Chinese Weddings

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Weddings

A Winter Themed Wedding: Aldrian & Mei Mei

Their love story began as a chance meeting – two strangers enrolled as classmates back in 2001 during their A-Level studies.

“Aldrian was just hanging out with his cousin, Johnny, and refused to enter the classroom on his first day. – no pretty girls lah – he said. Minutes later, I brisked by with a friend, feeling truly nervous about my first day of college. As I passed Aldrian, I noticed that he was quite handsome too – but you don’t say these things out loud of course! Not long after, Aldrian sat next to me in that class…. and we have always been side by side ever since. Throughout the years we have truly become each other’s best friend and soul-mate.

After college, we came to the UK together to further our studies. Finally, after 10 years – after completing my PhD and all that hoo-ha of trying to settle down in London, we thought that the time was right. And it was just perfect.

We now live together in our very own love nest in Canary Wharf with our baby rabbit, Bijoux. Bliss :)”

– Mei Mei –

I got to know Aldrian and Mei Mei through a friend of mine, Adelene, who was Aldrian’s sister. I had never met them before, and all correspondence was done online, until they came back for the wedding itself. Since they were not in KL, it helped that they had a wedding planner to coordinate everything. I first heard about the winter wedding theme from Mun Tzin of Milestones… and I wondered how it would really look like. Frankly, I was a little hesitant at first, as coloured lighting in a ballroom can either work for you or against you. I have photographed some events with extremely strong multi-coloured lighting shining on stage, and the results… well, let’s say I was less than pleased with it.

Some colours tend to bleed onto skin tones, making people look overly purple or green. I was quite concerned that the light would be too strong and we would end up with shots that look like we were at a Smurf convention (sorry, Mei Mei!). But when I arrived at the ballroom that day, I was pleased to see that the blue light was not direct lighting, and that the stage had yellow light, which added warmth to the skin tones! So I loved the end results!

Be prepared, this is a super long post with heaps of photos! Sorry if it is taking too long to load, but I can’t help myself!

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

Passion Road Wedding: Roger & Cheryl

It was truly a touching and memorable wedding for the team. It’s weddings like these that remind me why we are doing what we do. That behind all these images are two people who are absolutely in love with each other. It’s a celebration of love, hope and gratefulness. I think my grin matched Roger’s that day. Everyone was happy. It was perfect.

Roger and Cheryl first met in college during the induction session. They were course mates but initially, they didn’t interact as much. She was very much reserved and quiet – always very focused in discussions and lectures; she didn’t have much to say… or perhaps, not to Roger anyway. He was the geek in the bunch, mostly spending time in the library summarizing lecture notes and studying.

It was only after a year that Roger started taking an interest in Cheryl. Though she didn’t say much but it was the quietness that caught his attention. Life then became more interesting for him; he was able to know her better day to day. Somehow it gave him a reason to be closer to her.

Time soon flew by and it was their final year in university. Eventually, after much deliberation, Roger finally mustered the courage to ask her out – but it was only enough to do so through MSN! It certainly didn’t make a good impression of him, but she agreed to the first date. Not long after, they officially got together on 24^th June 2004, right after the first semester exams.

And that, was the start of an extraordinary journey for the both of them.

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

Blue & White Wedding: Wilson & Elaine

I was stoked when Wilson and Elaine said that they’d use our little Smurfette, the VW kombi as their wedding car. I was even more excited when I discovered that their theme colours matched Smurfette completely – white & blue! Elaine is a hands-on bride, she planned and sourced for some of the wedding decorations that you’ll see in this blog post, even created the signage for the back of the kombi herself!

Well, even from our initial meeting about a year ago, I knew that she’d be a detailed person. After all, she is a lawyer, and working for such a big organization like the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, you’d have to be meticulous. Needless to say, she pored over the T&C in my booking form prior to signing it. A little nerve-wracking to have to explain everything to a lawyer! Haha…

Wilson came across as someone who was really easy going, but completely supportive of Elaine. It’s a great combination to have as a couple. Wilson & Elaine, we had a blast at your wedding. Thank you for being so relaxed and letting me head off earlier, even before the dinner reception ended, since I was really quite tired from the pregnancy. I love how everything came together so beautifully, and how the morning Chinese theme blended in with the more western theme of the evening. All the best for the future!

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Testimonials, Weddings

Testimonial: Amy & Enoch

Dear Grace and The Team,

We don’t know where to begin to thank you. You and your team did such an amazing job that not only did we think so, but every one of my family and friends would agree. You and your team are extremely talented and you exceeded our expectation on every level.

Diane, thanks for setting up everything including all the necessary paperwork and arrangement for our day.

Not forgetting Johan for cranking up jokes and making the photo session merrier for everyone. We loved our photographers for the day, even every one is talking about how wonderful these photographers we had. Grace, even though you are pregnant.. and assigned us a third photographer, we felt that it is very professional of you to help us capturing all the great moments of the day and all the hard work that you put in making that day unforgettable for us. We were sort of a little worry for you as you trying so hard capturing some of the great moments for us in the church. Make sure you take it slow in your upcoming photo shooting..

We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for providing us with such beautiful memorabilia of our most precious day of our lives, erm.. even though we didn’t have a chance to glance through our photos yet… and every one is asking for it already!!!!

It was a day when we were both too nervous to notice anyone or anything around us, but we hope that the photos you have will re-create our world on that day for us – the wonderful people we love, the detail of each session, and the scenic views around us..will help us remember our special day.

Thank you for capturing our wedding day with your creativity, your attention to detail, and your love in such professional manner. Your service was very professional and we will definitely recommend your service to all our family and friends.

Thank you again for all your work and dedication in making our wedding day so wonderful!

– Amy & Enoch –

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

The Wedding of Paul Tan & Jenny Phang

Prior to our first meet up, I had never met Paul Tan, the famous car blogger. I only knew about him through my husband, Alex, who one day, told me that I might get a call from Paul asking about wedding photography. And one day, I did receive an sms from Paul. Since he was traveling, and Jenny was in Sibu, it was really challenging to arrange for a meet up. Eventually, everything was discussed over email and sms, and shortly after, the Stories team was booked to photograph their wedding.

Ok I do admit that I sometimes google up or ‘check out’ my clients on Facebook, just to get a feel of who they are. Especially so when I have never met them in person. So I went to Paul’s Facebook page, and one of the first few things I saw was this photo of his wife posted on his wall… it said “Biniku gangster”. (translated, it means, my wife’s a gangster). Uh, she did look a little formidable in that photo, and I wasn’t sure what I was in for.

Fast forward to our first meet up (which was a few days before the wedding!), and I thought, Jenny has got to be the worst gangster ever! She was actually the sweetest thing, and really friendly too. I found out that she is a doctor working in Sibu, Sarawak. Being physically away made it a lot harder to plan their wedding, but eventually, they got around to it and everything came together.

I also discovered that Paul’s a man of few words (in person at least!), and my first impression of him was that he seems to be a really serious person. I found out that they met while schooling at Victoria Institution, and one of their favourite hobbies is eating together (that is soooo Malaysian!).

Well, enough said, here are some of the photos from their wedding day, including the same day slideshow that was shown during dinner. Congratulations, Paul and Jenny!