Having a wedding is a big deal. From choosing the perfect venue to finding the dream dress, every detail matters.
However, finding the right vendors can be challenging and overwhelming, and unfortunately, it has resulted in some horror stories.
Common issues include couples not knowing whether they are getting what they paid for and being unable to compare different vendors side-by-side—the very pain points that Hitcheed is trying to solve.
Adapting to sustain
Chee Yang Tan, 48, is no stranger to entrepreneurship. He previously co-founded and launched the home renovations platform Qanvast with Benjamin Han and Daniel Lim in 2013 before he exited the business in 2016.
After his departure, Chee Yang pivoted to the wedding industry and started formulating a solution that could help other couples in organising their wedding. He soon launched a one-stop shop mobile app that allows users to discover different wedding vendors and engage them for their services.
This includes hotels and other venues, bridal studios, photographers, videographers, and other service providers such as florists, hair and makeup artists, and more.
With a clear concept, Chee Yang said that he invested S$70,000 of his personal savings, approached a variety of vendors, and relied on the skills he gained when he was at Qanvast, from cold calling and emails to meetings to try to onboard them onto the app.
However, that proved to be a major obstacle for the business, as many vendors were more familiar with traditional forms of advertising, such as magazines and trade fairs—leading him to experience multiple rejections. It also did not help that the mobile app was not getting traction in Singapore.
This was when Chee Yang made the decision that would change the trajectory of Hitcheed—to discontinue the mobile app and pivot to organising wedding events.
He explained that having physical events makes for more effective advertising for his vendors, and couples could get inspiration and meet different types of vendors at one location to enquire about their offerings.
Transitioning to wedding fairs
Currently, Hitcheed is known for its wedding fairs—Wedding Wonderland and Bridal Market, with the former being held thrice a year. The Bridal Market allows visitors the “rare” chance to try out gowns on-site, which Chee Yang claims to be the first to be offered in Singapore.
However, some vendors at wedding fairs often hard sell their products to visitors, and some have voiced it out.
Is Hitcheed any different?
After reading 12 Google reviews and a few social media posts from local creators, the general consensus was that there was no hard selling, and many couples were able to achieve their goals without much of a hitch.
While we admit that there was not a large enough sample size to determine their credibility, it seemed that the company attempts to switch things up to attract a wider audience by offering “trendy” event activities such as Personal Colour Analysis, Tarot Card Readings, and customised door gifts.
If it sounds gimmicky, let’s change our perspective slightly. Just like fashion and beauty, the wedding scene is one that changes often due to trends and consumer behaviours. Moreover, Hitcheed needed to establish itself amongst decade-old brands in the local wedding industry—all of which took time.
According to Chee Yang, the company held less than five to eight events each year and brought in around S$600,000-S$800,000 in annual revenue during their early days. Things only became more challenging when the events industry took a massive hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During COVID, we were not allowed to do any big scale events, and the company lost S$30,000-S$50,000 every month until 2023 when events can resume and slowly pick up.”
Fortunately for Hitcheed, the company found success from their wedding fairs and has since expanded its events portfolio beyond the wedding industry: Home By Hitcheed, which is their interior design event, Not So Little Fair for kids, and their most recent addition, Fitxpo for fitness enthusiasts.
Chee Yang also noted two trends in the wedding industry in Singapore today. The first is that smaller but “nicer” venues have become more popular, as more couples have become financially savvier with their weddings / Image Credits: (Top)-Claudine, (Bottom)-1-Atico 
Secondly, destination weddings to countries like Bali have also been getting more traction, which Hitcheed took in account when getting vendors to participate in their wedding fairs / Image credits: Conrad Bali, The Ritz Carlton Bali
However, with all of their events offering free admission to visitors, one might wonder—how did Hitcheed recover from the pandemic and earn their money?
Chee Yang shared that the company solely earns through booth sales, meaning that vendors are required to pay for a booth, which ranges between S$2,000 to S$20,000, depending on booth size.
He added that they are now holding 20 events a year and have expanded their team to cope with the demand, which allowed them to bring in S$3 million in annual revenue in 2024—but he does not plan to stop there.
In the short term, we will continue to hire more talented staff and we hope to double our number of events in the next two years. We are still taking up a very small market in the lifestyle consumer events space and will [also] be exploring more different event verticals in the next two years.
Chee Yang Tan, founder of Hitcheed
Featured Image Credit: Hitcheed
