Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
December 2023
Yun Ying and Dharmen’s Modern, Colourful Intercultural Wedding at 1-Atico
Yun Ying and Dharmen celebrated the union of their cultures in a gorgeously colourful intercultural wedding, with ethnic wedding outfits, interracial sweet treats, and lots of Bollywood dancing!
Yun Ying, 31, Art Director, and Dharmen, 30, Sales Account Manager, were a brief item before they decided they weren’t ready for a serious relationship. A chance meeting on a bus brought them back together a few years later, and the couple realised they were made for each other. After a joke proposal that brought Yun Ying to tears, and a real one where Dharmen rewrote their story for a happier script, the couple celebrated the union of their cultures in a gorgeously colourful wedding on 30 April 2023. Their bright Garden of Eden themed wedding bloomed with vibrant colour and culture, as they showcased the beauty of an interracial relationship with Yun Ying’s bridal cheongsam saree, serving a mix of Indian and Chinese sweet treats, and featuring lots of dancing!
How did you first meet?
Dharmen: Our love story is very much a Korean drama. We got to know each other from a Polytechnic event back in 2011. We happened to be in the same group and both of us were polaropposites. Yun Ying was disengaged and uninterested in participating in the event (I caught her sleeping during the sessions) and on the other spectrum, I was the hype man. She couldn’t take the amount of energy erupting from me.
However, after the event, we kept in touch and somehow we were able to click. We became closer and eventually developed infatuation for each other. I knew that I wasn’t ready for a relationship at that stage and had misled her, thus I decided to tell her that we had to cut things (I was a jerk, yes I admit it). We stopped communicating that day.
Two years later, I happened to be on the bus and I saw her boarding the bus. She sat across from me on the bus and instead of being conventional and calling out to her, I literally took out my phone and called her. It was quite funny because I could see her hesitation in picking up the phone but eventually she did. We happened to be heading in the same direction and hung out for a while. After a couple of months, we got to hang out again and I invited her to come join me at church. She did and eventually, we became really good friends. Three years later, I started developing feelings for her and decided to pursue her as I was serious about it. And tada, here we are today.
What do you love most about your partner?
Dharmen: There are so many things that I love about her! She is someone who is compassionate towards people, and she always goes the extra mile to show care and support. When you need a helping hand, she turns up faithfully and chooses to put the needs of others before herself. She is very hardworking and strives for excellence! When I see her in the zone, it is pretty remarkable. She doesn’t stop until she knows that her best has been given. She is humble and patient. This kind of heart, how to not fall in love?!
Yun Ying: At first I was attracted to his fun-loving character, his energy, his humour, and his charisma. When I got to know him better, I was amazed at how he’s a walking encyclopaedia, and I’m so fascinated by how much he knows. But what I love most about him is his servant heart. When he sees a need, he takes initiative to help, without being asked. He is always very involved in the lives of others. I also love how excessive he is when it comes to celebrations! He puts in lots of thought just to surprise me, he remembers things I mentioned, and that warms my heart!
What was the proposal like?
Yun Ying: I have been tricked many times. I guess he was trying to make my expectation hit rock bottom haha and true enough it did. He brought me to a Christmas buffet that I requested, and told me he prepared a “surprise”. In the box of surprises were a few ring boxes of fake rings. I burst out crying thinking this is not something that should be taken lightly as a joke.
Dharmen: To all my guys out there, don’t learn the hard way like me.
Yun Ying: Three months later, it was his birthday month, so I decided to plan a secret photoshoot session because we realised we haven’t been taking nice photos together. Little did I know, my photographer, a close friend of ours, betrayed me haha, because Dharmen approached him as well for the proposal!!! I trusted my dear photographer friend and did not even question why he suggested shooting at the Botanic Gardens.
On the day of the shoot, my surprise shoot went according to plan, till we walked to a spot where there were many rows of our photos, not forgetting my unglam photos, on display! My legs went numb for a few seconds because I was completely caught off guard. They weren’t just photos; every photo came with a sweet message from my family, friends, and colleagues. I couldn’t finish all the messages and we had to move on to somewhere else.
As we made our way there, he asked if I knew why he wanted to propose here. It hit me that we had such a horrible memory here. (In short, we were young and developed infatuation for each other back then. I wanted to clear the air so we met up and ended walking to the Botanic Garden, where he ended things with me.) He said wanted to rewrite our past with this new beginning of a lifetime together.
Did you have a wedding theme?
Dharmen: Our wedding theme was inspired by the Garden of Eden. It was in the Garden of Eden that God declared the beautiful and joyous union of man and woman. And it was there that the first marriage took place. We wanted our guests to walk away not just reflecting that they attended a beautiful wedding but that marriage is beautiful. We incorporated the beauty of being in an intercultural/interracial relationship into many elements of our wedding! Yun Ying’s solemnisation outfit was a cheongsam saree. Our bridesmaids were draped in sarees and groomsmen decked out in sherwanis. Each of these pieces were tailor-made in India. Our wedding favour was an assortment of pistachio burfi (an Indian sweet treat) and lao po bing (Chinese wife cakes). We also had a lot of dance elements because what’s an Indian wedding without some dancing!
Yun Ying: We also got both our families to participate in the traditional tea ceremony and witness Mangalsutra (a similar concept of ring exchange, Mangalsutra is is a symbol of marriage and the wife is meant to wear a gold necklace with black beads indicating the love and commitment the husband and wife have towards each other.)
SingaporeBrides was a great resource to reference what other couples did. We loved reading all the stories of the interviewed couples as it helped us to make more informed decisions. To all future brides and grooms, one of the best pieces of advice we received was to enjoy the planning process! Spend time soaking in the atmosphere, festivities of that day and connecting with people who are there to celebrate the both of you.
What was your wedding day like?
Yun Ying: We were incredibly blessed to have vendors bring our vision to life. Everything came so together beautifully. It was so important to us that all our guests get a glimpse of the union of our cultures. Our decor, door gifts (kacang puteh and kueh), even my bridal bouquet, our wedding playlist, and of course our wedding outfits. I was so blown away to see all these details come alive. What surprised me the most is when I got so emotional walking down the aisle with my dad. I really did not expect the sudden surge of overwhelming emotions. I guess I can’t believe after all that we’ve been through (we had a rocky start), we finally made it to this day. It became very real when my dad handed me over to Dharmen.
The Size of the Wedding: 350 guests
The Cost of the Wedding: $60k
The Venue: Impact Life Church and 1-Atico
The Wedding Day Photographer: Iki Company
The Gown: Studio HHFZ and Amrut
The Bride’s Shoes: Needledust
The Suit: Kora by Nilesh Mitesh
The Groom’s Shoes: Earnest and Collective
The Engagement Ring: storïs
The Wedding Bands: Jumbo Gold & Diamonds
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Shobhadesigns
The Groomsmen’s Suits: Rajoo India
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: ARLY and The Glow Beauty Bar
The Nail Artist: Daisyynail
The Caterer: Kueh Ho Jiak and There was no coffee本来不该有
The Wedding Cake: Patisserie by Melissa L.
The Florist: Bloomen
The Wedding Stylist: Wulala!
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Joshua O Photography
The Pre-Wedding Videographer: Sunnykreamcrackers
The Videographer: Iki Company
The Wedding Invitations and Stationery: Self designed & printed :)
The Wedding Favours: Ranee’s Favors and Hang Heung Singapore
Credits: Images by Iki Company
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