Thursday, February 2, 2012

♥ A Valentine's Day special! ♥







wedding elephant ride at the zoo



My fellow crafter/blogger Joyce of Chic Noir Design sent me a link one day and said

"Hi Chewy, I was searching for weddings at Singapore Zoo and I saw yours here :D"

She sent me a link to a blog post that had pictures of my wedding in 2010! How random is that, but what a splendid surprise!

I guess this is a good time for me to recount my wedding day, I don't think I ever posted about it, not on this blog anyway!

Well, our wedding was in two parts. The first was a traditional Chinese tea ceremony (not so traditional, we had to make a few accommodations, since J's family wasn't in town) and that was held in the morning. The second part, was the evening dinner reception, which I will share with you in this post.

For those who don't know, J and I celebrated our union at the Singapore Zoo. We are both crazy about animals and having it at the zoo seemed like a natural first choice. So couples who have their weddings at the zoo will be offered two choices - to arrive on a horse-drawn carriage in a classic white Victorian wedding, or atop an elephant, Indian Maharaja style! No prizes for guessing which entrance we chose!

On the morning of our rehearsal, my family and friends who were coordinating the wedding were invited to a special breakfast with the orangutans at the zoo! While we were having our breakfast buffet at the dining area, the zookeepers brought out four orangutans who were perched atop a branch the entire time we were eating. Guests could walk up to the apes and take a picture (or five) with them. I loved how they were all so human-like. One of the apes was more intent on grooming my sister's hair then posing for the picture.






We had a theme for our wedding - Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"...

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We had about 200 guests on our list seated in an elongated dining hall, complete with ceiling drapes and fairy lights! We were going for a whimsical, rustic, woodland feel. In terms of decor, we decided on more greenery than blooms.



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Our seating cards that led our guests to their tables....



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...which were named after the characters of the Shakespearean play...



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In the play, the fairy Puck anoints queen Titania with a love potion to make her fall in love with the first living creature she sees. Following the playful prank, we decided to give the gift of lavender buds for all guests to concoct their own love brew...


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In place of a guestbook, we had the guests sign on these beautifully illustrated botanical cards instead of a guestbook. We wanted to frame these pretty cards after the wedding, but have yet gotten down to it!!


Also, our guests were invited to the zoo on the morning of our wedding, so out-of-town guests could have the time and leisure to visit one of the most popular tourist spots in Singapore and still have time to freshen up for the dinner reception in the evening. 

One of the perks of the zoo wedding was having to spend the night inside the zoo! We were given a room next to the reception area, that was complete with a bed and shower. We were very amused when we awoke to the howling of monkeys in the morning.
 

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It was such an amazing and unforgettable day, J and I were very grateful to be able to share it with our loved ones. We've been married four years now, (I consider us married the day we signed the papers in Shanghai) and our love for each other grows stronger with each day. I'm glad I listened to my heart instead of my head when I chose this man, I love him with all my heart.


♥♥ Happy Valentine's Day, my penguin! ♥♥


If you drop by, I hope you'll share a love story too!

18 comments:

  1. Oh. My. Gosh! I knew we both loved elephants, but now I am so so SO jealous of your wedding! What a great shot of the two of you! Happy Valentines Day!

    PS. I'm pretty sure that Eiffel Tower photo is photoshopped.. but it's still freaky!!!

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    1. You love elephants too? You're my new blogger best friend!!

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  2. WOW. There are no other words for these photos. You looked gorgeous.

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  3. So pretty!! The photos are beyond lovely! ahh!

    ox from NYC!
    -davie+erica

    http://www.lpfashionphilosophy.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you for stopping by! Going over to check out your blog now!

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  4. ahh memories... what a great wedding that was and you looked sooo beautiful! xx

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  5. it was such a lovely wedding! and the details were so you!! :) xx happy vday lovebirds! :)

    xx

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  6. Chewy, when you told me at red dot museum that you sat on an elephant on your wedding day, I really wanted to laugh (and maybe i did) because I've never imagined anyone doing that. But it's really so cool now that I've seen the pics. Great love story. Today I "informed" hubs that this valentine's day we will celebrate it with gift exchange (because i want him to get something for me!) he was like...huh? Well, we usually don't celebrate valentines day.
    Love story for you....a short while after i started dating hubs, i went to Australia with my family for a holiday. Hubs missed me so much and wanted to surprise me with flowers. He went all the way to my flat, stood outside and noted down my address. Then he ordered flowers to be delivered to my home around the time I was supposed to reach home. But I left home to meet him just before the flowers came but my mom and bro yelled at me from the 12th storey to go home. It was hilarious. I went back, saw the flowers and almost burst into tears.

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    1. They should have a 'Like' button for Blogger comments! Thanks for sharing Jane!

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  7. Great wedding + pictures are amazing! I had my wedding in Siberia, need to find some old black and white photo... Thank you for sharing!

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  8. Wow, very beautiful and unique wedding Chewy. Love the details and glad I could help create more memories for you :D. My boyfriend would like to get married on Pi day which is on the 14th of March(next month) as Pi symbolizes perfection which we will celebrate with a ring (circle) :D.

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    1. wow! so wait. your wedding is in March? Congrats!!!!!

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    2. He would like it on that date but I told him it is too difficult, next year 14 of March is more realistic ;p.

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  9. Great wedding idea... I was thinking to have my wedding at zoo and I found the witsandnuts blog and from there I dig your blog to find this post... I Love your creativity.
    I have a few questions for wedding in zoo.
    Apart from catering and food and venue, do you need to pay entrance fees for all the guest?
    So as per your post, guest have a chance to explore in zoo for day and enjoy dinner at night in the celebration?
    Hall decoration is included in the zoo wedding package or need to hire other event/wedding planner?
    Is there any other animal show or photoshooting that we can request for additional fees? (I guess not though)...

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    1. Hi there, thanks for stopping by. I wasn't able to find an email to reply to you, so I hope you see this!

      The zoo has a wedding package, so if you hold the wedding there, all your guests get a visitor's pass (in this case it's the wedding invitation cards). The guests get to visit the zoo in the morning, go home, freshen up and come back in the evening for the reception, or if they choose, they can come in a couple of hours before the reception to walk around the zoo.

      the package included the venue rental, catering and they provided a decor lady that worked with me to plan the decor. She was really lovely to work with too!!! And very accommodating.

      There are always animals shows throughout the day at the zoo, so the guests could have gone to those. But the wedding package offered a choice of an elephant ride or a horse-drawn carriage or the smaller animals (like a sheep/ goat) from the petting zoo can lead the walk-in entourage and carry the wedding rings on their backs.

      All in all, the wedding event staff at the zoo are pretty good at working with you to plan your special day!

      If you're considering a wedding there, go for it! It's pretty amazing!

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  10. Thank you for your reply... I will take note of that... My current first choice is at Zoo...

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