We really like this wedding because of the beautiful details. The bride took inspiration from her favourite Kate Spade bag, which is navy blue with little gold trimmings. And don’t get us started on how much we adore her ‘kebaya’ dress, the bridesmaids’ cheongsams, and how they incorporated the brocade lace pattern from the cheongsam into their wedding invitations and printed goods. We love how it all worked out. Thanks to Stories by Integricity for sharing this story.
Hui Yoong: “My attire for the church ceremony was an ivory white lace wedding kebaya with a soft gold songket skirt woven on a grey background. My bridesmaids had on navy blue Shanghainese-styled cheongsams with gold trimming and gold peep toe shoes. Each wore a gold Kate Spade bangle that was overlaid with a navy blue strip and ivory white polka dots, something I chanced upon overseas.
“I used the same fabric as my wedding ‘kebaya’ skirt for elements in everyone’s outfits, so they would all share a common bit: beaded, leaf-shaped gold fabric for the bridesmaids’ hair pieces, suit jacket handkerchiefs for the groom and his men, the waist sash sewn onto the flower girls’ dresses, and the ‘palu’ (scarf) that went with the page boys’ Indian ‘kurta’ outfits.
“All the lace and fabric for my wedding ‘kebaya’ and the girls’ cheongsams were purchased in Jakarta. The selection of materials there is amazing, and the workmanship for the sewing and beading of my dress was done spectacularly at a fraction of the cost I would have paid to have it done in KL.
“The cheongsams were made locally in KL by a 71-year-old lady in Razak Mansions, Sungei Besi. She made the mandarin buttons herself, and started out in her trade in Petaling Street when she was 17!
“The church was our choice, the dinner reception venue was really our only option given our capacity and dates – book as early as you can, is my advice! The cathedral was something special – it is a simple but beautiful structure that makes you stop and think for a while about its history, what it represents, and how you should conduct your life after you step out through the doors.
“The greatest thing about our wedding was having all our friends and family from all over the place in one room. Seeing them making friends with each other and keeping in touch even after the wedding, we love that all our worlds collide and are getting even smaller!”
One of the most meaningful pieces of advice from the bride: “Recognise that it is his wedding too, and to a certain extent, your parents’. Both Ash and I learnt a lot about each other, for example, he could not care less if there were no flowers at all at the wedding, whereas I could not care less whether or not there was a cool wedding car. You have to realise that everyone has different expectations and preferences, and you can’t please everyone, but you also need to decide which things are worth fighting for.
“People won’t remember the flowers and the décor years down the road, but they remember whether the food was bad, whether they had a good time, and how much they laughed. Try to understand why your parents request particular ceremonies and that certain guests be present – when we sat down and heard what they had to say and why, we realised that we actually agreed on the importance of certain cultural aspects, and it added to the significance of the day!
“Obviously there will be things everyone may not agree on as well – like me wanting black tablecloths which my Chinese mother had some reservations about – so there’s a lot of stakeholder management involved, and a lot of redirecting everyone’s focus on the more critical tasks, like getting the table arrangements sorted!”
HUIYOONG & ASHISH {Malaysia}
Photography by Stories by Integricity / Venue St Mary’s Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur