Years ago, when I was working as a wedding planner, I witnessed something I’ll never forget. As the bridal car prepared to leave the family home, the bride rolled down her window and deliberately dropped an ornate fan onto the pavement. Her mother quickly stepped forward to retrieve it, their eyes meeting in a moment of understanding. Only later did I learn what this meant: she was symbolically leaving her maiden surname behind as she joined her husband’s family. Such a small gesture, yet carrying generations of meaning.
Weiwei Tan, Wed& Editor
That moment has stayed with me through my journey from wedding planner to editor. These are the rituals that make me wonder – how do other cultures mark these profound transitions? How many brides and grooms enact traditions whose meanings they’ve never fully explored?
If you’ve ever wondered why tea is served at a Chinese wedding, why banana leaves create the foundation for an Indian wedding feast, or why a Malay bride adorns her hands with intricate henna patterns – or if you’ve simply felt the quiet power of tradition lingering in your own ceremony – Kahwin Kahwin is where those questions find their answers.
This May, Kahwin Kahwin: Singapore Wedding Stories invites you into the heart of our most intimate rituals. This immersive journey into wedding traditions is brought to life by Tied Alliance, Singapore’s premier weddings and events planner. This exhibition is in partnership with the National Heritage Board as part of Singapore HeritageFest 2025 – a citywide celebration of our shared past. But instead of focusing on grand monuments or national milestones, this exhibition turns its attention to something more tender: the way we marry.
A Journey Through Marriage Traditions
Spanning from 13 to 25 May, Kahwin Kahwin is both educational and deeply personal. It honours the wedding customs of Singapore’s three main ethnic groups – Chinese, Indian, and Malay – while exploring how these traditions continue to shape modern love stories today.
Picture walking through spaces where the fragrance of jasmine garlands mingles with the crimson glow of a traditional Chinese wedding chamber, where you can touch the intricate beadwork of a Peranakan bride’s slippers or hear the rhythmic music that has accompanied newlyweds for centuries. In a world of Pinterest-perfect ceremonies and TikTok trends, this event reconnects us with the meaning behind what we do, what we inherit, and what we choose to carry forward.
What to Experience
Here’s what awaits you at this celebration of matrimonial heritage:
- Traditional Wedding Feasts
Banana Leaf Meal by Podi & Poray (17 & 18 May)
Nasi Briyani by Juwanda Hassim (22 & 23 May)
More than just meals, these are sensory journeys. Feel the smooth texture of the banana leaf beneath your fingertips, taste the complex flavours that have graced wedding feasts for generations, and understand why communal dining creates bonds that last beyond the wedding day. - Wedding Budget Workshop (17 May)
Discover the truth about wedding budgets – from hidden costs to smart saving tips – and learn how to plan a celebration that’s both beautiful and financially sound. - Wedding Personalisation Workshops (17 & 24 May)
Learn how to infuse your unique style into your wedding celebration while honouring meaningful cultural traditions. These sessions explore how to blend legacy with creativity, helping couples make intentional choices about which traditions to embrace. - Wedding & Beyond Workshops (17 & 24 May)
An inspiring session designed with Everitt Weddings to guide you through planning a meaningful celebration and building a strong foundation for your life together. - Hair & Makeup Workshop (18 May)
Master bridal beauty do’s and don’ts with AESTA. From timeless looks to avoiding common mistakes, learn how to achieve your perfect wedding day glow with expert styling tips. - Floral Workshops (18 & 24 May)
Discover what truly goes into creating stunning wedding floral designs – from budgeting smartly to understanding the artistry behind every bloom.
Throughout, you’ll also find tactile exhibits, traditional attire, and interactive moments where you can witness and participate in ancestral customs. It’s more than an event – it’s an unfolding dialogue between past and future. Head over to tiedalliance.com/kahwinkahwin for more details.
Why These Stories Matter
Weddings are often seen as forward-facing – plans, promises, Pinterest boards. But so much of what we do is backward-facing too, echoing our parents, our grandparents, even rituals we no longer fully understand. As Rubina Tiyu from Tied Alliance shared, “a lot of the traditions we do in weddings in Singapore is still from the history and what our parents ask us to do. We don’t question why it’s done.”
Consider the dropped fan in Chinese wedding processions, the breaking of glass in Jewish ceremonies, or the seven steps taken around the sacred fire in Hindu weddings. Each carries centuries of meaning, yet how many of us know the stories behind these gestures we inherit?
Kahwin Kahwin invites us to begin asking those questions – not to erase tradition, but to reconnect with it. To remember that culture is not static or decorative. It’s alive, evolving, and made meaningful in the telling and retelling.
For modern couples, creatives, and wedding professionals alike, this is a chance to step out of the usual wedding showcase and into something more grounded. More soulful. A ceremony of its own.
How to Attend
Dates: From 13-25 May 2025
Location: TA Community, 594 Serangoon Road, Singapore 218208
Admission: Free for exhibition; workshop tickets available through Tied Alliance’s website
Registration: Recommended for talks and workshops at www.tiedalliance.com/kahwinkahwin
Join the Conversation
What wedding traditions have you inherited? Which ones puzzle you, move you, or connect you to your roots? Share your wedding heritage stories with us using #KahwinKahwinSG or bring your family photographs to our Memory Corner during the exhibition.
After all, every wedding is both an ending and a beginning—just like that dropped fan, we leave something behind even as we move forward into something new.
Kahwin Kahwin: Singapore Wedding Stories is proudly presented by Tied Alliance in partnership with the National Heritage Board for Singapore HeritageFest 2025.
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