venueFORT CANNING PARK 6332 1200 / 6332 1302 photographer ANDY LIEW, J STUDIO floral décor THE WEDDING CHATEAU 9879 0709 buttoniers SHEAU YANN 9761 2539 wedding cake THE PĂTISSIER 6220 5565 dining ware LAU CHOY SENG 6223 5486 wooden furniture SCANTEAK 6365 9121 gowns & suits DI GIO BRIDAL 6225 1612 tea dresses & suits GOLDEN HORSE AWARDS BRIDAL & STUDIO 6257 1018 models MARIANA B & AYRTON B, Upfront Models hair & make-up ANDREA CLAIRE www.aclairebeauty.com, JOANNA KOH www.joannakoh.com and WINNIE C. 9005 2812 Text MOMOKO
The best times in life sometimes go back a long way, when you had all your best friends with you and not a care in the world.
The Inspiration
You remember the time, when you would wait around at the bus stop, hoping to catch a glimpse of him or her. The tightening of the stomach when you finally spot the love of your life. Those were the days when the sight of your crush would make you go weak in the knees. But now, your crush is soon to be your life partner and you want to share your joy with all those who witnessed you in the awkward stages of your budding romance – people who made school life special for you.
Creating the Theme
Recreating the good times takes a special venue to make it happen. Think of all the happy times you had when you were in school.
Didn’t they usually take place outside of the classroom? Without the confinements of the four walls, you can be more carefree and natural. These are what the great outdoors offer – a place to roam, a place to mingle, and most of all, a place to bond.
Amongst the many green places in Singapore, Fort Canning Park is irrefutably one of the best loved ones. Its history is so rich as it goes back some 700 years.
Because of its background as a home for Malay royalty in the 1300s before becoming a fortress in the 1860s and later, a military base during the Second World War, Fort Canning has always been captivatingly mystifying.
Today, it is a popular park where events and weddings are held regularly at the Old Married Soldiers Quarters (OMSQ), Fort Canning Centre and the famous Fort Gate.
The first step towards setting the theme is to determine the tone or mood of the wedding. Some like it glamorous, some like it wild and some like it fun.
With a fun tone in mind, it’s time to bring out the school fun. First things first is to create a stage for the action to take place.
To create this ‘stage’, a nostalgic blackboard is a good candidate. Nicely decorated with chalk drawn pictures and words, it is not just a black board but a good backdrop and a very exclusive one too. Guests can also take turns to express their well wishes for the couple and this will provide many memorable pictures for your album.
Further develop this theme with related accessories such as using a school desk for the buffet table and bundling up 2B pencils that can be used as decorations and wedding favours. Glass bottled milk not only reminds one of old times but they are good to look at and better to drink from than carbon packages or plastic bottles.
Last but not least, fully capitalize on the theme with subject-titled table markers. Should you have more tables than the subjects offered in school, simply add in foreign languages, which would be more than 6,000 of them.
Doing It Yourself: Ideas & Tips
Dig out all your old school memoirs! Be it exercise books, report cards or school magazines. If you have dumped them against better judgment, call on your resources, ie. your ex-classmates. Somewhere, somehow, someone would have kept some of these precious memories in the storeroom or other less use corner of the house.
It would be fun to see what each of your ex-classmates would come up with. If there are more than enough, you can place different items at each table for guests to peruse and amuse themselves with before or during the reception.
Tip: Appoint someone from each table to be responsible for the safeguard of these items as they are irreplaceable. You wouldn’t want your friends to look you up for the wrong reasons after your wedding.
For venue information, visit www.nparks.gov.sg.