple had to bear with all the discomfit to complete the shoot with us! And they were totally burnt out, having to redo and redo until Raymond gets the right expression that he’s looking for. So while him and Susu were setting up the lightings for this, I sneaked down to the coffeeshop to buy drinks for everyone. All of us drank like thirsty camel. After we wrapped up, Susu actually had fun smashing light tubes (wearing safety helmet and safety goggles) and Raymond had fun snapping away while I had fun hiding in one corner till they were done. :P

That’s Roy and Amy in Sleep can wait! Hahaha! We didn’t know that’s the tagline for this year’s Adidas Sundown Marathon, and we already have the snoozing concept before the couple went ahead to liaise with the management for permission to do the shoot on the Marathon day. So just nice, the snoozing concept and the tagline fits perfectly cos they’re so ironic. Hahahaha~

Sometimes when I plan for the props to be used for the shoot, I’ll try to think in the couple’s shoes… It’ll be quite a madness to get a mattress, so I told them they can just bring some thick comforters to do a makeshift bed. But Raymond wanted everything to look as real and ridiculous as possible, wanted Amy to bring a real mattress…. at such a last minute notice, I thought he was insane… but guess what, the couple really brought a mattress for the shoot!!!!!!

This scene was quite a chop chop snap and go, cos the organiser kept rushing us to clear immediately cos they were about to start the race. But it was all good fun and I got to excercise by running up and down during the scene where they changed into gown cos Raymond was shooting with the 70-200 from far and it was too noisy to shout across, so I became the “Pigeon” messenger. But I too heavy cannot fly, so I had to run instead. Muwahahahahaha! :P

Tony and Cheryl throwing moneyyyyyyyyyyy.. of course those are not real money. Hahahaha! The couple had to print the money with the Specimen word stamped across, and cut them nicely to be used for the shoot. Cheryl is an extremely capable lady, and she takes charge of all the logistic matters! Our shoot wouldn’t have been possible without her, especially when we did a “zhu ge liang” scene with bout 20 over people in a single frame, with every individual wearing specific costumes. So after this scene all of us went for dinner together and we had the spicy buffalo wings… being the chilli noob that I am, Level 1 was enough to send me to hell… -_-”

TP & Eileen in Sepang!! I’ve seen images of the Sepang circuit that Raymond took when he was shooting for their endurance race few years back. But this time I get to sit the propellor FireFlyz plane which was so damn cool, and also explore the entire Sepang circuit with nobody around. It was early in the morning, all was calm and peaceful… That’s “A” in bikini and “WB” at the back working on the fire extinguisher. Poor “A” had to be the bikini girl after losing to “WB” in the game of scissors paper stone. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! But “A” was an extremely good sport, he was sooo good at posing girly and posing flirty. But TP and TJ had to drive around the circuit to clear their cars of the powder from the fire extinguisher and gave their cars a good wash after that.

Ben, Raymond and myself totally enjoyed ourselves at the shoot, and TP + Eileen were extremely good host to bring us around for all the awesome makan. *drools*…

And this image scored the Highly Commended award in the Contemporary Wedding Category.

Big thank you to Jeffrey for his help!! Without him we might have a lot of problems shooting in such an awesome location. I remember it was early in the morning with no one around, and we needed more space so we took the liberty to shift the cartons of bottled water which was in our way. Then this guy came over to us and told us we are not allowed to shift the bottled water ourselves, if we need anything we have to let them know, and bottled water cannot be placed directly on the floor, need to put them on the platform etc. It was only then we know that guy is Jeffrey cos the couple haven’t arrived yet so we didn’t know who was Jeffrey. Kekekekeke.

Shing Wa and Lynnette went to a number of wet markets to hunt for the smelly trout for the shoot! Those sun dried ones with the heads are pretty common, but they managed to snag this for the shoot  – a complete fish which was pretty huge and still a little slimy! So when she fished it out from the plastic bag and newspaper, the stinky smell starts to roam around the place and attacked our nose. Poor Shing Wa had the closest encounter with the smelly trout cos Lynnette actually had to slap Shing Wa’s face with it. Big sacrifice!!! Hehehehe.

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This image is not among the 20 prints for judging, but scored an Award of Excellence in the Dennis Hylander Wedding Award.

An image of Roger and Lydia taken on an actual day wedding, this motion car shots is actually one of Raymond’s signature wedding shots. Hehehe.

Thank you guys for all your love and support! Thank you Boss for giving me time to write this “lor sor” entry, cos I had a lot of fun reminiscing… like I said in my previous blog entry, I will always remember our couples who did their conceptualised pre-wedding with us, and the nitty gritty details of things that happened during the shoots. I do remember our AD couples too!! But because I was more involved in the pre than the AD, so I tend to have more recollection of what happened. Hehehe.

Also a special big thank you to all the awesome “old birds” in the industry & qualification judges for all your valuable comments + critics and pointers! It’s through these honest feedbacks that we get to learn and improve, and we really appreciate all the teachings & sharing with no holding back. We will definitely remember the points to look out for in our images & the areas to work on. Hopefully we’ll get them corrected & come back even better next year.

Till the next update tomorrow, keep warm and fuzzy on this cold rainy day ya? Cheers! :)

Love,
Angeline

Anyway, for brides to be who cares alot about how they look like on their wedding day, it’s good to diet a little (eat the healthy way, but not over dieting cos it’s bad for your body), start slowly on a regular exercise regime, introduce leafy veggies and fruits to your meals, and be happy! A firm and toned skin/body definitely looks better than a flapping butterfly (of which I’m guilty of), and when you’re happy, you’ll have that natural radiance glowing around you.

Cos I realised that the camera is quite an evil object… it can capture even the slightest frown, and someshow we tend to look a teeny weeny bit rounder in the pictures. The camera doesn’t lie… it’s the post processing that does. Kekeke.

Ok back to topic! Here’s a few images taken by Ben Chan on Choon Kwang and Elizabeth’s solemnisation dinner on 11 November 2011 at 1827.

For those who don’t already know, 1827 is actually a Thai Restaurant located at the Arts House of Old Parliament. I kinda like the interior with a bold combination of red / black / gold colours. Before the official solemnization ceremony began, the couple engaged us for a good 2-3 hours of casual photoshoot around the restaurant and vicinity.

The following images are photographed by Ben Chan, and I love how CK + Liz totally enjoyed themselves during the photoshoot… Casual, relaxed, and most importantly – happy!

I think it’s just so hard to get Liz to act serious, cos she’s really a walking sunshine!

Hope you guys love this mini series, till the next, take care!

Love,
Angeline

Before we complete the blog post for the Bali wedding with the little details and description, do drop by our Facebook Page and feel free to bowse through the Bali Wedding album here;

Raymond Phang Photography Facebook Album update: Kheng Boon & Zeon – Destination Wedding  (Bali)

Hope you guys enjoy this magical Bali wedding series as much as we do! Cheers!

Love,
Angeline

The rejected cast of the Lord of the Onion Rings will be returning to New Zealand next year in April 2012, and this time round we have our crazy potato Ben Chan joining us for the trip!! For couples who are getting married in the months from September 2012 onwards and would like to do a shoot in New Zealand with us, please feel free to email us [contactme @ raymondphang . com] to enquire on our super awesome combo package for local actual day photography + new zealand conceptualised pre-wedding and casual bridal photography!!

Here’s an image of what we shot for Hero Colin and Heroine Emily’s conceptualised pre-wedding in New Zealand earlier this year. Star trails…. pretty right?

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For those who are wondering what’s the rejected cast of the Lord of the Onion Rings, here’s the URL to a blog entry with funny images we shared last year in November; http://www.raymondphang.com/blog/2010/big-plan-april-2011

Hope you’ll have a good laugh this weekend. HAHAHAHA!
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If you’d like to view some of our creative and fun conceptualised pre-wedding works, do drop by our Facebook Page [http://www.facebook.com/raymondphangphotography] and browse through the album “The Little Book of I ♥ You“.

For couples who would like to view some of Ben Chan’s beautiful works, feel free to browse through the album “Feet Touch Feet – by Benedict Chan“.

The images on our website [http://www.raymondphang.com] are actually super duper outdated, and we only update on our blog and Facebook, so do bookmark these two sites for updates if you enjoy our photography works ya? Hehehe.

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Here are a few images by Ben updated on our Facebook Page if you haven’t seen it already;

A lovely moment captured. It’s truly a blessing to grow old together with the person you love, to still hold hands together and give little pecks even until the day you’re in your seventies and beyond.

All these little gestures and precious expressions of the moment will always be remembered when you look at the images captured by your photographer on your wedding day.

A quick casual outdoor photoshoot.

Not the same couple as the images above, but I love the oomph and fun in it so I thought I’d share it with you guys.

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Raymond Phang has also updated the Facebook Page with a recent quirky image he shot in the CBD area with the groom and groomsmen, doing mass planking. For those who are interested to see Raymond Phang’s creation, the image is up on our Facebook Page. Hehehe. Have a fruitful weekened everyone!!

Love,
Angeline