Modeling 101

Jeng is currently en route to a testosterone-filled weekend of manly mayhem also known as his bachelor party. Where is he, you might wonder. Vegas? Nope. He had his "pre-bachelor party" there a month ago. New Orleans? Nope. New York? Nope. Instead, he went to number 5 on AskMen's top 10 bachelor party destinations: Vancouver, British Columbia. Weird huh? Apparently they have great 'bible study' locations there.

Anyway, this blog is not about bachelor parties. My purpose is to share the activities of my spring break turned 6-day 'vacation' of wedding errands. Fun? Debatable. Every day has been jam-packed with random activities such as: finding engagement picture outfits, hair and make up trials, dj meeting, cake tasting, food tasting, priest meeting, rehearsal dinner restaurant scouting, engagement picture taking, sponsor present shopping, and wedding band picking upping. Exhausting! My lowlight was the priest meeting (4 hours!) but I've already vented about my priest issues so I won't repeat myself.

My highlight was the engagement photos. Although we've been engaged for a year and a half, our official engagement photos were just taken yesterday by our awesome photographer, Augie Chang. We met Augie at the Ferry Building and it was an unusual San Francisco Spring day -- sunny and warm. He began our 1.5 hour session with a brief Q&A:
Augie: Why the Ferry Building?
Me: We lived nearby. We love the farmers market, the restaurants, the overall vibe. I ran on the Embarcadero. And we would have had our reception there if we were rich.
Augie: On the scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being romantic, how would you classify yourselves as a couple?
Jeng (without hesitation): 1
Augie: 1?! Really??
Haha. And so it began. Here is our feeble attempt at being romantic.

Despite our rating at 1, Augie did a great job at capturing our silly relationship, especially in this picture:


After the shoot, Augie emailed his praise: "You two did so well that I can easily consider you one of the best “models” I have had in the last year! Seriously!! I love the laughs and the giggles throughout the shoot." I think my addiction to ANTM finally paid off! Maybe I have another back-up career option in case this b-school thing doesn't pan out.

I'm not one to keep my talents hidden so here are my top takeaways for a model:
• Act natural. Ignore gawking crowds.
• Everyone has a double chin. Stick your head out a tad to make it disappear on camera.
• Since I'm short, wearing short leggings make me look taller.
• Pointing toes, and bending/crossing legs add curves to make the photos look more dynamic and less awkward.
So if any of our readers go pro, I hope I get some credit.