We used to speak at conferences all over the world regularly. Las Vegas, Shanghai, Italy and beyond. Maybe three or more times a year. Then the pandemic happened, everything went online for a while, events came back, and somewhere in between we just got booked. Constantly. For what feels like forever.
We always love giving back to the community. Guiding the next generation of wedding professionals through this maze. But our clients come first. They always have. That’s the deal.
So when the AsiaWPA moved their annual event from Hong Kong to Tokyo these past couple of times, it suited us perfectly. Home ground.
We’ve been judging in the wedding awards world for more than a decade now. WPPI for many years. And last week, sitting on the judging panel in Tokyo for the AsiaWPA 2026 Conference and Awards, something hit differently.
The prints. Thanks to ILFORD for sponsoring those. Viewing real, physical prints and evaluating work that way. There’s something about printed art that screens will never replicate. You see things differently when the image is viewed how it’s meant to be seen.
On Putting Yourself Out There
Here’s the thing we keep coming back to.
We get videographers and photographers reaching out to us regularly, sending portfolios, looking for work. And we look at every one. But honestly, we just wish more of them knew what the rest of the world was doing.
Not because their work isn’t good. But because the people who enter awards, who put themselves out there to be judged, who sit in that uncomfortable space of having their art evaluated through someone else’s eyes. Those are the ones growing. Those are the ones succeeding.
We know art is subjective. We know that. But there are lessons in the process that YouTube can’t teach you. There’s something about hearing how your work lands through other eyes that sharpens everything. Your eye. Your decisions. Your instinct.
We entered for years before we were judges. We know the anxiety. The vulnerability. But we also know that refining your eye happens fastest when you stop being the only person looking at your work.
Professional development. It’s a thing.
Family, Basically
The people in this community. We grew up with them.
Our videographer friends in Malaysia and China. Photographer friends from Hong Kong and Japan. We navigated this industry together, figured it out as we went, made mistakes together, celebrated together.
These people became family. Everyone’s been to each other’s weddings. We’re watching them have kids now, grow their businesses, build lives. All while working in this demanding, beautiful, slightly insane world of weddings. Not just making a sustainable business, but one that sees them the whole way through.
So seeing them, even just once a year. It’s nostalgic in the best way.
And watching the next generation of award winners walk up to receive their work. That’s soul-satisfying in a way we didn’t expect.
The Panel: Business, Marketing, and the Gen Z Shift
We spoke on the business and marketing panel alongside some incredible people. Essie Chang, Jodie Andrews, Jonathan Chong, Johnson Wee, and Nagayuki Kojima.
As a business that’s consistently booked through the year, at a time when many in the wedding industry are struggling to fill their calendar, it felt like a relevant conversation to be part of.
We talked mostly about the next generation of clients.
Millennials have been our primary audience for a while now. We’ve gotten comfortable with how they think, what they want, how they make decisions. But businesses have to evolve. Gen Z is here. And they’re different.
We started our business in a world where there were no online ads. No sponsored posts. You followed your friends and your favourite creators and you actually saw their content. Social media feeds weren’t drowning in ads, suggested accounts, and endless scrolling engineered by corporations to optimise revenue.
There’s been a remarkable shift in how wedding professionals have to relate to couples to stay relevant. And there’s no single right way to connect with your audience. Whatever connects people to work you’re passionate about is worth doing.
But here’s what we wanted people in that room to hear: there are businesses thriving with minimal followers. Creatives succeeding who are completely unbothered by trending reels, entirely focused on client experience instead. The algorithm isn’t the only path.
We talked about this next generation being a generation of scrollers. Shorter attention spans. So get to the important information fast.
About how they’re not searching for wedding professionals. They’re discovering them. Getting to know you before they ever reach out.
About trust being almost more important than the portfolio.
It’s an important conversation right now. And we think it will only become more so.
The Awards Dinner
Then came the evening.
Sitting at the VIP table. When did that happen? When did we become VIPs in the wedding world? We still don’t quite know. But thank you. Every person at that table is like family. Brothers, mostly … because yes, we were the only women sitting there. That part isn’t new. But what is new is looking beyond our table and seeing more women in the room than ever before. Asia’s wedding industry was heavily male-dominated when we started. It still leans that way. But it’s changing. And being part of that shift, even just by being in the room, means something to us.
We presented some awards. Applauded as members moved up in rank. (Tracey has been a Grand Master for a number of years now, and Dee holds the Master rank.) And watching everyone receive their recognition, something stirred.
We want to enter again next year.
Not as judges. As entrants. Should we?
We haven’t felt that anxiety for a while. That vulnerability of putting your work up alongside the next generation and saying, here, judge this. But this next generation is so incredibly talented. And competing alongside them, putting ourselves out there once more. That feels right. And kind of exciting too.
The full day was beautifully captured in Essie Chang’s stunning video highlight. If you want to feel the energy of the room, watch it here.
AsiaWPA also published a full event recap and winners list worth reading through.
And if you’re curious about the DWP Congress Macao event coming up. We’re hoping the dates work. We really are.
