Jay Chou and Hannah Quinlivan's Fairytale Wedding: A DIAO PLAN

I've always known that Jay Chou is a man of his word.
In Chinese we say: 说到做到 (shuo dao zuo dao)

He assured everyone that he would get married at 35 and thanks to some savvy planning involving a faraway location in a different time zone, he did, indeed do so and in the grandest fashion imaginable.
But come to think of it, fans and those who know him should have expected nothing less from His Royal Diaoness, whose vast experience in music, MVs and movies coupled with years of dodging the paparazzi definitely came in handy for executing his own wedding in a lavish but tasteful manner, free of a media circus yet befitting the King of Mandopop and his beautiful bride, Hannah Quinlivan.

Before I go on, I would like to share my other Page dedicated to Jay and Hannah, which is where I post all stuff related to the happy couple, so as not to overload Jay Chou Diaoness, as I realised that not every Jay Chou fan is that keen to keep up with his love life.
Having said that, I must say the number of Likes on the Jayannah Page has far outstripped Diaoness....which, to me, is a happy situation. :)
It is also not surprising, given the massive media attention to this 'royal wedding', both in the East and in the West.


Let us recap the past week, when Jay started the frenzy going on the afternoon of 17 January 2015.

In fact, the excitement had already been building up at least three weeks before at the launch of his new album in Taipei, when he announced that his wedding would be on his birthday viz 18 January 2015.
There were all sorts of hints, whether intended or not, speculations and outright wild guesses by fans about stuff as random as the colour of his suit to the country where the big event would be held in.
On hindsight, a mountain was made out of a molehill when reporters jumped to the conclusion that the venue would be Edinburgh Castle after Hannah apparently 'let it slip'.
As we all know now, Castle Howard was where they finally had their party and more importantly, their wedding service was held in the iconic and wondrous Selby Abbey, with both these historic buildings being in the county of Yorkshire in northern England.

Read about Selby Abbey:

http://www.selbyabbey.org.uk/

Read about Castle Howard:

http://www.castlehoward.co.uk/


By the way, I think Jay and Hannah have inadvertently given British tourism a boost as loads of Asians will now be intrigued enough to travel to see the places where 'Jay Chou had his wedding'. ;)

Back to the pre-wedding frenzy.

JVR Music released three STUNNING pre-wedding photos of the bridal couple which had been shot in France, Germany and Prague.

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeas/201501170024.aspx


I LOVE HIS DIMPLE!!!!! And the sheer bliss on both their faces is just heartstopping! My jaw dropped when I saw this photo (which is now my desktop screensaver). But said jaw would drop even more when I beheld Hannah's wedding gown but that will be talked about later....

The Prince and Princess, complete with white steed.

Jay's patterned suit matches Hannah's spectacular mermaid gown perfectly with the backdrop of Charles Bridge in Prague and of course, the Vitava River.

The images were flooding my Facebook News Feed and WhatsApp Jay Chat group, fast and furious and as if that was not enough, before long, news was trickling in that the wedding ceremony had already been celebrated and concluded in England, before midnight local time (which is the same as Taiwan time). As England is about 7 hours behind us....you do the math.

HAHAHA! So that was how he had planned to fulfill his promises!
Very smart! Very Jay!
A round of applause for the man, please!
And another round for his hardworking staff who were in on the whole rigmarole, as the guests were only told to get to Heathrow Airport, at which point further directions and instructions would be given.
Seriously, until they arrived in London, none of them had any clue where the wedding would eventually be held.
The guest list was also kept small, with only about 50 close friends and family members in attendance.
For Jay, privacy was a prime concern and he went to great lengths to ensure that there would be no paparazzi around.
The best thing is....he succeeded!
Credit must also go to the guests for being willing to play along, but that should not be a surprise when you consider that their gracious host was footing the bill for their trip!

Anyway, the bride and groom had their special moments with their nearest and dearest, with Jay writing his own song for the orchestra (yes, there was a 20-piece orchestra) and rehearsing as much as possible, which ended up in a delay of two hours.
Mr Yang said he was very busy but also very happy.

Three official photos were released on weibo and his Facebook Page.....check out Hannah's GORGEOUS wedding gown, designed by MIKAEL D!
Jay looks handsome enough but for once, I'm more interested in what the lovely lady is wearing...lol!

Super love that heart-shaped cutout on her back!

My favourite moment ('cos we all know Jay has said he does not enjoy kissing on the lips but I guess he could not run away from this one!):

JVR also released a wedding video on the morning of 19 January, resulting in me having a hard time concentrating on my work which just had to be a Manic Monday of sorts.

It. Is. BEAUTIFUL!
Love the look on Jay's face as he watched her walk in with her father and how tenderly he unveiled her for that 'you may kiss the bride' moment.
And what an utterly fairytale feeling it was, precisely as Jay (and I'm sure, Hannah) had always wanted.,
Incidentally, it has just hit 5 million views on youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s34fl3eFYMc

Of course, I had to do a piano cover of the song which Jay wrote.....and within three days, the youtube vid had hit 21K, quite unheard of for yours truly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTN5dEM-mrQ



A very special photo also made its way to our Jayannah Page, courtesy of the father of the bride!
Thank you, Patrick!

For more pics, do hop on to Jayannah to see who else was there:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/%E6%98%86%E5%80%ABJayannah/1395478580700015


Media reports:

http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/54029/20150119/asia-christian-superstar-jay-chou-weds-hannah-quinlivan-in-england-pictures-video.htm


http://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/11732849.Jay_Chou___Hannah_Quinlivan_marry_in_Selby_Abbey___VIDEO_ADDED___And_10_facts_you__maybe__didn_t_know_about_the_venue/


http://women.asiaone.com/women/people/jay-chou-ties-knot-fairy-tale-wedding


http://women.asiaone.com/women/people/jay-chou-releases-wedding-videos-likely-spend-honeymoon-britain


http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2015-01-20/jay-chou-marries-wedding-yorkshire-pictures-fans-hannah-quinlavin/


A few more of my favourite shots:

Very very sweet, as she looks lovingly at Jay:

The tenderness in his every move....

Congratulations to the newly-weds!

Le sigh.....


Dear Mr and Mrs Jay Chou,


This fangirl is incredibly over-the-moon that after following your story for the past four years, this happy occasion is now a reality.
I never doubted the strength of your relationship, for some reason.
And I am confident that you will have a wonderful life together.
Hope to hear the patter of little feet soon!

Lots of love,

Fangirl Forever