In the heart of the historic Boyne Valley, you will find Ballymagarvey Village. Set within acres of beautiful, unspoilt countryside, this breathtaking country venue was the perfect backdrop for Sam Chong & Wai Fung Cheung, owners of Kakilang, to say 'I Do' on July 31st 2023. Captured by Kyrstin Healy Photography, this summer wedding is absolutely stunning!
The two met as all good love stories started, through a friend of a friend over Facebook! "Wai Fung added me on Facebook (I know, how original) and went on to apologise for the random friend request. I only accepted him because he had mutual friends of mine. Anyway, then we spoke a little, but nothing major." The two had been floating in each other's spheres for years through university before finally meeting for a first date/not-so-date! "We had insanely similar backgrounds and personalities, so we took the plunge to meet in 2017 for a casual internet friend meeting at the Ramen Bar on South William St. On that same day, I met his parents for the first time at the Ramen Bar, which was a little awkward. We both finished college, and I went on my J1, and he went to Hong Kong to see if he could pursue his career there. Fast-forward to 2018, when I was still single. He was on holiday with his family when he sent me another message. I entertained him, and here we are today!"
"We had talked about the proposal, and I was expecting it in the next year or so. But because Sam was pregnant, I knew I had to put a ring on the girl I love. So, I planned the proposal to be a month after she gave birth. I booked an area on Layla's rooftop restaurant in Ranelagh near Stella Theatre, where we had our first official date. She thought she was meeting friends for a casual dinner to celebrate finishing her postpartum confinement, where she stayed indoors for 1 month and had to follow a bunch of rules! I convinced her it was a celebration for that, and little did she know the minute she got upstairs, her loved ones were all waiting for her! And that’s when I spluttered out my proposal speech, got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. It was great, a proposal followed by an engagement party!"
"I wasn’t very fussy about this, but I did the extra sheet masks over the past few months and just tried to drink more water! I did, however, want to see if I liked the idea of HD brows. I got them done, and I HATED IT. She didn’t cater to my face shape or brow shape at all, so I opted to just do my own brows! I got amazing eyelash extensions from SUEDE lash studio."
Sam left finding her wedding dress till very late in the planning process, less than five months before the wedding! With the pressure on, she booked viewings in a few boutiques but never quite felt like she had found her dream gown. "I wanted to give up and just go for a mediocre dress, but something in my gut said, "Let’s just see if there’s a place available to try on the weekend." I found The Bridal Outlet by Baldoyle. It was a more casual wedding dress shopping store; you get five colour chips and tag the dress you’d like to try. I picked out all 5, and then, on the way to the fittings room, the dress on the mannequin just immediately caught my eye. It was the first dress I tried on, and as cliche as it sounds, that’s when you KNOW that you’ve found your dress. I tried the other dresses but couldn't stop thinking about the first one, so I immediately put my deposit down after the fitting. There was no time wasting here."
Wai Fung tried a couple of locations, but he had very specific tastes and wanted his special suit to be well-made. "Louis Copeland & Sons immediately stole his heart because they made him feel special. The inclusion of having an incision of our wedding date and having our initials on the inside of his blazer was the cherry on top for him."
When choosing their wedding party, Sam & Wai Fung admitted to finding it quite difficult as they had so many people in their lives that they wanted to include. Ultimately, they decided to stick with their nearest and dearest and focus on celebrating everyone on the day. "For my bridal party, I chose my sister, my childhood friend, a college friend and two adult friends. Groomsman followed the same concept, too!" Sam dressed her bridesmaids in beautiful crimson cowl-neck dresses from Pretty Little Thing; "I wanted everyone to be comfortable and happy in their own skin. The chosen dress was less than €50! Everyone LOVED it. It suited them all so well, and the colour of their tanned skin tone was gorgeous!"
The couple had two ceremonies! One traditional Western unity ceremony to sign their marriage registration surrounded by friends and family and a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. "Our favourite part was our Tea Ceremony! I had an outfit change into a more traditional red wedding dress called Qun Kua, kneeled on a red cushion, and we honoured our elders with tea as they gifted us with their blessing via verbal blessings and gifts to the newlyweds."
From the moment the pair stepped into Ballymagarvey Village, they knew it would be their wedding venue. "It ticked a lot of boxes like location, aesthetics, and the staff and food were outstanding. We loved the exclusivity of the venue. It felt like we had a wedding at our own place. We felt comfortable and loved that there were rooms where the elders could chill and the younger crowd could dance their hearts out! The venue looks beautiful in all seasons. We wanted something that the crowd and ourselves would like. We weren’t big into bands, so we opted for a DJ, and that was perfect. Not a single moment was that dance floor empty."
Regarding the best decision, Sam said, "The best decision was definitely doing the tea ceremony. Being able to do a small part of a traditional Chinese wedding at our wedding was genuinely so special. But honestly, everything was the best decision."
Regarding the worst decision, Sam said, "I don’t think we can pick the worst decision, or should we say we don’t regret any decision we’ve made? I regret that we couldn’t make more time for family photos and genuine family time. It was all just a blur, and time went by so fast."
- Gráinne