Bridezilla Moment #1

Ask any of my friends - I'm the coolest bride there can ever be. Not in any 'popular' terms though, but in the context that I don't worry so much about the wedding preparation. WeeDay is 2 months down the road and what have I achieved? *silence* See? Even I don't know what I've done thus far!

But I'd like to say that I'm level-headed. I don't sweat the small stuff. I only see the big picture. At the end of the day, it's the solemnization of the marriage that matters. And that's all I've ever wanted - to be married.

So, my preparation thus far has only been to cover the basics. Get the vendors, confirm some details, and I'll let other people do the worrying. And here I was thinking that when I sent my mother to Jakarta to order the wedding invitation cards, I'd have one less thing to worry.

NO WAY!

The vendor just came back to us yesterday with a mock-up and O.M.G (!!). It looked nothing like I wanted! I approached my mum about it and apparently my dad had managed to intervene and decided on another type of card instead. *smack!* There's a reason why I sent my mother and not rely on my father, because I absolutely cannot rely on his taste (Tolongla.. no kerawang2!). But we are sooo not going ahead with having our cards printed at Jakarta, I'm making sure of that.

And now I have to start at square ONE. Called-up a few vendors this morning and they mentioned that due to upcoming busy wedding season, it'll take about 4 - 5 weeks for printing. *sigh* I want to feel angry but then I'd be guilty over it later. I wanted to order the cards months ago, but parents kept insisting on getting the cards done at Jakarta and now look where we are.

Coming from wanting to get a custom-made card, I'll just have to settle for anything that is fast and cheap. Any ideas/suggestions/help out there? It would be so so so very much appreciated!

xoxo

a.i.n.u.n.z.i.l.l.a.

Big vs small (??)

When it comes to choosing photographer for my WeeDay, I try to avoid the Big Names (oh... you know exactly who they are). Why? Well... with Big Names comes Big Price. And yes, the quality speaks for itself - but don't you think the results sometimes tend to look the same as well? (Esp the cliche wedding shoe photos! What's up with that?)

So... when it comes to choosing photographer for my WeeDay, I tend to look at smaller (and perhaps?) up-and-coming names. Most of them are apprentices to those Big Names, while some others have been long in the industry but just hasn't had the opportunity to get big just yet.

Random Fact #1: Did you know that Kudegraphy has only been doing wedding photography for less than a year? But the team is known internationally now! Check this out: JuneBugWeddings.

Plus, it's a sure bonus the fact that they're starting out small, their packages tends to be (very) competitive as well. And really... the quality of their photos are just as good as the Big Names!

Here's my shortlist of potential photographers. I'm having a hard-time trying to choose just ONE!

Fad Manaf

The first wedding photographer I fell in love with.

(ps: the picture above was from my friend's wedding that he had done in Putrajaya)

Random Fact #2: Did you know that Fad is the official photographer for our local act Hujan? He is also in the same gang as Udey of MU, so you can see them working together sometimes.

Ariff Aris

He has been in the industry for 7 years now, so you can count on him for experience.

And I love the fact that he has a fish-eye lense.

Random fact #3: Ariff gives you a better rate if you join his facebook group. (^__^)

Rudy Azwan

You may know him as the man behind Sweet Pictures (I googled him from the latest ed. of Ratu Sehari).

And if you're getting married this April, there's a promo waiting for you!

Wedding Music Band

I'm on a look-out for a good wedding band. Anyone got any ideas? The thing is.... I'm a bit picky when it comes to live music. I love (lovelovelove!) a good acoustic band! Maybe a string quartet, a jazz band, or just a simple bass&piano combination (like the one at Delicious @ Dua Residency).

But for my wedding, I hope the band can meet these criterias:

• Can play both Malay and English music
• Versatile - can play a wide range of music genre (from folk to swing to jazz to acoustic to classic)
• Have really really good acoustic sounds
• Vocalist can sing in good Malay and English

My WP gave me a few suggestions and I also did a quick google for more options. Check out the clips below and tell me what you think!

Amethyst Band.
Strong vocalist and the band is great.
They are also the in-house band at Restaurant 39, PNB Derby.

Clymax Band.
(sorry for the bad quality!)

Wedding Live Band: Romantic Quartet.
Eventhough they're singing a chinese song but they've got really good acoustic here!

From Jason Geh Entertainment.
Love this band! So lively! So versatile! Listen long enough and you'll hear them singing Broery Marantika (my dad's fav).

February Checklist

8
That's the number of weeks I have left before my W-Day. Is this for real? I feel like I've hardly covered the basics! But before we move on to more rambles and chaos of my wedding preparation...

Let's see how much I've done on my JANUARY CHECKLIST:

1. Start doing up my paperworks.  + Much thanks to my father for handling this despite both of our busy schedule.
2. Order wedding invitation cards
3. Confirm make-up artist
4. Confirm photographer (too many choices! don't know how to choose!)
5. Search for reception dress at bridal boutiques.
6. Start ordering wedding favours (soo many ideas...!)
7. Get all my families and dayang-dayang materials for clothes and organizing them for wedding
8. Look-out for live band for reception
9. Finish shopping for 'hantaran'
10. Make plans for 'Singles Retreat' with the girlfriends
11. Get sample measurement for hubby's 'baju melayu'

5 out of 11?? That's bad.... It means I have to put more pressure on myself for this month!


FEBRUARY CHECKLIST

1. Order wedding invitation card  + Am sending my mother to Jakarta this week to order the cards and some wedding favors.
2. Confirm photographer  + still pening
3. Start ordering wedding favors  + Have a bunch of ideas! Remind me to share them with you girls.
4. Look-out for live band for reception  + Have a few recommendations from Kak Wanie of KK but still open for other recommendations.
5. Finish shopping for 'hantaran'  + Actually bought most of the stuffs already except for 2 or 3 other stuffs.
6.  'Singles Retreat' with the girlfriends  + Have a small vacay with the girls this CNY but not all are going, so planning another trip or just a day out somewhere.
7. Finalise decorations ideas with Kak Wanie of KK
8. Send materials to dressmaker for my nikah  outfit.
9. Fitting and finalising concept for my wedding dress.
10. Confirm caterer and canopy for nikah ceremony
11. Book honeymoon (??)  + Havent confirmed with hubby yet.
12. To lose 2kg!! + Have to force myself to start training for marathon already.

Hopefully I can start announcing my official vendors soon!

Of (More!) Wedding Dresses...

More wedding dress ideas! I'm still in love with the dress that I found at Shah Alam, but I'm looking for some ideas to add more details - particular more laceworks as the dress itself is a simple chiffon&shantung combination.

I love the cutting and lace patchwork of this dress.

A vintage 1950's tea dress - an ode to Audrey Hepburn's wedding dress.

I love the top!

Love the boatneck. Love the belted waistline. Love the 2-piece concept.

My personal favourite.

A gorgeous combination of lace&chiffon.

(Can I wear this please?)

And since I'm in a sharing mood, my original concept for a wedding dress was based on this:

I think I'm in love

I think I'm in love. And I feel so guilty because it's not with my fiancee! I have never felt anything so strongly as this before. My head is cloudy... I can't think straight... my heart is pitter pattering hard with excitement... and all I want to do tonight is dream of ... it. And I think I've finally found it! My dream wedding dress!

What do you think I was talking about?

Was out the whole day with my girlfriend, and we had started out bright and early covering bridal boutiques in the Wangsa Maju-Melawati-Ampang area and all the way to Shah Alam. Early on in the day, I found something that I like at Gezal Mihat, and was serious enough to take the dress on the spot. But I hate making rash decisions so I told myself that I'll give it some serious thought. And my friend agrees that the dress was nice but she knew that it wasn't something that I'm in love with. And her good advice to me that afternoon was, if you love something it will be at first sight. And it'll be something that can take your breath away and you will just know that it is the one. And I came to a swift conclusion that:

Finding a wedding dress is just like finding a husband.

Oh yes... I am being totally serious.

So we went on ahead scouring for wedding dresses at other bridal boutique, and we were in Shah Alam when we passed by the shop. The boutique itself was unremarkable - on the small-ish side, no designer brand names, a pelamin decoration in the middle of the shop and a few mannequin parading their latest bridal design. They didn't even keep any of their bridal collection out front, so me and my girlfriend could have easily passed over the shop without much thought.

But... my eyes was instantly drawn to one of the dresses worn by the mannequin. It was brown and simple - no beading, no lace, not a single extravagant decorations on it. People who would only pass by with just a glimpse could have mistaken it as a 'jubah'. But I noticed the empire waist cutting ... the boatneck line ... the satin trim on the skirt ... and I was hooked like a fish to a reel.

We went into the shop to ask about the dress and the lady said that it was still in the making, so the dress is not yet complete with all the beading and lace patchworks. I wanted to at least try it on, but the shop have a strict policy on trying out clothes. *grumbles* So I went a few times inspecting the dress on the mannequin, and OhMyGoodness! I was so in love with it that I didn't know what had hit me!

What followed was a good 30 minutes of discussion with the lady on my options. And since I love the dress but not the colour - my only option is to have a newly made one just for me. Of course I was ecstatic at the very idea! And I was already imagining myself wearing a white version of the dress already and the lady seemed keen at my excitement over the dress. But alas... my dreams are not perfect. The lady gave me a price quote - which basically includes the price for a newly made dress, a new suit for the groom, accesorries and shoes and etc... - and it's a bit beyond my budget. *sigh*

Now I don't know what to do!! Should I go on ahead with it and compromise on my budget? Or should I try to get a quote from another dressmaker for the same design? Or should I just move on and find another?

M.I.A.

Heyya! Sorry I've been missing for awhile. Work has been hectic these past 2 weeks, so life and blogging has to be put in the back burner. But I'm back! Well... at least for the weekend anyway. I've set-up a date with my girlfriends and we're going wedding hunting! Yay! And I've also a bunch of appointments with potential vendors this weekend. So I promise I'll update with an entry on that later.

In the meantime, I'm also planning to re-do my page and create a new layout. So if you ever visit and see the page is a mess... well... you know who to blame.

Take care and do come back by Monday!
xoxoxo

Of Wedding Dresses and Audrey Hepburn

I'm 10+ weeks away from my wedding day and I still don't have a wedding dress or a wedding dressmaker. *smack!* Yes... I deserve that. Been so tied down with work lately that I really can't spare a weekend to go wedding gown hunting. So last Sunday , I managed to squeeze some time-off from work to go scouting. Visited a few bridal boutiques around KL and... well.. have to say that I was a bit dissappointed with some of the collection but it gave me some ideas of my ideal wedding dress!

One of the dress that I had tried out reminded me so much of this:

Who can forget that opening scene from Breakfast at Tiffany's with Audrey Hepburn in this dress?

(psst... btw... I love that movie!)

And I love Audrey Hepburn sense of style. Simple silhouette and clean lines that whispers feminity and elegance like old ladies gossipping behind their hankerchiefs. So... I googled and found a few Audrey Hepburn's inspired wedding gowns!

Pictures courtesy of (from top) Stylish Soiree , Weddinggowntown, Ciarla Bride & SoVintagePatterns.

And of course... can't forget our very own local talent: HATTA DOLMAT! I'm in love with his new bridal collection: Sogni Belli because it has a few of my favourites which would've made Audrey proud! A few of his dresses unveiled at the recent MIFW 2009.

(I love this!)

So girls! Now I need your help! Should I keep hunting down my dream dress at bridal boutiques (please recommend me some!) or should I just go straight to a dressmaker to make my dream come true?

Of Popcakes!

There are just so many things... ideas... that I would love to incorporate into my wedding, and I just have too many... 'stuffs' in my WeeFile that I just need to start organizing them in a systematic order! So, this will become a series of things that I love. And to start it off:

POPCAKES!

I fell in love with the idea of popcake about a year ago, when I stumbled a food blog that featured this cutesy little cake balls on a stick(!), which was first made famous by Bakerella. People in the States fell head over heels over these miniature desserts. Even Martha fell in love with it!

Picture courtesy of Bakerella

My initial idea was to have these as edible table centrepiece (because I just love edible centrepiece)...

Picture courtesy of TheKitchn

But I think it'll work better as a wedding favor instead. So far I've seen this mostly been given out as 'hantaran nikah' or personal presents... but not much as a wedding favor. And I must say that the novelty of this idea has yet to catch up here on our shore... which is good for me! Because this'll be something 'new' to give out to guests.

And we're absolutely lucky that we have our very own Popcake Queen in the lovely Kak Ena of Popcake2U. I don't think there are any other bakeries out there who makes these popcakes.

Idea: Wedding Favor Buffet?

I saw this on Martha Stewart's website and fell in love with the idea of having a wedding favor buffet. Don't you think it's cute?? The idea is to have a few options as wedding favor to your guests, and they can choose whichever they like!

(All pictures and ideas are credited to Martha's Wedding Site)

Have your pick! Soap? Candle? Or a surprise goody bag?

A chocolate buffet for takeaway! How cute is this?

Guests are provided with cute boxes to mix-n-match their own chocolate favors!

(But I'm holding my breath just wondering how much this will cost!)

Or... what about a cookie buffet? Just pick-n-choose your favourite cookies.. yummy!

(but... tak lemau ke cookies tu nanti?)

Okay... this isn't exactly a buffet but an alternative of putting your wedding favors as centre pieces!

Cute and practical.

Another favor centrepiece! Candies all nicely wrapped up with some flower deco.

The idea are quite 'niche' in a way and in Martha's website, she provided a lot of ideas on favors display if you're not planning to have someone to go around and distribute them to guests... (like me?). But I'm considering if it'll actually be practical  - in terms of $$ and in light of our asian values/customs.

For one... it's only polite to return the favor to the guests personally. (This is where the flower girls comes in)

And secondly... if you lay it out buffet-style, there are risks that people will not be considerate and take too much for themselves. (Unless you have a 'bodyguard' tolong jaga the favors. )

But then again... I think it'll be nice to have a wedding favor display right next to the guestbook. So that means, people have to write in 1st before they can get anything! Ok... just kidding... (^__^)

Idea: Invitation Card

One of the main thing that I defnitely have to get done this month is ordering my wedding invitation card and... well... let's just say that I'm kinda stuck.

My problem is that I have this awesome (AWESOME!) idea for the invitation card and I can't find a suitable vendor that can help me pull it off. Also, I'm having a bit of a disagreement with The Parents on the concept of the card. While I heartly agree that simple, nice yet economical card fits-to-a-tee the idea of avoiding unnecessary wastage to the constant limited sources of this precious earth (ie. GO GREEN!)... but... but...

I'm in love with this card already!!

Picture courtesy of Graceful Whimsy.

Another example, picture courtesy of ... google image?

Have I mentioned how much I'm in love with Erin Walsh's wedding? And her card (top) could definitely fit in to the theme of my wedding. I love the simplicity and the colours involved. Anyone knows any card vendors that can help out and yet give reasonable rate?

Another sort of card idea that I love: simple squared-one piece wedding invitation.

Idea and picture courtesy of WLT

This was my original love for a wedding invitation card with an added touch of colour coming from the ribbon. The idea is still on the table if the first one doesn't work out and I can get a reasonable quote for this.

And I know it's not really customary to have an invitation card for the solemnization ceremony, but I want to have a go at making my own card for this, as it'll be better manageable with 100+ or so invites to make. I want to contribute at least  one personally made item for the wedding.

The Concept

I've sooo many ideas for the wedding that I want to share and yet, I still owe you guys my Inspiration Board!! And trust me... I was in the works of creating one, but it just took me longer than expected trying to choose and crop and edit from the abundance of stock photos that I kept in my e-file. So... impatience won out and I've decided that I just want throw out all of my ideas and pictures that I've been keeping very close to my chest, right here and now. Inspiration Board be damned.

So! You've held my hand when I was struggling trying to come up with a colour pallete (read THIS and THIS). Now, I'll present to you the concept that I had in mind to pair these colours with!

THE CONCEPT

Picture courtesy of Google Image (Sorry! Can't remember the exact source!).

The first time I saw THIS picture, I fell in love with the vibrancy of the colours, the merriness and cheerfulness it evokes and (especially) the lanterns!! I remember rushing to show my mother the picture and for once, both of us agreed that it is utterly beautiful. And from there, the concept for the wedding came almost naturally. Both of us decided that we want something... FUN. It's as simple as that. I had even joked around with hubby that the wedding will be aptly titled: CARNIVAL. Of course, he thinks that I was crazy but I know somewhere deep deep in the recesses of my chest that I was half-serious about it.

The idea of having an informal setting, with bright colours and an open green venue was something that constantly teased the child in me. It helps that The Parents are supportive of the concept. Mum was quick on suggestions for wedding favours (hint: one of it is in the picture above already) and Dad agreed that we should have lots of sweets and desserts (perhaps more than food?). I think I was just dumbfounded that for once, we're in tuned on something!

So.... have I come up with any name for my wedding ala birthday party concept? I'm still stuck with 'Carnival'. (^___^)

January Checklist

Before I start on my very first blog entry for the year, let's revisit my December Checklist to see how's my progress is like:

1. Secure a venue
2. Meet-up with WP
3. Send 'kain' for tailoring. > discussed with my tailor that I can send in my materials for 'nikah' outfit in February. Yay!
4. Do HIV test
5. Pick up Sijil Kursus Kahwin
6. Get a head-start on the paperworks
7. Start ordering wedding invitation cards
8. To finalise decorations & theme for wedding (nikah & reception) with WP
9. To decide on make-up artist, photographer & bridal boutique for reception dress.

*sigh* So many things yet to settle, but I definitely have to start making a dent on the outstanding items this month! Or else I'd be trouble!

So... my January Checklist!

1. Start doing up my paperworks.
2. Order wedding invitation cards
3. Confirm make-up artist
4. Confirm photographer (too many choices! don't know how to choose!)
5. Search for reception dress at bridal boutiques.
6. Start ordering wedding favours (soo many ideas...!)
7. Get all my families and dayang-dayang materials for clothes and organizing them for wedding
8. Look-out for live band for reception
9. Finish shopping for 'hantaran'
10. Make plans for 'Singles Retreat' with the girlfriends 
11. Get sample measurement for hubby's 'baju melayu'

Aiyoo... how come my lists are getting longer??

Dilemma Solved: Colour Theme

I'm a bit neurotic when it comes to colours because I just love 'em! And guess what? I think I've finally found my color palette!

(I made this!)

Found this really cool website: Colour Lovers , where you can create your own colour palette and patterns without the use of dinasour-aged programmes. It's so easy and there are also a bunch of other colour palettes there for inspiration.

And I made the colour palette based on this inspiration board made by Erin Walsh @ Style Circle.

I just love her style and ideas because she likes to use bright contrasting colours and incorporate fun little details into her wedding. You can check out her wedding pictures in My Muse sidebar.


Other inspiration that I used for my colour palette:

pictures from: Style Circle

I'm hoping to make my inspiration board based on these pictures soon!!

1st Time a Bride's Maid

So last Wednesday night, I got a phone call from one of my good friend asking me to be her pengapit (aka maid's of honor) for her 'Majlis Bertandang' on Saturday.  And since I got nothing better to do that weekend, I signed myself up for it. It'd be great to spend some time with her, and I also took it as a learning experience for my own coming wedding.

On Thursday night, I met up with her husband bringing along ALL of my baju kurung for him to decide which one would be suitable for me to wear for the reception.

On Friday night, met up with the bride and we went around doing some last minute chores up till 3am.

On Saturday morning, the bride woke me up bright and early at 7am, and we went another round doing some more chores before heading to the hall in Putrajaya around 9am. Even then, we just had SOO many things to do!! I was running around outside the hall like a headless chicken doing stuff for the bride, while she runs around like a headless chicken inside the hall. Patience were severely tested, tempers almost came to blows, a lot of breathing exercise required and it was almost 12pm when I had to physically dragged both the bride and groom to the VIP room to get ready.

Thankfully at this juncture, the Mak Andam finally came to man-handle the bride long enough to get her dressed, maked-up and ready for the general public. Me and the Best Man had to wait to make sure that the bride and groom were ready before we changed into our attires. Even then, I was doing some last minute slide show for the bride and had to run around to coordinate the songs and the timing with the technician.

1.30pm came around and we finally settled ourselves into line-ups for the grand entrance. We had originally planned to let the bride's 3meters long veil to trail behind her in it's full length. But it was too long and too heavy for it to flow evenly, and it kept snagging along the fabrics of the red carpet. So I had to resort to carrying the veil. And thankfully I was only the pengapit! Why? Because I have horrible fear of public attention, and even just standing behind the bride makes me nervous! But once we were on stage, I kept most of my attention to the bride so that I wouldn't be conscious of the crowd. I have yet to decide how I am going to handle all of the attention once when I'll be the bride!

Despite all of the 'running-round-like-headless-chickens' and last minute hiccups in the preparations, the ceremony itself went by very smoothly - of which I am soo happy for the bride and groom and their families. The Best Man (BM) and I accompanied the Bride and Groom up till the cake-cutting ceremony. Beyond this, we let the B&G enjoy the spotlight and pretty much fade into the crowd. But both of us were so knackered! After meeting up with some mutual friends that came to the reception, both of us basically collapsed and fell to sleep in the VIP room.

And as for the rest of the day... well... let's just say it was a very very long day. Somehow, at the end of the day, there wasn't many people left to help out and clean-up the place. So in the end, it was a party of 5 - me, the best man, the bride, the groom and his brother - we all cleaned up the place, haul most of the stuff to the front entrance and into the van. I felt bad that both B&G had to carry around their own stuff while still in their wedding attires! But have to give salute to both of them for being such a sport about it. It definitely made-up for some excellent 'Trash the Dress' photoshoot!

We ended the day with tons of photoshoots and video-making. Well... okay... more like B&G did those. Me and BM had to resort to become merely props. But it was still fun nonetheless! At one point, while B&G went outdoor photoshooting, me and BM went and crash the wedding held in the ballroom upstairs! Why? Because it was late and we were hungry! And you know what? We never got caught! And it was a formal sit-down dinner! And we even 'mingled'.

(To the bride and groom of said wedding, sorry for crashing and thanks for the dinner! We were the couple in brown.)

All in all, it was a very long, tiring yet eventful day. Thanks FirAsh for letting me be a part of your big day. It's over now and enjoy your married life together! (Finally!!)

The Bride & Groom: Fira & Asyraf

(Was too busy to take any pictures, so I borrowed this from WLT)

Dilemma: Colour Theme

Have I mentioned that I've a wedding planner in the lovely Kak Wanie of Kerja Kahwin? Well... now I have! (Wave to Kak Wanie and family everyone!) If you've been following my dooms and glooms and drama since this whole blog started, then you'd be aware that I was desperate to find a wedding planner to help me out in organizing the wedding. In fact, I'm sure some of you with the Wee-Logs would have received my email politely asking for some tips and help and recommendations on potential wedding planners. I have to say a bunch of thanks to those who replied. You know who you are. *wink*wink*

Well... anyway... I must say that I was more than relieved in finding KK and the lovely team behind the website, and despite being very busy during this hectic wedding season, Kak Wanie has been more than helpful and gracious to meet-up. And it was great having someone to talk too about this, and in our last meeting, Kak Wanie has posed me a question:

What sort of concept am I looking for the wedding?

And you know what? I was stumped. I mean... I have some words... ideas... ambiance all stuck in my head... but it was very difficult for me to translate them into pretty pictures. I couldn't even decide the colour theme! So I spent many a nights staying up... researching... looking for pictures... and it was very difficult for me to find anything resembling the sort of wedding I had envisioned. So I went back and start with the basic:

COLOUR THEME

I like BLUE and anything that goes with it. But the thing is, I also like RED for the sheer warmth and brightness that it evokes. And yeah... sure... you can get quite a nice wedding with both colours:

But.... I think I want something more... Colourful. Bright. Cheery.

So you want to know what I did? I stayed up all night and played around with some ancient programmes and came up with my very own colour palletes!!

The colours are not so great, but I still had fun playing around with it. So which one do you like? I personally am torn between #1 and #4. And the thing is, I went back to look up other wedding inspiration pictures and I found some other colour schemes that I like! Camne ni?!

And do you wanna know what I did next? Making my own wedding story board!

.... which I will share in my next post. Dah penat dah tulis entry ni.

Taking a Break

I'm contributing to the nation's current standing statistic that a Malaysian reads an average 2 books per year. So, last Sunday, in the hopes of escaping textbooks and mock exam papers, I went to Kinokuniya and splurged on a few books:

I'm not a romantic but I'm such a huge fan of Jane Austen. Besides Pride & Prejudice, Persuasion is my next favourite and I just found out that there's a re-telling of the story from the male protagonist's point-of-view written by Amanda Grange. So I googled and found Captain Wentworth's Diary, and my luck... Kinokuniya has stock! At this point in time, I've already finished reading the book and it's such a refreshing time spent reading it from the hero's POV. Of course, nothing can beat Jane Austen... so I'm planning to re-read Persuasion again after this.

Oh... no worries. I've still got a lot of wedding talks after this. Just need a bit of a break from all those researching and planning...

Ideas for Guesbook

I'm taking a small break from my books for awhile to share this idea for my guest book area. I suppose having a guest book section is a new 'in' thing for malay weddings nowadays - something that we have yet again incorporated from western themed weddings. I think it's a great idea. At least the guests don't have to buy wedding cards anymore. ;)

A few things that I like:

Photobooth

A DIY Wedding Photobooth courtesy of GWS

IKEA has tons of cute and quirky fabrics to use as backdrop to match your wedding theme.

Or... any textile stores can do. All you need is a frame, a mesh wire, a long fabric to hand and ta-daa!

Polaroid

I've always love the old-skool theme of a polaroid photo, and I think it's just so much fun to have around at an event because it brings out the spontaneity and fun from other people.

Plus, polaroid cameras are so much more affordable nowadays... you can get one for less than RM500.

So... combine both elements together and what do you get?

Picture courtesy from StyleMePretty

... A DIY Polaroid Guestbook!

Doesn't this looks so much fun?

Venue Secured!

Ta-da! Finally! After tons of coaxing, brainwashing, bickering, blackmailing, and a box of Panadol later... the Parents and I (well.. okay, more like just the Parents)... finally decided on the venue! Yay! Towards the end there, we were considering the following places:

• Royale Chulan Hotel  > Daddy's preference
• Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA) > Mum and my preference
• Felda Villa > Mummy's preference

And to be honest, after considering costs and venue and location (etc) it was preferable that we make Felda Villa as our venue of choice. But Mummy called them yesterday and apparently they're fully-booked for every weekend from now to 6 months - 1 year ahead (!!).

Ok. I know Felda Perdana and Felda Merak Kayangan are popular choices (rumour has it that the waiting list is more than 1 year) and I know some brides would even postponed their wedding dates just to secure these venues... but never expected the same to apply for Felda Villa though. But I can't be surprise. Looking at their wedding package, it's affordable, provide good services and central location right in the heartland of KL. Am I dissappointed? Mmm... not really. I'm dissappointed that I won't get to eat D'Saji's food (cuz it's good!)... but I've been trying to brainwash Daddy on my choice of venue for weeks now! But he still insisted on Royale Chulan! (Something about VIP... )

But at least now I can sit down and smirk happy that we'll be doing our wedding at....

KGPA!!

Wehehehe... syiok nye... feel like rubbing my hands in glee and laugh my evil Disney-laugh just for effects. (^___^)v

Inspiration for my KGPA Wedding?

Black, white & red by NSJ Event

Tiffany By Shaja

December Checklist

I feel bad for not blogging for awhile. Wedding plans was put on the back burner so that I could concentrate on my studies for now as exams are around the corner. But last Monday, my parents and I went to check a few hotels in KL for wedding venues. My dad was keen on The Royale Chulan when he found out that they have a nice covered courtyard (which I bet would be really really beautiful if it's fully decorated), but the price is a bit beyond our budget so we have to reconsider our other options.

Other than snippets of wedding research here and there, I've made up a list of things that needs to be done this month:

1. Secure a venue ... FAST!!
2. Meet-up with WP
3. Send 'kain' for tailoring.
   (I heard you actually need 5 months for this. Yikes!)
4. Do HIV test (while I'm still free)
5. Pick up Sijil Kursus Kahwin (dah berabu duduk dlm laci LPPKN)
6. Get a head-start on the paperworks (future hubby have already done his. haih...)
7. Start ordering wedding invitation cards
8. To finalise decorations & theme for wedding (nikah & reception) with WP
9. To decide on make-up artist, photographer & bridal boutique for reception dress.

Huh. That was short. I'm sure my WP had sent me a full list for me to consider, but I think I'll have a better idea of things that I need to do once I meet-up with her (can't wait!).

Oh! And I think I've decided on the theme for my solemnization! Haven't really shared this with anyone else, but it's no secret that I'm in love with the colour blue. So while I want my reception to be colourful  and cheerful, I've decided on simple understated elegance and romanticism for the 'nikah' ceremony.

(Plus, happens to be that my french lace for baju nikah is a shade of baby blue.)

It was this particular storyboard that had inspired me:

Theme: Romantic Blue

And I was thinking of incorporating 'A Thousand Origami Crane' into the ceremony as well, but I'm not sure how well received the idea of integrating a Japanese legend into Malay custom would be like. Also, the task of actually folding 1-0-0-0 paper cranes would just be time-consuming! (I tried folding one for a trial test and it took me almost 30 minutes! so... 30min x 1000 =30,000 min = 500hrs = 20.8days) But I still think it'd be a nice 'touch' to the ceremony, and by using recycled paper, I'd be subtly stamping my stand on 'Going Green!'. Well... it's just an idea though...