Runaway success

Their big day was hanging in the balance after their wedding planner disappeared and became uncontactable.

But their family and friends rallied round and helped the couple pull off their wedding last Saturday.

They even got help from random strangers who did not charge them for their work to make the couple's wedding, held at the void deck of a HDB flat at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10, a success.

The newlyweds, Mr J. Iskandar and Madam Salina, said they found out about their runaway wedding planner a week before their wedding.

The 36-year-old bride said her caterer alerted her to a Facebook post by another couple who complained of their caterer failing to cook for their reception. The couple had hired the same wedding planner as Madam Salina.

UNEASY

"When I heard the story, I felt very uneasy as my wedding was in a week. So I called the wedding planner, but the number was not in use." Text and WhatsApp messages to her also went unanswered.

Madam Salina's brother, Mr Imran Mohamed Sarip, a part-time wedding planner, jumped in to help.

"My sister called me and sounded so worried that I promised to make sure that everything would go smoothly," said Mr Imran, 37.

He got a friend working in a wedding company to sponsor the decorations and S.I Decor Catering to cater food for the reception.

Mr Samzumi Mohamed Yased, 38, the owner of S.I Decor Catering, told The New Paper that he was shocked when he received the order.

He said: "We found out only two days before the wedding, so we had to prepare a huge quantity of food. For weddings, orders are usually made one year before the actual event."

But the biggest help came unexpectedly from a stranger.

The DJ they hired, Mr Azzurri Azmi, was setting up his equipment the night before the wedding when he took a photo of the empty void deck.

WENT VIRAL

The part time DJ said: "I uploaded the photos on Facebook, hoping to spread the word about this wedding planner. I didn't expect the post to go viral. People came to offer their help."

Mr Imran said more help started pouring in at 1am.

"One company, 83 Events, came to help out with the decorations. Someone sent eight boxes of kueh. We didn't have to pay anything, they were helping us out of kindness."

Mr Ren Sanusi, 31, the owner of 83 Events, said one of his teammates found out about the incident through Facebook.

He said: "We had just finished another event when we saw the post. So we went to Ang Mo Kio to see how we could help."

Madam Salina felt very blessed that her wedding turned out successful.

She said: "The wedding turned out better than I'd planned. The guests said the food was good and the dais was more beautiful than the original one I had chosen."

lwenqi@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Dec 31, 2014.
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