Famously single socialite Celina Lin has finally got hitched. She wed Greek businessman and Honorary Consul Andreas Goros in Sentosa yesterday after a whirlwind romance.

The wedding, Ms Lin's first and 40-year-old Goros' second, was attended by more than 300 guests, with local actress Andrea D'Cruz as emcee.

Actress Emma Yong and songwriter Dick Lee sang at the ceremony, held at the Amara Sanctuary Resort.

Ms Lin, a retired investment manager and hobbyist jewellery-maker who describes herself as in her early 40s, is unfazed about giving up her singleton status after a courtship lasting only a few months.

The party-circuit regular said in a phone interview with LifeStyle: 'All successful women are too perfectionist in their search for the perfect man. I had some criteria too and when I met him, I just fell in love and felt he was the perfect man for me. He was sincere and earnest.'

Ms Lin, who has been unattached since 2004, was introduced to Mr Goros, who runs a Greek shipping service in Singapore, at a society ball in 2006. But it was when they met again earlier this year that they clicked.

Friends suggested they get to know each other better and Mr Goros made the first move by asking Ms Lin out for a dinner at Italian restaurant il Lido in Sentosa.

After that fateful dinner, in the space of barely six months, the smitten couple went on trips to places such as Greece, China and Turkey.

Ms Lin says: 'We saw each other intensively for a few months and probably condensed three to four years of courtship into it. We really got to know each other on an intense level.'

But he had to propose several times before she said 'yes'.

The happy newly-wed recalls: 'He engineered a series of dinners and proposed with flowers and gifts, but I did not think he was serious - till one night I decided I could spend the rest of my life with this man.'

It was July, when they were on a trip to Jerusalem, that he popped the - finally - successful question.

She says: 'It was the magic and good ambience of Jerusalem, and I thought to myself that this is the man who will give me the courage to cross the threshold of marriage.'

At the wedding yesterday, the bride flashed an emerald-cut five-carat diamond ring on her finger. She appeared in three gowns, two by local designer Francis Cheong and one by London-based celebrity designer Ashley Isham.

The programme included a ceremony conducted by a Greek Orthodox archbishop early in the evening. Later, cocktails were served, followed by a dinner that featured seared scallops, Peking duck consomme and a dessert spread of cheeses, berries and cakes.

The delighted bride gushed to Lifestyle that her handsome groom 'remembers everything, right down to the smallest detail. He is charming that way. He even remembered what we talked about when we first met in 2006 - the colour of my gown, the jewellery I was wearing and my hairdo'.

She adds: 'I only remembered meeting him and had not much recollection of that night. But when I checked the photos taken, I realised he was right.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Oct 12, 2008.