This Three-Day Wedding Celebration in Portugal Artfully Blended Malaysian and Bengali Traditions
Lawyer Sabrina Ahmed first came across Malaysian-born comedian and restaurateur Nigel Ng at one of his shows. At the time, Sabrina was corporate counsel for a luxury resort real estate developer in Miami, and Nigel was performing at one of their properties. She decided to go to the show with a friend. “He described Nigel as a guy who ‘jokes about rice,’ which didn’t sound that compelling, but after I started watching the show, I realized he was hilarious and, beyond the glare of the orange shirt, actually very cute,” she remembers.
Sabrina admits she wasn’t thinking much about dating at the time due to family health issues, but when she decided to get back on an app, Nigel was one of the first profiles to appear. “The first thing I felt was how elegant and beautiful she looked,” says Nigel. “I got the sense quickly we would get along.” The comedian offered to fly Sabrina to Boston for them to meet in person. “I normally would never meet a guy I’ve barely spoken to in another state, but when my coworker blurted out, ‘I think he could be your husband,’ I, for some reason, didn’t fully write off the idea,” Sabrina says. “We met at the Boston airport on 11/11/22 at Terminal 3 when our flights, originally a few hours apart, both ended up landing exactly at 3 p.m. together. Everything felt destined and easy.” As Nigel describes, “I was full of anticipation that week, and when I saw her, she was even more stunning in person and so effortless to talk to.”
The two quickly bonded on the trip, and Nigel immediately knew he had to see her again, saying he was drawn to her independence and intelligence. Sabrina notes, “In spite of us having completely opposite personalities and having grown worlds apart, he felt somehow familiar. What struck me about him was how serious and quiet he was, and how focused he was on work and providing for his mother and family.” Nigel adds, “Within a few months, in March 2023, I realized already that I loved her and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. The rest is history.” The couple would soon move to London and began ring shopping together for a round solitaire diamond on a gold knife-edge band.
In April 2024, Nigel would ask Sabrina to marry him in Tokyo. “Throughout our relationship, I’ve come to understand how much Sabrina loves flowers,” he says. “No matter what country we go to, she always wants to take a detour to a flower field or to see blooming trees in spring or golden trees in fall. I love to see how happy she is when we get there.” Nigel quickly realized that his partner’s dream would be to get engaged beneath the cherry blossoms. “Work was bringing me to Japan serendipitously in spring 2024, and I knew that would be the most special memory for both of us,” he says. He tasked his brother Gary, who lives in Tokyo, and future best man Leong to scope out where trees were still blooming for the proposal. Sabrina says, “As with most things in our life, Nigel doesn’t really know how to keep a secret because he’s always been more worried about whether I’ll like something or not. Since I knew he planned to propose in Japan, we invited some of our future wedding party—including my maid of honor Sarah Mia and bridesmaid Shevah—to join us.” Still, Sabrina was unaware when the proposal would exactly happen. But on April 11, Nigel brought her to Inokashira Park, where he got down on one knee. “For the next few days, the group of us celebrated with the best food, shopping, and onsens,” says Sabrina.
For their wedding celebrations the weekend of July 17, 2025, the couple decided to host three days of events in Sintra, Portugal. “We saw ourselves reflected in Portugal’s aesthetic landscape." Sabrina says of their destination choice. “There’s an elegant interweaving of Chinese, Islamic, and Indian influences—most notably in the iconic blue-and-white azulejos, whose patterns were inspired by Chinese porcelain and echo motifs from Rajasthani and Moorish tilework.” The party would kick off with a joint bachelor-bachelorette party with 70 friends, featuring a three-hour sunset cruise, games, and karaoke. On Friday, the couple hosted a sangeet to honor Sabrina s Bengali roots, complete with pastel décor, live henna stations, and choreographed dances from the couple’s friends and family. On Saturday, both a Chinese tea ceremony and a Western wedding ceremony and reception would take place. The couple worked with the Portugal-based planner Ana Coelho Duarte to help produce the multi-day wedding, and deciding on the catering was a major part of their planning process. “Nigel’s career made it necessary to have excellent Asian food at the wedding; good food is also how he expresses love,” says Sabrina.
The couple would each wear four looks throughout their wedding festivities. “I knew from the beginning our clothing and jewelry choices were going to be deeply meaningful and symbols that visually anchor the story of who we are and our heritage,” says the bride. For the sangeet, Sabrina shares she always dreamed of wearing a soft pink, floral-embroidered lehenga. She paid a visit with Nigel to Dolly J Studio when traveling to New Delhi for his Asia tour. “It’s a contemporary blend of Western and South Asian styles with the long thin veil train in place of a traditional dupatta,” explains the bride. “Dolly instructed her design team to lengthen the veil to a custom length for more drama, and I love the way it turned out.”
Sabrina hoped to complement the look with green jewelry. “Dolly highly recommended I go to Purab Paschim in the same area, Ambawatta One, a well-known luxury shopping plaza,” she says. “They had a set that perfectly matched the antique gold detailing with green stones that reflect the mint flowers in the gown, so I bought it on the spot.” This shopping trip also helped her find Nigel’s sangeet look. “I walked through Ambawatta One and saw a mannequin in the window of Shasha Gaba with exactly the kind of sherwani I wanted Nigel to wear,” she shares. “The pink matched the fabric swatch I was carrying in my bag from Dolly J perfectly, so I bought it right off the mannequin.”
For the Chinese tea ceremony, the bride hoped to find a qipao that was distinct to Southeast Asian cultures. “I came across this ornate and dramatic style of qipao that originated in Indonesia and became popular in Malaysia and Singapore,” she says. “These couture designers have combined Southeast Asian glamour with traditional Chinese silk qipaos to create stunning gowns adorned with heavy beading, sequins, and floral embroidery.” Sabrina connected with Gisela Ekachristie and Melissa Anggono of Indonesian brand Renee Couture to create her garment filled with detailed embellishments and embroidery. “The embroidery depicts our dragon and goat zodiac signs under cherry blossoms—in reference to our engagement—in a flower field surrounding our home along with another in the distance, representing the life we have built in California and London,” says Sabrina. “The double phoenix symbolizes a harmonious union and balanced marriage. We chose deep red versus traditional bright red to draw a parallel to my Bengali reception saree, visually joining the two cultures together.”
