Singaporebrides | Fashion
January 2017
Shopback Co-Founder Joel and Bena’s Teal, Purple, and White Wedding at Grand Hyatt Singapore
Find out what moved Shopback Co-Founder Joel to tears when he wed his love Bena in a beautiful celebration at Grand Hyatt Singapore, plus get tips on how to earn cashbacks on your wedding purchases!
Bena Yeong, 29, Hedge Fund Compliance Officer, and Joel Leong, 29, Co-Founder of Shopback, met on the badminton court, and soon realised they made a great team off the court as well. To leave Joel free to work on his e-commerce startup, Shopback, Bena took over most of the planning and DIY projects for their beautiful teal, purple, and white wedding at Grand Hyatt Singapore on 10 December 2016, photographed by My Dream Wedding.
How did the two of you meet?
Bena: We met through a mutual friend who organised a badminton session one evening towards the end of 2012. We were all ex-school team players, so we got to know each other on the court.
When we knew each other, Joel was working in the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). However at the next badminton session, he mentioned to the group that he was leaving to join Zalora, then a relatively new e-commerce company. When our mutual friend exclaimed that this new job suited him much more than EDB, I realised Joel wasn’t the conservative public servant I had assumed he was, but actually quite the risk taker. As we got to know each other better through our Whatsapp chats, we realised we shared similar values and outlooks on life and work, and began to hit it off.
What was the proposal like?
Bena: Joel popped the question one day before the pre-wedding photoshoot at the Equinox. It wasn’t exactly unexpected, but then again, we had already applied for a BTO a few years back, so we already knew marriage was on the cards. We had celebrated our first month of being a couple at the Equinox so popping the question there made it extra special. I remember telling him not to kneel as I felt embarrassed! The coral and white rose bouquet he used during the proposal also made it into our pre-wedding photos the next day!
Was it difficult preparing for your wedding while working at a startup?
Bena: I did most of the planning as I knew Joel would be more than happy for me to make most of the decisions, given that girls tend to care about the little details more. However, he joined for most of the meetings with vendors to help with the negotiations.
Did you use Shopback for your wedding purchases? Give us some tips on where to earn wedding cashbacks!
Joel: For our honeymoon to Hawaii, we purchased our air tickets from Expedia via Shopback. We also made a calendar for 2017 with all our pre-wedding photos using Photobook, which is a merchant on Shopback. We would have used Shopback to book our accommodation as well, if Grand Hyatt Singapore hadn’t already provided us with 90,000 points, which we used to redeem eight nights in Honolulu.
Bena: I also bought wedding presents for ourselves from Reebonz via Shopback to remember the occasion by—a Gucci wallet for him and Chanel bag for me. The ongoing 25% off sale coupled with 1.5% cashback made the purchases very worth it!
Did you have a wedding theme?
Bena: As ENTPs, we didn’t start planning the wedding with any fixed ideas in mind. We went with the white and purple floral wedding theme offered by Grand Hyatt Singapore. When I was in New York for work in March 2016, I made it a point to hunt for bridesmaid dresses from the bridal shops and online stores. I managed to find beautiful and inexpensive teal maxi dresses at H&M’s online store. After the bridesmaids gave their OK, I purchased them and then went on Pinterest to get ideas on how to tie together teal, purple, and white. These colours actually went together beautifully, especially when these colours were reinforced in the bridesmaid bouquets I made with one of my bridesmaids.
Tell us about your wedding day.
Bena: In the first version of the wedding programme, I was expecting a very “chill” wedding day where I would be able to get up at 6am. However, as the date got closer, the morning eventually started at 5am for me and my bridesmaids! I actually slept a grand total of three hours the night before, and felt like I was high on adrenaline the whole day, but I honestly enjoyed every single moment of it. I think I was able to enjoy it because after the tea ceremony was over, I left practically everything to the groomsmen and bridesmaids and just enjoyed myself!
Could you tell us the cost of your wedding, and your number of guests?
Bena: The wedding cost a total of 56K. The bulk of it came from the 31 tables at Grand Hyatt Singapore, which cost 43.5K. The remaining 12.5K was spent on bridal vendor fees, which took care of our pre-wedding shoot in Singapore and wedding day clothing rental, vendor fees including wedding day photographer, pre-wedding videographer, photobooth and live-feed, make up artist, bridal car rental, the 6mx2m board displaying our pre-wedding photos, and lastly extra wines, groomsmen bowties, bridesmaid dresses, flowers and angbaos for all our helpers.
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?
Bena: Our solemniser was actually my principal from Raffles Junior College. Many of my guests were from RJC and had studied under Mr. Hodge too. It was a special touch to be married by someone so well respected and with so much presence.
I also got all my brothers and sisters to march in with me to the Piano Guys’ “Beethoven’s 5 Secrets”, holding the bouquets and wearing the boutonnieres we had made the day before.
Most people would also remember the wedding speech, where instead of the bride shedding tears, the groom was the one who got emotional. It was really touching, and at numerous points our guests were clapping in encouragement for Joel.
The Gown: My Dream Wedding
The Bride’s Shoes: Badgley Mischka for pre-wedding // Salvatore Ferragamo for wedding day
The Suit: My Dream Wedding
The Groom’s Shoes: Pedro
The Engagement Ring: House of Hung
The Wedding Bands: House of Hung
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses: H&M Online (USA)
The Groomsmen’s Suits: Groomsmen’s own
The Venue: Grand Hyatt Singapore’s Grand Ballroom
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Mico from My Dream Wedding
The Florist: My Dream Wedding for the bridal bouquet and parents’ boutonnieres // Grand Hyatt Singapore for the ballroom // Bena and Huimin for the bridesmaids’ and mothers’ bouquets and siblings’ and groomsmen’s boutonnieres
The Wedding Planner: Bena and Joel
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Jackson from My Dream Wedding
The Wedding Photographer: Jackson from My Dream Wedding
The Pre-Wedding Videographer: Han from Allure Weddings
The Photobooth: 6am/Wayne Studios
The Band: Bena’s Spotify playlist
The Solemniser: Winston J. Hodge
The Wedding Car: Wearnes Automobiles
The Wedding Backdrop: Harvest Productions Pte Ltd
Credits: Images by My Dream Wedding
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