Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
November 2017
Joanna and Guanyou’s McDonalds Wedding Gate Crash and Wedding in Amara Sanctuary
Joanna and Guanyou’s epic McDonalds wedding gate crash went viral! Besides fast food costumes, they also rocked H&M X Balmain blazers at their beautiful hot-air-balloon themed wedding.
All their friends knew Joanna, 29, Regional Key Account Manager, and Guanyou, 31, Head in Government Sector, would get together before they did. A couple with a great sense of humour, they wore viral McDonald’s-inspired wedding gate crash costumes, and laughed when their solemnisation ended up entirely in Hokkien. Besides the emcees reprising their roles as Apple Pie and French Fries, Joanna and Guanyou’s celebration at Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa on 26 November 2016 was a beautiful and fun one, with the couple rocking H&M X Balmain blazers to an EDM march-in song, and incorporating meaningful hot air balloon elements to commemorate the proposal.
Tell us how you two met.
Guanyou: We met at Temasek Hall, a hostel at the National University of Singapore, but we were just really close friends back then as we were both seeing other people. When we got together six years later, many friends told us, “I told you!” “I am surprised yet not very surprised. You two are meant for each other,” and the classic, “The two of you should have gotten together right from the start to spare all the drama.”
What’s one of the things you love most about your partner?
Joanna: We are both shamelessly odd in our ways and we love pranking people together (think Jim and Pam from The Office). I love that he is an extremely funny person. He cracks me up all the time, and I’m sure all our friends would agree. Well, he says that I am cooler than any of his mates. I swear these were his exact words.
What was the proposal like?
Joanna: This was quite a funny story. Back when Guanyou was courting me, he knew that I had always wanted to ride a hot air balloon. When we went on a trip together to Siem Reap, he wanted to take me on a hot air balloon ride at Ang Kor Wat and ask me to officially be his girlfriend. People laugh because they think it’s cheesy, but I still think it’s very sweet!
Anyway, Murphy’s Law got in his way; the hot air balloon station at Ang Kor Wat was closed for maintenance and he had no choice but to ask me to be his girlfriend on the… tuk tuk ride back to the hotel. What a stark difference from his initial plan! After the trip, he handmade me a hot air balloon toy and wrote a message, promising me he would bring me on a hot air balloon ride one day.
Three and a half years later, he surprised me and proposed to me on a hot air balloon ride in South Island, New Zealand, fulfilling his promise. It couldn’t have been more perfect. At least he didn’t propose to me on a tuk tuk! I wouldn’t have said no if he had though!
How did you create your wedding?
Joanna: We did not have specific themes, except for a few personal touches. Since we got engaged on a hot air balloon, we incorporated some hot air balloon elements. Guanyou designed our wedding invites that included a hot air balloon with our two beautiful dogs in it. We hung a mini hot air balloon and a hand-drawn hot air balloon poster at the reception for guests to write their wishes on instead of the usual guestbook. Guanyou also designed a photobooth photo logo with a hot air balloon. The stop motion childhood montage that we made ourselves ended with a short clip of the proposal on the hot air balloon.
The dress code for our wedding banquet was “Swag” because we planned in advance to wear our H&M x Balmain blazers for our second march-in. It was unusual for a bride I guess, as it’s rare to see the bride in a big jacket and leather leggings with boots.
What was your wedding day like?
Joanna: I do not think that it’s drastically different from most people’s, but of course still very special and close to our hearts. I must say the wedding gate crashing was EPIC though, so epic it went viral on the internet for a while. Also, my mom cooked super yummy porridge for breakfast for everyone, and until today, my friends still tell me, “Your mom’s porridge is very delicious,” and my mom is very proud of it!
Guanyou: The solemnisation was held completely in Hokkien because the JP misheard us as saying “Hokkien only” instead of “Hokkien AND English.” It was “disastrous” because we are hopeless with our Hokkien, especially me. Anyway, thankfully, it was more entertaining than embarrassing as the guests were laughing while we both kept looking back at our parents for help, and at each other in confusion.
Joanna: For dinner, I guess there were three highlights. Firstly, our emcees marched in in funny costumes. Secondly, our second march-in turned out to be a pleasant surprise for the guests because I was not in a gown. Boy, did I feel like I was in my element, in jacket, leggings, and boots, as compared to dragging gowns around as I walk. We used “X You” by Avicii as in the march-in music since we thought it would be perfect with our outfits. The hotel AV guy had to double check with us 15 minutes before the march-in because he said no one had ever chosen an EDM song for a march-in! In the end, the entire hall was filled with so much fun and energy when we walked in!
Lastly, Guanyou has the longest and funniest ever (cannot expect anything less though) thank-you speech that people still talk about until today, and well, I was literally in tears. We ended the night with an after party at Tier Bar in the hotel with our friends, and then we lived happily ever after.
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?
Joanna: Definitely the “untraditional traditional” wedding gate crash! I did not want to do a wedding gate crash because, to be honest, I was a little sick of them, having led four myself in the past two years! But Guanyou insisted that we do it; he said it was fun and would be a great photo opportunity. He was more enthusiastic than me about the wedding gate crash, when it is usually the other way round!
The truth is, I did not know he had something up his sleeve. Two weeks before the wedding, while I was on a business trip for a few days, he gathered his groomsmen in secrecy to DIY a set of McDonald’s costumes for the wedding gate crash! Apart from the Ronald McDonald costume, he created all the costumes from scratch. He chose McDonald’s as a theme because I am not the biggest fan of McDonald’s, and he decided that there was no better way to overcome the bridesmaids’ challenges than by using the bride’s worst fear. He’s just being a bit dramatic here – I really don’t hate McDees that much!
It was also meant as a joke – he always tells people that I used to be a “McMuffin” or “Double Cheeseburger” as I was overweight when I was younger – how annoying, but no offence to anyone, it’s meant as an affectionate joke! Eventually our emcees also made a grand entrance in the Apple Pie and French Fries costumes, which got the whole hall roaring with laughter and cheers.
The Size of the Wedding: 430 guests
The Venue: Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa
The Gown: The Gown Warehouse for white dresses // H&M X Balmain for second march-in
The Suit: Made-to-measure from The Gown Warehouse // H&M X Balmain for second march-in
The Engagement Ring: Fairy’s Inc
The Wedding Bands: Fairy’s Inc
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Lynda Low
The Florist: Dawn Q.
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Kang Pictures
The Wedding Photographer: Kang Pictures
The Videographer: Unique-Colours Creative Media
The Photobooth: Uniquebooth.sg
The Wedding Invitations and Stationery: Joanna and Guanyou
The Wedding Resource: SingaporeBrides for wedding show dates
Credits: Photography by Kang Pictures and videography by Unique-Colours Creative Media.
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