Rebecca Lim wants all the traditional rituals at her upcoming wedding
When local actress and bride-to-be Rebecca Lim gets married, she wants the “whole works”.
The 36-year-old has been engaged to Singaporean Matthew Webster, a 36-year-old of British-Chinese descent who works in corporate branding, since November 2021.
But first, fans can catch her as the host of the new six-part Channel 8 talk show and infotainment programme With Love, Becks.
Airing on Mondays at 8pm,it invites happily married celebrity guests to share their views on life, love and marriage, and also highlights the significance behind wedding traditions.
The line-up includes local actresses Zoe Tay, Fann Wong, Xiang Yun and Jesseca Liu, as well as politician Sun Xueling and influencer Annette Lee.
In an e-mail interview with The Straits Times, Lim says: “After this show, I want to do the whole works: guo da li (a Chinese betrothal ceremony), an chuang (setting up the matrimonial bed), hair combing and tea ceremony. It’s always important to keep traditions alive.”
Lim is particularly looking forward to the tea ceremony. The Chinese wedding custom involves newlyweds kneeling and serving tea to the elders of their family.
She says: “I’ve had plans to conduct a tea ceremony, but I never knew the true meaning behind it – thanking your elders for bringing you up and for their guidance.
“I’ll definitely appreciate moments during these ceremonies a lot more when the time comes. I can picture it being a very touching moment as family and my parents are everything to me.”
Not much is known about Lim’s nuptials, for which she has yet to reveal a date – she declined to give specific answers about her wedding planning too – but the home-grown star says things are going well.
“It’s been much easier than expected because we have great help from the people around us: our family, our wedding planner (and founder of events planning firm The Atelier & Co) Lelian Chew, my style team Shaun Lee, Dexter Ng and (personal assistant) Siew Ping, so things are moving along smoothly,” she adds.
As a bride-to-be, Lim feels blessed by the love she has received from friends, family and the public, but says she has too little time and too many things to do.
“I can blame only myself for starting my wedding planning too late,” she adds.
But at least working on With Love, Becks had practical benefits – Lim was surprised by how much her guests were willing to share with her.
“Everyone was very open and candid about their marriage, like their struggles, what they would have done differently, the most romantic moments and their definitions of bliss, amid many other topics,” she says.
And Lim is inspired by all of them – working women who juggle the responsibilities of a family and marriage alongside a demanding job, just like how she intends to.
Aside from hosting the show, Lim is also the leading lady of the Channel 5 drama series Third Rail, about a hostage crisis on board an MRT train, which premieres on Oct 31 at 9.30pm. She plays a passenger who gets held hostage by the train hijackers.
Both shows are also available on meWatch.
Of her guests on With Love, Becks, she says: “They not only shared about their love life, but also how each of them managed to handle all their different roles so well – wife, daughter, mother, actor, friend and so on. I’m still learning how to wear so many hats and wear them with ease like all my guests.”
Her biggest takeaway for a successful marriage? “It really boils down to communication. It’s so important, yet different for every couple.”
With Love, Becks airs on Mondays at 8pm on Channel 8, while Third Rail premieres on Oct 31 at 9.30pm on Channel 5. Both are also available on meWatch.
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