Wendy and Alan’s colourful Glasgow wedding paid homage to Chinese and Scottish cultures with a lion dance, tea ceremony and chopsticks sitting alongside a ceilidh, kilts and confetti
Wendy Chan and Alan Cheong, now Mr and Mrs Cheong
25th May 2024
Venue | Cottiers Glasgow
Photography | Jakki Brock Images
"Alan and I were friends for years as we attended Chinese School together on Saturdays. It was only when we went to university that we really grew fond of each other. At a house party in 2015, we snuck off together and shared our first kiss.
Alan chose to pop the question on May 20th 2022. The numerical representation of this date is 520 – and in Mandarin, this sounds similar to the phrase ‘I love you’.
We were away on a break in Liverpool when I noticed some random woman was filming us. Turned out it was actually one of Alan’s friends who he’d asked to film the big moment. I said: “She’s filming us – you want me to go and say something?!”
Well, he had to get down on one knee at that point – to my complete surprise! We now have a memento of the moment, as the amateur footage we have was perfected by our wedding videographer, We Are One Wedding Films. (See Instagram post below.)
It was 736 days (just over two years) from engagement to wedding. We wanted to have our ceremony and reception in the same location. Cottiers fitted our budget and guest numbers and had availability on the dates we liked. We had around 110 guests all day with 20 more in the evening.
We put Chinese traditions at the heart of our plans.
We had a traditional Chinese tea ceremony (where I wore a beautiful qun kwa); chopsticks as favours; and a Chinese lion dance performance that got all the guests involved.
Even during our wedding meal, we had sharing sides served in the middle of tables (rather than on plates) to promote the Chinese tradition of togetherness.
We loved being able to combine Chinese touches with Scottish culture. Alan wore a kilt from MacGregor and MacDuff, and we all spun around to the Gay Gordons during our ceilidh. Even though it was a May wedding, we got away with a burnt-orange colour scheme and traditional Chinese wedding colours of red and gold. We had colourful lanterns and confetti too.
Our four bridesmaids and three groomsmen were instrumental in preparing for the wedding. We can’t thank them enough.
A week before the wedding, we got the bridal party together to go over a detailed wedding binder that I had put together with all the tasks and responsibilities. They excelled at every point, from floral arranging to transportation, and everything in between.
Choosing the right photographer was important to us. We met Jakki about two months after getting engaged, as part of our engagement shoot, and her fun, positive energy immediately put us at ease and brought out the best in us. We had no doubt she was the right person for us.
Start the search for your own wedding photographer in Scotland right here
My wedding dress shopping experience was fairly streamlined. I only visited two shops and ended up choosing the very last dress I tried on. It was the perfect blend of tradition and modernity that I was looking for. I originally had an A-line wedding dress in mind, but of course, I ended up with the opposite: a sheath, cowl-necked wedding gown.
We split the planning workload and had dedicated ‘wedmin’ days and nights. We had a master spreadsheet and used a separate calendar to track when tasks and invoices were due to be completed. We also had a joint email account which kept wedding-related emails separate from personal ones.
We wanted to tell our story and share things that were important to us as a couple, so opted to have a humanist ceremony. Tasha Leung, our celebrant, did an incredible job and there were many tears in the room. During the ceremony, Alan’s gran shouted ‘kiss her!’ too early, ha ha, which definitely settled any nerves!
We found some vows online that we felt were perfect for us. “I promise to be your partner in adventure, to support you in chasing your dreams, and to celebrate every milestone with you. Today, I choose you as my teammate, my love, and my happiness.”
Our speeches went well. My brother Simon kicked things off first, followed by bridesmaid Stacey, then Alan, and lastly Matthew’s best man speech. All brilliantly delivered and we all laughed and shed a tear or two.
The wedding reception was an absolute blast. Our first dance to ‘Biblical’ by Calum Scott was so magical. We felt like we were in our main-character moment!
We’d left temporary tattoos of our faces in the bathroom baskets. By the end of the night, our guests had created full sleeves and stuck them on bald heads! It was such a memorable touch that raised a lot of laughs!"
Top tip: “Start a dedicated wedding WhatsApp group for you and your partner called ‘wedmin’,” Wendy wisely suggests. “Ours was a lifesaver, as it kept all the wedding-related chat separate from our normal conversations, preventing us mixing our dinner plans with wedding band suggestions!”
Alan and Wendy's wedding highlights by We Are One Wedding Films
Read about other fabulous Glasgow wedding venues
Venue Cottiers Glasgow
Photography Jakki Brock Images
Filmmaker We Are One Wedding Films (see video above)
Celebrant Tasha Leung, Tasha the Celebrant
Bride’s dress Wed2B
Bride’s shoes Monsoon
Bride’s jewellery Lily and Roo; Wolf and Moon
Bridesmaid dresses Azazie
Flower girl dresses Next
Hair Ciara At No 19 Hair
Makeup Jade Lawlor Makeup Artist
Nails Cara’s Nails Kilwinning
Groomswear and page boy MacGregor and MacDuff
Groom’s hair Luke Campbell Hair
Wedding rings Only With You Diamond (Hong Kong)
Cake Homemade by mother of the groom and Aunt Rita
Flowers DIY by MoH and bride
Stationery, ceremony decor and centrepieces All designed by the bride @LittleChanDesigns
Favours Chopsticks from Hong Kong
Photo booth Bespoke Event Services
Lanterns Make Believe Events
Content creator Sona Content Creation
Drinks reception music Becca and Tom Music
Ceilidh band Glenpark Ceilidh Band
Chinese lion dance Hung Fut Scotland
Transport Marbill Coaches
