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Grace Tan In International, Musings, Outdoor Weddings, Running a Business, Weddings

Updates & a beautiful wedding at Capella, Singapore

These past few months, my mind has been filled with many different things… mostly with work and trying to meet the many deadlines and deliveries we have to make. It’s been rather challenging for me physically, because this is the first time in my career that I’ve been shooting non-stop every weekend from August 27th till December 17th. This does not include the other family / pre-wedding portrait and commercial shoots on weekdays. So yes, I am sorry for the lack of updates on this blog.

I am really looking forward to the Christmas holidays though, as that will be the first break I am getting in many months. I will be planning for next year and also trying to sort out everything for the new office… we will be moving into SS2 mall early next year! Once the studio is opened, we will have some promotions, so do keep a look out on this blog!

Just as a little teaser, here are some images I took yesterday at the gorgeous Capella Hotel in Sentosa, Singapore. Definitely one of the prettiest outdoor locations I’ve seen so far!

Have a great Christmas season and happy shopping!

Grace Tan In Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

Wedding on Redang Island: Frank & Demi

Photographers: Grace & Alex
Hair & Make Up: Grace Wang
Location: Laguna Redang Island Resort

Redang is an island paradise. It promises turquoise seas that meet deep blue skies, soft sand under your feet, and lots of friendly fishes that eat from your hand. It’s also a diver’s den, because there are loads of beautiful dive sites around Redang Island and Perhentian Island. I have fond memories of Redang because it was there that I did my first ever snorkeling trip – almost 8 years ago now. I was just amazed at the beauty under the sea… I couldn’t help but feel in awe at God’s creation! Though I came home sunburnt (my butt was more burnt actually… it was quite buoyant haha), I told myself that I must visit those islands again some day. That experience drove me to get my diving licence a few years later.

In August, I received an email from Frank who said he was going to have a beach wedding in Laguna Redang Island Resort. Though my calendar was already quite packed, I couldn’t resist shooting another beach wedding. Frank & Demi are from Chengdu, China. I was a little concerned about the language barrier since my Mandarin is worse than kindergarten standards. But after a few conversations with Frank on the phone, I said yes, packed my bags, and went to Redang with Alex. When I reached there, I found out that Demi doesn’t speak much English but somehow with loads of body language, a smattering of English and my kindergarten Mandarin, we managed to communicate. (actually I just said piao liang most of the time!)

During our first meeting, I asked Frank how many guests would be at the wedding. And he said, “Just the 2 of us.”

I was surprised. He must have seen that look on my face for he then started to explain about how Demi had always dreamed of having a beach wedding. This wedding ceremony at Redang was just for them. Their family and friends would celebrate a month later in a grand banquet in China, attended by 700 guests.

Frank must really love Demi because he made her dream a reality.

And so to date, Frank & Demi’s private wedding is the smallest wedding I’ve ever photographed in terms of number of people.

Grace Tan In Testimonials

Testimonial: David + Risa, Wedding at Andaman Langkawi

Some time back, I photographed David and Risa’s beautiful wedding at the Andaman resort in Langkawi. David and Risa were kind enough to write a testimonial for Stories…Thank you, David & Risa for being such wonderful clients too!

Grace and Mark shot our wedding on Langkawi Island in Jan 2011. We found Grace and on the Internet and after seeing some of her work, we knew that we wanted her to shoot our wedding.

Grace was professional from the beginning and even though we were only able to correspond by email, communication was always very clear and we were always on the same page. No hidden costs or unpleasant surprises.

It was Grace’s pro-active approach that really convinced us that we’d made the right decision. I (the groom) had no idea what I was going to ask Grace to shoot when she got here. I had no real ‘vision’ or anything and the bride was flat out in preparation, as brides often are on their wedding day. Grace, however, knew exactly what was doing and basically took off and started shooting, assessing the situation and deciding the best way to do things on the fly. This was really great and I can’t say how relieved I was.

Grace is very dedicated and is not too shy to take control when she needs to in order to get the best shots. This was very much appreciated as we are extremely happy with the results. She and her assistant, Mark, shot non-stop from start to finish. They maintained a high level of energy throughout and clearly enjoy what they do. This is important as it rubs off on everyone present and adds to the occasion.

In short, I have no hesitations in recommending Grace and her company. They are dedicated professionals and really very, very reasonably priced. We live in Japan, and seriously, what you get for 3 or 4 times the price here is very much inferior to what Grace did for us. Very happy.

David and Risa Lee.

Grace Tan In Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

An Intimate Beach Wedding: David & Risa

Photographers: Grace & Mark
Wedding Gown: The Wedding Shoppe, Inc.
Location: The Andaman, Langkawi

18 guests flew all the way from Japan and Australia to Langkawi to attend the wedding of David & Risa. It was a small, intimate wedding filled with lots of emotions. Tears flowed freely, and love was expressed in its purest form. I couldn’t hold back my emotions, as I saw the strong bond between family members, friends and David & Risa. This is definitely one of my favourite weddings. I compiled a slideshow to showcase the many different photos as I cannot include so many in this blog post. I do hope you’ll enjoy this set of images as much as I did creating them.

Here’s David’s and Risa’s story…

We met in Japan in 2004. Actually, although we don’t like to admit it, we met in an English conversation school. I was teaching there and I met Risa, who was a student there at the time, a couple of weeks before I was due to finish my contract. We started dating and I moved in with her a couple of months after that.

Then, I had to leave Japan and return to my own country. We had only been together a few months and I wasn’t prepared for how difficult it was to say goodbye. I think I decided then that we needed to do our best to stay together, somehow. I had actually assumed that we would break up when I left, but I found that very difficult to come to terms with.

Anyway, Risa came to visit me in Australia about three months after I had returned. She then came to live there for a year (after a difficult 11 month long term relationship period), and after that we came back to Japan, where we’ve been since mid 2007. It was around November or December last year when I began to seriously think about proposing. Although we had talked about it many times, I had not really given much thought to actually doing it. We had been together for almost 6 years and had toughed out some pretty difficult times, with the long distance period, the bi-cultural relationship and all the complications that come with that, and it dawned on me that there was no reason not to. I certainly couldn’t imagine spending my life with anyone else, so we took a trip to Malaysia and ended up at the Andaman on Langkawi island, where I proposed. Now, a year later, we’re returning to finish the job!

Grace Tan In Outdoor Weddings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Weddings

Garden wedding at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang, Penang: Greta & Mohit (part2)

Garden Ceremony & Dinner Reception: Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort, Penang, Malaysia
Photographers: Grace & Johan
Videographer: Wedding Story

View part 1 of the wedding.

While the rest of the guests were getting ready for the dinner reception, the bridal party together with Mo and Greta were out on the beach having some fun!

Johan took this shot below while I was shooting from another angle…

Mo wanted a shot of Greta in her veil, so we quickly hooked it on, and got this shot… I love the detail on her veil!

A lot of things in this wedding are themed red. Like the tables and chairs in this ballroom.

And so, it only made sense to take the ring shots against something red!

The cake at the dinner reception varies in colour depending on the lighting at that time.

I can’t help photographing kids. They have this look that demands to be photographed!

Find the official photographer. Hehe…

Not only were the speeches good, the dancing was pretty awesome too!

Johan took this cool dancing shot (below) with off camera flash. It was really dark while the dancing was happening, so we utilized flash, video light, and high ISO on the cameras! Thank God for 6400 ISO setting on my 5D Mark2. :)

I had a great time at your wedding, Mo & Greta. Thanks for your confidence in my team even though you only met me on your wedding day for the first time! Wishing you years and years of happiness together!