The event took place at the Regent Taipei and had 45 tables, with celebs guests including Taiwan-based Singapore stars Yvonne Lim and Huang Jinglun as well as Star Search 1997 winner Jeff Wang. In an interview with the media before the banquet, Kelly revealed that she was extremely hands-on with organising her own big day. “I would have needed to spend at least NT$300,000 (S$14,100) on a wedding planner alone, so I saved that amount of money by being my own planner,” she said.

However, the Project SuperStar runner-up ended up paying a different kind of price. Kelly began preparing for her wedding in June while juggling work at the same time, which left her much busier and more overwhelmed than she anticipated. Once, while heading to the bridal boutique, she found herself lugging a whole bunch of items in the rain for 20 minutes. While it was very upsetting back then, she now looks back on all her struggles with a sense of accomplishment.

Although Kelly’s friends and family in Singapore were unable to attend the banquet ‘cos of COVID-19 travel restrictions (what else?), she tried to include touches of her hometown in various wedding details: her bridesmaids’ dresses and shoes were all from Singaporean brands, the dessert bar had pandan cake, and she carried a bouquet of orchids, which is our national flower. The guests were also led in a very Singaporean “yam seng” toast, which is not common practice in Taiwan.

Once the pandemic is over (or at least, when the regulations have relaxed a bit more), Kelly will return to Singapore to throw another celebration to make it up to her friends and family here.

When asked if the newlyweds have gotten into fights, Kelly said that she tends to speak English when she’s mad, which then prompts Roger to argue back in the same language. However, he often becomes incoherent when he’s anxious, so they both end up laughing instead of quarrelling. “Language barriers are sometimes a great way of stopping arguments!” Roger quipped.

As for their honeymoon plans, the couple said that they will travel abroad when there is no longer a need to self-quarantine. For now, the thing they want to do the most after the wedding is to have a good rest — poor Kelly only slept an hour the previous night —and then sit down for a meal with Roger’s parents.

Photos: Mode Entertainment