Articles filed under Little White Book Blog

Singapore wedding by Jack Images (Jackie Chan)

March 3rd, 2010 by Stephanie Chai | Posted in Little White Book Blog, Traditional, Wedding | 2 Comments

Walk-in-1-bride

Jackie Chan (no, not that Jackie Chan!) from Jack Images sent us this awesome pics from a wedding he shot in Singapore recently. The couple are Rongda & Lilac who had the traditional morning games with the ‘pick up the bride’ session, followed by their disco-themed evening reception!

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It’s a Chinese wedding custom for the groom and his close friends to arrive at the bride’s house early in the morning to ‘pick up the bride’. It may sound like an easy task but do not be fooled my friends! The bridesmaids concoct an array of challenging (and funny) tests for the boys to do…

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And you thought bananas were just fruit…

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Still huffing and puffing an hour later at 9 am! But climbing the stairs can only mean the bride is in a room nearby…

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Instead of the usual walk-in, this couple arranged a disco do and had the groomsmen, bridesmaid and themselves dancing down the aisle! It reminds me of this famous youtube video that we uploaded recently.

All in all some great photos by Jackie who captured the energy and fun of the wedding, good job! xx

Save the date now with Cupcake Chic!

February 26th, 2010 by Samira Albana | Posted in Little White Book Blog, Planning & Ideas | 3 Comments

savetheday

It’s a Western custom commonly practiced by couples planning their upcoming wedding to send out ‘Save the date’ cards. These cards should be typically sent out about 3-4 months before the wedding in order to enable your guests to keep that special day free. However, this custom can be carried out as creatively as you wish, meaning you don’t necessarily have to send out a card. Even in Chinese culture, it is also tradition to send out a ‘little sweet’ with your invitation card, such as Lo Po Peng (wife biscuit). However in these modern times, what better sweet could there be, besides the classic cupcake!

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Cupcake Chic, a well-known chain of cupcake stores in Malaysia, is offering their services in the form of ‘Save-the-date’ cupcakes. What better way is there to let your guests know your wedding date? They get to join in on your happiness and of course dine on scrumptious cupcakes (always a plus!) I personally get really excited when I see couples get creative and try something different… because that means the actual wedding day will be even more imaginative!

Cupcake Chic gives couples the liberty to customize the cupcakes to suit their fancy and goes out of their way to cater to requests. You could have the date embedded on the cupcakes, your names and perhaps even your faces! It’s a case of anything goes (within reason!).

Click here for more info!

A Ritz Carlton wedding shot by Andy Lim

February 23rd, 2010 by Stephanie Chai | Posted in Cultural Weddings, Little White Book Blog, Wedding | 10 Comments
Chris&WS1

Courtesy of Andy Lim

Wan Sim recently got married in the U.K (where she currently resides) and back here in her homeland, Malaysia. Having written her first post about her ‘English’ Wedding, she took the liberty of also sharing her experience of planning her M’sian wedding from halfway across the world in London!

Written by: Wan Sim Tan-Sainsbury

Here is the list of suppliers whom my husband and I genuinely believe to be on our A-list. Four thumbs up for all!

The-Ritz-Carlton,-Kuala-Lum

The Venue

A small wedding, less hassles? Not quite. Since it is not the norm in Malaysia to have such a wedding, most of the hotel banquet rooms require a minimum of 200 guests.

Our winner was the Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur. It is centrally located and has beautifully set up function rooms that suit smaller weddings (from 40 – 120 people). The fact that we always had a very pleasant stay in this hotel did sway our minds a bit. It was also such a blessing to have a very capable and professional in-house wedding/catering coordinator, Ms Lim Kim Shia.

Being abroad, we heavily depended on emails to communicate. Kim Shia was so efficient that every time we emailed her with a long list of queries, she would respond adequately within 24 hours. She did not only undertake her role competently but always went the extra mile to arrange various other matters for us (even call us in the U.K). The service that she provided was just exceptional.

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Courtesy of Andy Lim

We booked an apartment at The Ritz Residences for the Chinese Bridal Pickup session. The residences were also my ‘boudoir’ for the night before my big day while my hubby stayed across the road at the Westin Hotel. The Chinese Tea Ceremony was held after the bridal pickup in the day function room, which was set up in a theatrical style. The white glove services and the personal touches by the Ritz Carlton are highly commended by not only us, but our guests too.

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Banquet Menu

The banquet food was of high quality and very much refined, since it was prepared by the Cantonese chef of the award winning Li Yen Restaurant of the hotel.  We had maximum flexibility in choosing our banquet menu; in fact it was really anything that we fancied!

What impressed us most?

When they took the initiative to personalise all our wedding notices and menu cards with our own logo, without us knowing! It was a pleasant surprise when we saw it after we sat down at our table.

This is simply the trademark of Ritz Carlton, where service has a personal touch.

The Photographer

Andy-Lim-&-Wife

Mr. (& Mrs.) Andy Lim from Emotion in Pictures

After months of correspondences via emails, we finally met up with Andy two weeks before our wedding. Andy and Junnie (his lovely Mrs.) were highly recommended by a recently married friend of mine in London (Andy was his wedding photographer). It all happened when I expressed my concern to my friend that I may have a problem getting a reliable professional photographer in Malaysia (that’s also within our budget).  We realised through our search, that there are either the very good ones who strive to be better, or the used-to-be very good ones, who just remain as they was before.

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Courtesy of Andy Lim

In my opinion, a wedding is unique to each couple – hence it should be individually expressed by the photographer through his/her own lenses based on the surrounding moods, people and emotions of that very special day.  Andy was all that. He achieved all the above successfully with his non-intrusive and relaxed manner. Natural laughter, tears and joy of everyone can be expressed without the feeling of uneasiness.  Andy amazingly captured not just our emotions, but also the emotions of the people around us.  I believe this is not simply because of his photography skill, but his actually his natural ability of foreseeing people reactions by cleverly interpreting the mood of that split second.  Just from one of his photos, it will tell you the story of that very moment.

Langkawi2

Courtesy of Andy Lim

Believe it or not, Andy was also with us for a photo shoot just two days before our wedding! We were in Langkawi for part of our wedding video shoot, and thought that it would be a good idea for our Malaysian team to collaborate before the wedding. What can I say, it turned out to be a great success! Andy produced some pretty amazing WOW shots that just blew our minds away and we were so excited to see them on TWG.

decor-ritz

Courtesy of Andy Lim

The Florist – Spring Cottage at The Ritz Residence

Spring Cottage is the in-house florist for the Ritz Carlton. We corresponded via emails a month before to discuss ideas and flowers availability. We actually had our first face-to-face meeting only 2 weeks before the wedding! I brought along some photos of my preferred flowers arrangements and a list of the flowers that I would like. A list is useful as it does give the florist an idea of the colour tone, effects and even the flower scent that you want. For me, I was making sure that my flowers did not have any heavy scented flower/foliage, as I wanted the room to be filled with my favourite scent, Lily of the Valley (yes, I did bring all my candles with me from London).

Spring cottage was very good as they did a few sample arrangements for me right on the spot, which is usually a good sign of a competent florist. This gave me the virtual impression of the flower arrangement mix and we got to fiddle with size and texture. They do have an extensive portfolio, so you won’t be out of ideas if you need some guidance. Since I was staying at the Ritz, it was convenient for me to pop downstairs and check on my flowers the day before my wedding. Lucky me, they were absolutely spot on.  The flowers were just gorgeous! I could not be any happier.

Hip pre-wedding pics by FIFOTO!

February 19th, 2010 by Elaine Ho | Posted in Little White Book Blog, Traditional, Wedding | 12 Comments

f4

Fifoto photography just sent in these BEAUTIFUL pre-wedding photos of Victor & Niz. Here’s what wedding photographer Fiona of FIFOTO wrote about them on her blog:

I have just three words to describe this couple: – YOUNG, HIP & HAPPENING! Of course, I kinda already knew they were the non-traditional, young & cool couple when they refused to take any conventional photos and requested for rustic shots in abandoned lots. Yesterday’s shoot confirmed it! These two are just adorable together! Other than the fact that both of them can equally outdo each other in posing, they surprised Jason & I when they burst into some funky dance moves wayyyyyyy early in the morning! We had soooooooooo much fun photographing the cute couple and here are some of my favorite shots!

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A savvy use of the iphone!

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Fiona did a great job capturing the love & affection between Victor & Niz. Am loving the rustic feel of the pics… arty, cool & different.

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Do you have the panache of this couple? A sense of humour and fun can go a long way, remember when you’re planning your pre-wedding photos… the ball is in your court. Anything goes, as long as the two of you are happy :)

How about Cupcake Chic for your wedding!

February 9th, 2010 by Samira Albana | Posted in Little White Book Blog, Planning & Ideas, Wedding | 4 Comments

Would you take the risk and go against the norm of getting a multi-tiered wedding cake on your special day? Well, with establishments such as Cupcake Chic that risk is no more. With three outlets under their belts and 25 flavours to boot, founders Ben and Joanne have a lot to be proud of! Here at TWG, we took the liberty of interviewing Ben and Joanne and give you a glimpse into their wonderfully colourful cupcake world!

Cute wedding favors

Cute wedding favors

How about you guys tell us a lil bit about yourselves and how you met?

J: We met over a messy crab-eating dinner in good ole’ Port Klang about 10 years ago. Ben was working in UK at the time and was back on holidays. We didn’t hit it off, in fact we were so ticked off with each other, we didn’t want to have anything to do with each other!

B: Until today, I still don’t get why we were so ticked off with each other. We didn’t even speak to each other. Jo thought I was obnoxious and I thought she just had a bad day. It was anything but love at first sight.

J: As fate would have it, we met again on 11th of September, 2001 – that’s right, on the very day of the 911 disaster. We were seated next to each other while watching a play at the old Actor’s Studio in BSC and started receiving text messages through the night about the towers collapsing. It was then that things started to take off. Funny how it took a disaster to bring us together. LOL.

B: Actually, the back story to that was a mutual friend of ours actually set me up for a blind date with someone else that night. Turned out we hit it off instead.

How did you guys first discover this common passion for cupcakes?

J: I don’t know if we have a “common” passion for cupcakes. We have a common direction, a common goal and a common desire to achieve in business. Cupcakes came along because I love to bake and we saw an opportunity when we discovered a lack of beautiful and delicious cupcakes in Malaysia… and the entrepreneur blood in us, pounced on it.

Cupcake-1

Who was the genius behind the idea of starting a chain of cupcake stores?

J: Me!

B: Me! Well, it never started with this grand plan to open a chain of stores. In fact, we started small by setting up a booth at the weekend flea market at the Curve shopping mall – just to test the market. One thing led to another and before we knew it we opened a retail store. Having said that, we knew of the immense opportunity and the potential of a new market blossoming and felt we had a good chance to be one of the pioneers of the cupcake industry. So there was always this dream of having created a brand that could span across the country but it never really felt real until we opened our first retail store.

J: I think it was just a natural progression. We expanded as our level of maturity in business and minds expanded.

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What goes on in the kitchen that makes your cupcakes so scrumptious and special?

J: That’s spilling the beans, don’t you think?:)  But if you really must know, it’s the love & joy we put into making those crazy, yummy cupcakes.

B: And you can see it and taste it. For instance, there is a certain style to which we frost some of the cupcakes such as our signature Fatal Attraction and Back to Basics. And it can be painstakingly tedious because everything is crafted by hand. Imagine frosting almost 1000 of those cupcakes everyday. You’ve got to love it to do it well! And it’s because we’re crazy about our cupcakes that we put in the best ingredients. Consumers can tell right away if you’re using good stuff – its in the smell, flavour, texture, mouth-feel & aftertaste.


So how does one order cupcakes for their wedding?

J: It’s very simple. Pick up the phone and call me (Jo) on 012-2101840 or email me at joanne@cupcakechic.com.my. We’ll sit down with you and discuss your theme and dream up the most beautiful cupcakes for your special day.

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Finally… what else can a bride use cupcakes for apart from cupcake towers?

J: Cupcake wedding favors is a popular one. Hen’s night or Bachelor’s night are also good occasions for cupcakes. Save the date cupcakes are picking up in popularity (handing out a little sweet treat with your invitation).
A more recent one we did was for the games you play on the bride and groom at the wedding banquet – I believe the bride and groom had to eat the cupcake with their hands tied together…. A kiss was inevitable.

So there you have it folks! If you’re interested in having mouth-watering cupcakes on your wedding day or any wedding-related occasion for that matter, make sure you check out Cupcake Chic in our Little White Book. Or log on to www.cupcakechic.com.my for more info!

Lovely church wedding by Jim Liaw (JLP)

February 4th, 2010 by Stephanie Chai | Posted in Little White Book Blog, Traditional, Wedding | 2 Comments

Rani

These lovely pics are courtesy of Jim Liaw from Jim Liaw Photography (JLP) and are from Ranil & Kanchana’s church wedding held at St. Francis Xaviers in Petaling Jaya, K.L.

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I love these shots of the couple at the church and Kancana’s gown has a wonderful trail which always looks great walking down the aisle!

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Whilst the bride donned a traditional white dress, her bridesmaids wore saris to reflect her indian heritage.

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Thumbs up on how the saris are all earth tone colours as it pairs well with the daises; giving the wedding that free-spirited vibe. But must say that we absolutely adore these photos below of Kancana.. very pretty indeed!

Kanchana

If you like the church wedding Ranil & Kanchana put together then here’s a breakdown of the vendors they chose to use:

Wedding Planner - Peak Experience

Wedding Photographer – Jim Liaw (JLP)

Wedding Videographer – The Professional Gallery

Jazz Band – Mosaic Entertainment

Nurul & Azmir’s wedding (FIFOTO)

January 29th, 2010 by Stephanie Chai | Posted in Cultural Weddings, Little White Book Blog, Wedding | 5 Comments

N&A-last

Hey everyone!

We just got these lovely pics of Nurul & Azmir’s wedding from Fiona Lim of FIFOTO. Here’s the wedding breakdown:

Akad Nikah held at Bride’s place in Sri Hartamas
Bride’s Reception held at Wisma Yayasan
Groom’s reception at Marriott

n&r-4

The Akad Nikad had a green & cream theme to it which I really like – isn’t green very soothing and peaceful? No wedding stresses there! Also, notice the fake eyelashes on the bride, if you ‘heart’ this I believe you can get similar designs from Shu Uemera who has collaborated with local designer Melinda Looi, to create out of this world lashes.

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During the wedding reception, Nurul changed from her baju kebaya into a traditional bridal dress. The bridesmaid’s baju kebaya is lovely with the black and orange tones. We usually try to avoid black for weddings but in this case it really works! If you’re stuck for ideas on what wedding songs to choose, here’s what Nurul and Azmir settled on:

Performances at Nurul’s Reception
1) Tony Leo & Wel Loren
2) Chak Onn Lau – CLEO rendition of “You were there – by Southern Sons”
3) Anita Ibrahim – “Quando, Quando, Quando”
4) Surprise song by Azmir, the groom himself, singing Besame Mucho

Surprise performance at Azmir’s Reception
1) Zain Amri Ayeob & Natasha Ayla – “The Prayer” (Celine Dion + Andrea Bocelli’s rendition)

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The wedding reception followed a colour theme of lilacs, pastel pink and white. Nice touch of hanging the wedding photos up – it gives a personal feel which is what it should be after all.

Here’s an interesting fact: Azmir was one of Cleo’s 2009 Bachelors but withdrew b4 the contest ended coz he met Nurul & fell crazy in love!!

Now that is what I call the hand of fate!

Beautiful pre-wedding shoot by Jack Images

January 25th, 2010 by Stephanie Chai | Posted in Little White Book Blog, Traditional, Wedding | 2 Comments

JC

Say hello to our latest TWG photography vendor – Jack Images run by Jackie Chan. He might share the name with a famous movie star, but Malaysia’s Jackie Chan is not a veteran actor but rather a veteran in the photography industry here! After years of experience as a successful commercial photographer, he found requests from wedding clients piling up… and today happily divides his time between commercial and wedding shoots. I love these pre-wedding shots he did where Jackie had the brilliant idea of hiring an old school bus as the central prop.

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Tell us a little bit about yourself

I graduated in graphic design and majored in photography, so it has always been my passion for a long as I can remember! I started off with my own commercial studio but then also moved into weddings – I’ve now had ten years of experience in shooting weddings. Weddings are always fun and they give me something to look forward to for the weekends.

Do you have a team? Or solo?

I have a team of four photographers.

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How are you different from other photographers in town?

My background in commercial photography helps a lot as I understand the importance of planning and coming up with different concepts. Some couples would like to try something new instead of the usual pre-wedding shots. For this shoot, I came up with the idea of hiring an old bus and getting the couple to pose in it. I used photoshop to play around with the pics – as you can see there are different shots of them put into one pic.

I am very passionate about what I do so I personally sit down with the couples and we talk about their vision and how we can bring that to light. Just as I do with commercial shoots, I physically go to check out different locations first to ensure they are suitable.

b&w-JC

What have been your favourite weddings to shoot?

There was one wedding at Hotel Maya that was a lot of fun, as the fiance was from Singapore so there were a whole bunch of Singaporeans staying there. The lighting at the hotel was also very good… this is important as you can be a pro photographer but if the lighting is terrible it will affect your shots. Another wedding I shot at Avallion in P.D was also great, it was for a Malaysian couple who lived in the UK but came back to tie the knot. Everything ran smoothly, looked beautiful and was well planned.

Thanks for these wonderful pics Jackie! If you’d like to get in touch with Jackie click here.

Kris & Melinda’s wedding by Andy Lim

January 18th, 2010 by Stephanie Chai | Posted in Little White Book Blog, Traditional | 4 Comments

bridesmaids

Hot off the press! We just got these awesome pics of Kris & Melinda’s wedding from LWB vendor Andy Lim. The church service was held St. John’s Cathedral here in Kuala Lumpur in December.

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I love the purple and white theme – it’s very simple, soft but pretty.

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How cute – the wedding bearer looks like he needed a little bit of convincing to walk down the aisle! Mel’s wedding shoes are also very stylish,  love the ribbons.

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To make the wedding feel more personal, the couple asked Melinda’s niece to perform. Note that the flowergirls also have really cute hairpieces. Much more fashionable that the 80s tiara I wore as a flowergirl!

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Congrats to Kris & Melinda! If you’d like to contact Andy then click here.

How to choose your bridal gown by Celest Thoi

January 11th, 2010 by Stephanie Chai | Posted in Fashion & Beauty, Little White Book Blog, Wedding | 4 Comments
Courtesy of Murphey's law blog

Courtesy of Murphey's law blog

When Carrie finally got her proposal from Mr. Big she also landed the dress of her dreams, a beautiful Vivenne Westwood creation, which true to  SATC form was delivered straight to her door. For the rest of us though, our dream dress may need a little bit more old-fashioned hardwork and research. TWG spoke to LWB vendor Celest Thoi from bridal boutique Pretty in White to find out the dos and don’ts of choosing your perfect bridal gown:

Courtesy of Wiki: Bodyshapes

Courtesy of Wiki: Bodyshapes

Celest’s advice:

Choosing your bridal gown is a lot like finding any other evening dress. You simply want one that suits you and makes you look the best you can be. Remember these body charts? We are all different shapes and sizes so it’s important to find out your body type and start from there.

Banana:

Gown 2

A sheath dress with a trail

The Banana is a straight-down figure which is less curvy but somewhat evenly proportioned. For a girl with the ‘banana shape’ she can opt for the Princess or Sheath dress. The Princess has an A-line shape which helps to enhance the bust-line. The Sheath looks good on slim figures as it’s body hugging – also if you’re petite, it will make you look taller!

Pear:

Ball-gown
The ball gown dress

Pear shape women are smaller on top and heavy on their bottom half. To balance out their figure, we’ll try to have feature embellishments on the top of the gown to help draw attention more towards the upper body. A ‘ball-gown’ dress poofs out at the bottom looks great on pear shaped women as it hides full hips and accentuates the waistline.

Apple:

Princess

The 'Princess' cut

The apple shape is the opposite of the pear shape – instead of being heavy on the bottom, this figure has a broader top body and narrow hips. For this shape, you will want to make your hips look larger and your top half smaller. Consider a princess or empire gown but with a bodice that will create the illusion of a narrower top body while the A-line skirt makes your hips appear bigger (in a good way!)

Hourglass:

mermaid

Mermaid gown

The figure all women crave for, a narrow waist with evenly proportioned bust and hips. For this lucky girl – any dress suits you! You can opt for a mermaid or bias cut gown to accentuate your figure.

Photo credit:
Photographer: Jenny Sun
Gowns: Pretty in White