Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
December 2017
Bernie and Aizat’s Sunset Vineyard at Hort Park Wedding
Bernie and Aizat tied the knot in a beautiful wedding at Vineyard at Hort Park wedding at sunset, exchanging their vows with a song!
When he saw Bernadette Teresa Choo Li Min, 29, Civil Servant, performing in their university jam band, Mohammad Aizat Bin Hashim, 29, Early Childhood Educator, was immediately inspired to join the band! After dating for seven years, Aizat surprised Bernie with a proposal during a session of Pokemon Go. On 17 June 2017, the musical couple sang their vows at their Vineyard at Hort Park wedding, basking in the beautiful glow of the sunset and their love.
How did you meet each other?
Bernie: We met in university. According to Aizat, he caught sight of me at a hall orientation event when the hall jam band was performing–I was the singer then–and was “inspired” to join the jam band as well.
Aizat: She had, literally, orange hair! During the orientation camp, I saw her playing with the band on stage and I was totally attracted to how feisty she looked.
Bernie: Honestly, I wasn’t very attracted to him at first. In fact, I felt that he was giving me mixed signals initially, because he would text me really sweet messages over the phone, but during jam band practice when we met face to face, he would hardly even look at me. In the end, I think his persistence and sweetness won me over, plus the fact that we had a lot in common and could click in many ways.
What’s one of the things you love most about your partner?
Bernie: The thing I love most about Aizat is the fact that I can count on him. I know he will be there when I need him and that he will do his utmost best to take care of me. I know I can trust him to love me and dedicate himself to me for the rest of his life.
Aizat: I thought that she was outgoing and not boring. We shared common interests like music and playing in a band. The thing I love most about Bernie is that she is smart! She helps me to think rationally and keeps me grounded about life.
What was the proposal like?
Aizat: Bernie loved to play Pokemon Go. So, I got one of her gym friends to ask her out to go catch Pokemon at Changi Beach. I got my own friends to help me set up my proposal, right at the tip of Changi Beach. I had an Airmock (it’s a portable self-hanging hammock; she has always wanted one), a few customised balloons, and a bouquet of flowers. And of course, the ring! The ring is special because it isn’t a diamond ring, but rather a tanzanite ring. Both of us are not into diamonds as we think diamonds are too mainstream.
Anyway, everything went according to plan except that I didn’t plan for the storm that happened that afternoon. Thankfully, the rain stopped just in time for her to decide not to cancel the Pokemon date with her gym buddy.
Bernie: The proposal itself was sweet and romantic, but the set up for the proposal was hilarious. He was in cahoots with my friend a month before the actual proposal and they were trying to devise a way to get me to Changi Beach Park without me becoming too suspicious. Thus, he had a close friend of mine whine about how she hadn’t been able to catch a certain Pokemon (yes, I was into the Pokemon Go craze) until I offered to bring her to Changi Beach Park as there was a high hit rate for Pokemon there.
Even on the day of the proposal, I was so caught up with catching Pokemon that I was almost blind to the set up that Aizat had painstakingly put together. It took a lot of nudging on my friend’s part to get me to realise that Aizat was going to propose!
What did you want for your wedding and how did you create it?
Bernie: It was always clear from the beginning that neither of us wanted a banquet-style, humongous wedding where we didn’t know everyone present. We also did not want our guests to feel like they were just there to eat and pay their “red bomb”. We wanted something more intimate, and we wanted all our guests to feel like they were a participant in our joyous occasion.
We also knew we wanted nature and greenery to be a key feature of our wedding, and we wanted it to be somewhere intimate and cosy. At first, we started looking through some wedding venues, dresses, menus… but it soon got too overwhelming for us. So instead, we looked for a wedding planner and eventually got to know Sharol from Eternal Emotion. Together, we communicated to her our vision for the wedding, and she helped us to actualise the details to make it all happen.
SingaporeBrides was probably one of the more useful wedding planning resources. I really liked the stories featured as they gave me lots of ideas of what I wanted my wedding to be like. It was also a one-stop resource for everything from the dresses to the menus to tips on how to do up the wedding, etc.
What was your wedding day like?
Aizat: The idea of the wedding was to keep everything simple and tight. So we started with the solemnisation ceremony, and served mocktails and popcorn for the cocktail reception. Following that, we proceeded with dinner. We had Bernie’s Music Club students as our wedding band! They added a very personal touch to the whole event.
Bernie: I definitely felt quite stressed on the wedding day. From the point when make-up started, there were different groups of people who each wanted a piece of me, such as the photographer, videographer, bridesmaid! I had a small pre-wedding shoot planned before the actual solemnisation ceremony which made the timeline really tight, as we were gunning for a sunset solemnisation. I was a bundle of nerves all the way up to the point just before my march-in!
Did the nerves go away, Bernie?
Bernie: Thankfully, I felt a lot more comforted once my mother handed me over to Aizat and asked him to take care of me. I couldn’t believe that after seven years of dating and many challenges in between, we were finally going to officiate our relationship in the eyes of the law. I was looking forward to performing the vows we had written (we wrote our vows into a song) and finally signing the certificate. The ceremony was beautiful, the sun was out in full force, the band sounded great, and everyone that I cared about was there to witness this momentous event.
Following that was the cocktail hour where we had planned a variety of programmes to keep our guests entertained. The band, of course, did a wonderful job in livening up the atmosphere; we had popcorn for our guests to snack on before the meal; we had advice cards for them to fill up/draw on; and Aizat and I had each designed a signature mocktail with the help of the Vineyard staff, and there was an ongoing competition as to who had the nicer mocktail.
The dinner commenced with the video screening of the proposal, which I had personally used my limited video editing skills to stitch together. Following that, dinner was served. In between we had the bouquet toss, and we got our friends from our salsa dance group to do a dance together, the band providing beautiful music that set the atmosphere for the dinner and the bride and groom’s speeches. Aizat even did an impromptu acoustic performance with his long-time band buddies, reliving the good old days of performing together as a band, much to the delight of the crowd.
To end off the evening, the guests were treated to an end-roll video featuring each and every one of them, as our way of saying thank you for taking the time out to participate in our wedding. We wanted to be clear that our wedding was as much about them, as it was about us. Everyone left with a full stomach from the dessert buffet, with a sumptuous strawberry shortcake wedding cake.
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?
Aizat: I think that there were a few memorable moments at the wedding actually. The first moment was when we sang our vows to the guests; I think that was special. Also, before we gave our wedding speech at the dinner, Chunjia, our emcee, told us to close our eyes. When we opened our eyes, the whole restaurant was lighted with torches from everyone’s mobile phones. It was like a room filled with stars. That was memorable. It was also nice to have had the opportunity to perform with my band once again. We haven’t jammed in such a long time. It was like a reunion.
Bernie: There are two that I can’t decide between. The first was the solemnisation ceremony. The location and the sunset were beautiful. It was also the time when we signed the official documents that lawfully bound us together.
The other moment was during the dinner, when the emcee, who was Aizat’s friend, told us he had a surprise for us. He told us to close our eyes and when we opened them, all the guests had their phone flashlights on, making it look like a sea of stars. It was against this beautiful backdrop that Aizat and I said our thank yous to each other.
The Size of the Wedding: 70 guests
The Cost of the Wedding: $35,000
The Venue: Vineyard at Hort Park
The Gown: Silhouette the Atelier
The Bride’s Shoes: Anna Nucci
The Suit: Silhouette the Atelier
The Groom’s Shoes: Charles and Keith
The Engagement Ring: Custom made by Foundation Jewellers
The Wedding Bands: Custom made by Foundation Jellewers
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Manisa Tan
The Nail Artist: Celine Lo
The Wedding Cake: Patisserie Glace
The Florist: Petite Fleur
The Wedding Planner: Sharol from Eternal Emotion
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Leslie Photography
The Wedding Photographer: Leslie Photography
The Band: Anderson Junior College Music Club Alumni
The Solemniser: Tang Wing Fai
The Emcee: Chunjia
Credits: Images by Leslie Photography.
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