Chinese Weddings

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Weddings

An Industrial Rustic Wedding: Min-Yi & Shu Ern

20151226_WEDDING_MINYI_SHUERN_0228 City Harvest is getting increasingly popular as a wedding ceremony location, and I can understand why, with the rustic brick walls and overall industrial look. It was the perfect setting for Min-Yi and Shu Ern’s wedding. Min-Yi looked dashing on his wedding day, with a beret and matching suspenders to complete the look. It was actually my first time at City Harvest and I enjoyed photographing this wedding so much. I love how Shu Ern’s family was just so emotional. I love the little details at the ceremony, including the key words, “Dream, Believe, Smile & Family” that were hung by their friends. And I was ecstatic to discover this random location that made for great photos.

20151226_WEDDING_MINYI_SHUERN_0453 Min-Yi and Shu Ern were secondary school mates but they were not friends at that time. Half a decade after leaving school, their paths crossed again on 26th December 2011.

Shu Ern: I was running at the nearby park in Taman Tun with my friend. I was almost done and about to do one more lap. There’s an intersection in front of the entrance to the park and he had just arrived with a friend. We came from opposite directions and immediately as our eyes met, I did a double take inside. His face reminded me of someone. I was curious and tried to check him out a few more times, but every time I turned to look his way our eyes would meet and I had to turn away to not seem rude. I guess he was trying to check me out too only to find me doing the exact same thing.

I went through my lap all the while wondering what happened to him in those years I’ve not seen him. Finally midway through the jog, we crossed paths and it was then did I actually get a good look. In place of that small, short, kiddy looking boy was a tall, handsome and tanned looking man. As he passed by, he gave me a big smile and my heart just melted.

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

Wedding Video Highlights: Heng Hooi & Chyi Chern

Gosh, it’s already February! Happy Chinese New Year to those who are still in the holiday mood and not feeling like doing any work. :) As for me, I had a great time with my family who flew in from Australia, New York and Malacca. Yup, we ate and ate and talked about everything under the sun. Ok to kick start this week, I’ll share a video from a wedding that happened a few months ago. Heng Hooi and Chyi Chern are such friendly people, they are genuine and are not afraid to show their emotions during their wedding day!

Here’s their story as told by the groom:
We met over work where she was acting for the purchaser while I was the adviser for the seller. To this day, she swears that her first impression of me was that I was a loud person but helpful person. And all this while, I always thought that she found me smart and charming during the time we worked together. Sigh! My first impression of her was that she was wearing a blue skirt and she was very cheerful, pretty and funny. I guess it was these characteristics that made me want to get to know her more even though we were, so to speak, on opposing sides. As we spent more time together, we began to notice that our thinking and characteristics were closely similar. Who says that only opposites attract each other… Its because of these similarities that make me believe we fit so well with each other. Guess one can say in a cheesy way that we were meant to meet each other and share a life together.

Credits:

Photographers & Videographers: Stories Team (Grace, Jamie, Chi Yin, Delvin & Nick)
Wedding & Evening Gown: That Special Occasion
Groom’s Suit: Hugo Boss
Make up & Hair: Aivy Yong
Shoes: Celest Thoi
Decorations: Flower Frenzie & Wishing Tree
Dinner Reception & Cake: Doubletree by Hilton
Dinner Entertainment: Malcolm Music

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

Naka Island Wedding, Phuket: Andrew & Katrina

20151017_WEDDING_ANDREW_KATRINA_387 Part 2 of Andrew and Katrina’s celebration continues, after their KL wedding events. It was my first time to Naka Island, Phuket and it was such a good experience being there. Thanks to the couple, I managed to also have a little break before the wedding and dipped in the sea, tried paddle boarding and cycling to my villa (which I decided was definitely more tiring than my full wedding day shoot, even though the ride lasted 10 minutes uphill).

Their ceremony was held at the royal horizon pool villa and it was just gorgeous, despite the rain that delayed the start of the ceremony. When we began, there was a beautiful rainbow overlooking the villa. It was a full rainbow too! Well, Andrew definitely found his pot of gold at the bottom of the villa, and it was Katrina!

So one of the things I discovered about Andrew and Katrina was that they can carry out an entire conversation by singing it in tune. They certainly know how to have fun together!

20151017_WEDDING_ANDREW_KATRINA_463 You have to watch the wedding video highlights below of their wedding day. It’s a pretty long highlight – 10 minutes, but there was just so much going on that we had to extend the highlight! Their first dance at The Majestic was sooo much fun too. Check it out here.

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

A Majestic Wedding: Andrew & Katrina

So let’s kick off the first blog post of 2016 with an epic wedding! We’ve been through a lot together. A pre-wedding shoot in KL & Singapore, two weekends of weddings in KL and a wedding in Phuket. What a journey! Definitely one of the most memorable weddings for me in 2015… Andrew & Katrina’s energy and laughter is infectious. I love just being around them, you can’t help but feel as if you have to laugh a little louder, dance a little more, and hug another person. I am also so grateful to have built a friendship with this amazing couple.

Their wedding was truly a majestic affair. Please be warned, I am terrible at cutting down the number of images for a blog post, so it might take a while to load! Here are some of the images from the first two wedding events in KL… their ROM, church wedding ceremony at St Thomas More and dinner reception at The Majestic. Even the haze was not a deterrent to the couple (we got shots like the one below thanks to it!). It was all beautifully decorated and planned by the Mint Events & Soirées’ team. One other amazing detail is that Katrina designed her wedding and evening gown herself! Check out her Facebook page, Wilka.

20151003_ROM_ANDREW_KATRINA_314 Here’s what Katrina had to say about the wedding planning process:

Stories.my & Mint Events made my wedding dream come true. Inspirations and ideas that came in the wedding planning process appeared as and when I thought of something, which was a constant thing throughout the year. I was doing a lot of research, surfing the net looking at so many images and references. Pinterest was my best friend. Do manage yours and everyone’s expectations… it’s YOUR wedding, not THEIRS. Trust your photography and video team (ahem…Stories)… have fun, let go, respect our elders.

The Stories team have been amazeballs from the get go. Somehow, when we were shopping for a vendor, Stories was the first one we met with, and though we had other companies to check out, I knew I wanted them to be the officials to capture the most important moments of our lives. Grace and her team have been very accommodating, professional, efficient, understanding, considerate and reasonable. But most important of all, they were able to capture the brief accurately, and brought our wedding to life that went way beyond my expectations. We are in awe and till today cannot believe how beautifully done all our photos, videos and sideshows are. Makes us tear every time we look at them. We always felt comfortable and relaxed with the Stories team. Like we were family. We laughed and had fun together. We love Stories!

Watch their fusion photo and video slideshow here. It was presented on the night of the dinner reception itself.

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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!

20150704_WEDDING_WEIZHEN_JACLYN_057
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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