You know a wedding is going to be out of the ordinary when a world-famous rock star is on hand to serenade the bride and groom after the banquet. Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, flew out to Cap d’Antibes from London to perform a seven-song set for Kent Ho and Emily Lam at the end of the reception. Thrillingly, this included Oceans, a track from the band’s latest album, which had yet to be released. “It’s such a moving piece of music; we were so lucky to hear it before the general public,” says Emily. “We made Oceans the soundtrack to our wedding video because it was such a personal moment for both of us.”

“The entire experience was totally surreal,” says Kent. “Chris was super-humble and not at all what we expected from a megastar. He even gave us a handwritten card and tickets to any Coldplay concert we wanted as a wedding present. And he changed the lyrics to Yellow to include our names, which was pretty romantic.”

“Having Chris there gave the party a real buzz, particularly since it was a surprise for all the guests,” adds Emily. “When he started singing Viva la Vida and everyone went crazy dancing around the piano, I thought to myself, ‘This is even better than I had hoped.’”

Another particularly memorable aspect of the wedding weekend involved the hotel’s award-winning chocolate room, where the head chocolatier crafted a unique flavour for the couple after discussing their likes and dislikes. “I must have tried 100 options. In the end he created a banana and mint dark chocolate. It was so yummy,” recalls Emily. “We left boxes of them in all the rooms and I brought some back to Hong Kong.” 

“We’re really quite lucky,” adds Kent. “We just need to listen to Coldplay, or eat one of those chocolates, or watch the wedding video by the talented Anna Davies, and we’re taken straight back to that wonderful weekend.”

To read more about the wedding of the year, see the August issue of Hong Kong Tatler, out on newsstands now