We love a good love story every once in a while, and when we saw how Miqueias Rohr, a Brazilian man, sold chocolates and worked two jobs to reunite with his Singaporean fiancee, Rebecca Ang, we were touched.
The duo, who have since solemnised their marriage in Singapore on 20th April, and are now planning a reception in Brazil in July, have been travelling around the world to take their pre-wedding photos.
Here, we caught up with Rebecca to find out how they planned their destination wedding shoots in six cities – all under $150!
1. Why did you choose to take the shots in theses places? What’s the significance of each country?
We went to so many countries for our wedding portraits because of our visa and financial situation. We went to Australia, where we first met each other; Korea, as his second visa got denied; Singapore because my family is here ; and Brazil, where his family is. We will also be going to Germany and Malaysia for shoots during transit. Malaysia KLIA2 airport holds special memories for us as we both flew there many times in 2015, and had 12 flights on AirAsia over the course of our long-distance relationship.
2. How did you organise the different photoshoots? How long did the planning take?
As the photo shoots were mostly DIYs, we had friends and even passers-by help us take them. The only professional shoot we had was in Singapore, and was a gift from my closest friends from my polytechnic days. As some of my good friends can’t physically be there for our wedding in Brazil, I had them take photos with me as my bridesmaids.
We mostly organise the shoots via group chats online to discuss venues and photographers. Planning was easy. I was more concerned with visas and flights. We wanted to both enjoy the journey, as we know wedding planning itself can be stressful. I am the planner, while Mike is the designer full of creative ideas.
3. Was there a theme for the shoots?
Our theme was blue and white – our favourite colours. I bought a bunch of blue and white flowers from IKEA and had my bridesmaids wear blue for the shoots.
4. Did you have a lot of budget for them?
People won’t believe our total budget for the shoots. Ever since we started our wedding planning, Mike and I knew that we didn’t want to get into credit card debts for a huge wedding. Even though I used to dream of that when I was young, I decided that I prefer cozy weddings after being exposed to Australian style weddings. I didn’t want to spend over $30,000 on a Chinese-style banquet.
We will only be spending about $150 for the shoot in all six countries, excluding airfare. We are so blessed to have friends to help us out by chauffeuring us around, taking extra photos after the professional shoot ended, and even editing the photos for us.
I got my Alfred Angelo dress exclusively at a bridal studio clearance sale for $200 in Australia! I believe it was a gift from God – as it fitted perfectly, weighed less than 1kg (easier to hand carry when I travel), and was a perfect fit.
5. Who did your hair and makeup?
The make up in Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Australia were done by myself! Hours of watching hairstyling tutorials on YouTube to find the perfect look really paid off! In Australia, I had a friend volunteer to try out several hairstyles, and finally chose one for the Australian shoot.
For our ROM in Singapore, my friend who is a professional makeup artist did my makeup and hair.
6. Why a wedding in Brazil?
We chose to have our wedding in Brazil because of the rejection of visa in Australia and Singapore. Also, weddings cost a lot in Singapore and it will be much harder to fly his huge family over. We had an engagement party and Chinese tea ceremony here to honour my family, and my dad will be flying over to Brazil to give me away.