St Ignatius

Wedding Day

Wedding

Sacred Heart & St Ignatius Hall

Reception

Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa

Chinese Banquet Lunch Reception on 29 April 2018

Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa, The Straits Ballroom

2nd Wedding Reception (Sunday Lunch)

Singapore Cricket Club

Indian Dinner Reception on 1st May 2018

3rd Wedding reception (Tuesday Dinner)

Our Wedding

Mark & Val met during the orientation week of NUS Law in 2009 – Mark in OG5 and Val in OG6. They both joined rag and while Val put her ballet/ tap dance history to good use, Mark struggled with anything that entailed him attempting to dance/ following a choreography (rumour has it that the entire group had to repeat certain steps numerous times no thanks to Mark's lack of coordination).Mark first expressed interest in Val on their shared birthday, 3 September, by texting her a birthday greeting which she answered with something along the lines of "thanks! btw who is this?". Naturally, Val also did not wish him happy birthday. They did however see each other in school that afternoon and commemorated their shared birthday with the attached photo (thanks facebook!).Mark soon popped up at the Sunday morning 8.15am mass which Val used to sing at. Not ordinarily an early riser, Mark’s family suspected a girl was involved and soon the Shans joined their relatives, the Pintos, at an 8.15am mass to inspect the situation. This later followed up with Boompa, Nana and the Lees appearing at St Ignatius for Christmas Eve mass to confirm the case of an enamoured Mark.

The story of how we met 

Mark & Val dated for just under 7 years when he made December 2016 a "Marry Christmas" by proposing with Doug (the dog) as his ring bearer - more specifically, Doug ran to Val and bumped the red bag (carrying the ring) strapped to his back against her until Mark finished the speech that Val can't remember and fished out the ring for the proposal.Strangely enough, although there is no photo of Mark proposing (since they were surrounded by darkness while their family members hid around the house); there is a photo of Mark “proposing" to Val, which had been taken as a joke during Law Prom 2009 (!).After 8 years of dating, Mark & Val will be getting married during Val's favourite liturgical season (Easter!!!!!) on 28th April 2018.

That time we got engaged

1. Mark is great at science, he did three S papers for A levels (physics, chem and bio) – Val&nbsp;once confidently responded that blood flowed in one’s body by gravity. Not quite sure what&nbsp;the heart is for obviously.2. Val has always loved to doodle and she gets embarrassingly excited/ competitive about&nbsp;Pictionary (that no one wants to play with her) – Mark has difficulties drawing a stick man.3. Mark is amazing at trivia and remembers the titles of most movies and songs – and the&nbsp;singers and actors while he’s at it – Val can barely remember the lyrics of “Shake it off”.4. Mark may be a third taller than Val, but Val can out-eat and out-run him with her eyes closed&nbsp;– she used to polish off 2 pratas, 1 fishball beehoon and a hokkien mee for breakfast when&nbsp;she was 6 years old.5. Mark is a bookworm&nbsp;and his aunt's resident book vetter for when his cousins were younger - books read include the princess diaries and the shopaholic series, he says neither are particularly good.6. Mark is contented with leading a generally sedentary lifestyle with his kindle – conversely, Val&nbsp;has enough spontaneity and enthusiasm to drive her sister’s dogs crazy with early morning&nbsp;walks up the Bukit Batok hill, followed by yoga and if she can squeeze in, some rock climbing&nbsp;or a baking session to finish it off.

*Note for those confused - if you're wondering why&nbsp;Val looks somewhat different in the older photos, Val underwent a dental surgery (double jaw osteotomy for those interested) in 2013 and walked around as metal mouth (a great combination of braces and 8 screws holding her jaws together)&nbsp;for a while. Some say that general anesthesia causes a loss of appetite - Val of course&nbsp;experienced no such loss &nbsp;and while Mark marveled at the amount of apple juice she was demanding post-operation, Val's&nbsp;mother ran over to the hospital from&nbsp;Far East Plaza armed with&nbsp;her favourite Sushi&nbsp;Bar&nbsp;chawanmushi because said child is always hungry.

Fun Facts about Mark & Val

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Rather soon after meeting her, Mark realised that Val was a born glutton and the age-old adage likewise applied to her.Notwithstanding the initial rough start to their relationship, Mark made his way to Val's heart through her stomach (and her dogs') - a practice which&nbsp;persists to this day:1. Val is obsessed with baking/ baked goods/ The Great British&nbsp;Bake Off/ any relevant baking fad. Sometime in or around October 2009 (post expression of interest) Mark presented Val with a rainbow cupcake topped with white frosting in a lunch cookie tin she had expressed interest in at Jones' the Grocer the week before. Mark would later bring her around the island to sample a full range of sugared treats she really shouldn't have been consuming (from red velvet cakes to apple pies and endless buffets -&nbsp;Val's really eaten it all)2. Val has peculiar food obsessions/ favourites and Mark would find his way to a series of places, including but not limited to the following, to feed a caffeine deprived/ hangry Val: Tanjong Katong (the then made with love cupcakes), Serangoon gardens (curry puffs), Everton (Nylon coffee), Starbucks (nearest source of coffee to school back in 2009), Botanical Gardens (trudging through the scorching sun no less to get a variety of giant scones from&nbsp;Dao Paolo)TLDR:&nbsp;Val is excessive and Mark confirmed that the way to her heart was to keep her fed, caffeinated and terribly spoilt with sugar.

The Pursuit/ Marathon

Preparing to commit to a lifetime together while planning for the biggest event of our lives has been a process filled with excitement and trepidation over how much can go wrong.Nonetheless,&nbsp;we’re super excited to get married in church and&nbsp;celebrate our marriage over the last weekend of April 2018 with our family and friends!&nbsp;We hope that you come&nbsp;mentally prepared for plenty of tears (Val alone can cry a river), too many hugs (our families’ usual form of greeting) and to partake in our joy and the feast we have planned for you.&nbsp;&nbsp;May you enjoy our wedding celebrations&nbsp;as much as we have enjoyed brainstorming and planning for a weekend&nbsp;that would be worthy of all the love and support you have&nbsp;given us. For all the times it was left unsaid, Thank You and we can’t wait to celebrate and share our joy with you!

About the Wedding 

Our Story

Lease us your mailing address!

from us to you

Do let us know your preferred form of contact by filling out the form at the following link:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theknot.com/us/address-collection/3dn2qe">https://www.theknot.com/us/add...</a>

& if you would like a paper invitation to our wedding, kindly ensure that the "mailing address" portion of the form is completed as well!

Details

Photos

Wedding Party

Q + A

Registry

DRIVINGThe church is located at 120 King's Road.&nbsp;Basement parking is available in the church and in the event there are insufficient lots, outdoor parking is also available behind the church (at Ignatius Hall) which is&nbsp;accessible via Victoria Park&nbsp;Road.PUBLIC&nbsp;TRANSPORTFarrer Road MRT StationWalking distance away from the newly built Farrer Road MRT Station.Bus # 48, 93, 153, 165, 174 and 186Alight at the Farrer Road Market or Spanish Village bus stops (depending on which direction you are coming from).

DRIVINGThe hotel is located on Sentosa Island and is accessible by Bukit Manis Road -&nbsp;more specifically, Sofitel Sentosa is located at the&nbsp;right turn just before the Sentosa Golf Club entrance.&nbsp;Upon turning into the Sofitel Sentosa&nbsp;entrance, the driveway for the ballroom will be located on your left.&nbsp;Complimentary Admission to Sentosa:&nbsp;There is complimentary admission into Sentosa for all invited guests.&nbsp;Please keep a copy of the wedding invitation on hand and show the wedding invitation card at the Sentosa drive-through gantry for free admission into the island.Complimentary Valet Parking:&nbsp;There will be&nbsp;complimentary valet parking service available&nbsp;for all invited guests from 1100h to 1600h. PUBLIC TRANSPORTNearest MRT:&nbsp;Harbourfront MRT&nbsp;StationSofitel Sentosa offers a free return shuttle from VivoCity&nbsp;(the drop off point outside Jumbo&nbsp;JPOT&nbsp;Restaurant). Available shuttle timings from&nbsp;Vivo City&nbsp;include:1000h&nbsp; &nbsp;1030h&nbsp;&nbsp; 1100h&nbsp; &nbsp;1130h&nbsp; &nbsp;1200h&nbsp; &nbsp;1230h&nbsp; &nbsp;1300hA shuttle bus returning to&nbsp;VivoCity will also be available at every half an hour from&nbsp;Sofitel Sentosa.Alternative: Paragon&nbsp;Shopping Centre (Orchard/&nbsp;Somerset MRT)There will also&nbsp;be a shuttle bus from&nbsp;Paragon&nbsp;that will bring you to Sofitel Sentosa. The bus departs from Paragon&nbsp;at 1025h.There will be a return shuttle bus to Paragon&nbsp;Shopping Centre at 1445h and 1715h.

DRIVINGSingapore Cricket Club is located at Connaught Drive, at the tip of the Padang.&nbsp;As there are limited parking slots in the club itself, kindly park across the road at the National&nbsp;Gallery of Singapore, Victoria Theatre or Parliament House. PUBLIC TRANSPORTRaffles Place MRT&nbsp;StationIt is about an 8 minutes walk from Raffles Place MRT&nbsp;Station to the Club. This route is illustrated in the map below.Bus - # 961 &nbsp;#195

Valerie & Mark