Seraph Sun to marry Japanese boyfriend on October 14

Seraph Sun took her wedding pictures in Yokohama, Japan in May

Photos: The Celebrity Agency

Wedding bells are set to toll for Seraph Sun. The 28-year-old is set to marry her same-age Japanese fiancé, Tomoya, in an intimate wedding ceremony held at Regent Hotel on October 14 this year, after dating for two years.

In a phone interview with Toggle, Seraph shared that she was formally proposed to in Osaka, Japan, last November and had her wedding pictures taken in Yokohama during a recent trip in May. The actress also revealed her plans to relocate to Japan after marriage to be with her husband and was “torn apart” when she arrived at this decision, which would require her to leave her current job.

“If I continued [working in Singapore] I’d be based here and he’d be in Japan [for work] and that’s why we really had to consider how that’d affect our marriage – if I had to fly between countries and in between shoots,” she quipped.

Ultimately, she decided that she needed to “focus” on her new life with her husband and decided to take the leap of faith and relocate to Tokyo, where her husband-to-be is currently based.

“My parents are quite sad about it actually because I’m the baby of the family and you know how ‘babies’ are! They don’t want to part with me,” she chuckled, “But they also feel that it’s a better choice for me to stick with my husband because as husband and wife, it’s very important that we be together as that’d make our marriage stronger.”

For those curious about how Seraph and Tomoya’s love story began, we learned that the actress’ elder sister had a hand in matchmaking them, as he was her business partner at work. Seraph’s sister had passed her Facebook contact to him and had “encouraged him to go after me,” she said.

According to Seraph, her fiancé, who is currently working in the IT industry, was based in Singapore when they first got together but their relationship eventually changed course when he had to relocate to Japan for work last August.

“It was my first time being in a long-distance relationship and I didn’t think long-distance relationships would ever work out in the past since I cannot imagine being apart for so long. Thankfully, we have Facetime and all that [with the help of technology]… and we can talk on the phone and ‘see’ each other,” she said.

Apparently, Tomoya had popped the question when he broke the news of his relocation back to his mother country. “The first proposal was kind of casual,” recalled Seraph in between chuckles, “I asked him ‘What about us? What about our relationship?’ and then he asked me to marry him.

“At that moment, I said ‘Yes!’ but I told him we had to speak to our parents about it and he’d have to formally ask me again because I’m expecting flowers and a ring (laughs).”

Read on to find out more about Seraph’s plans after marriage, her romantic (or, not-so-romantic) second proposal which took place last November, and the details of her coming big day in October.

(Continued on next page: How many kids does Seraph intend to have?)

Seraph Sun donning the traditional Japanese wedding kimono (left) and posing with 'omamori' (Japanese amulets) for married couples (right).

Toggle: Congratulations! No wonder you’ve been away in Japan for an extended period since May.
Seraph: I was thinking if some people might be wondering why I was in Japan for such a long time (chuckles). It was partly for the wedding photoshoot and also I had to take some time to really sit and think about what to do – with my career, marriage and everything. Plus, I had to discuss it with my fiancé too.

How did the proposal happen?
He wanted us to meet his parents and family first, before his proposal… So after meeting his family, he proposed to me and chose Osaka because it was his birthplace and he thinks it’s more appropriate to do it in his hometown. He also chose the date – November 22 because of its significance in Japan.

The proposal was very intimate – with just the two of us, and it was nothing elaborate. He did tell me that Japanese people like to propose in hotels when we were having dinner in a hotel in Osaka, but nothing happened. When we went back and I was about to brush my teeth, he proposed. He came bearing flowers and a ring (laughs). Luckily I hadn’t started brushing my teeth! I was even stripped bare of makeup!

(Ed’s note: The date 11/22 reads as ‘ii fufu’ in Japanese, which sounds like the term ‘good husband and wife’).

You spoke about meeting his parents before the proposal, how did the first meet-the-parents session go?
It was a bit scary for me at first since they don’t know any English at all. I had to communicate entirely in Japanese with them (Seraph studied the language for three years during university) and my Japanese isn’t exactly perfect. Plus they spoke in the Osaka dialect which is quite hard to understand. But they are very nice people and pretty much like my family – down-to-earth, very kind and funny. His dad is very funny and his mum is very sweet and makes him really, really lavish breakfasts. I was really shocked with how lavish it is.

How did you know that he was ‘the one’ when he first proposed?
I never imagined that [he’d be the one] (laughs). I always thought you need to know a guy for a certain period of time – more than two years, but apparently not. My previous boyfriend proposed to me a few times before but I kept rejecting him. But with him (Tomoya), it’s that moment and I just said ‘yes.’ When the moment is right, the person is right, you know it’s right.

And what do you like about him?
So many things (chuckles). He’s very hardworking, focused and goal-oriented. He really takes good care of me and tries his best to be romantic even though it’s not in his nature. And he’s very mature, responsible and very family oriented.

Family oriented? Have you guys spoke about having a family of your own after marriage?
Two [kids] max, and our values are aligned which is the most important thing. We’ll definitely have some alone time first (laughs)… you know, I don’t think I’m ready yet. It’s a bit fast – too fast for me. I love having my nephews around when they come visit weekly, but I don’t know whether I can manage having a baby yet. And because we’ve been apart for so long, I think we need our couple time together.

Have you thought about what you are going to do in Japan after your relocation?
I’ve not given it a very deep thought because all I want is to just be with him. But if I can’t find a job, I guess I’ll have to settle with being a homemaker. I’m not too sure yet.