Exclusive: Inside the 'Crazy Rich Asians' Wedding Scene

There are rich ceremonies, filthy rich receptions, and then, there are crazy rich weddings. The ensemble cast and crew behind the film adaptation of Kevin Kwan's bestselling novel Crazy Rich Asians knew the expectations were high for the wedding scene in the 2018 movie. The silver screen nuptials, touted as a $40 million affair and depicted as the "royal wedding of Asia," meant Crazy Rich Asians director Jon Chu and his team faced the rather challenging task of elaborating on the love story between the main characters, Nick Young (Henry Golding) and Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) while focusing on the bride Araminta Lee (Sonoya Mizuno) and the groom Colin Khoo (Chris Pang)—all while conveying the grandeur of Singaporean high society.

If that wasn't challenging enough, the crew only had 36 hours total to capture the now-lauded Crazy Rich Asians wedding movie scene. It opens with Rachel's solo entrance to the wedding as her boyfriend diligently serves best man duties. At that point, the easygoing relationship begins to implode following Rachel's traumatic reception from Nick's obscenely wealthy counterparts in Singapore. The eye of the storm is the wedding itself, where a moving moment between the lead characters is paired perfectly to the tune of Kina Grannis' sumptuous cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love."

In This Exclusive Article:

• Crazy Rich Asians Wedding Scene Details
• Exclusive Interview with Crazy Rich Asians Director Jon M. Chu, Author Kevin Kwan
• Crazy Rich Asians Wedding Quotes

Crazy Rich Asians Wedding Scene Details

Viewers witness the expected extravagance, pomp and circumstance, and heightened emotions of love and loss–the character Astrid Leong (Gemma Chan) is separately grappling with issues within her own marriage and her husband is noticeably absent from the event. Instead, she's accompanied to the wedding by her grandmother, Young family matriarch Su Yi (Lisa Lu).

The tension is high as Colin awaits his bride. Nick, the best man, nervously watches his girlfriend make her way into the venue only to be snubbed by his mom, Eleanor Young (Michelle Yeoh) and his other aunts. Somehow, Rachel lands in a pew beside a princess (Kris Aquino), engaging in a lively conversation about microloans. "I think you have a fighter," Colin whispers to Nick as he refers to Rachel, unabashedly seated front row beside royalty as Grannis opens her rendition of "Can't Help Falling in Love."

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The entire church dims and goes silent as the camera pans over to Araminta, the bride. Water slowly trickles down the aisle dusted with petals and lined with lush greenery to provide a dazzling visual effect. As the guests stand to receive the bride, Nick and Rachel lovingly only have eyes for each other, turning the entire sequence of events into one of the most moving wedding movie scenes of all time.

rachel chu crazy rich asians

Exclusive Interview with Crazy Rich Asians Director Jon M. Chu, Author Kevin Kwan

Kwan, the mastermind behind the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, agreed when we spoke in 2018 about the film. "The wedding scene in the movie—and I'm not being biased—I'm speaking as someone who loves watching weddings on-camera and in movies… I love a good wedding," the author said in a one-on-one sit-down. "This was the most beautiful wedding scene ever shot in the history of cinema. How it emotionally wraps you up with the moment of nerves. And when [Araminta] steps onto the water and everything goes quiet… That's when I lost it."

The "$40 million" nuptials, between scions Araminta and Colin, was a feat for all those involved on set. "We only had 36 hours to shoot whatever we wanted to do inside," Chu explained. "Adding water to the aisle was complicated, and by adding the grass, you can't move around. It was much more complicated than expected. We had crew stuffed into a small space…and we had pews trapping us in."

Sanja Bucko / Warner Bros.

Sanja Bucko / Warner Bros.

Viewers could only marvel over such attention to detail. The inside of CHIJMES, a 19th-century convent-turned-event space located right in the middle of Singapore's trendiest restaurant and hotel neighborhood, served as the appropriate venue; the timing was impeccable. "It's a highly prized wedding venue in Singapore," production designer Nelson Coates said on a call. "We, of course, checked their schedule, and shock of all shocks, there was a five-day window of overlap. The only available [time] all summer in Singapore."

To prepare for the strict time frame, the team actively assembled various components externally. "Everything was designed to come in and out as quickly as possible… especially since we installed an entire botanical garden into the church," Coates said. "We built everything off-site and we're working with several different nurseries to find out what we could rent or purchase. Then we basically did a test run to various constructed elements." The benches were covered in moss to seamlessly integrate into the greenhouse theme of the nuptials. Coates hand-commissioned the lanterns and the bending beams of light that illuminated the center aisle. The water-filled aisle subsequently became a topic of conversation within various wedding circles, including experts.

"When we were early in the process scouting several countries from where we would film the bulk of the movie, we were in a space that had a beautiful reflecting pool and an atrium and enormous travelers palms," Coates said of pre-production with Chu. "We wondered, 'If there was only a way to do the wedding right here.' That just started percolating in our heads, we wanted travelers' palms and water at the wedding. That idea percolated for a while and another idea that Jon had early on was if people came in, then you were on a hill or a meadow, that would be astounding."

"I was influenced by royal weddings, wedding designs," Kwan explained. The initial inspiration behind the nuptials was an amalgamation of influences, ranging from weddings he's personally attended (one of the most extravagant being a three-day affair in a variety of European chateaus) as well as Marie-Chantal Miller's 1995 wedding. "Seeing how people make weddings really truly special was what I wanted to put in this scene. It's a modern spectacle. I want more and more wedding scenes for the movie and for the books."

Sanja Bucko / Warner Bros.

Sanja Bucko / Warner Bros.

Sanja Bucko / Warner Bros.

Sanja Bucko / Warner Bros.

Like the ceremony space, the reception was equally breathtaking filmed under the illuminated haven of Singapore's elaborate Gardens by the Bay. "For the books, I created the wedding from scratch based on these remote islands I knew off the coast of Singapore," Kwan said. "For the movie, it felt so perfect to do it for Gardens by the Bay. It was almost tailor-made to the description of what I wrote about. I was like, 'This is ideal. It's going to look amazing, and people who don't know Gardens by the Bay, would think that these crazy multimillion-dollar sets with those trees.' The secret is that it exists already."

The wedding sequence was shot in June 2017. Thirteen months later, Chu married the love of his life on July 27 in an intimate wedding in Napa. "I understand more now than back then to be planning a joint-designed wedding together. It was very fun," he said. The ceremony was a rather unconventional mix of personalization infused with symbolism (guests were surrounded by willow trees for the couple's infant daughter Willow), surprises (the groom called in numerous guest performances), and celeb attendees (including Scooter Braun and the Crazy Rich Asians cast).

Above all else, values. "We did two interesting things: we did a dedication to family members who had passed, then we did a vow to each other's parents," Chu shared in 2018. Following the wedding and the reception, the couple hosted a late-night after-party accompanied by a 10-piece band. For a jet-setting director, a wedding planner was essential, and the couple tapped Natalie Good of A Good Affair to orchestrate and execute their vision. "It was just magical," he raved. "It was a great weekend."

And while Chu had yet to experience the emotional queues of his own wedding during filming, the complex moments between family members and friends, heightened by intense feelings of love and commitment, certainly permeate through the screen. Chu, Kwan, Coates, and the cast nailed the sentiment of what guests feel at weddings.

Sanja Bucko / Warner Bros.

"The movie is called Crazy Rich Asians—there's a lot of wealthy people around—but ultimately, it's not about wealth at all. That's the message," Chu explained. "You don't need any of that. Yes, this is an extravagant crazy wedding, but what makes you cry isn't the extravagance. That almost makes you laugh. When you cry, it's about these two people, who for the first time, he [Nick Young] sees her [Rachel Chu] as the person he's going to spend his life with. They're an embattled couple and it's here, in this beautiful wedding, that they find the resolve… All the extravagance and the craziness disappears."

Leaving viewers with a crazy rich experience.

Crazy Rich Asians Wedding Quotes

Fans of the flick agree: Crazy Rich Asians is teeming with noteworthy quotes and one-liners, easily regurgitated within your Instagram captions. Bonus points if you can recycle these lines in posts related to the bach party, wedding planning or your relationship.

Sanja Bucko / Warner Bros.

"Look, there's new money all over Asia. We've got the Beijing Billionaires and the Taiwan Tycoons. But the Young family? They're old money rich. They had money when they left China in the 1800s." — Peik Lin Goh to Rachel Chu

"They're so posh and snobby, it's snoshy." — Peik Lin Goh to Rachel Chu

"OK, game plan: check our bags, get through security, and then we could eat one of the three homemade Tupperware meals my mom packed for us." — Rachel Chu to Nick Young

"That is exactly what a super-rich person would say." — Rachel Chu to Nick Young

"I can't believe this airport has a butterfly garden and a movie theatre. JFK is just salmonella… and despair." — Rachel Chu to Nick Young

"If you have all this family there, why are we staying in a hotel? Aren't good Chinese sons supposed to stay with their parents?" — Rachel Chu to Nick Young

"They're just jealous. You nabbed the crown prince. — Oliver T'sien to Rachel Chu

"I think you have a fighter." — Colin Khoo to Nick Young

"I chose to help my husband run a business and raise a family. For me, it was a privilege. But for you, you may think it's old-fashioned. It's nice you appreciate this house and us being here together wrapping dumplings. But all of this doesn't just happen. It's because we know to put family first instead of chasing one's… passion." — Eleanor Young to Rachel Chu

"She's so badass. You know… I bet if you told her you'd leave Nick for a million dollars, she'd write that check. They do that around here." — Peik Lin Goh to Rachel Chu

"I thought I was here to meet your family, go to your best friend's wedding, eat some good food. Instead, I feel like I'm a villain in a soap opera who's plotting to steal your family fortune." — Rachel Chu to Nick Young

"I'm not leaving because I'm scared, or because I think I'm not enough – because maybe for the first time in my life, I know I am. I just love Nick so much; I don't want him to lose his mom again." — Rachel Chu to Eleanor Young

"Rachel Chu… [presents the emerald engagement ring], will you marry me?" — Nick Young to Rachel Chu