Actress Tay Ying and celebrity chef Wu Sihan buy home, plan wedding after secret engagement
Jan Lee
The Straits Times
March 21 2025
Local actress Tay Ying and celebrity chef Wu Sihan will soon tie the knot.
The couple announced their engagement on Instagram on March 20, with pictures of the proposal. Tay, 28, said in the post: "One year ago today."
In a phone interview with The Straits Times, The Blockbusters (2024) actress and Wu, 33, said they have been engaged on the down-low for exactly a year, as the proposal happened on March 20 in 2024. They will wed in June.
Wu, who staged a surprise proposal for Tay, got her to go to a photo studio under the pretext of a solo photo shoot for her conducted by a mutual photographer friend. Midway, a projector began playing a video montage of the couple's time together, before Wu walked in with a bouquet of flowers and asked her to marry him.
"Tay Ying's very sharp, so it's actually very hard for me to plan surprises because she can read me so well. I needed professional help - our photographer friend and an event planner friend, who is now planning the wedding for us," said Wu.
Tay's family and friends, including her actor-dad Zheng Geping and brother Calvert Tay, a singer-actor, watched the proposal play out from a mezzanine floor above the studio. Mum, actress Hong Huifang, dialled in via video call from Taiwan, where she was working.
Tay recalled: "I was definitely surprised. It was a morning photo shoot, not usually the time you would think a proposal happens. So when I saw the video montage, I was like, 'Is this really happening now?'"
Wu said prior to getting down on one knee, he had asked for permission to propose from Tay's parents. His future in-laws were very supportive.
The pair, who kept their engagement quiet for a year before announcing it on March 20, will be marrying in June 2025. PHOTO: COURTESY OF TAY YING AND WU SIHAN
He said: "It was a bit intimidating when we started dating because people would say things like, 'Wow, you're dating Zheng Geping's daughter', and joke about me having to be careful because he's so muscular and all. But he's a gentle giant and such a good listener."
Hong gave her blessings to the couple after their engagement was made public.
The veteran star wrote on Instagram in a post on March 20: "As a mother, my greatest wish is to see my daughter be happy. Now, she has found the person she is willing to spend the rest of her life with. I am pleased and filled with pride. Though I will miss her after she leaves our home, I hope she will be treated well in her new family and live happily ever after."
The couple first met in 2021 at Italian bistro Supply & Demand at the Esplanade - where Wu is the head chef - through his cousin, who is Tay's friend. They began dating within a month, and went public with their relationship in January 2024 via Instagram.
Tay said: "The frequency and chemistry we shared - it just felt very comfortable and easy. Our mindsets are very similar, so it was easy to communicate. It just felt right."
The couple, who bought a home together recently, are now in the midst of wedding planning and home renovation. Their nuptials will include a banquet dinner and customary practices like a gatecrash ceremony.
Tay has already picked out her wedding outfits, which will include a Little Nyonya touch. She is getting a wedding kebaya custom-made, since Wu's family is Peranakan.
She said: "I thought it would be nice since I'm marrying into the family and their culture. The top will be pink because I love pink and the bottom will be green to match.
"I like it because it's something I can continue to wear every year on the first day of Chinese New Year, as his family members usually do."
