Singaporebrides | Real Weddings

August 2022

Maheen and Daniel’s Beachside Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa

After braving the challenges of the pandemic together, Daniel found the perfect opportunity to propose to Maheen and they got married amongst family and friends at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa.

Daniel went to Maheen for physiotherapy sessions and eventually ended up asking her to be a witness for his rental lease agreement. Isn’t this what the Hollywood people would call a classic “meet-cute”? They didn’t meet when they were university mates in London, but when they were working in the same building in Singapore. Daniel had his injured hamstring to thank because it lead him to Maheen. After braving the challenges of the pandemic together, Daniel found the perfect opportunity to propose and they got married amongst family and friends at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa.

Maheen and Daniel's Beachside Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa

How did the two of you meet?

Maheen: Dan had injured his hamstring playing football and came to me for his physiotherapy. We had a lot in common, including the fact that we had both gone to the same university in London during the same period. We’d never met in London as we were in different campuses, but fortunately our jobs had brought us both to Singapore.

After he got discharged from therapy, we used to frequently bump into each other on our lunch breaks as we worked in the same building. It used to be a quick “Hi!” as we would both have our lunches to-go, but one day, he was sitting down having lunch with an agent and signing the lease on the new apartment he was moving into and he called me over to sign the witness part of the lease agreement. As a “thank you”, he bought me dinner that evening.

Maheen and Daniel's Beachside Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa

What do you love most about each other?

Maheen: I love how patient, thoughtful and selfless Dan is. He has so much love to give that makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world, as cliché as it may sound.

Daniel: Maheen is the most brave, generous and loving person I’ve ever met. She’s selfless almost to a fault, and will always go out of her way to help those she loves.

Was there anything specific that made you fall in love with each other?

Maheen: Dan wears his heart on his sleeve and shows his love through his actions every day. He has not gone a day without making me coffee in the morning, whether he needs to be up early himself or not. He goes out of his way to make sure life is easier for me, be it packing my lunch for work, cooking me dinner when I get home, or stocking up on ice cream when I’ve had a bad day. It’s the little things he does which makes me love him more every day.

Daniel: I can’t pinpoint an exact moment or event that made me fall in love with Maheen. It just always felt like we were in it for the long haul. She’s fearless and impulsive – Maheen left one job to do voluntary physiotherapy in Panama with Floating Doctors shortly after we first met, and then eventually left another job to start The Physio Circle with her friend Shoban during the Circuit Breaker. Seeing how much she cares about her patients, friends and employees is incredible. She always puts other peoples’ needs above her own and seeing this makes me love her more and more each day.

Maheen and Daniel's Beachside Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa

So what was the proposal like?

Maheen: We were at home during lockdown and it was going to be my birthday. We were doing very unglamorous things like folding clothes and putting away dishes and I wanted to go to bed after that but Dan insisted that we stay up till midnight for my birthday so we did. At midnight he said he wanted to get my present so he asked me to close my eyes and when I opened my eyes there he was down on one knee with a bunch of flowers and the ring! He said if we survived lockdown then we could survive anything together.

Daniel: Yeah initially I’d planned on proposing a few months later, but at some point I’d thought about it and didn’t really know what I was waiting for. With the COVID-19 situation I didn’t know when we’d next be able to travel, and knowing that Maheen wouldn’t want anything public I decided to just do it at home. JannPaul was able to rush to get the ring made in time for her birthday, so it seemed like as good an occasion as any other.

Did COVID-19 affect your wedding plans?

Maheen: Yes, there was a lot of uncertainty up until the week of the wedding. We had people flying from the UK, Canada, Indonesia, Germany, Holland and Azerbaijan. We were not sure who would actually be able to make it as people were getting COVID-19 left, right and centre. We were so lucky that all of our guests, including our overseas family and friends made it without any problems, some having to do their quarantine in Thailand for 2 weeks before coming.

We were taking a risk still going ahead with it but it made sense to hold our wedding here as we had met here in Singapore. Many of our mutual friends lived here too so we wanted to hold the wedding here. We were very lucky that we were able to have our masks off outdoors and as we were holding an outdoor wedding, so it meant that we could have an almost normal wedding. The table restrictions also changed to 10 instead of 5 so although we had to do some last minute table re-arrangements, everything worked out perfectly for our special day.

Daniel and Maheen's Beachside Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa

What was your wedding theme and how did you create it?

Maheen: We wanted to have an outdoor rustic garden-themed wedding, something a bit more relaxed. We did a lot of the decorations ourselves and kept the vendors to people we knew or had worked with before. We bought plywood and painted them to create our welcome signs and seating chart board. We used old bouquets of flowers and placed them on the boards for decoration. We also asked our friend’s kids to help us with the handwritten calligraphy for seating plans and name cards.

We collected wine and champagne corks from the bottles we had shared with friends over the months and used them as place card holders. We actually spent time slicing them and drilling holes in them and put little flowers on top. We got a few wine crates and rented a couple of wine barrels and used them as props. One of the crates was used to write a little memorial quote for both of our dads that are no longer with us. We attempted to grow rosemary to place on top of napkins as a remembrance for our dads but unfortunately the rosemary plant died a week before the wedding so we had to get family to bring in a mini suitcase of rosemary from the UK.

Everything was ordered from online stores but we also worked very closely with our florist Rosie from Sing See Soon that helped with the table fresh flowers and the floral arch.

Maheen and Daniel's Beachside Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa

What was your wedding day like?

Maheen: We woke up to heavy rain in the morning and it being an outdoor wedding, we were freaking out a little. We were always prepared to have the wedding indoors if it had rained but that would have changed the entire feel of the wedding. We had said to ourselves that even if the worst case scenario happened, we would still come out of it married and that was what mattered the most at the end of the day.

We had to decide by 2 p.m. if we were still going ahead with the outdoor set up. By then, it was still drizzling. We decided to wait another hour, and miraculously the skies cleared up, the sun came out, making it the most wonderful day. We had a gorgeous sunset and such an amazing evening, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. Masks were off, seeing everyone’s facial expressions during the solemnisation was so lovely to see, there were smiles, tears and laughter wherever we looked.

Maheen and Daniel's Beachside Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa

What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?

Maheen: Our dog Albert was our ring bearer and he got a bit of a stage fright and ran away with the rings clipped to him. It got everyone laughing. Luckily Albert came to the back of the bushes I was standing behind and ended up walking me down the aisle along with my mum. It actually ended up being very cute, and walking down the aisle, seeing Dan in tears, was just an amazing feeling.

Daniel: Definitely seeing Maheen at the end of the aisle with our dog Albert running along in front of her. I teared up a bit just thinking about how it was finally happening, and that this was now our own little family.

The Size of the Wedding: 85
The Venue: Shangri-la Rasa Sentosa The Barnicles (solemnisation), The Rocks (reception)
The Wedding Day Photographer: Thomas Tan Photography
The Gown: Berta Bridal from Belle and Tulle
The Bride’s Shoes: Loeffler Randall
The Suit: Edit Suits Co.
The Groom’s Shoes: Diamond Walker
The Engagement Ring: JannPaul
The Wedding Bands: JannPaul
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses: David’s Bridal
The Groomsmen’s Suits: Mohan’s Custom Tailors
The Page Boy’s Suit: Bella and Barns UK (Albert our dog’s custom made tux)
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Lindalino Makeup
The Nail Artist: Shin from Kosame Nails
The Caterer: Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa
The Wedding Cake: Caked with love
The Florist: Sing See Soon
The Videographer: CY from Twenty8picks Videography
The Wedding Invitations and Stationery: Space for J
The Wedding Favours: Succulent Succulents and Fossa Chocolate
The DJ: DJ Titus from The DJ Institute


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Maheen and Daniel's Beachside Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa

Maheen and Daniel’s Beachside Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa