Rainer & Shauna’s Minimalist Wedding at Spago Dining Room

Have you ever wondered, what exactly are we celebrating in a wedding?

Love? The couple? Weddings can be complex events don’t you think? Wedding planning aside, the actual day itself is usually a mash up of a million feelings and scenarios – anxieties, stress, and painful heels but also emotional speeches, hugs, and tears. All these things that make weddings memorable couldn’t just be about love and the couple. It is so much more and involves far more people than just the newlyweds.  Rainer and Shauna’s wedding clearly proves that.

Forced by challenging life circumstances to scale down their wedding plans, Rainer and Shauna tied the knot on 20 December 2020 at Spago Dining Room with just 25 close friends and family in attendance. It was intimate but what truly touched us was the additional company the couple had equally treasured – that of the vendors they had engaged.

I think that’s what made our wedding day so special – we loved our vendors and it made the day so much fun, just like having more friends along on the ride with us.

Rainer and Shauna

It is not every day we find kindred spirits who appreciate the camaraderie and the friendship that was forged because of a celebration. It is something that will last beyond that single day and we love how this was very much symbolised by the significant use of preserved flowers as the central theme in Rainer and Shauna’s wedding.

We wanted to minimize the use of fresh flowers and incorporate mostly preserved flowers into the wedding florals. Not only did we feel it was more sustainable, but we also thought it was a cute reflection of our dating life. Every single bouquet of flowers Rainer had gotten me were preserved bouquets, something I adored. Not only did I prefer the aesthetic, but there’s something endearing about being able to remember that day or moment for a long time, not just having the memory wither away as the petals fall in a matter of days.

Shauna

Indeed, preserved flowers do embody the essence of what we think marriage is about. The couple had also used it to express their relationship and the ongoing commitment needed to make a marriage work –

Preserved florals were somewhat similar to our relationship in some ways. They are beautiful and can last a really long time. Pretty low maintenance, but they still need to be checked on from time to time, placed in an ideal environment in order for it to stay beautiful and have the longevity it was meant to have.

Rainer and Shauna

Perhaps you can’t get through the notion of not having fresh flowers for your wedding. But it doesn’t have to be an entirely preserved flowers setup as what Brendan (of @fellowfolks) have said, “we don’t typically work with preserved foliage and floral, but when we do, we set them together with complementing fresh floral or foliage for that breath of ‘freshness’.”

Shauna and Brendan are definitely together on that. Shauna had met Brendan when she did a family photo shoot previously and had loved the setup he did for the shoot. It became clear to Shauna even then that Brendan was to do the floral set up for her wedding. This quickly got things in motion to have this muted nude tone wedding concept coming together.

The teamwork had worked well but it did not just stop there because Rainer and Shauna went on to build friendship with many others who have helped them realise their wedding dreams.

For Shauna, who is a doctor and seldom wears makeup, she saw the best version of herself because of Patricia (@bypattcia). And it was that that became one of the most memorable parts of the wedding for her.

I remember the first time I saw myself after the makeup was done and I was in my dress and heels. I’m usually in scrubs and no makeup, glasses and just looking really drab. So I think it just really gave me so much confidence to see myself looking decent for once, haha

Shauna

Shauna’s dream wedding dress was created together with Joan of Stitch by Stitch Co. (@stitchbystitch.co) who then became a good friend.

We immediately hit it off, with similar styles and she got exactly what I was going for. I sent her some sketches of what I liked, and she did her magic on them. I’m really glad because the gown was exactly what I had envisioned and fits me like a glove! To top it all off, I gained a gorgeous girlfriend who would swoon about beautiful gowns with me!

Shauna

And to capture all the gorgeous-everything on the day, Rainer and Shauna had Annabel (@annabellawproductions) to the job but she was more than just a photographer to them.

Rainer and I both loved that Annabel’s shots captured the couples in this ethereal, dream-like setting, that was how we wanted to remember our special day. She was so great during the actual day, calming me down, giving me advice on how to pose, what accessories to wear and she has honestly become a dear friend to us.

Shauna

We imagine the company of these vendors-turned-friends must have brought tremendous comfort to Shauna and Rainer. Besides having to overhaul their wedding plans because of the pandemic, life had also thrown other challenges their way, one being the onset of Shauna’s mum’s illness.

To be really honest, it was a real struggle. Weddings are a tough one – while ideally it should just be about me and my husband, it does entail lots of other people and things. Family being a big part. Once my mum’s illness hit, I think she was not really in a good place to have a big celebration. And that hurt, a lot. But deciding to postpone it would really hurt my husband’s feelings too, because it’s something we both have been looking forward too for a long time.

And so I guess it really became something that we had to come to a compromise on. It was a struggle initially, and being someone who likes sticking to plans, both the pandemic and my mum’s situation really threw a huge curveball at us. I think at the end of it all, it helped to have Rainer being supportive and being really involved in the planning process and helping me out.

Shauna

If you’re also in the midst of planning your wedding, know that you’re never alone in your struggle. Things may be uncertain, but things will work out and you will probably be glad you went through with your plans, like how Shauna did –

I genuinely am. In this time, it’s really hard to predict the progression of events and everything is up in the air. That doesn’t mean that life has to stop. I thank God that I could start my journey as Rainer’s wife and move on into a new phase of our lives together. You can still have a beautiful memorable wedding even in tough times!

Life is always going to throw curveballs in your way. But if you are able to work around it, you find yourself having the best of both worlds – the satisfaction of overcoming the challenge, but also the ability to continue on with life and the plans you and your partner have already made for your future together.

Shauna

So once again, what exactly are we celebrating in a wedding? Perhaps the best we could put it is that it is a celebration of love, kinship and friendship, old and new.

Thank you, Shauna and Rainer, for submitting your wedding to us. You have humbled us tremendously and have re-affirmed our commitment to build a supportive community for vendors and couples alike! We wish you both a blissful marriage!

Professionals engaged for the wedding:

• Photography: Annabel Law Productions | @annabellawproductions
• Venue: Spago Dining Room, Marina Bay Sands | @spagosingapore
• Wedding Gown: Stitch by Stitch Co | @stitchbystitch.co
• Masks: Artisanal Flair | @artisanalflair
• Groom’s suit: Mills – The Gentleman’s Craft | @mills.tgc
• Jewellery: Cartier | @cartier
• Makeup Artist: Patricia Jaihan | @bypattcia
• Floral and Décor: Fellow Folks | @fellowfolks