Oanh & Hop Wedding - Birmingham UK

I love all my brides from the weddings I shoot but it's always so heartfelt and wonderful when the first time you meet someone (and on their wedding day!) that you feel like you've known them forever. Meeting Oanh was definitely that, I knew from our several conversations before the big day that she was a pretty bubbly lady but when you meet her, she seems to radiant such warmth and charm to everyone around her.

Shooting Oanh and Hop was such fun and a real pleasure, the environment, the hectic yet wonderful madness of my first Catholic-Vietnamese Wedding where everything seemed to just fall into place effortlessly. The couple's laid back style and attitude certainly made for great images. I really hope you all enjoy these images as much as I did taking them.

Thank you to Oanh and Hop, an amazing couple for letting me be a part of such a momentous occasion in your lives... and Oanh, you played every part of the beautiful bride so perfectly that I couldn't ask for more! I hope you guys love the pictures.

much love
souwah
xoxo

 


 




















I absolutely loved this... quick story well when it came to the Holy Communion to "drink the wine" Hop managed to down it so when it came for Oanh's turn to drink... erm... well lets just say he didn't even leave her a drop! lol :D
































cutie flower girls wait patiently in their parent's jackets whilst we snapped away...

Bride needs her touch ups =)


gorgeous oanh


time for Oanh to get changed into her traditional vietnamese dress =) ...she did actually teach me on the day what it was actually called in Vietnamese but i'm really rubbish and can't remember to save me life...
anyone??










the merriment of the wedding party was seriously contagious, the energy in the banquet room was amazing...

gotta love Oanh's slightly merry dad showing Oanh's mum some love and happiness at the end of the night!


we can't end a Vietnamese wedding without the bride and groom busting some Karaoke! =)


Special thanks again to Oanh and Hop for letting me be a part of your special day. xoxo

A year ago today i met a wonderful cat orange in the magical far away land of Sevilla, Espana. Who would have thought embarking on a photographic journey a la Scott Robert would I lead me to my amazing mowsaroni!

My Stephonia, we may be an ocean a part but you're never far in my heart or my mind because you're the love that i'd been waiting for - my other half. Thinking about the time we first met gives me butterflies and goose pimples, you were the first person I noticed in the hotel lobby and i remember shaking your hand... oh i simply couldn't be any more in love with you until of course tomorrow arrives.

Stephen i love love you (because singular love wouldn't suffice) I can't wait to see you in October!
My Stephy ngog yabo cheese chop chey stephonia mowsaroni changy chang chang chang moonlight Mow - its written my cat orange =) indefinitely

with love your
souwahwah
xoxo

Photography taken where we first met in the beautiful Sevilla by Our fantastico mentor&"dad!" the infamous Scott Robert whom without we would have never have found one another, thank you Scott =) xoxo

 



Sou-Wah Chiu | Create your badge

I was going through my archive mountain of images the other day (as you tend to do) and I came across my Valencia pictures from back in 2007. I stumbled upon one of my favourite images from that trip, it's not anything really special really but it significant to me in terms of me deciding what direction i wanted to head in my life and what I wanted to do.

So it's November 2007, me and a group of friends headed to Valencia, Spain to escape the drizzle of Britain and to bask in some Spanish sun with some 'you'd-be-bonkers-to-miss-out-on PENNY flights! Yes a penny! BARGAIN! GO RyanAir! Oh Yes gotta love a bargain! Not long had I owned my first ever digital SLR and was very much in my 'dora explorer' happy snappy tourist mode. Much to my delight, everything was beautiful, shiny and different! Walking a foreign land without some sort of 'recording device' be it 'camera, video, sketch book' would be a utter nightmare for me. Thank God I had sense back then to realise my love for photography was more than just a fad.

Soooo it was my first time in Spain and I absolutely adored it, their beautiful language, the Spanish sunshine... and siestas! Being the ignorant British chick, i was unaware of Siesta, and between 1pm and 3, everything and everyone seemed to disappear! Everyone took time to chill out & laze around whilst the sun was at it's hottest. That's really my kinda heaven, a cat nap in the middle of the afternoon? Mmm... can't get better than that! :D On the first day of discovering this, we were in a park/tourist ruin, wandering around, absorbing the visuals, enjoying the sunshine. As siesta hit, people seemed to start to 'fall' all around us, find a little spot to relax, meditate even? Park benches were full, people ate some late lunch, walked their dogs, read books and generally ignored us. I on the other hand couldn't help but enjoy the people watching and take a picture here and there, their culture is so different and irresistibly photogenic, it made me feel relaxed, happy and just content, too many days people are in such a hurry with the irrelevant things in life that we forget to simply just enjoy... This picture I took in Valencia has become so significant to me in so many ways...


I took this during Siesta, I love how this couple are so beautifully unaware of me, the guy without a care in the world sleeping in his lover's lap as she strokes his face and hair and the other guy in the background enjoying his late lunch. This was a picture perfect moment for me, it made me feel all nostalgic and fuzzy inside. There's something really magical about capturing a 'perfect' moment instilling them in that very moment, because once a moment's gone, it's gone forever and a distant memory but in a photograph it can live forever.

I knew for sure after taking this that I really wanted to specialise in taking pictures of couples, it's my favourite =) I printed this recently for myself to act as a reminder of why I do what i do and why i love it so. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to shoot portraits of people, real perfectly imperfect people and to take pictures of people in love is probably the most personal and satisfying for me. I believe in love - love alone can conquer the world. =D Sometimes we don't do enough of it...

peace+love peoples live and be happy, what's the point other wise?

xoxo

Sou-Wah Chiu |

Happy 2nd Birthday to my nephew - baby On Jai aka little brat pants!
He's having a blast in Orlando, Florida with his mummy and daddy at the moment but I can't wait to see him when he gets back! =D



they grow up so fast... mini documentary from some of the photoshoots in his little life so far

Brandon Michael Born: 16th September, 2007 :D







love u baby OJ
xoxo

Sou-Wah Chiu | Create your badge

Hola my beautiful peoples!

I had such a great time at the latest wedding I shot that I couldn't resist posting a teaser for the lovely couple, Oanh and Hop. I can proudly say I have quite a few Oriental Weddings under my belt now but this has to be the first entire Vietnamese Catholic wedding I've shot and boy, was it a good one!

Congrats again to the fantastic couple! Thank you for letting me be a part of your special day, I had such a wonderful time and you really made me feel like a part of your family. I'm actually excited to edit the rest of the pictures of your awesome day! Take care and stay beautiful!
xoxo

Enjoy and stay tuned for more pictures from this awesome wedding!
Your comments are appreciated! Thank you!

Oanh & Hop Teaser!




Oanh was an absolutely beautiful bride to photograph, a real treat. I think it's really evident that she was truly radiating with happiness on her wedding day =)

Sou-Wah Chiu | Create your badge