A Love Story: Music is the Food of Love

In the opening of the Twelfth Nights, Shakespeare wrote, “if music be the food of love, play on.” This lovely couple featured in this chapter of the love memoirs perfectly fits the mood.

Time flies, it’s been 9 months since we first contacted on Instagram in March 2019 where we design a pair of wedding bands from ground zero. We started exploring ideas that are meaningful to both of them. We ended with a design that included their special “20”.

The Love Story of Meiyan and Jude

The art direction for this shoot is to capture their quirkiness and how music is weaved into their love and souls. We went with the suggestion of the couple and shot at the ‘island with the mythical cow’, Coney Island. Read on for their love story and inspiration behind the wedding bands.

How did you meet/get to know each other?

MY: We worked in the same hotel together and were in different departments, but somehow only met when a mutual friend was trying to put together a band for the hotel’s year-end party. That first official meeting was just at the staff entrance of the hotel, with heaps of smoking uncles and aunties around 😂

J: Smoking area at the hotel we worked at! I’ve seen her a couple of times, but officially met and introduced ourselves at the smoking area. Don’t ask why the smoking area though… I still have no answer to that 🙂

How did you feel during your first official date?

MY: I’m not sure if we’ll have the same date in mind, because we went out alone but we were kinda still just friends – we had some rainbow cake together and chatted like old friends – it was super comfortable.

J: I remember us talking about being a musical duo, so we went out to dinner and then to see one of my friends who is a musician as well. End up kena sabo 😂 We performed just one song, “All About That Bass” – and that was our first time on stage just the two of us.

What’s the most memorable moment about him/her?

MY: Warning: this memory isn’t very romantic, but it’s memorable alright. I’ve always been a very assertive person and am used to speaking up for myself, but one night we had a passing cyclist who made an inappropriate remark about the two of us, and Jude shouted at him before I could react. Not calling him a ruffian (or am I) but it was nice to have someone stand up for me for a change. It’s nice to feel protected.

And… Just in case Jude picks a really moving and romantic story, there was a week when I was just really down and I could neither figure it out nor articulate to Jude how I was feeling or why. One day he just called me and asked “Shall I bring you to Snow City?” and I said yes and immediately felt better (clearly I am but a child). This man knows me better than I know myself.

J: There was a week where I was stressed at work and did several night shifts in a week, so she wrote me a letter/guide titled “How to survive your night shifts” to motivate me. 😢

Which quality/characteristic makes him/her irresistible for you?

MY: He has a natural flair for making me laugh. Even when I’m upset or stressed – he almost always knows what to say to make me take things a little bit easier, a little bit more light-heartedly. That and how patient he is with me, no matter how much I nag him!

J: How down to earth she is, and also that she is a derp. I think we’re on par in terms of weirdness.

When did you realize that you’ll want to spend the rest of your life together?

MY: There were several moments along the way – watching him interact with my parents, making music with him and how it made me feel, realising how different my days would be without talking to him, and most recently – saddened that I had to travel overseas without the engagement ring that he proposed to me with (and, er… of course, him as well).

J: I don’t think there’s any one moment. I just grew to love her more as days passed and I just knew I wanted to be with her. It was very natural.

Tell us about your inspiration behind the wedding band designs?

MY: Jude isn’t one for aesthetics so he let me steer the wheel on this one – his only condition was that they matched in some way, however little. I love rose gold, so I thought it’d be nice if that was the similar element. When we came to see the colours of gold that we could choose from (Javian, thank you for kindly waiting while I chose between two colours for what must have felt like years), Jude immediately fell in love with black gold because it was so unique.

I eventually chose white gold, and the bands turned out “same same, but different” with the same root center (rose gold) but with different colours enclosing it. I guess this represents us in a way because outwardly we can seem so different – religion, ethnicity, hobbies, except for the music of course – but inside, our values are the same.

OH, one more thing! My band has 20 intersections, representative of the date Jude asked me to be his girlfriend, and four years later, also his wife.

J: What she said.

What is your dream honeymoon like?

MY: Definitely not in a city. I’m a sunshine and island kinda girl (think Bali) and Jude likes laid back scenic views (think Sapa, Vietnam) so anywhere in between that would be perfect. I don’t need to travel too far – just one week consecutive with this man is enough. Our schedules almost never match up so when they do, that feels like a honeymoon already!

J: I’m a very chilled dude, you can just put in a small hut on a beach. That can be the honeymoon. Nothing fancy. 🙂

Once again, our heartiest congratulations to Meiyan and Jude!

This is yet another beautiful happily-ever-after recorded in our Memoirs of Love, where we feature some of the love stories that we have collected. Stayed tuned for more love stories!

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