Behind the Scenes: Wedding Styled Shoot With Melissa C. Koh

Collaborative Magic

Behind the glamour of any shoot is a thoughtful combination of planning, coordination and a key ingredient: imagination. Every detail is painstakingly envisaged, from securing a venue to styling direction, to accessories and wardrobe, to cinematic elements of lighting, florals and textures, to who’s capturing it all. The timing is key too, so it can be considered either a science or magic, with all elements tied in perfectly to produce the intended mood, aesthetic style and direction.

Choo Yilin gathered a team of dedicated wedding creatives to yield our Elegant & Ethereal Wedding Styled Shoot with Melissa Celestine Koh. The The Chapel @ Imaginarium's charming grandeur of floor to ceiling glass windows encased the shoot in generous natural light. The shoot was styled impeccably by talents Hellen from Rosette Designs & Co., and Phillane from Med Kärlek, with magnificent floral finishing touches by Floral Magic. With hair and make-up styled by the amazing Jyue Huey from The Make Up Room, Melissa effortlessly dazzled, dressed in gorgeous creations by Jessicacindy, and embodied the epitome of grace and glamour in Choo Yilin fine jewellery. These beautiful moments were timelessly captured by Love by July.

Jade is treasured like an heirloom.

Melissa: I love that the Choo Yilin collections are unique.When it comes to Si Dian Jin, most people think of the traditional 4-piece gold set, but I think the Choo Yilin collections offer a very fresh and unique touch to what people can get for their Si Dian Jin. What’s most important is that Si Dian Jin holds a lot of significance and meaning for the person receiving it. Jade is treasured like an heirloom and it makes a lot of sense for jade to be passed down from one generation to the next.

The Choo Yilin pieces that we wore for that particular shoot will always bring us memories.

Melissa and James: I remember we were doing a shoot in Hong Kong and planned to wear some of Choo Yilin’s pieces for the shoot. So we had planned to climb Tai Mo Shan in hope to get some scenic shots of the mountains as well as get a shot of the long road to signify the journey, but it got really foggy when we enroute so we decided to give up halfway and settle for some shots from where we stopped. In the end, the pictures turned out surprisingly nice despite the fog! The fog gave the end shots a very mysterious and different vibe which we really loved! The Choo Yilin pieces that we wore for that particular shoot will always bring us memories.

There's always a special story behind a piece of jewellery like that.

Melissa: I think the beautiful part of heritage and mementos is that there are meaningful stories attached to such mementos and that you have these jewellery and stories to pass down to the next generation. So they won’t just know of your great great grandmother as just an elder figure, but they will remember certain stories that are attached to them.

James: Heritage for us represents values that have been passed down from generation to generation. They might not be traditional Chinese practices, they could be just little quirks or mementos that your grandmother has passed down. It could be like a necklace that your grandmother has passed down to you and the story behind that necklace. It may be the first necklace that your grandfather bought for your grandmother. There’s always a special story behind a piece of jewellery like that. 

Planning our wedding has brought our families closer.

James: In preparation for the wedding, this has sort of forced us to be upfront about certain values and beliefs that we probably would not have talked about if we weren’t planning for a wedding. 

Melissa: I think most of it is about discovering each other and spending time with each other learning about each other’s strengths and weaknesses like we figured out that I am an idea person with a lot of things that I want to accomplish but James is the one who will actually get down to executing those ideas. Its certain strengths and traits that we figured about each other and how they can apply to our work or even personal stuff like ur house. Most importantly, planning our wedding has brought our families closer together. It has given them the opportunities to meet more often and bond over those meetings. Planning our wedding has become something they’re really excited about!

James: Leading up to our wedding we had our engagement party in Bali. The whole point of that was actually to bond the bridal party but it also brought both our families and even extended families even closer together.

Melissa: On our part, throughout the process of wedding planning, both of us would also spend quality with each other’s family members so that's what we’re really happy about doing as a couple.

James is my biggest inspiration.

Melissa: James has taught me a lot of things and he fills up for a lot of things that I’m lacking in. He’s everything that I’m not for example patience and perseverance. In our day to day interaction and activities, he would be the one reminding me to be rooted and help me to improve myself when handling certain situations. He would help me to reflect and review on the type of options that I have and how to best tackle those options. When it comes to patience, James is the epitome of patience! (laughs) So yes, he’s slowly but surely trying to impart some of his patience to me. In difficult situations, he’s always the one helping me to overcome them, even when I’m the one who created that situation. No matter how tough the process or situation is, he would be the one who calm me down and walk me through it.