Chinese Weddings

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

Phong & Laura’s Garden Wedding, Kuching

Photographers: Grace & Mark
Wedding Gown: Vera Wang
Make Up: Shu Uemura
Groom’s Attire: Hugo Boss
Flowers & Decorations: Murloch (house) & Four Points Sheraton Hotel (for reception)
Stationery: Banana Greetings
Cake: Amy
Reception: Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Kuching, Sarawak

Phong & Laura’s story felt as if it came directly from a romantic screenplay. The setting: San Francisco.

Laura had traveled to San Francisco to be with her sister, Lisa who worked there. It was during this two month visit that she met Phong, who was Lisa’s colleague. Laura thought he was rather fun to hang out with and so they exchanged contact details and communicated via MSN. Fast forward a few months later, Phong had the opportunity to fly to Indonesia for work.

Perfect timing, as Laura needed another break from work too… and so she flew to Indonesia to visit him. From there, love blossomed and it was the most interesting weekend for her. As fate would have it, one week after he returned to San Francisco, he found out that the company he was working for was relocating to Singapore!

From then on, everything was history – and according to Laura, Phong loves to tell their friends that he flew halfway across the world to be with her.

During the wedding, Phong’s family flew in from Australia & Vietnam – and he was even reunited with family he hadn’t seen in years! I was really excited when Laura told me about this story… and also when she mentioned that her wedding would be held in her family home garden! It’s so meaningful when you say your vows in such a personal environment. There were so many elements that made this wedding a memorable one for me. From the Vietnamese car decorations, to the personalized popcorn box, to the massive trees in the awesomely pink ballroom… everything was just detailed so beautifully.

The other thing that made my heart skip a beat too was Laura’s Vera Wang gown. I instantly thought of the line from the movie Bride Wars… “You don’t alter a Vera Wang to fit you, you alter yourself to fit into a Vera Wang” (something to that effect).

I don’t know how much alteration Laura had to do, but she looked absolutely amazing in that gown that day.

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

Fun & Dong Liang’s wedding

Photographers: Grace, Mark & Weiming
Wedding Kua: Wedding Isle
Evening Gown: Coast (London)
Groom’s chinese suit: Loh Tim Kee
Groom’s evening suit: Smart Master
Hair & Make Up: Lee Kuen
Flowers: Flora Etc
Dinner Banquet: Hee Lai Ton Restaurant

It was Fun’s older brother that brought them together. Dong Liang was young and had just graduated from college in the UK. She decided to work in KL but she didn’t know many people in KL at that time, other than Fun’s brother who was her coursemate. So one weekend while having coffee at KLCC, Dong Liang was introduced to Fun…

Fun’s story:

I was having tea with my friends in KLCC as well when my brother called me and asked me to join them. We then went to a karaoke as a group. I had a good time at the karaoke, and I had a good feeling about her. After the first meeting, I ‘made use’ of my brother’s friendship with her to intentionally meet up with her.

Luckily for Fun, Dong Liang had a good impression on him as well! After that karaoke session, they decided to exchange contact details and made plans to go out as a group again soon after.

Dong Liang’s story:

In the beginning, we were always bickering in front of others. But soon we started going out. And what happened in between is a little hazy, after all it has been almost 10 years! What really brought us together, i feel, was the 4 years we spent in London together. Because there was no family and not many friends there, it felt like all we had were each other. He has been such a great partner and always very supportive of whatever I do. It was then crystal clear to me that he is The One and I’m so lucky to have found him. And then, on my birthday in 2009, he proposed! We had a very long engagement….but now, we’re married!

Fun:

And yes, I love my wonderful wife with all my heart, and I wish to spend the rest of my life with her!

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Malay Weddings, Weddings

May Weddings

May has been a busy month for the Stories team. There’s just so much to share but I haven’t had time to organize my thoughts into a blog post! So here’s a quick summary of the most recent weddings that we photographed in May. Congratulations to all of you!

20th May – Fahrizal & Shirah

21st May – Fun & Dong Liang

28th May – Ben & Angela (by the way, this is one of the largest group photos I’ve ever photographed)

This week and part of next week, I’ll be away in Singapore, Nikoi Island (an island near Bintan, Indonesia) and Kuching, Sarawak. Do keep in touch via Facebook or Twitter!

Mark Leo In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

The Wedding of Gary & Mun Hin

Photographers: Mark & Johan
Hair, Make Up, Wedding Gown & Groom’s Attire: Just Married
Decorations: Memories DeWedding
Videography: Istudio Productions
Dinner Entertainment: Happy Fish Productions
Dinner Reception: HGH Convention Centre, KL

While Grace was in Australia shooting Jamie & Ann’s wedding, Johan and I were in Malaysia at Gary & Mun Hin’s wedding. Shooting weddings brings a lot of blessings because as photographers we get to know our couples and this time it was a great blessing knowing both Gary and Mun Hin. As doctors (yes they are both doctors), I initially felt intimidated by two professionals but after meeting them, everything seemed to turned better than fine, it was amazing!

Gary met Mun Hin while they were studying and things just blossomed. Here’s their story from Mun Hin’s perspective…

We met each other during 1st year of medical school. During the orientation, my mom was the one to introduce me to him! Of course, we didn’t jump straight into the bandwagon, we became friends at first and then it got quite lonely when you’re away from family (haha!) and one thing led to another and we started dating. When i first saw him i thought he he was quite handsome and got attracted to him.

One thing interesting that happened when we were studying in India was that me and my housemate bought a scooter because EVERYONE owned a bike, and he tried to bring me one day on the scooter but instead got into an accident which required stitches at some places and after that, I was the one to bring him all around town on the bike for 2 ½ years.

We then went on to graduate together and also worked in the same hospital for about a year. So, altogether we’ve been in a relationship for about 7 years. Fast forward, to 2011, we are now getting hitched!

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

DIY Wedding, Sails on the Bay, Melbourne: Jamie & Ann

Photographers: Grace & Alex
Location: Sails on the Bay, Melbourne
Decorations: Ann, Jamie, friends and family who laboriously worked on it

One week after Jamie & Ann’s beautiful chapel wedding in the Gold Coast, Alex and I traveled to Melbourne for her next wedding celebration. It was held at Sails on the Bay, very near Brighton beach (which I later managed to have a peek at… and did some of my own posing in front of those famous colourful Brighton beach houses). The amazing thing about this wedding in Melbourne was that everything was DIY – well, everything except the food and cake. So be prepared for a huge post on details!

Look at this gorgeous venue. I love it how the pre-wedding, wedding in Gold Coast and now Melbourne had a beach theme running through it. Sigh, I wish Malaysian skies looked this good!

Do these flowers and vases look familiar? They were used during the pre-wedding too! All the decorations you see at this wedding were a labour of love. Even Ann’s parents had a hand in it, cutting fresh flowers to put into the vases that Ann purchased before the wedding.