Our Wedding
14 June 2008 – It was an absolutely beautiful day. Everything turned out as understated, classy, timeless & elegant as we liked. We were dearly blessed with good weather, friendly professional crew, lovely friends and relatives who went the extra mile, abundance of love from many and plentiful of goodies. I could even hear the angels rejoice, as we said our vows and got united as one.
I was also told by many that we looked totally carefree, radiant, without a care or worry in the world. And for that, we have to thank everyone else who help “run” the beautiful event, especially my dearest BR & BFF, my Queens, mum, relatives and most importantly, God – for without his blessings, we wouldn’t have unknowingly radiate and ooze out such joy & happiness!
My prayers to not feel bloated and suffer any pre-menstrual breakouts were also answered! Luke and I enjoyed ourselves so much, that it didn’t even matter that he wasn’t in the best of health, or that I didn’t get enough rest. It was utterly perfect – perfect to us.
On hindsight, we were also thankful & glad that we didn’t give any room for disagreements or unhappiness! Though some things did not pan out as planned (Luke couldn’t wake up in time to meet the banquet manager as he was ill, I forgot to bring along stuff for the dinner etc.), we constantly reminded ourselves the desired outcome we wanted for the wedding – to be a very lighthearted, understated and happy affair. In short, we wanted it perfectly informal :) And that we were going to learn to let go and let God, let any inevitable happen, and seek the perfect in the imperfect.
I was also very blessed with a pair of angels. BFF and BR were such sweethearts, sleeping over & squeezing in my tiny bedroom for the night. They got me some dinner (as I didn’t have the time to eat for the entire day, while settling last minute stuff), helped packed my bags and cleaned the house, went through guests list, before shoo-ing me to bed at 11.30pm (3 hours off schedule). We had a “mini-crisis” when I realized that Luke hadn’t passed me my box of loose flowers for the hair-do! But I knew everything was going to be alright when the girlies promptly set off for Luke’s place in their PJs and settled that for me.
Br & Bff just woke up!
14 June 2008, 5am: Mom greeted me with a big warm hug. I woke up with eager anticipation & excitement, despite not getting any sleep. It worry me for a bit that the dark eye circles and bags were probably going to show…but I knew I was in my makeup-artist’s good hands. Plus, the perk-me-ups facial and eye masks helped tremendously too!!! While getting my hair blown dry, mom scooped me a pipping hot bowl of fish porridge, and another hot bowl of bird’s nest (delicious!). JH, my mua, joked that I was getting such ‘Diva treatment’! “Once in a lifetime!” I exclaimed back!
a mask works wonders…
It wasn’t long before my videographer & photographer arrived and soon the clicking and filming began. It was all very exciting – being the centre of attention, a little overwhelming I must say, but nice. I was apprehensive initially, fearing that the mood between myself and the professional crew may be a little awkward, but it turned out really fun when we realized how much we could “click” with our similar sense of humour. The Bs, being their very loony selves, also contributed to plenty more of laughs!
An hour and half later (which honestly felt like minutes), I saw Ning (N2) & Spanky, Kris, my godparents & godbro, Sam, Mabes, Zann, Cecilia, Galvin make their appearance. Everyone was excited and busy cam-whoring with & without me. Hah! Mum and popo were also busy making sure our guests were comfy, while getting their makeup done. The house was bustling with immense joy & laughter!
One thing happened after the other and before I knew it, Luke sang a song and came through the room door, presenting me my bouquet and doing the traditional ‘un-veiling’ and kissing the bride.
The next hour happened in a twinkle of an eye. We snapped some photos with my side of the family & friends, drank some “tong shui” for prosperity, and headed to Luke’s place for our 1st tea ceremony session. As we only offered tea to his immediate family, the tea ceremony was a rather short one. While the groom and the rest of the family were getting ready to go to the church for rehearsals and receive guests, I took the perfect opportunity to cool down and stripped out of the wedding gown. And it felt sooooo good. Ethel & Cecilia were such darlings, helping me put on and off my gown at least thrice (I kept feeling the urge to go to the loo) and feeding me in-between!
It was 10.55am when the bridal car arrived at the entrance of the church. My heart was filled with butterflies – all excited that in a few minutes, we were going to be “officially” married! The car door opened, and as I stepped out, I could feel a huge veil of joy enveloping me. At that instant, I felt so ready, all prepared for the doors to open, to march in. I even forgot my concern of wobbling or tripping on my 3.5 inch heels! My mind was filled with nothing but joy & pleasant surprises – seeing the many smiley faces, realizing that so many guests were here to witness our beautiful matrimony – that meant and said a lot. At that moment, my initial laments of having such a long aisle to march in dissipated too. Every step I took as Pachabel’s Cannon in D was being played, was magical. The kiddies were perfect too. No tantrums, no confusion or sudden shyness from the multitude as the doors opened, but pure perfection & dedication in every step. I managed to take a peek at the floral deco along the aisle too. It was done the way I wanted it, and again I was blessed with such a wonderful florist (so you see, t
he earlier incident when the former florist played out on me was a big blessing in disguise).
We had a very lovely church service. Although there were little booboos like Luke slipping the wedding ring on my wrong hand, which resulted in me slipping and FORCING & JAMMING his wedding band in his wrong hand (before some quick correction after the videographer whispered), and walking towards the wrong direction to sign the marriage certificate (it was different from our one and only rehearsal!), it was indeed memorable. Guests later told us during the lunch reception that they teared during the bridal march-in & vows, and also shared with us how much they enjoyed the church service. It was good to know that the guests were having as much fun as we were!
Fast-forward 2 hours later, we were in the Raffles Hotel suite getting ready for our wedding dinner in The Ballroom. Bobo was getting as much rest as he could from not sleeping a wink the night before and being sick. While I was busy going through with BR on the co-ordination of the dinner, and getting ready for my 2nd makeup session with JH. :) Managed to get about 20 minutes of shut-eye before slathering another face & eye mask in an attempt to re-awake & rejuvenate the skin, before JH arrived. She was another sweetie too. Called me earlier to ask if I wanted more flowers since she saw some very nice white roses at the florist.
I’m not a fan of sitting and waiting, especially when it comes to makeup, hair & nails! But with JH, it was very different. We would giggle, joke and talk about almost everything, and she was also very accommodating, allowing me to do my stuff in-between hair and makeup, check in on the groom etc. She was another angel. An angel who did such beautiful work on my canvas that garnered nothing but praises and compliments!
14 June 2008, 6.45pm: We were 15 minutes late for our tea ceremony with my side of the family but it was all “well worth the wait” (in JH’s words). I changed into my fuchsia pink embroidery tea dress, and headed with the groom for the Jubilee Hall Lounge. Being “Bounapartes”, the family chit-chatter for a good 15 minutes more before we could finally get everyone’s attention and start the tea ceremony with mum’s side of the family. I think Luke must have been overwhelmed – we served at least 30 cups each!
Photographers Terry & Gino suggested that we take some “creative nostalgic” shots in the Jubilee Hall Lounge before receiving our guests at the cocktail area. It was fun, attempting to look serious at Luke for one of the pose, and I can’t wait to see ‘em photos!!!
The cocktail reception outside The Ballroom was astounding too! Our band, 3 sessions, did such a great job entertaining the guests with their instrumental jazzy tunes while I managed to say a few “HIs” before Ethel dragged me away, reminding me of time check to change into the wedding gown. Thank goodness for nannies like her! Hah. I was also grateful that the Queenies took charge of the reception, sorting and escorting the guests. BR was also busy running around, checking that everything was running smoothly, and deepest appreciation to her too. I’m sure all of them must have been feeling burnt-out from the early morning start, but it was very heartening to know that they loved and cared for us so much in their gestures.
The 1st march-in to the Ballroom was different. Perhaps because now Luke & I were marching down as husband and wife for the first time, or that it was a completely different mood & atmosphere from the church, I was actually more eager to start the evening than before. Luke felt and looked better too, after managing to rest a little earlier, and I could sense that he was all ready to boogie and have yet another time of his life too! One of our favourite songs: At Last, played as the doors opened and on top of the dry ice, dazzling shimmering silver strings hanging down from the balloons, there were also TONNES of rose petals tossed over/at/onto us! Everyone was cheering us at their best.
Dinner commenced earlier than we predicted (which is always a good thing) as everyone immersed themselves in the bossa nova tunes played by the band, and feast. I enjoyed the double-boiled soup dish quite a bit (save the sharks!) as well as the deep fried wasabi prawns, before being reminded to change into my cheongsam.
JH was all ready, waiting for me outside the ballroom as the group of us walked back to the suite for the 2nd change of the evening. The girlies, Cecilia & Ethel & Sam were busy cam-whoring while waiting for me to get hair & makeup done. I kept asking if I should wear my girdle or bodysuit beneath the cheong sam, since I went through so much effort to source for a suitable one. It turns out that all 3 girls said I looked fine without anything beneath the cheongsam and realization dawned on me that I had lost more weight in the last 2 days, and could amazingly fit into the cheongsam without any “creases”. Yay! Received plenty of compliments on the cheongsam too :) And again, reminded myself how blessed I was to have Candy as my tailor & designer – she was so perfect that even 1cm of amendment required me having to do another fitting! And I must say after this experience, I do enjoy wearing cheongsams. The cheongsam certainly maketh a woman.
In-between, a very artistic, “wong-kai-wai” video of the wedding morning and church ceremony was shown to the guests. Yang, the videographer, did such a fantastic job that we received lots of praises for the video. The guests absolutely loved it (amazed at the speed of editing), thankful that we didn’t do the common powerpoint slides displaying our baby-to-childhood-to-teenage photos followed by how we met etc. We weren’t for that idea either! And although we hadn’t seen the video ourselves then (we were busy preparing for 2nd march-in!), we were assured that Yang lived up to our expectations. *note: Indeed he did, because when we finally watched in on Monday evening, it brought tears to us. I just had to keep watching & re-watching the video!
“Crazy little thing called LOVE” played as we did our 2nd march-in for the night! The atmosphere still remained lighthearted and happy (nothing serious & sombre) as we proceeded to the stage for the toasting. That night heard 3 beautiful speeches & toasts from people who loved us dearly too: Cheryl-Anne, Helen & Samantha. Hearing those beautiful words being spoken brought tears of joys. Its one thing to know that these people love you, and another to hear for yourself how much they really love you. Luke went on stage and did a thank-you speech which made me choke on my tears silently too. I wasn’t aware of the speech he had prepared. So when he read it – every word spoken was absolutely beautiful. It got most of the family in tears too, as he teared towards the end as well, talking about his late father. He wasn’t afraid to show his emotional, vulnerable side in front of many and seeing that reaffirmed my blessings of marrying such a wonderful man and husband who wasn’t all egoistical, but sens
itive to others as well.
We did away with the traditional yum-seng from table to table, as well as the “standard” table-photography. :) Instead, we mingled with our guests on a more personal level. While most of the relatives had a whale of a time dancing to the “live” music. We were so caught up socializing with our guests that we nearly missed out on bidding our guests goodbye! Time really flies when you’re having so much fun!!
Needless to say, the brothers and jie-meis were the last groups remaining as the night came to an end. The brothers weren’t going to let the groom and the bridal entourage off so easily, after what the girlies did to them this morning. But it was all in good fun and poor bobo had so much to drank that he puked out twice. Being the wifey, I chose to take care of them, got the hotel to bring in some hot water and honey and lemon and panadol, and told the Queenies and Bs that I could not join them for our pre-arranged chill-out session. Even the private place we reserved at INK bar was left empty, as most of us got high/drunk even before stepping out of the ballroom!
Heartfelt gratitude & kudos to our main co-ordinator (and my bestie BR), Jasmine Choo. For a wedding that was put together within months, without engaging a professional wedding coordinator, Jas was utterly helpful in calming me down in the weeks leading up to the wedding, organizing schedule, calling up various vendors and even organizing a memorable hen’s night for me 2 weeks prior to the wedding. I remembered flustering on the day before the wedding about not being able to do all the things I needed to do & Jas suddenly shifted her meetings around just to meet me at the bridal shop. BIG thanks also, to the pro-active Queenies – initiating meet-ups for discussions, Kris – for making time off to ferry me around despite his very busy schedule and ending up being very sick, BFF – for helping me in every little way possible and being utterly supportive during my fittings and makeup trials, Cecilia – for always being there & assisting me in and out of the gown, Sam – for helping with the painting & dresses etc. As well as the many others (the brothers!) who offered help, gave us beautiful gifts, sound advice etc.
It was definitely our wedding to remember. And thank you to every single one of you who contribute to this very special event.
:)
Hen’s Night debut – by the Queenies
I woke up on Saturday (7 Jun) reeling from excitement. I was going to have another Hen’s night organized by the Queenies and all the action was going to start from 9pm. It was a packed Saturday – cheongsam final fitting (having to rush to 3 dept stores to source for a bodysuit which we couldn’t find in the end), collection of gifts from the states, facial session for the bo, and getting an additional flower girl dress for Angel, who asked if she could be part of the bridal march entourage during rehearsals last Thurs. But despite it all, I rather gobble down my dinner with Bobo in 10 minutes, before rushing back home for a quick bath, a little touching-up and I was all ready to P-A-R-T-Y.
The theme was “SexAndTheCity-chic”.
10 steps as I walked out of the lift, I could hear the Queenies screaming in excitement. I was told to close my eyes as mabes and zann led me to my 1st surprise. It was quite a task walking alone, wondering if there were any steps or drains that I was going to trip on but I decided to put 120% faith in the Queenies because I knew I was in good hands. Mabes started doing a final countdown from 10 before I reached my 1st surprise – which was a spankin’ awesome limousine all ready to pick us up! Woohoo! We just had to posed for a group shot before getting in, as the other neighbour looked on curiously.
The interior was dressed with plush cushions, plenty of space to manoeuvre around for photo taking moments, ceiling dressed with lights and a chi-chi bar all prepped up. We clinked our 1st round for the night and toast to friendship and marriage as we giggled, hugged, cam-whored and snuggled. I was EXTREMELY OVERWHELMED by everything that was happening, I kept exclaiming that it was soo surreal. And it was this moment I realized for the nth time how much the Queenies loved me, and how much I loved them back.
While cruising around in the city, we caught many curious glances from passengers & drivers of the cars that went by, exclaiming “wow”. It was really a moment that marked the “diva” in us all. Jac drove us to the Supreme Court (at my request) and we were quite astonished at the crowd that was sitting at the steps. But in good ol sporting fashion, we posed for the camera before quickly making our exit (not being used to being all diva-ish in front of others), and heading for surprise #2!!!
We arrived at Clarke Quay, drawing a larger crowd of on-lookers as Jac opened t
he door and we got off in red-carpet style. A lot of cameras went clicking away (not on us unfortunately, but for the limo of course) as we quickly did our last group pose and headed for The Arena. The Queenies had booked a VIP area at The Arena and Mike, the dude that ran the place was there to receive us at the entrance. We had a lovely bottle of vodka (un-absolut) and a basket of yummy wings to get the night going. The interior was plush ed and poshed as we oo-ed and aa-ed before I was told by the Queenies that I had a list of forfeit which I had to perform – only because they loved me. I was all set and game!
he door and we got off in red-carpet style. A lot of cameras went clicking away (not on us unfortunately, but for the limo of course) as we quickly did our last group pose and headed for The Arena. The Queenies had booked a VIP area at The Arena and Mike, the dude that ran the place was there to receive us at the entrance. We had a lovely bottle of vodka (un-absolut) and a basket of yummy wings to get the night going. The interior was plush ed and poshed as we oo-ed and aa-ed before I was told by the Queenies that I had a list of forfeit which I had to perform – only because they loved me. I was all set and game!
Here were some of the various task I was asked to do in between cam-whoring:
1. Don on a very sexy looking lingerie on top of my dress (if only I wore black!)
2. Using only my tongue, I had to make out the words “Getting Married” using packets of M&Ms; (I was quite tempted to start eating them instead)
3. Drink a flaming Lamborghini or waterfall – but I ended up receiving 1 flaming and 2 waterfalls :(
4. Go around and collect $50 from the patrons at the club offering $2 for a hug or $5 for a kiss. Thank goodness generous Mike saved me by donating quite a sum for no hug nor kiss. Phew!
5. Dirty dance with someone from the club
6. Bar top dancing for an entire song, which I later negotiated if I could do it on the couch instead
At one moment, we were drawing so much attention that we even had a security guard (at Mike’s request) to man our VIP area. We sported a very good looking hunk too – unfortunately he couldn’t muster up enough courage to approach the girlies before we left for our next destination.
The night ended with some delicious dim-sum supper (my tummy just needed more food after 2 rounds of puke). Its been a long while since I got home at 5am but it was well worth it because I went to bed with a mind full of wonderful moments and memories to keep.
I heart the Queenies! and I couldn’t hug and kiss them enough for it.
Thank you so much for arranging this very special night, I truly enjoyed myself!
p/s: mum just saw the photos and commented that each Queenie looked so good and so hot! Wahahahaha. So cute – coming from the mama :)
Packed packed packed!!
The weekend was enjoyably PACKED, apart from a minor disappointment which was quickly wiped away by the BMs as they celebrated Guo Da Li at my place and for one of the few times, I didn’t feel so bad inviting closed friends to my / grandma’s very tiny & cramped home – something which I rarely do yet brings me so much joy!
BR and BFF mentioned that all the “noise”, “qi fen”, home-cooked meal and environment gave them a feel of sweet nostalgia and they truly enjoyed the entire afternoon eating, meeting some of my relatives, having private chat sessions with my mom (who enthusiastically offered to me their confidante if they ever needed one), taking photos and making fun of Luke as he comfortably stretched his body across the entire couch the moment the crowd left and attempted a 45-min nap which allowed us girlies to chat, laugh and doll-up in my room more. Hah!
Popo & Grandaunt Kim were so busy cooking and preparing since 7am in the morning while mum kept worrying that there wasn’t going to be enough food! The day seemed even more hectic than the 1st day of CNY and I supposed all the hype was there because I was the first / oldest grandchild in the family that was getting married… Hrm.
So Luke and his entourage, together with the “matchmaker” came armed with our requested goodies and dowry later that afternoon and it was so funny to see mum busy soaking up all the Chinese traditions, while I basically just sat and ate my egg tarts, desserts, snacks and sat around like it was another day of CNY. Haha! Very terrible unbride-like behavior displayed. The relatives ooed and ahh-ed at the beautiful set of “si dian jin” and the enormous “Chindeh” (Hainanese Fried Ball) which Luke managed to source for (scored brownie points yet again!).
It was a long, tiring yet enjoyable afternoon, as we parted ways at 6pm – the Bo & I heading for our weekly massage while the girlies met their dates for the evening.
Sunday. The continuation of cake giving to relatives and closed ones starts in the morning. Later that afternoon, Mum decides that I am due for a hair trim, colour & treatment and gets me an appointment with Gill. I suddenly get funky at Gill’s suggestion to dye my brows the same colour as the hair and it turns out amazingly well…During the hair session, mum suddenly mentioned something which made my very sleepy eyes “wake up with a twinkle”. She said during the week leading up to the wedding (since both of us were going to be on leave for the entire week) – she was going to take me on a week full of shopping for new clothes! Yahoo! It was unbelievably cool that the same woman who constantly nags at my spending threw me such great news. The hair thing went great too. Turns out that I was really in need of one because everyone loved the “new hair” – with more volume and body (Gill reckons it meant for someone whose finally grown up from girlie to womanly) and I absolutely loved the new shine + colour.
Rushed off to drop more cakes to Godma & pops before quickly going to J8 to exchange Dad’s jacket & getting home in time to send Nicole off to the airport.
Phew. A very packed and eventful weekend it was and just one more to go before its going to be quiet for a long while. :))
Hen’s Night Pt 1
’twas was 7.45pm when I started receiving numerous SMSes asking when I was finally going to step out of the office and FYI phone calls from BR that everyone else was waiting for me…
I finally got to the venue and arrived at this very quaint little place which I fell in love with at first sight. Like what BR had mentioned, it was a very nice gathering, with a just nice crowd size. Mum was there, all the aunts who cared were there to join in the ra-ra, Godma came too, and so did wonderful ppl like Daph, Margie, Fiona (though she had to sit for an exam on Monday), Wen-D, V, Sam and so on. Fay who even brought her adorable baby daughter along!! The event just touched me so deeply instantly, with the joy that was surrounding the entire palce
We had plenty of wine, fabulous food, fun time tekaning me (of course) and bonded over games. Even threw in a few “chair / pole dances” or two. It was nice bonding time, and seeing how the different cliques could all get along and all that.
Everything ended well in laughter. And I had a blast.
More happening tomorrow – I’m beat!
WIP: hair & makeup trial day
I got the day off today and set aside some quality time to (unfortunately NOT sleep in because mom set the alarm at 9.10am!!!) get some wedding preps done such as getting the invitation cards sent out, contacting some vendors, as well as finally meeting my hair & makeup artist for the wedding day, who was such a darling and made the entire trial activity such fun that I totally enjoyed it.
Made the total boo-boo of wearing an entire black ensemble, left the home with 2 big bags in tow (like I was running away for the weekend or some sort), and before hopping into a cab, drenched in perspiration from the heat. JH (the makeup artist) was sweet & waited 20 minutes for me as I rushed down…all panting and in desperate need of a cold glass of water to put out the heat. We started the session with her asking if I had any reference pictures and then explained to me me how she was going to work the makeup from day to night as she build the intensity on the eyes gradually. The 2.5 hours felt so short and fun with the affable JH, who was helpful snapping photos of the 3 different looks and various hairstyles she tried on me. I felt like a diva!!! And I was in awe by the magic she worked on me. It was also interesting to experience how a simple sweep of a fringe or hairdo could change the entire look too!
Meanwhile, Et & mum were such total sweethearts, one sneaking time off to come see her BFF and the other taking time off to ensure her daughter was in good hands. Et was so thrilled and amazed by the final look that she kept exclaiming for the first 5- 10 mintues the moment she saw me. I thought I saw a tear as she said she felt like she was “marrying” her younger sister off. LOL. She even asked twice out loud if I could not marry Luke and her instead! Hah! It was heartening to see a bud feeling so happy for me. Awww.
We couldn’t thank JH enough – Et especially, when JH offered to help her put on false eyelashes on the wedding day. JH must have done such a fantastic job that while on the way to the bridal shop for my 2nd fitting, both Mum and BFF kept stopping in their tracks and looking at me only to let out a little grin before continuing their steps. It was cute. And while I didn’t think I would be into the entire trial makeup & hair thingy, I must admit that the experience today was awesome and made me even more excited about the wedding.
It was great to that JH & myself could get along and communicate well too. She even gave us makeup tips and recommended products that we could use on a daily basis as well as extra items I could get for the actual day just to touch up!
Sooo…next on the list: shopping for accessories & recommended makeup items!
before makeup begins
first look: for the day
exploring hairstyles 
another hairstyle
with BFF
with mum 
wedding-in-progress (WIP) updates!
The past few days have been like the weather forecast gone bad: pretty much like what we’re experiencing currently.
Saturday was like a bright sunny day – perfect for a beach day out. Met up with the bridesmaids for fittings and it went well! The girls looked absolutely pretty in their cream and pink combination while my green cocktail dress (which I was a lil’ hesitant about initially) turned out nicely – complementing mum’s dragon green cheong sam. We looked like a nice happy family of sisters and mum as we snap some ‘family shots’ in the shop – fussing about with each other’s hemline, telling the tailor to cut the slits higher, skirts shorter, bust line lower etc. Women!
Headed out to Riders’ cafe for a nice brunch out and made sure we ordered a dozen spicy buffalo wings this time round. I shared a breakfast plate with Et while Jas, mum and Luke happily settled for their burgers & cinnamon toast. Again it felt like some family meal together and made me feel utterly blessed to have such wonderful company, with wonderful weather on a wonderful day. Hah! Luke went for his much needed massage thereafter while the girls and I waited and wasted time by talking about ways to diet and hen’s night at the couch. Luke could hear our laughter while in the massage room. Thank goodness for walls and doors! :x
Sunday came and went like a cloudy day. The family celebrated mother’s day with lunch at an Indonesian restaurant after Church. It was nice seeing the cute-as-a-button baby Ian and adorable Faith, whom we missed seeing for a while. Spent some quality time with mama before heading to Luke’s to get the wedding invites printed and sorted out. Watching Formula 1 that evening took up most of the time and before I knew it – I was home catching up on my emails.
I had a big shock (or was it anger or disappointment) when I received an email from the Church assigned decorator asking me to appoint a proper florist instead as he could not meet our requirements (pissed me off big time because we had asked previously and they insisted that we could not hire our own florist). He did not say much, except that he would be now taking charge of the altar flowers (which he was also adamant previously that it fell under someone else’s care) and ended with another liner saying he was “…sorry if I(he) wasted your time.” I would have appreciated an offer to help, or a more apologetic note for the last minute notice but oh well.
It’s about a month to the wedding and we had confirmed about 80% of everything, including payment procedures and amount. Yet he did not bother replying to emails / smses that we sent till now. Looking back, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise after all. I can now appoint my own florist and be rest assured that everything will be delivered professionally and yes, at least he told us now instead of 2 weeks’ prior to the wedding day – which would have probably wreck our moods even more. Friends and relatives were utterly helpful too, consoling me over SMS and giving me contacts of various florists. I was entirely overwhelmed by everything that I suffered a major mental breakdown on Sunday night but was soon delivered by God’s grace – and like the same scenario of printing the wedding invites, I may just end up with a better deal and result after all.
The next bomb which dropped came Monday afternoon just when I was about to meet Fay for our much-anticipated lunch at Nanxing. Luke called, sounded absolutely cold and straight to the point – that his mum disliked our cards because it had black elements and demanded that we re-printed everything for her. I was frustrated because I hadn’t fully recovered from the aftermath of the Church decorator suddenly dropping us like that; while Luke was pissed because he knew how much pain and effort I had gone through just to get the cards done and delivered and besides, they were our wedding cards. We had specially printed another set for the mums with their names on it and just because his mum didn’t like black, we had to re-print them?! Mum was really sweet and proactive and quickly contacted the printer asking if she could help to change the colours (since she still had the artwork, thank goodness we sent over a freehand file to her) before calling Luke and reassuring him that the cards could be re-printed within 2 working days. Mum’s actions really helped us out much, especially since work’s at its peak for both Luke & myself – and while I still couldn’t understand the his mum’s sudden demands and hope that this was an isolated incident on top of all the other funny request which we’ve received and got turned down by Luke firmly, it was good to know that the husband stood by me too. BFF was really sweet, knowing that I was having an awfully bad day – came to accompany me for a while after work just so I could let it all out. My eyes were welling up in tears for the entire day and it was good just to let it all out when I finally could, after work. Helen (Luke’s elder sis) was a darling too. She called twice, from the UK, just to ask if everything was in order and if we needed her to probe and speak to her mum on the matter. I really appreciated the help received and knew it was God’s way of showing me how much people around me cared. It was like a stormy day which eventually cleared up with cool weather.
Tuesday felt heavy in the morning with work to be rushed out but got better when evening came as I finally went for my hot yoga session which I missed out for 2 weeks. It was also comforting to receive email and well-wishes from Godma and Jo., sharing with me that I wasn’t alone in all the inevitable that was happening and that things can only get better. Helen also shared with me an advice which made me feel better: there can be perfection in imperfection too. Nice.
Tuesday night also ended perfectly as I finally got myself finishing the entire disc 1 on Cashmere Mafia which Karen had thoughtfully loan me about 3 weeks ago. It was good spending so me-time over the chic-dramedy which I totally enjoyed. Unlike SATC, Cashmere Mafia didn’t have a protagonist and reminded me more about the Queenies because their friendship started off from Uni as well, except that they were 10 – 15 years older than us Queenies! ‘Zoe’s’ character reminded me a lot about myself while ‘Mia’s’ character (the fashionista in the group) reminded me a lot about Mabes .
I eventually succumbed to beauty sleep before continuing on disc 2 (which I will, tonight).
That’s the updates for now. Have a great mid-week peeps!
yee-hah, wedding invites checked!
It may be late by normal wedding preparation standards but the designs of the wedding cards are finally in placed!
I couldn’t contain the excitement seeing this surprise in my inbox this evening and simply had to share it with the BFF who happened to be online. I’ve been ‘anal’ about the design for the past weeks, nitpicking as much as I could and totally appreciated BFF’s honesty with me when she said it was perfectly fine, perfectly simple, perfectly representative of me except for some slight colour & design amendments (brrr)
And BFF was right, the design did grow on me. Wasn’t sure about mom’s reaction towards generous usage of black and sheer simplicity that it looked like a sticker on a card. Plus, she has been stressing from Day 1 that no black should be used for ‘bad luck’ (imagine my agony not being able to wear a black cocktail dress) though I was surprised when she liked the design I showed her. Plus her cards were going to be in bridal white so I didn’t think she had much of an issue with that either.
“It’s simple and it delivers”, she said. And like my man-to-be always tells me “an invite is just going to be an invite” (that’s very true)
Wedding Preps – wedding in progress with J & K
I absolutely love my wedding-in-progress sessions when I get to hang out with 2 of my most awesome & dearest people that would give any hoots about me – my #62 & #63. Even if it meant having only 4 hours of sleep and rushing down from Jurong even if I said ‘forget it, don’t come’ or rushing to a venue in a cab just to be on time to meet your pal even if finances were limited.
We had so much fun today. Site reece at at the Nativity Church followed by brunch at the Saddle Club, time flew by so quickly just being in the company of these 2.
Wedding Preps: being thankful
Times like these, I wished that time, money and a wedding planner were within reach. Or that if we sat down and discussed our expectations and desired outcome properly at an early stage, we may have saved on tedious tasks such as segregating & accomodating guests into the day and night events, resulting in having to make 2 seperate invitation cards when the money could be put to better use such as catering, flowers, entertainment? $1k worth just on printing alone, excluding materials, was definitely not a small sum.
Thankfully, my bunch of trusty mates came to my aid last night, sensing I was nearing the peak of insanity. Knowing that I had to vent to feel better, and that Luke was busily burried with work his unreasonable client piled on him last minute, these mates did everything they could to allay my worries and anxiety.
Despite having horrible weeks at work and doing late nights, BR (Jas) called me as soon as she got off work, checked in on me and asked if I needed her company during the weekend to source for printers. Kris was an absolutely sweet too – driving down to my place at midnight (as soon as he could get off) & going thru my designs despite a really rough patch at work (I really appreciated it, #62). He even made sure I jotted down all that was discussed, and followed up with mock-ups within 12 hours turnaround! He even ticked me off, but was right: I needed to learn how to accept ‘screw-ups’.
Jas the irritant was equally helpful too, gave valuable feedback to “save” the current artwork while BFF did her lil bit of sending me darn funny emails to put a smile. ‘Neighbour’ min assured me with the many email replies that all was going to fall into place with God’s grace, while Dre was a big darling – sourcing websites after websites of pretty stuff for inspiration. And Lorene, a friend I knew about 5 years ago but lost touch with until I bumped into her at Zouk last Fri – offered her help as her wedding gift to me.
A tired and worn out me turned in at 2am, but was delighted and comforted knowing that everythign which happened in that mere 4 hours last night was God’s way of answering my pages of prayers in distress. He fed me with endless possibilities and solutions. And I had absolutely nothing to worry about.
I am now gratified. ;O)
The 2 months countdown
In 2 months’, it will be the start of checking ‘married’ boxes as opposed to ‘single’ whenever I fill out forms.
I will have someone to wake up to every morning by my side regardless of bad breath, messy hair and untidy looking sleeping clothes.
Someone who will (hopefully) drop me off at the MRT station on my way to work so that I can quit run/walking like what I do every morning now.
I will finally get to wear a beautifully crafted & engraved wedding band as a symbolism of our union & love and come home to oodles of love & laughter after long days at work.
And of course, entertaining thoughts of having a family, becoming a mommy and having one more date to add to our long list of beautiful occasions to celebrate!
Till then, 2 months is all I’ve got to start pull things together. I must admit that it was some consolation reading articles that most brides procrastinate till the last 2 months before getting things done. There was even this bride who postponed her wedding thrice because she realized that she just didn’t have enough budget and time to plan her own dream wedding, and decided hire professional help in the end. I pondered on that and decided that I definitely wasn’t one who would put myself through postponing the wedding three times only because the theme wasn’t perfect enough ??? Spare me! – but the idea of moving on with the new life that awaits definitely seems more attractive than living within the circle of wedding preparations (fun to do, but ultimately you want the happily every after bit right?). I also likened the wedding to sitting for examinations, when will one ever be ready anyway?? Yes, you can be as prepared as you wish to be, but unless you have peek at the questions beforehand, you won’t know what awaits. And sometimes all you need is to just sit for the paper, give it your best (even if it means being credited for 1/2 a mark here and there for effort), and move on.
Much was achieved over the recent weekend. I hung out with my 2 buddies / bridesmaids – Et & Jas and we finally settled all the dresses – including my last minute green cocktail dress! (woohoo, I can’t wait). They were such a bundle of joy (tho I felt bad for making them wait an hour for me. sorry!!!) to hang out with that even having our measurements taken at the tailor’s, lunch, getting stuck at traffic jams or getting bitten by the mosquitoes while hanging out at Luke’s balcony was a bundle of joy! Their laughs and jokes were so infectious that it got Luke & Mum infected and talking about them for the rest of the weekend. Come this Fri, I’ll be meeting up with the Queenies for catch-up and briefing of duties and can’t wait for that to happen too – because I am confident and assured that they’ll give me their best, like they always do, at everything they attempt. :D So thank you my dear girls once again for all your efforts, which I sincerely appreciate.
SOOOO its 2 months to go.
Hello! and welcome to my personal blog - where I document the little quirks in my daily affairs that make it memorable - on the things we do, places we explore, stuff that inspires, bits of the pregnancy, and first experiences at parenthood.
email: natashaa_kim@yahoo.com.sg
