Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
August 2023
Pei Xuan and Phing Zhou’s Romantic Modern Wedding at Entier French Dining
Pei Xuan and Phing Zhou’s wedding at Entier Fine Dining Alila Bangsar was a memorable celebration filled with fun and laughter.
Back in 2019, Pei Xuan and Phing Zhou attended an Ed Sheeren concert together with some friends. On the way home, they discovered their common love for more than just Ed Sheeren’s music. Many late night Instagram DMs and deep conversations later, they finally tied the knot after a successful home proposal.
How did the two of you meet?
PZ: Pei and I have a mutual friend who attended the same law school as I did. Although we had known of each other’s existence for some time, we’ve never really spoken to each other. In 2019, we attended Ed Sheeran’s concert in Malaysia. After the concert, Pei’s friends asked me to give her a ride home, leading to our first proper conversation together. After that, we began conversing on Instagram, and we have not stopped chatting since.
What drew you to each other?
Pei: Despite the initial aloof impression he gave when we first met, it was our engaging chats that attracted me to him. Remarkably, we found common ground on nearly every topic.
PZ: At first, it was our mutual liking for dogs and Ed Sheeran’s songs. We then discovered shared interests in Disney and Harry Potter. These commonalities opened up many more conversations and late night discussions, which helped us get to know each other as time went by.
What is it about each other that you love the most?
Pei: Phing Zhou is intelligent, has a generous heart, and is the most quick-witted individual I have ever encountered. He deeply cares for me and all those around him.
PZ: Pei has a big heart and is one of the kindest persons I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. She is patient and empathetic, always ready to lend a helping hand to those in need. Beyond her kindness is a sharp and intelligent mind, forever brimming with humour, fun and quick-witted remarks. She is truly my better half in every conceivable way.
What was the proposal like?
PZ: The proposal happened in October 2021. As Malaysia was still in its COVID-19 recovery phase at that point in time, the proposal was set in our living room. On the day of the proposal, Pei’s other bestie took her out for a girls’ outing in the morning, while I enlisted the help from friends to ferry a number of flower bouquets to our apartment and decorated the place with flower petals and electronic candles. We’ve even managed to set up a northern lights backdrop that I ordered online. By the time Pei got home from her outing, everything was in place. My speech was fairly jumbled and disjointed at several points, but Pei said yes, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Tell us about your wedding. Where was your wedding venue and why did you choose it as the place to wed?
Pei: When we first started planning for our wedding, the first thing we thought about was the wedding venue. We knew we wanted a small wedding reception, so we started looking for a venue based on that. We wrote to different hotels, and spent most of our weekends visiting different venues. As COVID-19 was very much around at that time, most places only allowed 100-150 pax maximum, which was great for us. Nonetheless, nothing stood out.
Then came along Entier! I remembered scrolling on Instagram and stumbled upon Entier. The ambience was quite nice so I quickly shared it with Phing Zhou. We ended up arranging for a meet up with the person in charge, Serene. The day we went to the restaurant, Phing Zhou and I even had a slight argument. We definitely weren’t in a good mood, but everything changed right after we saw the venue. Serene was professional, patient and took time to explain to us a long checklist of things that we needed to consider for our wedding.
We weighed our options and ended up choosing Entier as the wedding venue!
Did you have a wedding theme?
PZ: In the initial stages, we sifted through various Pinterest boards and wedding planning sites for ideas and inspiration. From these sources, we selected the colours, elements and concepts which resonated with us. We then discussed these selections with Entier and Pretty Little Things to ensure that they could be properly harmonised, especially considering Entier’s existing layout, backdrop and designs. We ended up choosing Romantic Modern Rustic as our theme. Both Entier and Pretty Little Things have done wonderfully in bringing these ideas to life.
What was the wedding day like?
Pei: I remembered feeling happy, but anxious at the same time. I started the day by flipping through my schedule to check if I have missed out on anything. Our photographer, Manoj, was intrigued enough to take a photo of my excel sheet as I was marking it. I guess that showed how tense I was!
My makeup artist, Su Yen, photographer, Manoj, and videographer, Daniel were among the first few to arrive. A few hours later, I met the team from Pretty Little Things, lead by Jin Ann, for the first time in person! Jin Ann brought the prettiest looking hand bouquet with her.
As time passed, I watched how the team and my bridesmaids worked together. That was when I realised I had to trust the process and leave it all to them. I went along with the flow, and truly enjoyed the day.
PZ: I started my day feeling extremely nervous and anxious. The lead-up to our wedding was packed with many events in-between, and the coordination of each event depended on the timely completion of prior events. Naturally, I was concerned about getting through the day without any major hiccups.
Pei was visibly anxious. For some reason, I thought to offer Pei coffee from the hotel lounge. Pei seemed a lot at ease after she had her coffee, and that in turn, calmed my own nerves. For me, that marked the beginning of a series of positive moments for our wedding day.
I went on to meet Firas and Calvin, our photographer and videographer, along with my groomsmen to kick-off the day. Thanks to the combined efforts of our families and friends, each and every of our scheduled events came together seamlessly, and we went through the day without any major hiccups.
What did your family/friends have to say about your wedding day?
PZ: Many of our guests loved the food and the wedding’s atmosphere! Entier gifted mini glass jars of kombu butter to each guest, and many of them have since mentioned that they would love to have more of that kombu butter in the future.
Share with us the most memorable moment of your wedding.
Pei: There were too many to pick just one. If I had to choose, it was the vow reading and speeches. On that note, the speeches from our maid of honour and best men made us laugh and cry!
PZ: Offering to get Pei the cup of coffee in the morning was definitely the most memorable moment for me. It sparked off a series of positive events, which culminated in a wonderful conclusion to our special day.
What is one lesson you’ve learned from your wedding planning that you’d like to share with other couples?
Pei: If you’re the type who procrastinates like me, start early. Due to a year-long COVID-19 backlog, we chose to tie the knot at around the same time as many other couples. We knew we had to secure our important vendors as early as we could. A year might seem long, but it will go by real quick.
PZ: A dear friend once remarked that a healthy relationship always requires both parties to constantly take on difficult conversations. In this sense, effective communication is not only essential in wedding planning, it is also the foundational cornerstone of any relationship.
Wedding Details:
The Venue: Entier French Dining at Alila Bangsar
Size of Wedding: 72 pax
The Gown: Annasul Y. from Designer Bridal Room
The Bride’s Shoes: Randa Japan
The Suit: Sacoor Brothers
The Groom’s Shoes: Tod’s
The Wedding Bands: Love & Co
The Wedding Photographer: Manoj Photography
The Wedding Videographer: Beans Pictures
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: SuyenPang Artistry
The Event Stylist: Pretty Little Things
The Wedding Planner: The groom and bride :)
The Wedding Invitation and Stationery: We designed our wedding invitations and got a local printer, Tian Choh, to print the cards for us. The wedding vows were hand-made. Phing Zhou did the drawing, while Pei did the calligraphy writing.
The Wedding Favours: The best Kombu butter from Entier French Dining
Did you use SingaporeBrides as a wedding resource?:
Yes, we did! When we first started, we were quite lost. We referred to online articles and also got a lot of inspiration from the SingaporeBrides Pinterest account. Some of the articles may be published back in 2018, but they are gold! They provided us with information that we never knew we needed.
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