Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
April 2016
Boon Zhi and Chris’s Love-filled Wedding at Pan Pacific Singapore
Junior college sweethearts, Boon Zhi and Chris tied the knot on 12 December 2015 after more than a decade’s courtship.
Boon Zhi and Chris met in junior college and instantly hit it off as good friends. The chemistry and closeness they shared was not lost to everyone around them and soon, they too realised just how comfortable they were in each other’s company. That undeniable chemistry and proximity they shared brought them closer and after dating for 13 years, this pair of lovebirds is finally tying the knot in a beautiful wedding at Pan Pacific Singapore, photographed by Blessed-i Photography.
How did Chris propose?
Boon Zhi:He proposed on our dating anniversary just before we went on a holiday to Macau and Hong Kong. After we checked in at Changi Airport, Chris popped the question with a handmade book filled with letters, text messages and even MSN messages we’ve exchanged and photographs we took over our 13 years together, ring and a bouquet of my favourite flowers.
I must admit that I didn’t expect him to propose there and then. I half thought it might be over at Macau but him proposing at Changi Airport brought back memories of us waiting for each other at airports over the years. As for the book he made for me, I didn’t dare read it until I was on the plane – I was afraid I couldn’t stop myself from tearing in front of his parents!
Tell us about your wedding planning.
Our wedding planning was rather smooth since it was quite straightforward as we wanted to keep it simple and cosy. We chose Fullerton Bay for our evening solemnisation as it boasts a beautiful view in the evening while we decided on Pan Pacific Singapore for our wedding banquet as we were certain our family and friends would enjoy the delicious food. Of course, there were some compromises to be made between traditions and modern ideas and the customs that we both felt could be adhered to and respected. After all, marriage is not really just about us but our families too!
Was there a wedding theme? If so, tell us more about your theme.
There wasn’t a specific wedding theme, but we had some concepts that we really wanted to capture for our events. Firstly, we wanted to incorporate the innocence and whimsicalness of Antoine Saint Exupery’s ‘The Little Prince’, which was the first book Chris gave me. It holds many memories for us throughout the years, such as the passages I would quote in our email exchanges when I was furthering my studies in Switzerland for half a year. S,o we quoted verses from the book in our wedding vows, and featured it in our wedding shoots.
Just as importantly, we wanted our families and friends to be a full part of our wedding. So for both our solemnisation and wedding luncheon, we had a ‘Hall of Fame’ where photographs of our families and friends across the years were clipped up. In fact, Chris and his band of brothers did up a montage of all these photographs (coming up to 100s!) that played throughout our wedding luncheon along with a music playlist of songs from the 1990’s to 2000’s. Some of these photographs and songs were even from before we were born, and not only brought back memories for our guests but also made up quite a bit of conversation over the meal for our friends and relatives. Fittingly, our first march-in song was Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph”. Yeow Ming mentioned how apt it was!
How was the actual day like? Did things run smoothly? How were you feeling?
The actual day went very smoothly, especially when our brothers and sisters made sure that everything was well taken care of! Although we both had very little sleep before the wedding, their company kept us going, and the support and warmth from our families on our big day were so important to us too! We also hired a Scoopy’s kombi van as part of our bridal entourage, which was later converted into an ice-cream truck serving up gelato before our wedding luncheon. It was a big hit with our guests, both children and adults alike! The service from Scoopy’s was great, the ice-cream delicious, and the classic Volkswagen kombi van made a great photo opportunity for our guests
What did your family and friends have to say about your wedding?
They had a great time and enjoyed the great food. They also really appreciated the effort we made to put up the photographs, and said that some brought back tears as they reminisced. Some relatives even praised the good organisation for our events, which was a credit to our hotel event managers and staff, as well as our parents and brothers and sisters in running our events. Although Chris says that our wedding was a success due to my efforts, I would say that it was our teamwork that made the day successful.
Were there any particular moments during your wedding that were especially memorable or special to you?
The exchange of our wedding vows during our ROM at Fullerton Bay Hotel was especially memorable, as we were very lucky because the rain cleared up right before our ceremony was to take place. For our wedding luncheon, we asked some of our friends in Singapore and overseas who could not attend to record a short video of blessings for us. One of Chris’s brothers stitched all the clips together into a beautiful video that brought home all their warmth and love, and friends mentioned how touching it was to hear their blessings.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped out for the weddding. Not only were we lucky enough to meet dedicated hotel service teams that took care of our requests, a friendly and attentive bridal studio in Rex and Odelia Bridal that made our wedding album shoot a breeze, we were also fortunate to have all these moments from our ROM to our banquet beautifully captured by our wedding photographer and friend, Yeow Ming from Blessed-i Photography. We were lucky to have had the chance to get to know him at a good friend’s wedding years ago, and decided early on that there was nobody else we wanted to capture these precious photographs and memories for us. Thanks Yeow Ming!
Size of Wedding: 36 tables
Cost of Wedding: $65,000 (inclusive of ROM reception, wedding bands, wedding attire and shoes, bridal package and wedding photography)
The Venue: Pan Pacific Singapore
The Wedding Gown: Odelia Bridal
The Wedding Shoes: Dolce Shoes
The Groom’s Suit: Odelia Bridal and Men’s Tradition Tailoring
The Groom’s Shoes: Pedro Shoes
The Wedding Bands: JannPaul
The Hair and Makeup: Christine Chia from Odelia Bridal
The Florist: Odeila Bridal
The Photographer: Yeow Ming from Blessed-i Photography
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