Grace Tan

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Shanghai Love: Yee Jenn & Kristin

Photographer: Grace
Make Up & Hair: Michelle Touche
Cheongsam: Emerald Brilliant
Wedding Gown: Pretty in White

Last year, I traveled to Egypt with my husband Alex, his sister, Sarah and her good friend Kristin. Though I have known Kristin for quite a few years, it was only during this trip that I got to know her a lot better. That’s when I discovered that Kristin does not really like to be outdoors, and that she must have chocolates everyday. Like EVERYDAY. We had fun during our trip, and this year, I had the pleasure of shooting her pre-wedding photos, and soon, wedding as well.

Yee Jenn loves photography and he was really excited about the shoot. I was thrilled when they came up with the idea of shooting in an old cafe with a Shanghai theme! This famous cafe, called Yut Kee Coffee Shop, belonged to Kristin’s uncle, so permission granted, we headed over to the heart of KL for a fun time. On a normal working day, you would have a hard time finding a table to sit at, but the entire shop was closed that day so we had the whole space to ourselves!

Kristin has watched many, many episodes of America’s Next Top Model, so she knew exactly what she had to do to come up with a great pose! And boy, did they pose! The both of them look so good together!

Do you know the kaya rolls here are the best? It’s just sooooo delicious! Needless to say, we ate the props after the shoot!

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

Wai Kien + Jean

Photographers: Grace & Johan, assisted by Eric Ooi
Make Up: Lee Kuen
Wedding Gown Boutique: Lasposa Bridal Gallery
Dinner Reception: One World Hotel, Petaling Jaya
Dinner Entertainment/Band: Love Story

Wai Kien and Jean have seen each other grow, literally. They have been childhood friends since kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and then college. I guess Wai Kien had lots of time to admire Jean from afar! Especially since she is a gorgeous girl. But their relationship only turned from friendship to courtship during their time in Taylor’s college, when they started to carpool to college together. Then a looong four years of long distance relationship as they left to study in different continents.

Even those four years couldn’t keep them apart, and now Wai Kien and Jean are happily married childhood buddies.

I had so many favourites from this shoot, I can’t help but post waay too many photos! In every shoot, I look out for special things in the couple’s home that can be photographed. Like this vintage looking cassette player/radio that is in Jean’s room.

Or this gorgeous mirror reflecting Jean’s beauty.

Or this awesome rattan chair that is begging to be sat on.

Grace Tan In Life, Musings

My first digital camera

Here’s some of the stacks and stacks of boxes we painstakingly handpacked! * iPhone photos

We rummaged through the cupboards, we packed our belongings into boxes and we taped them shut. Four years into marriage, our life as we knew, was changing radically. A new dawn peeks through the ominous clouds, as we prepare for the big move.

Some events in life are unforeseen. Some events are the catalyst for greater things. After marriage and renovating our current sanctuary, as we call it, Alex and I are moving to a larger space – one that will house a mini-theatre cum consultation space so that we can pamper our prospects and clients. But that is not the core reason for moving, it’s to provide shelter for my elderly parents in their twilight years.

My mum loves the mustard at Ikea, so we bring them there once in awhile as a “treat”! * mobile phone photo

In between boxes, Alex pulled out a relic from days gone by that triggered so many memories – from holidays on tropical islands to backpacking trips to fun outings with friends. We found our first digital camera! Not one, but two of them! Here’s the story.

Alex had been interested in photography and bought a Sony DSC-S75, based on the recommendation of a friend. It was only a 3MP camera, but it had fully manual functions and was very much an awesome piece of wizardry. On a seemingly pleasant day, after he discovered the joys of diving, he bought an underwater housing from eBay and hit the salty waters of Tioman Island with vigour. *cue horror music*

As you’re probably imagining by now, and are probably right, the housing failed to perform and it flooded. One thousand five hundred ringgit vanished, just like that. After giving him an earful (sorry darling!), we rushed out to buy… the exact same model! The camera was great and so were the photos. Squint a little at the photo and pick out the size of the ever so spacious memory card we had!

Grace Tan In Life, Musings

A dog with a message

Nowadays, it’s really hip to be green. Everyone is into doing environmentally friendly stuff, like in our office, we try to recycle plastic, tin and paper, and also do little things like making sure we use tupperwares or plates to tapao or pack our food, instead of using the usual styrofoam containers. We turn off lights or power switches if we are not using them, and choose fans over air-conditioning (when the weather permits!! This is more for me at home).

Soooo… I was really tickled when I saw this dog, named Boy, at a recent wedding I shot, with this green message. Makes me want to own a dog so that I can flash cool messages like that!

Next up… he’ll be in another outfit for the wedding… but that’s for another blog post.

Grace Tan In Malay Weddings, Weddings

Along & Nora’s Engagement

Photographer: Johan
Make Up: Khir Khalid
Decorations & Flowers: Flora Etc
Stationery: Emma K

If you ever have been to Whisk Espresso Bar & Bake Shop in Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang, you might have seen Nora before. Or her entire family, for that matter. Nora and her sister Emma are frequently seen at the counter, as the quaint little cafe belongs to their family. It’s really hard work and time consuming running a cafe like this, because they do everything from baking the cakes themselves to serving customers at the shop.

But Nora found time to get herself engaged. And on the wonderful evening of the 10th of October (she told me that she doesn’t like the date 10.10.10… I wonder who selected the engagement date), Nora was engaged to Along.

The engagement ceremony was held in Nora’s beautiful home – I love how the home is lit up with all these candles. As I was in Singapore on the same date photographing someone else, Johan was at Nora’s home taking all the shots you see below.