A Look Back At Xiaxue's Seemingly Perfect Love Story: How She Met Mike, Cinema Proposal, Mafia-Themed Wedding & More

By Rachel Yohannan on 10 Apr 2023

Senior Digital Editor

Crazy cat lady who loves afternoon tea, kawaii Japanese fashion, and all things Sanrio.

News of Xiaxue and Mike Sayre’s relationship ending after 17 years blew up almost immediately after it was announced on her Instagram page. While Xiaxue, whose real name is Wendy Cheng Yan Yan, kept her comments section closed, this didn’t stop the public from openly leaving their thoughts on other pages. And as expected from Singapore’s cynical netizens, negative comments were aplenty - with many rejoicing over the breakup and some even chiding Xiaxue for “marrying an ang moh for money”.

Now, I’m unashamed to say this - I consider myself one of Xiaxue’s “original” fans, going way back to her Blogspot days. While Xiaxue receiving hate is nothing new, I was pretty perturbed by the incorrect assumptions people were making about her during this difficult time without even knowing anything about her relationship’s history. Just so you know - Mike didn’t come to Singapore as a “rich expat”; He was actually a broke college student when they first met.

With that, here’s a recap of Xiaxue and Mike Sayre’s seemingly perfect love story for the uninitiated - harking back to how they first met, the proposal, their special Mafia-themed wedding and other milestones before the heartbreaking divorce.

How did Xiaxue and Mike Sayre first meet?

Photo from Xiaxue

It was the year 2005 - way before smartphones and TikTok were a thing. Michael Marquet Sayre from Texas somehow came across Xiaxue’s blog while Googling for something (he claims he forgot what it was), and it was love at first sight.

Apparently, Mike had an epiphany of sorts that she was The One - and the only other time he had ever felt so strongly about something was when he had a weird feeling about a friend. Despite not being in close contact with that friend, he had a strange urge to call him, but was unable to reach him. The next day, Mike found out that his friend had taken his own life, somewhere close to the time he wanted to make the call.

Photo from Xiaxue

Trusting his heart, Mike took the courage to casually slip into Xiaxue’s emails. This email was said to be a humorous one, with Mike trying to convince the pint-sized Xiaxue that short girls are more likeable than tall ones. He also attached a photograph of himself, and she found him cute, so she replied and they started chatting on MSN Messenger. This eventually progressed to video calls via a webcam.

Photo from Xiaxue

Things were on and off and they both dated other people in between, but after about 2 months of chatting, Mike said he wanted to visit Singapore and Xiaxue agreed to show him around. At that point, he was a university student and used up pretty much all his savings to buy a plane ticket from America to Singapore. The moment he saw her at the airport, he held onto her hand super tightly and didn’t let go, and later on kissed her in the lift as they were headed to the taxi stand.

During Mike’s visit, Xiaxue lied to her mother and stayed with Mike in his hotel the entire time. He asked her to be his girlfriend on the 6th day, and of course, she agreed. A couple of months later, Xiaxue bought flight tickets to USA - much to the chagrin of her mother - and flew off to visit Mike, where they toured Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and went to Texas to meet his family. She was only 21 years old at that time, and Mike 24.

Mike moved to Singapore for Xiaxue

Photo from Xiaxue

After graduating from university in 2007, Mike left behind everything he had from his life in Texas and flew across the globe to be with Xiaxue, but things weren’t easy. They had to squeeze in her super single bed in her room sans air-conditioning, and money was getting tight as Mike was having trouble searching for a job.

Every morning, he’d travel to various engineering companies to hand-deliver his resume, but for the longest time, had no luck. Companies that did have any open jobs were only offering $2000 to $3000 as starting pay, while Mike could probably easily bag a $6000 salary back home as an Engineer. Discouraged, Xiaxue told Mike that perhaps they should break up and stop forcing it, so that Mike could go back to the USA for a better life.

Mike refused to give up and continued his search - and eventually landed a good job offer with pay almost equal to what he would get in America. As you would know if you read her blog over the years, the couple eventually moved into a condo together, and had a ton of adventures together.

Mike proposed to Xiaxue in a movie theatre

In December 2009, Mike planned a surprise proposal for Xiaxue which was carried out just before a movie screening. He told her he was busy and couldn’t attend, but dropped her off so she could go with her friends. Little did she know that she was about to get engaged that very day.

Mike planned a fake matchmaking commercial that was cleverly slipped in with the other pre-show movie trailers at the cinema. This short clip shows a lone figure sitting on a bench and the words “Everybody needs somebody…have you found that somebody?”. As the camera gets closer, the mysterious figure turns around, revealing his face, and it’s none other than Mike, who says, “I know I have”.

The real Mike then appeared, walked up the stairs to where Xiaxue was seated in the cinema, and got down on one knee to propose.

This was all captured on video and put into a Xiaxue’s Guide To Life episode on YouTube. At the end of the video, Xiaxue shares in between sobs, “Before I met Mike I always thought that nobody would ever like me because I’m so foul-mouthed and lots of other nonsense…but he does”.

Xiaxue’s heart-shaped engagement ring

Photo from Xiaxue

While Xiaxue’s proposal was a surprise, her engagement ring was not, as it was something that had been chosen by herself 2 months prior at Larry Jewellery - a jewellery store that her uncle worked at. The heart-shaped diamond was actually meant to be one half of a pair of earrings, and measured a good 0.73 carats. This was surrounded by smaller diamonds, set on a double band with even more diamonds on it.

This heart-shaped engagement ring would also eventually double up as Xiaxue’s wedding ring, as she’s not a fan of plain wedding bands and thus did not see the point in getting one.

Xiaxue & Mike’s mafia-themed wedding at Forlino

Photo from Xiaxue

Instead of a traditional Chinese wedding banquet, Xiaxue and Mike held their 2010 wedding solemnisation at now-defunct Italian restaurant Forlino, with a cool Italian mafia theme to boot.

Xiaxue’s wedding dress was a custom-made piece by local designer Keith Png. Instead of a ballgown, this was a non-traditional white frock with a short poofy tutu-like skirt to suit the theme - partially inspired by Marilyn Monroe.

Pretty much every bit of the wedding was sponsored, from the venue to the wedding planner to the bride and groom’s outfits, as well as the hair and makeup, photography, and wedding favours for guests.

Photo from Xiaxue

One thing that wasn’t sponsored was Xiaxue’s manicure. She did a great job of DIY-ing her nails with red Swarovski crystals, painstakingly stuck on one by one with epoxy glue.

Xiaxue never wanted kids, but changed her mind and had Dash

Photo from Xiaxue

Xiaxue once wrote a lengthy listicle-style blog post about how she didn’t like children and never wanted to become a mother, with some of the reasons among many others being: She was worried her kid would turn out ugly, she believed that a child would be a burden, and she was afraid that having a child would negatively affect her marriage. There was also the very self-aware acknowledgement of her inherent selfishness.

But along the way, she got hit by bouts of baby fever, and eventually warmed up to the idea of becoming a mother. She and Mike tried for a baby a couple of times but weren’t successful, so the pregnancy came as a surprise when it finally did happen.

Photo from Xiaxue

Xiaxue and Mike’s son Dashiel Marquet Sayre was born in 2013 - 3 years after getting married. The middle name “Marquet” is a tradition from Mike’s side, where all the males in the family including Mike himself have it.

Xiaxue & Mike’s dreamy post-wedding photoshoot in Greece

Photo from Xiaxue

Sunrise Experiences (previously known as Sunrise Greece back then) sponsored the couple a dreamy fairytale-worthy photoshoot all the way in Athens and Santorini in 2014. Everything from the domestic transport to hair, makeup, photography, photoshoot locations and accommodation were taken care of - all Xiaxue and Mike had to do was to bring themselves, their outfits, and their best smiles.

Photo from Xiaxue

During this romantic trip, Xiaxue and Mike had a private mini “re-solemnisation” where they renewed their wedding vows, said “I do” for a second time round, and popped champagne to celebrate how far they had come. At that point, Dash was already 6 months old.

4 years later, they were invited by the same company to go for an anniversary photoshoot trip in Europe, touring Paris, Salzburg, and Switzerland, and seemed just as blissfully in love as they were back in the newlywed stage.

Xiaxue & Mike’s eventual divorce

Unfortunately, this love story has come to an end, with Xiaxue announcing her separation from Mike on 5 April 2023 after 17 long years of being together, and 13 years of marriage. The reason for Xiaxue and Mikes divorce has not been revealed, but she did say that the breakup was a mutual and amicable one, despite it being a very difficult decision to arrive to. Xiaxue and Mike will now focus on co-parenting Dash as they move forward separately.