For those who have been reading this blog for sometime, you might know that I started out my career in the local film and television line. For many years, I edited TV programs, dramas, films, documentaries… and also directed some episodes of various television programs. Then in 2007, I began to explore the world of weddings through my camera lens. You can read more about my history here.

So how is this relevant to what I am about to say?

Well, basically, we will be involved in a new project involving an international travel channel that broadcasts to 120 countries worldwide. No, this doesn’t mean that we are no longer photographing weddings. Every now and then, I believe in doing new things that will help fuel creativity, and though it’s been a while since I directed a TV program, this is something I’m excited to do.

So… this is where you come in.

We are looking to feature weddings in Malaysia, Indonesia (Bali), Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore. For each episode, we will feature one local couple and one couple who are traveling to that destination for their wedding. If you are getting married in these locations within the months of May-August 2012 and would love to have your wedding featured internationally on television, do contact us!

Please email grace.tan [at] stories.my with these details:

1. Your name & your fiance’s name

2. The location and date of your wedding

3. Why you think your wedding should be featured (or perhaps some unique details about your wedding plans)

4. Include a photo of the both of you

And that’s it! This is not a contest. We will select the couple based on the best story that fits our requirements. We are excited to hear from you, so do email us soon!

It was in spring of 2009 that Eric first laid his eyes on Jennie. While I am sure he was praying during the church rosary prayer at Bullsbrook, Western Australia, Eric might have been a little distracted. Perhaps. Jennie was not a familiar face…plus she is a gorgeous girl! Eric soon found out that she was there from Surabaya, visiting her sister Anne for a week or two.

Thanks to social media and Mark Zuckerberg, they started connecting by messaging each other on Facebook, Yahoo messenger and MSN. In Eric’s words, “geek mode on!”. After a lot of prayers asking God for signs, Eric finally plucked up the courage to visit Jennie in Surabaya where she was finishing her medicine degree. That month of February 2010 was a milestone, because Eric and Jennie became boyfriend and girlfriend then.

During Christmas of 2010, Eric visited Jennie’s family in Malang, Indonesia and brought with him a Tiffany engagement ring. Unfortunately, Jennie discovered the ring accidentally in his camera bag, but he was quick to pop the question. She blushed. And then she said yes.

Be warned people, this is a super duper long post! It’s really hard for me to pick my favourites!

Amazingly, Eric has a tiger in his home. Uh, is this real, Eric?

Interestingly, the wrought iron stairs at Eric’s home and the stairs in Hotel Gran Mahakam is pretty similar.

Their ceremony was held at Santa Perawan Maria Ratu, a Catholic church in Jakarta. I love the photos taken by Alex below… before she walks into the church. Their wedding car was a gorgeous vintage Bel Air!

I love the modern design of this church. When Eric told me there’s heaps of natural light streaming into the church, I was really excited! I love photographing weddings in buildings that has lots of natural light. Lunch receptions in locations with large glass windows make me do a little leap too!

The Catholic wedding ceremony in Indonesia differed slightly from the ones I have photographed in Malaysia. It lasted longer (1.5 hours) and there were gifts presented to the bride and groom as well, halfway through the ceremony.

The universal language of love extends beyond boundaries. No matter what language you speak, love is the thing that connects us as humans. Eric and Jennie appreciated their parents and in-laws after the ceremony. I thought it was really meaningful and emotional, and something every married couple should adopt as practice during the wedding.

After the group photos, Eric and Jennie gathered everyone outside the church and released pigeons and balloons into the sky!

Every Chinese wedding is not complete without the tea ceremony.

Dinner was held at the Gran Mahakam hotel.

I love the reception area! Makes me want to pack one of these vintage dressers and bring them home to Malaysia!

Luggage tags is a practical idea as a wedding favour!

The other unique thing about Indonesian weddings is the dinner reception. I was surprised to find out that standing receptions is a norm in Indonesia. 600 guests came for the buffet dinner, stood and mingled in the hotel ballroom and came to the front to take photos with the bride and groom. There were a total of 2 large round tables.

It was really sweet that Eric’s English teacher flew all the way from Australia to attend the wedding.

And finally, the amazing group of wedding planners (including Eric’s sister Elsa) who made the wedding happen.

Eric and Jennie, the both of you will always have a special place in my heart! Thank you for your trust in us even though we did not meet face to face when you made the booking. I appreciate the friendship and kindness you have shown us. It’s clients like you that make our job so easy (and meaningful)! Hugs!!

Credits:

Photographers: Grace & Alex
Wedding Gown: Venisee Couture
Groom’s Attire: Pizzaro Sensation Design
Shoes: Rococo
Hair & Make Up: Michelle Touche
Decorations & Flowers:  Rumah Kampung
Stationery: Red Ribbon Gift
Cake: Clara Cake
Videography: Flawless Pictures
Location: Gereja Santa Perawan Maria Ratu & Gran Mahakam Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia
Wedding Planners: Vanessa & Retno

So Chinese New Year was a welcome break for me, and then came February with some other Malaysian holidays (did you know that Malaysia has one of the highest number of public holidays in the world? So yeah, if you love your holidays, do work in Malaysia).

So we kick started February with a celebration dinner with the team – to remember and give thanks for the success of 2011. Since it was Weiming and Mark’s birthday, we also had a cake!

Standing (L-R): Myself, Mun Tzin (Mark’s wife, who recently started her wedding planning business, Milestones), Felicia (our Digital Artist), Diane, Johan, Alex
Seated (L-R):  Zhi Ming (Intern), Weiming and Mark

In February I went to Jakarta to photograph the wedding of Eric and Jennie. That was the first Indonesian wedding I’ve ever photographed. I loved it! But that’s for another blog post (speaking of blog posts, I am absolutely delayed with many of them!).

After Jakarta, Alex and I flew to Jogjakarta for a short holiday. We didn’t really do too much there but one of the must-dos was visit Borobudur temple, of course!

Actually, I thought Borobudur would be a lot larger than what it actually is. I imagined huge Buddhas four times the size of a normal human being. (I guess you can tell how much research I did before going on the trip)

I love traveling off the beaten track to the villages and finding photographic opportunities like these. When I started my journey as a photographer, all my photos were from my travels to mostly Asian countries. To date, I’ve traveled to Vietnam, Turkey, Egypt, Myanmar, Qatar, UAE, Mauritius, New Zealand, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and naturally, other more commonly traveled places like Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, US, Italy, France, Prague and UK. Traveling is a main part of who I am as a person. I am constantly inspired by the world as I travel.

Next on my travel list: South Africa and South America.

Last weekend, I went on another trip. This time round, the entire Integricity team consisting of different companies under one roof, went for a company trip to Pangkor Laut resort. (Have I ever mentioned I love beach holidays too?) We had an awesome time there just enjoying each other’s company under the sun. It was a pity though that not everyone could join us on this trip.

One of the other things I totally enjoyed was the spa experience. It was so relaxing and the massage took away all the knots in my body! (To our clients, if you’d like to buy the Stories team any gifts, this would be ideal… hint hint).

Now that it’s nearing March (gasp, where did a quarter of the year go to?), I am geared for another awesome year with the team.  We are constantly looking for talent to join the Stories team – so if you are a videographer or photographer wanting to shoot with us, do email me at grace.tan [at] stories.my with your CV and list of gear.

Alright, if you’ve made it this far in the blog post, I am totally appreciative of you reading all my ramblings!

I think I panicked and gasped at the same time for a whole 1 minute.

Actually, Yee Xing’s sister Yee Ming had contacted me a few weeks before the ROM and asked if I was available to shoot the event and also some family portraits on that day. I was mentally prepared for a family shoot but wasn’t prepared for such an elaborate event. What made matters interesting was that there were 2 other videographers hired on that day, plus one other photographer from Singapore. Can you imagine all of us trying to squeeze on that tiny platform in the middle of the pool, including the bride, groom & wedding officiant? I had to do a lot of creative framing on that day . :)

In the end, everything turned out well and I am pleased with the outcome of the images.

Colin & Yee Xing, I hope you like these images and I look forward to your wedding banquet!

Yee Xing was one really calm bride. While we were getting ready in the room, her zip actually broke and we couldn’t zip up her wedding gown! Her make up artist and my assistant Yih Wen was busy trying to sew up her wedding gown, and everything was delayed by 45 minutes. But through it all, she was smiling, completely unfrazzled! Of course, that gave me more time to take portraits of Colin!

Some family photos before the ROM starts.

Before she walked down the aisle, Yee Xing actually sang a beautiful song for Colin. So sweet!

Another family photo for the road.

Credits:
Photographer: Grace, assisted by Yih Wen
Location: Capella, Singapore 

I experienced a few new things while covering this wedding. Firstly, I traveled about 100+km around Singapore. For real. Ian checked the odometer in his car, and it was a long drive! We literally rounded Singapore… traveled from Bishan to Jurong West to Bishan to Punggol back to Jurong West, then to M Hotel in the city. Phew…

The other thing I experienced was photographing the bridal pick up games in the narrow HDB corridors.

Finally, it was the first time I saw a pink London cab – the one and only in Singapore!

Some of my regular blog readers might have seen Kevin and Katherine’s (also known as Feng & Shan) pre-wedding photos in Nikoi Island before. About a year before the wedding, Kevin and Katherine made the trip to KL to discuss their wedding plans and book me for their wedding day shoot. (Actually, I think it was just an excuse for them to eat at A&W which I found out later that they love!).

Since that meeting, we’ve been on a great journey together… as clients and now, friends. It’s really awesome to be able to photograph a client before the wedding day (pre-wedding) so that we could get to know each other better. It breaks the ice, and both parties would feel more at ease with each other on the wedding day!

You know a couple is really well organized when they planned their wedding 2 years from the proposal date. They had the perfect sunset at Japalama Resort, Tioman, perfect row of surprises from Kevin… which led to the perfect surprise proposal in 2009! While they dined under the stars that night, Kevin gave Katherine a series of envelopes to open in sequence. He was a little worried initially that she would see his bulging pockets but she didn’t notice a thing!

So one after another, she opened the envelopes, and he placed the messages next to their soft toy mascots for her to read… combined, the message read… “Baby! Happy 66th month anniversary!”

Finally, he gave her the last envelope, and while she moved towards the light to read what it said, Kevin promptly went on his knees, took out his proposal ring… and verbalized his love…

The words said, “Will you marry me?”

And so, the journey began…

Definitely an interesting one for Kevin, and for the guys! (I have to let you know that they tried to dance… they did… )

Love the little customizations that were done for the wedding, including these t-shirts! Each pig had a different personality, specific to the wearer, and was drawn by one of the guys! My favourite is the one in the paintball outfit.

The highlight of the dinner was the 2nd entrance… which was also a surprise dance performance for the audience! It was really great seeing Kevin and Katherine perform, especially after they had practiced hard for this day!

Congratulations to the both of you! Do come back and visit us here in KL more often… you can do some shopping and eat at A&W! :) Wishing you lots of exciting moments ahead and more perfect sunrises / sunsets to come!

I am really looking forward to the Christmas holidays though, as that will be the first break I am getting in many months. I will be planning for next year and also trying to sort out everything for the new office… we will be moving into SS2 mall early next year! Once the studio is opened, we will have some promotions, so do keep a look out on this blog!

Just as a little teaser, here are some images I took yesterday at the gorgeous Capella Hotel in Sentosa, Singapore. Definitely one of the prettiest outdoor locations I’ve seen so far!

Have a great Christmas season and happy shopping!

Some months back, I blogged about my travel to Nikoi Island for a pre-wedding photo shoot. I met Kevin & Katherine (also known as Ruifeng & Peishan) about a year ago when they traveled from Singapore to KL just to meet up with me. Katherine is an avid supporter of my work which I am grateful for. :) She comments on so many of my Facebook updates which is really really nice! Kevin & Katherine flew me into Singapore for their wedding on the 22nd of October, and prior to that, their pre-wedding shoot in Nikoi island.

I must say, I have a weakness for beaches, the sea and islands. Over the next few weeks, you’ll find a number of postings on the blog related to beach weddings – we photographed so many over the past few months! Back to Kevin & Katherine’s pre-wedding shoot – this was a memorable event for me. Actually, the trip itself was an adventure. Alex and I had to fly to Singapore, catch a ferry to Bintan island, take a 45 minute taxi ride across Bintan to another jetty, hop onto another ferry for 30 minutes, and then we reached Nikoi island! Phew! But it was worth it! I love the seclusion of this island, plus I could walk around it in 20 minutes. Alex and I had a private chalet to ourselves, thanks to Kevin & Katherine’s generosity.

To be precise, the chalet looked like this:

Since Katherine loves details, she planned and transported all these items for her photo shoot in Nikoi.

The first time Katherine laid eyes on Kevin was during their Mathematics lecture back in National University of Singapore…

Katherine: To be exact I only caught sight of his back more than his looks and that was only because my male friend said there is a good-looking guy sitting in front of us. My first impression? Oh my goodness! How can he be good-looking?! I thought he looked rather unfriendly! Haha!

But from then on, I noticed him all the time since we were in the same faculty and course. I decided to do a search on the then-popular Friendster and found him. From there, I realized that Kevin was actually from the same junior college as me and decided to get to know him by sending him a private message through Friendster.

Kevin: One fine day, I got a message from *tadah!* Katherine via Friendster, and I was surprised to find out that we were both from the same junior college! With this common bond, we sent a couple of private messages and started chatting with her on ICQ. Somehow, we seemed to connect really well and enjoyed our late-night online chats. It felt like we were old friends rather than two individuals who barely knew each other for less than a month!

First impressions? Tall. Slim. Somehow, a little different from the other ladies in our course, but I didn’t really think too much about it at that time. Love at first sight? Definitely not for us, I guess! One thing led to another. We met up on campus, went on a date, and the rest is history.

I promise you, the skies are real!

The next morning, we woke up early to catch the sunrise. Our make up artist Cherry had a hard time doing her make up in a dim chalet at 4am but she did a great job.

Kevin & Katherine, thanks for your hospitality. I felt pampered while I was there at Nikoi for our shoot. Glad the weather was great! I had a good time in Singapore over the weekend too. Hugs and kisses!

* Images of Holiday Inn Resort, Kandooma Maldives taken from hotel website.

If you’ve dreamed of traveling to Maldives and having your portraits taken on this beautiful island, this is the chance for you!

This promotional rate of USD3,400 includes:

- A 3D2N stay for 2 persons in the Sea View Beach House at Holiday Inn Resort, Kandooma Maldives, inclusive daily buffet breakfast at Kandooma Cafe (excluding beverages) and return airport transfers
- 6 hours of pre or post wedding photography by Grace
- Unlimited number of images on DVD (printable up to 4R size)
- DVD slideshow of selected images
- 15″ x 10″ classic album (20 pages)
- 15″ x 10″ canvas art print
- Wedding gown from That Special Occasion
- Accommodation for photographer

This promotion is valid for ONE couple only. Do note that the rate does not include flights (for the couple & photographer).

- Valid till 1 February 2012
- Reservation in advance required and room is subject to availability
- Not valid during peak season 20 December 2011 to 10 January 2012 and 19 January to 31 January 2012

The resort looks amazing! Do check out more details on the resort online and read reviews on Trip Advisor. Email me at grace.tan [at] stories.my to make a booking before 31st October 2011.

Oh the 2 weeks in this magical land just felt too short. There’s just so much to see in Turkey! I had an amazing experience, despite the cold winter breeze, fingers frozen from holding my camera body, feet soaked from the wet snow…

Thank you, Edwin & Dawn.

I am really glad you took us along on this whirlwind trip to the land where bright coloured lamps abound, funny looking structures rise from the ground, and roasted chestnuts (kestane) on carts line the streets all day long.

Edwin & Dawn wanted to travel to Turkey after their wedding for some post wedding portraits. Dawn visisted Turkey some time back, and absolutely fell in love with it. I am still amazed at her Turkish vocabulary! Everywhere we went, she would mention a Turkish word and people would instantly warm up to her. She even managed to communicate what she wanted for her hair and make up in a smattering of Turkish to the make up artist. Dawn brings such joy and a sense of warmth everywhere she went. The cold weather didn’t make a difference.

Edwin, on the other hand, had never visited Turkey prior to this trip. He was the secure and calm person who would carry all the bags for Dawn, and willingly do whatever she suggested. You know that he loves Dawn deeply by his acts of kindness. Edwin, you are truly a gem.

When we traveled to Cappadocia, I felt so amazed at the landscape there. While in Cappadocia, I heard this piece of music that totally complemented the landscape. It’s just surreal. I instantly fell in love with it. It was just perfect for the images that we created in this trip. From Istanbul to Cappadocia… from the Ayasofya to the Blue Mosque to Eminonoue… presenting… Edwin & Dawn.

The underground cities of Derinkuyu.

The temperature in Turkey was about 0-5 degrees, but Dawn was brave enough to step out in the cold without her coat most times…