From Angela

Lights, Heading East

Recently, I was taking a nap on a NY-bound plane that was flying above a bed of clouds, when I opened my eyes to see the bluest of skies, stretching as far as the eyes could see. A couple of years ago, before all the pandemic stuff, I looked out of countless plane windows just like this one. I was out there looking for an adventure, doing what I believed was “apprenticing with the problem”. Looking back, that was a strange and courageous thing. Who would have thought I had the capacity to get up and move across the world.

Moving around as a kid had made me a planner. I like to know what will happen next. But when I got older, I realised that there are in fact different versions of our lives rather than a singular right answer. Plan to be flexible instead. People, places, and things that interested me propelled me to learn more about them, and to get out there.

Rainbow’s End

Around the time I met Carlo, I was obsessed with finding out how I want to spend my time and how to create more impact with the version of my life I will lead. Where I’m serious, Carlo is relaxed, dancing his way in the mornings and through life. When I’m inside planning, Carlos is outside doing, exploring.

In 2019, we acquired a vintage Kombi together and named it Yvon, after our sustainable business hero Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia. I was skeptical that Yvon could ever be fixed up. Carlo proved me wrong and turned an impractical idea into reality. Now Yvon lives out his life in a Subic rainforest where he entertains guests. (So guess who won that argument?)

Carlo’s good nature and patience have continued to be an antidote to best laid plans going awry.

From Carlo

Life overdrive

Looking back at my 20s, I was constantly in motion and always on the go. I had to be within a moment's notice of springing into action. This involved many 5am flights and weeks on the road. I filled out all of my time and calendars with things to do, but I wasn’t yet living a fulfilled life. And over several burnouts, I discovered that a fulfilled life involves freedom with responsibility, life with work, striving with stability.

The Yang to yInsanity

I met Angela as I was achieving new career heights while also trying to understand myself better. The night caps where we danced with friends at the Magic Mountain helped us to get to know each other. In the span of the first year of getting to know each, we traveled to over 15 cities together, through conferences, events, and museum visits. My favourite was comedy bar hopping.

I’m thankful to have met a supportive partner that sees me for my true self - flawed yet persevering, and motivated to create a positive impact in the world. Angela and I complement each other through joyful and challenging times. Although we don’t always agree, we try to see eye to eye. It’s with this I find comfort knowing that our relationship has been forged together through trials. We will always carry this forward in the rings we made each other.

From Us - the Chen-Delantar’s

We planned an unconventional wedding because we are pretty weird people. We like to push boundaries and challenge convention.

So other than the cloud wedding, we created 2 new rituals together. We like the idea that a modern marriage is about partnership. So we got engaged in a co-proposal where we made each other’s rings. You can learn more about how we did that our Photo Gallery on co-proposing.

Second and perhaps more radical, we both plan to adopt “Chen-Delantar” as a hyphenated version of our family names. This is to symbolise the coming together of families and our commitment to grow as equals.

We are constantly putting new ideas out in the world through our work. So with this small gesture of sharing these ideas; we hope the cloud wedding tradition and these notions of modern marriage will resonate with friends around the world who want to forge something new.