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Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

Passion Road Wedding: Roger & Cheryl

It was truly a touching and memorable wedding for the team. It’s weddings like these that remind me why we are doing what we do. That behind all these images are two people who are absolutely in love with each other. It’s a celebration of love, hope and gratefulness. I think my grin matched Roger’s that day. Everyone was happy. It was perfect.

Roger and Cheryl first met in college during the induction session. They were course mates but initially, they didn’t interact as much. She was very much reserved and quiet – always very focused in discussions and lectures; she didn’t have much to say… or perhaps, not to Roger anyway. He was the geek in the bunch, mostly spending time in the library summarizing lecture notes and studying.

It was only after a year that Roger started taking an interest in Cheryl. Though she didn’t say much but it was the quietness that caught his attention. Life then became more interesting for him; he was able to know her better day to day. Somehow it gave him a reason to be closer to her.

Time soon flew by and it was their final year in university. Eventually, after much deliberation, Roger finally mustered the courage to ask her out – but it was only enough to do so through MSN! It certainly didn’t make a good impression of him, but she agreed to the first date. Not long after, they officially got together on 24^th June 2004, right after the first semester exams.

And that, was the start of an extraordinary journey for the both of them.

Johan Sopiee In Church Weddings, Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

Indoor Garden Wedding: Vinod & Pamela

LEO club and ‘berdating“?

This is how Vinod and Pamela described themselves:- “We first met at LEO club (those of you born in the 80s would know this). We coincidentally went to the same Maths tuition. We used to go “berdating” at the mamak near school and in Ravi’s Canai & Such and the USJ 4 padangs. We talked about anything and everything under the sun. It was quite obvious that we enjoyed each other’s company.”

On the actual wedding day, their theme was purple, and boy doesn’t that say a lot about their character.

Grace Tan In Church Weddings, Testimonials, Weddings

Vijay & Stefanie’s Emotionally Charged Wedding

Most couples about to be married, fuss and fret over many details that organizing a wedding would bring. Fancy decorations and gorgeous gowns aside, all it takes to make a wedding absolutely memorable is the love shared between the couple, family & friends. I must say that this was one of the most touching weddings I have ever photographed. And it wasn’t only because Vijay and Stefanie committed to marry each other even with a mere RM1,000 in their bank account. Ultimately, it is a story of love and faith… faith in God that He would provide for their every need, down to the last detail.

Their story (as written by Stefanie):

Vijay and I first got to know each other in Multimedia University Christian Fellowship (MMUCF) in 2003. We started dating in 2005 and in December 2010, Vijay proposed to me. While all our friends and family had pretty much expected us to get married to each other at some point in our lives, few people truly realized what a big step this was for us. While most people would have been saving money for years with a house on the side, we started wedding planning with only RM1000 in our bank accounts with no other financial support. Crazy? You bet! However, we both believed and trusted in a loving Father God who gave us several promises that He would provide for our wedding and our married life.

In the course of our eleven months preparations, we faced several financial and personal obstacles but we kept praying and trusting in God to bring us through. Many times, we were challenged by God to give towards our church’s (Acts Church) building funds while maintaining our regular tithes to church. Yet, we always had enough to survive and contribute to our own wedding fund.

Despite the overwhelming odds, God’s faithfulness prevailed and 2011 proved to be a year of miracles and breakthroughs. I changed my job and my pay increased significantly. Vijay, who works as a pharmaceutical salesman, achieved every single quarterly sales during our entire engagement period. Our salaries and incentives, combined with several surprise gifts or opportunities enabled us to pay off our wedding. Amazingly, none of our wedding expenses were paid on credit but were always paid in cash. God always provided the money when it was most needed. God even provided a beautiful house at half the normal rental price and provided the furniture to furnish it. God’s faithfulness was evident in every part of our wedding!

Grace Tan In Church Weddings, Life, Musings, Weddings

A Myanmar Refugee Wedding: Zwe & Stellar

Photographers: Grace & Weiming
Videographers: Alex & Monica
Wedding Gown: DUMC wedding ministry
Groom’s Suit: Alex’s suit
Make up & hair: Grace Wang (bride) & Katy K’ng (bridesmaids)

On the 19th of July, Alex and I received a phone call from Pastor Margaret of our church. It was a call for help. Two Myanmar refugees, Zwe and Stellar were about to start their new lives as husband and wife, and they needed some help with the wedding.

If you did not read the background story as to how Alex and I got involved with this wedding, you’ll need to do that in order to fully comprehend this post.

So at 10.30pm on the 20th of July, Alex and I drove to church for the wedding ceremony. I was elated to see the bride looking so radiant in a white bridal gown, provided by DUMC’s wedding ministry. Amazingly, some months ago, someone had donated a handful of second hand wedding gowns to DUMC. Considering Stellar is a really petite girl (about my size, 5 feet!), it was miraculous that she managed to find a gown that fit her perfectly (ok maybe it is a tad bit long). Now if only my wedding gown was not in a box somewhere, I could have loaned Stellar my gown and the length would have been perfect.

If Zwe had chosen to wear Alex’s wedding suit, that would have been pretty weird, to see someone else in my gown and in Alex’s wedding suit! (not that I would have minded).

But Zwe chose one of Alex’s beige suits instead, and I think he looked smashing in it!

Did you know that in Myanmar, 55 million people speak a variety of 111 languages, but majority of them speak the Myanmar language.(source: myanmar.net). The Myanmar script draws its source from the Brahmi script.

Translated into English, the bible passage featured below talks about love:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (1 Corinthians 13:4)

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

Mark & Mun Tzin weds!

Our resident photographer Mark Leo is now a married man himself! Ever since that first date at GSC 4 years ago, Mark has grown more and more in love with Mun Tzin. Over the past 3 years, my friendship with Mark and Mun Tzin has grown and I must say that this is one funny couple. Mark is always telling funny jokes which causes Mun Tzin to either erupt in laughter or look at him strangely. They are passionate about life, friendship and God, and you always know that you can count on them to be there when you need them to.

I asked them to describe each other, and here are some fun facts about Mark and Mun Tzin (with my notes in italics):

1. Mun Tzin loves that Mark is such a rational, solution oriented person. And that he is really funny.
2. What she dislikes about him – that he is always trying to pack his day with activities! And that he is always late. (but not on shoots, right Mark!!!)
3. Mark can wiggle his ears (I find that really weird). And he has really really long arm hair.
4. What Mark loves about Mun Tzin – that she is focused & opinionated (eg. she can talk about one issue the entire night, especially if it’s something that irks her).
5. And what Mark dislikes about Mun Tzin – that she is not spontaneous enough!

By the way, Mun Tzin has been coordinating quite a number of weddings in Damansara Utama Methodist Church, so she is a really organized person!

Anyhow, back to the point of this post! In tune with Mark’s funny nature, I thought it would be appropriate to create a proposal video that is sooooooo Mark. And of course, soooo Mun Tzin. Enjoy!

[flv:http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/mark_munz.mp4 http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/mark_munz.jpg 700 394]

Here’s a shot of Mark and I before the ceremony. His last moments as a bachelor.

Praying before the ceremony starts…

And here she comes…

Congratulations to the both of you! Wishing you many many years of exciting, spontaneous (but maybe not too spontaneous for Munz) fun and lots of laughter. Have a great honeymoon in the Maldives!