malaysia

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-Wedding at the Banjaran, Ipoh: Aflaah & Cher Waye

When Aflaah left his home country Maldives for studies in Malaysia, he might not have imagined that he would one day come back with a wife. It all started 9 years ago in college and they have been together ever since. When they started working, they also began a long distance relationship that lasted 4 years. It’s never easy maintaining a long distance relationship, but they made it work by finding time for each other. They travelled back and forth whenever they had the chance.

And when they were apart, they focused on their careers and growth as individuals. On hindsight, Aflaah and Cher Waye felt that this time apart made their relationship stronger as they discovered new and exciting things about each other. Now they live in Maldives (gasp, surrounded by the deep blue sea!). Travelling and food are their greatest passions, so I asked them what holidays are like for them since they are already living in holiday paradise. They replied, no beach holidays for them! Haha so I guess that was why they chose the green Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat as the venue for their pre-wedding photo shoot.

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

Childhood Love: Reuben & Jacqueline

It began a long, long time ago in 1997, when they were just 7 years of age. On the second day of school, he kicked her in the butt when she annoyed him, which was a very interesting start to a ‘beautiful’ and colourful relationship. Since then, every time they met at school, they would fight and scream at each other, until friends had to intervene. This was almost a daily occurrence, as they could not stand the presence of each other. To make matters worse, as if it was not bad enough, they suddenly discovered that they were attending the same Sunday School. All hell broke loose. This chaos went on for years, until the year 2003.

That March, his family shifted away from PJ, leaving her behind. He was enrolled to a boy’s school, while she continued to go to her regular school. During this period of absence and peace, both of them hit puberty.

At the end of every year, he would come down to PJ during the school holidays. During that period, he would still attend Sunday School where he would bump into his long time enemy and arch nemesis and the fighting will start.

However, towards the end of 2005, things took a sharp turn, as he matured and became less volatile. It was then too that he suddenly felt a slight and unexplainable attraction towards her. He was astonished to see all those incredible changes she went through during puberty. It was as though she had just morphed into this beautiful and very attractive teenager.

It was during these moments that he decided to once and for all put an end to all their constant fighting and arguing. He took the first step by composing an apology letter for her. This incredible gesture, left a very deep and positive impression on her, as she accepted the letter. They became friends and in 2007, started a real and beautiful love relationship.

Credits:
Videographers: Chi Yin, Delvin & Nick
Church Ceremony: St Peter’s Church, KL
Dinner Reception: HGH Convention Centre
Groom’s Attire: Spark Manshop (Tuxedo) / Manyavar (Sherwani)
Wedding Gown: Cocktail Evening
Evening Gown: Jayalakhshmi Textiles (India)
Shoes: Christy Ng
Make up & Hair: Blush Beauty and Beyond
Decorations: GS Win Decoration
Flowers: Wish Flora Garden-Petaling Street
Cake: Bachoven
Photography: Joshua Chan
Wedding Planner: Shamita Rajendran

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits

Fugee School Documentary Videos

At the end of 2016, 4 of us from the Stories team made a special visit to Fugee School, an education hub for refugee kids in Kuala Lumpur. It was a time of getting away from our usual work to do other socially responsible photography and video related projects. In a way, it was something similar to what we did in Kelantan some years back with the flood victims. I met with Deborah Henry, co-founder of the school, to run through some ideas on what we could do for Fugee School, and we narrowed down our focus to a documentary style approach that would give some insight into these families and their life here in Malaysia.

We were blessed to have met two students, Yusra and Hafsa. Listen to their heartwarming stories in the video below, and support amazing organizations like Fugee School who work to make a difference to these children.

Credits:

Yusra’s Story
Photographed & filmed by Jamie & Chi Yin
Edited by Chi Yin
Creative direction by Grace

Hafsa & Hasan’s Story
Photographed & filmed by Grace & Jennifer
Edited by Chi Yin
Creative direction by Grace

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Wedding Films & Videos

A Proposal and a horse carriage: Arthur & Luisa

Arthur and Luisa traveled from Florida, USA to Malaysia for a short holiday recently. But it wasn’t just a normal holiday. Arthur had planned to propose to Luisa here, and even arranged for a horse carriage at the Palace of the Golden Horses, Kuala Lumpur. He told her that they were going to do a fun pre-wedding photo shoot together and she bought it. We arranged the styling, gown and even flowers that adorned their room. It was a great session together and we had heaps of fun! Thank you for allowing us the privilege of being part of this amazing day. I hope to meet you again soon, perhaps in September in New York City when I get there!

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

Grand Hyatt Dinner Reception: Calvin & Queenie

After we photographed Calvin and Queenie’s New Zealand wedding, they came back to KL to have their dinner reception at the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur. I always love the view of the twin towers from the sky lobby… it looks so majestic the moment you exit the lifts and enter the lobby. We were also blown away by the beautiful decorations at their wedding dinner. Long dinner tables are really unconventional for Chinese Malaysian weddings, but it seems to be the trend nowadays. If you are looking for a planner to help you coordinate all of these details while you are overseas, check out Mint Events & Soirées who were the planners for this wedding.