Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
November 2020
Yolande and Choon Kiat’s Intimate Rooftop Wedding at Artemis
Yolande and Choon Kiat held an intimate rooftop wedding at Artemis Grill, with bold florals and fairy lights to frame the panoramic views.
Yolande Ngieng, 30, Marketing Professional, and Tan Choon Kiat, 31, Self-Employed, met in a club and hit it off on MSN Messenger more than a decade ago. After a successful surprise proposal in Bali, the couple tied the knot under a canopy of fairy lights at their beautiful wedding at Artemis on 22 February 2020.
Same-day edit by Our Wedding Story
How did you meet?
Choon Kiat: Funny story. We met 11 years ago in a club at One Fullerton called Butter Factory. It has already closed down and in its place now is a P.S. Cafe! Saying that makes me feel really old! Yolande was with her group of poly friends and I was with my army buddies when we crossed paths. Thereafter we followed each other on Facebook and the now-defunct MSN Messenger (back then MSN was all the rage haha). I remember we used to chat constantly on MSN late into the night, and then I asked her out from there. We were dating ever since until we got hitched this year. It’s incredible how the place we first met, and even the restaurant where we had our first date, isn’t around anymore.
What made you fall in love with your partner?
Choon Kiat: It’s rather tricky trying to put it into words, but it’s just the way she is as a person. I love how she isn’t someone who is too overly friendly or open at first. She has her walls up and guards her emotions from almost anyone she meets, but over time as we gradually got to know each other better and become more comfortable with each other, she unwittingly displayed the other facets of her personality. And as our relationship evolved over the years, we got to the point where we’re familiar with each other’s quirks and weirdness.
What was the proposal like?
Choon Kiat: The proposal was in Bali. I engaged a Balinese proposal planner to book a private dining venue in Kamandalu Ubud because I knew that Yolande would prefer a quiet, intimate event rather than a conspicuous proposal in a public setting. The venue was beautiful – it felt like we were really in our own world. I got them to lay out the words “Marry Me” on the steps and hung fairy lights all over the tentage because Yolande loves them!
I brought her there under the pretext that I had booked a private dinner for us that night. When we arrived there I sneaked into the washroom and met up with the proposal planner to fix up my microphone and hide my ring. I was pretty nervous!
Finally, I led her to the proposal spot where everything was set up, and gave her the surprise of her life!
How did you create your wedding theme?
Choon Kiat: It was a long and arduous process! We started off not really having a specific theme/concept in mind, but rather, we just knew what we didn’t like. For starters, we didn’t want a conventional Chinese wedding in a large ballroom setting. Based on our own experiences attending weddings, we felt that it was a little too predictable and you couldn’t really connect or engage with your guests intimately enough. In short, we wanted a wedding that we ourselves would actually enjoy and remember!
Hence we decided on holding our wedding at Artemis with its picturesque view and a western fine dining concept. To create a cosy atmosphere, we got our wedding stylist, Invited, to hang fairy lights all over the restaurant (which are Yolande’s favourite!).
The rest of the setup and theme were decided after many sessions with our stylist Loretta. Yolande specified that she didn’t like too many pastel colours, and preferred a colour palette that had pops of vibrancy. As for the solemnisation setup, we told Loretta that we wanted a more unique floral arch and she came back with her designs. We shared tons of pics from Pinterest as well!
We used SingaporeBrides throughout the entire planning process to source and find out more information about vendors and the different wedding venues as well. SingaporeBrides was a very useful resource for doing wedding research.
What was your wedding day like?
Our wedding day was awesome! It went by really quickly, so we had to be sure to find chances to slow down every now and then to soak in the little moments. The setup and decor was everything we had envisioned it to be. Apart from a few minor hitches, everything went pretty smoothly! Most importantly, our guests were all really engaged throughout the wedding. We even chose to have our “stage” – where we gave our speeches, cake cutting, emcees etc. – right in the middle of the dining hall, so that it felt more intimate and inclusive for our friends and family, like they were actually a part of the celebrations. Overall, the beautiful venue, cozy vibes, overhead fairy lights, and live band meant that everyone including us had an awesome time!
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding at Artemis?
It was when several tables of our friends had their phones out, waving their flashlights and singing along to the live band during the dinner. It almost felt like we were having a mini-concert! It was super memorable knowing that our guests enjoyed themselves on our big day so much!
How was it working with Our Wedding Story?
Choon Kiat: Working with Our Wedding Story has been a dream. Aloysius was really prompt in responding to our questions, was always punctual during our meetups, and most importantly, is excellent at what he does! The quality of his videos is mindblowingly superb. We actually decided to engage him because our original videographer bailed on us (long story for another day). Stung from that bad experience, we scrambled to find another videographer and chanced upon Our Wedding Story. Looking back, it was a true blessing in disguise, as Aloysius was an absolute class act. His same day video edit was incredibly well done – my wife and I were amazed when we saw it for the first time during the wedding dinner!
Additionally, we had a video clip from our Bali proposal that we wanted to play during the dinner. Unfortunately it wasn’t very well finished by the proposal planner that I hired in Bali. Aloysius even helped to cut and edit the clip, making it more suitable for us to play during the wedding dinner. He didn’t just go the extra mile, he far surpassed it!
The Size of the Wedding: 110 guests
The Cost of the Wedding: $50,000
The Venue: Artemis
The Wedding Day Photographer: Pixioo
The Videographer: Aloysius from Our Wedding Story
The Gown: Pronovias for solemnisation gown, Berta for evening gown from Truly Enamoured
The Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo
The Suit: Made-to-measure from Ermenegildo Zegna
The Groom’s Shoes: Salvatore Ferragamo
The Engagement Ring: Custom piece from Brian Gavin Diamonds
The Wedding Bands: Bulgari
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Fash Mob
The Groomsmen’s Suits: Combination of Ted Baker, Benjamin Barker, Uniqlo
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Lindalino Makeup
The Nail Artist: Nails & Good Company
The Wedding Cake: Creme Maison
The Florist: Invited | Florals by Benita
The Wedding Stylist: Invited
The Wedding Planner: Ourselves! Yolande did most of the planning!
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Samuel Ng from Pixioo
The Photobooth: Telltale Photo Booth
The Wedding Invitations and Stationery: Invited
The Wedding Favours: Sanitisers and alcohol wipes from Amazon | Tea favours from Artemis
The Band: Musical Touch
The Solemniser: Mr Tam Chee Wah
Images by Pixioo
Want to see your love story featured on SingaporeBrides too? Submit your wedding here!
All content from this article, including images, cannot be reproduced without credits or written permission from SingaporeBrides.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram for the latest article and promotion updates!