classic

Rustic Maternity Portraits: Samantha

“To be pregnant is to be vitally alive, thoroughly woman, and distressingly inhabited. Soul and spirit are stretched – along with body – making pregnancy a time of transition, growth, and profound beginnings.”

– Anne Christian Buchanan –

20170205_Maternity_Eu_Jin_Samantha-63 This is one couple I have had the privilege of journeying alongside with them from their pre-wedding session to their wedding, and now maternity session. The road to becoming a parent is really special, exciting, nerve-wracking and challenging, all at the same time. It’s the one thing that will challenge marriages, yet draw couples together, in one unified purpose – to give the best to their children. I am so excited for Eu Jin and Samantha as they embark on this new phase of their lives, this March! (It’s a special month too, cause I was born in March as well!)

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Grace Tan In International, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-Wedding in Santorini: Terence & Sarah

As a photographer, I am always touched that couples would willingly display public forms of affection in front of my camera lens. It’s not an easy thing to do… following directions and at the same time, being engrossed in ‘the moment’. And when the photographer is your sister-in-law, it can either be a good or awkward. But Sarah and Terence rocked the session, and were totally easy to photograph.

If you have been following this blog, you’d know that a few days before this shoot, it was raining in Santorini. The weather was 8 degrees Celcius and strong winds threatened to ‘blow’ us off the cliffs. But thank God the clouds parted and we had a sunny day for Terence and Sarah’s session. (though her jacket was always within reach in between shots!)

Terence and Sarah have known each other for years now, since uni days, when they were young adults exploring life in Australia. Their journey began in 2004, and now, 11 years later, they are registered. Thank you, T&S for being such awesome family members. I’m glad we could share memories like these, including lugging our bags up and down stairs in the rain, exploring different restaurants and lying on the black beach. Love both of you very much. Looking forward to the Bali wedding later on!

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

Wedding Video Highlight: Lee Aun & Joanne

A beautiful garden wedding at the classic, colonial-looking E&O Hotel, Penang, a fun-loving groom, a gorgeous bride, great friendships, awesome speeches… what more could you ask for in a wedding? Everything about this wedding exuded fun. This is how a wedding should be! Sometimes the stress of planning a wedding can be overwhelming, but on the day itself, let everything go, and just enjoy the day.

Despite the slight drizzle before the ceremony, everything went on perfectly and the bridal party walked down the aisle as planned. Enjoy the video!

Videographers: Euwing & Win Nee
Wedding Ceremony: E&O Hotel, Penang
Dinner Reception: Ritz-Carlton, KL

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

Mandarin Oriental Wedding: Colin & Kirsteen

She’s Malaysian and he’s Singaporean, but they met at school in Perth, Australia. Friendship blossomed and hours of conversation later, best friends became lovers. I truly believe that a relationship has a stronger foundation when it is built on friendship first. There’s just so much depth to it, especially since it started out with a love for mutual things. On the day of the wedding, everything felt really relaxed because this was their second event after their actual wedding ceremony in Perth about a week or so before.

Kirsteen gushed about her beautiful red evening gown that had her Iban heritage written all over it. In fact, it took her a long time to source for the right person in East Malaysia to weave the fabric and when it was completed, to find the right tailor for the job. Eventually, there wasn’t enough fabric to make the gown, so back to the weaving lady they went… and after much work, this gorgeous gown was made.

What struck me too was this really unique engagement ring that was heart shaped. I had never seen anything like that before. (I am sorely tempted to ask Alex to make one for me and propose all over again!). It was just gorgeous. It was then that I discovered that Colin’s mum is in the jewelry business and all the exquisite gems came from her.

There were so many rings, I had to ask Colin and Kirsteen which one was the wedding band!

We spent a few hours before the dinner reception just wandering around Mandarin Oriental for some portraits.

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Testimonials

Pre-wedding at The Danna, Langkawi: Derrick & Fanny

Derrick & Fanny:

It was very early morning at 8am that we reached Langkawi. Grace and Alex were very kind to wake up so early in the morning (after a full day shoot they had a day before) to pick us up from airport to the hotel. I wouldn’t say the weather was great but good enough for us as it wasn’t raining heavily in Langkawi as it was in KL. We started the shoot after lunch and went on all the way till sunset. It was really fun and both Alex and Grace were so accommodating and patient. We were a bit uneasy at first, not getting used to “showing our love” in front of the camera, but they guided us through all the way.It was a long and tiring day until nearly at the end when I was chit-chating with Grace and Alex that I found out the lovely couple are expecting a new family member! Grace was so energetic and dedicated to her work and Fanny and I were feeling bad to have made her work so long! The Stories team made our day and Diane has been very helpful in connecting things up for us from Day 1 when we started to engage them and got me hooked on chosing Stories as our photographer. The video clip was wonderful! We can’t stop repeating it again and again, how great would it be if there is one song that could fit all the photos in! =D

Fanny and I knew each other since we were kids. We were classmates when we were 10 in our primary school, little did she know that I was already admiring her back then! Fate brought us back again together 10 years ago and we had been through loads of highs and lows, we are gladly thankful to have found each other and for being able to start our own family.

The proposal was really a spontaneous thing I did last June 2011 and I forgot about the previous few plans which I was cracking head on. We were both busy with work after our ROM in August last year. Needless to say, when it is the right time, you know what you ought to do.

Once again, a very big thank you to Stories, for making it work and capturing the once in a lifetime memorable moments for us.