From Kai Shao to "I Do" - Wedding Essentials

Featuring Kendrick Co & Mariel Wong

It all started as a kai shao, or matchmaking. My cousin and Mariel’s good friend decided that they wanted to help us both find love. This was during the height of the pandemic, in 2020, she was studying in London and I was stuck at home. We started messaging each other on FB messenger, mostly about her beagles and food. But our chats would mostly be on-and-off. I would ask her something, we would chat for a bit, then stop messaging for a few weeks. This all changed when she graduated her masters and moved back to the Philippines, I think it helped that we were now in the same time zone.

Our first meeting was in Rockwell. I was super nervous that I forgot to bring my gift of cookies when I left the house (I had to ask my sisters to have it delivered). During dinner, we talked about our lives, her dogs, and just enjoyed each other’s company. That one date turned to two, then to three and more. She made me try new restaurants and I made her laugh with my corny jokes.

We shared our first kiss during our third date, and we started talking about our future during the sixth. And on our tenth date, I realized I wanted to be with her and start a family.

March 4, 2023 – we’ve been dating for almost two years. I tricked her into booking Pasticci, a private dining area. Little did she know, this was where I was going to ask her to be my wife. When we arrived there for dinner, we opened the door and Mariel saw that there were rose petals from the front door, leading up to the second floor balcony. Past the curtains was a circle of candles and roses. That was where I got down on one knee, and in my nervousness, I totally forgot my speech. In the end, I just asked if she wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. After many slaps, and “Is this real”, she finally said sure.

We decided on having an 80s themed wedding. We wanted to bring back disco. We decorated using disco balls and reflective lights in the reception area, and gave our guests disposable cameras to take photos with. We even got an elevated dance floor and hired dance instructors so everyone can boogie with us. We wanted to make this a night to remember. I’m always thankful with our suppliers in that they were able to make our idea into a reality. When we first walked into the ballroom, we were blown away by the decoration. It was exactly how we pictured it.

We had minor issues during our reception. The wedding gown was much larger and heavier than we thought, and would make our first dance performance difficult to impossible to finish. We couldn’t do the lifts and the twirls since it was too cumbersome. We were stressed out and panicking. We had to rethink almost 50% of the dance, and started practicing in the hotel lobby. I think some of the guests were even taking photos of us. But in the end, we knew that we could do it together, the show must go on. We practiced our heart out and got the route to a decent standard. We walked into the reception hall and we were officially that was our first day as husband and wife.