Singapore Couples Session by Jackson Grant

Rio and Rachel eating mee hoon kway at a Singapore hawker stall in an ivory satin halter gown and a pin-covered pinstripe suit, red and yellow ribbons in the air

Jackson Grant was booked on Rio and Rachel’s wedding date. That is usually where the email chain ends. Theirs kept going. In the photographer’s own telling, after “his devastation of admitting that he was indeed unavailable,” the two of them “took it upon themselves to not let the email chain come to a halt,” and the result is the Australian photographer landing in Singapore as, in his words, “a brand new tourist,” with a humid, movement-based couples session in place of the wedding he could not shoot.

Rachel is “a multi-talented force with art, singing and dancing at the forefront,” as Jackson puts it, and Rio street dances and DJs. Both are Singaporean locals, and the route they built for the day was made of their own regular jaunts, not a visitor’s list. The first stop was a hawker stall, and the first thing they did there was order their usual mee hoon kway, eaten in an ivory satin gown and a pin-covered pinstripe suit while red and yellow ribbons went over the table.

Every frame here is by Jackson Grant Weddings, and the tour, in his words, ran “from bus, to bike, to bitumen.” This is your sign to just book the session and capture the two of you!!

Rio and Rachel sharing one noodle strand over a hawker stall table with yellow bowls and tray 034, shot fish-eye from table level

Couple in red oval sunglasses inside a kopitiam kitchen, Rachel holding a Killiney tray with an iced drink, coffee mug, and kaya toast

Rio in a beaded green and pink floral tie and Rachel in braids holding Killiney iced drinks inside a white-tiled kopitiam

Rio and Rachel back to back sipping iced drinks through red straws in a kopitiam while a worker adjusts the ceiling fan behind them

Couple seated at a kopitiam table with kaya toast and iced coffee under a full-width photo menu board, Rachel in an ivory halter gown

Rachel in an ivory satin cowl-neck halter gown by Arotagas and Rio in a patch-covered pinstripe suit on a red-and-white striped staircase with green balusters

The route was built from places they already love. Jackson lists them: “An entirely red and retro shopping mall, the 167 Bus where they used to share earphones together, stepping stones in a park they frequently walk across in the evenings, a popular hawker stall for their favourite mee hoon kway, as well as their favourite Kopitiam.”

Totally obsessed with this fun escalator shot below! And yes to the fun shoes Rio!

Overhead view of Rio leaning across a mall escalator divider to kiss Rachel, metal escalator treads filling the frame

Couple embracing in front of pastel orange and cream HDB blocks and tropical greenery in Singapore, Rachel's open-back ivory gown turned to the camera

And we have to talk about Rio’s look! His pinstripe jacket is covered in enamel pins and embroidered patches (one reads “like home party,” another “Midnightwalking”), a purple crystal button, a gold leaf brooch, a gold chain bar pin, and a cluster of pink pompom flowers at the lapel. The brooches are by Rio’s friend Nathanael Ng, and the tie is a custom piece by Aldrie Indrayana.

Rio and Rachel in amber-lens black sunglasses in front of a polished chrome sphere sculpture reflecting green parkland

Low fish-eye of Rio and Rachel lowering their sunglasses toward the camera under a white photography umbrella and bright sky

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Rio in orange-lens sunglasses and a pinstripe jacket covered in embroidered patches, brooches by Nathanael Ng, and a beaded floral tie, posed against a white photo umbrella

Motion-blurred shot of Rio and Rachel running hand in hand down a covered walkway, Rachel in a floral print dress and teal and red platform sandals

Rachel in a strapless floral Desigual dress and chunky multicolor beaded Inez Designs necklace smiling as Rio kisses Rachel's temple, yellow and green bouquet in hand

Rachel wears a custom necklace by Inez Designs.

Close-up of Rio and Rachel's interlaced hands stacked with chunky silver sculptural rings and a gold digital watch against ivory fabric

Rio riding a green shared bicycle in motion blur across a mosaic-tiled Singapore void deck as Rachel in a floral dress reaches toward the bike from above

Rio on a green shared bike and Rachel in a strapless floral dress with teal socks and red platforms, seen from above through a wooden window frame on patchwork tiles

Fish-eye from below of Rio laughing on a green bicycle in a patch-covered pinstripe jacket with pink globe amaranth on the lapel, HDB towers behind

Rachel leaning over green bicycle handlebars laughing skyward in a chunky beaded necklace, a phone in the mount showing a photo of Rio

Ok, let’s talk about how creative this shot above is! The phone in the handlebar mount is showing a photo of Rio from earlier in the day. Rachel is leaning over the bars, laughing at the sky. We didn’t catch that on the first pass either…

Rio in a red belted boilersuit framed by red tubular sculpture bars, Rachel draped above in a pink floral dress holding a Meteor Flowers bouquet of yellow blooms and purple globe amaranth

Rio in a red boilersuit making a wide-eyed face through red sculpture tubes while Rachel smiles above with a yellow and red bouquet

Rio’s face through the bars is the frame we would print!

Wide fish-eye of Rachel reclining and Rio holding a wildflower bouquet aloft inside a red and pale blue curved sculpture, lawn and residential blocks behind

The Meteor Flowers bouquet comes into full view here: yellow star-shaped blooms, purple globe amaranth, red tropical foliage, and big green leaves.

Overhead detail of a yellow-green chunky sneaker, a mint platform sandal, silver rings, and a red satin shoe strap on orange grid tile

Rio in a red boilersuit with a pink boutonniere and Rachel in a pink floral Desigual dress holding a Meteor Flowers wildflower bouquet on a lawn in front of tall residential towers

Fish-eye of Rio and Rachel lying on a terrazzo floor in front of tomato and bell pepper posters, both in red, tongues out, Rio's leg kicked up in a tan cowboy boot

So here’s your reminder: if your dream photographer is already booked on your date, book them for something else. A couples session in your own city, on your own route, in the clothes you’d actually wear out, still gets you the work you fell for, plus a set of pictures a wedding day never would have made room for. Rio and Rachel’s wedding is still ahead of them, and this is what they get to hold onto until then.

Congratulations, Rio and Rachel! All our best from GWS.

Wedding Vendors

Photography: Jackson Grant Weddings // Florals: Meteor Flowers // Wedding Dress: White dress by Arotagas // Wedding Dress: Pink dress by Desigual // Hair Stylist: Makeup by Ann Lin // Makeup Artist: Makeup by Ann Lin // Groom Attire: Rio's suit brooches by friend, Nathanael Ng

Author

Jen Campbell: Author

Jen is the Founder, Editor, and Creative Director of Green Wedding Shoes, which she launched in 2008 to redefine wedding and lifestyle content. Her background as a Creative Director and Graphic Designer for ESPN and Sony Pictures Entertainment inform...