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What little girl doesn’t dream of a white fairy tale wedding, with big fluffy white dress, romantic castle, and her prince charming on a white horse? Throw in a couple of candles for the zen look and you can almost see the fireworks bursting behind the kissing couple…. A hopelessly romantic dream, isn’t it? And that was what I told myself as I thundered through my teens and twenties. Little did I ever imagine that when I stepped foot in this alleged ‘romantic city’, I would fall in love with a wonderful man, Christopher, let alone have my fairy tale come true.

And so, this is our story of the union. The Tay-D’Arcy wedding celebrations commenced on Saturday, 6th September with the traditional ‘Chinese tea ceremony’ and the civil ceremony at the Marie. It was a wonderful sight for the townsfolk, when a rowdy mix-match of Chinese, Canadians and French people strutted into the reception hall all decked up in traditional gear such as cheong sums, kwa, Chinese jackets and even baju kerbaya. It was a sea of color.


Click here to view more pictures of our Chinese and Civil wedding ceremonies, with a running commentary.

On Monday the 8th, our guests and we convened at Château des Condé (www.chateaudesconde.com) , a romantic 16th century Renaissance Château located in Vallery, about 1 hour from Paris . The beautifully up kept Château lies amidst lusciously green grounds with 20 different themed rooms to hold your imagination. We had a lot of fun exploring them (especially the cellar, where we were treated to a fabulous degustation.)


Dear ole Patrice, the owner of Chateau des Condé giving us a little wine lesson in his well-stocked cave, and sharing with us 3 beautiful bottles of 1985 grave..
	We also held a BBQ dinner that night in the Moroccan-themed pavilion next to the main Chateau.

Needless to say, I awoke on Tuesday morning full of excitement and nervousness. However, the Ken -Eric (our brothers) and Jesse-Michelle (our best man and bridesmaid) team were fabulous, absolutely terrific! in ensuring everything went well, we had no idea what had gone wrong that day (if anything). They calmed us down, ensured that we were all ready, clothes dressed on correctly, guests arriving on time etc etc etc.


Here's a picture of Michelle trying to get me ready!	Lili and Didier, my beauty team did a fantastic job in making me look and feel like a princess! I even had sparkles everywhere on my face and shoulders.

In the meantime, Christopher and our guests were waiting (impatiently) at the church (well, I was PACING my room too). I finally got the signal and off to the church my Daddy and I went.

Walking down the aisle was such a high.

To Jonathan Cain’s soothing rendition of the Bridal March, I clutched onto Daddy ’s arm tightly as I made my way. All I could see past my veil were the cloudy vision of popping flashbulbs. And then there he was, standing oh so tall and proud. He also had tears streaming down his face, and it was all I could do to not cry.


YIPPEE!! We're now really officially married. (yes, this is THE famous picture)	Off we went (a few meters) to the Chateau..in our little getaway car - the Jeep! (thank you James)

After the hour-long ceremony, we made our way for champagne and hors d’œuvres on the Château grounds. From the impromptu 'receiving line', we were showered with lots of kisses and congratulations from all our guests.


Picture of the Chateau with cocktails on the grounds.	Mingling with guests... this is Olly and Yumi.

With Marco and Patricia, our friends from Italy!	Here's a shot of alllllllllll of our guests! Hello everyone

We took advantage of the beautiful day to take numerous 'cheesy' shots with Mikael, our fabulous (professional) photographer for the day. (If you're looking for a great photographer... look no further. Check out his other work http://www.frenchweddingphotographer.com/ You will not regret it. We didn't!)


CHEESY SHOTS!!!

We also followed the great tradition of 'throwing the bridal bouquet'... we lined up all the unwed, young gals at the wedding party, and tried to decide who was gonna be the next bride! Guess who won??????


There were a few rather eager 'brides-to-be'...	but only one winner!

Soon we made our way to the rose-petal and candled-decorated dining room for a scrumptious dinner amidst great short and funny speeches and of course the traditional yum-sengs (which weren’t too traditional for many of 110 guests from Canada , England , Italy , America , Indonesia and of course France & Singapore ).


The wonderfully, romantically zen-looking tables decorated by the fabulous Stephen!	Entering as the new Mr. and Mrs. D'Arcy.

3 toasts to us! Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmm -SENG!	With Marjomi

As the evening grew night, we headed outside and were treated to an awesome fireworks display. And when I thought that this night cannot get any more enchanting, our wedding cake came to us, carried through the fireworks.

Our pièce montée bore a close resemblance to our Merlion ! Champagne and desert followed for everyone. And then, we all danced the magical night away…..

BUT in the end, fairy tale wedding or not, the most important thing is I married my best friend, the man that I love. And THAT is the best fairy tale ending….

The beginning.......

A Fairy Tale Wedding Come True