Grace Tan

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio

3 Generations: Yam Family

It was a fun photo session for the ladies of the Yam family. Candy and her sister Ann decided that they wanted to capture some moments together with their mother in this session. Together with Ann’s daughter, the photo session brought together 3 generations of women in one shared experience. Ann was the mastermind behind the coordinated outfits which made it look like an editorial shoot for a magazine! With their long legs, they certainly could pass off as professional models. (By the way, having your hair and make up done professionally makes a huge difference to your images!) Thank you for bringing your family to our studio, Candy!

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Wedding at Wesley Methodist Church, Seremban: Jonathan & Lyn Yen

On the day of Jonathan and Lyn Yen’s wedding, family and friends gathered in Seremban… all ready to dance right into Lyn’s family home and pick her up for church. Jonathan’s heng tai entourage consisted mostly of his female friends, and they were totally into the role… with their matching #sokhooyetsowong t-shirts, cool sunglasses and tough attitude. On the other hand, Lyn’s bridesmaids were in beautiful two toned blue dresses. Lyn’s gorgeous wedding gown was designed by one of our previous brides, Katrina who was totally emotional seeing Lyn in it!

There were a lot of interesting ‘drama’ happening on this wedding day… from Jon innocently leaving the bridal bouquet in the freezer before the wedding day, to discovering a broken button on his tux, to someone accidentally taking one of the groomsmen’s shoes leaving him stranded just before church…thank God there were solutions to everything!

Most importantly, thanks to Lyn’s grandmother and brother, they managed to find a spare button, sewed it onto Jon’s tux and rescued the day. In church, Jon was tearing as Lyn walked down the aisle… he was just so overcome with emotion…though Lyn and his friends broke out in laughter as a response to that. I just felt, “Aaw… this is really one soft, tender hearted man, just like a giant teddy bear!”

We had a great time in Seremban that day, and then also 2 weeks later in Sofitel, KL for the 2nd half of their wedding. If you would like to read more of their story and view their pre-wedding photos, please click here.

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

The Nasimuddin family: Raya portraits

When you add 8 young children below the age of 8 together in a large group portrait, chaos is sure to happen. Between threats, bribery, monkey calls (I was doing the monkey impression), we managed to get the attention of children. I even had to don my special lens accessory to attract them (look at the last photo to see what I mean). Between tears, shouts of “I don’t want to take a photo” and “Look here!”, we managed to get this…

We have a few versions of the group photo, but here’s what really took place behind the scenes of the Naza family’s Raya portraits.

We are really honoured to be part of their annual Raya photos for the 3rd year in a row, thanks to Datuk Wira SM Faisal. I also got to taste the delicious rendang made by his mum once again. This really close knit family is a joy to photograph. There’s just so much love and laughter in this family.

Grace Tan In Beautiful Everyday, Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Mum’s the Best!

In May, we ran a Mother’s Day contest with Eka Roots to celebrate that beautiful woman in our lives. It was wonderful to read the many entries, sharing their thoughts on why their mum deserved to win our Pamper session for 2. But alas, we could only choose one winner… and that was Siew Keng and her mum. This is what she wrote about her mother:

Turning 80 this year, she looks 20 years younger. Her youthful look is because she’s filled with so much joy and love that constantly is poured out to those around her. That’s her love language, acts of service. She never tires to help those in need of care, love and companionship. She’ll run to the market to buy the best produce to boil nourishing soup for those who are sick, she takes the effort to visit her lonely or sick neighbors, she mobilises her other friends to visit the less mobile friends.
Mum, thank you for being my role model. A woman that has such a big and caring heart, even right at this age ripe old age. So selfless and compassionate. Filled with life and cheekiness. I will try to be more like you, a people-centric person.

Mum’s been the pillar of strength in this family as she single-handedly brought the both of us up, growing up, we were never missing out on anything in life. She’s wise, full of perseverance, has tenacity, organised, focused. She’s also caring, proactive, God-centered, loving, selfless, generous. Both our parents have given us such a strong legacy to exemplify. We are blessed.

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

Life’s Precious Moments

There were a lot of changes in my life over the past one month. On the 1st of May, while en-route on a company trip to Club Med, I got the news that my mom was struggling with her last breath at home. It was over WhatsApp that I said my goodbye to her. She was 81. Her death did not come as a surprise, because the month before that, my sister and I were going in and out of hospital, trying to rescue her infected toe that was turning into gangrene. Towards the last few weeks of her life, she had a lung and bladder infection, and the doctor basically just told us to be prepared.

My mum, looking very hip then! And the photo below was taken with my dad years ago when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Read a bit more about his journey here.