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Grace Tan In Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Weddings

Wedding at Christ Church, Malacca: Arvind & Dhanya

Part 2 of Arvind and Dhanya’s wedding happened the day after their Hindu temple ceremony. From beautiful blue walls of the temple, we moved to the vibrant red walls of Christ Church, Malacca. I grew up in Malacca my entire life but their wedding was the first time I actually stepped into the church. It is a quaint little 18th century Anglican church in the heart of town. As the wedding ceremony started, some tourists popped their head into church, curious to see what was happening.

Interestingly, the church and surrounding Stadhuys building were originally white but painted the signature red by the Dutch in 1911 and the colour remained ever since.

Our video team did a great job covering both ceremonies as well and you can view the beautiful edit in the Vimeo link below.

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Grace Tan In Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Weddings

Malayalee Wedding Ceremony: Arvind & Dhanya

The first time Arvind met Dhanya, she was probably about 2.5 feet tall, a petite little girl running around in a Malaccan kindergarten. It was years later at a tuition class when Dhanya was taller, that Arvind met her again. Six years later, they bumped into each other again in Malacca while hanging out with different groups of friends. Fate had it that Dhanya had to travel to India to complete her final year in dentistry school while Arvind had to leave on a sailboat for work. His 6 month sailing voyages meant that it was difficult to initiate contact with Dhanya but every now and then, she would get an unexpected satellite call and email. Despite the long distance relationship, love bloomed.

Their wedding ceremony was held in Malacca (naturally!), the city where they were born in. Since it was a marriage of two faiths, Arvind and Dhanya had two different wedding ceremonies – a Christian and a Hindu wedding. I had never been to this temple in Malacca before, but the beautiful blue walls with lovely doors enchanted us. We’ll share the photos from the church wedding (and video highlights) in a separate post. Enjoy the photos!

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Grace Tan In Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

A Ceylonese & Malayalee Wedding: Vijay & Anuja

20150829_WEDDING_VIJAY_ANUJA_0864 It was Vijay’s tall frame with his broad shoulders that caught Anuja’s attention. They were studying their A-levels at the Methodist College Kuala Lumpur, and it was somehow fate that connected Vijay and Anuja together. Fate that came through the hands of Thanuja, Anuja’s twin sister. She was the best of friends with Vijay, and through her, Anuja got to know Vijay. According to Vijay, “Somehow, Anuja caught my attention as she was the lesser evil, quiet and quite shy!” (insert cheeky emoticon!)

Ten years later, they tied the knot.

Anuja said, “We wanted a traditional Southern Indian wedding (I a Malayalee and him being Ceylonese) that was celebrated in private with close family and friends. For the temple decorations, I wanted jasmine and marigold with a peach and gold cream colour so we worked around that theme with my wedding planner. For the reception, it was dark red roses with white hues.

Ensure you do your research before hand. We did ours at least one year prior to our wedding and knew what we wanted and where we would and would NOT compromise in terms of cost. For eg ,we booked our wedding venues a year before the wedding as to avoid the GST that was to be implemented April 2015. We had friends and relatives all over the world that came for our wedding- London, Australia, Bali, USA, Spain, Mauritius, New Zealand – so ensure you spend quality time with your family and loved ones and enjoy every moment! It is, after all, once in a lifetime!

Practicing the Viennese waltz (first dance as husband -wife) from scratch one week before our wedding reception was the highlight of the wedding for me. We did a crash course but it was really fun and allowed the both of us some personal time and a breather from the crazy wedding preparations.”

20150829_WEDDING_VIJAY_ANUJA_0002 What a fun wedding it was. Have a look at their wedding video highlights and you’ll see what we mean!

Grace Tan In Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Weddings

Hindu Temple Wedding: Suryain & Sarala

Sarala’s story is one of heartbreak and triumph. She understands what it means to go through the lowest of valleys and then being picked up again so she can soar above the mountains.

Everything happened in a year. 2012 to be precise.

She was happily engaged to a man who had promised to be with her for the rest of her life. Except that 2 days before the wedding, he called it off. She was utterly heartbroken and was so distressed that she left her job in the ministry of health and joined the private sector, thinking money was all she needed at this point. So she threw herself into her career.

Coincidentally, at that time, an online matrimonial portal called Tamil Matrimony had a special offer for free registration in Malaysia and so she listed her name in it for fun. It was there that she met Suryain for the first time (who claimed to have made a contact request while falling asleep on the laptop!). So it was in October 2012 that Sarala first met Suryain and it was a great first meet!

But there was a problem. Suryain works offshore on a ship and often times, he would be away for months. So Sarala’s parents were a little hesitant about the relationship. I suppose parents being parents, were naturally concerned about whether his job would affect the family and his responsibility as a husband to Sarala. But eventually, they accepted him and gave their blessings to the marriage.

On hindsight, Sarala says, “I am thankful that the first marriage didn’t happen because it is better that it happened then than after the wedding. I am really happy now with Suryain.”

We’re really glad too that everything turned out well in the end! Now that Sarala’s expecting her first child, we’re also excited at the growth of their family and can’t wait to meet the baby some day!

Enjoy their wedding photos, held in KL’s oldest Hindu temple, Sri Maha Mariamman Temple which was built in 1873.

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Grace Tan In Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Hindu wedding at Shree Lakshmi Temple: Sunil & Belinda

20140906_WEDDING_SUNIL_BELINDA_MSIA_0282 You’ve seen their Singaporean Chinese wedding ceremony and pre-wedding photos, now, presenting part 2 of their wedding celebration held in KL. The wedding celebration carried on in KL with a sangeet, a prayer & oil ceremony called the santh, and culminated with a colourful Hindu wedding ceremony at Shree Lakshmi temple in KL. This wedding video highlight is one of my favourites this year – I enjoy hearing their stories and seeing two different cultures combine through marriage. With the world becoming more connected globally, inter-racial marriages are the norm.

This wedding is unique for me, because in one day, I get to witness:

A Hindu wedding ceremony that resembles a Punjabi wedding
A Chinese tea ceremony where most of the people being served tea are not Chinese
Families speaking Mandarin in typical Indian wear
A dragon dance during the wedding dinner

Oh, and for the record, it was my last wedding shoot before I took a break to deliver my 2nd child!

Photographers: Grace, Nigel & Diane (wedding day), Weiming & Nigel (sangeet and santh)
Videographers: Nick, Chi Yin & Felicia

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