Alexandra Chin started out in marketing communications; four months in, she moved to events management and has not looked back since. Eighteen years later, she is Senior Events Manager at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah – a resort that sits at a rare intersection of rainforest, sea and city, with the islands of the South China Sea on one side and the Borneo hinterland on the other. Mostly calm and collected, she says of herself, with the quiet confidence of someone who has seen absolutely everything. We asked her what makes this corner of Malaysian Borneo worth considering for a destination wedding.
Venue Snapshot
Venue: Shangri-La Tanjung Aru, Kota Kinabalu
Location: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo
Website: shangri-la.com/kotakinabalu/tanjungaruresort
In five words: Scenic. Natural. Serene. Relaxing. Convenient.
The Venue
What are the main reasons couples choose Shangri-La Tanjung Aru for their destination wedding?
The best of both worlds – the sea and the islands on one side, the city close at hand on the other. Couples get the natural beauty of coastal Borneo without sacrificing the convenience and infrastructure of Kota Kinabalu. For guests flying in from overseas, that combination makes the whole experience easier to navigate than a more remote island setting.
Where’s your favourite spot at the resort for a stunning wedding photo?
The gazebo. It frames the sea in a way that makes every photograph look considered, with the South China Sea and, on a clear day, the distant islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park as the backdrop.
What’s the most Instagrammable spot at the resort?
The Sunset Bar deck. The western-facing position means the light at the end of the day is extraordinary – the kind of sky that does everything for you.
What’s the best room for the wedding night and why?
The Tanjung Deluxe Sea View Suite, particularly the corner room. Its position close to the water and the panoramic views make it ideal for the morning after – there are few better ways to begin married life than waking up to that particular stretch of coastline.
What’s the one thing couples get at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru that they won’t find anywhere else?
That combination of nature and city in one setting. The resort sits where Borneo’s natural world and its most accessible city meet; it is a genuinely unusual position, and one that works particularly well for couples bringing guests who want the full experience of the destination without the logistics of a remote island.
What are some of the chef’s specialities for a wedding menu?
The crowd favourite is the Chilled Mango Sago with Pomelo and Ice Cream, part of the Chinese Set Menu. It is the kind of dish that people ask about long after the wedding is over.
What’s the most glamorous experience a couple can enjoy at the resort?
A full body massage at Chi, The Spa after the wedding day. After the ceremony, the reception, the dancing – having somewhere completely quiet and restorative to retreat to is, Alexandra suggests, something every couple should build into the plan.
The Planner’s Insights
What’s the biggest misconception couples have about planning a destination wedding in Kota Kinabalu?
That everything has to be over the top. In Alexandra’s experience, less is consistently more – and the natural surroundings of the resort, particularly outdoors, do so much of the aesthetic work already that elaborate decoration often competes with rather than complements the setting. The couples who trust the environment tend to end up with the most beautiful results.
What’s the strangest wedding request you’ve ever had – and did you deliver?
Nothing strange exactly – but pets are a recurring theme. Cats, dogs, beloved animals of various kinds, all requested as part of the ceremony. Alexandra finds it entirely understandable. The logistics require some thought; the sentiment, she says, never needs any explanation at all.
What do wedding couples almost always forget?
To relax and enjoy their own day. It is, Alexandra observes, the one thing no vendor can do for them.
What’s your best piece of advice for couples planning their destination wedding?
Keep it simple and elegant, and then let all the vendors do their work. The couples who enjoy their day most are the ones who have chosen their team carefully and then genuinely stepped back – trusting the process rather than managing it.
What’s the most memorable thing a couple has ever said to you after their wedding day?
That everything was smooth and easy, and that they and their guests had the best time. For Alexandra, after eighteen years, that is still the thing that matters most.
About Alexandra
Alexandra came to events management almost by accident – a brief detour from marketing communications that turned into an eighteen-year career. What keeps her in it is the same thing it has always been: watching everything come together at the end to create something genuinely memorable. “No one person or thing in particular drew me to this work,” she says. “Just looking at how everything comes together in the end.”
If your best friend called you tomorrow and said she was thinking about a destination wedding, what’s the one piece of advice you’d give her that she won’t find on any website?
Choose the place she connects with most, and then put her full trust in her vendors to do what they do best. The wedding will follow.
Alexandra’s Insider Tip for Kota Kinabalu
Make friends with a local, and make full use of what they know. Where they eat, what they do, how they do it – the version of Kota Kinabalu that locals inhabit is entirely different from the one that appears in any travel guide, and it is consistently the better one. A single good local contact will show your guests a side of Borneo that no itinerary could have planned.
For wedding enquiries at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru, contact Alexandra at events.tah@shangri-la.com