hi Angeline,
yes, my MIL is in town. These few weekends have been trying to practise my cantonese. Sigh...both of us like chicken & duck when we talk. yes, my husband's family will be flying over for the wedding.
For the photo shoot, since you are not spending on studio shoot, you should splurge on your actual day then. I think there's a few photographers who are quite good. Based on the forum's comments, hilarion, monica eng, and ray ong all seem not bad. you might want to check them out. But they are very popular so might not be available on your wedding days. Might want to contact them now to confirm.
I am not sure if my make-up artist freelance. i will think so. Maybe you can give me your email address & i email you her contact number? You can try contacting her.