TJC GUITAR CLUB 2007

Monday, October 09, 2006

THEY SAY 'I DO' IN SCHOOL
New Paper, 09 October 2006

MOST couples would choose a posh or romantic location for their wedding banquet. Possibly a ballroom in a five-star hotel, or a marquee at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

But not Mr Kwan Hon Fai and Miss Ong Hui Tze.

The couple chose a most unlikely place to get married - at their junior college (JC), in an open meeting area, directly below a lecture theatre. The wedding dinner? Please proceed to the school canteen!

By the time you read this, the couple, both 28, would have had their wedding ceremony at Temasek Junior College (TJC) on Bedok South Road.

Last evening , Miss Ong, an assistant manager at the Social Development Service, married Mr Kwan, an engineer. The two, who have been together since they met in JC, didn't want to have their wedding ceremony anywhere else. They reasoned that the school was where they met and fell in love when they were still 16. So it was only fitting that they took their wedding vows there.

Mrs Kwan said: 'We thought it would be more meaningful to us, unlike holding it at a hotel or restaurant. This was where we met and 'grew up' - the start of our happy days together.'
The couple were not in the same class as they took different subjects, but they met at the school's guitar club.

Mrs Kwan said: 'We didn't really talk much until a barbecue in school during Friendship Day (celebrated in TJC for Valentine's Day) and we got to know each other better. Then one day, he asked me out for a movie.'

Last April, 10 years after they started dating, Mr Kwan proposed while the couple were on holiday in India. She said 'yes', of course.

FOND MEMORIES

The solemnisation ceremony was held under Lecture Theatre 1, where alumni of the school will remember gathering between classes and after school.

The buffet-style wedding dinner was held in the canteen. Before that, the couple had their traditional Chinese tea ceremony on a grass patch next to the canteen.

Mrs Kwan recalled: 'My husband and I often stayed back in school to study in the library.
'For me, I also found some great friends from the guitar club. I still keep in touch with them even though we graduated 10 years ago.

'For Hon Fai, he says his days in TJC were some of the best in his schooling years. He was very active, too. He would go camping, trekking and rock climbing. He also keeps in touch regularly with many of his JC buddies.'

With so many guitar-playing friends on hand, the couple had no lack of ideas for the wedding programme - guests at the dinner sat back and enjoyed live instrumental music.

More than 150 guests were there - relatives, colleagues and about 30 ex-schoolmates.

Friends had gone there at about 2pm to decorate the area with red, pink and white balloons.

NOT THE FIRST

The Kwans are the second couple to get married in TJC. The school's vice-principal, Mrs Lim Kia Huan, said that another couple, who were also former students of the school, held their wedding ceremony in TJC last year.

'We try to accede to all requests,' said Mrs Lim.

Mrs Kwan said it had not difficult to arrange the event with the school.

'We went to the school early this year and talked to Mrs Lim.'

'During our time, she taught mathematics. Although we both had not been taught by her, she was very helpful and took us around the school, giving us advice on where to hold the ceremony.'

The couple and the school kept in touch mainly through e-mail. The Kwans then went to the school one more time before the wedding to have discussions with the school's operations manager and Mrs Lim.

'It was not difficult. We had to pay only $200 for the electricity bill. This is because we were only using the 'public areas',' said Mrs Kwan.

'If we had wanted to use the football field or any of the lecture theatres, I think we would have had to pay $500.'

pureGUITARISTS. :)