Singaporebrides | Real Weddings
July 2025
Christy and Meng Chun’s Joyous Wedding at Ya Ge (雅阁) at Orchid Hotel Singapore
Christy and Meng Chun sealed the deal at Ya Ge (雅阁), a Chinese restuarant at Orchid Hotel Singapore, to honour their families’ Cantonese heritage.
Christy Leong, 26, Senior Content Marketing Associate, and Chow Meng Chun, 31, Junior Art Director, were ex-colleagues met at work. They became close friends who hung out with each other and a common group of friends even after Christy had left the company they both were working at. It took them more than a year to realise the romantic feelings blossoming between them. After a carefully planed proposal in Thailand, the pair of lovebirds said “I do” at Ya Ge at Orchid Hotel Singapore, a Chinese restaurant they chose with utmost care to honour their families’ Cantonese heritage as they celebrated their union with their families and friends.
Share with us your story. How did the two of you meet?
Christy: We were colleagues in our previous company. I was a Junior Graphic Designer and Meng Chun was my Junior Art Director; he was basically my supervisor. I was relatively new to the industry back then and had to work very closely with him as he was tasked with overseeing and providing guidance on my projects.
I was also never drawn to him from the get go or immediately after that break up, in fact it took me a good year or so before I started to develop any romantic feelings to him as I greatly respected him as my superior, but over time, the thing that drew me to Meng Chun, was his contagious laughter, his impeccable sense of humour, his kind and caring nature and the fact that he reminds me of a teddy bear – soft, warm and comforting.
Meng Chun: Christy and I were ex colleagues, but we became close friends after she left the company. We always hang out together with a group of friends/colleagues.
What drew you to each other? What is it that you love the most about him/her?
Christy: I was drawn to his contagious laughter, his impeccable sense of humour, and his kind and caring nature. Oh, and the fact that he reminds me of a teddy bear – soft, warm and comforting! His comforting and warm presence makes him feel like the calm to any storm. His hugs and presence makes me feel like I can get through anything in life, no matter how hard it gets.
I love that he makes me feel safe, protected and comfortable to express every single version of myself, because I never had the luxury of being able to express myself safely when I was younger.
Meng Chun: It was her personality, kindness and her loving and caring nature for the people around her that drew me to Christy. She also has a very warm and pretty smile, and I love that she reminds me everyday that there’s someone who loves me and is waiting for me to get off work. She always makes me feel like her love towards me is infinite.We both were colleagues when we first met. She’s a very shy girl when she joined the company and she doesn’t talk a lot, but she’s actually my type. Mainly, what drew me to her was her personality, her kindness, her loving and caring nature for the people around her.
What was the moment that made you realise that he/she was the one for you?
Christy: There was never one defining moment for me but it’s the realisation that even when times get hard, he never left me even though he could’ve easily just walked out the door. If I had to choose one moment where I knew he was the one for me, it was the day he told me – and meant it – that the way my family was treating me was not right, and he didn’t want to see me suffer alone. That was when I realised that someone finally saw me – he is the one for me.
Meng Chun: I don’t really have one moment that made me think she was the one for me. When we started our relationship we actually talked about marriage, because we didn’t want to waste time on anything casual, especially since I’m not young anymore and I want to have my own family in a few years time. Over time, as we got to know each other more, I started to feel like I’ve found someone that loves me more than myself and that’s when I knew that she is the one for me.
Tell us about your proposal. Meng Chun, how did you go about planning the proposal
Meng Chun: It’s a fun but mentally draining and challenging proposal. I had a few options in terms of location before planning my proposal journey, but I decided to go to the beach at Koh Lipe, Thailand. I chose this place because Christy is half-Thai, so I thought proposing to her in Thailand would be perfect for me and her.
The most challenging part for me is to find a photographer on the remote island, since she requested to have a photographer while proposing. I found a lot of photographers but some were overpriced or weren’t willing to come to the island because the island is small and there are only two time slots for the ferry in and out of the island everyday.
I started looking for photographers around six months before the actual date. After three to four months of searching, I finally found one photographer that was recommended to me by the resort, and I found the price reasonable, so we were very lucky to have the photographer as he helped us capture a lot of pretty and wonderful photos for our proposal.
Christy, did you know a proposal was coming before it happened, or were you taken completely by surprise?
Christy: To be completely honest, I knew the proposal was coming because we were both very aligned on the direction where we want to take the relationship towards – marriage. I just didn’t know the exact timing or the exact day, so in a way I was expecting it yet I was also taken by surprise.
I explicitly told him months before the proposal, “Please don’t propose to me in Singapore, I want it to be memorable so whenever I think of the place or country, I’ll forever remember that it’s the place you proposed to me” so the challenge to him really was finding somewhere beautiful to propose to me.
Where was your wedding venue and why did you choose it as the place to wed? Was there a wedding theme?
Christy: Ya Ge was one of the top three choices of wedding venues for us. We both did months of research for the venues, got a lot of recommendations from friends and colleagues, emailed a lot of restaurants, read a lot of reviews, and eventually we felt the fatigue and went ahead with Ya Ge because they met all our requirements.
We chose Ya Ge, because first and foremost, we felt that as the eldest child in our families, it is very important to honor our culture and our families’ dialect which is Cantonese, and Ya Ge served Cantonese style food. Secondly, our criteria was to have a more intimate wedding to celebrate our two families and Ya Ge also offered that very intimate experience with their venue.
Christy: We had a theme which was florals and pastel colours but we didn’t want to restrict ourselves or our guests to a theme so, we kept it more low-key in our decor, our wedding favours and invitations.
Achieving it was relatively easy as both of us came from an events and design company, so we had a wealth of experience planning and executing everything. We were really hands-on with anything that involves design and we designed all the print out materials ourselves, from the invite cards to the seat placement cards.
Take us back to your wedding day. What was the day like and how were you feeling?
Christy: Contrary to what everybody says, that day in the morning, it was actually quite chill. We woke up at 6:45 a.m., had a breakfast buffet, then got the makeup done at 9:30 a.m.. When it was 10:00 a.m. however, we both felt the anxiety of seeing so many relatives and the focus being solely on us.
After getting past that anxiety, we started to relax after being surrounded by close friends. It truly felt like a big reunion and seeing my friends and relatives being happy celebrating our marriage made me feel so touched and just so full of happiness. Being surrounded by people that were genuinely happy for us, the whole event was just so full of laughter and love, it’s truly unforgettable.
Meng Chun: It’s a wonderful and unforgettable moment for me and Christy, because both of us are very private and we don’t like attention. It was very exciting for Christy and I in the morning, but after the make-up and preparation we both started to get anxious, because there’s a lot of things to settle and communicate to the solemniser, restaurant and also our bridesmaids and groomsmen, but we’re very glad that everything went smoothly with their help and from Ya Ge restaurant.
What did your family/friends have to say about your wedding day?
Christy: I think a lot of my friends and family are happy for us even though they didn’t say anything. You could tell from their faces and the photos that they are indeed happy, as some of them were smiling so wide in the photos.
Meng Chun: Of course they’re happy for us even though they didn’t say anything – their facial expressions and the way they smiled made us enjoy the day even more.
Share with us the most memorable moment of your wedding?
Christy: Definitely when we were taking photos with each other, friends, family and relatives. That moment was so memorable to me because instead of being all formal and stiff in the photos, our photographer encouraged us to be comfortable and to just have a good time, so we really went ahead and pulled silly faces and made peace signs, reminding me of my family trips and school trips with the classmates.
Meng Chun: To me, the most memorable moment was seeing her all dressed up and wearing the wedding gown. It’s like it finally set in that she’s finally going to be my wife. Also another moment was, that night when we were reading our vows to each other. (We choose to read our vows to each other in private because we felt it is more intimate and sincere rather than doing it at the solemnisation in front of family and friends.)
What is one lesson you’ve learned from your wedding planning that you’d like to share with other couples?
Christy: You cannot make decisions on your own, you have to plan and make decisions together, be it with each other or with your families. It’s really a collective team effort and sometimes you have to be open to flexibility or to compromise. We both didn’t receive a lot of help from our families in our wedding planning and occasionally, we struggled to make decisions on our own. Our biggest headache was the seating arrangement for the wedding lunch, as it was a struggle deciding whether to put friends or relatives closer to our main table.
Meng Chun: I would say, to plan early. Also, don’t make any decisions when you are presented with either option A or B. Always look for back up options so you’re not restricted to just two. Don’t spend impulsively as well, keep some money for things that you need because wedding things often cost a lot more because they come with a label, “wedding”. Communication with your soon-to-be wife is extremely important. After all, a happy wife, a happy life! Lastly, don’t be shy or hesitate to ask the restaurant or the hotel for anything you need. They’re usually generous when it comes to occasions like these.
The Wedding Venue: Ya Ge at Orchid Hotel
Size of Wedding: 52 people
Cost of Wedding: $5,000 to $7,000
The Bride’s Gown: H Gallery, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
The Bride’s Shoes: DMK
The Suit: Dansen’s Boutique
The Groom’s Shoes: Pedro
The Wedding Photographer: Donald Pwee
The Wedding Bands: Goldheart Jewellery
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Shirlene Tan
The Wedding Invitation and Stationery: Designed by the couple
The Wedding Favours: Customised from Taobao
The Solemniser: Tan Kian Choon
The Wedding Resource: SingaporeBrides
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