Dear 2017

If I had to describe 2017, I’d say it was a year of learning. There were the fun bits: I got to travel to many places, I made new friends, strengthened other friendships and gained many new experiences.

But 2017 was also a year of many changes and challenges.

I naively thought that hitting my 30s meant I was finally an “adult”; that there wasn’t a whole lot to learn and even less to grow.

This year, I was humbled to find that I have so much more to learn – and a whole lot more growing up to do.

Took a long, hard look at 2017 before I wrote it a letter and finally bid it farewell. (Which is why this video is a few days into this fresh year.)

Catholic Church Wedding: Church of Our Lady of Lourdes

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

I don’t know why the boys continually cannot walk the centre of the aisle! From rehearsal to the final day! Haha…boys. Maybe they felt lonely and wanted of a partner?

Jade Seah wedding

Happy to see my girls got it right.

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah Wedding

Jade Seah Wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah Wedding

Jade Seah Wedding

Jade Seah Wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

Jade Seah wedding

We could have gotten married in any Catholic church, but this was picked for its understated beauty (simple and small), history and special meaning to me.

My grandpa passed away a few years ago, and he is very missed by the whole family. His funeral and the 5 day wake was held in this church, and while that sounds really morbid, it’s actually not. We see the church as “his” church and I feel his spirit around.

Some people expressed surprise that we would pick this particular church to get married in: it’s one of the smallest churches, it’s not in the east, where both our families (including us!) stay, and, and some who perhaps don’t have “friends from other races” have said, “but it’s the Indian church”.

Erm. So?? Yes, it’s just off Sungei Road, is relatively near Little India and offers masses in Tamil (not all Catholic churches have Tamil masses), which could be reasons why more Indian friends attend this church, but we really didn’t see the point in making such a statement. I, for one, find it to hinge on a slight racism, which doesn’t generally sit well with me…

Anyway, I digress. So we decided to hold our church ceremony here, which to both of us, is the most important part of the entire wedding. I really appreciate how friends who had packed schedules on the day and couldn’t make it to the luncheon after, made time to attend the church ceremony – thank you!

Jade Seah Wedding | The Beginning

I got married to my love over the weekend, and I couldn’t be happier.

As the bride, I didn’t have much chance to snap any photos on my phone as I was running around trying to chat with everyone and make sure all guests were happy and taken care of; plus there were the dances and speeches to do! In the days following, I’ve been so happy to have received photos from friends and family who have kindly snapped shots on their devices. Special mention must be made to my uni buddy, Jeremy Nguee (now owner and chef at Preparazzi) who was a budding photographer back in the day at SMU. We worked together quite a bit that period and he later helped me shoot pictures for my online boutique. On my wedding day, true to his word, he came and shot some lovely pictures for me. Will share those tomorrow!

Another very special mention goes out to another friend, Ki’ern Tan, ex-editor at 8 Days magazine. He came, shot and edited this little wedding gift for me in less than two days. Slight delay on my side as my dear Groomzilla was undecided about me sharing it (he’s a very private person) but he finally came round when I told him it would be a real shame not to…so here it is! (Warning: You may not be able to watch this on mobile; view on your computer!)

(Ki’ern also chose one of my favourite songs as a backing track!) Music credits: You Belong to Me by Patsy Cline.

Thank you Ki’ern!