Church Weddings

Laughton & Wendy’s Wedding

Photographers: Grace & Andrew C
Bride’s Make Up & Hair: Michelle Touche
Make Up & Hair (Mothers of the bride & groom): Angie Ng
Church Ceremony: Assumption Church, PJ
Dinner Reception: Oriental Banquet, PJ
Wedding Cake: Buns in the Oven

Months ago, Wendy emailed me from London to ask if I was available to shoot her wedding in Malaysia. After a looong conversation over email, Wendy decided to make a booking, which eventually lead to another booking for her pre-wedding shoot. I really enjoy getting to know my clients before their wedding day, and even before I met Wendy in person, I felt as if I already knew her.

She is a really chatty and easy going person. On Laughton & Wendy’s pre-wedding shoot day, I discovered that Wendy’s a Peranakan, just like me! From Malacca! That describes the talkativeness and the fun nature! My brother jokingly reminds me all the time that Peranakan women are noisy, fun, love to dance and are full of drama!

And consistent with the nature of most Peranakan families, there was a little drama on Wendy’s wedding day.

Wendy’s lovely bouquet (featured below) was accidentally left behind at the Seapark Brickhouse prior to the church ceremony.

It was quite an upsetting moment, especially when Wendy had to walk down the aisle with ‘replacement’ flowers. But after all that drama, everything turned out well… the church ceremony went ahead beautifully, the friends were excited for Laughton & Wendy over their marriage, the dinner was scrumptious, and the families were happy.

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Weddings

Eric + Debbie’s Union

Photographers: Grace & Mark
Make Up & Hair: Angie Ng
Wedding Gown: That Special Occasion
Church Ceremony: Assumption Church, PJ
Dinner Reception: Concorde Hotel, KL

If you have seen enough of my images, you would know that I love colour. But at times, the absence of colour accentuates shape and texture even more. When I arrived at Debbie’s home that morning to capture shots of her getting ready, I was so taken in by the wallpaper in her room. Her dad put it up for her when she was young. A wallpaper filled with trains. Seems a little unusual for a little girl. :)

And now daddy’s little girl has grown up to be a beautiful bride.

While Debbie was getting ready, Belle her trusty dog kept her company. He even had a thing or two to say about ang pows. (you’ll see why later)

While I was at Debbie’s place, Mark was shooting at Eric’s home with his barely one month old Canon 5D Mark 2. :)

Back to Debbie’s gorgeous wall. :)

And of course, gorgeous Debbie herself.

I love this shot below taken by Mark.

Debbie’s home was decorated so wonderfully, in anticipation of Eric’s arrival!

When the guys came, they had to go through a few rounds of challenges (literally). The girls made them dance around a tree to music!

And then out came some Tanzanian currency. Debbie’s good friend Tariq volunteered 10,000 Tanzanian shilling, which I found out later is worth about RM23, or about 7 USD. I guess the girls were smarter and knew better than to take the money.

I love this yoga challenge. Proves how flexible the guys are in emulating these poses. How do you think they rate?

This is where Belle had her say about whether to let Eric in the room or not.

I guess Eric must already have favour in Belle’s eyes, cause he was approved! One of the cute things that Eric did was stop at Starbucks to buy Debbie coffee before he reached her home. He knew she needed her caffeine fix! How sweet is that!

At Assumption church, everything went on really smoothly and on time…

…and then there was a little drama when the flower girl decided to run down the aisle to her father instead of walk.

Debbie sharing a moment with her dad.

Wonderful emotions exchanged.

Dinner was held at Concorde Hotel in KL.

The entertainment that night was amazing! Peter Ong was the MC and singer! Beautiful duet that night.

Definitely a night filled with laughter. There were lots of great speeches and on top of that, Eric & Debbie were really surprised when their friends played a video made specially for them that night. It was completely unexpected!

Congratulations you two. Who would have thought, Debbie, that our first encounter at KOMAS years ago would have led to this friendship that we now have. And then bumping into you years later at Dave’s. I feel like I’ve journeyed together with the both of you this year and that you have made me feel so welcomed at all times. Wishing the both of you many many happy years of married bliss.

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Malay Weddings, Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

The Ring Collection

Over the years, I have collected a series of ring shots from various weddings & engagements that I have shot. As with every wedding, each ring has a story to tell. At each wedding, I try to think of how to shoot the rings differently. I have a whole set of video shots of rings too, which I might share in the future. That is even more funky and creative because you get to play with motion! Hope you’ll enjoy this collection and do share which one is your personal favourite!

Grace Tan In Church Weddings, Weddings

Ashley & Candace’s Wedding

What a way to spend the 1st of January 2010! From the moment Ashley arrived, announcing it to the world on a loud hailer to the eating of Guinness soaked noodles, not a single moment was dull. The ceremony at Assumption church was very personal, conducted by Ashley’s own uncle. Since the 1st of January also coincides with the launch of Stories, we decided to try something different with their same day slideshow. The idea to create a story using photos + video snippets is not exactly new, but this was the first time we tried it with a same day slideshow. And the response was great.

Here are some photos from the first half of their wedding. And don’t forget to watch the slideshow! Photos taken by Grace & Johan.

Aren’t these little flower girls so adorable?

View the same day slideshow here:

[flv:http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/ashcandace.flv http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/ashcandace.jpg 700 394]

Just before dinner started at the Marco Polo restaurant in Jalan Raja Chulan, I managed to steal some time with Candace for some portraits.

I love the way the hall was decorated with balloons.

Are kids allowed to drink champagne during toasting too?

Ash’s dad was superb at performing and singing too! What a cool father!

Thanks for allowing me to be part of your day, Ash & Candace. Looking forward to our Krabi photo shoot together!

Grace Tan In Church Weddings, International, Weddings

Christina + Chee Su, The Hague, Netherlands

I’ve known Chee Su’s sister Choon Ean for years. Not only have we worked together on various projects but we’ve also traveled to numerous countries together (eg. Nepal, Myanmar etc) sharing the same room for weeks! Choon Ean is a really amazing person and an excellent videographer, shooting with the Wedding Story team for various weddings. So I felt totally comfortable being around her and Chee Su’s family. Then when I met Christina and her family, they made me feel like family too! The entire Ouwerkerk family is just hilarious and they crack me up with their jokes and cute little antics.

The wedding was full of drama, emotions, smiles, tears and laughter. I have so much to give thanks for. Firstly, I was completely relieved that I had recovered from my flu by the time the wedding rolled around. Secondly, I am grateful to God for giving me this opportunity to shoot in the Netherlands, 13 hours by flight away from Malaysia. And thirdly, for the beautiful people who were there that day – they made my photos shine with their warm smiles.

The day started with beautiful sunshine. Christina woke up, went to the hairdressers, and then came home to do her own wedding make up! Apparently it’s very normal for people in Holland to do their own make up, since make up artists are few and also very expensive. The wedding ring shot was taken in Christina’s back yard. Can you believe they have a grape vine in their backyard?

Christina loves butterflies. I found some in her garden. :) And also this bouquet was done by Christina! How amazing is that! Even the decorations at the church was done by her and the entire family.

They were all smiles when they met that morning.