There is always a first time for everything: our first visit to India and attending an Indian wedding. Due to our very short stay, we skipped many rituals during the day, so we could have a little tour in New Delhi and Agra. Luckily, we had enough energy to party past midnight for two days straight.

On the first day, we celebrated Sangeet, which is a celebration of the union of not only the couple, but also both families. It was full of music and dance, mostly dance performances by the couple, families, and guests (so, Indians really love to dance, not only in Bollywood movies, but also in real life!). Even though the party was also very colorful, we decided to capture the moments in black and white as a contrast to the pictures of the wedding party.

On the second day, there were so much excitement during the wedding celebration. First, the groom made a flashy entrance by riding a horse to the venue (not so sure if it was his idea or it was actually part of the tradition). Then the bride's sisters/family welcomed the groom at the entrance, but before letting him in, the groom had to made some bargaining. Too bad that we couldn't understand most part of the deals (which definitely must be funny since they laughed so hard during the process).

A couple of hours later, after a few drinks and lots of dances, we realized that the bride and the groom weren't a husband and a wife yet; not until the last ceremony at the end of the wedding celebration. Sadly, we couldn't stay for the most important ceremony since we had to catch our flight early in the morning.

Thank you Srishti+Rashu for sharing us these unforgettable moments. Best wishes on your wonderful journey together and may the years be filled with lasting joy.

Read more »

It's been years since we've known Irene and Marco. We were so excited as we received their wedding save-the-date and looked forward for their big day. It was a beautiful rustic wedding at Brathänchenfarm, a simple yet charming venue in Steinau. 

The wedding had intimate and relaxed atmosphere, filled with friendly guests, home made cakes, delicious food, good wine and beer, cool band, and heaps of fun. We celebrated, ate, drank, played creative wedding games, gave the joyful bride and groom a lot of surprises, laughed, and danced until past midnight. These added more reasons why we love German wedding so much. 

Read more »

"Life begins at 30...
The last 29 years have just been a practice!"

That was Lisa's favourite motto as her 30th birthday was getting near and also her reason to celebrate it big. She and I have been best friend for sixteen years and I'm so glad that I happened to be in Jakarta to witness her special day.

Happy Birthday my dearest friend!
Life is indeed a journey and I hope you enjoy every mile...

Read more »

Happy Lunar New Year!

But as you can see, there's no sign of any Chinese New Year in Germany. Because it's carnival time! So, instead of greeting people "Gong Xi Fat Cai", we yelled "Alaaf!" and sang "Viva Colonia" all day. It's been years since we had fun in any carnival, and actually it's our first time visiting the Kölner Karneval, the biggest Carnival in Germany.

The Carnival is a public parade and somehow also a huge costume party. The word Carnival means "farewell to meat", actually the Carnival itself is a festive season before the Lent. The Cologne Carnival starts on Fat Thursday (Weiberfastnacht), ends on Ash Wednesday (Aschermittwoch), and the highlight of the carnival is on Rose Monday (Rosenmontag). Since there's no public holiday in our State on Rose Monday, we decided to visit the carnival on Sunday, which called Kölner Schull- un Veedelszöch.

Although the parade is not as huge as on Rose Monday, We still had a very good time. The parade was arranged by schools, that's why there're so many dressed up children attending the parade. It's fun, it's cute, it's colorful, it's definitely a must to see celebration of the year.

Read more »

I was arranging our photo album of 2012, as I found these photos again. The pictures are just too beautiful to be left on our hard drive. So I decided to put these on this blog.

It was the wedding of my cousin, Mitzi, who got married in Bali last October. Her husband, Made, is a Balinese, and they decided to get married in his hometown, Klungkung. Actually, I couldn't come to their wedding, because I couldn't extend my holiday at that time. But luckily, my husband managed to be there (he's my mentor, by the way). So he took the pictures, and I did the post processing. Editing the pictures was kinda hard for me. The more I see, the more I regret for not being there personally. It became my greatest regret of the year.

I just love traditional wedding, it has its own charm and beauty. The wedding seems so colorful and also shows the rich culture of Bali. The best part is: the butterfly story. My husband told me, that during the ceremony, a big black butterfly came and sat on the bride's head accessoires. The people started to notice it, because it sat there for quite a long time. Since the Balinese are quite superstitious, they told the bride that "someone special" was coming to visit through the butterfly. And she was quite sure that it was her father, who passed away a few years ago. I cried as I heard the story about the butterfly, and wished that the superstitious were true. Her father was my favorite uncle, somehow hearing that story also brought back the memories about him.

So, congratulation once again to Mitzi&Made. Wish you both live happily ever after...

Read more »

It'll be my 10th Christmas in Germany. And I really can't imagine such a cold December without Christmas. What makes Christmas also feel so special in this country is The Christmas Market a.k.a Weihnachtsmarkt. I just love the warm atmosphere, the glittering Christmas decorations, the taste of Glühwein, the sweetness of Lebkuchen, the smell of gebrannte Mandeln, and most of all: the happy expression of people welcoming the holiday season.

Read more »

Marco Schwarz is one of the best wedding photographer in Germany (or maybe in the world!). I'm a huge fan of him and so glad that he was the one who captured our wedding and after-wedding pictures. Last autumn I had an opportunity to join his workshop. It was fun, and again, I learned a lot from the Guru :)

Read more »

Shawn is our first nephew and he's three now. Our last meeting was 2 years ago. At that time, he was still learning to walk, and now he can really running around (phew... time really flies!). It's really amazing to see how fast children grow.

I know, it's actually a little bit too late. His birthday was on September, and now it's almost December *shame*. And by the way, I was still using our old Canon 20d as I captured the pictures.

Read more »

Summer, sunshine, blue sky, not-so-hot-and-not-so-cold-temperature, people in good mood, and colorful festival. It was just a perfect day at Frankfurter Mainfest... and also a perfect time for me to practice.

Read more »

When someone have a passion in photo/videography, they don't have many pictures of themselves, because they're the one behind the camera. And somehow they become "interesting models" in my point of view. At the wedding, I had enough opportunities to capture them, since there're a lot of people, who brought their own cameras (just like myself).

Read more »

Last week, we attended an old friend's wedding in Berlin. It was simple, yet beautiful. The ceremony was in Herz Jesu Kirche, and after the mass we had a BBQ party. It was end of July, it should be summer, but the weather was so unpredictable. We're lucky, that the rain stopped just before the reception started.

Oh by the way.... I love the decorations so much, especially the flowers and the super cute cake topper!

Congratulations once again, dear Ajie and Alex! May the coming years, fill your lives with love and happiness!

Read more »

Our friend; Jess, is getting married!
Well, she's kinda special, because the one she's going to marry is my own brother. That's why, last time, when she visited Frankfurt, we wanted to throw a small bachelorette party.  But, actually we did a lot of bachelorette parties in the last 2 years and we ran out of ideas. Thankfully, there's a new minigolf in town! No, not a normal one. This one is kinda unique. if you're happened to be in Frankfurt, I suggest you to give it a try. It's fun!

Read more »