Honeymoon Essentials - Part 1

While I still have absolutely no idea how I'm going to summarize our trip to Japan in just a few posts (for the 'bee anyway..you a-listers here get every.single.detail. sorry!) - I do have a very clear understanding of what was and was not necessary on the honeymoon. Jackets, for instance, were definitely a waste of precious luggage space - given temperatures were practically always in the humid 90's - 100's. I feel sticky just thinking about it.

Anyway, we found that if there's one absolutely-must-have item for any honeymoon, minimoon, or whatevermoon - it would be this:
The travel tripod.

If my mother hadn't bought us this handy little device, all of our pictures would have looked like this:
If you notice on the left, our big fat heads are covering the big gold shrine we're supposedly trying to take a picture in front of!

Or they might all look like this:
Yes, Sak went on vacation by himself. Wifu? What wifu?

Luckily though, with the tripod and the ten-second timer on our camera, we were able to get a little less face, a little more scenery, and a little more coupley-ness.

I know you could always just ask someone else to take your picture for you ("Sumimasennnn - cheeesuuu?"), but there might be places you'll go where there's no one around:

Or you might be doing something strange or embarrassing that you don't want anyone else to see:


Of course, someone might always ruin your shot since the tripod is so little:

So make sure you throw up the peace/victory sign to let everyone around you know that you're taking a picture!
Convinced yet? Definitely add a travel tripod to your pack list. It takes up much less room than completely useless jackets!

The Shooter's Hit List

One of the things our photographer requested was that we put together a list of must-have shots. I mean, ideally, I want to give her as much artistic freedom as possible, but I understand. Heaven forbid grand-poobah-what's-her-name miss out on her five minutes of paparazzi fame.

(source)
"Whaaat?! Leave ME out of a picture? How dare you!"

Just kidding. But let's compile a list anyway, shall we? I'll start with the checklist on Real Simple's website, since it's fairly comprehensive. I'll cross off the one's I won't be needing.

-"Full-length shot of the bride in her gown, looking at herself in a mirror" - Ehh, not really necessary, but it could be fun if i'm making a weird face.

-"Close-up of groom’s expression while waiting for the bride" - Seeing as Sak is pretty expressionless, this might be a useless shot.

-"Newlyweds’ vehicle" - The parent's rental van? (And yes, we're renting a van.) Umm. Again, not necessary, but not a completely uninteresting picture.

After scrubbing the standard list, it's now time to add in my own:

-Silly bride and groom and both serious families.

(source)

-Bride carrying groom. (Because I can!)


-Bridal party jumping (we tend to do a lot of that...)

(source)

-Parents jumping. (Hey, if they'll wear super-bright aloha shirts, why not?)

(Penga-Mom and Dad practicing their flattering poses!)

-Groomsmen and their cufflinks.

-Bridesmaid holding train while making a face. (This one will come naturally, I'm sure. We're good at making faces.)


-Guest enjoying the chair-cover-bag-favor. (I don't care if it's a fake enjoyment, I didn't spend so much time on them for nothing!)

-The food, and guests with their mouths full. (Because everyone wants to remember how they gorged themselves at the poke buffet!)

-The Penga&Sak Signature Leg-Lift.



Am I missing anything interesting or strange? I'm a sucker for shots with "personality". And since personality is something that bubbles up rather than comes out posed, I think this list is more of a guideline than a necessity. I'll just really emphasize that I'd like creative shots - whatever creative might look like. And as long as we get a few standard family pictures in, I think the traditional family members would be satisfied.

Are you making a must-have list for your photographer? What's the most interesting shot you are requesting?

For Posterity

Cake, flowers, venues...What else am I missing?

Oh, right! A photographer!

Though Penga-Mom did an excellent job with our engagement photos, she won't debut as our main wedding-day photographer. I'd like to say this is because I don't want her to have to work while she should be relaxing and enjoying herself - but this really isn't the reason. Penga-Mom is never, ever without her cameras, and to deprive her of one would probably give her an anxiety attack. No, she'll be taking pictures. As many as she wants; I'm not going to prevent her from doing what she enjoys most joy in life.

Instead, we'll be hiring a professional simply because we need a professional. Someone who knows how weddings work, where to get the best shots, and how to work a crowd. Simple, no? With that, I started searching around, through google, review sites, craigslist - looking for a certain style to catch my eye.

I can say I want a photojournalistic style. But there's more to it than that. There's a certain type of feel that each photographer tries to create in their pictures. I noticed a lot of wedding photographers have overly romantic vibes, which are probably the most fitting for, hello - weddings. But Sak wasn't feeling the overuse of Mr. Gauss' soap-opera blur, or the idea of draping ourselves all over each other like the cover of a romance novel. He thought a lot of it was rather corny, actually. And even though I love the blur, I don't think I could handle all our pictures being overly lovey-dovey. That's just not us.

But then I found Terra Photography, and a light turned on. An artistic, photojournalistic vibe. I could do that. As I read through the photographer's blog, I fell more and more in love with her style. (All photos are from Terra Photography's blog)

Okay, So I could never do this, but I think it's one of the most amazing engagement shots EVER.

Fisheye! *swoon* (I also love how this one reminds me of Katamari.)

Beautiful, romantic, even without Gauss!

I just had to add this one because it looks delicious! Taking pictures of the food is very important, I'm not even kidding! Especially if it's beautiful like this!

Walking through paradise into the light, such a dream-like shot!

Bold, vibrant colors. A copious use of perspective and creative angles. This was exciting stuff. I called Sak over to see if it passed his test. He decided that this was much better than the other "vibes" I had shown him, so I booked an appointment for our scouting trip.

We met with the photographer, Barbara Gibson, who kindly noted my strange need for the fish eye shots, and filled out our contract. The plan? We'll get ready in the early afternoon, run to a nearby beach for some quick first-look shots, and then run back to get the ceremony started! I'm extremely excited about the prospect of having some photo art to hang on our walls!

What kind of style does your photographer have? What kind of vibe do they capture in the lens?

E-Pics: Day 2

Remember the yukata Sak's family sent over from Japan? Remember that they sent them to California so we'd have time to practice with them before we left for Hawaii? Well, that never happened. We never practiced.

So there we were, day-of, trying to tie the ridiculously hard obi.

At least we had instructions, which we tried our best to look at from Sak's ITouch.

But we got it all done, somehow, and headed out the door for the Byodo-in Temple in Kaneohe. You might recognize it as the place where Mrs. Sushi got married.

It's a beautiful place, that's for sure!

Sak's grandmother was very excited about us wearing the yukata, and requested pictures. I'll have to print some out and send them to her! But other than that, I'm not sure what else to do with all these. I'd hate to have spent all that time cloning random tourists out of the pictures for nothing!

If you took engagement pictures, what did you end up doing with them?

(Pictures by Penga-Mom, editing by Penga.)