Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
November 2017
Amanda and Shao Zong’s Beautiful Handmade Clifford Pier Wedding
Amanda and Shao Zong celebrated 11 years together in a beautiful Clifford Pier wedding with succulents and LEGO head angbao boxes!
Amanda Teo, 29, Research Assistant, and Ong Shao Zong, 32, Self-Employed, tied the knot in a beautiful wedding in The Clifford Pier, The Fullerton Bay Hotel, on 18 February 2017. Opting for a simple affair, the couple did away with the traditional gatecrash and yum seng, and crafty bride Amanda planned and styled everything herself!
How did you two meet?
Amanda: I met Shao Zong in 2005 during our polytechnic’s bowling training at the now-defunct Leisure Bowl at East Coast Park. While I was waiting for my dad to pick me up from the alley alone, Shao Zong came to say hi, and asked for my number. I can still remember that shy look and his Nokia phone!
Shao Zong: I still remember it was the trials for the new, first-year bowlers who were interested in joining the team. She was wearing a baggy, orange t-shirt. Somehow, she just stood out from the rest of the juniors, and the rest is history.
What drew you to each other?
Amanda: Bowling brought us together, and our personalities clicked the moment we went out on our first date. I like that he took the initiative to chase me and was serious about our relationship.
What was the proposal like?
Amanda: He proposed to me during my birthday staycation in April 2016. He made an excuse to leave the room to grab a bucket of ice for our drinks while I was in the toilet with a stomachache. I did not suspect anything as we had just bought drinks. The moment I opened the toilet door, he was standing beside the bed with a bouquet of flowers, and a bucket of ice as well. Till today I wonder if the stomachache was part of his plan!
How did you create your wedding?
Amanda: I decided that I was going to plan the wedding myself since I had envisioned our wedding even before Shao Zong proposed. It would be a western lunch at an indoor venue with plenty of sunshine and the theme colours of red (my favourite colour), blue (his favourite colour), and green, because I love succulents. I specially requested for my makeup artist, Christine, to use succulents on my hair. There were also succulents in my bouquet. I had also pictured the type of flowers I wanted for my bouquet and my florist, Mirage Flowers, did a great job with my bouquet.
SingaporeBrides’ articles and forum helped me a lot with my research. Other than my wedding coordinator from The Fullerton Bay Hotel and my florist from Mirage Flowers, I planned the entire wedding myself. SingaporeBrides is a great resource for a DIY person like me.
I designed my own invitation cards, hand-coloured sixteen geometric table numbers, and hand-cut the guest place cards and wedding favour tags into hexagons. It’s crazy, but I enjoyed doing it.
We chanced upon a pair of boy and girl LEGO storage heads during our trip to Hong Kong in January 2016. I found them cute but did not have any purpose for them, and we left the shop. When I kept thinking about the LEGO heads, Shao Zong suggested using them as our ang bao boxes. I instantly said, “Yes!”
I scoured for props from TaoBao and printed our pre-wedding photos to set up the entire photo reception table myself at 1am in the morning before my wedding. As The Clifford Pier is a restaurant, we had to wait till the last guest left before the logistic guys were able to set up the wedding tables. We were glad a good friend of ours, Roger, helped us throughout the wee hours.
Before I met Danny L, my wedding gown designer, I looked for gown design inspiration on Pinterest and online websites. One gown was sufficient for me as I did not want to go through the hassle of changing into another gown and hairstyle. I wanted to have more time to interact with my guests and enjoy my food. Danny designed the gown to my preference and suggested a removable skirt. It was such a great idea as it allowed me to switch up my look from lunch reception to tea ceremony.
Shao Zong: Many types of footwear give Amanda blisters in a very short time. Sneakers were the only choice we had other than sandals and flip flops. We came across a pair of Adidas NMD sneakers that was to our liking.
Due to the hype over these shoes at that time, finding the colourway we wanted proved to be more difficult than I expected. I could not find the shoes in our local retail stores, hence we looked at the online shoe shops from USA and the UK. The two pairs of shoes were purchased separately from two different countries and took almost three weeks to arrive. Despite the trouble, we were pleased with our decision to purchase them as our wedding shoes!
What was your wedding at The Clifford Pier like?
Amanda: We both agreed on a simple wedding and our parents were supportive. We did away with the traditional wedding rundown–no gate-crashing games, no champagne glass tower on stage, and no yum seng. We checked ourselves into our hotel room the day before.
Instead of the usual “groom fetching the bride” procedure, we had a “first look” at The Clifford Pier’s alfresco terrace. When I tapped Shao Zong on the shoulder and he turned around to face me, we both broke out in laughter! He lifted my veil and gave me a light kiss on my cheek.
Shao Zong: While we signed our ROM certificate, our guests watched a video montage through their phones on YouTube and lunch began. Midway through lunch, Amanda’s brother-in-law made a heart-warming speech and toast to us.
Amanda: Before dessert was served, Shao Zong and I prepared ourselves to walk down the aisle for our cake cutting. We wanted our friends to dance down the aisle together with us, but alas, they were all too shy! We walked, waved, and Shao Zong twirled me twice down the aisle. Instead of moving from table to table for photo taking, we stood in front of the flower wall so that guests could come up anytime to take photos with us.
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?
Amanda: One of the most memorable moment was our “first look,” captured by Colin, and signing the ROM certificate; it felt so surreal getting married to my best friend of 11 years.
Shao Zong: The most memorable moment for me was watching Amanda walk down the aisle alongside with her dad, who happened to look more nervous than her, which made her walk look so relaxed!
The Size of the Wedding: 160 guests
The Venue: The Clifford Pier, The Fullerton Bay Hotel
The Gown: Danny L
The Bride’s Shoes: Adidas
The Suit: Danny L
The Engagement Ring: Hermès Collier de Chien Ring
The Wedding Bands: Poh Heng Jewellery
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Christine from Christine Chia Makeup
The Nail Artist: Princess’s Cottage: The Nails Story
The Florist: Mirage Flowers
The Wedding Stylist: Amanda
The Wedding Planner: Amanda
The Wedding Photographer: Colin Ho from Timeless Romance Photography
The Photobooth: Mirage Flowers
The Wedding Favours: TICO Love Mini Bricks by Creative Play // Butter Coconut Biscuits by Khong Guan
The Solemniser: Mr Teo Chong Tee
The Ang Bao Box: LEGO Storage Heads
The Wedding Resource: SingaporeBrides
Credits: Images by Timeless Romance
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