Newly-weds Fined RM3,000 For Pulling Down Masks To Take Photos

Newly-weds get 2 “certificates” on special day

Weddings are typically filled with countless photo ops of the newly-weds celebrating their special day. But for this couple in KL, candid photos of them that are usually free, courtesy of joyous family and friends, came at a cost. The newly-weds were fined RM1,500 each for pulling down their masks for celebratory photos of them smiling on their wedding day, which had been postponed for 5 months due to the pandemic.

Photos that cost them more than hiring a photographer

On 4th May 2021, Arnold Neo took to his Facebook page to share the unlikely tale that he and his wife, Mi Ki, now get to tell about their wedding day when they got fined RM1,500 each.

He took a lighthearted tone in his post announcing his marriage and the additional “certificate” – or saman slip – that he received along with his marriage certificate.

Newlyweds fined for taking celebratory photo - photo
Image credit: Arnold Neo

The story goes that Neo and his wife wanted to take photos to show off their happy smiles, so they took their face masks off as the area where they’d been taking photos at had allegedly been empty. Unfortunately, a police officer happened to be around, catching them off guard and issuing them a RM1,500 fine each on the spot.

As it was no small amount, Arnold also joked that the photos they took on their wedding day cost more than hiring a professional photographer – presumably because of the fine that cost them both RM3,000.

While his first post made light of the incident, he shared in a follow-up post today, 7th May, that he and his wife were initially not as flippant as the original post suggested. They had to take time to process the incident, but they came to terms with it in the end, and decided to turn the bad memory into a happy one as it had been their wedding day.

Wedding had been postponed due to the pandemic

In an interview with Chinese news agency, Oriental Daily, Arnold shared that he and his wife had planned to get married back in 26th January 2021. But they had postponed the special day until recently, 4th May, due to the pandemic and desire to have their parents around to mark the occasion.

On what happened on the day of their wedding, he said in the interview that they went to National Registration Department in PJ to complete their marriage registration. As the place was crowded, they later headed to Plaza Arkadia in Kepong to take celebratory pictures with their family members.

It should be noted that they were married on 4th May, before the MCO was enforced in 6 districts in Selangor on 6th May, and KL on 7th May.

Image credit: Arnold Neo

But a “smiling” wedding photo, sans their face masks to capture their joyous faces on camera, turned into a pricey affair when a police officer caught them posing for the photo.

To this, Arnold admitted that they were caught up in their excitement and had failed to keep their mouths covered with their masks in result. As such, he also took the time to remind everyone to wear their masks while out in public, and advised fellow newly-weds taking photos to be wiser as well.

Image credit: Arnold Neo

Newly-weds remind all to wear their masks after getting fined

Photos are a must on wedding days as it’s a way to document this once-in-a-lifetime event. So it’s understandable that newly-weds would want to have a picture of them smiling widely. But as Neo shared, it’s sometimes better to be safe than sorry during the pandemic, to avoid getting fined like them.

We extend our congratulations to the newly-weds, Arnold and Mi Ki, and applaud them for keeping their chins up despite getting fined on their wedding day.