Lisa Selesner isn’t shy to admit that she had a crush on her husband in 2000 when she first saw a nearly-naked picture of him on the cover of Hong Kong’s City magazine.

Said Selesner, who still keeps a copy of the magazine: “The only thing protecting his modesty was a watch placed in a strategic position. It was a stunning photo.”

When they finally worked together in a photoshoot for an architecture magazine in 2001, the self-professed “ballsy” lady asked Wu out on a date.

About 30 close friends and relatives attended their intimate South African union.

Wu told Chinese newspaper Information Times that he “fell in love” with South Africa six years ago when Selesner took him on a trip to the hut which she bought in 2003.

The hut has no electricity and water is taken from a spring in the backyard.

Wu had said: “That was when I realised I could spend my life with this girl. Over there, our lives are so simplistic (sic). There are no appliances and we face each other 24 hours a day.

“When you’re able to give someone your all, that’s true love.”

The decision to hold their wedding in a wood clearing near the hut was because the couple wanted “something close to the earth”, Selesner said.

“Neither one of us is very religious (he’s Christian and she’s Jewish). We wanted something that was special and would wow ourselves and everyone.

“I don’t think anyone would be able to top our wedding.”

Village women, Selesner’s friends, sang for the wedding. On a friend’s recommendation, the village chief officiated.

Selesner said she had to hike for an hour to find the chief, who lives in a cave, and he was so nervous about marrying them that “he almost passed out”.

While some celebrity couples have kept their marriages a secret, the newly-weds have generously shared their wedding photos on their blogs because “there’s nothing to hide”.

Said Selesner: “Besides, I didn’t want to not be able to wear my rings which I love.”

A 2.06-carat emerald-cut diamond sits on top of her platinum engagement ring.

Besides throwing a party in Hong Kong in July, Wu and Selesner will be holding a traditional Chinese banquet dinner in August at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Selesner’s stepfather is its president.

Yet, the proposal was hardly romantic – Wu popped the question as an afterthought.

While on holiday in Bali, the couple was discussing whether to have kids before tying the knot.

Selesner chuckled: “Then Daniel just said, ‘Why don’t we get married?’ I think I had food in my mouth when he asked. He didn’t have a ring and go down on one knee.

“After our first year when we realised no one’s going to run, I knew I could hang out with this dude for the next 50 years.

“This is the first guy in my life that I was willing to get pregnant for and this says a lot for me.”

But the wedding preparations were not smooth sailing, no thanks to the relentless Hong Kong media, which Selesner said “followed me everywhere”.

They couldn’t shop for rings so Selesner approached her jewellery designer friend.
She went to Hong Kong designer and friend, Dorian Ho, for her wedding dress.

Wu’s custom-made suit, which he wore in South Africa, was by Hong Kong’s famed Sam’s Tailor, which is frequented by celebrities.

Selesner said: “It’s kind of a bummer. I couldn’t have a hen night so my friends are throwing me a post-wedding party. But it was also fun keeping it a secret.”

She added she will be adopting Wu’s family name but will not be known as Lisa W.
She shortened her surname to S because “no one (in Hong Kong) could pronounce it”.

“We think Lisa Wu is easier to say than Lisa W,” she said, laughing.

<< Glamour girl comes down to earth

This article was first published in The New Paper.