Wedding

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.

Grace Tan In Bangladeshi Weddings, International, Weddings

A Bangladeshi Wedding: Nabil & Maisha

Photographers: Mark & Andrew
Bride’s Wedding Outfit: Ritu Kumar
Make Up: Lopa, Farzana Shakil and Dreams
Location: Shenakunjo, Dhaka, Bangladesh

They’ve been childhood sweethearts since the 5th grade. Nabil used to walk past Maisha’s class just to look at her. She knew. Whenever he came by, she would glance his way. Phone conversations after phone conversations led to the start of a deep friendship. A friendship that lasted through the years. Their love blossomed which eventually led to a surprise midnight proposal to Maisha at the Bashundhara lakeside. Nabil presented her a carton full of love letters, gifts and memoirs from their childhood. It’s like a fairy tale come true.

And on the 8th of January 2011, Nabil and Maisha sealed their love for each other in a grand wedding ceremony.

Grace Tan In Bangladeshi Weddings, International, Weddings

A Bangladeshi Wedding: Maisha’s Mehndi

Photographers: Mark and Andrew

It’s time I continued this series on Nabil and Maisha’s wedding. There’s just so much to share from their wedding that I have to put it in a few blog posts!

By the time Maisha’s mehndi rolled around, Alex and I had to travel back to Malaysia to cover another wedding. It was a really hectic week for me! I was just recuperating from my food poisoning and all that traveling made me a little tired. But it was really wonderful getting to know Nabil and Maisha, and experiencing the hospitality they extended to us. We were treated so well, like family. Not to be left out, Alex, Andrew and I participated in their holudh too… And our final photo with Nabil and Maisha before we left Dhaka.