Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
February 2017
Alyssa and Bernard’s Merry Nuptials at Au Petit Salut
Alyssa and Bernard tied the knot in an intimate affair at Au Petit Salut surrounded by their closest family and friends.
Alyssa Wen, 32, IT Manager first met the love of her life, Bernard Ho, 37, Regional Digital Marketer, at Holland Village when he turned up unannounced while she was having coffee with his Secondary school best friend. More than a decade later, on 27 February 2016, Alyssa and Bernard wed in a cosy, beautiful celebration at Au Petit Salut.
What was it that attracted you two to each other?
Alyssa: His free-spirit, gift of the gab and good sense of humour drew me to him. We also shared a common love for travelling, food and music.
Bernard: I love that she’s independent and wise for her age, yet sweet and adorable. I also really like that she’s tall!
What about each other do you like the most?
Alyssa: I love that he’s an optimist who can sleep through any storm and one who holds a lot of passion for life.
Bernard: She’s very intelligent and a sharp thinker, with an independent streak.
What was your proposal like?
Alyssa: We were in Osaka, Japan for our pre-wedding shoot and he proposed at the top of Osaka Castle, and tried to pull off his cover version of Adam Sandler’s Grow Old with You with the lyrics altered using a portable speaker-mic.
What was your wedding planning journey like?
Seeing what most of our friends go through with all the elaborate planning, logistics and ballooned expenses, we decided right from the start to keep the scale of our wedding small but interesting, inviting just our close friends and immediate family.
We took to Instagram and Pinterest to create mood-boards to help us review the theme and work down to the venue, elements and props. We didn’t want a hotel wedding and there weren’t many venues that could fit our group size to cater for a outdoor ROM and Indoor dining experience. We visited more than eight venues before deciding on Au Petit Salut.
For our photographer, we wanted someone who was easy to work and communicate with, skilled at capturing raw candid moments and Fiona from Smittenpixels Photography embodied everything we wanted in a wedding photographer. After stalking her Instagram for some time, we knew she possessed a knack of grasping “the moment” and mood of a wedding celebration.
What was some of the challenges you faced in planning an intimate wedding?
Alyssa:Our biggest challenge was to keep within the budget without compromising on the quality and the feel of the concept. We had to be resourceful and creative with a lot of the wedding touches through our own DIY efforts. For example, our wedding invite and signage were illustrated and designed by Bernard, our guestbook was a secondhand vinyl record and my bridal bouquet was put together by my sister-in-law. Most of our props were sourced from Taobao and Carousell, and styled the wedding ourselves with the help of our friends.
Walk us through the actual wedding day.
We didn’t have to wake up in the wee hours and still managed to grab our breakfast leisurely at the club lounge. We intentionally kept the program simple by doing away with the gatecrashing and had everyone gathered at our hotel suite for the tea ceremony before the solemnisation at the restaurant, which was located just less than 10 minutes drive away.
Things ran smoothly thanks to plenty of helping hands from friends. We were excited and nervous but just learn to let go and keep our fingered crossed everything was going to turn out fine.
What did your family and friends have to say about your wedding?
Our immediate families were very supportive of our decision for a small wedding without all the razzmatazz. All our friends found our wedding cosy and memorable and loved the efforts we put into personalising the whole experience.
Share with us one memorable memory from your wedding day.
We dated for 12 years before tying the knot and on our wedding day, a couple of our close friends who have journeyed with us gave some touching speeches that brought tears to our eyes – that was an unforgettable moment for us.
The Venue: Au Petit Salut
Size of Wedding: 38 Guests
Cost of Wedding: $15,000
The Photographer: Fiona from Smittenpixels Photography
The Wedding Gown: Custom made by The Gown Warehouse
The Wedding Shoes: Melissa
The Groom’s Suit: Personal Tailor at Peninsula Shopping Centre
The Groom’s Shoes: Melvin & Hamilton
The Wedding Bands: JannPaul
Hair and Makeup: Xara Lee
The Wedding Florist: May Ho
The Wedding Stylist: DIY by Alyssa, Bernard and their friends
The Wedding Favours: Singapore Sweepstake ticket in customised money envelopes
Wedding Planning: SingaporeBrides
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