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A young couple who reignited their relationship tied the knot in an RM500 ceremony just two months after dating for the second time around. Julia, 21, and Tom, 23, (not their real names) from KL, briefly dated back in 2018 but went their separate ways. After reconnecting on Instagram, the pair realised their spark was still alive.
The couple took a romantic trip to Penang, where they made a spur-of-the-moment decision
Source: tripadvisor
Julia tells IRL: “We were on a small getaway and just randomly decided to get married in three hours!”
“We were dating for almost 2 months before the wedding. We spent everyday together during that time and got married on the same day that Tom proposed the idea. I guess you can say we eloped.”
“Our families didn’t attend because it was so last minute – it was literally just the two of us. There was a minister who we had come to the beach with a photographer, but that was it.” The pair booked an RM500 ceremony in Ferringhi Beach. She admits she thought the idea of getting married then and there was “crazy” – but they wanted to go along with it anyway.
The people who were most shocked by the news were Julia’s parents – who didn’t even know she was dating Tom in the first place!
“Not only did I have to say I was married, but I also had to introduce them to my husband because they didn’t know him,” she said. “It was surprising in a shocking way, like ‘What?! You did what?!’ But they’re happy now. Tom has since then met my parents; I’ve met his. They’re super happy for us now, but at the time, they were just shocked and confused. I wouldn’t say they were shocked in a bad way though.”
Tom said it was fairly easy to arrange a wedding ceremony on the day itself in Batu Ferringhi.
“There was a company in Penang Island who gave us the option of having a simple ceremony arranged in a matter of hours so we went with them! They gave us the minister and all the paperwork and stuff,” he said.
“I didn’t think we’d get married after two weeks, but I did think we’d get married at some point.” The pair had first met when Julia was 18 and Tom was 20, but after dating for a brief period of time they decided to call it a day.
“We separated when he went off to university overseas and I stayed here to attend a local uni,” Julia said
“We didn’t speak to each other during all that time because we were very far apart, but then we reconnected this year over Instagram.”
“The feelings we had came back when we started talking again, after three years. I’m sure we still had feelings for each other in those years apart, but there wasn’t a lot of communication going on between us. When we reconnected, it felt natural. So we decided to marry so we could solidify our relationship.”
The couple have now moved in together and are adjusting to married life
Julia says the decision to marry was based on her desire to make the relationship “work out” – after feeling like they’d been robbed of time on their first attempt. She said: “When we had to split because we moved, it felt like ‘right person, wrong time’. So now that everything was working out, it just felt like we should do it, even though it seemed like a crazy thing to do, because I wanted it to work out this time.”
While most people have sent good wishes, the pair have also received judgment from people who say they took too little time to jump into marriage. Julia told us: “We had naysayers online who thought we’d gotten married too soon. People still comment all the time ‘We’ll be here in two months when they get divorced’.
“I think we had a unique situation. We knew each other for years, so it’s not like we met for the first time and then got married. I wouldn’t recommend that everybody do it, but for us, I feel like it was the right decision.”
“I’d say we’re still in the honeymoon stage. Marriage is definitely difficult, but not extremely difficult.”
For more stories like this, read: I Was To Marry My Malay Boyfriend of 7 Years But Just Before The Wedding, I Freaked Out and Marrying Young – What Other Malaysians Should Know Before Making the Leap
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