"I thought his bio was funny!" Real and celebrity couples share their romantic "how we met" stories

Meant for each other

1/35

Siau Jiahui, YES 933 FM deejay, producer and presenter met Mr. T through a mutual friend. "We were introduced by our friend, who left halfway through the dinner she'd invited us both to. Things were a little awkward, but we kept the conversation going. Thereafter, we communicated through Whatsapp and dated. We're very comfortable with each othe rand he makes me laugh most of the time," says Jiahui.

See their wedding album here, plus Jiahui's wedding planning tips.

Music transcends all boundaries

2/35

Chinese actress Vivien Han recalls the moment when she first met her husband, Taiwanese actor, singer, composer and former F4 band member Ken Chu: "We met while filming a movie. Ken played my boyfriend. Things sparked when he kissed me during a scene and it wasn't in the script. The next day, he passed by my changing room, heard what I was listening to, and stopped and said it was his favourite song too. Ken adds: 'This beautiful woman with the beautiful eyes makes me feel young again all the time. She is so easy to get along with, and we have endless conversations about common interests and passions. It didn't take me long to figure out that we were made for each other."

See their wedding album and more details here.

It's gotta be love

3/35

Jade Seah and Terence Lim first met in a Sunday catechism class. "I actually don't remember much of Terence, except that one of the girls in the church pointed him out as being one of the cuter guys. He and I never really kept in touch after our confirmation ceremony in church. It was only when we bumped into each other more than a decade later that we started dating. The first time, he was so quiet, I thought he hated me. By the second date, he made it clear that he was very interested in connecting on a deeper level," says Jade.

See their wedding details here and here.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

4/35

Singapore Idol 2 finalist Jonathan Leong, singer-songwriter, music producer and asset management relationship manager met social media strategist and lifestyle blogger, Jeneen Goh at a mutual friend's Christmas party in 2009. "We'd attended the same party for years but at different times. When we finally met, we really hit it off. However, as I was busy working in Voyage de la Vie at Resorts World Sentosa, we didn't really start dating until about nine months later," says Jonathan.

"It was definitely love at first spark for me. I thought he was cute. We chatted all night and I thought we had some good chemistry going on and I was expecting him to ask me out on a date. Except, he never did!" adds Jeneen.

See their wedding album here, plus their edgy rock-chic portraits and relationship tips.

That's showbiz

5/35

Azzah Fariha Samat and Alif Abdullah first met at a Suria event about eight years ago (in 2008). "I was appearing in the show, and Alif was performing a duet with his cousin Syarif - they were formerly known as Sleeq," says Azzah.

See their wedding album here.

Thanks, Facebook!

6/35

Sezairi Sezali, singer-songwriter, actor and Singapore Idol 3 winner met longtime girlfriend Syaza Qistina Tan, an events executive while working at an arts festival at the end of 2008. "Syaza was the relief instructor for one of the groups of kids I was overseeing. We began talking after she added me on Facebook, and started dating in April 2009," says Sezairi.

See their wedding album here.

Summer lovin'

7/35

"Michael and I were introduced by a mutual friend at a full moon party at Tanjong Beach Club in June 2011. He pursued me for a month and soon after, we became a couple. I fell in love with his sincerity, charm, intelligence, and sense of humour, as well as his ability to love unconditionally. The bonus: he was gorgeous and tall, too!" - Choy Teh

See their wedding album here.

Real prize

8/35

"We met through a mutual friend over several poker sessions in 2010. Even though I lost to him at poker, I gained something better in the end - a soulmate. We didn't start dating until after I'd moved to Hong Kong for work in late 2012. Yang Kang had already been working there for several years so he offered to show me around and experience the city like a local. Things took off from there," says Jessica Tan, model, actress and Miss Singapore Universe 2007.

See their wedding album here plus tips on shopping on Taobao and shooting overseas.

Halfway across the world

9/35

Rebecca Ang and Miqueias Rohr met when she was studying in Sydney, Australia, and he was an exchange student from Brazil. She tells us: "We met in church. He remembered me as the Asian girl with blue eyes; I wore coloured contacts a lot. When he visited SIngapore in 2013 from Brazil, I showed him and his friends around. We started hanging out more, too, and I really enjoyed chatting with him. At one stage, we saw each other daily. Before he went back to Brazil, he asked me to be his girlfriend," says Rebecca.

See their wedding in Dec 2016, and their story here and here.

The power of social media

10/35

Celeste Xu and Benjamin Eio met 10 years ago (in 2006) on the now-defunct social media site, Friendster. "We became friends and then slowly drifted apart. Six years later, we found each other on Facebook and discovered we actually enjoyed each other's company. I was experiencing a terrible situation then and he was there for me. In time, I fell in love with him," says Celeste.

See their wedding album here.

Workplace romance

11/35

Singapore-based Hong Kongers Gwen Li and Vernon Neo met at work. She tells us: "We met when an editor organised a farewell lunch for us during the last week of our internship at a newspaper in Hong Kong. We started chatting and quickly realised that we had grown up just one block away from other other, and in the same condo complex in Hong Kong. After the internship, we headed back to our studies - he in the US and me in the UK - and started a long-distance relationship. Two years later, we graduated and decided to take a leap of faith and move to Singapore with no jobs, no place to stay, and no plan B."

See their wedding in the Dec 2016 issue.

Spot the resemblance

12/35

Founders of MAAD Creatives, Aster and Max first met in design school. "We only got together after graduation. Max thinks I look like one of his two plush piglets, Abba and Baba, which he's had since he was seven or eight," says Aster.

See their wedding album here.

Surprise!

13/35

"We met as classmates in junior college in 2004 and spent a lot of time together, taking the same bus home, collaborating in the same project work group, and even going on a community involvement trip to Cebu, Philippines together. However, it wasn't until our second year in Singapore Management University (SMU) that we grew closer. Our friends didn't believe us when we first got together, because we used to squabble so much. It took a while to convince everyone," says Belinda.

See their wedding album here.

A love story in the making

14/35

Celia and Pierre were colleagues and became good friends as a result as they spent a lot of time together on site visits. "After knowing one another for about three years, Pierre was about to leave for France as his work contract in Singapore was up. It was then that our mutual friend told me that Pierre was secretly in love with me for some time and asked if I felt the same. That was when I realised that I had a soft spot for him. But as he was about to leave for France then, the relationship was uncertain, and we didn't manage to take things further. But we remained good friends still. Things took a turn for the better when Pierre was given the opportunity to take up a job offer in Singapore in 2012. The rest for us, is history," says Celia.

See their wedding album here.

New Year's Kiss!

15/35

"Kenneth and I first met at my sister's wedding; he happened to be one of the groomsmen. We both consider my brother-in-law Timothy Tan our matchmaker. He invited Kenneth to a netball game. As the organiser, I gave everyone my handphone number for emergency purposes. He didn't even have to ask for my number! The texting and subsequent dating started from there," says Emmeline.

See their wedding album here.

We got set up!

16/35

Elizabeth and Nicholas met at his 30th birthday party at The Mad Men Attica Bar two years ago. "A mutual friend asked me to come along and crash the party. We believe he might have been trying to set us up," says Elizabeth.

See their wedding album here.

Nine years in the making

17/35

Fitri and I met at Singapore Polytechnic, but only grew closer in our second year, when he was one of the facilitators for the freshman orientation programme, and I was on the committee. He got my number from a mutual friend, and we started chatting and dating soon after that. He asked me to be his girlfriend two months later, and proposed nine years into our relationship," says Sandy.

See their wedding album here.

Growing together

18/35

"It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Bob and I met. He was my brother’s JC friend and my sister’s cell leader in church. We only grew closer after knowing each other for a couple of years through various church activities. We hung out a lot and eventually grew closer. Bob won me over because he’s one of the most sincere, respectful and thoughtful guys I know!" - Dawn

See their wedding album here.

Tinder romance

19/35

Her World Brides Project Makeover bride Nicole O met her husband, Habib, on Tinder about 18 months before their wedding in December 2016. "I thought his bio was funny while he liked my smile and dimple. It wasn't love at first sight, but I definitely thought he was cute when we met in person. Habib is the kindest, most patient man I have ever met. He is the yin to my yang, and makes me want to be a better person," says Nicole.

Friends to lovers

20/35

Fellow Project Makeover bride Elaine said of her husband: "We were junior college classmates. Before we became a couple, we were close friends, which is the best foundation for a future together. My husband-to-be is a kind and beautiful person, and very passionate about the things he cares about. We have great chemistry; I can understand his thoughts and complete his sentences."

One good deed deserves another

21/35

Jia Lin and Shian Wen were both volunteers - "he was the photographer while I was the counsellor" - at a camp for disadvantaged children in 2012. "We were too busy to talk then, but once we connected on Facebook, we started dating," says Jia Lin.

See their wedding album here.

Love on the beach

22/35

Maikalani and Leiha'aheo'okalehua'omapuana (or Lei for short) first met at Sandy Beach on O'ahu's south shore while diving for shells and drifting trash. "He bumped into me while playing in the waves and offered me a cowry shell he'd found as an apology. Weeks later, a mutual friend introduced us and we hung out in a group doing hikes and dives, and beach days. He asked me out on a date a few months later and the rest is history," says Lei.

See their wedding album here.

Gym buddies

23/35

Natalie and Timothy first met at the gym through their trainer. "Tim first asked me out to dinner under the pretext of finding out more about university life. We dated for five years before we got hitched," says Natalie.

See their wedding album here.

High schoolmates

24/35

Melissa and Reinaldi (or Rei) met on the first day of maths class in high school. "Rei was one of the new students. We were both in relationships and didn't have many classes together. Even when we did, we were never seated close to one another. Little did we know that a year later, we would both be single and become the best of friends. Then, we shared the same group of friends during the last year of high school, and although we were polar opposites of one another (he's the logical one and I'm the over-emotional one), something just clicked. He finally proposed after we'd been together for seven years," says Melissa.

See their wedding album here.

Hello there!

25/35

"Gareth and I met at Immigrants Gastrobar in Joo Chiat Road. I was working part-time as a waitress. He was the manager who worked the bar. His dad was the owner," says Melanie.

See their wedding album here.

Chance meeting

26/35

Film and television producer, lifestyle and travel blogger, as well as former Miss Iran Sepideh Haftgoli said of her first meeting with Fly Entertainment artiste, host and actor Max Loong: "We first met at Fig & Olive, one of our favourite restaurants in Los Angeles in the US. We were both by the bar when we started chatting. Max was leaving the country the next day, so we talked on the phone for about two weeks after we met, and just got to know each other better and better. Once he returned to LA, we were inseparable. The rest is history," says Sepideh.

See their wedding album and love lessons here.

Night out

27/35

Marvie Jean Tejada met Adam Neat at 1-Altitude. "Adam is a DJ and was headlining there the night my girlfriends and I were celebrating a birthday. We bumped into one another as I was walking out. A few days later, Adam commented on one of my pictures on the club's Facebook page. We got to talking regularly after that, and one thing led to another," says Marvie.

See their wedding album here.

Childhood sweethearts

28/35

"Tze Yang and I have been friends since 1999. He spent his pilot trainee days with the Republic of Singapore Air Force in Australia, Canada and United States and we kept in touch occasionally via text messages. We met up in 2014 and love blossomed. It was not difficult to confess our feelings to each other because we had known each other for so long," says Linda.

See their wedding album here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

29/35

Rachel and Miq met by chance on Valentine's Day in 2014. "I was walking home from work along Upper Bukit Timah Road (before King Albert Park), and carrying a load of worksheets (I'm a teacher) when my bag gave way and everything spilled out. Miq happened to be stuck at the traffic light, saw me, stopped his car by the access road, and came over to help," says Rachel.

See their wedding album here.

Family friends

30/35

Rachel and Po Loong first met at a Christmas party in 2001. They were family friends at first, but quickly became close friends, says Rachel. Romance only blossomed later in 2004 when they both attended Bronte College of Canada to further their studies. The couple tied the knot in 2015. "Getting married didn't feel that different to us as we'd been together for 11 years. But the moment we were pronounced man and wife was still a huge highlight," says Rachel.

See their wedding album here.

Club mates!

31/35

Samantha and Iqbal were acquaintances for a "pretty long time." "Things only heated up between us when we bumped into each other at a club. From there, it started with a date, then a proposal in 2014, and here we are now," says Samantha.

See their wedding album here.

Thanks bro, you're the best!

32/35

Xin Hui and Keith met back in 2012 when Xin Hui's brother got to know him through his group of friends. "My brother felt that Keith was a good match for me and introduced us after finding out more about him from his friends. It wasn't love at first sight, but I felt a connection when the conversation steered towards food, one of my favourite topics," says Xin Hui.

See their wedding album here.

Friends know best

33/35

"Shane and I were introduced by a mutual friend five years ago. We got to talking via Whatsapp, and subsequently chatted by phone for a while before meeting up. Our first date went surprisingly well, and things progressed from there!" - Sharon

See their wedding album here.

International love

34/35

Lim Shuzhen met Kevin Lee, who is from Canada, while they "were both working for the same company in Hong Kong. We shared instant chemistry and six months into our relationship, we were discussing marriage! He proposed in front The Bund in Shanghai, China," says Shuzhen.

See their wedding album in the Dec 2016 issue.

Love at first sight

35/35

Wan Ting and Desmond didn't have a good first impression of each other, "but after working together on several projects, things changed. He pursued me for over a year before he finally won my heart," says Wan Ting.

See their wedding album here.