Singaporebrides | Real Weddings

July 2023

Min Er and Gary’s Enchanted Forest Wedding at 1-Atico

By Tansey Tang

Share this article on:
Facebook 56

Min Er and Gary made the most moving vows to each other, cut a donut wedding cake, and danced into their future at their beautiful 1-Atico wedding styled with dark and enchanted florals.

Min Er, 30, Senior Product Designer at Grab, and Gary, 31, Senior Concept Artist at Game Reign, met in an art module, where Gary’s compliments and attempts at saying hi met with silence, until he pursued the friendship online. They quickly felt like they had known each other forever. After a surprise proposal with a bespoke ring full of meaning, the pair tied the knot in a modern enchanted forest wedding at 1-Atico on 11 December 2022, filled with dark florals, a donut wedding cake, beautifully poignant vows, and a first dance wrought with promise.

How did you first meet?

Min: We met at Temasek Polytechnic (TP) design school, in a 2D art module where Gary happened to hop into my class as he was taking a psychology module that didn’t fit his course’s timetable. I was very shy back then and didn’t really think or care too much about it. During one of our classes, he complimented my drawing and I apparently gave him a weirded out stare and thanked him. I didn’t mean to though. I was just an awkward ball back then.

Gary: It really was a random thing–but I would like to add that I absolutely did all of the work. I just happened to be shuffled into her class randomly, and she caught my eye from the start. I thought I’d pay her a compliment on her drawing skills and she looked at me like I was some kind of highly radioactive insect. After several interactions where I’d try to say hi and she’d look confused or outright ignore me, I decided to add her on Facebook and start chatting to her from there. That’s when we started getting to know each other. It’s funny; we ended up becoming very comfortable around each other very quickly; by the end of the four-week module, we were painting next to each other and were joking around and pranking each other every day.

What made you fall in love with your partner?

Min: When we first met, the thing that mattered the most to me was how easily we communicated with each other. Gary was not like a lot of people I’ve met, in the sense where I felt like he could understand me and my convictions very easily and made space for them. Typically, a module in TP lasts about a month, and by the end of the month, I felt like I’d known him forever, which was quite a strange experience for me as I can be quite a private person. Twelve years later, I’d say that this hasn’t changed. He is still that kind, understanding, intelligent, and eloquent person I fell in love with. I also love that he is an old soul at heart–he gives great advice for someone so similar in age.

Gary: Her heart. Min’s the most guileless, good-natured, and sweet person I’ve ever known. She’s genuinely a generous and warm, bubbly soul at heart. If more people were like her, I honestly believe this world would be a better and brighter place. We all grow jaded and a little cynical as we grow older, but Min remains as earnest, kind, and gentle as I’ve ever known. I’m quite a pessimistic person at heart, and I can honestly say that Min brings out the more patient, happier side of me–she makes it easy to see the good in situations and people. It sounds a little clichéd, but she fixed me in so very many ways. Despite everything that comes her way, she’s still fundamentally a person who chooses to see the good in others and wishes the best for others. Her heart is rarer and more precious than she knows. It also helps that she has an irrepressible inner child who is utterly hilarious–and unpredictable; every day with her brings new things to laugh about.

What was the proposal like?

Min: Gary had my best friend invite me for a staycation at The Ritz Carlton on the ruse that she had won it at a company event. Honestly, I was quite suspicious but I went with the flow. It was also coincidentally the same hotel where he threw my 21st birthday party for me, so it was surreal to be back in that same exact room 10 years later. Gary also gathered my closest friends to help and witness the event, which was something that was important to me. During the actual proposal, I was pretty overwhelmed with emotions–to the point where I couldn’t really hear what he was saying and was just tearing up A LOT. I didn’t look at the ring until much later as I was afraid of my own reaction as I can be quite a picky person. When I finally looked at it, it was so beautiful and much more–he designed an intricate ring, filled with a lot of meaning from our years together.

Gary: The proposal was the culmination of months of carefully cultivated deception. Min has always been frustratingly modest about these things, always saying anything would do and that she was certain she’d be happy with whatever I did. Her only stipulation was regarding the ring–that it would have to be unique. Very helpful. And so I decided to annoy her as much as humanly possible. I set about designing a ring inspired by our stories together, and the very first gift I ever gave her–a snowflake. It took me about two years until I had a design I was happy with and even longer to find a jeweller that I felt could bring my design to life–and for this I really have to say another huge thank you to Shiela and Carrie K., the jewellers I decided upon. I think by the time the ring was ready, Min was starting to get more than a little impatient confused as to why I was taking so long to propose! I would constantly provoke her with how I needed more time, was busy with work, etc.

When the ring was completed, I looped in her best friends and planned to propose at the very suite which I had booked for her 21st birthday party. It was at this point that I told her I was “ready to start looking at rings together.” It was glorious. She was positively writhing with irritation but was too sweet to show it! Proposing felt quite natural to me. It wasn’t scary or nerve-wracking; it just felt right. I’ve never been someone who really entertained the idea of getting married, so I was quite surprised by how natural it felt. She cried. A lot. Happy tears, though I do think she wanted to smack me a little. All in all, objective met!

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

Min: Our wedding was always going to be a medley of our personalities, even though Gary had always told me that he wanted it to be whatever I wanted. Gary has always been the slightly moody type while I’m the brighter, cheerier other half of the relationship.

I had used SingaporeBrides to search for available vendors, venues, and inspiration, along with Pinterest to narrow down and identify what worked for our wedding.

We shopped around for venues and found 1-Atico, fell in love with it and decided that since it was a glass house-esque location, a darker colour scheme would work really well with it since it was going to be bright by default. We’re both fans of slightly whimsical worlds, so I started a Pinterest board finding florals suited to that. Gary’s favourite colour is purple so we decided to use that as an accent across the moody florals and foliage to create more contrast.

Working with LizFlorals was fuss-free and straightforward. We were looking around through Instagram and we saw her work, which Gary really LOVED a lot. He is more of a connoisseur in this sense compared to me. Once we reached out to her, I really liked that she had packages so we could get a sense of how much we’re really shelling out and what we were getting. We specified our theme, shared our Pinterest board and thoughts along with the vibe we were going for, and Liz shared her suggestions on the type of flowers and sent us a quote.

I specifically requested white peonies in my bouquet and Liz really delivered on them, the size of the peonies was magnificent and looked great in my bridal bouquet. On the day of, we didn’t have to worry about anything with Liz, she and her team executed perfectly and even helped to fix my photo gallery with extra flowers on her own accord. I’m extremely grateful to her and her team for that.

Gary: As I said before, I was never a person who intended to get married; to be frank, I’d never really considered what I wanted in a wedding. And that hadn’t changed when I decided to propose to Min. The only thing I’ve ever really stipulated in regards to my hypothetical wedding would be that Min would get whatever she wanted. Anything else wouldn’t be ideal. I did of course float some hypotheticals about a Final Fantasy themed wedding (huge gamer here)–just for the reaction, mind–and discovered we would most certainly not be heading down that route.

In all seriousness, though, we ended up settling on a theme that I think fit the two of us very well. The concept was of an enchanted forest, with natural woodland elements but a slightly moodier, more mysterious palette. It was something I was quite delighted with; extremely bright and overly cheery colour palettes really aren’t my thing. I felt our theme fit Min quite well; she’s always been a person who possesses many, many layers and depths, and is mysterious in that way all private, thoughtful people are.

In our relationship, I’ve always been the lover of florals. I’m very fussy about flowers, and I’m absolutely a traditional romantic at heart. And after twelve years of buying flowers for so very many occasions, I was determined that our florals would be unique and beautiful for our wedding.

I was therefore quite astonished when we came across Liz Florals. To this day I maintain that her visual flair and choices for floral design stand out from any other florist I’ve ever seen. I think Min was a bit taken aback at how quickly I wanted to proceed with Liz as our florist. In particular, I love how nuanced and tasteful her arrangements are; colour balance, beautiful silhouettes with that rare, perfect touch of asymmetry that can only really be found in nature. We’d looked through quite a few florists and I always felt that they were too chaotic, too overwhelming, too loud, or not striking enough, but I just found Liz’s designs so elegant, so gentle, and yet so harmonious.

I was also very pleased with the bridal bouquet. Peonies can be a difficult flower to match because they can be quite overpowering, especially white peonies when combined with a white wedding dress, but Liz really pulled it off. Even on the day of, after setting up the florals, she really went above and beyond, checking on and adjusting the florals and Min’s bouquet. She even repurposed the florals into beautiful little bouquets that our guests could bring home. She was an absolute gem and one of the MVPs of our wedding day, to be sure.

What was your wedding day like?

Min: It was a rainy, misty morning and rain is something we both love–so it felt like a culmination of all our efforts with the perfect atmosphere, and also an affirmation in our decision to have an indoor wedding during the rainy December months.

I was excited to finally get to wear the dresses that I had planned and looked at countless vendors for. After the tea ceremony with my parents, we had some time to ourselves with a mini photoshoot with Brandon (our photographer). It was a welcome respite knowing that our schedule would be pretty packed for the next few hours. This gave us some time to bask in the vibes of our wedding.

When we were at the 1-Atico, it was surreal seeing all our friends and family and everything set up. The rest of the day went off without a hitch and thankfully, our wedding party and their partners were really on the ball and had everything settled for us so we didn’t really have to worry.

Gary:Our wedding day was misty with slight rain. I remember thinking that it fit our theme so perfectly. It really felt like a December morning, which for some reason meant a lot to me.

The first huge moment for me was when I saw Min in her dress and makeup for the first time. It’s cheesy as hell but I really didn’t think I’d be the sort of fellow who teared up and was at a loss for words. I guess I’ll just say that our entire relationship, I’ve always felt that I’m luckier than I could ever deserve to be and it was never truer than in that moment.

I really enjoyed our morning photoshoot. The wedding planning up until then had involved so many parties and conversation; it was a wonderful thing to just have a few moments to just be together and enjoy being together. I suspect I may have been somewhat distracted because I just couldn’t stop looking at Min.

The wedding itself was a mixture of a lot of joy at the occasion, relief that everything had come together successfully, and honestly, flying from moment to moment because there was so much to do and so little time. It was really, really meaningful to see all of our friends and family there for us. I was delighted with the doughnut wedding cake as well. I think a little bit of my soul was soothed at the sight of it (I’ve always had a mild obsession with doughnuts.) We did have some mild issues, which was unfortunate, but luckily our bridesmaids and groomsmen–and especially Liz!–really reacted quite speedily and managed to turn the situation around. But again, when I think back to our wedding, I think the only thing in my eyes and mind was my lovely, lovely wife.

What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?

Min: For me, one of the most memorable parts of our wedding was when we were reading our vows to each other, and our first dance as husband and wife. To be honest, I never really daydreamed about what my wedding would be like when I was a little girl. Unbeknownst to Gary, I’d have bits and pieces of inspiration on how to write my vows over the years we spent together, so this was a particularly important moment for me.

Gary: I have two moments. Obviously our vows were the most important to me. I’ve always struggled with putting how I feel about Min into words; no matter what I write or say, I always feel like I didn’t put it across eloquently enough. But in that moment, I finally felt like I did. Min is also a very private and shy person; she rarely reveals how she truly feels unless coaxed. Hearing her vows and her feelings is something I’ll carry with me for the rest of my days; I even keep her vows on my phone so I can reread them. That was the moment she became my wife, and there will never be another moment so momentous and meaningful in my life.

The other most memorable moment for me was our first dance. I’m a romantic. I told Min when we were planning the wedding that we would have to have a first dance as husband and wife. And not the typical sway-like-awkward-giraffes-to-slow-music dance. A proper dance, with turns and spins and dips. We learnt the dance together, and as we danced as husband and wife I just found myself thinking about how curious it was that in a room so full of people, to me she was the only one in the room.

The Size of the Wedding: 128 guests
The Venue: 1-Atico
The Wedding Day Photographer: Lensofmira, Brandon
The Gowns: White&Lace Milla Nova, WhitePlan on Mean BLVD, Selfa Bridal
The Bride’s Shoes: NINA shoes
The Suit: SuitsCraft
The Groom’s Shoes: Ed Et Al Shoemakers
The Engagement Ring: Carrie K
The Wedding Bands: Carrie K
The Wedding Jewellery: Aslowe Fine Jewelry
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Various
The Groomsmen’s Suits: Various
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Jas from Makeup Maestro Wedding
The Wedding Cake: Zee & Elle, Krispy Kreme
The Florist: Liz Florals
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Alexis from Bridelope Productions
The Videographer: TheVisualChaps
The Wedding Favours: Etsy + couple’s own designs
The Solemniser: Dr. Wee Pang Kiat

Credits: Images by Lensofmira

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!