Love is in the air for Lim Hwee Yi, the 28-year-old hawker of Botak Porridge.
On May 12, she shuttered her hawker stall at One Punggol Hawker Centre for half an hour to do a pre-wedding photoshoot there with her soon-to-be-husband.
After requests from one of her followers, she shared snippets of what went down on the day of the photoshoot in an Instagram post on the same day.
Donning a sparkling blue dress and a pair of chunky black crocs, Hwee Yi and her husband, who wore a light brown suit, had their pictures taken at Botak Porridge.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYOxMgvJgB-/
Apart from pictures at the stall, they posed for shots with their colleagues and fellow hawkers.
Hwee Yi’s humble hawker stall wasn’t the only F&B spot they had their pictures taken at. The couple snapped photos at Take A Bake, a local bakery at Bishan where Hwee Yi’s husband works.
Several shots were also taken at a HDB block, where the pair playfully held two large, red double happiness props to symbolise their union, as well as at a Shop ‘n’ Pick locker.
Speaking to AsiaOne, Hwee Yi shared that she and her husband registered their marriage on the same day as the pre-wedding shoot.
They started the day with makeup at 6am and were at the hawker stall by 9.30am.
The shoot lasted till around 1pm and after taking a break at home afterwards, they registered their marriage at 4.45pm. To end off the hectic day, they had a buffet dinner with their family members.
Hwee Yi shared that they chose to carry out the shoots at Botak Porridge and Take A Bake because the locations were significant to the couple.
“These places are very meaningful to us because they are part of our everyday life. My husband helps out at the hawker stall too, so these places hold a lot of memories for us. To some people they may just look like ordinary workplaces, but to us, they represent our livelihood, our hard work, and the future we are building together step-by-step,” she shared.
“We wanted the shoot to feel authentic to who we are as a couple instead of looking overly disconnected from our everyday life. Most of our time together is actually spent working, so our workplaces naturally became part of our love story.”
Hwee Yi also pointed out that she and her husband liked the contrast between the wedding outfits and these very everyday Singaporean settings.
“It felt very ‘us’. Simple, genuine and grounded,” she said.
The couple’s wedding day is on Oct 11 and they’ve been getting ready for the big day.
“Both of our sides have quite big families, so we anticipate almost 400 pax for our wedding. For our wedding plans, we are trying to keep it meaningful and entertaining with little touches that represent us and our journey together,” she shared.
Her customers are also extremely excited for her.
“Even until today I have customers congratulating me after seeing my social media posts,” said Hwee Yi.
Hwee Yi is the daughter of Ngoh Jook Guan and Ivy Lim, the founders of Botak Porridge. She is currently helping them with the business till they retire.
She began working at the stall after finishing her polytechnic education, and while she had always wanted to take over the family business, her parents wanted her to pursue her dreams.
So, she worked as a police officer, and was famously known to be the bodyguard of two Singapore presidents.
After a few years in the force, she left and began working full-time at Botak Porridge, which has three outlets: at Tampines, Bedok and Punggol.
Hwee Yi’s parents opened their first outlet in November 2017, while the One Punggol Hawer Centre outlet began operations in November 2022.
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melissateo@asiaone.com
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