And the "winners" are...

(Yup! If you received this today, you're one of the lucky winners!)

Director (Operations) & Director (Powerpuff Girls) - Eunice!
Responsible for overall organisation of Our Lovely Love Story and the prioritisation of workload to ensure maximum benefit for participants and attendees alike. In charge of organising the operations team, aka Powerpuff Girls and Gung-Ho Gang, and mobilising them to achieve a common strategy and goal.
Also responsible for providing secretarial, fashion, clerical and all forms of support to Jess.

Director (Gung-Ho Gang) - Cixian!
Responsible for providing secretarial, fashion, clerical and all forms of support to Teck. In charge of organising and mobilising the Gung-Ho Gang - where necessary - to put down any resistance during the course of Our Lovely Love Story.

Deputy Directors (Powerpuff Girls) - Yomay, Grace & Gel!
Responsible for assisting Director (Powerpuff Girls) and Jess to ensure the smooth running of Our Lovely Love Story.

Deputy Directors (Gung-Ho Gang) - Donny, Daniel & Fan!
Responsible for doing whatever they are arrowed to do, aka SK Warriors.

Senior Manager (Events) - Deca.com!
Responsible for the management of all events under Our Lovely Love Story, from on-site management at Church/Hotel to post-event follow-up.

Managers (Events) - Kenny & Joyce!
Responsible for making sure Deca.com doesn't screw up! =p

Managers (Corporate Comms) - Tim & Velma!
Responsible for creating, implementing and overseeing communications programmes that are suitable and effective for Our Lovely Love Story (aka emcees).

Manager (Security) - Eudora!
Responsible for overseeing the security team (aka ushers) for Our Lovely Love Story to ensure a smooth flow of human and vehicular traffic.

Artistic Manager - Jasper!
Responsible for providing musical leadership and direction for Our Lovely Love Story, as well as setting the musical vision and organising the team of musicians for the event. Also in charge of conducting musical rehearsals, scheduled performances and auditions for performers.

Thanks for agreeing to be part of Our Lovely Love Story! Not that we gave any of you a choice lar...hehehe...but too bad! You all took the cupcakes liao! =p

God knows best!

Stagecoach Prayer

Five-year-old Randy wanted a toy stagecoach for Christmas. While shopping with Mom, he found just the one he wanted. It was about 6" long and had cool wheels and dark brown plastic horses pulling it. “Mommy, I want this one. Pleeeease!” he begged. As young children sometimes do, he threw a tantrum, insisting that he get that stagecoach for Christmas. Mom said, “We’ll see,” and took him home.

Randy was sure he’d get what he asked for. Christmas morning came, and he opened the package confidently. Sure enough, it was the stagecoach he had begged for. He was so pleased. But then his older brother said, “You really did a dumb thing to insist on getting that coach. Mom bought you a much bigger one, but when you begged for that little one, she exchanged it!” Suddenly the small stagecoach didn’t seem so appealing.

Sometimes we’re like that with God. We pray about a specific need and tell Him how He ought to answer. We beg and plead—and God may even give us exactly what we ask for. But He may have had something better in mind.

Phillips Brooks once said, “Pray the largest prayers. You cannot think a prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish you had made it larger.”

Do not presume to know what’s best
When you begin to pray;
But say to God, “Your will be done,”
Then trust His perfect way.

Large asking results in large receiving.

___________________

Back in April last year, I came across this in Our Daily Bread when Jess and I were worrying about not being able to get a home in time for our wedding; and were considering whether to start off with a 3-room flat instead. Looking at our empty-but-soon-to-be-lovely home now, this is what I have to say - God is REAL, God speaks to us, and God truly knows best! =)

Home (un)Sweet Home!

Jess and I finally got the keys to our new home today! Just a stone's throw away from Tanjong Pagar (if the stone was thrown by Hercules); overlooking the historically-charged Malaysian Railway Station, and even with a seaview (including free containers and shipyard equipment thrown in as well), this soon-to-be lovely place in Cantonment Close is finally and officially ours! Soon-to-be; as you can see from the photos. But before we reach that state of affairs, we'll have to do an Extreme Makeover: Teck & Jess Home Edition before showing you photos of our beautiful home two months down the road! So for now, it's still not Home Sweet Home...yet!

One thing I realised when I stepped into our home today is that we're really no longer young anymore. We've grown up. No more begging our parents to buy the latest Sega game for us; no more saving for months and working part-time just to buy that pair of Nike shoes; no more skipping meals just to save up for that Starbucks low-fat grande hazelnut latte. We just spent $480,000, i.e. about 16,000 Sega games (without taking PPP adjustment) or 4,800 Nike shoes or 80,000 Starbucks low-fat grande hazelnut lattes, on 90 square metres of land!

Oh well; the view from the 23rd storey is beautiful, and we now have a place to call our own. To do up in the way we want, to come home to everyday after work, to cook up wonderful meals, to throw exciting parties, to host boardgaming sessions and of course, to start our own family and our own lives. God is good!

btw, Mum told me after dinner today that our door number won the consolation prize in 4D today. Hehehe. Not that I advocate gambling; but let's hope that it's a sign of more good things to come! =)

The story so far...

Ok, so I lied; we haven't exactly been lying dormant over the past 10 months. We've actually done a fair bit of planning, made some life-changing and irreversible decisions, plunged into some deep ends, lamented to God every now and then, thanked God every now and then......

So what exactly is the story so far?

• As you probably already know (where have you been if you haven't heard???!!), 9 March 2007 at The Cliff, Sentosa, was the day when I got down on my knees and (*ahem*) paid a non-refundable "deposit" for Jess' hand in marriage with a Celestial Fly-Me-To-The-Moon-And-Let-Me-Play-Among-The-Stars Solitaire Diamond Ring.
• Too few guests for The Fullerton Hotel, and too many for Raffles Hotel; we finally decided on the intimate but stylish Conrad Centennial Singapore for our Wedding Dinner. The date? We wanted 7 June 2008, but it was taken; so 31 May 2008 then!
• Being kiasu Singaporeans, we bought our rings before the 2% GST hike last year - a pair of matte-white-gold-with-a-small-diamond Celestial wedding bands!
• We decided to place the fate of Jess' wedding gown, evening gown, tea dress and Chinese kua; my suit; our hair and make-up services, flower hand bouquets, corsages, car decor; and other important wedding details into the hands of Mel (please don't feel stressed by how important you are to our wedding), The Wedding Present! =)
• The responsibility of making us look better than we really are for the studio/outdoor photoshoot falls on the shoulders of Chris Ling's Kelvin; you can see his outstanding works here!
• We have a special something for Kelvins; our Wedding Day will be seen through the lenses of Kelvin Koh, Lightedpixels. We really love his photos and philosopy (It is never about taking perfect pictures, just perfect moments)! See how he captures these perfect moments here!
• We plunged ourselves heavily into debt servitude with our love nest - a 4-room HDB flat at Cantonment Close. Still not officially ours yet; but we will be getting the keys next week! Then it's time for an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition! =)
• Church Wedding will, of course, be at TA2, with catering by Les Amis. You wish! Still haven't decided on the caterer yet, so do let us know if you have any good recommendations!
• We still haven't decided where to go for our honeymoon yet; but Britain, France and Spain are on the shortlist. Well, there's always Balai =p

And the story goes on......

Coming Soon: Gung-Ho Gang & Powerpuff Girls!

To be announced very soon - the Gung-Ho Gang (aka 兄弟) and Powerpuff Girls (aka 姐妹) for Our Lovely Love Story!

Chapter X: The Beginning?

This isn't exactly the start of Our Lovely Love Story. If you've just joined us, then you're approximately 10 months late (hence Chapter X). The Lovely Love Story of Teck & Jess actually started on 9 March 2007 (you can read more about it here), with the Proposal. Well, strictly speaking, it started more than 5 years ago, on that faithful day in NUS; but we shall not go into such technicalities here. So in a sense, this blog is 10 months overdue. But no worries, cos' you haven't missed much since then. We did make reservations for our wedding dinner at Conrad, and we did splurge about half a million and 30 years of our CPF contributions on a home; but apart from that, it's been the usual grind of life of the both of us. The reality of the wedding hadn't really hit us yet.

Until today, when Eunice met us for a preliminary discussion on the details of our wedding. Suddenly, I realised that The Day is less than half a year away, and there's still so much to be done. Invitations, guest lists, home decor, church decor, food and everything else under the sun. It's really time to get started. So in another sense, you're not really late. You're just in time! =)

So welcome to Our Lovely Love Story, where we hope to share our joy, happiness, hope and love with you as we prepare for The Day. Here, you can find out how our wedding preparations are going, what to expect on our wedding day, or maybe how you have been arrowed to help out on our special day! =) Heck, we may even ask you to vote to help us make decisions for this special day in our lives!

So today, the story begins! =)

Once upon a time...

...there lived a Lovely Couple, Jess & Teck. Follow their Lovely Love Story as they embark on their journey together.

Watch this space for more updates!