dusun garden fairies

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-Wedding: How Wie & Adelene

Photographer: Grace
Location: Dusun Garden Fairies
Hair & Make up: Shinny
Wedding Gown: Pretty in White

One of the most beautiful and memorable places Alex and I have ever been to is Cinque Terre, in Italy. It’s not a common holiday destination for Malaysians as you’d need to travel quite a fair bit to reach this beautiful cliffside destination. Alex and I spent our honeymoon there and we absolutely loved the quaint little villages and doing simple things like hiking from one village to another, while eating grapes and looking at the scenic ocean view.

And so when I found out that one of How Wie & Adelene’s many travel destinations was Cinque Terre, I knew they were a couple after our own heart. :)

Adventure and travel seem to be the theme of their lives. Both flew thousands of kilometres across the globe to London, one escaping the bitter cold of Boston, while the other traveled from New Zealand to visit Europe. As fate would have it, they crossed paths at a mutual friend’s party in London on Valentine’s Day. Over many meals, desserts and shared conversations later… a relationship developed.

And that led to more kilometres of adventure as they visited many countries, explored beautiful sights and discovered love for each other.

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Love Crosses Boundaries: Arvin & Zuzana

Photographer: Grace
Location: Dusun Garden Fairies
Hair & Make up: Angie Ng

Two different cultures, two different worlds. But one common language: Love.

And if you didn’t know how to say “I love you” in Tamil and the Slovak language, here’s a tip for you…(you have to watch the slideshow to know how to pronounce it). Arvin and Zuzana crossed cultural boundaries, found love in Malaysia and are now married!

Arvin and Zuzana came up with a creative idea for their pre-wedding photos – to use props and lyrics of a song so that the slideshow has a deeper meaning! Together, we discussed ideas about what kind of imagery to go with the lyrics of the song. I had never done anything like that before, so I was all game for it.

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

Beach to Garden Pre-Wedding: Eric & Mun Wai

Photographer: Grace
Location: Singapore and Dusun Garden Fairies, Malaysia

It was in a little restaurant in Suntec city that I met Eric and Mun Wai for the first time. We chatted, had tea, and laughed over various travel stories. I found out that these two are an adventurous couple. They are full of life and love to laugh! In Dec, I came back to Singapore for part 1 of their pre-wedding shoot. We ended up on a somewhat secluded beach near Changi (it wasn’t completely secluded, I just cropped the rest of the people out!). Would like to thank Eulyn too, who came to assist me on the shoot in Singapore.

Yes every now and then we would see a plane flying overhead us.

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Jack & Sze Hwa Marries!

Photographer: Grace
Make Up & Hair: Charlie from Michelle Touche team
Wedding gown (Princess cut with sash) & Evening shoes: Pretty in White
Wedding gown (Mermaid cut) & Evening Gown: That Special Occasion
White lacy shoes: Tang’s Studio
Jack’s suit: The Lord’s Tailor
Flowers: My Bridal Florist
Location: Dusun Garden Fairies & Pullman Hotel, Putrajaya

But not yet… not till January 2011 when they vow to be true to each other in good times or in bad, in sickness and in health. The title of this post was taken from their wedding website, designed beautifully to look like the New York Times report. I love it when I see websites like these because it shows how creative the couple is and how much they care about the little details that go into their wedding day.

And so it was natural that during the pre-wedding session with Jack and Sze Hwa, there were lots of yummy details that went into the shoot. Hwa said she wanted a picnic theme… and so she brought an amazing array of props to the shoot! The picnic basket was even prepared and sewn by Jack’s mother! Talk about dedication.

Jack & Hwa have both known each other since secondary school but they were just acquaintances back then. In school, she thought he was a bit of a geek and he thought she was just another (annoying) junior in his school!

This is their story…

Well…. Years went by and we lost contact. She went to Ireland to continue her studies and he on the other hand, left for Australia. However, during one of our summer holidays back in June 2003, we bumped into each other while we were dining with our parents in Overseas Restaurant, PJ! That day changed everything! We started to keep in touch and this continued on even when she was back in Ireland and he, in Australia! We talked on the phone EVERYDAY and would wake each other every morning (possible then due to different time zones!). So this continued on for 7 years. Yes, we have been doing the much dreaded long-distance relationship for that long. This has improved tremendously since she moved to Singapore ‘coz at least we now were at the same time zone.

We guess the thing that kept us both together for so long despite the distance was that we have always been able to talk about everything and anything and our passion for travelling (here, there and everywhere!), food (you have to see our collection of food pictures) and Moleskines =) !

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-Wedding: Hun Young & Ju Yee

Make Up & hair: Angie Ng
Location: Dusun Garden Fairies, Hulu Langat
Bridal Gown: That Special Occasion & Neoromantic
Cheongsam: Jason Yek
Men’s Suit: Lord’s Tailor
Flowers: Favors Essense
Photographer: Grace

Ju Yee had to wake up at 4am in the morning for her make up session, simply because her photographer Grace said, “The morning light is always gorgeous! So we have to start shoot at 7am”. Not many couples I know would get up that early for a photo shoot. But Ju Yee was all up for it! I was quite excited to shoot at this location, as I’ve never been there before and heard lots of nice things about this place.

And it didn’t disappoint us. Just being out there in a small obscure village, surrounded by trees (and some mosquitoes!) was quite an adventure. Despite Ju Yee mentioning to me that she felt “kaku” or a little stiff in front of the camera, I think she did really well! Ju Yee and Hun Young has been together for many many years – since they were in secondary school. His initial impression of her – “What a tomboy!”

Well, in my opinion, Ju Yee doesn’t even remotely resemble a tomboy in these shots (in my mental picture of how a tomboy should look like!).

I hope you’ll enjoy the shots. This lovely lace gown was made by Neoromantic.