Musings

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Malay Weddings, Musings, News, Outdoor Weddings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Running a Business, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Wedding Tea & Talk: 27th April 2014

weddingteatalk

Come and join us for an informal tea session this 27th April and meet some amazing wedding vendors while you’re at it. We’ll be sharing some tips for couples planning their wedding and you can ask us anything at all during this gathering! Light refreshments, tea and coffee will be served. Here are the list of vendors that will be there on that day, other than ourselves.

Bridal Makeup, Hair & Nails – Bridal Glam
Wedding Planning – Milestones
Wedding Jewellery – OE Fine Jewellery
Wedding & Evening Gowns – That Special Occasion
Cupcakes – 12 Cupcakes
Cookies – Sugar Art Diva
Ice-Cream – Delizio

Please email Lee Kuen at [email protected] to book your seat.

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Musings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Tips + Ideas

Behind the Scenes: Pre-wedding of Adrian & Pei Hwa

It’s always fun doing videos like these because it gives clients an insight on what goes on at our pre-wedding shoot. Before a portrait session, most of my conversations with potential clients sound like this:

“I don’t know how to pose.”
“I hate taking photos.” (usually the men say this!)
“My fiance doesn’t know how to smile.” (the women usually say this!)
“Or he’s very kaku – read: stiff and unnatural”
“We’re just ordinary people.”

Perfect! That makes all of our clients! Honestly, you shouldn’t feel insecure or worried, but be assured that the professional photographer you hired will make you feel comfortable and look great. We know it’s probably the first ever professional photo shoot you’ve ever done. And if you’re female, you probably have 20 dress options because you can’t decide what to wear for the session.

Chill.

We’ll help you plan, and on that day, we’ll just have fun. :) Trust me, even the kaku guys end up looking awesome!

View Adrian and Pei Hwa’s pre-wedding photos here.

Credits: Filmed & Edited by: Felicia

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Chinese Weddings, For Photographers, Musings, Portraits, Tips + Ideas, Weddings

Behind the Scenes: Making the Most of Every Location

Sometimes I think of myself as not just a photographer, but also a furniture removal specialist, a clutter-free agent, and a lighting consultant. It’s very normal to find less-than-ideal situations at every wedding. Naturally, everyone would love to photograph at beautiful locations and resorts, but most times, I find myself in truly-loved family homes. Read: It usually includes lots of collectibles and objects that have accumulated through the years.

So, I’ve done all of these and more:

1. Moved furniture for the tea ceremony so that we can maximise on better light.
2. Packed clothing into cupboards, hidden rubbish bins, and the rogue red polka dotted mat.
3. Removed curtains because the colour clashes with the wall colour in the bride’s room.
4. Posed couples and families in the compound amidst shoe cabinets and vehicles. Just like these 2 photos of the bride and her bridesmaid were taken in what looked like a seemingly neutral background.

BTS-jon-priscilla1 But in reality, was taken here:

BTS-jon-priscilla2 I had two things that went through my mind when I chose this location: The beautiful light, and clean wall.

Love the challenge! :)

Grace Tan In Musings, Outdoor Weddings, Tips + Ideas, Weddings

Planning a Destination Beach Wedding

Langkawi-panorama Planning a destination beach wedding in Malaysia? Without a doubt, Langkawi is at the top of the list. It has everything – deep blue seas, white fluffy clouds, white sandy beaches, great 5-6 star resorts, duty free shopping and great Malaysian food. Of course the other famous beach wedding destinations like Maldives, Hawaii, Bali or Phuket has its own charm, but if you are hoping to have a beach wedding in Malaysia, Langkawi is the place.

As a team, we would take the one hour flight from Petaling Jaya to Langkawi pretty frequently to cover beach weddings there. Organizing a beach wedding can be relaxing and yet stressful at the same time. Everyone is away at an exotic location, just ready to have fun in the sun. But planning for a destination wedding from a faraway country on your own can be a pretty daunting task.

To make your life a little easier, I’d like to share some thoughts about how to best organize your day so that you can get the most out of your photography. Since I consider sunset as the focal point of the day, I’ll work backwards from there and give you a pictorial journey of planning a beach wedding from a photographer’s viewpoint.

1. Do check on sunset times for the date of your wedding.

On average, the sun sets about 7.30pm in Langkawi, so a good time to start your ceremony would be 5.30pm. It will be slightly warm at that time, but starting this early would give you ample time for portraits and formals after the wedding ceremony. There’s always a rush to document all the dinner reception details too after the wedding, so if your ceremony starts too late, we will be running around like headless chickens trying to capture all the important shots before night falls. Ideally, I would like to have at least an hour for portraits after the ceremony ends. Continue Reading

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

Chinese New Year Memories

As I was growing up, every Chinese New Year would be a season of laughter, good food and memories. Strangely, in my Peranakan family, ketupat and rendang was one of our staple Chinese New Year cuisine, together with tosai and idly. I never really thought too much of it growing up (till I went to KL and found out that normal Chinese families don’t do things like these!). But the months leading up to Chinese New Year was also a season of stress because my mom would be up for many hours from 4am till midnight baking cookies in her little oven pictured below.

oven

It was her passion and also her business. She would bake hundreds upon hundreds of butter cookies, prune cookies, pineapple tarts, love letters and lots of other types of cookies to sell. Amazingly, she did most of it single handedly. Unfortunately, I was the little grumpy kitchen helper who hated to meticulously place lines across pineapple tarts for hours on end.

And my dad… well, he needless to say, he gave my mom added stress because he wasn’t really supportive of her long hours, especially after she fell ill with heart problems. He wanted her to rest and give up this business but my mom really loved doing this. On hindsight, I wished I helped her more in the kitchen those days instead of just running away the moment I had the chance.

Now that I’ve moved to KL and left Malacca, I kind of miss the days when I had lots of cookies to eat. My mom no longer bakes and my dad is in his advanced stage of Alzheimer’s. Do cherish the little moments in life, especially with your family members this festive season. Have a good celebration with your family and friends, and remember to take lots of photos.

Love,
Grace

tarts