Couple’s Dream Wedding Delayed Because Of Standard Chartered Marathon Jam; Bride Broke Down


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I think I can say this with confidence – everyone hates jams.

Not the kind that you spread on bread along with your peanut butter, but the kind that keeps you stuck in your car for hours on end surrounded by equally unlucky drivers, the occasional horn blasts adding to your fuel of rage. You just want to get to your destination, is it that hard?!

Perhaps those upcoming flying taxi services will have a huge demand after all, for it can avoid the congestion on the ground and fly high in the clear sky.

Sadly, with these annoying jams, it may cause you to be epically late to that important meeting of yours, to that concert you bought tickets to six months ago after staking out all night, or maybe even your own wedding…

Way To Go, Standard Chartered Marathon 

Over the weekend, as I’m sure you’ve heard or even participated in, the Standard Chartered Marathon took place on 30 Nov.

It’s usually a highly anticipated running event for Singaporeans, but judging by how the organisers (Ironman Asia) tragically handled it this year, perhaps it won’t be that welcomed next year anymore.

Road closures were called for during the race amidst the busy downtown city area, so you can probably imagine what went down – it caused a jam of epic proportions, exactly what everyone hates.

And in usual Singaporean fashion, many were criticising them for their poor planning and causing the jam, which affected most drivers on that busy Saturday where concerts and conventions took place as well. Well, anyone would be mad, honestly.

Among all the affected Singaporeans, one couple came forth to share their horror story of how their dream wedding ended up turning into a nightmare thanks to the marathon.

Guests And Vendors Late

Lee Jian Ming, a groom who had gotten married on 30 Nov itself, shared his bad experience through a Facebook post.

Incoming Rant Alert.Finally am able to collect all my thoughts and calm myself down from all the anxiety and stress…

Posted by JianMing Lee on Tuesday, 3 December 2019

The couple held their wedding at the Marina Mandarin hotel, located in the heart of the city, and were expecting around 350 guests to attend the ceremony.

It was originally supposed to begin at 7.00pm, but when Lee went down to the cocktail reception area at 7.10pm, he saw absolutely NO ONE.

Image: Giphy

What happened? Did all their friends and relatives decide to collectively ghost them on the wedding day or did they simply forget?

Nope, just that damned traffic jam.

Only about 10 to 20% of guests had arrived by that time (lucky them) and this didn’t even include the groom’s parents, who were stuck in traffic for THREE WHOLE HOURS – imagine your parents being late for your own wedding because of something they couldn’t even control!


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According to Lee, the hotel staff couldn’t even guide his guests to alternate routes as they were not given any, and traffic marshals were equally as confused – it was a mess, basically.

Sadly, it led to one of his uncles and his family being unable to even attend the entire ceremony for the traffic wasn’t moving at all. Ouch!

Wife Broke Down

Lee’s wife was so stressed and affected by the situation that she had a breakdown in tears, disappointed that the wedding didn’t go as she planned and that she was unable to pull it off.

She had taken an entire year to shortlist appropriate vendors for photography, catering, and stylists, so it really must’ve been sad to see all that effort go down the drain. Poor lady!

He wrote that he couldn’t do anything but to comfort her, adding on later that they both felt helpless about the delays. Yet, he understood that sometimes these things happen and there’s just nothing you can do about it, being a worker in the events industry.


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The Show Must Go On

Thankfully, the entire wedding didn’t have to be cancelled or moved, but went on after most guests had finally arrived, two hours later at 9pm. Phew.

Despite the fact that they usually have to start clearing out the venue by 10.30pm, the event went on until 11.45pm.

The compassionate vendors also allowed them to waive off the fees for the extra hours put in, which was a really nice move.

Lee thanked all the guests for showing up despite the long and tiring delay, stating that hopefully himself, his wife and both their families would be able to “heal through the sort of damage this event has put us through.”

It’s unfortunate that bad organisation of one single event led to a ripple effect of Singaporeans all around the country being affected, and hopefully this doesn’t happen again because once you’re late and an event is over… it’s over. Tsk, shame on you, organisers.

Congrats to the happy couple though! Let’s hope they don’t have to experience heavy traffic jams while on their way to the honeymoon too.


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