New Yorkers Tiff Chang and Sateesh Daniel met on Tinder, but it was actually someone else who did the swiping. “It’s a funny story,” Tiff shares. “[Our mutual friend] was on Sateesh’s Tinder, and he saw that I was on it, swiped right, and the rest is history.” A date at Sunny’s Bar in Brooklyn followed, and the pair hit it off so well that they spontaneously rented a car for their second date, driving it to Storm King, an open-air museum in upstate New York. In a case of nominative determinism, their car broke down because of a thunderstorm.
Luckily, this mishap didn’t put a dampener on their relationship, and on Christmas Eve 2021, Sateesh proposed with a ring he had created in collaboration with Tiff’s parents, who are retired jewellery designers. “We were in Iceland,” Tiff recalls. “He had hidden the ring as one of the presents in my stocking, it was right at the bottom and the last thing I opened.” The ring was Tiffany cut – Tiff’s dad’s suggestion to honour his daughter’s name.
Tiff, who is a freelance creative consultant at Isamaya Beauty, took to the wedding planning process enthusiastically. “It was especially fun for me as there was a lot of branding and art production involved,” she explains. “Nonetheless, it was also very stressful since I didn’t know where to stop. Finding the right team was the most challenging aspect, as we both wanted an ‘anti-wedding’ wedding.”
Unsurprisingly considering her background, Tiff’s approach to planning her big day felt more like the run up to a major brand campaign than a wedding. She credits Zhong Lin and Yuan Ling Wan with helping her to assemble an A-team that included wedding planner Fanny Min, production by Tung Yu Ting and Chia Chien Ju, art production by Setstation Studio, prop design by Hung Shih Hui, light design by Nick Wu and producer Nelly Yang. Meanwhile, Tiff’s employer, Isamaya Ffrench, asked if she could do not just her make-up, but her hair as well. “She doesn’t do hair professionally, but she’s done it for a couple of other weddings,” Tiff explains. “She even asked her hairstylist to train her to do it.”
When it came to her dress, Tiff had always known she would wear Vivienne Westwood, one of her favourite designers of all time. After trying on the “Grace” gown, with its corset bust, pencil skirt and an overskirt for added volume, she knew instantly that it was The One. Her parents made her a pair of pearl earrings for the wedding day, with simple Magda Butrym heels and a handmade veil completing her look. For the various other events making up the wedding weekend, she worked with her best friends, fashion designer Stephanie Yang and creative talent agent Gabriela Moussaieff, on bringing her vision to life.
Sateesh is Sri Lankan-American and Tiff is Taiwanese-American, but they decided that they would like the wedding to take place in Taipei, where Tiff grew up, rather than New York. With the majority of their guests travelling from overseas, they organised a series of events to welcome them, including a lunch at the iconic dim sum spot, Yang Shin, followed by a crawl of Ningxia Night Market.
The wedding day itself was exactly eight years after they first exchanged texts, on 21 September 2023, and consisted of two parts. The first was a traditional tea ceremony to honour their elders, held at Tiff’s grandparents’ home, where she spent a large part of her childhood. Taiwanese brides traditionally wear red, as it symbolises good luck and prosperity, but as the colour played a major part in the Western-style wedding ceremony taking place later that day, Tiff chose to wear a lime-green, custom-made qipao instead, which she teamed with Louis Vuitton heels.
The second part of the day took place at sunset, at the Grand Hotel – one of Tiff’s non-negotiables. “Before my grandpa passed, he always wanted me to get married there, as he had heavy involvement in planning and building the hotel in the 1950s,” she says. “I was raised by my grandparents and godmother in Taipei for the first six years of my life, so I thought it was extremely important.”
The ceremony took place on the 12th floor, (“the first time anyone had gotten married on the balcony”), giving guests 360-degree views of Taipei as the sun was going down. The flower girls, Malini and Mika, were first to walk down the aisle, followed by Sateesh, wearing a bespoke suit by The Armoury. The couple’s dear friend, Luke Stern, officiated, with Tiff’s brother Ted translating for non-English speaking guests. After saying their vows, Tiff and Sateesh were showered with petals by their guests, as Elvis Presley’s “The Wonder of You” played.
A Taiwanese-style banquet followed, with each dish chosen for its auspicious meaning, from golden garlic lobster with noodles (“red for happiness, and noodles, due to their length, symbolising longevity”), to chicken and mushroom soup (“poultry represents peace and unity”). The couple skipped speeches and opted instead to lead a champagne toast before cutting the cake (which featured gorilla bride and groom wedding toppers – a nod to Sateesh’s favourite animal), while “The Moon Represents My Heart” by national treasure Teresa Teng played.
Three party buses equipped with disco balls and designated DJs transported guests to the after-party, held 15 minutes away at a speakeasy, Staff Only Club. Tiff switched into a feather-trimmed Safiyaa dress and Miu Miu heels to dance the night away, with coffee and Taiwanese snacks on offer for anyone still suffering from jetlag.
“It was my dream wedding,” Tiff smiles. “We are so happy with how everything turned out.”
2023-11-19 07:00:00
#York #Brides #Wedding #Love #Letter #Taiwanese #Heritage
