saujana

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Wedding Video Highlight: Shri & Hui Ru

Hui Ru loves cats, nasi lemak, chocolate, coffee & sleeping. She aims to maintain a minimalist lifestyle with little distractions & things in her life, dreaming of reaching financial freedom in a few years. Shri is passionate in teaching young people on how to reach their best and happiest version of themselves. On weekends, they enjoy simple things in life like having brunch together and playing with Shri’s nephew.

Shri and Hui Ru celebrated their marriage at Ti Chen, The Saujana Hotel. It was lovely to see elements of their cultures coming together in unity and even more so, to see the joy that friends, family, and the couple had on their faces throughout the day. Their view of life resonates with us too!

“We see each other as soulmates. Before we met each other we were caught up with work & serving our families & the community. But the first time we paused and took time to get to know each other , we realized what true happiness is.”

Here’s the wedding video highlight we did for them. Thank you for having us Shri and Hui Ru! It was a special day indeed.

Credits:

Videographers: Choo Cherk, Delvin & Abel
Location: Ti Chen at Saujana Hotel
Groom’s Attire: Ehkay Corner Tailors (Singapore)
Wedding Gown: Annasul Y (from Designer Bridal Room)
Shoes: Badgley Mischka
Makeup & Hair: Armadale
Decorations: Teamo
Flowers: Flora Hera
Stationery: Thistle Cards
Photography: Peter Herman photography
Wedding Planner: Cheryl from My Wedding Planner

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Wedding at St Andrew’s Church: Matthew & Cheng

Matthew and Cheng met on their first day of college. Coincidentally, they both did not really like each other very much: to Irene, Matt looked like the typical playboy with long spiky hair; to Matt, Irene was this quiet studious overachiever person. This changed after getting to know each other over the years especially when they enrolled in the same university (IMU- Medicine).

Since they organised a lot of university events together, the draw and attraction towards each other became mutual. After IMU, they left for the UK together (Irene in Aberdeen, Scotland; Matt in Nottingham, England). Those long, never-ending 7-9 hours train rides from one place to another (simply because they couldn’t afford flights) were painful and yet memorable.

It was at South France just before coming back to work in Singapore where Matt got down on one knee and popped the question (on top of Baux-de-provence). To make it even more enchanting, a passerby shouted ‘Brava-brava!’. So simple and private yet special and memorable – and the rest is history.

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Grace Tan In Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

Garden Wedding at Saujana: Si Howe & Joanne

20141220_WEDDING_SIHOWE_JOANNE_322 I must say, Si Howe and Joanne’s description of each other beats anything I have ever read before!

Si Howe:
Si Howe is loud, Joanne is quiet.
We are both from Ipoh. Yeay!
Si Howe loves to eat, Joanne eats mainly to survive. She is learning to enjoy a larger variety of food.
Joanne loves sleepy weekends spent in the house.
Joanne shops for therapy.
Both father’s are known as KH. So KH’s son married KH’s daughter.
Si Howe always the youngest suddenly has 3 younger siblings (in law).
Joanne always the eldest suddenly has 2 older siblings and one niece. (in law).

Joanne:

Si Howe is gregarious and loves being at the centre of attention. Joanne likes watching by the sidelines.
Si Howe enjoys watching sports on TV and Joanne like reality TV shows (erm.. like the Kardashians. Hehe)
Si Howe has good motor skills and loves competitive sports. Joanne has very bad hand eye coordination and cannot play a sport to save her life. Hence, she does yoga.
Si Howe observes the details. Joanne is a daydreamer and gets lost in her own thoughts…
Si Howe loves cars! Joanne just needs a working air con and a radio.
Si Howe is a tech geek and has a 3G watch, Bluetooth headset, Microsoft surface, etc. Joanne has never downloaded an MP3 in her life. (though Si Howe claims that he is not ENTIRELY a tech geek – he does listen to LP’s on a record player!)

20141220_WEDDING_SIHOWE_JOANNE_002 You might have seen Si Howe and Joanne’s Ipoh wedding photos before, so here’s the promised blog post about their other wedding ceremony – the garden exchange of vows at Saujana. This time, the event was photographed by Nigel and Ben. It was very much an emotional ceremony for all. Continue Reading

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Old Shanghai Themed Wedding: Jason & Kim

20141129_WEDDING_JASON_KIM_0960 Red is the colour of passion… love… strength and beauty. I just love how much red there is in this wedding! If there’s one person whom you’d trust to style your wedding, it’d be Kim. She not only has good taste, but is great at making ideas come alive. From Kim’s unconventional wedding gown and red veil to her striking red Lewre shoes, everything is so perfectly colour coordinated. There’s also a different touch to Kim’s styling with a traditional hair piece added to the look. Not only that, there’s hot pink umbrellas and a gorgeous bouquet too! The colours just pop off the screen!

I remember my conversation with Kim during the wedding, and she told me, if she had to do something, she’d go all the way!

During the dinner, their Old Shanghai themed stage and photobooth blew me away. I love the details that went into the planning of this wedding. One week later, Jason and Kim had a totally different wedding altogether… it was a rustic themed wedding at Tanarimba! It wasn’t just the creativity at this wedding that fueled my energy to be creative too, I really felt the excitement from the both of them, including all the friends who were present that day.

I appreciate how Jason and Kim have extended their friendship to us and that in just a short time, I felt as if I’ve known them for years. Some people just make you feel so loved!

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Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Musings, Outdoor Weddings, Tips + Ideas, Weddings

Garden ROM at The Club, Saujana: Jonathan & Jacinda

I’ve grown to love this beautiful location. It’s a small little green patch of grass overlooking a lake, but given the right time of day when the sun is setting in the distance, you have gorgeous sunlight falling over this area, which makes for amazing back light. Ok, if you didn’t quite understand this photographer’s rambling, the location looks like this:

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And this is the amazing back light (or hair light) I am talking about.

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One of the wonderful things about small weddings is that you have lots of time for portraits. I enjoy creating images of the couple with their families and also close friends in a gorgeous setting. I photographed Jon and Jac a few months back when we did their Mad Men themed pre-wedding shoot. It was easy to connect with this couple, and from that moment on, I knew photographing them would be a breeze. The week after, Jon and Jac had their Chinese wedding ceremony (photos in the slideshow at the end of this post).

For this post, I thought I’d write a few tips on what I think would make a great garden wedding (from a photographer’s perspective):

1. Choose the time of day well

Considering we live in tropical Malaysia, the best time for an outdoor wedding would be before 10am and after 5pm. The sun is lower in the horizon which makes it more flattering for people photos. Have you ever taken a photo outdoors at 12pm, and seen lots of raccoon eyes (dark shadows under the eyes) staring back at you? Yup, that’s the effect of the sun as it is directly above you. So if you’d like more flattering images of yourself outdoors, opt to have your ceremony start at the timing suggested.