action and reaction

got this short story from my lovely fiancée. it's really good reminder for all of us that we shouldn't let anybody interfere our feeling and the way we act. this is something that i really lack of for my personal development. here the story goes...

"one day, two friends went to a book stall to buy books and magazines. happen to be the seller serving really bad. his face and attitude was unhappy, sullen, and rude. the first person was clearly annoyed receive such services. surprisingly, the second person still enjoy, even being polite to the sellers. upon their shopping; the first man asked his friend, "hey. why are you being polite to seller who really sucks?" his friend replied, "well, why should i let him determine how i act? we are the determinant of our lives, not others'. "but he served us with terrible", argued the first; he was still upset and complaining. "yes, that's his problem. he wants to be rude, bad mood, provide bad service, or whatever, yet it has not get something to do with ourself. if we are get affected, thus we let him control and influence our lives. in fact it is we who are responsible for ourself ". our actions are often influenced by the actions of others to us. if someone do a bad thing, we will respond with things even worse. if they are rude, we will no longer be polite as well. if someone stingy to us, we were originally a generous guy able to suddenly change into stingy when we having to deal with them. think about it. why should our actions be influenced by others? why in order to be nice, we have to wait to be treated well by someone else first? keep your mood and feeling! do not let someone else's bad attitude to us to determine how we act! choose to continue to be nice and to do well, even if it we're not receive something nice. "winner of life" is those who remain cool in hot weather, who remains sweet in a very bitter place, who remain feel humble even if he's been great, and remain calm even in the middle terrific storm..."

thanks fiancée to share this beautiful story and always remind me to be a better person, lucky to have someone to grow and develop each other, love you! i will try to improve myself to be a better person.

pre-wedding photoshoot

after waiting for a while, finally we manage to get our pre-wedding photo shot.

so what is pre-wedding photoshoot? apparently most of my european and american friend are not familiar with pre-wedding photo session at all. looks like this 'ritual' activity only happen in asia. yes both european and american does have engagement photoshot, but it's somehow similar-unsimilar with pre-wedding photoshoot; as in asia, usually if we do have engagement party or event, we will have a specific photo session for it as well, thus it can categorize in different way. i would assume this pre-wedding 'ritual' habit were made up by some smart lady who are tricky and sneaky enough to get her way a ticket for another trip and photoshot back then. since then pre-wedding photoshoot has become part of tradition activities that mandatory to be done prior wedding day. (technically, how pre-wedding destination photoshoot different with honeymoon? except we do have photographer to capture our moment on one or two days)

anyway, we did have fun and enjoy our photoshoot. we choose bali for our destination pre-wedding photoshoot with simply reason of its nature (and somehow bali has been one of most memorable place for both me and wilma ever since we step up for our commitment here last february). luckily both me and wilma does have similar taste, together we decide our pre-wedding photoshoot theme which are: simple, relax, and natural. all of these theme are well represent with the choice of venue our photoshoot and outfit. honestly i never fancy to see pre-wedding photoshoot using wedding gown.

big thanks to our lovely God, that our photoshoot went very well, we got a very good weather, we got a good team to accompany us, and most important both me and her are consider in fit condition. as additional note, eventually both me and wilma are not in good condition when we're arrive in bali, i got caught by flu and sore throat meanwhile she's having bad gastro and minor stomach infection (one day before we went to bali, i manage to take her to hospital to see some specialist), but yeah due to bless of Him, we're still 'right on' to have a fun yet lovely photoshoot.

well to cut the crap, i will give some teaser of our pre-wedding photoshoot in this post. both me and wilma made promise that we will keep the surprise of full picture until the day has come to our marriage. luckily i do have an angel wife, been previewing almost a thousand pictures, i can say most of our pictures are looks good mainly because of she and the background behind, that two should already cover more than seventy percent of each photo. just as i mentioned previously, having a photogenic wife is such a bless! 

some tips to couples that want to perform destination pre-wedding photoshoot based from our experience:

• plan up your photo spot venue and pair outfit couple days before your photoshoot session, don't take up to much spot to avoid useless travelling time.
• make a realistic itinerary (including make up, travelling time, and lunch time) for your d-day
• ensure that you arrive at least one day early before your photoshoot session (and don't arrive too late)
• do laundry (hang it, don't fold it) all outfit that you will use photoshoot and pack them in one 'not so pack' luggage to avoid wrinkle on the dress
• unpack your luggage as early as possible and hang all your outfit in pair to make it easier to grab during photoshoot (request for press should you find some annoying wrinkle in your outfit)
• grab enough sleep and dinner prior the day so you will fresh and this will avoid having unpleasant teabag below your eyes
• get up early, take a break for a while, have a proper breakfast, and ready to go
• if budget allow, hire one personal car with driver for both of you, you can hang all your outfit in the car and put down all your shoewear, that will allow faster transition to change outfit and retain it smooth.

to sum up, we did have very photo session, unfortunately we did not lucky enough to cover one of the spot that we would really like to have (due to location wise we sadly remove this as part of our itinerary), however i did promise to her that on our first year anniversary of marriage, i will take her to bali again and we will perform a fun and casual photoshoot in our dream spot. so one year and seven months from now we will be back to have another photoshoot, hopefully all works well, 2015 we will come for our photoshoot again, hope am still stay fit!

one fine sunday

for most family, sunday usually identic with family day. back then when we're in jakarta, usually my activities with wilma at sunday are very simple: going to church then continue to meet either with my family or her family. now that we're back to jakarta at the same time, we're planning to get back to our sunday tradition to meet and greet our family (miss the church part during limited time, oops, sorry God).

as we're about to get married in couple months, this time tradition is a bit different, instead of meeting my family and her family separately, we're planning to meet both family together. our plan was succeed, as our family is quite big, we split sunday activities into two sessions, during lunch time, wilma will come to my grandma's place and we will have lunch there. together come to this gathering include my sister, parents, auntie, uncle, cousin, and they came with their family as well, it was such a fine day with a fine dish, sadly i didn't manage to take picture of the food. menu for our lunch is very simple, pork and vegetables. my grandma manage to cook couple dish of pork and vegetables. we did really enjoy the lunch and togetherness there.

cassandra n callista

wilma with popo

big kiss from nieces

after lunch time, we're heading to our second gathering session. gathering begin from aih hetty's house, wilma's eldest auntie who happen to be our family atelier as well. from my family, we came together with my parents, grandma, auntie, and cousin. welcoming us there from wilma's family there are aih hetty's family, couple of wilma's cousin, wilma's parent and sister. yes we do have a huge family, these are only around ten to fifteen percent of them! after staying a while at aih's place, we're ready to have dinner, as most of us already located in bsd, we're planning to have dinner nearby, sadly there's none really good restaurant there (mostly kuring-kuring style), so we decide to try new restaurant which is quite famous and does have a good ambience, restaurant name is: mang engking.

so what can i tell about this restaurant, not much to be honest. located in d' breeze bsd near kantor pemasaran bsd can be considered prime in the area. ambience of the restaurant is really nice, there's a lot of outdoor spot (bale), however as we bring our grandma there, we prefer to get indoor seat simply to avoid chair-less seat and wind outside. famous dish from this restaurant will be grill honey king prawn which we did ordered. as the situation is really hectic for a group dinner, i didn't manage to take any picture of the food, but i can say that all the food are just so-so, nothing taste really special. price wise, consider located in bsd, it's quite expensive, i did spend two millions for all the food and beverages. nothing special with the prawn, nothing special with the fish. the only compliment that i can give to this restaurant simply for its ambience and service. luckily there's one vip room available for us, thus even if the food not really pleasant, our time share the moment there are really pleasant.

am so glad that both family can cope up very well. each member of our family able to relax and be themself without any pressure. they share lots of nostalgia around sukabumi, happen to be both of my mom's family and wilma's family are born and stay in sukabumi for some time. we're chit chating around food, people, etc. next destination we're planning to have a trip together to sukabumi, don't know when this will happen but it will be surely fun. to close up the day we took family picture together in front of the restaurant, everyone was really happy and enjoy. thanks God to bless us with such a good family and thanks for giving us time to gather together.

second n third generation

elder

family picture

happy wedding toni and yovita!

friend in century

one a.m. at excelso

puncak trip

friends forever

back then during university time, wilma have a close group friend that consists of ten ladies, they proudly announce them as 'g-gals', short for gossip girls. been knowing them for the last seven to eight years, i can say they are pretty well gossipers. one of main objective for our trip this time back to jakarta is to attend wedding of one of g-gals member who happen to be our dearest friend as well: yovita.

yovita seven years ago in bali

personally i've been know yovita for around six years. first time i was introduce to her is back on 2003 when we're about to have trip together to bali. since then we start hanging out together at most weekend. movies at cinema, coffee at bucks, dinner in everywhere. yovita is one of the most organized lady that i've ever met, she's firm, confident, and precise. i guess among all the g-gals member, yovita is the one who have highest leadership and organizational experience. she's very talented in a way to plan and execute something which most of lady this day miss.

complimentary to all those 'features' above, she also sweet, fun, and helpful person. she willing to help our wedding preparation while she even have wedding to be prepare. 


bachelor bachelorette party at pesto autentico, uob building jakarta

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bride and groom to be

g-gals family

well, what can we say, good luck and congratulation toni and yovita, we really happy to hear the news a year ago and we're glad that both of you able to share those moment to us. only small uncomplete gift from us (missing the picture inside the frame), but we promise that we will give it to you. may God bless your wedding and marriage.

with love,
cameron and wilma
14 september 2014

couple of moments to be share during her big day

wedding solemnisation at regina caeli, pantai indah kapuk

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us	with atmajaya fkip fellow

wilma with bride and groom

me with bride and groom

wedding dinner at universitas tarumanegara ballroom, letjen s. parman

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with shera

with inneke's family and margie

g-gals

g-gals family

wilma with bride's sister

us

wilma with bride's mom

holiday starts now...

our trip's gear: 10 days, 2 destination, pre-wedding outfit

since our short holiday in bali last february, i never literally have a break together with my lady to catch some breath. as an ordinary corporate worker in singapore, our life sometimes is quite static and mostly follow routine activities, add up with all the wedding preparation, it's really decrease our quality time together that we can utilize. yes we still meet up for lunch or dinner for every one or two days, but we never really have leisure time to spare; time always rushing and chasing us which make both of us very tired for the last couple month, i do believe that this will end upon our marriage ;).

after a while, am so glad that we will have another short holiday, yes it will be another bali trip for us, as we're still in the middle of our wedding preparation, i will reckon that all the trip that we will have until our wedding day will be only either jakarta or bali. gladly both me and her do like bali, however the point of the trip is not the venue itself, but the people who you spend with and the activities that you gonna do there...

we will have two stops for this trip, starting with jakarta to attend one of our dearest friend that will get married. it's not cameron if not utilizing time perfectly, so add up for the wedding, we manage to pack couple of key activities for our wedding preparation including family gathering from both side. while in bali we will have a big agenda to perform our pre-wedding photo shoot, meeting couple of our wedding's vendor. meeting with our minister, and not forget our big hobby: culinary, thus this trip will be very pack yet fun.

welcome indonesia, be nice to me and wilma. family, food, food, food, and friends, 3 things that will excite us for this trip and for sure our photo session, and my photo session ;-)

unseparate-able between wilma with her phone

as soon as the plane take off, she start to take off as well

thought to shot, strolling at bishan park

having a photogenic wife is a bless, more over if she is support your hobby by allowing you to shoot her as a model (trust me, it’s thin line between narcism and so called being supportive), anyway still she does fulfill my hobby to shot.

last time when i had personal photograph session with her is around 6 years ago when i got my first camera (we were like a fool to take lots indoor photoshoot at Grand Indonesia, when it’s about to open), since then there’s no really exclusive photo session that i did with her again. we never really did any specific trip and so on (except for our singapore zoo surprise trip), in fact i can say for the last 3-4 years, my lovely camera just sit and relax in his comfortable dry box. now that we’re about to get married and finally ‘legal’ to have our trip together, somehow all of my passion to shot is getting ‘hot’ again. i will be able to begin my left over hobby that been abandon for couple years… we’re planning to go to bali in two weeks for some short trip and am really looking forward to start shoot again, hopefully i can share some good moment and result there.

prior to bali, i was thinking it’s good to take some warm up to shot a bit after a while, so last week i just took my camera, head down to bishan park for an hour and managed to take couple of shot. it’s not great for sure, but it’s not bad as well. hope my skill will get sharpen with time fly by and with lots of shooting…

wilma, if you happen to read this, hopefully you be nice to me in bali and let me take your beautiful picture there.

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bishan park landscape

bishan jogger

lovely old couple

bishan park

kite in the sky

dog

bishan park