A Singaporean yum seng

My father-in-law wanted to bring a little Singapore into our New York wedding, so he gathered my father, my sister, her fiancé and my best friend to lead an impromptu yum seng.

For the uninitiated, yum seng translates to 'drink to success' in Cantonese and is the equivalent of "Bottoms up!' or "Cheers!". The yum is dragged out for as long as the crowd can hold and ends with a triumphant seng, and this is done three times with different auspicious sayings for each toast.

It was, as expected, a boisterous affair and the crowd loved it... best idea yet!

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

Cheek to cheek

Because we were always long-distance, the only opportunity we had to practise our wedding dance was when we were in Singapore waiting for my visa to arrive. It was too last minute to sign up for dance classes so we decided to rehearse in our hotel room. 
Andrew had Frank Sinatra on Pandora and we were deciding between "Fly me to the moon" or "Come fly with me", but for some reason I really wanted "Cheek to cheek". In my mind, he was the Fred Astaire to my Ginger Rogers and we would look like this-

Unfortunately Andrew complained that I bopped too much and it wasn't long before we dissolved into fits of giggles and gave up. 
Thankfully on the actual day, we had a professional emcee and deejay and the most amazing wedding guests who got on their feet and boogied the afternoon away. No one seemed to notice that I have two left feet, or maybe they were being nice to the bride.
"The music was hot!" my mother enthused after the wedding. I had never seen her dance before, so it was great to see her having such a wonderful time. (But I am still not sure about her using the word 'hot'.)

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

With gratitude

If I could sum up in one word how I felt on our wedding day, it would be gratitude.

The frantic running around trying to sort out my visa issues, the increasing possibility of postponing the wedding compounded by the fact that most of our out-of-town wedding guests had already flown in to New York while we were living out of our suitcases in Singapore wondering when my passport would be returned... 

Andrew was amazing. He dropped everything and flew in to Singapore to be with me. He had told everyone he was returning with his bride and he wasn't going back on his word. Even writing about it now brings tears to my eyes, because this man loves me so much it's incredible.

Despite all the craziness happening around us, I was also filled with a deep immovable sense of peace. God was in control and His ways were higher than our ways. We cried, we laughed, we prayed and we waited. 

Three days before the wedding, my passport was finally ready and we literally took the next flight out. After twenty-four hours in the air, we were welcomed by a cheering mob of family who stood at the Arrival Hall waving handmade signs declaring their love and support. 

We are so, so blessed!

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

Classic black and white

For our bridal party we went with classic black and white, because you can never go wrong with that.

We suited the men up in tuxedoes from Victor Talbots while the ladies wore one-shoulder dresses from David's Bridal. My sister-in-law ordered the flower girl dress online, and she looked exactly like a miniature version of me... I loved it!

Andrew picked out his shawl-collar tuxedo and polka-dotted pocket square from a store in Manhattan, but his crowning glory was his very fancy pair of double monk strap Edward Green shoes.

I bought my lace-and-tulle White by Vera Wang gown last year and ordered an additional black sash to go with it, and the veil and poofy petticoat came from my sisters-in-law. Andrew picked out my pearl necklace from Etsy and the best part is that it doubles up as a fun statement piece for everyday wear... Score!

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

We're married!

I didn't mean to disappear for two months, but life got in the way. Mostly, we're married!

It truly was the happiest day of our lives. I was marrying the love of my life and we were surrounded by family and friends, many of whom had flown an extraordinary distance for us. 

Because of a delay in our visa processing, we were only able to fly in to New York three days before the wedding. I don't think either of us slept very much the entire week but everything came together beautifully by the grace of God.

Here are some of my favourite getting ready and first look photos.

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

Little you and I

I made a little slideshow of our growing up photos to show at the wedding, but I want to share a few that did not make it into the montage... It's really hard to condense both our lives together in five minutes!

Because I have moved around so much, I seem to have lost most of the photos from when I entered high school to when I graduated from university. I used to keep them into little plastic albums and tin boxes, but I have no idea where they are now. (I am not sure if I want to be reminded either!)

Facebook makes it so much easier to chronicle your life!

Love,

Trish

My parents' wedding

When we were young, my mother often played for us their wedding tape- right from when my dad went to pick her up from my grandparents' through the entire tea ceremony to the dinner reception. The video must have been three to four hours long, but I would watch it again and again, from start to end.
I was against the idea of hiring a videographer for our wedding in New York (why would anyone want to watch it, seriously?), but I am glad Andrew talked me into it... reliving our wedding day could make for a nice yearly ritual and a great thing to show our kids!
Also, how gorgeous was my mum as a bride? I wished she had kept her lace gown and velvet cheongsam for me to wear at my wedding!
Love, Tricia

Confessions of a reluctant bride

  Tea ceremony photos by Tinydot Photography
You know the girls who grow up dreaming of their fairy tale weddings? 
I am not one of them. I have never pictured the dress I would wear, the kind of flowers I wanted as centerpieces or the music or wedding venue. All I knew was that I wanted to marry Brian Littrell from the Backstreet Boys, but God sent me Andrew instead! 
Being very practical, the thought of all that time, effort and money spent on planning that one day of your life just seemed so... indulgent. Plus Andrew and I had enough on our plate worrying about my fiance visa application and the logistics of my relocation. I would rather be preparing for my marriage, and I would have been just as happy signing papers at City Hall with Andrew. 
But I realized the wedding wasn't just about Andrew and I. It was also about our families and friends who were eager to celebrate this once-in-a-life occasion with us. And the fact is that I am the oldest daughter and the first in the family to get married, so my Chinese guilt kicked in. Someone told me that I wouldn't want to look back ten years from now and wish that I had done something else, and she was right.
We decided to hold a small tea ceremony and lunch reception in Singapore and have our proper wedding ceremony in New York so that we could accommodate the people who mattered to us.
If you are Chinese, you will appreciate the fact that it is almost impossible to have a small wedding. My grandparents had more than ten children and each aunt and uncle has two to three children who in turn bore the same number of children- you do the Math! My initial estimate of fifty guests quickly doubled and even then we had to exclude a lot of extended family.
We tried to keep it as simple as possible. My girlfriend designed our wedding invites. Andrew wore his favourite navy suit and his fancy Edward Green shoes and I wore a cheongsam designed by Mimi of Mazzario and Badgley Mischka peep-toe heels. We booked My Humble House at the Esplanade and had both the tea ceremony and lunch there. Instead of flowers and favours, we donated the money to the Singapore Children's Cancer Foundation. 
Two of my cousins directed the guests to their tables and my friends helped with the guestbook. Andrew's dad flew in and gave a lovely opening speech. While the guests were eating, we made our rounds to say hello and took group photos. Andrew and I gave thank you speeches and then we had a champagne toast. And then it was over.
The hardest part was that because Andrew was in New York, I pretty much had to run most of the wedding errands and make a lot of decisions alone. At one point I was so stressed out that my chest broke out in nasty hives. Andrew made me see a doctor who prescribed me steroid cream and whose only advice was to "try to take it easy" (hah!).
But you know what? I have never seen my parents smile like they did that day. And the look of happiness on my parents' faces in the photos made it all worthwhile. 

P/S: If you want inspiration, visit my friend Zhing's blog Little Projects in Style. She used to be a wedding planner and spent an entire year planning her own.
P/P/S: Refinery 29 recently featured 21 City Hall weddings... I love that so many of the couples met online like we did!
Love, Tricia