Local TV host-actress Lynn Poh had been out of the spotlight for the past year.

Then, out of the blue, she invited several local journalists to a "private party" at swanky The St. Regis hotel last Thursday. She steadfastly refused to reveal what it was about despite repeated inquiries from separate parties, only that she had an announcement to make.

Oh, and celebrities would be there too, she gushed.

Could wedding bells be chiming?

Perhaps the pretty 34-year-old had already married on the sly. Maybe she was pregnant and the party was a full-month shindig for her baby.

Surely the party wouldn't be about a new endorsement deal. There would be no need for secrecy then. Anyway, celebrities don't usually turn up for someone else's endorsement deal press conference.

And so, believing they were attending a wedding ceremony, reporters and artists like Constance Song, Aileen Tan and Cavin Soh arrived at the hotel that afternoon, all dressed up and toting red packets for "the bride".

Only that Poh wasn't getting married - yet.

Instead, the "private party" was held to unveil her new spa endorsement - she's the spokesman for Bioapex - and also to reveal that her wedding dinner on Sept 23 would be held at The St. Regis.

Ooops. Someone got punk'd all right.

So much so that Shin Min Daily News reported last Friday that the celebrities were unhappy that they had been misled into thinking it was Poh's wedding party, adding that having celebrities and reporters attend the event did Poh and the spa a favour.

Song, 35, still sounding very flustered and bewildered even though The New Paper spoke to her a day after the event, admitted the event could have been handled better.

She said: "I still don't understand why they handled things this way...Why make it so mysterious? Why not just be open about it?

"If they wanted celebrities to grace the event, then invite us graciously. Tell us the truth, and if you want to thank us for our time, you can offer us free trials or something. Then it's up to us if we want to turn up or not."

Song doesn't feel the event was a waste of her time, since Poh is a friend whomshe had not seen for a long time.

But while Song was happy that Poh is getting married and has a new endorsement, she felt that the publicity stunt backfired.

"I went with good intentions to give her my blessings but..." she trailed off, hesitating to comment further.

Tan, 44, felt the event could have been better organised, but brushed it aside, saying it was not a big deal.

"Friends shouldn't be too calculative...The showbiz industry here is so small, artists should help each other and work as a team," Tan said.

"If she had told me the truth in the first place and said she needed my support, I would still have gone to the event."

When contacted, Poh said she wanted the event to be shrouded in mystery so there would be a punch for reporters to write about.

"If I reveal the purpose of the party beforehand, it defeats the purpose of having a press conference," she said.

"But my main reason for having the event was to have a small gathering with my friends and the media. It's been so long since we met."

She added she got the chance to hand out wedding invitations to her famous friends that day.

It was also a good opportunity for her to chat with them in case she didn't get to do so on her wedding day.

She also denied that she had led her celebrity friends to believe she was getting married that day to add star power to the event.

"That's not true. Don't blur the point of the event. It was a gathering for me to share news of my wedding and my endorsement with my friends and the media," insisted Poh.

The time for marriage is finally here

Lynn Poh is making her way down the aisle - and she cannot be happier.

She told The New Paper: "This time, the timing is just right."

Poh, 34, has had a few serious relationships - exactly how many she did not want to reveal because she said: "Why do I want to remember that past?"

But she knew her fiance Ryan Gwee was The One.

She said: "There were a few times in the past I nearly got married, but I wasn't mature enough to commit.

"Then there was a phase in my life when I wanted to get married.

"I was 27 and MediaWorks just merged with MediaCorp and I just felt the urge to get married. But at that time, I didn't meet the right guy."

So now, it is the right man at the right time.

Poh and Gwee met six years ago and she chortled when we asked if it was love at first sight. She said: "Do you know he was 30 minutes late on our first date?

"It was my first blind date too. A friend set it up and I thought, maybe I'll give it a try.

"We met at (Japanese restaurant) Keyaki (at the Pan Pacific Singapore). I was there on time and he was late.

"I sat near the entrance and my mind went crazy thinking about how he looked. Every time someone walked in, I thought 'I hope he's not the one'.

"But when Ryan walked in, I just knew he was the one I was meeting."

When asked what makes Gwee different, she said: "He is just different from the other men in my life."

Poh said there will be 30 tables at their Sept 23 nuptials and, yes, she will be inviting her celebrity colleagues.

Her wedding gown is sponsored by The Wedding Mansion and it will be a princess gown.

But Poh was secretive when it came to everything else about the 34-year-old groom.

She explained: "He works in a bank and he needs clearance to be interviewed."

But she dropped broad hints, adding: "He's just a normal guy: Not very tall, not very skinny. He wears glasses when he works."

She said he is based in Shanghai, China.

But Poh was happy to share how he proposed last Christmas.

She said: "We were at a friend's party for Christmas and when we drove home, he stopped the car at our carpark and said he had a present for me. It turned out to be his proposal."

Poh added she had rehearsed this scene in her head many times and each time, there were no tears.

"But when it came to reality, I cried."

The first person she called was her mother.

Poh joked: "My mother was so relieved. She said I'm finally getting married."

Now that she will be a wife soon, she said she is thinking of children. "I'll let nature take its course."

Poh added: "The world is stressful enough, so I'm not going to stress about that too."

And she will not go into tai tai mode with a long-distance husband.

"I'll fly up and down to be with him. I cannot just be a housewife. I need to work. But maybe things will change when I have kids."

In the meantime, Poh is deep in preparation for her wedding dinner.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime event, so I want to be involved. It's like a live show with a lot of rehearsals."

Poh then broke into exasperated laughter: "Now, I can't wait for this day to be over."

This article was first published in The New Paper.