Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
July 2017
Liwen and Steven’s Coney Island Pre Wedding Shoot on the Beach
Liwen and Steven brought their surfboards to their Coney Island pre wedding shoot, to capture treasured memories of their time surfing in Bali.
Liwen, 37, Director in Private Equity Fund, and Steven, 35, Chiropractor, first met when Steven moved to Singapore from New Zealand. Their Coney Island pre wedding shoot captured their love for travel and adventure, and reminisced special times spent surfing on the beaches of Bali.
Tell us a little bit about your story, such as how the two of you met.
Liwen: I had been waiting 35 long years to find that one perfect match. For some strange reason, I had always seemed to gravitate towards the wrong kind of guy, with the same exact qualities that would frustrate me time and time again–uncommunicative, insensitive, robotic. I had just about given up on my quest. Then ping went my inbox in August of 2014—Match.com told me that I had an interested party from New Zealand!
“Not bad,” I thought. I had never met anyone from New Zealand whom I didn’t like–in fact, I loved everything about New Zealand–sheep, Kiwis, kiwi birds, kiwi fruit. Despite this, our first meeting was put on hiatus for a couple of months as I went into surgery for appendicitis. Post procedure, my stomach had blown up to twice its normal size, and no way was Steve going to see me for the first time in that state! I had corresponded with him just prior, to warn him, and he hadn’t responded for a month, so I resumed dating my regular string of robots. That lasted for all of two weeks, so I decided to give it another go, and hunted down my Mr Holmes.
And how did Mr Holmes respond?
Steven: So, my story begins, as most adventures do–with travel. The intrepid voyager setting out on an expedition across the globe, and moving to Singapore to commence a new phase of life. Retrospectively; this was the start of one of the most wonderful, and significant journeys that I would make in my life!
Prior to leaving, I had done some social networking in an attempt to hit the ground running, so to speak, when I got to Singapore. Part of this preparation entailed joining Match.com. As fate would have it, Li’s was one of the first profiles I came across. “WOW!” I remember thinking to myself as I read her blurb, “I want to meet this beautiful human!” Not only was she gorgeous, but she appeared to be of substance, and we shared so many interests! I didn’t hear back from her immediately, but I was happy when I did receive a response.
After about two months of “cat and mousing” we finally coordinated; and I took her out on our first date. Meeting in person, for the first time, was electrifying! I was spellbound, from the moment I set eyes on her! She was so graceful, beautiful, intelligent, conversational, and witty. I remember being nervous at the start, then everything was flowing, comfortable, and easy. We had chemistry! I obviously made a good impression, because date one, turned into date two, then three, meeting friends, going on vacation, meeting the family!
What’s one of the things you love most about your partner?
Liwen: My Steve is everything I could ask for–a blond, blue-eyed hunk, with a heart so pure he could probably make grown men cry. He’s the first and only guy my parents have approved of, and he’s EVERYONE’S best friend, instantly. He’s the only guy who has been able to weather my extremely impatient temperament, and that, in my view, elevates him to sainthood.
Steven: My Li is absolutely amazing! She’s spunky, strong, kind, caring, loyal, diligent, a truly beautiful soul! She speaks her mind, and walks her talk. I’ve never met anyone like her.
What was the proposal like?
Liwen: He wanted to propose in Bali where we love to surf, but work didn’t let him off for the weekend, so he brought me on a staycation to Sentosa where I was lavished with a massage at the spa and an “onsen” suite. Before we went to dinner with friends, he took a lovely black dress out from the closet, that he had expertly picked out for me to wear, and said, “You know what else would go with that?” And he got down on one knee with the ring and said, “Will you make me the happiest man?” He got so emotional he forgot to put the ring on my finger!
You didn’t get to surf before your proposal, but it looks like you did for your engagement session! Tell us about it.
Steven: We went to Coney Island as we wanted to recreate a beach and surf scene–we had spent so many hours surfing and having fun on the beach in Bali, so these memories were precious to us. We chose Coney Island instead of somewhere like the East Coast as it was relatively less crowded.
Liwen: The shoot was tiring and hot, but so rewarding! Steve also managed to fulfill his acting dreams and star potential. AndroidsinBoots managed to capture the very essence of our love and friendship in just less than a day. We had so many sweaty takes for the same positions but it was necessary to capture the interplay of emotion between us.
Photography: AndroidsinBoots
Videography: AndroidsinBoots
Shoot Location: Coney Island
Wedding Planner: Shenny Yeh from Lunapompom
Credits: Photography by AndroidsinBoots.
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