6 Years Of Marriage of Voo Teck Chuan And Jacqueline Chow

“Teck Chuan chose all the music for our wedding; the march-in song, the tracklist for our wedding video highlights… Even our wedding bands are gold because he thought gold was nice. Me? I’m very chin chai (unconcerned) about such things.” – Jacqueline Chow

Q: How did your love story begin?  

Jacqueline: We met 15 years ago as students at National University of Singapore (NUS) – I was 21 and he was 23 then, and both of us were staying in the same hall. I found him mentally stimulating (he was a Dean’s lister) and funny… and, he bought me supper. Back in the day, instead of buying girls flowers, guys would buy supper for the girls they were chasing. Our first date was in school as well. I can’t remember which building it was, but we went to look at the stars.

Teck Chuan: Jacq saw me walking everywhere, even to the common bathroom, insouciantly in moccasins, like Hugh Hefner in his slippers. That was it for her, I think.

Q: What made you realise that your spouse was the one for you? 

Jacqueline: After about three to four years into the relationship, my grandaunt became bedridden with illness. Teck Chuan would come over just to massage her. At that point, I thought, “You know what? I think this really might be the one.”

Teck Chuan: Nothing in particular. It just grew like a pimple – there before you realise it.

Q: Tell us about the wedding.

Jacqueline: He proposed to me in our hotel room at Rasa Sentosa, on the night of our eighth year anniversary. I had a facemask and track pants on, and was watching television shortly before it happened. We held the wedding banquet at Goodwood Park Hotel, but decided that we were not going to spend an arm and a leg on our wedding (we didn’t even have a pre-wedding photography!) as we were saving up to furnish the flat we had just bought.

Teck Chuan: Her theatre friends sang for our walk-in, which remains very touching.

Q: What do you love most about each other?

Jacqueline: He’s a solid rock in my life, and he always has my back. He’s a very hands-on father and very supportive of whatever I do, even during the periods when I have to be away from him and the kids to go overseas for work. And it’s not just blind support; whenever I host anything, I run my lines through him first, and he gives me objective advice on things like that as well. 

Teck Chuan: I decided to do a PhD at 32, less than half a year into our marriage. Jacq was like Lee Ang’s wife, telling him he had to commit to the dream if he wanted to win the golden statue. I haven’t won any statue, but she made my life a never-ending dream.

Q: Do you think parenthood has changed your marriage, and if so, how?

Jacqueline: I think we quarreled the most in the first year after our daughter was born, probably because of the sleepless nights that led to grouchiness. It made us realise that we both had different ways of dealing with stress, which was also ironic because after dating for so long – nine years before tying the knot – you would imagine that we would be calmer in the face of such situations. We’ve adjusted well over the years, though. It’s all about learning to be flexible.

Teck Chuan: I lie with Abby Cadabby every night, in my daughter’s bedroom.

Q: How would you describe the roles and dynamics between you and your partner?

Jacqueline: I’m very lucky to have married a man who loves to clean and cook! And I think we are a very practical couple. We don’t need to go on romantic dates, and we’re not big on presents. But every 18th of each month, we wish each other.

Teck Chuan: She is the Mother of Dragons; I’m Grey Worm.

Q: With two young children in the picture, how do you keep the romance alive?

Jacqueline: We don’t really spend a lot of alone time with each other, at least not for now. Our ‘dates’ at most involve taking a walk in the park with our one-year-old son, while our daughter (aged three) has her music time. It’s not what other people would see as romantic, but to us, we just really enjoy spending time together with our kids. Even though they drive us completely bonkers at times.

Teck Chuan: Yes, the kids are part of our romance, and our devotion to each other.

Q: What are some of the goals that you have set together as a couple?    

Jacqueline: We definitely want to grow our savings, and eventually buy a bigger place. A garden would be nice for our kids. As for the big plan, it’s… no more kids. Enough! Stop at two!

Teck Chuan: To teach our kids how to enjoy the head and stomach of steamed fish so that we can enjoy the rest.

The article is taken from Blissfulbrides.sg.