Wedding portrait of Tan Chong Beng and Lee Chuan Neo with page girl and page boy

Title
Wedding portrait of Tan Chong Beng and Lee Chuan Neo with page girl and page boy
Year/Period
6 January 1933
Region
Singapore
Dimension
Image size: 10.5 x 7.8 cm
Accession No.
2021-00432
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Mona Tan

This is the wedding portrait of a Peranakan couple, Tan Chong Beng (1908 – 1975) and Lee Chuan Neo (1912 – 1989). The photograph shows the couple wearing elaborate Chinese wedding garments. Different garments are worn during the multi-day Peranakan wedding, which could last up to twelve days. As was custom of the time, Tan and Lee were match-made by their mothers. The back of the photograph reads “Photo by W.B. Chay. Taken on 6/1/33”. Wee Bit Chay was the groom's brother-in-law and took numerous photographs of the couple during the wedding.This wedding photograph belonged to a Peranakan household at 97 Devonshire Road, headed by Gwee Luan Neo (1884 – 1953) and Lee Eng Khoon (d. 1930). The donor, Mona Tan is the granddaughter of Gwee. The bride photographed, is the daughter of Gwee while the groom is the son of Mr and Mrs Tan Hoon Siang from Malacca. The groom was employed at P&O Shipping Company, where he was a purser on the SS. Bulan till after the war.