Wedding bells are ringing for Tay Ying

Tay Ying is six weeks away from her wedding, yet is a picture of calm. She takes a sip of her warm kopi-o and shrugs nonchalantly when I question how she feels leading up to her big day. “Everyone’s asking me if I am nervous, but what’s there to be nervous about?”

Hers is a traditionally large Asian wedding, and everyone who has watched her grow up is coming, she says. Tay Ying thinks just about everyone she knows – from her own family to clients to friends from the entertainment industry – is going to show up. She is working on the unenviable task of seating arrangements at the moment, adding casually that the final numbers haven’t been fixed. I draw a breath, and she laughs. “Scary, right?”

Yet the 29-year-old actor, who has played significant roles in Singaporean dramas The Good Fight, Shero and The Blockbusters, remains unfazed as she gazes at her fiancé, 33-year-old celebrity chef Wu Si Han. The couple, who have been together for over four years, are seated side by side at cover shoot photographer Reuben Foong’s photo studio, looking every bit content and blissful. It also feels like a full circle moment interviewing Tay Ying for the cover story before yet another milestone in her life – the last time she was a Her World cover girl was in March 2022, when she had just joined Mediacorp as a fully fledged actor.

Tay Ying and Si Han function like a well-oiled machine, both completely in sync when they start discussing the finer details of their wedding. They each have three bridesmaids and groomsmen in their wedding party, although Si Han also has a backup team of 10 fit men to help him out when it comes to holding his own with alcoholic beverages on the wedding day.

Drinking plays a significant part in Chinese weddings, both for its social and ritualistic aspects. Festive drinking games, toasting celebratory drinks and clinking glasses with elders as a sign of respect are common scenes. “The drinking party has matching ties!” Tay Ying teases. 

The wedding will be split into two days: The first day is a smaller affair that encompasses Chinese gatecrashing games, followed by the couple’s wedding solemnisation, while the second day’s events include the tea ceremony, wedding banquet and after-party.

“We both come from Chinese households, so Chinese food [at our wedding] is non-negotiable,” Tay Ying explains. “As Si Han’s dad is Peranakan, there will also be some Peranakan elements at the wedding. I’ll be wearing a nyonya kebaya during the tea ceremony, and Si Han has chosen an outfit from Shanghai Tang.

While Tay Ying jokes that she can’t wait for the wedding to be over due to the intensity of wedding planning, she reveals that the tea ceremony is what she is most excited about. “That’s when only both our families will be around. I think that will be the most sentimental and emotional part of the day for me,” she says, smiling at Si Han.

Si Han, who is the head chef at Italian bistro Supply & Demand and has appeared in several variety shows, bobs his head in agreement. It is evident that the young couple share strong family ties and a deep sense of filial piety. They are firmly aligned regarding the fact that their wedding is also a day for their parents. “This feels like a second wedding for them. It’s a time when they get to see everyone come together again. It’s not just about our journeys, it’s about theirs,” Tay Ying says.

One generation to the next

Born to local actors Zheng Geping and Hong Huifang, who have both had illustrious careers and multiple Star Awards recognitions, Tay Ying says her parents have hit the nail on the head when it comes to nurturing a long, happy marriage. 

“They are very sweet and prioritise each other first, which I think is very important. Whenever they are apart, they Facetime each other daily,” she says of her parents, who have been married for 32 years. “Sometimes, when I go upstairs to their [private] living room to greet them, they are hugging each other and watching television. I hope to be as loving as them, even after so many years.” Geping and Huifang have their own sanctuary on the second floor of the family’s double-storey home, where Tay Ying and her singeractor younger brother, Calvert Tay, also reside.

One of Geping and Huifang’s favourite things to do together is indulging in their shared love of the entertainment industry by watching television dramas. “They don’t watch television like normal people because they analyse everything,” Tay Ying complains. “It’s so irritating. Sometimes, I just want to watch a show for entertainment purposes, and all of a sudden, work is brought up.”

Si Han adds with a chuckle: “Her father will be like, ‘Why is the light like that?’, while her mother might say, ‘What’s up with their facial expressions?’, but if the show is good, all is quiet!”

There are a multitude of wise sayings out there on what marriage is about, but for Tay Ying, it is akin to passing a baton from one generation to another. Her parents’ solid marriage has always been a beacon of inspiration to her.

“To me, marriage is about having a partner to go into this next phase of life with and to finish the rest of this journey as a couple,” she explains. “When we come into this world, we are brought up by our parents. They are the ones who walk with us for the first 40 per cent of our lives, before they pass the baton to someone else.”

Home is where the heart is

Apart from the intrinsic ties that marriage brings, Tay Ying and Si Han are counting down the days till they can finally set up home together. The couple are chatty when they talk about being knee-deep in house renovations, finishing off each other’s sentences and beaming at each other. Like most Singaporean young adults who choose to stay at home while they are single, due to high rental costs and filial piety, the couple still live with their parents – which makes it challenging to spend quality time together. 

“We’ve always yearned for our own space. Every other day, we stay at each other’s places, so we often have to carry a lot of things around, “ Tay Ying purses her lips. “Sometimes, we just want our privacy and moments to be still as a couple, in a place where there are no other distractions.”

Si Han chimes in merrily when asked about his non-negotiables for their new home. The first thing he mentions? A dual sink, he says with twinkling eyes, because they are an extremely efficient couple. “And because it’s cute,” he adds as an afterthought.

Tay Ying and Si Han typically get ready at the same time in the morning, waiting to take turns as they fight for the sink or mirror to fix their hair. “I’m the one waiting for him!” Tay Ying exclaims, insisting that she is quicker to be primed and ready to go.

Si Han shakes his head: “Yes, you are efficient, but that’s because of the one sink situation, and you do your makeup in the car.” 

Another must-have in their matrimonial home, which will be ready next month, is a tasteful kitchen. That doesn’t come as a surprise, given Si Han has been a chef for a decade. Ironically, he rarely cooks for Tay Ying given they don’t have a shared space. 

Tay Ying decides this is an opportune moment to praise her husband-to-be, declaring that his instant noodles are absolutely mouth-watering. “He will ‘zhng’ his instant noodles,” she grins, using a Singaporean colloquial term for “embellish”. “He has to plate everything he cooks, so even his instant noodles look amazing.”

I’m now curious about what he adds to this usually simple supper dish. “Whatever I can find in the fridge!” Si Han says, adding that it can be anything from eggs to fish or vegetables. “Tay Ying is a good cook too. She has this innate ability when it comes to understanding flavours and seasoning everything on point.”

Perhaps Tay Ying has Tiktok to thank for that, where her moments of doom scrolling end up in interesting recipes saved on her social media app. She proceeds to show me a few recipes that have caught her eye, including her favourite: chilli oil pasta. The other probable reason for her discerning taste buds is that she has picked up a few tips from Huifang, a formidable cook herself. The couple’s favourite dish from Tay Ying’s celebrity mum? Chicken congee, which Si Han describes as incredibly elevated.

Tay Ying accidentally reveals a secret ingredient from the family recipe, and gets chided by Si Han. “She uses chicken rice to cook the porridge, as well as chicken broth and abalone brine,” he clarifies. “Then, she adds shredded chicken, abalone, peanuts, shallot oil, and cuttlefish for texture. There are so many impactful layers of texture and flavour, which left me so intrigued when I had it for the first time.”

In the pursuit of love

People start streaming into the previously empty photo studio, including Reuben himself, who happens to be Tay Ying’s second cousin (their mothers are cousins). The couple greet everyone on set like they are old friends, offering a selection of curry puffs and other fried snacks Si Han had ordered earlier from Old Chang Kee.

Si Han’s love for feeding others is a long-standing trait of his, and this was palpable in the couple’s first meeting. They met through Si Han’s cousin, a gentleman called Shin Xu – who also happens to be Tay Ying’s good friend – during a birthday dinner at Supply & Demand. Si Han made sure to look after the group well, and whipped up a few complimentary dishes for them. The next day, Shin sent Tay Ying Si Han’s profile on Instagram, and she slid into his direct messages to thank him for the sumptuous spread. They began dating within a month and, as they say, the rest is history.

Overseas travel was an integral part of Tay Ying and Si Han’s courtship years. It was a way for them to carve out their own little world, and they exclaim in unison that their best trip was to Melbourne, Australia. “It was our first trip together, and Si Han’s first time in Melbourne,” Tay Ying reminisces.

“We went on road trips up to Mount Buller to see the snow, visited vineyards in the Yarra Valley. The coffee and dining scene in Melbourne is sensational,” she adds. While they currently have no concrete honeymoon plans, Si Han has a long list of places he would love to take his future wife, including an Alaskan cruise to see the Northern Lights, oyster farms in France, and whiskey distilleries in Scotland.

After three years of dating, Si Han proposed to Tay Ying in an intimate affair involving all of Tay Ying’s family and close friends. The surprise proposal happened at a photo studio, under the guise of a solo photo shoot for Tay Ying by a mutual photographer friend. Si Han arranged for a video montage to start playing halfway through the session, and once it ended, her friends started cheering as he walked up to her with a bouquet of flowers.

Did Tay Ying cry? “Ugly cry!” she affirmed, laughing. “It was 10am, so I definitely didn’t see it coming, even though we had talked about a rough timeline for marriage.” 

New beginnings

Tay Ying and Si Han both test as rare INFJs (advocates or idealists with Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling and Judging traits) on the Myers-Briggs’ personality test. Known for their strong moral compass and inclination for planning ahead, this personality type is said to make up just two per cent of the global population. 

Their shared desire to make inroads for the future explains why the couple are already thinking about starting a family in a few years’ time. “She has a strong maternal instinct,” Si Han praises. “We adopted a fiveyear-old dachshund named Tron at the beginning of last year, and she already misses him after two days [of being apart].”

Tay Ying nods, adding that she might “make an extreme decision” and quit her job to be a hands-on parent. “My parents were actually quite hands off with me. I don’t blame them, because they had to work hard for our family during a time when their schedules as local actors were so intense,” she recalls. “But I think raising the next generation is going to be a bigger challenge than before, so I hope to be a guiding light to our children. If one of us has to sacrifice our career for them, I don’t mind being that person.”

Her lips curve up into a small smile: “I turn 30 next year and am now going through a major transition in my life, where I’m going from being single to a married woman. It feels unfamiliar, but perhaps it’s time for a reset.”

PHOTOGRAPHY: REUBEN FOONG, ASSISTED BY: AMOS LEE & DANIEL WEST
CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING: LENA KAMARUDIN, ASSISTED BY: LATISHA SONIA SHAYMENTYRAN & ANIS NABILAH AZLEE
ART DIRECTION: RAY TICSAY
HAIR: ZHOU AIYI
MAKEUP: LASALLE LEE, USING CHANEL BEAUTY