Zhi Mui in a Chinese Wedding

It was all tiring but fun.

A good friend got married. When it's a good friend, it means our 'work and contribution' will be required but greatly appreciated.  From being the honorary 'zhi mui' (sisters to the bride) to photography services to reception services. So..you are right to imagine that the day starts very early in the morning till..late. Yesterday, I left the house around 7.30am and only got home around midnight.

My main task was to develop an audio slide show from the morning tea ceremony session to be shown during the dinner at night.  Ideally, I should be taking photos as well but since I do not own a DSLR and there many other DSLR-ers around I can take a back-end role in this area, phew.  It sure was a tough job, especially for the main photographer.

Other zhi mui's main roles..include:
..planning the itenary and games to 'entertain' the groom before allowing him to 'take' the bride
..key 'negotiator' with the groom entourage
..assisting the bride with safe keeping of gifts / jewelleries/ tokens received and to be given out
..guest arrival management at dinner reception
..cash (tokens from guests) counting and safe keeping

Oh boy..I think I have the lightest task :P  though..I had my fair share of 'stress'...i.e. my task started earlier before the actual day which include testing and exploring the movie making software to ensure I am familiar with the requirements.  In fact, I did up one show way before the actual day using earlier pictures from the Registration of Marriage. That was good as it prepares me for the actual day..since there will not be time for trial and error on the actual day.

Despite so, it wasn't as smooth as I wanted it to be.

Firstly, my external hard disk crashed . again.  FYI,  the previous  crashed too when I was doing the same task for another wedding in December!  This time..the song that I needed for the slide show is in the unaccessible hard disk :s ..so..it was all frenzy ..calling up different parties to try to get another copy of the song

Secondly, the main photographer took longer than expected to convert his raw formats to jpeg. By the time I got the 500+ photos it was already about 3pm. We needed to leave for the restaurant at 5.30pm.
Learning ~ may not be a good idea to use the main photographers pics?
Secondly, I personally find it better to get to choose from different sets of pictures from more than one camera (did so in the previous wedding) although this means more time needed to go through hundreds of pictures from 3 or 4 different cameras !

FYI, one song is only about 3+ mins long..hence, we only need about 70 pics to fit into a song .  Imagine..going through 500 pics to choose 70 :D



Once the pictures were shortlisted and arranged in the desired sequence, I could afford to relax a little  as the rest of the work will be done by the software.  If there is spare time , I can play around to customise the motion and zoom and whatever not.  The technical staff at this restaurant requested for DVD copy ..since I was there early I had more than enough time to do that.

Just me and the software and the machine =) while the rest of the gals were stressing over the guests seating and ushering.



Oh..my secondary role was to tag alongside the bride as the temporary photographer using my little LX3, main photographer was caught in traffic ...lol.

..sounds tiring?
It was fun though...all for a good friend. And I'm very sure she appreciates it.  Oh..we do get 'paid' in the form of 'ang pow' ...as a small token of appreciation.  It's not the money that counts...it's the friendship and togetherness.

No doubt, all of us have our own busy lives at work and home...and we may all eventually move on heading to separate directions and our paths may or may not meet again...but the sweet memories will always be in the heart.

It's the Heart that counts. Deep inside we know these zhi mus are out there ever ready to offer their time, eyes, ears, shoulders...anytime, anywhere.

*loves*