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Grace Tan
In Musings, Portraits, , Tips + Ideas

Why shoot a pre-wedding?

Some couples tell me that they are into candid shots and don’t really want to do a pre-wedding shoot. All they want are candid shots that show how people are having a great time in their wedding. While that is absolutely important, I do think that it’s equally important to shoot pre-wedding photos. Or post-wedding. Or set aside time on your wedding day, (if only for an hour!) for portraits.

Ok, I am not trying to sell you more of my services (though of course, I’d LOVE to shoot more pre-weddings!).

What’s my reasoning for portraits? Well, how often in your life, have you done a professional photo shoot? And what’s the best time for that than your wedding… when you have most probably slaved at the gym for months to be in your best shape, gone for beauty treatments and spent a thousand dollars or more on your gorgeous gown?

To be honest, I never had a pre-wedding shoot for my wedding, but I set aside some time on the wedding day for portraits. I did realize though that I was constantly chasing after time, (hurry, we gotta get from my house to your parent’s place, or we gotta head to the hotel like NOW!!). On hindsight, I think I would have enjoyed a pre-wedding shoot, done on another day, at a more leisurely pace. Sometimes, I still have crazy ideas like donning my wedding gown (which I haven’t tried on for 4 years, but still hangs in my cupboard, or is in a box?) and doing a post-wedding shoot!

Some of my clients come up with absolutely creative ideas for their pre-wedding shoot, and I love that. I think the first thing that people think of when wanting to shoot a pre-wedding is the question, “Where should we go?”. So here are some tips for brides and grooms who are planning on getting a pre-wedding shoot done.

1. What is your personality like?

Are you a bubbly person, an extrovert who loves to laugh a lot and chat nineteen to the dozen, or are you an introvert who prefers to sit with your books and enjoy quiet moments with just yourself and your hubby? Are you a hopeless romantic at heart? Your photos should reflect your personality. So if you’re a quirky, non-conforming kind of person, the type of location you choose would reflect that.

Simple and glamourous

Dramatic and moody

Classic

Just love to have fun!


Simple contentment

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Grace Tan
In Outdoor Weddings, Portraits, , Weddings

The Wedding of Trevor & Rebekah

The last time I visited Langkawi, I was 13 I think. I can’t remember much about the place except that it was really dusty. I suppose when you’re young and on your father’s company trip with a bunch of older folk, you might not enjoy it too much! But a few months back, my cousin Rebekah gave me another opportunity to renew my perception of Langkawi. She sent me an invite to her wedding in the Frangipani Resort, Langkawi! I was pleasantly surprised, since she and her fiance Trevor lives in Perth. I mean, why would anyone come to Malaysia for a wedding, when you have beautiful locations in Australia? :)

The day came, and Alex, my family and I flew over to Langkawi. We had a blast of a time with our cousins. I wasn’t the official photographer at the wedding but was a guest. That was quite nice, though I could not put down my camera during the entire duration of the wedding. I must have been quite a sight, running around in my dress and heels. I am sorry, Affendy, if I got in your way a lot of times! Here are a few shots from the wedding. There are just too many favs, will have to update the rest on Facebook.

It was lovely witnessing your wedding, Trev and Beck.. we all had such a great time. I loved the way you kept it simple and carefree. I must say that this is the first time I see a bride in a short dress! Hope you’ll enjoy these photos!

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Kate, Beck’s sister is extremely talented. She was Beck’s make up artist for the day. Now you just have to learn how to do up the hair, Kate!

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Doesn’t Rebekah look gorgeous? I know we don’t look at all alike, but we’re cousins, truly! Beck’s mum Helen looks equally gorgeous in the pic above.

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Pleasantly surprised to have caught a sparkle on the ring from my flash.

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Trevor waiting expectantly.

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After the ceremony, we ended up on the beach taking some silly shots! There’s too much silliness to post up here.

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Dinner was held at the Sunday Bistro and Restaurant in a very casual way.

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It was really dark where the speeches were held. I was just testing out my high ISO settings and did not use a flash at all. Shot with ISO 5000, f1.8 and manual focus!! Really difficult! I didn’t exactly nail the focus on the shot below but I love Rebekah’s expression here.

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Grace Tan
In International

Destination and International Weddings

I am amazed at how blessed we are this year despite the economic recession. The past few years, Kee Sitt has worked really hard into building the Wedding Story brand to be a well known and recognized brand. What started out as a small business by one person in a home on the small island of Penang has now expanded to a team with offices in Penang and KL! This year, God’s really blessed us with enquiries for shoots overseas.

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I am so excited to share that 4 of us from the Wedding Story team (Kee Sitt, Sharon, Ian and myself) will be flying over to Bangladesh from the 4-14th of April to shoot a wedding there. Ali and Farhat found us online, and he emailed us to say that he loved our style, energy and the ability to capture details. Ali is a hobbyist photographer, but he owns two 5D mark2 bodies!! Amazing! This will be the first wedding that we will be shooting in full HD format. Will try to blog as we travel in Bangladesh so that we can keep everyone updated.

And then in August, from the 3rd till the 10th, I will be in Holland, photographing a wedding in a town that I can’t even pronounce the name! Chee Su is Choon Ean’s brother (Choon Ean is part of our team, and she’s an amazing videographer and storyteller). He will be getting married to Christina, who’s Dutch. I am really excited about traveling to Holland for this shoot. I’ve never been there before and to think that I will be going to a town about 1-2 hours away from Amsterdam sounds lovely. Anyone in Holland who wants to do a portrait shoot while I’m there?

Other than that, we have had multiple enquiries for wedding shoots in Australia and Thailand. I am so proud of our team, that we have moved on to this exciting stage of our business. Truly, these are all God’s blessings on us. It’s all because of His grace that we are able to do this. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I lost my sight or my ability to walk one day… what would happen? All these skills that I have are given to me by God. I cannot help but feel appreciative of all that I have been blessed with.

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