Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
December 2024
Karunya and Vivek’s Wedding at The Halia at The Villa at Botanic Gardens
Vivek and Karunya’s beautiful love story culminated in an intimate garden wedding at The Halia, in The Villa at Botanic Gardens, where guests were surprised by personalised welcome drinks, DIY cocktail kits, and other thoughtful touches, and the night ended with a dance-off!
Vivek Murali, 28, Graduate Student, and Karunya Narayanamurthy, 27, Data Analyst, first encountered each other in a classroom mix-up, a serendipitous meeting which set the stage for two and a half years of fleeting encounters—shared too-short elevator rides, hopeful glances, and moments that almost aligned. It wasn’t until a chance text during Vivek’s exchange in London that their connection deepened into heartfelt essays, marathon phone calls, and a bond that neither time nor distance could diminish. Their beautiful love story culminated in a joyous wedding weekend on 3 and 4 March 2023 that celebrated their love and culture, in a cozy candlelit garden theme, with every element of their wedding reflecting their unique personalities.
How did you meet each other?
Vivek: We first met on a bench outside a classroom, waiting for our physics lab to start before realising that we were at the wrong building. This was probably a metaphor for how two lost souls can give each other direction in life. From time to time, we would notice each other, in elevators wishing there were more floors, in lecture theatres wishing we might sit together by chance, in walkways wishing we were going in the same direction, though we have already established that neither of us has a sense of one.
On the day before I flew off to London for an exchange programme, I came to school to bid farewell to a few friends. As I crossed a bridge, I saw her running towards a bus. That was it, I thought, two and a half years of near misses.When I reached London, I received my first-ever text from her. She had been under the impression that I had been in London for far longer. She wanted to ask me about internship programmes.That text evolved into essays. Essays turned into half-a-day-long phone calls that defied time zones and the health benefits of proper sleep. When I came back, our first date was a tour all over Singapore because neither of us wanted the day to end and we just kept walking.That conversation has now been over five years long and there’s just so much more to say.
What do you love most about your partner?
Vivek: What I love the most about her is that she probably is the sole reason for any definition of an adventure in my life. I am so used to just hanging back and doing things on my own, but she always has tons of suggestions of what we could do every weekend that this life isso much more colourful because of her. What made me fall in love with her was her crazy good nature. She cares about everything and everyone, more so than I could ever comprehend.
Karunya: What I love most is his genuine personality. From the time we started talking, he was always unapologetically himself, quirky and funny, and he’ll question everything till he understands it. I loved spending time with him and that made me embrace my quirky self and influenced me to want to be more myself.
What was the proposal like?
Vivek: This was a whole journey of its own! It all started when she said how there was no way I could ever pull of a proposal without her seeing it coming. I planned for 7-8 months to do just that. I created a fake wedding event that she was invited to, handmade her ring from scratch at Fat Anvil Studios, gave her a Valentine’s Day letter in February which secretly spelled out “I will propose to you on June Eighteen”, on the day of the fake wedding had the “best man” call us in the cab asking us if we could do a test run with their photographer and videographer (Bobochacha) as they got ready, and they filmed her reaction as she looked at a handmade dreamcatcher (which I told her on our first date that I would one day make for her), and at the centre of the dreamcatcher was a pendant on which was laser etched, “Will You Marry Me?”
Karunya: It was an absolute surprise! I did not see it coming as it was right before his exams and so I was so certain that he would only start planning for it after his exam. Plus, we were going for his close friend’s wedding. Knowing him, he wouldn’t propose at the wedding, so I was extremely certain that there was still plenty of time before he would potentially propose and got pleasantly surprised.
How did you envision your wedding?
Karunya: Vivek and I had almost opposite expectations for the wedding theme: I wanted a grand ballroom soiree while he wanted a cozy dinner with family. But one thing that we both agreed on was that the wedding was not just purely for us, but for our friends and family too, basically our guests. We wanted everyone to feel involved and wanted them to have fun along with us and not just watch the whole day like an audience. So after much back and forth, we compromised and decided on an intimate, warm, candlelit garden theme. We selected fall colours as we felt that it would complement the warm candle lights and create a cozy and intimate atmosphere where everyone would feel at ease. I used SingaporeBrides to search for possible venues, for inspiration on theme and decor as well as photoshoots from the Real Weddings column.
We looked for non-ballroom venues and were very happy when we found the Villa as it gave a very intimate feel and was in a garden, perfectly suiting our theme. Plus the venue itself helped us to scale down our guest list to immediate family and close friends only, thus allowing us to factor in time to interact with everyone during the actual day. Once we were fixed on the theme and colours, we communicated that with our wedding coordinators and started designing everything. I wanted everything to be on theme, from name cards to the instructional signages. So, since I love designing, I designed almost all the stationery needed for the day on Canva and got them printed out, such as our invitations, wedding day newsletter, recipe cards, instruction signages etc. Veks and I truly had a lot of fun doing all that as it made us feel like the wedding was entirely us.
What was the wedding day like?
Vivek: We wanted to include a number of fun surprises for our guests:
- Welcome Drink Wall: Upon entering, guests would head over to a shelf to find a welcome drink just for them. We got their drink preferences in their RSVP and so had one for everyone – and there was a little coin on each glass which also told them where they were to be seated later on. We are very grateful to our wedding planner Daniela from Create Your Story who made this possible. We saw a drink wall idea on Pinterest, but couldn’t find a befitting wall here, so we almost gave up on that idea. But when we communicated this idea to Daniela, she was super supportive and made it a possibility.
- Jenga Block Guest Book: Guests could then hang out at the entrance, and write their wishes on Jenga blocks instead of a book.
- Wedding Day Newsletter: There was also a wedding day newsletter designed by Karunya that guests could take home.
- Personalised Letters: After the solemnisation, guests headed to their seats where they had individualised letters from us to them. This was probably the most heartwarming thing for them as none of them expected really personal memories and wishes. We also sealed the letters with our own custom wax seal.
- Bingo Game Ice Breaker: The first guest activity allowed our guests to mix amongst themselves as they raced to find not 5 in a row but form the letter K. The first to do it would win a prize. Everyone had a lot of fun doing this.
- Cocktail/Mocktail Making Workshop: For the second activity, under their chairs was an ambiguous brown box – inside this box had all the elements required to make their own cocktail. We essentially had slideshows and guided everyone to make their cocktails (curated by us and Compendium Spirits – massive thanks to them). After everyone made their drink, they could then toast us. It was just so fun for everyone. No one saw this coming. Guests could keep the shakers as their wedding favours as well.
- Dance Performances: The last activity of the night was when we called the guests into a room for a final surprise. Here, they watched our traditional wedding ceremony video (from the day before, with the same day edit done by BoBoChaCha which really made us tear even to this day), our first dance, and a bunch of dances we prepared for them which culminated in an all-out dance party, praying the night would never end.
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding?
Karunya: For me, it was watching everyone play the Bingo game. Everyone was truly having fun and going around to get signatures. I did not expect everyone to be so very enthusiastic. I was pleasantly surprised. The other moment was watching the traditional ceremony video. The ceremony was a day ago and Zenn had done an extremely amazing job in piecing together the video within a day. Watching it while experiencing our wedding celebration made me feel sentimental and extremely grateful all at the same time, which was just an amazing feeling to have.
Vivek: The most memorable moment has to be when we all danced the night away at the end. It was insane seeing all our close ones together in one room right after they all gave us heartfelt toasts. This was also a bittersweet moment for us since we were heading over to the US for a long time after the wedding.
The Size of the Wedding: 100 pax
The Cost of the Wedding: Approximately $40,000
The Venue: The Villa, Botanic Gardens
The Wedding Day Photographer: Bobochacha
The Gown: The Gown Connoisseur
The Suit: The Gown Connoisseur
The Engagement Ring: Self made under Fat Anvil Studios
The Wedding Bands: Self made under Fat Anvil Studios
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Mahes Makeup Artist for makeup, Create Your Story for hair
The Henna Artist: Mehndi Mahal by Saf
The Nail Artist: Fifty Freed
The Caterer: The Villa, Botanic Gardens – The Halia Restaurant
The Florist: Blossom Wonder
The Wedding Stylist: Aces of Vase and Create Your Story for overall styling of venues. All the stationery was designed by the bride.
The Wedding Planner: Create Your Story aided in last month and actual day execution. Bulk of wedding planning and preparation was done by the bride and groom.
The Videographer: Bobochacha
The Wedding Invitations and Stationery: All the stationery was designed by the bride. Printing and binding by Create Your Story.
The Wedding Favours: Cocktail shaker kits by Compendium Spirits
The Solemniser: Bride’s Uncle
The Wedding Car Rental: Create Your Story
The Alcohol and Cocktails: Compendium Spirits
The DJ and Dance Lighting: Create Your Story
The Dance Instructor for our First Dance: Nicholas Yue from Pan Pixels
The Pre-Wedding Shoot Florist: Sanwraps Flower Studio
The Pre-Wedding Dresses: Style Lease and The Gown Connoisseur
The Pre-Wedding Shoot Makeup Artist: Minnie Makeup Artist
The Pre-Wedding Photographer: Bobochacha
Images by Bobochacha. Feature image cropped from original.
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