News broke early last year that actress Tay Ying and chef Wu Sihan were dating; as it turns out, they’ve now been engaged for a year. And, they’ve set a date for wedding bells to ring: They’ll be officially married in June this year.
The couple first met through a mutual friend while pandemic restrictions were still in place. In 2022, eagle-eyed followers on social media pieced together photos posted separately of the two on vacation in what appeared to be the same spots. And, in January 2024, they officially announced their relationship via social media. Wu proposed a few months later, on Mar 20.
As a matter of fact, “In our first year together, we were already starting to talk about marriage,” Tay Ying told CNA Lifestyle. “We knew we were the ones for each other.”
She explained: “It was a connection we felt from the beginning. We’re on a similar frequency; the way we live our day-to-day lives is also very similar. A lot of boxes were checked. We’re able to complement each other.”
Spoiler alert: She said yes (Photo: Tay Ying and Wu Sihan)
“We think alike,” Wu agreed. “Every trip we take together has emphasised that she is the one for me. We travel at an efficient and adventurous pace. As a chef, I need to do a lot of research in terms of tasting food, and she goes along with that, from street food to high end fine dining. She’s also very spontaneous.”
Importantly for Tay, “He takes very good care of the people around me, and puts in effort for the people who matter to me, especially my parents.”
When she first soft-launched him to her folks, actors Hong Hui Fang and Zheng Geping, “I just said I was going out with this guy. I told them the basic stuff like, he’s a chef, what kind of person he is. They somehow found out who he was via social media,” she laughed. “My mum made an amateur mistake – she accidentally followed him. I was like, ‘He’s going to think I’m such a weirdo.’”
The Tay family welcoming the new year in Jan 2025. (Photo: Instagram/Honghuifang)
Her parents met Wu in person for the first time at his restaurant Supply & Demand. “He went all out,” Tay recalled. “He curated a four-course dinner with premium ingredients. I was impressed as well, because I wasn’t expecting that.”
“I bribed them with food,” Wu quipped.
Was he nervous about dating “hunkle” Zheng Geping’s daughter?
“My friends said, ‘He’s so fit! He must be very fierce. How come you dare to date her?’” Wu recounted with a laugh. “Actually, he’s not like that. He’s quite a gentle giant, apart from his big muscles! I’ve been learning a lot from him in terms of the way he handles things. He is very disciplined. He gets up early in the morning, has coffee, does his work and goes off for a gym session.”
As for his relationship with her mother, Tay said, “He and my mum can chat until 4am or 5am.”
(Photo: Instagram/tayying_)
“Her mum is like a friend. You can tell her everything – she’s very open-minded. Our conversations are unfiltered – for example, we can even talk about explicit scenes in movies.”
Did he go through the formality of asking their blessing to marry their daughter before he proposed?
“I did seek her father’s approval face-to-face,” Wu told us. “Her mother was in Taiwan filming for a drama, so I called her. She was like, ‘Why are you asking this kind of stupid question?’”
Since it was a done deal, Wu racked his brains to try to plan a surprise proposal.
“I did tell him there were things I wanted and didn’t want – intimate, not over the top, a simple, classic ring,” Tay said. “And, I told him I must have a photographer and videographer to capture the moment.”
“It’s difficult to catch her off guard because she’s very sharp,” Wu said. So, he tried to engineer a “work setting where she would be very focused on work”.
He asked a photographer friend to arrange a photo shoot in a studio on the pretence that it was for content creation. There, they had her enter a room where a photo montage of their time together played on a projector screen, and Wu appeared with a bouquet of flowers; meanwhile, without her noticing, friends and family filtered onto the mezzanine.
(Photo: Tay Ying and Wu Sihan)
“I didn’t believe it because you wouldn’t usually expect proposals to be in the morning – this happened around 10am,” Tay laughed.
“My first question was, ‘Did I surprise you?’ Then I saw her crying and I was so touched because it was a successful event,” Wu said, adding, “I had a lot of help. We had an event planner, a videographer and a crew with mics and earpieces – they were very professional.” The couple’s friend, actress and florist Kayly Loh, also helped by filling the room with floral decorations.
The wedding, too, will be “timeless and simple”, Tay said. “We don’t like things too fancy.” Well, “It can be fancy, but it has to be timeless.”
She added, “We’re definitely doing a banquet and we will still have traditional Chinese elements like the gatecrashing, because after all, we are Chinese.”
On top of that, “I’ve also had a kebaya custom-made, because Sihan’s family is Peranakan,” she revealed. “I’ve been wearing kebaya when we visit them at Chinese New Year, but I have been borrowing from my aunt. So, I thought this was a good opportunity to make one for myself.”
On Wu’s part, “I don’t think I’ll be wearing batik” to match, he quipped.
The couple also shared that they’ve just started renovation work on their new home – the theme is “modern minimalism” with a clean white palette – “so hopefully we can move in right after the wedding,” Tay said, and start building a blissful home.
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The couple first met through a mutual friend while pandemic restrictions were still in place. In 2022, eagle-eyed followers on social media pieced together photos posted separately of the two on vacation in what appeared to be the same spots. And, in January 2024, they officially announced their relationship via social media. Wu proposed a few months later, on Mar 20.
As a matter of fact, “In our first year together, we were already starting to talk about marriage,” Tay Ying told CNA Lifestyle. “We knew we were the ones for each other.”
She explained: “It was a connection we felt from the beginning. We’re on a similar frequency; the way we live our day-to-day lives is also very similar. A lot of boxes were checked. We’re able to complement each other.”
Spoiler alert: She said yes (Photo: Tay Ying and Wu Sihan)
“We think alike,” Wu agreed. “Every trip we take together has emphasised that she is the one for me. We travel at an efficient and adventurous pace. As a chef, I need to do a lot of research in terms of tasting food, and she goes along with that, from street food to high end fine dining. She’s also very spontaneous.”
Importantly for Tay, “He takes very good care of the people around me, and puts in effort for the people who matter to me, especially my parents.”
MEETING THE PARENTS
When she first soft-launched him to her folks, actors Hong Hui Fang and Zheng Geping, “I just said I was going out with this guy. I told them the basic stuff like, he’s a chef, what kind of person he is. They somehow found out who he was via social media,” she laughed. “My mum made an amateur mistake – she accidentally followed him. I was like, ‘He’s going to think I’m such a weirdo.’”
The Tay family welcoming the new year in Jan 2025. (Photo: Instagram/Honghuifang)
Her parents met Wu in person for the first time at his restaurant Supply & Demand. “He went all out,” Tay recalled. “He curated a four-course dinner with premium ingredients. I was impressed as well, because I wasn’t expecting that.”
“I bribed them with food,” Wu quipped.
Was he nervous about dating “hunkle” Zheng Geping’s daughter?
“My friends said, ‘He’s so fit! He must be very fierce. How come you dare to date her?’” Wu recounted with a laugh. “Actually, he’s not like that. He’s quite a gentle giant, apart from his big muscles! I’ve been learning a lot from him in terms of the way he handles things. He is very disciplined. He gets up early in the morning, has coffee, does his work and goes off for a gym session.”
As for his relationship with her mother, Tay said, “He and my mum can chat until 4am or 5am.”
(Photo: Instagram/tayying_)
“Her mum is like a friend. You can tell her everything – she’s very open-minded. Our conversations are unfiltered – for example, we can even talk about explicit scenes in movies.”
Did he go through the formality of asking their blessing to marry their daughter before he proposed?
“I did seek her father’s approval face-to-face,” Wu told us. “Her mother was in Taiwan filming for a drama, so I called her. She was like, ‘Why are you asking this kind of stupid question?’”
POPPING THE QUESTION
Since it was a done deal, Wu racked his brains to try to plan a surprise proposal.
“I did tell him there were things I wanted and didn’t want – intimate, not over the top, a simple, classic ring,” Tay said. “And, I told him I must have a photographer and videographer to capture the moment.”
“It’s difficult to catch her off guard because she’s very sharp,” Wu said. So, he tried to engineer a “work setting where she would be very focused on work”.
He asked a photographer friend to arrange a photo shoot in a studio on the pretence that it was for content creation. There, they had her enter a room where a photo montage of their time together played on a projector screen, and Wu appeared with a bouquet of flowers; meanwhile, without her noticing, friends and family filtered onto the mezzanine.
(Photo: Tay Ying and Wu Sihan)
“I didn’t believe it because you wouldn’t usually expect proposals to be in the morning – this happened around 10am,” Tay laughed.
“My first question was, ‘Did I surprise you?’ Then I saw her crying and I was so touched because it was a successful event,” Wu said, adding, “I had a lot of help. We had an event planner, a videographer and a crew with mics and earpieces – they were very professional.” The couple’s friend, actress and florist Kayly Loh, also helped by filling the room with floral decorations.
TOWARDS WEDDED BLISS
The wedding, too, will be “timeless and simple”, Tay said. “We don’t like things too fancy.” Well, “It can be fancy, but it has to be timeless.”
She added, “We’re definitely doing a banquet and we will still have traditional Chinese elements like the gatecrashing, because after all, we are Chinese.”
On top of that, “I’ve also had a kebaya custom-made, because Sihan’s family is Peranakan,” she revealed. “I’ve been wearing kebaya when we visit them at Chinese New Year, but I have been borrowing from my aunt. So, I thought this was a good opportunity to make one for myself.”
On Wu’s part, “I don’t think I’ll be wearing batik” to match, he quipped.
The couple also shared that they’ve just started renovation work on their new home – the theme is “modern minimalism” with a clean white palette – “so hopefully we can move in right after the wedding,” Tay said, and start building a blissful home.
Continue reading...