Real Weddings

Vanda & Sho

August 15, 2019
Ceremony: Glass House
Reception: Other

“Even after you are married to me, you are still Vanda, you are not my wife, you are not the mother of my children, but you are Vanda. Do not let the titles of wife and mother change who you are,” said Sho to Vanda on their wedding day.

Nobody knows how a love story could begin. It can be a match from day one or it can come along the way like Sho & Vanda’s story. They met in high school as classmates but there was nothing special between them until three years later, few months before they graduated. Sho, the groom, asked Vanda out for Prom Night. Officially started dating soon after, little did they know it would bring a love story over many different time zones and countries.

24 countries and 54 cities together within five years, and three of those were a long distance relationship. Instead of seeing each other in Japan or Indonesia or Singapore, they made it their thing to travel somewhere new. Finding another city halfway from where they lived became a fun routine for the two loving souls. After seven years of dating, Sho finally popped the question at Vanda’s birthday on 15 December 2017 in Singapore, the very place where it all began.

“One of my biggest obsessions is glasshouses, so when I found Glass House by Tirtha online, I knew it was the place for us to exchange our vows” said Vanda. Coming from two different cultures, they elaborated both Japanese and Indonesian feels with a Scandinavian color palette to their celebration. Sho wore Montsuki, a black formal kimono while Vanda embracing her Indonesian roots, beautifully dressed herself in a traditional Kebaya for the Akad Nikah, a Moslem blessing ceremony.

“I also have had the biggest passion in airplanes as my parents are from the aviation industry. I always wanted to become a cabin crew since forever, and I made my dream into reality when I joined a Middle-Eastern Airline few years ago”. A thousand of paper cranes, or Senbazuru in Japanese, added a perfect Japanese element to the ceremony while also acted as a metaphor – her love of airplanes and flying as well as a symbol of eternal good luck. “Both of us are big on simplicity and elegance, Scandinavian clean color palettes and designs feel right, therefore we kept everything minimalistic as how the Scandinavians would do!”

Reminiscing the planning process, Sho always reminded Vanda that a wedding should be their day, not somebody else’s. They allowed themselves to be as self-centered as they wanted. The wedding took place on Monday, 15th April 2019. While some people might find it odd to have a wedding on a weekday, that date was exactly 10 years after they started dating. “At first we were unsure, but when we looked closely at 15.04.19, we thought it was a perfect date since 15+4=19. With these two reasons, we justified our decision and have absolutely no regret!” they smiled.