Singaporebrides | Inspirations
July 2017
Ethereal Choo Yilin x Melissa C. Koh Wedding Styled Shoot with an Exclusive Interview
Swoon over the beautiful jade bridal jewellery in this ethereal Choo Yilin X Melissa C. Koh wedding styled shoot, plus, read an exclusive interview with Melissa and her love James where they get real about their upcoming wedding!
Full of ethereal beauty and the glow of love and heritage, this dreamy styled shoot has us smitten! Styled in the lovely open space of The Chapel @ Imaginarium, this wedding shoot features bride-to-be Melissa C. Koh in Choo Yilin’s beautiful jade bridal jewellery as she reveals intimate stories about her engagement party, wedding planning tips, and her deepest hopes for her marriage with James Chen!
Exclusive interview with Melissa and James
Describe your dream wedding.
Melissa and James: To be honest, what’s going to happen this August is pretty close to what we envision our dream wedding to be. Our dream wedding would be a big, happy celebration with all our friends and family involved. We believe in the more the merrier, that’s why our wedding will be a huge one, just the way we like it. As much as we would love an intimate wedding, having all the people we love by our side is just as important to us. We want our wedding day to be a happy celebration where our guests will remember enjoying themselves and having fun celebrating with us. I think our dream wedding would be our actual wedding that’s coming up. It’s pretty close!
Is there anything that you and James have learnt as a couple during this wedding planning journey that you’d like to share with us?
Melissa and James: Start early!
Melissa: To start early is James’s tip! My tip would be that you should work more on your marriage than on your wedding because ultimately that’s the person that you are going to spend the rest of your life with. It doesn’t matter how perfect or “bad” your wedding day might turn out to be, what you do to make your marriage work after the wedding day should be your priority. For us, the wedding is important but we would not prioritise it over something more important to us such as quality time with our families. Like, we would rather go out and play a game of badminton with our siblings than sit down and plan our guest list! We know that’s terrible to share with our readers but this leads us to the tip of prioritising and delegating wedding to-do lists to people that you trust. Get a capable wedding planner and stylist to help you piece everything together. Know them, trust them, and let them handle everything, then you can focus on your marriage.
James: I guess from the start, it’s important to decide what’s important for you, and for the wedding. From the start we knew that bringing our families together through this wedding planning was something very important to us. Also, we placed a lot of importance on our speeches to thank our loved ones.
Melissa: We know what we want for certain aspects for the wedding. For me, the wedding is a lot about giving back to our family, friends, and guests who will be attending our wedding. We have specifically planned various activities and wedding favours for them. James and I are so blessed with so many options and help on hand from gowns to flowers, and people wanting to give us wedding favours so we want to pass that on to our guests as much as we can. Another example would be our wedding flowers. It is such a waste that we are not able to keep them beyond the wedding day, so we are intending to give them to charities the next day in hopes of brightening up someone else’s day. I think that we are both trying to think of how we can add value to the whole wedding, beyond the wedding day itself.
James: Another thing. Align both yours and your partner’s expectations. Some couples might have different priorities and that can lead to a lot of conflict in the future if you don’t resolve them from the start.
Do you have any special stories to share so far in relation to your big day?
James: In Bali where we had our engagement party, we wanted to have a really happening and fun party so we got our cousin to choreograph a mass dance. We expected only the young ones to join the mass dance and not the elder folks because they are usually not open to dancing. However, during the engagement party when we were teaching, my dad who is 80 years old and whom I least expected to start dancing, did! My dad is not someone who usually lets loose, he’s more of the solemn and proper type of person but he actually got up and danced. He hadn’t taken a holiday in the longest time so the engagement party in Bali was really a special time for him. It was a time where he could let loose in front of a crowd (and on camera!) and genuinely have fun.
Melissa: It was a really cute sight! Especially because he’s of age, and even when everybody had finished dancing, he still went on enjoying and dancing! All my aunts and uncles were complimenting James’s dad on being so spontaneous. Initially, even the younger people were not dancing, but when they saw how game James’s dad was, they joined in to have fun too!
Is there anything you wish people understood better about you?
James: We are actually real people with real problems. I think what everyone sees on Instagram is just one side of the coin. I think everyone looks at our pictures and thinks we’re #goals and everything, but we do have our weaknesses and flaws. Some people may think that that’s an “ugly side” but we feel that that’s our authentic side, behind all the Instagram-worthy posts.
If you could leave a legacy for your future children, what would it be?
Melissa and James: I’d say we want our children to be able to tell their friends that we were loving throughout our entire marriage and that we were a great example for them to follow–as what a husband and wife should be. Especially since we are Catholics, we want them to understand Christian values and watch us live it out as examples for other families and friends.
An award-winning, homegrown label that has presented numerous times at Paris Fashion Week, Choo Yilin tells stories of love and heritage through contemporary jade designs. Specialising in immortalising significant moments, Choo Yilin puts a modern spin on the tradition of Si Dian Jin with a beautiful wedding trousseau crafted from handpicked Type A Burmese jadeite, vibrant gemstones, and lustrous pearls. As the designers tell us, “Jewellery chosen for that once-in-a-lifetime walk down the aisle must embody the meaning of that love, which is enduring, faithful, and special. This is why wedding jewellery is so important and personal – it must reflect and emphasise that unique sparkle that comes intrinsic to brides alone. It must emulate the glow of a woman deeply in love.”
For their ethereal wedding styled shoot, who would better embody that glow of love and happiness than a real bride-to-be? In anticipation of her own wedding day in early August, Melissa C. Koh wears fine jade jewellery curated from Choo Yilin’s bridal collection in this elegant styled shoot.
For brides who love a touch of whimsical femininity, the romantic Cherry Blossom Jade Bangle with its delicate blooms intricately worked in rose gold and coloured gemstones is sure to set the heart aflutter. Wearing the bangle with the Cherry Blossom Branch Ring in Rose Gold and the Sakura Bloom Jade Studs in Rose Gold, her favourite collection from the curated Si Dian Jin sets, Melissa C. Koh embodies the bride who blossoms in the precious air of love. The Cherry Blossom Branch Ring is also available in White Rhodium.
Melissa C. Koh wears the glamorous White South Sea Pearl Necklace with Peranakan Clasp featuring a luminous string of pearls, moonstones, and a delicate white gold clasp inspired by Peranakan lacework. Completing the chic elegance of the look is the alluring Peranakan Lace Jade Bangle with its understated luminance, the Peranakan Lace Pearl Drops, which are also available in the Peranakan Lace Jade Drops style, and the modern Bamboo Marquise Jade Ring in White Quartz.
Other timeless pieces featured from the bridal collection include the Peranakan Flower Drop Earrings, the Peranakan Flower Jade Necklace, the Peranakan Flower Jade Bangle, and the Peranakan Trio Jade Bangle. Featuring intricate filigree in floral motifs, each piece is decorated with precious stones such as Rhodolite Garnet, Amethyst, Sky Blue Topaz, or White Topaz to create a delicate and modern keepsake.
The fine jewellery pieces are available in five unique Si Dian Jin sets each comprising a custom jade bangle, a pair of jade earrings, a jade ring, and a jade necklace. Brides can mix and match to form personalised sets, or purchase the jewellery individually, to treasure that emotional day forever. To celebrate a bride’s special moment of becoming, Choo Yilin also honours her unique heritage and story by offering bespoke, one-of-a-kind bridal jewellery.
CHOO YILIN X MELISSA C. KOH WEDDING STYLED SHOOT VENDORS
Jewellery: Choo Yilin
Model: Melissa C. Koh
Wedding Gowns: Jessicacindy
Flowers: Floral Magic
Concept and Design: Rosette Designs & Co.
Props and Styling: Med Kärlek
Hair and Makeup: Jyue Huey from The Make Up Room
Photography: Annabel Law Productions
Venue: The Chapel @ Imaginarium
Images courtesy of Choo Yilin.
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