Singaporebrides | Fashion

August 2014

Let Love Rule

He held her water bottle ransom till she agreed to a date, created a romantic proposal out of a scene in Twilight, and braved a series of gatecrashing challenges to get the girl. Meet Nigel, 32, IT Manager and Sharon, 29, Accountant, a sweet couple who celebrated love surrounded by family and friends from around the world on 16 March 2014.

How did the two of you meet?

Sharon: I came to know him while I was auditing his company. It was almost the end of my two-week-long audit engagement in his company when he started talking to me.

Nigel: I first noticed Sharon when she borrowed a notebook from the IT department. She caught my eye but I decided to wait for an opportune time to make conversation with her – when she was feeling a little more relaxed later in the evening. We had pizza together with the rest of her team and that was where it all began.

Sharon: At the end of the engagement, I had to bring back all my files and belongings to my office, and the next day, I realised I left my water bottle in his company. I contacted the finance manager and she said Nigel would pass it back to me. I sensed something little bit fishy, haha! I contacted him and we arranged to meet up for dinner at a cozy restaurant at Bugis.

Nigel: Coincidentally, she had some time for dinner that Friday and so I seized the opportunity. We met and had an enjoyable dinner and conversation. But I didn’t return her water bottle. I told her, that was for the date.

What was the proposal like?

Nigel: She told me she liked the wedding scene in the movie Twilight very much and so that got me thinking how could I do something like that for her. She had also been watching many amazing proposal videos on youtube and that really upped the ante. I didn’t want to be outdone by the videos.

And so one of the days when I was exercising, the whole idea just zapped deep within me. I felt like God had answered my prayers on an idea to wow her with. It was going to be like a scene from Twilight – she would walk into the scene with countless tea candles before her eyes and rose petals and in the dim romantic candlelight she would find a bouquet of roses and the ring that would symbolise my promise to love her. And all these would have to be done by me in Japan while on our holiday. That would have outdone the other proposals that needed the help of many friends.

It took me a couple of shopping trips to art supply stores to get what I needed. I put the ideas onto paper after several rounds of conceptualisation and practised setting up the whole scene several times. And each time I learnt something new that would help me better succeed with my plan later on my trip.

Your pre-wedding photography sessions looked like scenes from a movie as well. Tell us about your overseas photoshoot experience.

Nigel: La-Vie Photography Japan were the ones who did our pre-wedding photoshoot, and we would like to recommend them without reservation. We had the honour of being their first Singaporean customer. Their service exceeded our expectations, thus the recommendation.

The typical concerns and issues that could be expected when dealing with a service provider, let alone a foreign service provider, was just not an issue when it came to La-Vie Photography Japan. For example, we didn’t have any language barrier. Our bridal coordinator Ms Yukako was fluent in English and most importantly friendly and patient. There were no hidden costs nor surprise charges. We have only paid for what was brought up to us. Their pre-trip preparation help was good too. They were very responsive in replying our emails and Skype messages. They were very patient with all our questions as well as demands.

Sharon: In the delivery of their services, they demonstrated a very high level of professionalism. They were patient with us. For example, when it came to posing, you could still feel that they were feeling very positive despite needing to remind Nigel on how to achieve a similar pose. Best of all, they did their best to make us comfortable as well as to fulfill what photographs we wanted to take. This made their photographer and team very enjoyable to work with, and our experience ended with a positive note with their timely and uncompromising after sales follow up.

How did you prepare for your weddings in Singapore and Hong Kong?

Sharon: Our main wedding was in Singapore. We held it at Ramada Singapore at Zhong Shan Park. Because I am from Hong Kong and some of my parent’s relatives and friends are there, we decided to hold another wedding banquet in Hong Kong as well. But the one in Hong Kong was more like a cosy occasion with only nine tables, and most of the wedding preparations were taken care of by my mother. She specially flew back to Hong Kong to source for wedding venue, gown rentals and distributed the wedding invitations to relatives and friends. We were very grateful for her help. The wedding preparations in Singapore were done by us with a lot of help from our friends. We also used SingaporeBrides’ banquet selection aid as well as the wedding preparation tips. For us, the most tedious part was finalising the guest list as some of our guests were flying in from Hong Kong, Australia, and Japan.

I wanted a garden wedding in Singapore. However, knowing the hot and humid weather in Singapore, an outdoor wedding was not our priority. After all, we wanted our guests to be comfortable. So after much effort, we managed to find Ramada Singapore at Zhongshan Park. They had just newly renovated their lawn which was perfect for outdoor solemnisations, by the poolside. Also, they had a nice pillar-less banquet hall which allowed for an unobstructed view of the stage. Well, the theme was nature and garden. The hotel provided us with the arches to decorate the aisle. My jie mei helped out with the DIY handicrafts and balloons decoration.

How did your garden themed wedding turn out?

Sharon: The actual day was really hectic. I didn’t manage to get much sleep and woke up at 6am for my makeup. Jie Mei came around 7am to prepare the gate crashing games and props. They were experimenting in the kitchen to achieve the different tastes of life, i.e. sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, to tease the brothers. I heard lots of laughter from the kitchen while I was getting my make up done. Around 8am, they started to move all the props to the playground below my block and get ready for the groom and brothers to arrive.

Nigel: It actually pretty pleasant and I am thankful to the bridesmaids for that. There was quite a bit of rain that day but that didn’t dampen the mood. The mothers and fathers were all fired up and getting emotional at times and there was laughter and many happy photos.

The bridesmaids, groomsmen, friends as well as the banquet supervisor were busy coordinating each and every part of the wedding beginning before the gate-crashing games began all the way till the end of the dinner when we had to gather our belongings and leave the banquet hall. I couldn’t have done without everyone’s help. The scale of the logistics and coordination effort was huge. Everyone was a great help and things turned out better than I expected despite the fickle-minded weather and delays.

Did your family and friends have anything to say about the wedding?

Sharon: Though the wedding was hectic, my parents thoroughly enjoyed it. They were glad that their relatives and friends were there to celebrate their daughter’s wedding with them. My colleagues liked that the food portions were large and was generally tasty. It gave them a good impression of the hotel.

Nigel: My friends and colleagues felt that they enjoyed the wedding. They got to see a different side of me from the photos as well as from the candid speeches given by my bosses and aunt. They felt that the company was good and the food was generally tasty with more than enough alcohol to go around despite the initial hiccup at the beginning.

What about you? What did you love about your wedding?

Nigel: I enjoyed the speeches a lot. It was an opportunity to hear from my bosses how they felt about me. It was especially memorable at the end of the banquet when I had an extra round of wine with my colleagues before they left and when my Japanese bosses and colleagues gathered together to throw me up in the air as a send off.

Sharon: Even though what could go wrong went wrong, everything unfolded smoothly and in such a way that left me with a feeling of joy and a smile. After all, a wedding is not about perfection but it was the many special little moments with my husband, family and friends that made my day.