Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
March 2016
MAAD About You
Aster and Max flaunt their creativity in a beautiful and quirky engagement shoot.
Founders of MAAD Creatives, Aster Foo and Max Chionh, met as classmates at a design school. To celebrate their engagement in New Zealand, they embarked on an intimate shoot with The Peeping Thom Photography. Featuring an unconventional theme shot at the rustic Changi Airfield, Kampong Bahru and Everton Park estate where the MAAD Creatives office is, Lijiang, Yunnan in China and Jurong Fishery Port, Aster and Max’s engagement shoot is perfectly in sync with their creative and indiosyncratic sides.
What was the proposal like?
Aster: Max proposed at Frimly Rose Park in Hastings, New Zealand while we were on a one-year sabbatical. Summer afternoons in New Zealand can be crazily humid, so when Max went down on one knee, I had my eyes closed! Talk about proposal hiccups – I completely missed out on witnessing that once-in-a-lifetime moment. As for the engagement ring, it was a gorgeous rose gold, vintage-style ring with an oval morganite surrounded by diamonds, ordered from the United States of America.
What was the inspiration behind your shoot?
Aster: It was a combination of factors. As the left and right brain founders of a creative agency, we are naturally inclined toward a mixture of artsy and quirky stuff. And as animal lovers, we wanted an animal theme to our wedding and our engagement shoot was no different with the participation of our three year old Dachshund, Duncan. More importantly, we wanted something that was authentic to our (oddball) personalities, instead of a generic editorial approach.
Max chose a moose mask because he wanted something more angular and interesting while I chose the fox simply because it looks good and would be more stylish as compared to a rabbit or cat, from a photography point of view.
How did your preparation for the shoot go?
Aster: We spent close to two hours at Art Friend figuring our the best paint mediums to use and had plenty of fun handcrafting them over two full days. Working with Thomas also helped complete the formula with his wedding photography. The three of us were of a single mind on the concept and kind of outputs we envisage and had a lot of fun together materialising it.
Share with us some interesting moments from your engagement shoot.
Max: The most memorable part for me is a draw between the waltz under the trees and walking in a fish market in a moose mask, not being able to see where I was going. Aster’s mask had better visibility. Because the shoot at the Fishery Port had to start at five in the morning, waking up at 2.30am (!!!) in the morning when we were working until midnight the day before and witnessing the awe-inspiring art of make-up and hair (for Aster) for 2 hours was definitely “interesting”.
Aster: I was totally amused with the clumsiness of how we tried to achieve the best photo effect of me slung over Max’s shoulders! He assured me that he will not “drop” me but still…it was quite scary in the beginning. And the part when we needed falling leaves while we waltzed…Thomas’s assistant, Bush, threw the leaves (he so painstakingly gathered) in the air at the wrong cue (he heard Thomas said “throw” when it was “cool”) and had to gather a fresh bunch again – we had quite a fit laughing at that.
The Venue: Changi Airfield, Kampong Bahru and Everton Park estate, MAAD Creatives office, Lijiang, Yunnan in China and Jurong Fishery Port
The Wedding Gown: Designed by Aster and custom-made gown by Vivian Gown; other dresses are made-to-measure and bought online.
The Wedding Shoes: Conversse and modcloth.com
The Groom’s Suit: Custom-made in Bangkok
The Groom’s Shoes: Onisuka Tiger and Cole Haan
The Hair and Makeup: Sharon Heng from The Makeup Room
The Florist: The Bloom Room
Stationery & Paper Goods: Handcrafted by Aster & Max
The Wedding Stylist: Aster & Max
The Photographer: Thomas Ang from The Peeping Thom Photography
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