Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
October 2023
Joy and Josh’s Summer Coral Wedding in The Surga Villa Estate, Bali
Joy and Josh danced the night away at their gorgeous summer coral wedding at The Surga Villa Estate, Bali, fuelled by Indomie and bubble tea after-party bars!
When their mutual friends wouldn’t stop hyping them up to each other, Joy Wang, 30, online bridal boutique founder, and Joshua Lau, 31, trader, decided that a group hang was the only way to find out if they were really soulmates. After a surprise proposal in Canada, where Joy grew up, the couple decided to celebrate their union in an intimate destination wedding in Bali on 29 July 2023, with their closest friends and family. Their bright and modern palette of coral and pink popped against the stunning clifftop views as they exchanged their vows, and fireworks illuminated the sky while the after-party raged on the dance floor, fuelled by the Indomie and bubble tea bars!
How did the two of you meet?
Joy: We first got to know about each other at our friend’s birthday party, where my girlfriend drunkenly asked everyone out loud if there were any single and eligible bachelors for me. To my surprise, Josh’s best friend piped up and said he did have someone in mind and proceeded to show us some really questionable photos of Josh, who wasn’t at the party that night. From that night on, our friends continued to hype us up to each other without actually planning any meetups.
Josh: Joy couldn’t take it anymore and asked for a group chat to be made so we could all hang out for our first meeting. On 31 January 2020, we finally met up as a group and after some hours of drinking and karaoke-ing, I mustered up the courage to ask Joy out on a dinner date that same week.
Joy: Definitely not as exciting as a meet-cute story, but somehow we managed to meet each other in the good ole traditional way – through mutual friends.
What made you fall in love with your partner?
Josh: At the risk of sounding clichéd, she was unlike anyone I had ever met in my life when we first got to know each other. The thing that caught my eye was that beautiful hearty laughter that gave her an ethereal glow around her. She is such a genuinely kind and passionate person. Joy is also the bravest risk-taking individual I know with an overwhelming positivity. I think she’s the coolest person ever. I look up to her and I love her.
Joy: Having dated (too) many f*bois in the past, Josh’s straightforwardness and direct indication that he was interested in me was super refreshing and endearing. He always took the initiative to plan our dates, taking me to things I loved such as theatre dining.
Even though we grew up in different parts of the world, I love that we have so many similar interests and also love the same things. I really think we’re soulmates sometimes because we’re just always on the same wave-length with many things, and we complement each other where we are not. I love his tenacity for experiencing life fully just as much as I do, his decisiveness in big life decisions, his love for learning, and his quirkiness and quiet confidence in social settings. What really made me fall in love with him were his genuine actions and words, which I know came from the heart. He’s my best friend and I cannot think of anyone better to spend the rest of my life with.
What was the proposal like?
Joy: In between the long years of COVID, we were able to visit Canada, where I grew up, to see my family. Because it was Josh’s first time meeting my parents and also seeing where I grew up, I planned for us to hit up a few places. We were first in Vancouver for a week, then we wanted to visit Banff and Lake Louise in Calgary, and Montreal last, where I was in university. While in Vancouver, I had accidentally injured my leg due to a motorbike incident and I was using crutches. Josh was mad I did this but I didn’t understand why at the time…
When we went to Lake Louise the week after, he proposed. It was our last day at Lake Louise and he wanted to catch the sunrise. When he woke me up, the sun was already rising so I was confused. I put on something comfy and ugly because it was cold, and we made our way down to the lake. He said he wanted to take a time-lapse video of the sunrise in front of the lake but I saw that his phone was actually on video mode. I told him it was on the wrong setting, but he just hurried me away. He now wanted someone to help us take a photo and I saw that there was a man standing around the lake with a professional DSLR so of course I would ask that guy. The guy actually suggested taking photos with his camera. I was shocked but I said OK because Canadians are quite nice lol. When the guy with the camera said, “It’s perfect,” that’s when Josh started proposing, and I went into a frenzy.
Everything became a blur and all I could hear were the clicking sounds of the shutter beside us. Turns out that guy was our secret photographer! I still laugh about the whole proposal because it was so coincidental that I asked our secret photographer to take photos of us, and of course it was such a blur for both of us because we were both sooooo nervous. In the end, I said yes (duh!) and we went on a little photo walk around the area which was so beautiful. It also was Larch season which is when the tree leaves turn from green to orange, and we totally didn’t plan for this.
Where did you hold your wedding?
We definitely knew we wanted a destination wedding, having friends from around the world. We first wanted to do it in Koh Samui, which is where we went on our first trip, and we absolutely loved it. However, we had a hard time finding a nice location and felt that for what you pay there, you don’t really get all that you want.
We then explored having our wedding in Bali during a group trip, and we loved the cliffside views of Uluwatu so it was during that trip that we decided, “Let’s have it in Bali!” We booked The Surga Villa Estate during the last stages of COVID during 2022 so we could lock in a good rate. We also got a villa that was big enough to house our immediate families, bridesmaids and groomsmen, and their plus-ones.
What was your wedding theme?
Joy: I had a really hard time deciding on the theme as I kept swaying between white and blue to blend in with the ocean view at The Surga Villa Estate or something more colourful. It wasn’t until six months before the wedding that I had to make a hard decision. In the end, I chose colours because it’s more my personality and I called it a Modern Summer theme (Summer Coral).
Because I’m Chinese but grew up in Canada, and Josh has lived around in different countries, I really wanted to incorporate both Western and Asian influences into the wedding so that it felt more like us. Some examples included having Chinese tea and sake glasses instead of shot glasses and champagne glasses for guests, colourful fans for all guests and incorporating those fans into the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, wearing my late grandma’s jade ring, and having Indomie and bubble tea for the after-party!
I also had an incredibly hard time finding a wedding gown that was chic, minimal, but also affordable, so I ended up launching my own online bridal boutique.
What was your wedding day like?
Joy: It was so magical. The weather was perfect and everything was so calm, like the calm before the storm, except it was all muted excitement and you could feel it in the air. Our team started decorating the night before and we could kind of see our wedding at The Surga Villa Estate coming to life. I was so excited that my wedding theme vision came to life in the colours and it was sooooo nice! I wish I had started my makeup and hair earlier so that I could enjoy more of the moments down below near the ceremony area but mainly I just watched from my bedroom as the guests started flowing in.
After we finished all the makeup and hair, I took some photos with my girls while Josh did the same with the groomsmen, then our families. I did a First Look with my bridesmaids first and the girls loved the gown. It was more fun than emotional; there were some happy tears, then it was time for the ceremony. I honestly wish I could live in the moment more because it was so amazing to see all of our closest friends there from around the world, plus our families, and just taking in the beautiful Uluwatu views. It felt surreal walking down the aisle with my dad, my very special gown, in Bali, against the most beautiful of views. Because we didn’t do the legal paperwork in Bali, we had Josh’s colleague and good friend JD to be our hilarious “solemniser”.
After the ceremony, it was cocktail hour and everyone chilled while the sun started setting; dusk is our favourite time of the day and it was beautiful! Meanwhile, I had to change into my second look before the reception. I honestly would recommend brides to reduce the number of their looks as much as possible. It’s your day and you should be enjoying it out there with your friends and family.
We walked-in to Low by Flo Rida with sparklers and it was WILD. The reception was so much fun. Not only did we have delicious food, in between each course we had speeches by our loved ones, fun games, even a bit of sing-along karaoke with our amazing band, and of course, our first dance. Our first dance was split into three parts which was choreographed by Dancer’s Dream Studio in Singapore, and the end of the dances led to some crazy fireworks (that felt like they went on forever) to end the dinner and to start the afterparty.
What was the afterparty like?
Joy: For the afterparty, we had an Indomie stand, bubble tea stand, and free-flow alcohol! The Indomie and bubble tea stands were a crowd favourite, and everyone danced the night away on the dance floor. DJ Dipa did a great job of hyping up the crowd and his mixes were insane, even the parents were dancing hard! Because we had a pool in the villa, of course, people started throwing each other into the pool and that was a whole lotta fun. We slowly wound down the night as the clock struck midnight. Shoutout to my amazing wedding team, Amor and team, for their very meticulous and thoughtful planning and assisting on the day of (I really wish I have a personal assistant now because of them), Jiwa and GrabnDirect for capturing all the key moments during our wedding, and Dea MUA team for making me feel beautiful. And of course to all the vendors who helped with the catering, the drinks, the sound and lighting, the decor, and more, it wouldn’t have been the best day of my life without them!!!
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?
Joy: “There was never a dull moment during the wedding” is what our friends told us after, which is really the truth because there was no single moment that didn’t stand out; every moment was so special and so memorable. And that’s why I was able to recount it above so clearly!
The most special moments to me were, the moment right before walking down the aisle and feeling butterflies in my stomach, listening to my little brother’s speech and not being able to stop crying, and dancing crazily to Doja/Megan Thee Stallion on the dance floor.
I was trying to take in all of the moments and it was so hard, so I’m really hoping the wedding video does a good job of recounting everything!
Josh: I think one of the highlights of the wedding was the never-ending fireworks that were so up close. A few of our friends commented that it was longer than the National Day Parade fireworks. It was so beautiful and I am glad we decided on getting them and not cheaping out on it. However, the main thing that made the wedding a blast was the people that were there. We decided to invite only our closest friends and family due to the intimate setting and it was the best decision we made. The whole event felt like a sincere heartfelt celebration with our loved ones and that’s what we wanted it to feel like.
The Size of the Wedding: 80 guests
The Venue: The Surga Villa Estate, Uluwatu, Bali
The Wedding Day Photographer: Jiwa Photography
The Gown: Bespoke Bone and Grey
The Bride’s Shoes: Loeffler Randall
The Suit: Lai En Tailor
The Engagement Ring: James Allen Rings
The Wedding Bands: Guardian Jewels
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Dea MUA Bali
The Caterer: Lumbung Catering Bali
The Wedding Cake: Vlo Ven Bali
The Florist: Amor Eternal Wedding & Events
The Wedding Planner: Amor Eternal Wedding & Events
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Wanderlust Dream Co
The Videographer: GrabnDirect
The Wedding Favours: Personally curated + Amor Eternal Wedding & Events
The Band: Macchiato Bali Entertainment
The Solemniser: Our friend John Davis
The Wedding Decor: Casablanca Design
The Bar: toast.bali
The Ice Cream: Paletas Wey Indonesia
The Sound & Lighting: Twinbrother Sound & Lighting
The Lighting Decor: Lentera Bali Lighting
The Furniture: Bali Sewa Sewa
The Table Plating: SEMEJA
The Fireworks: Baloon Bunga
The DJ: DJ Dipa from Music for Life – Wedding DJ
The Dance: Dancer’s Dream Studio
Credits: Images by Jiwa Photography
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!