Mini Honeymoon at Krabi

17 Dec 13 Tue
Our mini honeymoon starts today! We have decided to go to somewhere for the sake of going somewhere after the wedding as our ultimate goal is Europe in May/June next year. So, we went to somewhere which is relaxing and where we have not been to before - Krabi! It is a very touristy place as most of the people there are caucasians. You hardly see any locals there except for the shop owners, just like another Bali. For people who want nothing much to do except sea sports, laze around, feel the breeze and people watch, this is the place. We prefer Krabi to Bali because of the friendlier Thais and generally, we were in a good and relaxed mood during our 4 days there.

As it is a honeymoon, I booked a hotel with fantastic views! This is Cliff Beach Resort at Aonang. Aonang is a must go city as it is like the town of Krabi.

 

Our hotel is just located along the beachfront shopping area. We did some shopping at the 2 long stretch of shops along the main road. There's nothing much to buy there as it is all about beachy stuff like bikini, hats, slippers. One very useful find there was the waterproof bag though.

 

 

A must have at each meal at Krabi - tom yum soup. Yea, both of us like the sour and spicy taste and was glad to be in thailand for that. We had dinner, dessert and watched a 1 hour song and dance performance by the ladies before ending the short day. They are all so tall and pretty and you couldnt really tell that they are not real women!

 

18 Dec 13 Wed

Yay, a day trip out to Railey Beach! People all say that the Railey Beach is beautiful and we dedicated the day to laze around at this beach. You got to book a longtail boat to bring you to the beach, a journey that took about 15 min.

 

 

And when we reached, we were taken away by the superb view!

 

 

We walked around the beach, which actually has nothing but other resorts. We found a cave, some monkeys, a rock climbing area and that's about it.

 

 

So, we decided to get into the water. What is going to the beach without going into the sea. The waterproof bag and pouch that we bought the day came to very good use! We were able to bring our phones into the sea and take photos, even underwater photos. Very good for photo people like us.

 

 

We spent about 4 hours on the beach before travelling back to Aonang city. Then darling became very excited as it was time for him to rent a bike. It costs only $8 to rent a bike for 24 hours. It has been a long time since he biked but it felt very safe there. There is only 1 main stretch of road and you will not get lost driving around there.

 

 

Dinner is pizza and pasta with tom yum soup before we shopped along the same stretch of beachfront shopping again. Cannot stay here for more than 2 nights, there will be nothing to do.

 

 

19 Dec 13 Thu

It's checkout time as we moved to another island - Phi Phi island! To travel from Ao Nang to Phi Phi, you got to take a 2 hour ferry. I have heard more than 1 friend recommending this place to me. But this is ok only leh, I find it very commercialised, more so than Aonang as it is an island solely built for tourism! The island is self contained and has lots of hotels and western restaurants to suit the tastes of the westerners.

 

What do you do there? Again, it's beach time. The sun was so blazing hot and we hid under the umbrella chairs to eat $2.40 magnum, play candy crush for like 1+ hour before heading out to the sea. These chairs are not free ok, you need to pay $6 for each chair. 

 

 

The water here is cleaner than that at Railey Beach. And when we wanted to go into the sea, it was low tide and it was so amazing to see that the water never got higher than my belly button even if we walked to the next island.

 

 

It was difficult to swim and even walk in the low tide as there were just so many corals at the sand bed. The feet hurts so much when you step onto the corals of different shapes and sizes. We decided to go back to our hotel room and use the swimming pool there. Oh ya forgot to introduce our hotel. We stayed at the Palm Tree Resort and I booked a pool access room. It was so convenient to go to the pool as it was just outside our room!

 

 

Dinnertime! Feeling hungry, we decided to eat buffet. It was a bbq buffet which was vonly $12 per pax and includes a mug of beer. More shopping before the day ended.

 

 

20 Dec 13 Fri

Sad life. It was the last day of our honeymoon. To go to the airport, you got to catch a 1.5 hour ferry from Phi Phi to Krabi town. We had lunch at Krabi town, walked around and took a cab to the airport. Ah, dont bother going to the airport early as there is nothing in there! There are less than 10 shops inside and outside the departure gates altogether. So, maximise your time outside and dont sit around in the airport. It was a very short trip, but you also cant stay there for a long time, at most 5D4N. We had a good good time there post-wedding and with no disrtuption from the office. I guess any form of holiday would be good.

MBS Suite

15 Dec 13 Sun
Though tired, we woke up early next day as I did not want to miss the breakfast! They gave us 2 options - one to dine at the Skypark at 57th floor and the other to dine at Rise at the 1st floor. We chose the Skypark! The breakfast option there was limited, the only good thing about eating there was the view. How often could you have this view for breakfast?

 

After breakfast, we went back to the hotel room to reply to the messages that we could not respond to the night before. I kept thinking about the chain of events that happened the night before and I so wanted to re-live it all over again. Felt very blessed to have the guests whom you are close with spending the most important day of your life with you. Was busy thanking them that I sort of ignored darling haha. After I was done like 2 hours later, we packed up the many things in the room and headed out to the bridal studio. Got to return the gowns to them the very next day after the wedding. Very bu she de! Wont have anymore chance to wear those pretty gowns again :(

 

We also sent everything back to my house so that we could enjoy the 2nd night stay free of clutter! We finally settled down at our suite at like 6+pm. Yes, MBS orchid suite! Our package comes with one night stay in a deluxe room and another night in a suite. Usually, when the occupancy rate isn't high, they would automatically upgrade you to two night of stay in the suite. But because it is December, they couldn't do that for us. So, we opted to stay in a deluxe room on 14 Dec and suite on 15 Dec as we wouldn't be able to fully use the suite on the first night.

 

 

How often can you stay in a suite, at MBS some more. The orchid suite is actually the most junior suite that MBS offers. They have like 4 other suites that are of a higher class than ours. But, it was already a luxury for us. There is a dining room that gives you a view of the gardens by the bay and a living room that gives you a view of the Singapore river. If only the bathtub was bigger. 

 

Our package also comes with a complimentary meal and a bottle of champagne. We could each order a main course and non-alcoholic drink for in-room dining. This meal would have cost $120 otherwise. It was really shiok to enjoy this kind of luxurious lifestyle, with the person whom you just got married to.

 

 

16 Dec 13 Mon

Very fast, it was 2 days after the wedding. I need to repeat, I miss it so so much. We woke up in time to have our buffet breakfast again. This time, we went to eat at Rise. Ahh, food was better at Rise and there were more choices.

 

 

After eating, we got changed and went to the infinite pool! Yea, somehow didn't have time to go the day before. Must at least use the pool once before we check out today. I took like 15 min before I could get into the water as it was so cold. I marvel at how people just walk into the pool with no emotions. Pretty pool, good weather.

 

 

We checked out at 2.30pm without feeling very sad as we still had a 4 days mini honeymoon waiting for us ahead! Loving it!

THE DAY - 14 December 2013

14 Dec 13 Sat
THE DAY has arrived! 14 Dec is of a great significance to us as it is the date when we first got together 7 years ago. Now that our get-together, ROM and wedding date is the same, there should not be a reason for the man to forget about this date in future. If yes, he will get a jialat scolding from me. No pictures for now, will post the AD pictures when the photographer sends it to us.

Even though I did not sleep much the night before, I was not feeling tired at all. I was excited yet in disbelief again that the day was going to unfold. Everything just fell in place even though I so much wished that time could just freeze for me to slowly savour every moment of the day. Even though the makeup artist was 10min early, she in the end spent 2hr 20min to do my makeup and hair as some time was delayed when the videographer and photographer want to take some shots. It was so so rushed that we had to ask the brothers to come later. It didn't feel good at all as I felt very gan jiong. We had to do the unveil thing before the hair was all done up because we had to free up the time for the videographers and photographer to do the gatecrash shoot. (but even admist the gan jiongness, I was very emotional during the veil thing when I looked into my parents' eyes and listened to what they have to say to me.) When the brothers came, my MUA was still touching up my hair. So brides to be, cater more time for your MUA. Another gan jiong factor was when some powder got into my nubra and it wasn't sticky thereafter~ And another ultimate one, I also forgot to wear any accessories in all the morning frenzy! I only realized it when we travelled to MBS after the entire morning activities. But then, nobody noticed.

The gatecrash was done pretty fast as the brothers were all very cooperative. Those around all said that the gatecrash was no fun as the brothers were all so guai haha. Good what, what's wrong with that. A big thank you to ellis and tsai for planning the games. I especially love the kissing one and having XD to echo the vows. It was so sweet :)

Cater more time for photography at your house as we also got a bit delayed with that item and reached his house later than scheduled. The tea ceremonies at both side were smooth sailing. Very happy to see relatives willing to come early in the day to give you their well wishes. It was also a happy occasion to see my parents so happy when Alv called them mummy and ah pa =D. Because of all the delay in the schedule, we did the bouquet throwing thing at my house's playground instead of NTU. Ellis caught the bouquet!

By afternoon, I could see that the brothers and sisters were all shagged out already. They really helped us a lot. Apart from the tight schedule, I felt quite relaxed otherwise as everything was done swee swee for us. We were really glad to have them as our brothers and sisters as they were able to do things real well and made us feel at ease. We couldn't imagine doing the running around ourselves. Without them, I wouldn't have enjoyed the moment of being in the limelight for the whole day.

We checked in to MBS and had to quickly take turns to bathe. I let Alv do his makeup first as he had to meet the banquet manager to go through the flow of events at 5pm. But it was a bad idea! Cos my makeup was only done by 5.55pm when the solemnization was at 6pm! I felt very gan jiong again. Not only about the makeup, but during the makeup, I was told that it was raining from afar and we had to make a decision on whether to do the solemnization indoors or outdoors. Darling told me that he forgot to print the second page of each of the 6 registration list?! My mother and sister kept asking about their hair and dress when I couldn't turn to look at them. Brothers asked about the décor of the solemnization area. Not a very peaceful session for my MUA to concentrate on doing my makeup and hair. And at 5.55pm, the brothers told me that the photo booth was late and uncontactable. The live band also had not arrived. It was so omg! When I was waiting to walk down the aisle with my father at 6pm, I asked if there were 2 chairs at each side for the parents - and I was given a not yet answer. Sigh! I would have thought that I would be emotional during the solemnization but no, with all these things buzzing around me, I couldn't get into the mood and was more like checking off this itinerary in the schedule.

But I would say that walking down the aisle with your father felt very sweet. I could also see that my father was very happy doing that. Thanks to all those who made the effort to come early to witness our solemnization. Brides to be, practice putting in the ring into each other's fingers - cos I had difficulty doing it for him!

Next up, changing into the wedding gown. The drawstring one drove us crazy. We took like 25min to wear the gown. It was also a gan jiong experience as darling kept coming in to ask if I was ready as the guests would like to take a photo booth shot with us. Argghh. We didn't take a shot with them first as we first had to do a song rehearsal with the live band. Glad we had that as I practiced how to walk gracefully in the wedding gown. As my gown was very big, it was very difficult to walk properly. We did a 15min rehearsal and was able to mingle with the crowd at 7.30pm. But by then, the guests had already slowly trickled into the ballroom to wait for the dinner to commence. It was only then that I could look at the candy bar, registration table, cocktail table and photo album table decorated by my JMs. Thank you for prettifying the place!

Our dinner started at 8pm! We were amazed that our guests were all so punctual. Glad that they didnt have to wait long before we started the dinner. The march in! I thought that I would feel nervous and all, but no leh, I was very calm and enjoyed the whole thing. Very happy to hear the applause when we walked in and the happy faces of everyone when they threw the flower petals. We sat down for like 8 min before we went to change into the evening gown and suit. That day I didn't eat much, but I didn't feel hungry at all.

The second march in was delayed by a dish as the videographer had to rush out the same day edits with the solemnization footage in. It also gave us more time to breathe and re-rehearse the song ourselves. So it was quite ok. The second march in! It was magical. I had long wanted to sing 最重要的决定 since when we first started planning for our wedding. It took me much effort before darling was persuaded to sing this song tog with me. It would have been weird if I was the only one singing right! And I didnt regret adding this into the dinner! It was a song which I think really signifies what I want to say to him, esp the first 2 paras.

我常在想 应该再也找不到
任何人像你对我那么好
好到我的家人也被照料
我的朋友还为你撑腰

你还是有一堆毛病改不掉
拗起来气得仙女都跳脚
可是人生完美的事太少
我们不能什么都想要

你是我最重要的决定
我愿意 每天在你身边苏醒
就连吵架也很过瘾 不会冷冰
因为真爱没有输赢 只有亲密

你是我最重要的决定
我愿意 打破对未知的恐惧
就算流泪也能放晴 将心比心
因为幸福没有捷径 只有经营

Everyone cheered when they saw us sing. But murphy's law struck again - I forgot the lyrics! Hhaha, and because he always follows what I sing, he stopped singing too when I stopped. I don't know why I forgot, it was ok during all our rehearsals. But my mind just went blank momentarily haha. Luckily I recalled after being silent for one sentence and the guests thought that I was crying and couldn't continue singing hahaha. But well, who cares right, at least we sung 95% of the song! I 看开 already, there are just so many things which will not be smooth sailing just like what the song says - 可是人生完美的事太少,我们不能什么都想要.


We steadily continued with the champagne pouring and yum seng ceremony. A big thank you to his army friends for helping to contribute to the loud yum seng. They provided lots of energy to the dinner! The thank you speech - we were also very calm and didn't feel at all nervous though there are many pairs of eyes looking at us. But also because the stage was so bright and the audience were all in the dark. We couldn't really see the people at the back of the ballroom.

Next, the video that teck kuan finally rushed out. It was good! I received lots of good feedback for the video that he did. We were very glad that all the extra time spent on shooting the casual footages and running around 40 over times at the lalang field was worth it. Even though it was 8min plus, I couldn't get enough of it!

The last thing to be done was the taking of photos with all the tables. Brides to be, always start with the groom's side of relatives. We did it with the bride side and had to give some excuse to move over to the groom side. I didn't know this wor, it was not in my 17-page SOP so that's the brothers didn't know. The brothers did a really good job in arranging the guests for the photoshoot such that they were already more or less in position when we went over. They helped us keep to the scheduled time for the photo taking and we still had some time after I changed into the gown to send guests off.

We stationed ourselves outside the ballroom at 10.30pm but the guests only began to leave at 10.45pm. I was feeling very 舍不得 that the day was coming to a close. It had been a long long day but it had been very enjoyable busking in all the moments, our moments. I was still feeling very energetic when guests were leaving. A pity that I couldnt really interact with them as much as I would like to. People had good feedback for us - good food, beautiful wedding, lovely singing and it made us feel that all the 1yr 4mth of preparations was really worth it.  If you ask me, seriously I wouldnt mind going through the day all over again!

When we went back to the hotel at about 12 midnight and looked at the bags and bags of things from the wedding, I felt a bit lost that the wedding was really over. I looked at my husband and felt surreal that we were actually already man and wife by law. We had an additional piece of cert, but my feeling towards him didnt change. He is still the same him and we were getting along, talking to each other like in the past. It was as if the day didnt happen and it was another day of me and him spending time together. We finally felt hungry at 1am but we were too tired do anything about it. We also finally felt tired at 2+am after everything came to a close and after being awake for 23 hours. Adrenaline was all used up and it was time to let reality strike that the day has ended and will never come back again. The whole day felt unreal and magical at the same time. I miss our wedding.

1 day before - Collect car, packing for AD, thank you speech, vows, song, gatecrash preparation

1 Day before THE Wedding <backdated post>
OMG, it is one day before the wedding. Really couldn't imagine how fast time flies. I finally did the thank you speech one day before the wedding. It wasn't difficult to write that speech, but somehow I just procrastinated to do other things.

We also did the packing for the wedding day. Lots of final items to be added into bags and bags of things to be brought over to MBS.

We collected the Porsche. If you ask me how it feels being in a sports car, haha, not a car-fan me will say that it is rather sama sama leh. Except that the cover can be opened. But being in the passenger seat, it is very sama sama. It was instead a bit stressful to be in the car as I was afraid that we would scratch the car or smth. The insurance excess was $20K. We drove to Rico for them to tie the flowers to the car and also collect the hand bouquet, corsages for parents and ribbons for xiongdi's cars. Our once in a lifetime car:

 

After this, we rehearsed saying our vows, our thank you speech and practiced our song! Darling went home at about 8pm and ellis and tsai came over to prepare for the gatecrash games for the next day. I couldn't help them at all as I was busy with the gowns and putting on my fake nails. I wanted to sleep early the night before the wedding but again, I didn't know why I was so busy.

 

But when it came to the point when I was on my bed, I could not sleep at all! I didn't think that I could not sleep as I never had any problems sleeping. Both of us are those who literally fall asleep 1 min after we lie on the bed type. But for that night, both of us could not sleep. Hahaha, what was I thinking? All about the wedding stuff, and I could not not think. I would say that I only slept for 3 hours and woke up at 3.30am. I was a little jittery, a little in disbelief that the day is going to be here, a little in fantasy land thinking of what would happen the next day, a little looking forward to the big day, a little worrying if it would rain the next day or if things would go wrong.

 

There are just so many things to think about and I wished I had another week more as everything felt like it was done in a rushed manner. It would have been better if things are spaced out and I could just quietly lie down and put on my mask. But no, I had to put on my mask while doing some other things (btw, I put mask 7 consecutive days before the wedding - though I would say there isn't much difference haha). A lot a lot of emotions in me, but I am very glad to have him by my side during the entire week. He is very reassuring and I suddenly see him spring up to action. That helped to ease my stress by a lot and it felt good to have your other half busying tog with you on your life's biggest day. I felt even more emotionally attached to him and I am glad that we have found each other.

2 days before - Collect gowns and suit, Mini gathering with JM

2 Days before THE Wedding <backdated post>
The exciting day - collection of gowns for us and my mum. I am very excited whenever it comes to gowns, photoshoots and being pretty. When we went down to Rico to collect his parents' clothes yesterday, I saw them still sewing the blings on my wedding gown. It looked very pretty even when it was not completed yet. So, was really anticipating the wedding gown today. Turned out that we were very happy with the gowns! My chosen gowns.

Wedding Gown

 

Evening Gown

 

ROM Gown

 

Tea ceremony cum sending guests dress

 

It was really easy to wear the gowns with the studio's staff there with you. But your jiemeis may not be experienced in wearing the gowns, especially if you are choosing the drawstrings one. 3 out of 4 of my gowns are drawstrings and it was so difficult to wear! We spent a lot of time before they could help me properly wear the gown. So, if you have the time, get them to meet you beforehand to try wearing the gowns first. Luckily I have my mum and sis with me and they could try it at home.

 

In the evening, 2 of my jiemeis came over to my place as they wanted to do a mini hen's night for me. But more of, we wanted to catch up with each other as Tsai had just flown in from Germany to be my jiemei! Aww :) So, we had some ice wine, went through the programme schedule and finalised the gatecrash games. After that, it was another round of updating of the AD schedule and table arrangements. Another late night for me even though I just slept 3 hours the night before. So busy!

3 days before - Video shoot, ROM, go MBS, collect MIL gown

3 Days before THE Wedding <backdated post>
It was a busy busy day. We woke up at 5am as we had a date with our videographer to take some casual video shoot at Tuas's lalang field. Didn't know that lalang fields exist in Singapore. But well, at a secluded corner in Tuas, we found that field. It was so beautiful! Our videographer friend wanted to add some casual shots into our AD video so that it would be more interesting. And so, we set off at 6am to that piece of land!

 

We loved what came out of it even though it was tough doing that shoot! We had to run like 40 over times before he captured what he wanted to capture. The land at the field was not easy to run as there were small bumps on the ground and we find that you will lose your balance easily. Also, the lalang really itches your leg as they poke you as you walk through them. My legs were really itchy after we did a 2.5 hour run there.

 

After we were done with the lalang field, we went to another part of Tuas to take some rabbit fighting scenes. Then travelled to Chinese Garden to take some picnic shots. The whole thing took us like 7 hours to film! But, we were very satisfied with the outcome when it was shown during the dinner. Will show you all the video when my videographer gives the go ahead.

 

Next up, we went to pick up his parents before we went to ROM to collect our marriage cert. Our original appointment given by ROM was on 13 Dec but we requested to shift it forward as there were many things to do one day before the wedding too. Just write in and they would be able to accommodate. It was our first time at the ROM (obviously) and we were quite surprised to see so many people there! The entire place was so filled with happy faces and prettily dressed couples, relatives and friends, some to do solemnization there and some to collect the cert. With an appointment, we only had to wait 10 min before it was our turn to collect the cert. Now then we know - you don't sign on your marriage cert, but you do it on a photocopy cert which will be sent back to ROM for records. The copy that we keep is without signature.

 

 

And then, we went to MBS to deposit some of the things that we will be need for the wedding dinner. You can check whether your hotel allows you to do that cos if yes, it will save you lots of trouble on the AD. We sent over our candybar items, photo albums and decoration items. We wanted to send over the wines but we forgot about it!

 

Finally, we went to Rico to collect his parents' gown and suit. It was a busy busy day and we both thought that it shouldn't be this way. We wished that things could go on slower so that we could enjoy the process. But the flow of things today made us feel like we were checking off the to-do list one by one. We still didn't feel like we were getting married! I would have thought that I would be overwhelmed with emotions when we collected the cert, but no, it was too hectic a day!

4 days before - Table Arrangements & Miscellaneous

4 Days before THE Wedding <backdated post>
I am on leave 1 week before and after the wedding. If you could, take this amount of leave as there are just so many things to settle!

One advice for the BTBs, you don't have to start doing the table arrangements early. Do it about 1 week before the big day as there will be many changes along the way. Luckily I started 1 week before as there are changes everyday from when I do up the table arrangements till today. This task isn't as difficult as coming up with the AD schedule, still very manageable as I did it late.

I also touched up the AD schedule, emcee script, wedding vows today before meeting my gfs for a bd dinner celebration and met darling to buy some picnic stuff for tmr's videoshoot. To-do item still: Thank you speech

5 days before - Manicure and Pedicure

5 Days before THE Wedding
I have already done my manicure and pedicure today - but only for a coat of polish as I want to put on fake nails. But I realized that the nail colour doesn't go well with my sets of fake nails. SIGH! Got to re-do my manicure again to something that is more pastel in colour. And I cant decide which set of fake nails to use. SIGH! Fanning over the wrong things.

Angbaos

Angbaos are necessities for a wedding. Besides those official fees that you bao for the people whom you engage their service for, you also got to bao them a separate token sum as a symbol of luck. You also must not miss out the angbaos for your brothers and sisters for gatecrash or to anyone for helping you with the entire day's schedule. There is also those needed for tea ceremony. Angbaos, settled. OMG, one more week to the big day.

Red wine

MBS is usually very strict with their alcohol policy. Never have I heard couples successfully bargained for extra bottles of wine or waiver of corkage for their alcohol. In our package, we are entitled to one free bottle of red wine for every table booked and free flow of beer - which already is not bad a deal. But they have offered us something more! This is because our original package comes with sharksfins soup, but starting from 1 Oct, MBS no longer serves sharksfins soup to be in line with their corporate social responsibility policy. We had to choose other soup instead.

As they have changed the terms of the contract, they are offering us a waiver of corkage for 30 bottles of wine that we bring in. We cheer at their good gesture as the original package of 1 bottle of wine per table is definitely not enough. They are selling additional bottles of wine at $57++ each while corkage is $50++ each. So with this waiver, we could purchase our own wine at a cheaper rate outside. We have done our shopping and have bought 30 bottles of wine ourselves. Wine, checked!

Decorations

Have done some DIYs and bought some decor items to beautify the reception, solemnization and candy bar areas. The DIYs are pretty easy to do, if you enjoy doing such things. But the printing part was troublesome. We had to go to a printing shop to print these things using a thicker paper and also laminate some of the things. But I enjoyed the process. You could also try if you want to jazz up the reception area a little. Peeks!

Catering

Another thing down. We have settled the catering for the big day. He has booked the caterer from Elsie's Kitchen and mine will be from Four Seasons. We deconflicted the dishes even though not many will know if there are repeated dishes. Only ourselves, the xiongdis and jiemeis. But oh well, there are various choices to choose from, so it wasn't difficult. I know I wont be eating much that day, must keep in shape for that one and only big day. But the catering is more for our relatives who would be coming for the tea ceremony.

Naturelle Contact Lens

Today, I did smth which I have never done before. Seeing ple who wear coloured / pupil enlarging contact lens, I was also inspired! Thinking that it should contribute to better photo effect on AD, I have decided to try wearing contact lens! Hahaha, you all must be laughing. This perfect eyesight person want to add misery to her eyes by wearing 0 degrees contact lenses. Try out first ma, the vain port wants to look better on AD. There were various brands and I chose Naturelle as advertised by Sonia Sui as it looked the most natural among the rest.

But omg, how long did you all take to wear contact lens for the first time? I took a total of 30 mins to put in and take out the lenses. Putting it in was damn scary la! I couldn't stop blinking. And my eyes felt tired with those things on. Let me try it on for a few more days, if I cant get used to it, I will just put it one side. See differences, left side is with lenses, right side is without. Actually, got difference meh?? I don't really see the difference actually. Lol, why am I doing this to myself then!

Wedding Invitation Card

Yoohoo, it is time to say that all of us have sent out most of the invitation cards! I love this design so much. It is nothing like your traditional red bomb, but a sweet young thing that you adore simply because the colour resembles tiffany & co's branding. We had like 100 designs to choose from and this one was clearly our choice after flipping through pages and pages of design. We also didn't choose the traditional layout for the Chinese text which are very difficult to read. Most of the people who have received the card also said that it looks good! Very happy with our selection.

But one thing is, it was very tedious having to tie the ribbon for the card and we were lucky to have his mum cut and tie all the ribbons for us.

 

 

AD Schedule

The second toughest thing is settled - coming up with the AD schedule! (the toughest thing is the table arrangement and I have yet to start) I spent a long long time coming up with the schedule. I see that other people's schedules are rather short and sweet, but I think because I am used to the protocol in the government, my schedule is a very detailed one. Good training from the public service, my AD schedule is 14 pages long! The xiongdi and jiemei exclaim when they see that stack of lecture notes, but I think they would appreciate the level of details as it gives them clarity of what to do.

When I met up with my jiemeis last week to brief them on the schedule, they said that I was very kua zhang, but hello, they still questioned me on where is this, how is that going to happen - a sign that I was still not detailed enough as they had to clarify things! I trust that my jiemeis can help me with the roles as most of them are very competent and detailed people. We also had a gatecrash discussion and the meeting took 4 hours before we finally discussed what we had to discuss. I feel safe in their hands. These are my loveable jiemeis, my secondary sch friends + sis.

 

Today, darling met up with the xiongdis and I knew I had to go tog with him. Luckily I went along with him as he was not very familiar with the schedule ~_~. He is so damn irritating, make me upset only. But ok anyway the good thing is, I left the meeting feeling very satisfied! His xiongdis are also quite zai and again I feel that they could really help us run the show. At first I was still worried that my jiemeis had to carry the load and do everything. But seems like I was worrying about the wrong things. His friends are mostly very enthusiastic and are the know what is going on type. Phew, very happy to have gone for the meeting with them. His xiongdis, the army friends + sis's bf. There are 2 more who not in the pic taken during the proposal.

 

Save the Date Video

14 Nov 13 Thu
It is exactly one more month to the big day. Horrors! There are still so many things not done yet. Like table arrangements, registration lists, printing of photos for decor, photo montage, photobooth photo template, thank you speech, selection of songs for the live band, bao the red packets etc.

Ok anyway, this is not a post about how near my wedding is now, but more to share the save the date video that our videographer has taken for us in Taiwan! He specially flew there to do this for us. It is finally out and even though it is his first overseas video, we are very pleased with his work. It really is smth different simply because the view is different. He also took very natural shots of us. Very glad that the product came out well as we had braved the cold to take all those shots. I remb that the cingjing farm was 9 degrees Celsius and we were caught in the rain then. The tian deng place was also damn cold that I shivered when I was there. Click on the picture to view the video!

Changed the Gowns

After some considerations, I finally decided that I do not like the pink gown that I have chosen for tea ceremony anymore. It is too sexy and is not appropriate for tea. It is also not elegant enough for sending guests off. So, I have decided that I want to change my tea ceremony gown, again. It was also for us to go down to get another jacket for darling as my father doesn't need his jacket anymore. Moreover, they have already added blings to the blue evening gown that I have chosen and it was ready for me to view.

And so, we went down. Jesline told me that I cant change anymore as I have already changed once! There was another customer who wanted my pink gown previously and she turned her down as I have already made a booking. She said that if I want to change, I have to pay $180. Ok fine, actually i'm quite prepared to pay as I really do not like what I have. Hahaa, so in the end, I finally changed to smth that all of us like. One thing is, it isn't really suitable for tea ceremony also, but oh well, at least the colour is suitable. I also don't see anything else that I like on the racks anymore. So, this was the pink sexy gown that I have ditched for smth that you all will see on the AD.

 

The one that I have chosen to replace this pink gown is also slim cut. Then my coordinator asked why didnt I select a puffy evening gown. I told her that it was because she recommended that with a slim figure, I should choose more slim cut gowns. Out of the 4 gowns, I only have 1 puffy cut and 3 slim cut. So I was like, ok lor, since you asked, I shall look at what puffy cut gowns to choose. Hahhaa, she also didn't say anything and started helping me find smth that is more pong to replace the evening gown below. Originally I didn't really want to ditch the gown below, but because she is willing to let me change the gown for free and because I found smth which I really like and has not been worn before, I have decided to change the below gown too! So, I now have 2 slim and 2 pong gowns.

 

 

Alrighty, no more changing of gowns! Also no time to do all these changing already. We now very much like the 4 gowns that I have chosen. :):)

Hen's night!

2 Nov 13 Sat
My hen's night came early as we are all busy and this is the only weekend that could accomodate us all! But it's ok no matter when we hold it, as long as I am able to spend the time with my jie meis. If you are thinking of strippers, daring acts and dirty talk, you are in the wrong page. My very guai jie meis arranged for an afternoon movie 'About Time' at vivocity. A romantic comedy where the guy can go travel back in time to change whatever future he wants to change.

Thereafter, we went to Sentosa to spend our peaceful night. From their list of restaurants, I picked the most chill place, Club Cin Cin, a rooftop bar at iFly. It was a very empty club for a saturday night with only like 5 tables occupied including us? Must be my jiemeis booked a portion of the restaurant for me. Throughout the night, we also didnt see people dancing even though it is a club. The good thing about the club is that it oversees Song of the Seas and we could treat ourselves to free fireworks twice that night! Thanks to my jiemeis for this arrangement. Hahaha.

 

The food was good, but pricey. We also ordered the greatest amount of alochol we ever had from our entire gatherings added together. Hahaa, but I was the one who drank most of everything. I was feeling floaty, but still not on the verge of being drunk yet. Just feels light.

 

It was just like a usual gathering for us, where we talked about anything under the sky comfortably. But just that this was in the evening which stretched till midnight (we usually meet in the afternoon), with loud music and with alcohol (the 4 of us have never been to a place with alcohol tog omg). I still enjoyed myself even though it was a simple simple hen's night! Very happy to have a group of besties who stick around since secondary school.

 

 

 

I love you all too!

 

Album finally arrived

OK, our album FINALLY arrived!

It has been 6 months since we finished our photoshoot in Taiwan. So, it's time to say whether we would recommend Fashion Bride to the others? The verdict is, it's a straight no. Why?

OK well, they have their plus points, like being friendly - but it's just a trait of taiwanese, you can also find this in other taiwan bridal studio. They are good with praises - it makes you feel good but after a while, you will start to think whether those comments are real. They are good with hairstyles and making you look good - but which bride doesnt look good? They are really efficient in that they can allow you to choose your gown in one day, take photograph the next day, and see the photograph on the third day - but actually other taiwan bridal studio can too. Actually I think Spore's BS can also do it, just that they are unwilling.

I didnt like the part where they cheated me of buying more ampoules than I need. Usually, you only need 1 ampoule ($25) for the bride. But they went on and on to get me to buy 8 ampoules for me and 4 for him ($300). I usually am able to kill off all these sales tactics, but when it comes to being afraid that they will screw up my makeup, I gave in after trying for a while. I dont like to lose to sales people.

I didnt like the part where I couldnt see, touch and choose the gowns myself at the bridal studio. They keep all their gowns in a secret wardrobe and bring them out one for one myself. I am a person who want to see to believe.

I didnt like the part where the assistant told me that the gown with the long tail which I tried is the only wedding gown with long tail that they have in the studio. Hello, how could it be. I asked the manager about it and she told me that they have plenty inside. Not very professional right.

I didnt like the part where the makeup artist cut me on the shoulders with the ampule bottles. Luckily there was no scar.

I didnt like the part where the photos taken from my favourite spot of the photoshoot venue was so faded in colour. I was so so disappointed. It was precisely because of those spots that I wanted to have my photoshoot taken there.

I didnt like the part where I had to tell them 7 times what to photoshop and what colour edits it should be for the photos; and tell them 6 times how to do photo layout! This was really the worst part. Their layout is really cui to the max. They give you the most incredibly wrong and ugly layout that you can imagine and you really have to correct them to the very single point. The standard is really elimentary. I really think that I can do a better job than them even though I have no background in all these. I had to come up with powerpoint, position the photos and teach them how to improve on the layout 6 times. It was really tough! And you could imagine, the frustration lasted for 6 months before we finally received the album. We were lucky that we decided to do the photoshoot in Apr.

I didnt like the part where the delivery of the album to my house was delayed for 1 week. Only after I checked on the status twice did they send the album to us.

What we felt when we received the album: we want to do another photoshoot. Hmm, we dont really like our photos. I could spot imperfections here and there and I am not happy with the end product. Sadded! You all look flip the album and let me know how is it.

过大礼过了

13 Oct 13 Sun
Our Guo Da Li date was chosen I think about 7 months back. And now, it is already over! It's scary. We didn't intentionally want any pun in the date, we just wanted a good Sunday which doesn't clash with 5 different zodiacs. And it so happened that our date was on 九月初九，长长久久！He bought his stuff from the chinese wedding shop at clementi. It is overpriced, but he appreciated the convenience and packaging. For me, I saved about half the cost by buying the stuff ala-carte from all over the world. It's the process of preparing for all these which make wedding meaningful what. So I respect the traditions and want to have these things for the wedding.

Also because I was brought up in a family which also somewhat believes in traditions, religion and the unexplained world. Since young, we religiously go to the temple every chinese new year, bai tai shui if we clash, eat vegetarian every year on vesak day, burn incense paper twice during the hungry ghost month, ask fengshui master to look at our house for better luck, wealth and health. So, I can also relate to the traditions for wedding  as I believe it can bring luck to us, but I ended up being labelled as old fashioned by my parents! Oh well.

So on guo dao li day, his parents cannot come over. I dont know why, it's a tradition. Instead, only himself and a 媒婆 should come over. His parents got his 大姑 to play the role as she knows all about these traditions. He also had 2 cousins who tagged along to see what guo da li was about so that next time they know. Haha. Besides the standard package, it is also a time for the groom to bring over the si dian jin and pin jin over. And traditionally, the bride side would have to return a portion of what the groom brought over. The bride side cannot keep everything as it would signify that the family is greedy and they are like selling the daughter; but they also cannot return everthing as it would signify that the bride is like trash and the family wants her out asap without any cost. So, middleground is good.

They came over at 10am and sat around for about 45min. It was good that his da gu came as she could really talk! She never ran out of topics to say and we never felt any awkwardness. Maybe also because I have grandmas at home who are of the generation as her. They can all talk at the same wavelength. The whole thing was over very fast. The bride wouldnt need to follow the groom home to deliver her side of the stuff. Some pictures to show for the 喜洋洋的一天！

From groom: Rock sugar, red dates, longan, some beans, dragon phoenix candles, hard liquor, cakes, rice crackers, orange, pig trotter cans, pin jin and si dian jin.

From bride: Tea set, bowl set, light set, baby prosperity set, sewing set, clogs, charcoal, red dates, longan, some beans and orange jiuce.

 

 

We are left with only 2 more months!

Second pair of shoes

Haha, in the end, both of us bought a second pair of shoes for the wedding even though we know that we will probably not wear those stuff again. For his case, he bought a pair of white leather shoes so that when he wears white suit, the shoes can match. Black shoes seem a bit odd for white suits. For my case, I bought another pair of heels from anna nucci because the previous 4" pair was a little too high and tire my feet very easily. Hence, I bought another pair at 2.5". I hope I wont get blisters on that day. Our total damages for the shoes are about $400. How not practical huh!