Weddings – Muslim 2 - Grant Corban Photography Sdn Bhd

28 December 2023

Malay Kampong Wedding in Tanah Merah Kelantan

malay kampong wedding tanah merah kelantan

One of the things I love about covering weddings in Malaysia is I get to travel all over this wonderful country and see every type of culture and wedding practice. Hanin and Azlina’s Malay wedding was held in a small kampong (village) in Tanah Merah, Kelantan. The village had the typical raised houses and “big family” feel. So EVERYONE came for the event. The house was decorated beautifully. The following day we were treated to a selat demonstrations (Malay martial arts) and I have included a photo of this further down in this post.

This was one of the few weddings I do shoot alone. I usually can’t do this as being in 2 or 3 different places at once is logistically impossible. But this was no problem for this wedding.

Technical trivia: Nikon D3, assorted lenses. Off camera flash system using 4x Nikon SB800’s. These are the most reliable flashes I have ever owned!! Nothing else I have used either before or after have been so intuitive to use, so reliable, or so well thought out as far as power to weight ratio and the inclusion of so many useful extras. I have owned mine since 2007, and 8 years on are still chugging along with what I would guess as at least a hundred thousand triggerings per unit with no overheating and no burned out components.

Dusk.

House beautifully transformed

Azlina waiting for the ceremony to begin

Henna is used for weddings in both Indian and Malay cultures

The beaming dad!

The kids were very excited

Cooking was an industrial affair… major rice cooking in progress

Malay selat demonstration

3 December 2023

Maryam and Hezran’s Malay Wedding Dinner at the Dewan Besar Tun Rahah in KL

Maryam and Hezran’s Malay wedding was held in Maryam’s home in KL and I have posted this elsewhere on this site. The following evening their wedding dinner was held at the Dewan Besar Tun Rahah on Jalan Bukit Bintang, which is a popular location for Malay weddings.

Please note the following images have been transferred from my old site when we were all “ Internet load speed” compromised. That is a fancy way of saying that they are of lower resolution than more recent weddings. Think of them as being “mobile device optimised” as they look great on the phone.

3 December 2023

Maryam and Hezran’s Malay Wedding Nikah

Malay wedding akad nikah in Kuala Lumpur of Maryam and Hezran

Maryam and Hezran: Maryam looked absolutely splendid at her Akad Nikah (Malay wedding) in Kuala Lumpur. One of the things to notice with this wedding is that there were three of us shooting it, each in a different place so as to maximise coverage, as typically there is no room to manoeuvre during the wedding. I was inside the “L” shaped room in one of the corners so I could shoot the ceremony and guests by simply swivelling, one of my colleagues (John Woo) was ensconced in the mezzanine floor so he could snipe from there with a telephoto, whilst my other photographer (Lim Hock Seng) was OUTSIDE the room which enabled him to shoot through the windows from two different walls.

A little anecdote from this wedding: I was pleasantly surprised by one of Maryam’s relatives when he came up to say hello. I recognized that we had met a year or two earlier when he had bought my rather extensive medium format 6×6 camera system. If I recall correctly, I was quite interested in buying it back!

17 November 2023

Jehan and Shariman’s Traditional Malay Wedding captured on black and white film

traditional malay wedding using black and white film in Kuala lumpur

Jehan and Shariman’s traditional Malay wedding was shot on Black and White film and then scanned for this web site. It was a happy day for both of them and this is certainly apparent when you view the photos. Malaysia is a melting pot of foods and cultures and is one of the reasons I love living here. Traditions like Henna came from India and are commonplace at Malay weddings. The intricate patterns are quite something. The University of Maryland contacted me as they were keen on using some of them to show various wedding traditions of Malaysia and the region.

Please note that the apparent grainy-ness is due to the digital scanning of the original silver halide based negatives. The actual hand prints looked very smooth and had much deeper tonality than the digital images visible here.

17 November 2023

Paul and Marissa’s Montage Wedding Album. Carcosa Seri Negara.

Paul and Marissa had a wedding covering several days and really laid it on for their friends and family who flew in from around the world. Day one was a welcome dinner at tamarind Hill. Day two the wedding at the Carcosa Seri Negara. Day three was a wedding banquet at the JW Marriott, held in a function room due to the smaller size of the dinner. Their wedding album page designs are included below for your viewing pleasure.