Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
October 2020
Christine and Daniel’s English Countryside Raffles Hotel Wedding
Christine and Daniel tied the knot in a Raffles Hotel wedding with lush florals, a blue door ceremony backdrop which they DIY’d themselves, and a collection of nostalgic keepsakes from their travels together.
Christine, Assistant Architect, and Daniel, Office Manager are a dating app success story! The couple met in London and brought a little bit of the English countryside into their garden Raffles Hotel wedding on 19 October 2019, with lush florals, a blue door ceremony backdrop which they DIY’d themselves, and a collection of nostalgic keepsakes from their travels together.
How did you meet?
Christine: Three years ago, when I was in London studying for my Masters and Daniel was working in London, we met each other on an online dating app. We had arranged to meet on the 19th of February 2017 at the Coffee Island café on Upper Saint Martins Lane in Covent Garden.
Besides alcohol, something that Daniel can’t handle particularly well is caffeine. When I asked him out that evening to a Greek Coffee café, he felt obliged to order a coffee whilst we chatted. Little did I know, he was very sensitive to caffeine and he couldn’t get to sleep later that night. But I often say, he couldn’t go to sleep because he was thinking about me and not because of the coffee! We got on pretty well on our first date; subsequently he asked me out two days later and he decided to ask me to be his girlfriend just two days after we met!
What made you fall in love with your partner?
Christine: Daniel is kind, very gentle, and very caring. He makes me feel comfortable and sees me for who I am. We have been through some difficult circumstances, but that made us stronger and learn a lot more about each other.
Daniel: Christine is my sunshine—she always cheers me up when I am down and always wants to experience everything in life together. She has unconditionally supported me throughout some very difficult and unfortunate circumstances and for that I am very grateful.
What was the proposal like?
Christine: It was a simple but meaningful proposal on the 9th of March 2018. I remember it was raining when I met Daniel after work at Waterloo Station, London. He was holding a bunch of colourful balloons in one hand and an umbrella in the other; he then handed me the balloons. He told me he was bringing me to somewhere special and asked me to follow him.
We walked for about 10-15 minutes through an underpass to reach Waterloo Bridge. Daniel tried to propose to me there with a Vera Wang ring, but it was still raining and he fumbled a little trying to reach for the ring whilst still holding the umbrella. At one point, I offered to help him hold the umbrella! In the end, we decided to abandon the umbrella completely because it was getting really clumsy. He proposed and of course, I said yes!
Daniel: Earlier that day, I went into a meeting room after work with a helium canister to inflate some balloons that I had purchased and hidden a few days earlier. I proposed to her at one of my favourite spots. Waterloo Bridge was where I used to go whilst job-hunting as I’d look out at the skyline of the City of London with hope and wishes of a good future—the very same thing I wished for our future. We celebrated with a lovely dinner afterwards at Fischer’s.
Did you have a theme for your Raffles Hotel Wedding?
Christine: We like to travel and when I previously brought Daniel to Asia for holidays we collected some local rustic accessories as mementos. Of course we thought it would be nice to use them for the wedding. Soon we realised that most of the items we had gathered have a local vintage feel—that’s the kind of thing we like and find nostalgic. I’m not the kind of girl who has a Pinterest board for the wedding and I was at a loss as to what colours I wanted—let alone what flowers we wanted for the wedding! We browsed SingaporeBrides for inspiration for our wedding décor. (Even now, I browse it once in a while to see what other brides are doing to reminisce the good times!)
Our florist was very helpful and very talented; she spent a bit of time brainstorming ideas and what flowers might go with the concept. I like blue and wanted a “girl-next-door” feel whilst Daniel who has green fingers and the heart of a country boy really wanted to have big tropical leaves incorporated into the arrangement. Our florist came up with a brilliant colour palette and concept combining our free spirit with the sweetness of our love—a boho rustic wedding theme. The end result we came up with was so beautiful that some of the guests believed it to be part of the Raffles Hotel wedding package by their own florist.
What was your wedding day like?
Our venue for our intimate solemnisation was the lawn at the recently renovated Raffles Hotel—a beautiful space full of light and greenery and simply the perfect spot for an outdoor wedding. We had originally planned to have a countryside wedding in London but it fell through so we decided to bring a bit of the English countryside into our Raffles Hotel wedding in sunny Singapore.
We DIY’d our own vintage doors from scratch for the altar decor! We scoured dumpsites for old doors, painstakingly carried them home, removed the original paint, and gave them a facelift with fresh paint and patchwork. These baby blue doors were later combined with rustic rugs along the aisle, and of course, pampas grass. Our florist did a wonderful job to get that perfect balance of blues and browns and beige, which stood out so nicely amid the lush green surroundings at Raffles Hotel!
Christine: I feel the wedding was an intimate and heartwarming one with our friends and family here with us. It was a small-ish wedding on a beautiful Saturday afternoon with a blue sky perfect for the outdoor ceremony.
Daniel: And Christine looked really glamorous and beautiful throughout the day!
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?
Christine: The most memorable part of my wedding day was knowing that all my friends and family were there helping out and being a part of our special day. Having their blessings and having them there was something very dear to me.
For the entire process of the wedding, the most memorable experience would be shopping and trying on of the gowns on high street London with my then fiancé, now husband—Daniel. It was a lot of fun and made many happy memories for us.
The Size of the Wedding: 60 guests for solemnisation and 90 guests for dinner
The Cost of the Wedding: Approximately $30,000
The Venue: Raffles Hotel – The Lawn and Casuarina Suite
The Wedding Day Photographer: Anton Chia Photography
The Gown: Galia Lahav for morning // Pronovias for solemnisation
The Bride’s Shoes: Bella Belle Shoes
The Suit: T. M. Lewin
The Groom’s Shoes: Marks & Spencer
The Engagement Ring: Vera Wang
The Wedding Bands: H. Sena
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Lulus
The Flower Girls’ Dresses: CVERRE
The Page Boys’ Suits: Yuanlu Inc.
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Fiona B. and Christian
The Nail Artist: Nail Atelier
The Caterer: Royal Catering Services
The Florist: Gathered + Styled // Ji Mei Floral for Pavilion and dinner décor
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Lester Koh Photography
The Photobooth: Tiny Photo
The Wedding Invitations and Stationery: Papypress
The Wedding Favours: Singapore Kaya
The Band: Jana Ang Fries on the harp and Sin Jin How on the flute
The Solemniser: Simon Sim
The Wedding Car Rental: Softcream.sg
Images by Anton Chia Photography
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