Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
November 2023
Xannelle and Daniel’s Whimsical White Wedding at S.E.A. Aquarium
Xannelle and Daniel wed in a whimsically white garden under the sea at their S.E.A. Aquarium wedding.
Xannelle, 28, Self Employed, and Daniel, 28, Self Employed, were university sweethearts. After years running a wedding styling business together, the couple knew exactly what they wanted for their own wedding. They threw a dreamy garden wedding under the sea at S.E.A. Aquarium, Resorts World Sentosa on 28 May 2023, where magical fairy lights glittered and reflected the water.
How did you first meet?
Xannelle: We both met each other while we were studying in NUS back in 2017 via a mutual friend. We officially got together in 2018 and have been together since then. We would describe ourselves as innately different people – he’s an extrovert while I’m an introvert. Moreover, we are from different religious backgrounds and had been taught different values since young. Hence there’s a big difference in the way we view and do things. It was quite challenging at the start for us to understand each other since we operate very differently, but through ups and downs, we grew to understand each other more as time passed and eventually, we became as one. We would say that we have acquired each other’s tastes in many aspects of our lives!
Did you use SingaporeBrides to plan your wedding?
Definitely! SingaporeBrides has always been one of our go-to platforms whenever we are sourcing for decor inspiration. The Real Wedding articles helped us a lot in shortlisting our venues for viewing, though SEA Aquarium was the first venue we visited and we immediately confirmed the venue without looking at the others! On top of that, the SingaporeBrides Telegram group was a massive help in helping us find some affordable decor to add to our wedding. A very big thank you to SingaporeBrides for bringing the soon-to-be married community together!
What was your wedding theme?
Xanelle: We wanted our wedding to hold significant meaning to both of us, hence we chose the SEA Aquarium. Daniel loves water sports and marine animals. For myself, I’m a metaphysics believer and I’m naturally drawn to ‘water’ elements. I’ve been helping my father out in the fire protection trade since young and to me, extinguishing fire is akin to pouring water over fire to stop it from burning. I always wanted something that allows me to showcase the two most important men of my life during my big day and I managed to find a linkage to both of them via the ‘water’ elements!
Xannelle: Daniel and I also used to run a wedding styling business together but we sold it off around 2021 as I had to concentrate on something else. Back then when we were conceptualising for our clients’ weddings, we did a lot of research to gain inspiration and witnessed the actual day flow firsthand which helped us realise what we wanted and didn’t want for our own wedding. Both Daniel and I prefer ideas and things that are unique and less commonly used, so themes or concepts that kept reappearing when we were still in the business were a big no for us. As ex-creatives, there were many themes that we liked personally, but we knew that it was impossible to bring all the themes to life on our big day. Hence, we “selfishly” treated our clients’ weddings as though they were our own and brought out their themes to the best we could so we could “tick” them off our list! This was how we got to our own wedding theme, which we call ‘White Whimsical Garden”.
We settled on whites and greens for our colour palette (though it may come off as taboo to some due to customary reasons) as it was simple and most importantly, the flowers could stand out in SEA Aquarium given that our venue is dimmer than most banquet halls. Also, the focus for us was to brighten up the hall as much as possible. Hence, decoration with lighting played a big part in our theme.
How did you DIY your wedding decor?
We came up with the idea for a photo gallery to display our pre-wedding shoots, as I personally love visiting the museum. It was hard for us to find the resources to replicate the “museum vibe” as we were quite adamant on the quality and outlook of the display board while running on a budget – we wanted it to look as though the works were displayed in the actual museum. We added flower hedges to every board to make the board look filled up. We got our wedding entourage team to help set up this section by following an illustration that we personally rendered.
We wanted our march-in area to look good in photos and videos as we thought that the cameras would be focused on that section at least half the time. Moreover, the venue is rather large and there are many flights of stairs, which is very rare for a venue. Hence, we wanted to make it look full to create the “dreamy garden” effect while marching down with dry ice. We decided to get Peony Studio, SEA Aquarium’s in-house stylist to help us with the overhead fairy light installation around the venue. We rented floral arrangements from And Gathered and got our wedding entourage to help us tie them to the railings according to another rendering.
Our solemnisation was held at the Ocean Dome which is able to hold only 30 pax. We wanted to brighten up the space a little but we didn’t want to spend too much on decor since we would be using the space for only about 30 mins for the solemnisation. Hence, we once again chose the DIY route and the area was decorated by our wedding entourage!
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?
Xannelle:It was definitely working with all the wedding vendors especially Ryley (our Actual Day PG), David, Benjamin, and the rest of JD Film Production’s team! They are super friendly and entertaining. I personally believe that what makes a good photographer and/or videographer is the ability to make their subjects comfortable AND direct the shoot, in which they exceeded all expectations. We really had a lot of fun working together with them and the end product was fantastic. We can vividly recall everyone gasping in awe (including ourselves when we saw the video for the first time behind the curtain as we were getting ready for our second march in) when JD Film Production’s same day edit video came up on screen. During the photo taking sessions, many guests also came up to us to ask for Ryley’s contact as they said that the way he conducted his shoot was professional and they loved the way he was able to direct them for the photo taking even though we were running on a very tight timeline.
I also loved the time I spent changing my wedding looks with Yang Yang from Young Studio. I chanced upon Young Studio on Xiao Hong Shu as I have a preference towards a slightly more unique look for our wedding and we went the “unconventional” way to search for her bridal studio. I immediately fell in love with her makeup style and wedding dresses as they were offering something different than what I had been seeing in the wedding market.
I didn’t give Yang Yang any references as to how I wanted my makeup to be like. With limited information, Yang Yang was able to enhance my natural features without making me look overly made up. At the same time, the makeup was different from the norm too and I absolutely loved every single look Yang Yang did – I felt that I would have never been able to do it myself. The makeup was flawless, and it lasted throughout the entire event, even under the humid weather during our outdoor shoots. I received numerous compliments on my makeup, which made me feel incredibly confident and beautiful!
The Size of the Wedding: 150 pax
The Cost of the Wedding: $100K
The Venue: S.E.A. Aquarium, Resorts World Sentosa
The Wedding Day Photographer: Rylz Photography
The Gown: Young Studio
The Bride’s Shoes: Bride’s own
The Suit: Young Studio
The Groom’s Shoes: Groom’s own
The Engagement Ring: JannPaul Diamonds
The Wedding Bands: Harry Winston
The Betrothal Jewellery: Coeur Fine Jewellery
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Taobao
The Groomsmen’s Suits: Groomsmen’s own
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Young Studio
The Nail Artist: Johor Bahru
The Caterer: S.E.A. Aquarium, Resorts World Sentosa
The Wedding Cake: S.E.A. Aquarium, Resorts World Sentosa
The Florist: Bride
The Wedding Stylist: Bride
The Wedding Planner: Bride
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Rylz Photography
The Videographer: JD Film Production
The Wedding Invitations and Stationery: S.E.A. Aquarium, Resorts World Sentosa
The Wedding Favours: S.E.A. Aquarium, Resorts World Sentosa
The Band: Family member
The Solemniser: Mr. Zenon Teh
The Wedding Car: Groom’s own
The Emcee: Aaran Lias
The Wedding Prop Rental: And Gathered
The Wedding Stage & Fairylight Design: Peony Studio
The Photo Display Board: Aaron Wills Design
Credits: Images by Rylz Photography
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