The martial arts entrepreneur recently celebrated his son Zander’s 100th day with a party that also tripled up as a belated birthday bash for the former actor, who turned 43, as well as a belated wedding celebration for him and his wife Mei Ling. The couple had gotten married last July but had only held a small solemnisation lunch for their “elders and close friends”. “There were many people, like my cousins, who mean a lot to me and who have helped us a lot along the way but we couldn’t invite last year. So I thought this would be a good chance to catch up with all of them,” Vincent tells us over a phone call, where in the background, we could hear baby Zander crying occasionally. 

With the help of Vincent’s event planner friends, the JW Marriott South Beach Hotel's Grand Ballroom was turned into venue fit for a crown prince, which just so happened to be the theme of the bash. Some 300 of Vincent and Mei Ling’s family and friends, including Felicia Chin, Zheng Geping and Desmond Tan, were invited to the lavish bash. Not that we would ever know the cost as the very private Vincent declines to reveal how much he had spent on the shindig. “Don’t talk about money lah… Very sensitive issue. I hope you understand,” he says. “You know, my mum always says that I’m very lucky that I have a lot of very good friends. And the truth is, without them, would I bother doing a celebration like this? No. My baby is so young, he wouldn’t know what’s happening. I had [the party] ’cos I really wanted to share my joy with my family and friends — that’s my objective.”

8 DAYS: Did you plan to have such a grand celebration for Zander’s 100-day party?
VINCENT NG: No… It became bigger than what we had originally planned. But it was also ’cos we didn’t host a wedding celebration — all we did was hold solemnisation ceremony-cum-lunch where we basically only invited our elders and close friends. So this time round, we took the opportunity to invite people we didn’t invite. Like my cousins. Also we didn’t set any dress code and a lot of our friends came dressed very casually and we were totally fine with it. The most important thing for us was that the guests had fun and that we got to share our joy with them.  

It kinda looked like a wedding dinner.
No lah (laughs). Though that was at the back of my mind. ’Cos I really wanted to do something for those people who have always been supporting me, like my cousins, the parents and students of [his martial arts school] Wu Fang, and my friends from the media and wushu industry. The past three months have been really busy for me. I took up the position of Chairman for the Wushu Federation so there was a lot of development and admin work and meetings. And I just moved my school to a new location in Joo Chiat. And I also started a fitness school with [Project Superstar 2014 winner] Alfred Sim that’s located inside Wu Fang. So it was a really, really busy period. That’s why I couldn’t do a manyue party. If I did, I would have been even busier. One month how to do? Must take care of wife and so many things leh. 

They were 300 guests — you guys must have received a ton of gifts. 
Yes and we really thank our guests for their generosity. There really were a lot of gifts and some guests had given us the same things so there are a lot of repeated items. My wife is part of this organisation called Mum’s Club, which is working together with the PAP Charity Foundation (PCF) and this weekend (Dec 15), they are holding a charity event where we will be donating some of the gifts to families in need. I hope our friends don’t mind us doing this but it's for a good cause. We’re really thankful for all the gifts which is why we would like to share them with charity. I’m sure our guests will understand.

As a parent, would you rather receive ang pows or gifts?
Well, this really depends on what the guest wants to give. These things are kind gestures so it's not up to me to choose. Some people are really good at giving gifts — I’ve received very beautiful handmade presents from my students before. Then there are those people who don’t know what to give or they don’t have time to buy so they prefer to give cash.

How are you going to top this party when Zander turns one?
You know, my wife and I believe in being simple. That’s why a lot of our friends were surprised that we would throw such a party. But this is going to be a one-time thing. After this, it’s going to be simple celebrations. Just with the family. That’s how I want to raise my kid.

There was also a hair-cutting ceremony. What was it about?
Yes, yes. It’s an auspicious Chinese tradition and what happens is that we shave the baby’s head, and his foetal hair is made into a Chinese calligraphy brush, which is known as ‘tai mao bi’. It was done by this master called James Chen, who has been very patient and helpful.

Why did you pick [former Ch 8 actress] Sora Ma and Alfred Sim as emcees?
Alfred is working with me on the gym and we see each other a lot. And he is a very good host and is effectively bilingual so he is a good choice. Sora’s been a very good friend of mine for a long time and she knows my wife well too. She also comes over to our place for meals once in a while. Oh, and she goes with my wife for cooking classes — my wife enjoys cooking and baking — so they catch up quite a bit.  You know, it was a last minute decision to have a host, like what I told you, I just wanted a nice place to catch up with friends and the rest of the things are just embellishments. My friend who runs an events company came in and made the venue very glam with the décor. We also had sponsors, like for the goodie bags and the dessert station. This is why I feel very blessed as an artiste. I hope that all artistes know that they are very blessed and don’t take things for granted. I’m just the same as everyone. It’s just that I am lucky to have external help to support us.

Your wife's looking very good!
Thanks! She hasn’t been sleeping well lately actually. She’s really been watching what she eats ’cos she’s breastfeeding still and she wants the kid to grow up healthy. So credit really goes to her as she’s been taking care of her baby by herself and she is very hands on. She was doing very well in her career [Ed: she was in the shipping business] but she quit to focus on our baby. Yeah, she’s a full-time mum at the moment.

Is she planning to go back to work?
See how lor. She enjoys working and I think eventually she might go back to work. But for now, there’s no definite day. See how lor.

She also looks like she has lost all the baby weight. Do you guys work out together?
I tell you, my wife has better discipline than I do. She was still going to gym every day when she was eight months pregnant. And when we go to the gym, I would be there talking to her but she would be very serious. She worked out every day not ’cos she was scared that she would become fat after pregnancy. She was already exercising a lot even before that. It was already part of her lifestyle, a habit. And working out was a way for her to destress too.

A lot of fathers put on weight after their wife gives birth, you know, something to do with confinement food. Are you one of those new dads too?
I’m different from other people. For me, I lost muscle mass. I really cut down my workout sessions from before she gave birth until now. I had a lot of work commitments and naturally after the baby was born, I would also wake up in the middle of the night to take care of him. So I didn’t have enough sleep. And when you don’t have enough sleep and you still go to the gym, you don’t get effective workouts. You must have ample rest and eat well. So I told myself that I would just focus on my baby these few months. I will only go back to working out when I have enough rest. So this is my sacrifice (laughs).

How else have you changed since you became a dad?
How do I say this? It’s different lah. But it’s an amazing feeling. It’s a feeling I’ve never had my whole life.  Every morning when I wake up, I want to see him. If I hear any sound, I will want to go check up on him. And when I go overseas, I’ll miss him. It’s like being in love again. You know what I mean? (Laughs)

Did you expect to feel this way?  
Maybe? But it’s one of those feelings that you can never prepare yourself for. With a kid in your life, you will be more careful with everything you do. It’s not just about you and your partner anymore. I’m still getting used to it and you can say that maybe I’m also becoming mellower and  more patient. It’s a learning process for me. The baby is growing and so am I.

Vincent tells us the dessert station was sponsored by Choz Confectionary. 

And the goodie bags were from Little Host Shop. 

Vincent had originally wanted a bumblebee theme - 'Bumblee' is Zander's nickname 'cos his Chinese surname 'Weng' sounds like a buzzing bee - but that didn't pan out. But hey, at least the guests got to take home cookies with bumblebee packaging.