Grace Tan

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Life, Musings, Running a Business

Merry Christmas from all at Integricity

The past few weeks have been filled with wedding and family shoots as everyone takes advantage of the holiday season to get some portraits done or get married! I have so many photos to share from the past few months but sadly, have been delayed in getting them posted online. 2015 has been a good year for us despite the implementation of the GST affecting everyone’s spending. Together with the team, we have photographed 45 wedding couples and 101 families. I thank God for an amazing team as always, spear headed by the ever awesome key people at Stories… Weiming, Jamie and Chi Yin. Not forgetting others like Diane, Nigel, Johan, Delvin, Choo Cherk and our latest intern, Hui En.

Do view our Facebook or Vimeo page for the latest updates in our work! In the meantime, our group of companies, Integricity, wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

MerryChristmasIntegricity2015

By the way, have a look at some really cool DIY Christmas gift ideas in a jar at this site! Have a great holiday, everyone!

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

Wedding of Wei Zhen & Jaclyn

Sumo. That just about sums up the fun session Wei Zhen and his heng tais had while getting to Jaclyn at her residence. I was just so tickled at this giant ‘blow-up’ sumo outfit that the guys had to use and dance to! (You HAVE to watch the video above). It was lots of great fun. Jaclyn looked stunning in her Vera Wang gown and Christian Louboutin shoes. Her attention to detail was just amazing at this wedding. Lots of little finishing touches, including the Lego representative of the both of them in front of the Sydney Opera House. Here’s a glimpse into their lives as they share their story with us.

Their Story

Jaclyn’s Account: The first time I met Wei Zhen was in primary school. We were in the same school and tuition class for 3 years but unfortunately due to Wei Zhen’s short memory span, he doesn’t remember anything. We briefly met again at a dinner with a group of friends right after we graduated from university (with pictures as proof) and again Wei Zhen doesn’t remember either. He finally realises the presence of his soon-to-be wife 16 years later in a ‘lovely’ (notice my sarcasm here) suburb of Sydney known as Woolloomooloo (it is Sydney’s Red Light District btw). He claimed that he had been trying to go after me for a year but I didn’t notice (revenge for not remembering me for more than 16 years). So now I am stuck with him for the next 16 years (or more) of my life haha!

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Wei Zhen’s Account: It was love at first sight when I first met Jaclyn at my “lovely” apartment at Woolloomooloo. We were introduced by two of our very close friends, Chun Yang and Siau Yun. Going after Jaclyn requires careful and meticulous planning. Winning Jaclyn’s heart is a gradual process. I asked Jaclyn out for dinner, but the response was neutral. I tried the “what about us going for coffee together” trick, the response was also neutral. OK, I have to up my game on this, as I’m going nowhere. I bought an ice cream maker and decided to “test” it at Jaclyn’s place. She said yes, and invited me over to her place. My initial thoughts: YES LA, SCORED. Turned out, as soon as I entered Jaclyn’s apartment, her best friend emerged from behind and went, HI GUYS! Nevertheless, 1 year later, I succeeded. I finally sealed the deal by buying her 2 chocolate tarts from her favourite bakery. Everything else is history, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with the woman I love: Jaclyn Goh.

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Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

A book-themed Pre-wedding: Alvin & Lynette

20150818_PRE-WEDDING_ALVIN_LYNETTE_0173 It’s a bookish kind of love. Sort of. Well, how do we put it… she loves books, and he doesn’t (other than comic books). Lynette is one book-reading machine – she can devour 3 books in a day! Lynette’s always nagging Alvin to read more books other than comics, so it was quite fun to illustrate this dynamic relationship through images. I love how Lynette also made her entire bouquet out of comic books (poor Alvin – I hope it didn’t come from his beloved collection!).

20150818_PRE-WEDDING_ALVIN_LYNETTE_0184 Other than this book connection, Alvin and Lynette have another geeky connection – their shared love of Star Wars. We love their customised t-shirts and their entire make shift ‘campsite’ – representative of the idea that they’ll go camping together one day. Alvin loves the night sky and twinkly little lights, but somehow has never gone camping before. Lynette, on the other hand, has had countless camping experiences, especially when she was studying in Australia. So I guess an indoor camping trip to our studio would have to do for now! (sorry, we didn’t manage to paste the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling that day).

There’s so much about this couple that we love… but we’ll leave their story for their wedding blog post, which will happen next year, as they are getting married this January!

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits, Relationships

My heart overflows

When they laugh, I laugh with them. When they are sick, my heart goes out to them. How can one human love another so much? I guess God had to show the extent of His love for us through little children… I never fully understood it until I became a mother. Just the past one week, my kids have been really ill. It breaks my heart to see them suffer, yet I am so humoured when I experience little scenarios like these…

At 3am, when my daughter has high fever, she can still consume her orange Paracetamol, give a thumbs up and say…”NICE!”

When my son cries his heart out because he doesn’t want to take his medicine, his sister cheers him on by saying “You can DO IT, you can DO IT!”

They are so funny. While my children mean the world to me, it is my aim to be balanced in all my relationships.

I choose not to neglect my husband since it is so easy to do so after the children come. I remind myself that he needs to be shown love too, so I need to make an intentional effort to fill his emotional tank.

I choose to maintain my friendships with other people… friends who were very close in the past (before we had kids). If I end up living in my own island (where the world revolves around my family) and lose all other friendships, then I only have myself to blame.

I choose to care for my extended family and be grateful for all the things they have done for my family.

My heart is full.

20150925_FAMILY_PORTRAITS_ALEX_GRACE_013 Thank you Jamie for these wonderful photos. Love how you have immortalised so many moments for our family.

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Grace Tan In Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

A Ceylonese & Malayalee Wedding: Vijay & Anuja

20150829_WEDDING_VIJAY_ANUJA_0864 It was Vijay’s tall frame with his broad shoulders that caught Anuja’s attention. They were studying their A-levels at the Methodist College Kuala Lumpur, and it was somehow fate that connected Vijay and Anuja together. Fate that came through the hands of Thanuja, Anuja’s twin sister. She was the best of friends with Vijay, and through her, Anuja got to know Vijay. According to Vijay, “Somehow, Anuja caught my attention as she was the lesser evil, quiet and quite shy!” (insert cheeky emoticon!)

Ten years later, they tied the knot.

Anuja said, “We wanted a traditional Southern Indian wedding (I a Malayalee and him being Ceylonese) that was celebrated in private with close family and friends. For the temple decorations, I wanted jasmine and marigold with a peach and gold cream colour so we worked around that theme with my wedding planner. For the reception, it was dark red roses with white hues.

Ensure you do your research before hand. We did ours at least one year prior to our wedding and knew what we wanted and where we would and would NOT compromise in terms of cost. For eg ,we booked our wedding venues a year before the wedding as to avoid the GST that was to be implemented April 2015. We had friends and relatives all over the world that came for our wedding- London, Australia, Bali, USA, Spain, Mauritius, New Zealand – so ensure you spend quality time with your family and loved ones and enjoy every moment! It is, after all, once in a lifetime!

Practicing the Viennese waltz (first dance as husband -wife) from scratch one week before our wedding reception was the highlight of the wedding for me. We did a crash course but it was really fun and allowed the both of us some personal time and a breather from the crazy wedding preparations.”

20150829_WEDDING_VIJAY_ANUJA_0002 What a fun wedding it was. Have a look at their wedding video highlights and you’ll see what we mean!