This is our big day because we are ready to commit the rest of our lives to each other. We live in New Zealand but have held a little wedding in Singapore so we can celebrate this important day together with our families.

We decided not to have a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony in which there will be a lot of procedures to follow and also a wedding reception with hundreds of guests (and we may not even know half of them). Instead, we always want to do a ‘travel wedding’ and I will explain more about it later.

But, we also want to keep our parents happy. Therefore, we organised a very small wedding ceremony in Singapore – only our parents and siblings attended our wedding.

 

Pre-wedding Preparation

The most important thing is to arrange a solemnization. It can take place in either Registry of Marriage (ROM) Singapore or a place you choose (usually your home). Ben and I can only choose the latter because the time slot at ROM was full – although we booked it about 3 months in advance!

Therefore, we had to individually contact solemnisers to do our solemnization. This is voluntary for them and a stressful process for us. Anyway, we were super lucky as we found a solemniser (Mr Chia) after contacting about 6 or 7 of them. We heard that some might need to contact 30+ solemnisers to get it. Moreover, it is a popular month to get married.

The next thing is to settle my family’s accommodation as they live in Malaysia. We booked Somerset Liang Court Apartment for them. It is very close to ROM even though we did not have the wedding ceremony at ROM in the end.

Finally, we need to arrange a date to do the paperwork at ROM. Since I live in New Zealand and have very limited time off, I was only able to settle the paperwork on the day before our wedding day. Luckily the process was super quick as we ended up spending about 5-10 minutes on the paperwork. Phew~!

It is worth noting that ROM is quite a beautiful place to take photos as it has some nice decorations and a garden. We took quite a few photos in there but did not visit the garden because it was raining.

 

Our Little Wedding Day

I wore a dress that I bought online just a month before the wedding day. I put on the makeup by myself. I set up the camera on a tripod (although did not use it much in the end). Everything is pretty much D.I.Y. 😂

The solemnisation is quick – only takes about 10 minutes. Our solemniser, Mr. Chia, was enthusiastic and helped us to take many photos. He also helps solemnise us in both English and Chinese so both our families can understand.

After the solemnisation, the tea ceremony(敬茶) began. We skipped many procedures of a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony but not this one, because we want to pay our respect to our parents. We gave a cup of tea to my father-in-law and mother-in-law respectively at Ben’s house.

I am not sure if we are following the procedures correctly but at least we did it!

After that, we went for fine dining at Szechuan Court & Kitchen. Ben’s parents booked the lunch for 9 of us and managed to get a private room. The food was great and we especially loved the big room where we could complete the tea ceremony for my mother and brother and sister.

I like the cake and toy very much! It was a surprise from Ben’s parents as we did not expect a cake. It gave us ‘a feel of wedding’. 🙂

 

A Travel Wedding

Ben and I are a lucky couple because we have the same mindset as we both prefer a simple wedding. We are grateful because our parents are not too conservative and allow us to do what we want. Not all Chinese parents accept that! It saves us a lot of time and energy.

In addition, we have received a lot of help such as Ben’s parents booking the restaurant and arranging pick-up for my family, who made the trip all the way from Malaysia to Singapore.

Before our wedding, we asked for advice from many people – if we go for a traditional wedding, it will cost us a fortune and also many months (if not a year) to prepare for this one big day. It is hard to imagine having to do all these things such as booking dozens of tables at a restaurant, inviting many people to the reception, finding bridesmaids and best men, visiting both side families and relatives, giving a speech, and handling a lot of pressure, and much more…

So, we rather spend the time and money on travel. We are planning a big trip to the US because my ultimate dream is to see the aurora in Alaska. My husband cares for me. 🙂

At the end of the day, it is the love that matters the most regardless of what kind of wedding we choose to have. If there is love, then we do not need a fancy wedding (but I respect it because everyone desires different things). It is not about the effort to organise a perfect wedding but the effort to maintain the marriage. 🙂