Grace Tan

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

The Miracle of Marriage

I read this article from a friend’s blog, and unfortunately, I do not know who to credit, but it’s such a great article that I felt I needed to share it here. It’s worth your 5 minutes reading this article on marriage. Deep down in my heart, I feel truly satisfied and happy that I married Alex. In almost random moments throughout the day, I tell Alex that I love him. I break into a silly grin when I hear him say the same thing… almost like young kids in love.

6 years of marriage and counting… Love you, dear!

PARTNERS AND MARRIAGE by Eduardo Jose E. Calasanz

I have never met a man who didn’t want to be loved. But I have seldom met a man who didn’t fear marriage. Something about the closure seems constricting, not enabling. Marriage seems easier to understand for what it cuts out of our lives than for what it makes possible within our lives. When I was younger this fear immobilized me. I did not want to make a mistake. I saw my friends get married for reasons of social acceptability, or sexual fever, or just because they thought it was the logical thing to do. Then I watched, as they and their partners became embittered and petty in their dealings with each other.

I looked at older couples and saw, at best, mutual toleration of each other. I imagined a lifetime of loveless nights and bickering days and could not imagine subjecting myself or someone else to such a fate. And yet, on rare occasions, I would see old couples that somehow seemed to glow in each other’s presence. They seemed really in love, not just dependent upon each other and tolerant of each other’s foibles. It was an astounding sight, and it seemed impossible. How, I asked myself, can they have survived so many years of sameness, so much irritation at the other’s habits? What keeps love alive in them, when most of us seem unable to even stay together, much less love each other?

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Outdoor Weddings, Testimonials, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Wedding Video Highlight: Roger & Cheryl

It was a beautiful day to get married at Passion Road. Tears rolled, hugs were given and laughter filled the air. Heartfelt, handwritten vows were uttered by Roger and Cheryl… deep down, our own hearts swelled with love. This is why we do what we do. To record moments like these…

Roger & Cheryl’s Wedding Highlights from Stories on Vimeo.

View their wedding photos here.

“We are very very happy with how the same day edit pictures and video turned out. The way your team worked on our wedding day was truly impressive and very professional. We especially want to thank you for the energy and enthusiasm that you brought to the shoot, the way that you were directing us on how to pose and your creative ideas really shows in the pictures. We sometimes forget that you are pregnant and i think sometimes you forget too, when you were moving furniture and items out of the shots. The level of commitment that we have seen from you and your team in order to get the best shot is truly amazing, from your team being exposed to the heat and rays of the sun, to lying down on the floor or grass to get the best angles, to scouting for the best spots, and directing us not so photogenic people to look good in your shots.

On behalf of Roger, he would also like to say thanks for your patience during the shoots. As he was quite tense but you were always there to remind him to smile and relax.

We cannot express how much we love the same day edit photos and how much we appreciate the hard work that your team have put in.”

– Cheryl –

Credits:

Videography: Euwing & Win Nee
Photographers: Grace, Mark & Weiming
Location: Passion Road, KL
Wedding gown & shoes: Pretty in White
Evening gown & bridesmaid’s dresses: Cotton Fancies
Groom’s attire: Domanchi
Make up & hair: Aivy Yong
Decorations & Flowers: Passion Road
Stationery: DIY
Cake: Dolce

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Life, Musings, Promotions, Relationships

Portraits for Pixels: Stop Violence Against Women

The team at Stories is making a stand to stop violence against women! Together with a few other photographers under the branding of Bloom, we have decided to participate in a campaign that fights for this cause.

“Portraits for Pixels” is a collaborative fundraising campaign with photographers worldwide to raise funds for The Pixel Project, a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise awareness, funds and volunteer power for the cause to end violence against women (VAW) worldwide.

The “Portrait for Pixels” campaign involves participating professional photographers to hold special “Portrait for Pixels” charity portrait sessions in their community where they will take family/individual portraits/headshots for a one-off special price.

In support of the Pixel Project, Bloom will be running the “Portrait for Pixels” campaign for the month of September, 2012. For every “Portraits for Pixels”shoot, RM100 will be donated to the Pixel Project and photos of the campaign will be published online to raise awareness about VAW.

We hope that you will stand alongside us and help us make a difference to those in need. Do email us if you’d like to book a portrait session with us. Thank you in advance for your love!

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Weddings

A Winter Themed Wedding: Aldrian & Mei Mei

Their love story began as a chance meeting – two strangers enrolled as classmates back in 2001 during their A-Level studies.

“Aldrian was just hanging out with his cousin, Johnny, and refused to enter the classroom on his first day. – no pretty girls lah – he said. Minutes later, I brisked by with a friend, feeling truly nervous about my first day of college. As I passed Aldrian, I noticed that he was quite handsome too – but you don’t say these things out loud of course! Not long after, Aldrian sat next to me in that class…. and we have always been side by side ever since. Throughout the years we have truly become each other’s best friend and soul-mate.

After college, we came to the UK together to further our studies. Finally, after 10 years – after completing my PhD and all that hoo-ha of trying to settle down in London, we thought that the time was right. And it was just perfect.

We now live together in our very own love nest in Canary Wharf with our baby rabbit, Bijoux. Bliss :)”

– Mei Mei –

I got to know Aldrian and Mei Mei through a friend of mine, Adelene, who was Aldrian’s sister. I had never met them before, and all correspondence was done online, until they came back for the wedding itself. Since they were not in KL, it helped that they had a wedding planner to coordinate everything. I first heard about the winter wedding theme from Mun Tzin of Milestones… and I wondered how it would really look like. Frankly, I was a little hesitant at first, as coloured lighting in a ballroom can either work for you or against you. I have photographed some events with extremely strong multi-coloured lighting shining on stage, and the results… well, let’s say I was less than pleased with it.

Some colours tend to bleed onto skin tones, making people look overly purple or green. I was quite concerned that the light would be too strong and we would end up with shots that look like we were at a Smurf convention (sorry, Mei Mei!). But when I arrived at the ballroom that day, I was pleased to see that the blue light was not direct lighting, and that the stage had yellow light, which added warmth to the skin tones! So I loved the end results!

Be prepared, this is a super long post with heaps of photos! Sorry if it is taking too long to load, but I can’t help myself!

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

Happy birthday papa!

My dad turns 79 today. It almost felt like yesterday that I sat on his lap as a child. I remember those moments when I refused to go to bed at night even when I was exhausted – I would pretend to be awake in front of the TV, but then he knew better. There were times when he picked me up and carried me up the stairs to my bedroom, and I was probably about 20+kg at that time! Not a bad feat for a 5 foot man whose frame is pretty small too.

I also remember moments when I was studying for my exams and would stress out completely about it, but his words to me were… “Just do your best.” He was proud when I did well, but when I didn’t do so well, he would just say, “Just do better next time.”

My dad loved playing golf. Once, he got a hole-in-one and proudly hung his certificate on the wall of our home to show it off to everyone. There was one time too, when he swung his golf club a little over-enthusiastically inside our living room and accidentally knocked the chandelier, breaking it into a million pieces! (don’t ask me why he was doing that INSIDE the living room).

Unfortunately for my mum, my dad was a typical old-school ‘man’ who never really lifted a finger in the kitchen. My mum was a great cook but the kitchen was her domain, so she never got much help there. My mum’s a workaholic (just like how I am now!) so I do remember instances when he would lecture her into taking things easy and not stress out in the kitchen. Especially after she began having heart palpitations, but would still wake up at 5am to make hundreds of Chinese New Year cookies to fulfill the orders made by friends and neighbours.

Since I am the 3rd and final child in the family (with a huge age gap between my 2 older siblings!), I got away with a lot of things and was pampered as I was growing up. I used it to my advantage a lot (and also, though embarrassing to admit, I had temper tantrums too when I didn’t get my way). I don’t remember the rotan (cane) very much, like how my other siblings described their childhood, but now that I think back about it, I must have been a handful.

Due to my dad’s Alzheimer’s, I don’t really talk very much about these things to him anymore. He doesn’t realize it’s his birthday today, but just because he doesn’t remember, doesn’t mean that he cannot feel. So we’ll pop a small candle on Alex’s home made brownie later and sing a birthday song to him.

* Photos by Anna-Rina