Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
June 2016
Anna and Joshua’s Beautiful Wedding in Tanarimba Janda Baik
This beautiful wedding was celebrated in Tanarimba’s rustic lodge in the hills of Janda Baik, Pahang, Malaysia. Rocking a pantsuit, Anna and her love Joshua danced the night away with friends and family under the glow of dreamy lanterns.
Anna Ragen, 31, Digital Lead, and Joshua Abraham, 33, Regional Market Manager met more than a decade before their cross-country love story started with a discussion over bak chor mee. They held their beautiful wedding in Tanarimba, a rustic lodge wedding venue in Kuala Lumpur on 28 November 2015.
Tell us how you met.
Anna: Funny story, we first met at a church worship practice about 12 years ago now. The meeting lasted all of 10 minutes. After that, one of us added the other on Facebook (can’t remember who now!). We never talked after that save for the routine Happy Birthday greeting every year.
In April 2014, I posted a Facebook status about bak chor mee at Amoy Street Market, and Joshua commented on it asking if I had tried the BK Eating House bak chor mee at Circular Road. We started talking on Messenger and out of the blue a month later, he says that he’s coming to Singapore to try the Amoy Street bak chor mee and meet me.
Our first date was on 3 May 2014 at Stranger’s Reunion, (rather apt), and it was amazing. We talked for almost two hours, and that very evening we decided that we were going to try a relationship (long-distance because he was based in KL).
When did you realise that this was the person you wanted to marry?
Anna: I don’t think there was a moment; it was a gradual thing. I just knew after a while that he was my forever person.
Josh :I don’t remember a particular moment but the more time I spent with her, the more I fell in love with her.
How did he propose?
Anna: I had always told him that my birthday was my way of celebrating a year well done. And it was my 30th birthday, and I was celebrating so many milestones. He decided that instead of ending my year on a great note, he would begin my next year on the best note. And so he took me away for my birthday weekend to a resort in Port Dickson, and proposed on the day after my birthday. It was very casual but he planned it so that the sun would hit the diamond and make it sparkle (he thinks of all the little things).
How thoughtful! The wedding must have required a lot of thought as well. How did you come to hold it overseas?
Anna: It was natural for us because Josh was based in KL, and we knew we could do more in terms of budget if we had it in KL with the exchange rate in our favour. Plus, Josh had heard about Tanarimba and after we went to check it out, there was no questions about it… we knew we had to have our wedding there.
Was it difficult to plan your wedding cross-country?
Anna: Honestly, after finalising the venues, we only started real planning about three months before. The most difficult thing was the décor vendor. We had a list of vendors provided by Tanarimba but they were too expensive.
I think Instagram is a great discovery tool. I searched for #tanarimba and came across a vendor who had done décor there and I contacted them. Met up with them and they inspired such confidence…I mean we only met them a total of three times in the lead-up to the wedding.
What was your wedding theme?
Anna: Instagram and Pinterest-worthy. That was our guiding principle. When we talked about what we wanted our wedding to look like – the consensus was that we wanted to create an experience for our guests. Since they were taking time and effort to travel to our wedding, it had to something they would remember and talk about for a long time after.
What are some of your favourite moments from the wedding?
Anna: Everything! Haha… the smallest things really, like the fact that our Mini Cooper couldn’t start after the church ceremony and we had to get it jump-started.
Walking into Tanarimba and seeing how stunningly beautiful it was.
We just had so much fun, and we would do it all over again if we could.
Can you tell us the cost of your wedding and the number of guests?
Anna: About 30K SGD for two events (church rental + reception + Tanarimba and everything else). For the church we had about 280 guests and we had about 200 guests for Tanarimba.
The Bride’s Outfit: Sari by Bhang Saris in India // Pantsuit by tailor in Far East Plaza
The Bride’s Shoes: Steve Madden // Charles & Keith
The Groom’s Outfit: Vincent Tailor and Peter Tailor, AmCorp Mall, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
The Groom’s Shoes: Pedro
The Engagement Ring: Josh got a diamond flown in from Alaska (his friend is a diamond merchant)
The Wedding Bands: Fa’iq Jewels, Bangsar Shopping Centre
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Saris from Madras Store in Kuala Lumpur // Blouse material from Mustafa Centre, Singapore
The Groomsmen’s Suits: Individually tailored
The Flower Girls’ Dresses: Bought by parents
The Page Boys’ Suits: Vincent Tailor in KL
The Venues: St Peter’s Church in Bangsar, KL // Tanarimba, Janda Baik
The Hairstylist: Mavis from Shawn Cutler, KL
The Makeup Artist: Chloe, M.A.C. freelance makeup artist
The Caterer: Little Caterers for church and Party’s Planner for Tanarimba
The Florists: Khareyan Events
The Event Stylist: Khareyan Events and Shot by Paul
The Photographer: Joshua Chan Studio
The Videographer: Ken Chan Production
The Photobooth: Shot by Paul
The Invitations and Paper Goods: Designed by friends
The Wedding Favours: Davis Cheng (We found his pop-up booth at Amcorp mall and he custom-made us bottle cap openers which were also fridge magnets.)
The Wedding Band: FIG
The Solemniser: Our church pastors
Credits: Images by Joshua Chan Studio
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