Wedding

Fahrizal & Shirah’s Royal Wedding

Photographers: Grace, Johan, Weiming & Ben
Bride’s Wedding Gown (akad nikah): Wan Zakaria
Bride & Groom’s dinner attire: Calvin Thoo
Make Up: Eric (akad nikah) & Naseeb (dinner)
Cake (nikah): Truly Scrumptious
Videography: RF Media
Dinner Entertainment: Orkestra RTM
Dinner Reception: Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

When Shirah first approached me to enquire about our wedding photography services, it never crossed my mind that I would be photographing my first royalty group photo a few months later. We had a good conversation then… she told me she teaches French in Sri Cempaka school, which amazed me! It was only on her wedding day that I realized she had a YM in front of her name. :)

Fahrizal & Shirah’s story began during their university days in London 9 years ago. They were on different paths of their lives and even though they didn’t show any interest in each other at the time, there was always an underlying chemistry between them.

Here’s Fahrizal & Shirah’s story from her perspective:

After graduating and moving back to KL, we became closer and eventually started dating in 2006. Back and forth dating for over four years and at the end of 2010 we decided it was the right time to get married. Our families were eager for us to be married quickly hence only 5 months preparation till the wedding day in May 2011!

I couldn’t be more delighted with the way the wedding ceremony and reception went – a complete success despite the typical unplanned and last minute difficulties a wedding presents, such as rain! Grace, Johan and the rest of the Stories team were so great in accomodating all of these issues and were incredibly professional in dealing with all the formalities and protocol. The sneak peeks of the photos have been beautiful and I would highly recommend anyone looking for a fun, happy and eager photographer who knows what they’re doing to hire Grace and her team!

Mark Leo In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

The Wedding of Gary & Mun Hin

Photographers: Mark & Johan
Hair, Make Up, Wedding Gown & Groom’s Attire: Just Married
Decorations: Memories DeWedding
Videography: Istudio Productions
Dinner Entertainment: Happy Fish Productions
Dinner Reception: HGH Convention Centre, KL

While Grace was in Australia shooting Jamie & Ann’s wedding, Johan and I were in Malaysia at Gary & Mun Hin’s wedding. Shooting weddings brings a lot of blessings because as photographers we get to know our couples and this time it was a great blessing knowing both Gary and Mun Hin. As doctors (yes they are both doctors), I initially felt intimidated by two professionals but after meeting them, everything seemed to turned better than fine, it was amazing!

Gary met Mun Hin while they were studying and things just blossomed. Here’s their story from Mun Hin’s perspective…

We met each other during 1st year of medical school. During the orientation, my mom was the one to introduce me to him! Of course, we didn’t jump straight into the bandwagon, we became friends at first and then it got quite lonely when you’re away from family (haha!) and one thing led to another and we started dating. When i first saw him i thought he he was quite handsome and got attracted to him.

One thing interesting that happened when we were studying in India was that me and my housemate bought a scooter because EVERYONE owned a bike, and he tried to bring me one day on the scooter but instead got into an accident which required stitches at some places and after that, I was the one to bring him all around town on the bike for 2 ½ years.

We then went on to graduate together and also worked in the same hospital for about a year. So, altogether we’ve been in a relationship for about 7 years. Fast forward, to 2011, we are now getting hitched!

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

DIY Wedding, Sails on the Bay, Melbourne: Jamie & Ann

Photographers: Grace & Alex
Location: Sails on the Bay, Melbourne
Decorations: Ann, Jamie, friends and family who laboriously worked on it

One week after Jamie & Ann’s beautiful chapel wedding in the Gold Coast, Alex and I traveled to Melbourne for her next wedding celebration. It was held at Sails on the Bay, very near Brighton beach (which I later managed to have a peek at… and did some of my own posing in front of those famous colourful Brighton beach houses). The amazing thing about this wedding in Melbourne was that everything was DIY – well, everything except the food and cake. So be prepared for a huge post on details!

Look at this gorgeous venue. I love it how the pre-wedding, wedding in Gold Coast and now Melbourne had a beach theme running through it. Sigh, I wish Malaysian skies looked this good!

Do these flowers and vases look familiar? They were used during the pre-wedding too! All the decorations you see at this wedding were a labour of love. Even Ann’s parents had a hand in it, cutting fresh flowers to put into the vases that Ann purchased before the wedding.

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.

Mark Leo In Bangladeshi Weddings, International, Weddings

A Bangladeshi Wedding: Nabil & Maisha’s Walima

Photographers: Mark & Andrew

The final post from Nabil & Maisha’s wedding – the walima. It’s the event where the men come dressed in their best suits, guests dine and enjoy each other’s company.

When you have such beautiful weather (I love the cool weather!) and out in the open, the entire place decked with gorgeous decoration and my absolute favourite, fairy lights, a seemingly normal venue is turned into one that is just beautiful and magical. Nabil and Maisha did such a great job with the wedding. I did say that the weather was cold, because Andrew was really freezing through the night. But me, I just love the weather and the idea of having little pits of fire burning where guests could just go and stand by them to keep warm.

So much attention was paid to the little details, the decorations for each place setting for guests, the cut out pieces of butterflies, the colour scheme of the tents, the waterfall behind the bride and the groom and all down to the choices of flowers and stage decorations. It was truly a sight to behold.

Check out the customized tag on the Giorgio Armani suit.