Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
April 2016
Joey and Travis’s Rustic Elegant Soiree at Goodwood Park Hotel
You’ve seen Joey and Travis’s hidden outdoor forest pre-wedding shoot earlier this year. Now, take a look at their beautiful wedding at Goodwood Park Hotel.
After seven years of courtship, Joey Low Yi Man, 28, Operation Specialist, and Travis Kok, 29, Head of Professional Training tied the knot on 12 December 2015 in a lovely rustic elegant soiree at the Windsor Ballroom of Goodwood Park Hotel. A true reflection of their personalities, their Land Rover escorts was quite the showstopper that morning while their personalised reception area, painstakingly conceptualised by Joey, made quite an impression on their guests. To round that wonderful day up, Joey and Travis took to the floor and gave their guests a performance to remember.
Tell us about your wedding planning. How was it like? Did you meet with any challenges along the way?
Travis: We started our planning a year before the wedding. As our wedding fell on a hot double date, we decided to search for our vendors quickly and managed to engage them without a problem within a month. We then followed the schedule that was provided by Feline Bridal’s and Goodwood Park Hotel’s coordinators. Since I had relatives coming in to the country for our big day, we also had to make arrangements for their accommodation and transport. I also had to plan a route to Joey’s place for our escort formation, which was captured in photographs and on video, since our wedding commenced before dawn.
Joey: The whole planning was smooth sailing for us as my best friend had her wedding a few months before mine. Thus, we often brainstormed and discussed about our wedding plans together. The challenges I faced was more on the customary traditions that we had to go through. Due to the difference in dialects and practices of both families, there was some misunderstanding during the planning phase. However, it was all cleared before our big day without any hard feelings. Other than that, there were little hiccups along that way, even up to the day of the wedding. These little hiccups were the same issues that all couples would face which could be handled easily with a clear mind.
Was there a wedding theme? If so, tell us more about your theme.
Travis: The theme was rustic-elegance and it went well with the hotel that was chosen. We both agreed that the best way for it to be memorable was to personalise it and most importantly, feel comfortable with the proceedings. Joey preferred to have the wedding to be in a classy manner, thus we gave our guests a black tie dress code. Despite our wedding being a luncheon, we did spot most of our guests sporting the given dress code. We also chose our suits and gown according to the dress code.
Joey: Goodwood Park Hotel was love at first sight for me and I knew it would go well with our rustic-elegant theme with the big mirrors and its wooden accent.
What was it like being a DIY bride? Where did you get your inspirations from and how did you source for your items?
Joey: It was fun being a DIY bride even though there were times I regretted not getting a wedding stylist. I had to source for my own inspiration and decoration items and be hands-on at all times. I love the feel of rustic countryside wedding and thus decided to have it as our theme. Pinterest was my biggest help during the wedding planning. I was on Pinterest almost every hour of every day and pinned heaps of ideas that I thought would look nice for the wedding. Later, I went through them again and narrowed them down in consideration of three important factors:time, manpower and logistics.
Since my wedding was a luncheon and on a tight schedule, I could not have big items ferried over to the hotel and items that required lots of time to setup. I came across Pinterest inspirations that incorporated fairy lights, cotton flowers and baby’s breath to create a rustic look and decided that that’s what I wanted for my reception decor. Etsy.com was another place I got inspirations for my wedding decor from.
I eventually got most of my decor items from Taobao as I had a budget to stick to. It was difficult to search for the items I needed initially but once I familiarised myself with the translations, it was much easier. My angpow box, which was actually a wine crate, was my best Taobao buy. All the flowers on my reception table were purchased from Far East Flora on the eve of my wedding day. I was lucky that they brought in the cotton flowers for the season as it was pretty difficult to get in Singapore. It helps to plan ahead and be mindful of festive seasons which may complicate delivery.
Also, being a DIY bride, I kept an eye out for items from our daily lives that can double up as decor pieces, such as beer bottles (from Travis) and a piece of unused wood, which Travis fabricated a display piece out of. We also created our own alphabet marquee lights out of alphabet blocks from a dear friend last Christmas by spraying them in gold paint and drilling holes for the installation of fairy lights. It was a one-time success thanks to my handyman! We can’t wait to use them again in our new place soon.
How was the actual day like? Did things run smoothly? How were you feeling?
Joey: The whole day went too fast for us! We started our hair combing ceremony at 12.30am, so we did not get to sleep at all. My hair and makeup session soon followed at 2am with the gatecrash following suit two hours later. To be honest, I did not feel that I am getting married at all until my first march-in. I was too busy and tired to realise and the day went on too fast with us travelling from east to west and west to east in the morning! My bridesmaids took care of every single thing throughout the day, so I did not need to fuss over with anything.
Travis: It felt like a mission and an exceptionally well executed one. I have my family, groomsmen and wedding escorts to thank for backing me up. The morning in particular, required precise coordination of the convoy to enable our videographers, drone operators and photographers to capture our formation on the move. Time management was extremely crucial for the fact that our places are at opposite ends of Singapore.
We heard that you had land rovers escorting you during your journey. Do share with us the reason for the escorts and the special formation they did along the way.
Joey: Travis is a member of the Land Rover Owners Singapore (LROS) group and it is a common practice (or commitment of sort) to send off a fellow member’s singlehood with a Land Rover convoy. He had seven Defenders, including mine, along with four groomsmen’s vehicles travelling to and fro Jurong and Tampines. The highlight was an on-the-move arrow formation.
Travis: Driving in such a huge convoy was no easy feat, even for a “supposedly” proficiency NSmen military transport officer – myself. There were lots of communication on the walkie-talkies and we had to minimise road hogging on the expressways. With a timeline to arrive at Joey’s by 4am for gatecrash, our videographers and drone operators could only capture on-route footage without much daylight. The formation scene had to be choreographed and we identified several spots along the second (after fetching the bride) and third (going back to Joey’s for tea ceremony) trips. We needed daylight, minimal traffic, long stretch of road preferably with four lanes and because of time, we cannot afford detours or NGs. To capture the shots and scenes, our production crews had to shoot out of the sunroof from a groomsmen’s Lexus. We even attracted unwanted attention from the authorities with our drone.
What did your family and friends have to say about your wedding?
Joey: Beautiful! That was the most repeated word I’ve heard from them. I did not expect it to turn out as beautiful as I had seen a lot of others which are better decorated than us. But, I guess the guests can feel our love and efforts that were put into the wedding. Despite us having a big group of guests, the wedding turned out to be a cosy affair, which was something that I had long visualised and wished for. It was a dream came true and I am glad that we made it. Our banquet manager of the day, Steven, was very helpful and experienced. He knew that I was pretty nervous and knew ways to calm me down. The service from the staff was impeccable and the food was awesome too! I had guests telling me that they missed having the food until today.
Were there any particular moments during your wedding that were especially memorable or special to you?
Joey: There were two such moments for me. The first one was when I bid goodbye to my parents and thanked them for bringing me up. At that moment, I knew that I was no longer a child anymore and leaving my home to be someone’s wife and daughter-in-law. The second memorable moment was my first march-in. I was feeling jittery while waiting to enter. I was overwhelmed when the doors opened and I was welcomed with the love from my guests from the ballroom as we walked in. It was….magical and at that moment, everything was just worth it.
Travis: For me, the second march-in followed by our first dance was very special and emotional. The lighting set a perfect ambience that really got us into the moment. Next, the convoy experience was definitely memorable simply for the fact that it was just flat out badass. Lastly, the experience of being in a mission with my buddies, knowing that I have a bunch of buddies who will always have my back.
Size of Wedding: 280 pax
Cost of Wedding: $70,000
The Venue: Goodwood Park Hotel
The Wedding Gown: Feline Bridal
The Wedding Shoes: H&M, Aldo
The Groom’s Suit: Feline Bridal
The Groom’s Shoes: Rosso FiorentinoThe Wedding Bands: Cartier and Love & Co.
The Hair and Makeup: Lina Luo from Feline Bridal
The Florist: Feline Bridal
The Wedding Cake: Goodwood Park Hotel
The Wedding Favours: Goodwood Park Hotel
The Wedding Photographer: Junwei from Juxtapose Pix
The Wedding Videographer: Joe from Green Imagination
Wedding Planning: SingaporeBrides
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