ceremony

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Weddings

Wedding of Daniel & Alison at Wesley Methodist Church

20140719_WEDDING_DANIEL_ALISON_0452 It was the Easter weekend in Sydney. Daniel and Alison had already met in 2002 as family friends and then again in 2007 when Daniel visited Melbourne with his buddies and ‘coincidentally’ or perhaps, more ‘intentionally’ asked Alison to catch up. So now, it was Alison’s turn to travel to Sydney where Daniel was studying. Everything was still very platonic at this stage, but Daniel had developed some feelings for Alison by then. Somehow, a few things happened during this trip that made it so significant for them as a couple.

While walking along the Darling Harbour, a lady ‘statue’ in disguise randomly picked Daniel and Alison among their friends to come closer to her. In her hand, were some flowers, which she gave them to hold, and placed a flower crown on Alison’s head. In a simple gesture, she indicated for them to hold hands, which they sheepishly did. Then, there was the incident at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Daniel proved he was good at ‘aiming’ when he won a shooting game there and asked Alison to pick a grand prize that she liked. Together, they chose a giant unicorn which she brought back to Melbourne and subsequently to KL where it’s found it’s resting place in Alison’s bedroom till today. (it made an appearance in her wedding photos too!)

20140719_WEDDING_DANIEL_ALISON_0012 Though they were complete opposites in terms of personality (Daniel is the shy, quiet type – we had to work really hard to draw his cute dimples out during the wedding! And Alison’s the talkative, bubbly girl who doesn’t have any problems laughing or showing her expressions)… they worked well as a couple. Despite the distance between Melbourne and Sydney, they kept in touch and realised they had so much in common. After dating over 6 years, Daniel proposed to Alison on 17 December 2013 in Docklands, Melbourne…the place where he brought her on their first dinner date. Happiest day of their lives. And yes, Daniel is pretty good at his aim.

Congratulations, both of you! Be prepared for a whole series of images, taken by Grace, Nigel & Jamie.

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Grace Tan In Church Weddings, Weddings

Wedding at Mandarin Oriental: Shawn & Joyce

The Football Connection… by Shawn

I first knew of Joyce’s existence when we were way back in our teens. We used to attend the same church and I notice how she didn’t seem to follow the crowd or hang out with the rest of the kids her age.

For some reason I found her independence and individuality appealing and told myself it would be cool to get to know her but we were way too young and I hadn’t learnt enough moves to win over the ladies over yet so I left it at that. Joyce eventually moved to Australia to pursue her studies and I only ever saw her when she came down to visit family during semester breaks.

Then there was the creation of FaceBook. I was a little bit of a late bloomer with this social networking site and it was not till my university days did I actually had a Facebook account. This was also how I came about finding how big a football fan Joyce was. She wasn’t just a football fan that many girls are these days. She didn’t support a team because there was a good looking player in there or because it was just a famous team. She actually knew all about the history of the club she supported. She knew more football than most of my guy friends put together. I was pretty much sold there and then.

20140301_WEDDING_SHAWN_JOYCE_0864 Joyce says:

We may have opposite personalities but we have a lot of common interests and that’s what brought us together, our joint love for football and FC Barcelona. His energetic personality definitely brings me out of my shell and I am the calming influence that keeps him down to earth. We frequently wake up to watch football together and will have long whatsapp chats with each other during matches when we are apart. We have a no holds barred, transparent relationship. We both have different outlooks in life and often find ourselves throwing opinions at each other during a heated discussion. We don’t consider that arguing, just a competition on who is better at convincing the other.

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Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Lifelong Travel Partners: The Wedding of Tjin & Dawn

It was in January 2011 that Tjin met Dawn for the first time through his close friend, Lynsey. Lynsey and Dawn were close, childhood friends in Singapore. Interestingly, Tjin and Dawn’s first point of contact was an unintentional ‘romantic’ Singapore river cruise overlooking Singapore’s city lights. So, Facebook did it again… it connected Tjin and Dawn after that first encounter in Singapore. Their Facebook messages soon turned to Whatsapp messages which then transformed to Skype calls.

This is where it gets interesting. Since 5th January 2011, Tjin and Dawn communicated EVERY SINGLE day, whether it was early in the morning or late at night. But it was a grey kind of relationship for the first 6 months. Were they friends, or were they friends? It would seem obvious though that Tjin’s purchases of flowers for Valentine’s day and whenever Dawn was sick would indicate more than just a friendship. But still, it was not really clear.

Over the first 6 months, they grew to like each other’s personalities and qualities…but one thing was missing… meeting that ‘head’ image with a more concrete ‘face-to-face’ encounter. So June 2011, Tjin decided to make a trip to Singapore, and together with friends, they embarked on this Singapore – KL – Lombok – Hong Kong – Singapore adventure. It was during that trip that Tjin decided to end the uncertainty, and asked Dawn to be his girlfriend in Hong Kong.

20140412_WEDDING_TJIN_DAWN_32 Tjin made a promise to Dawn that he would visit as often as he can. This resulted in a long list of flights every 2-3 months over three years – becoming Jetstar’s unofficial number one customer. Some trips were long trips to Hanoi, Bali, Seoul or KL. Some trips to Singapore were only 3 nights over the weekend. Many exciting hellos, and equally as many heartbreaking goodbyes. Dawn would also visit Melbourne at least once a year. Story of their lives for 3 years.

So finally, in March 2013, Dawn visited Melbourne and was put on a surprise flight to Launceston, Tasmania. It was there that Tjin asked Dawn to marry him over a romantic dinner. He made a photo scrapbook of their travels and adventure together, but the last 2 pages were blank. It was meant to be continued!

Congratulations, Tjin and Dawn! I am really happy for the both of you! Sorry I couldn’t be there to witness the wedding, but seeing the images taken by Johan and Weiming, and also the video by Nick, Delvin & Felicia made me feel as if I was there.

20140412_WEDDING_TJIN_DAWN_46 Watch the Fusion slideshow of their wedding here.

Grace Tan In Church Weddings, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Christian wedding at Holiday Villa: Desmond & Sheila

“I was the first one to confess to him, I was the first one to ask him to marry me… I was all out for this man.”

Sheila was one determined girl. They had been together for 15 years, through a friendship that started online during their college days. And what a friendship that has been. One that developed a deep sense of trust, and a huge faith in God that He would make things work between them. Desmond is one who takes his commitment to marriage seriously. It is a serious covenant between a man and his wife, and with God.

I think that is such an amazing quality, one that every woman looks for. Someone who would commit their life to you till ‘death do you part’ and mean it totally and utterly with all their heart. That there are no exit doors, no ‘what if’s’, or perhaps we should think of it as ‘commit till we can’t take it anymore’. No, this is a man who commits to his vows with his entire soul… and what a sense of security it is for any woman!

Their faith in God has brought them through many ups and downs, and I am sure their marriage relationship will be tested again in the future (as with ALL marriages)… but I am absolutely certain that this is one couple who will work hard to make things work no matter what.

And that is what a marriage is.

Enjoy this entertaining video filmed by Felicia, Wee Liem & Delvin, and the beautiful photos by Johan and Ben.

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Grace Tan In Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Weddings

Ceylonese Wedding: Kogulan & Rathinee

There is just an unexplainable feeling that you get that makes you KNOW that he’s the one. I thought that all these kinda things happens in the movies but it was only then that I believed it…

20131206_WEDDING_KOGULAN_RATHINEE_456 How It Began

Kog and I first met in 2010 at a party and got introduced by a mutual friend. It wasn’t love or hate at first or anything like that. We consecutively met and got to know each other. The more conversations we had, we more attracted we got. Naturally, we just wanted more.

Finally, in Feb 2011, he asked me out on our first date. We were just so comfortable with each other from the beginning. We went out on more dates, and just after 2 weeks he asked me to be his girlfriend. I really did like him, but thought it was going too fast, and all he had to say for that was; what is there to wait for when I already feel that this is so right! And I felt exactly the same!

The closeness we felt towards each other and the sense of ease that we have with each other just makes us grow as a couple. There was no fuss about impressing each other, no sweet talks, just us being us.

Kog is the only guy who has actually made me feel so excited even thinking bout him, made me feel butterflies in my stomach and has actually made me speechless! (that’s a first). All the things that i did not go through in my teens, i went through then.

We just fell head over heels for each other!

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