A lucky couple garnered over 100,000 votes to emerge winners of an online wedding contest.

KELVIN Teo and Kimberly Yap entered an online wedding contest to test their seven-year relationship. The prize – a dream wedding at the Berjaya Langkawi Beach & Spa Resort – was really secondary as the couple didn’t think they’d win. But win they did and, come April 23, the college sweethearts will say “I do” in an idyllic beach wedding that was custom-arranged to suit their every whim and fancy.

“We had already decided to get married this year. We did not think of winning when we joined. Actually we thought it looked interesting and we just decided to try something new and fun, and in the process, learn more about each other,” said Teo in a recent interview.

Added Yap: “We wanted to go through this together because usually when you go through a challenge or some difficulty, you will come out stronger. This would also prepare us for marriage.”

The first online public voting wedding contest to be organised in Malaysia, Love Me Do was launched last September. The contest was divided into four phases whereby contestants had to campaign for votes via blogs (each couple had to blog about themselves and their experiences for the public to view, assess and vote), video streaming, picture galleries and mini contests.

The aim of the contest, said Thang Han-Ni, director of marketing communications for Berjaya Hotels & Resorts and the brains behind the competition, was to find the perfect love story.

“I have always wanted to find the perfect love story in KL. I read a story in The Star sometime back about old couples who have kept the romance alive in their marriage, and it was really nice, and that prompted me to do something to find the perfect love story myself.

“I also wanted to try a different approach to marketing our (Berjaya’s) hotels and resorts. I handle 15 hotels under the group and I wanted to do something other than produce brochures and pamphlets to promote our resorts,” explained Thang.

The contest took off like wildfire, with over 1,805 couples signing on.

“All of them had to answer a set of questions about each other and themselves, and we selected the best (answers from) 50 couples. After that, it was up to the public to vote who they thought should win,” said Thang.

Emerging winners of the contest was “amazing” for Teo and Yap.

“We are very, very excited. It is her dream to be a ‘princess bride’ and the prettiest bride, and I want to help her realise her dream,”said Teo.

“I read fairy tales like Cinderella and Beauty and The Beast as a kid and I have always wanted my marriage to go with ‘and they lived happily ever after’. I’ve always wished I could be one of the princesses – this (wedding) comes close,” said Yap.

Distance no barrier

Teo, 27 and Yap, 26, met while studying at the National University of Singapore where they were both undergraduate students.

“She was a freshman and I was her senior. I was on the orientation committee and that’s how I met her,” said the strategic investment analyst.

Though they’ve been a couple for seven years, they’ve had to spend much of their relationship apart.

“We have always been in a sort of long-distance relationship. While we were still students, I went to Canada for a few months on a student exchange programme.

After graduating, I left for the United States for my postgraduate studies and, currently, I am working in Melbourne, while Kimberly is in Singapore. I’d say we have been through some hard times in our relationship (because of this) but what’s important is that we trust each other and are able to communicate.

“I try to make sure I set aside time for Kimberly every day. Work and studies are important but so is my relationship. There has to be balance and this has to be maintained even after marriage,” said Teo.

“When he was in the United States, he would stay up late and sacrifice sleep just so that he could call me,” gushed Yap, a pharmacist based in Singapore.

Teo and Yap were a favourite with voters by a mile, observed Thang.

“The second runner-up garnered 1,800 votes while the first runner-up got 18,000 votes. These two got 120,000 votes!

“I think we found a perfect love story with Kelvin and Kimberly. They come from different backgrounds and had to sustain a long-distance relationship for seven years.

Teo and Yap’s prize includes the services of a professional wedding planner, a custom-made wedding dress for the bride and a suit for the groom, a wedding photographer to capture their dream day as well as hair and makeup to get them looking their best. Berjaya Langkawi Beach & Spa Resort is also sponsoring 10 rooms for the couple’s guests.

The couple will be photographed by Malaysian documentary photographer Evangeliss YH-Hwong who will document them preparing for their big day.

Though they are elated that they’ve won a dream wedding, the couple said that the competition meant more to them than the prize.

“I think we learnt a lot about each other going through the competition. In the first phase of the competition we had to answer a long list of questions about ourselves and I would look at some of her responses and think, ‘Oh, so that’s what she thinks about this’,” said Teo, adding that his wife-to-be taught him a phrase – “It takes a whole lifetime to understand a person” – which he felt accurately describes the passage that couples go through.

Added Yap: “You learn new things about your partner along the way. Like how he reacts to certain situations. You would not know until you face the situation. So, yes, there are still a lot of surprises every day even after seven years.”

Tactical moves

The competition spanned about six months and because the two were separated for most of that time, they had to plan a “strategy” so they could share the load of the competition.

“It all boiled down to three things: hard work, strategy and a bit of luck. We honestly felt that as long as we did a good job working on our blog and (campaigning) for support, the votes will flow in automatically.

However, part of our strategy was not to force people to vote for us,” explained Teo, who was the key strategist for their mission.

Realising that most of the people who visited the Love Me Do website and blogs were couples as well, the two worked that to their advantage.

“We tried to share our experiences and as much as we could, we’d offer tips on how to sustain a relationship based on our experiences,” said Yap.

The duo decided to group their potential “voters” into different categories to make it easier.

Said Teo: “We decided to divide voters into different segments because we have friends located all over the place – we divided them into three segments: Malaysia, Singapore and International. Also, I am from Labuan and went to secondary school in Kota Kinabalu, so I tried to get support from my family and friends there.

“My profession in strategic investment so strategising is what I do every day at work.”

Added Yap: “He appeared in the newspapers because he was the only one from Labuan who went to MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received a Master of Engineering in Actuarial Science) so he is well known there. His principal from KK is also very close to him and helped him a lot.”

Living in Singapore, Yap actively campaigned there, solicited votes by dropping notes that said “Vote for Kimberly and Kelvin” (made on Love Me Do stationery which they were given) into postboxes at HDB flats in Singapore.

“It’s easy in Singapore because there are a lot of HDB flats and the postboxes of the residents are all located in one area so I could just slot in these notes,” revealed Yap.

Obviously, their carefully thought out plan worked. Ultimately, however, the duo realised that what’s important is what happens after the wedding.

“The most important thing for me is that I am marrying the person I love the most. She is so beautiful and has supported me in every difficult phase of my life,” said Teo.

While the focus is on their dream beach wedding, the two are also planning a reception for their family and friends who have helped them not only through the competition but in their lives.

“We wish we could bring everyone to Langkawi but it’s a very small and private affair for 60 of our relatives and close friends. We’ll have another reception for everyone after that,” said Yap.

Two weddings? Sounds like a princess dream being realised. -The Star/ANN