CJ lifted up the first photo we've taken together the first time we metHi everybody,
First I want to start off by thanking God because without his blessing, we would not be here today. I thank you for the love and strength that you have blessed our families.
I want to thank everybody who have made this possible, all the guests for coming and sharing this day with us. I want to thank St.Mary's Cathedral for making our wedding so special. Thank you Dean Jason for blessing our marriage. It has meant a lot to us. We are very happy that both our immediate families are here to witness this, CW who is my best man ( I am still waiting for my bucks night and which I know will never happen) and CT who have come back from Australia. I am so happy that my grandmother can be a witness to my wedding. I want to thank friends who have come back from overseas, Dr.Loo and from interstate Ian.
Mum, thank you for your support and love all these years. I know that it has not been easy, raising me and Ching Wei. Wait let me rephrase that, it has not been easy raising me! Your love and forgiveness (and trust me there was a lot of that) have sustained me all these years. Many times when people have asked you how did you managed to raise us and you have answered that it was by God's grace. I have never doubted God's grace on our family but I want to add that listening to God and trusting in him wholeheartedly takes a lot of faith especially when you have two young children to raise on your own.
Among many things which you have taught me, one teaching which I will carry with me is that we did not choose to come in to this world but our parents chose to have us. It is because of this, as parents we need to work tirelessly to provide the best for our children and to be there whenever your child needs you. You have provided the best to us and I want to thank you for this. I will carry these teachings when me and Chang Chang have our own families. Thank you for giving us your blessing and accepting Chang Chang in to our family. I want to thank God that he has blessed us with you.
Dad, I want to start by thanking you for your beautiful daughter. Thank you for accepting me in to your family and being supportive of our relationship with your only daughter. Getting to know your girlfriend's family, is quite a stressful experience. Especially considering that I had bleached my hair blonde. What can I say, I was going through a phase. You have been open-minded about our relationship and I appreciate it very much.
My darling bride, Chang Chang, I must say you look really beautiful tonight. Doesn't she look beautiful? When I was thinking of this speech and what I wanted to say, I asked myself what does this marriage mean to me? This brought back many memories. I still remember the first time I saw you. It was December 2000, I saw you in the car park in Grace Assembly and I remember distinctly that I told myself that I had to get to know you. Was this love at first sight? It turned out that we had many friends in common, Jade who brought Chang Chang to church camp (Thank you.), Niak Hon who is Niak Wu's sister and it turned out that she was Harold Soh's god sister.
Once we go to know each other, I discovered a warm, quiet, sincere and funny girl. I still remember when you were wearing braces and did not want to smile because you were embarrassed of the braces. I can prove it because I still have the picture. I made it a point to try to make you smile as big as possible.
Bie, as I was thinking about what this marriage meant to me, you have been part of my life through these years, through happiness and sadness, laughter and tears, you have shared it all with me. Thank you for being there for me and loving me. I have been told that successful marriages takes a lot of hard work. It has not been easy but I promise you that I meant every word of our vows and I will be there for you. You are my confidante, partner in crime and love and best friend. They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, when I first met you I was 58 kgs, now I am 70kgs, thank you for making me the happiest man in this room.
I often remark that our passports have only been used to travel between Australia and Malaysia. All of my friends and family have travelled around the world. I just want to say with family and friends like each and everyone of you, we are proud and happy to do this because you mean a lot to us. It has been a privilege and honour today, thank you for coming.
