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A Ceylonese & Malayalee Wedding: Vijay & Anuja

20150829_WEDDING_VIJAY_ANUJA_0864It 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_0002What a fun wedding it was. Have a look at their wedding video highlights and you’ll see what we mean!


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Chinese Ancestral Home Ipoh Wedding: Si Howe & Joanne

Some time back, I photographed some portraits of Joanne for her 30th birthday and it was on that shoot that I met Si Howe. He struck me as a really fun loving, supportive guy who was ever willing to give Joanne a hoist to entertain her ideas of climbing trees for pictures. As we got to know each other more later, it struck me that they were two opposite personalities totally in love with each other. Si Howe, an obvious extrovert, was telling me all about his Ipoh wedding at his family courtyard home (where EVERYONE in their family holds a wedding!) and enticing Nigel and I with stories about giant Tanjung Tualang prawns served during the luncheon.

Needless to say, we were definitely looking forward to this wedding!

We were really smitten with the wonderful classic family home that we had the privilege of shooting in. Since Si Howe’s family was a large one, the tea ceremony took quite a while, serving approximately 180 people! One of the biggest challenges we had was doing a huge family photo that could accommodate everyone. At the entrance of the home (image below), it was hot in the midday sun, so to get everyone to stand / sit there even for 15 minutes would be really challenging. But the worst thing is that everyone would be squinting as they had to look towards the direction of the sun. So we moved everyone to the back of the house instead for the photos. Though it was very warm still, at least people weren’t squinting as much!

20141213_WEDDING_SIHOWE_JOANNE_0743I love this marital bed that symbolises their union. Si Howe told me how he and another cousin  had to painstakingly take the bed apart from another cousin’s home and transport it to this place. And then he had to put it together again, pretty much like a jigsaw puzzle. If you look carefully, you will see his yellow sticker notes on the bed frame which we ‘conveniently’ left in the shot. Tells a story!

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Garden Hindu Wedding, Rasa Sayang, Penang: David & Nandini

Amidst lush, majestic and mature trees just alongside the Batu Feringgi beach, David and Nandini were wed at the Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort, Penang. The garden was beautifully decorated for their Hindu wedding ceremony, and all their guests came in traditional Indian attire. It was a tropical treat for David and Nandini’s guests from Ireland, who basked in the sun, witnessed a meaningful wedding ceremony, and enjoyed delicious Indian cuisine. Both Weiming and I were really blessed to have such thoughtful clients who really looked out for our best interests. Even Nandini’s mum made sure I was well fed since I was well into my 2nd trimester of pregnancy by then!

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Wedding of Daniel & Alison at Wesley Methodist Church

20140719_WEDDING_DANIEL_ALISON_0452It was the Easter weekend in Sydney. Daniel and Alison had already met in 2002 as family friends and then again in 2007 when Daniel visited Melbourne with his buddies and ‘coincidentally’ or perhaps, more ‘intentionally’ asked Alison to catch up. So now, it was Alison’s turn to travel to Sydney where Daniel was studying. Everything was still very platonic at this stage, but Daniel had developed some feelings for Alison by then. Somehow, a few things happened during this trip that made it so significant for them as a couple.

While walking along the Darling Harbour, a lady ‘statue’ in disguise randomly picked Daniel and Alison among their friends to come closer to her. In her hand, were some flowers, which she gave them to hold, and placed a flower crown on Alison’s head. In a simple gesture, she indicated for them to hold hands, which they sheepishly did. Then, there was the incident at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Daniel proved he was good at ‘aiming’ when he won a shooting game there and asked Alison to pick a grand prize that she liked. Together, they chose a giant unicorn which she brought back to Melbourne and subsequently to KL where it’s found it’s resting place in Alison’s bedroom till today. (it made an appearance in her wedding photos too!)

20140719_WEDDING_DANIEL_ALISON_0012Though they were complete opposites in terms of personality (Daniel is the shy, quiet type – we had to work really hard to draw his cute dimples out during the wedding! And Alison’s the talkative, bubbly girl who doesn’t have any problems laughing or showing her expressions)… they worked well as a couple. Despite the distance between Melbourne and Sydney, they kept in touch and realised they had so much in common. After dating over 6 years, Daniel proposed to Alison on 17 December 2013 in Docklands, Melbourne…the place where he brought her on their first dinner date. Happiest day of their lives. And yes, Daniel is pretty good at his aim.

Congratulations, both of you! Be prepared for a whole series of images, taken by Grace, Nigel & Jamie.

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Wedding at Grand Hyatt, KL: En Ruey & Jas Min

One of the most wonderful things about being a wedding photographer is the ability to connect with others on a deeper level, one that goes beyond a client-vendor relationship. Ever since I discovered the wedding photography industry, my life has changed for the better. I have developed friendships and have photographed families as they grow through the years. En Ruey and Jas Min are one of those couples who are now my friends. To date, we’ve photographed their pre-wedding shoot, wedding, En Ruey’s family portraits and Jas Min’s parent’s birthdays. I look forward to spending more time with this wonderful family as we mature in life.

I’ll let them share their story and thoughts about the wedding as you view the photos below.

20140111_WEDDING_ENRUEY_JASMIN_0636How They Met

“We both were classmates in high school during F4 & F5. Amazingly we never really met each other until then. I think our classmates were even more amazed that we even got together despite all the bantering, yelling and slinging books at each other across the classroom. To be honest, at that age, there wasn’t really any “he’s the one” sort of moment and this was of course compounded by our breakup 6 months into the relationship.

But after two years of being apart, he realised he had made a mistake and asked me to be his girlfriend again. It didn’t help that about a few weeks after, we went to uni in different parts of the UK separated by a very expensive 4 hour plus train ride. To me, the gradual pacing of our relationship coupled with his maturity in handling all my ‘crisises’ allowed me to see him as someone very suitable for the long run (read: husband material). It also helped that despite the distance and only being able to meet up every 2-3 months, we very rarely had any fights or arguments. That to me proved that we were very much in sync with each other.”

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