Author: Dyan

Musings of a Bride

Click Click Part 2

Dyan
My deco is settled. My Bridal house is more or less settled.

The only one that i find very very hard to settle has to be the Photography Services.
There’s too many good photography services in Singapore, it’s making me spoilt for choice.
I am only interested in the DVD copy actually cos i have an intention of doing some editings of my own and do my printing for the album and the coffeetable album. Told you, i’m a DIY and budget bride!

So he would be great if you are not looking at those Coffeetable Albums etc.

He is quoting me $700.00 for:

1. Outdoor Photoshoots (up to 2 locations)
2. Coverage of Solemnisation Event
3. Coverage of Wedding Reception
4. DVD Copy of all Editted pictures from all events.
5. 200pcs of 4R Print-outs in a slot-in album.
Below are some of his works. He is currently my 1st choice for now.


I am still looking around for Photographers. Do let me know if you know of anyone with a good portfolio apart from the usual ones 🙂

Musings of a Bride

Good News!

Dyan

It has been a relatively good last week cos me and the boy sat down listing our financial commitments and the things we are supposed to do for the wedding and the house.

We have finally came to a decision to do a Nikah + Sanding this October.

To be exact, 15th & 16th October 2011. I will let you know how we came up to that date later. lol
So, we have about 8 months to prepare for a wedding (albeit a really small one).

Like, seriously, 8 months?? Orang mengandung pun 9 bulan sey, aku ada 8 bulan je to get things together. Bearing in mind Ramadhan would be on end July and Hari Raya is on 30 August. (i know, cepat kan??? )

Ramadhan & Hari Raya would be a busy period for me, so that means i only have 6 months to prepare for a wedding. God bless the both of us.

Selamat aku jenis kancheong and the moment we decided and confirmed the date, dengan pantas bukak segala notebook, email and segala2 nya to take down all the quotations.

Anyway, why did we decide on this date?
HDB called me up last week to say that they can put up my appeal to defer my submission of Marriage Certificate up to 6 months from taking my keys. However, i would need to submit receipts of most of my bookings to HDB to support my appeal.

Ok part tu dah start kancheong pasal satu haram pun belom book.

So i sat the boy down and told him, die2 also we need to book the major ones to secure the receipts for the appeal.

Initially, we wanted to just do a Nikah remember, and then do a Reception one year later?

In the course of tengah tulis kita punya budget and also how much money we have to save chop2 before October, it made us realise that the Nikah Gantung will cost much more than having the normal reception at one shot.

Cos we will end up paying for 2 majlis. I don’t know korang paham ke tak lah up to this point.
But when we think about it, we will end up spending more.

It also finally made us realise that after we are done with the Nikah, move in to the new house, we still need to save money for the Reception AND buy furnitures for the house. Now, saving money for a reception when you are already married and living in your own house would be even more dificult than trying to save money while you are still single and berkepit bawah ketiak mak.

So, we figured, just go ahead with the Reception in October, get it done and over with and once we are married, we can use the money to slowly buy furnitures for the house instead.

So, we decided on an October wedding. Mainly because October is a special month for us.

He proposed, and we got engaged on 5th October 2010. My birthday falls on 25th October each year. lol

Having October in mind, i still couldn’t decide which date to take.

02.10.2011 – Tak boleh because the boy ada show at another wedding. lol. Mcm mana peh rockstar je. nak kahwin tak boleh pasal ada show.

09.10.2011 – Was one of the ideal date 09.10.11. But..dah lah wedding aku kena prepare in less than 8 mths, ada hati nak amik hot date. Kang aku kahwin pakai baju raya tahun lepas je nyah. Takde org nak makeup kan aku.

16.10.2011 – One of the dates we considered pasal dia kat tengah2 the 2 special dates in October. It is 10 days after our Engagement Anniversary and 10 days before my birthday. Cun-cun kan?

22.10.2011 – Tak nak pasal dekat sgt dengan birthday. Nanti the boy pandai combine kan Birthday Present + Anniversary present. Mana aci.

30.10.2011 – Also one of the considerations.

So, why did we finally decide on 15th & 16th October?

Because of this:

Jais Decor had an available date for 15th & 16th October 2011!!!!!

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. Serious, aku tenyeh mata aku pasal tak percaya.

Apparently, that date has been available since last year. I was so excited, i left a comment on Multiply, i left him a message in FB and i sms-ed him to ask him: “Betul ke 15th & 16th masih kosong??”

Belom apa2 dah terserlah ke-Bridezilla-an aku.

Yes, it was still available and the date is now confirmed mine!!! Ehhhh sukanya!!!

Do you girls know how long i have admired his work and last time, i keep second-guessing myself whether i will be able to get him because we all know how much is he sought-after because of the price and the designs.

The best thing is, i am still entitle to the same price. $1580.00 for full deco. Cheap kan!

So one down, few more to go.

Today, i’m going to meet up with Kak Yatee from Lyanaz Bridal to view her portfolio and packages. I have a feeling we might just sign up with her.

I have been stalking her website for so long and i love that the makeup is natural but not too pale and the Traditional Costumes doesn’t look too over nor do they look they were bought off from Joo Chiat during the Hari Raya Sales.

Will update you ladies about my bridal soon!

Our Shoebox

The sneak peek to the new home.

Dyan

Yesterday, me and the boy went down to inspect our new home with the officer from the HDB Branch Office. Everything was fine, no patchy ceilings, toilets were fine, everything was to our liking except that the floors at the Living Room and Bedrooms are quite bumpy and i have to get them to flatten it for me.

I also met the contractor from Supreme Floors who is gonna do our floorings for him to measure our area and give us a quotation for Laminate Floorings. Will tell you more about our floor choices at the next post because that deserves a post by itself.

It was surreal to be in the house where we will be staying together in future. It was a mixed feelings of being happy and worried of having to be independent very very soon.

But since we be bringing his parents over, i am quite confident we’ll get through it. 🙂

A sneak peek on the new home.

The common toilet.
It is relatively spacious but i don’t quite like the colour of the floorings and the tiles.
But, at least we save $$ on renovation costs.
The kitchen is small but believe me, it looks bigger than my mom’s kitchen. Or most of my friends kitchen. So no complains and smaller kitchen means lesser cleaning to do. haha

The 2 Bedrooms.
One of it will be for his parents and one of it will be for our Entertainment purposes.
The Master Bedroom Toilet

The Master Bedroom is huge enough for the two of us. It should be enough to fit ion a bed, wardrobe and a dressing table.

I know the angle of the pictures are weird but these are what i managed to grab from HDB website prior to us selecting this flat. I took some other pictures yesterday but i didn’t bring my camera cables to work today so maybe i’ll upload it later.

I’m so excited, i can’t wait for HDB to invite us to collect the keys in April hopefully. 🙂

Musings of a Bride, Our Shoebox

Why i choose u

Dyan

Our search for the perfect house was not an easy one.

It was our first time balloting for a Flat. Right at the start, we foresee, there’s gonna be some obstacles. There were only 43 4-room flats available in Bukit Panjang.

Only 41 flats are available for Malays.

We got the Email Notification from HDB on our Queue No on 25th October 2010, my birthday.
That was the best birthday surprise i’ve got this year.
Until i realise that our Q no is 0049. oh sheeesh.

I hate that feeling. So near yet so far. You know, macam kasi harapan palsu. lol.

We told our families about it and they were very confident that we will get the house.
We, on the other, do not want to put too much hope into it for fear that we get dissapointed and be back to square one.

After a long wait, HDB finally send us an Invitation Letter just before Christmas to come down for our Flat Selection on 18/01/2011 at 2.15pm.

So we did.

We arrived HDB at 1.00pm, got our Q no and had lunch at Delilfrance.
It was the most intense 1-hour wait i ever had. Throughout lunch, i keep refreshing the HDB page on my laptop. 10 units left and the unit we love is still there.

At 2.20pm, we were called in and when asked which unit we wanted, i immediately told the CSO i wanted that flat and we sealed the deal. No questions asked, no turning back.

The house is almost ours.

We went through a lot of houses in Bukit Panjang and only a few met our criteria.

Our criteria for the houses:

  1. No Malay neighbours right smacked next door.
  2. The unit must be at least 100m2 and above.
  3. Must be of walking distance to the LRT and a Supermarket etc.
  4. No messy neighbours
  5. No Loanshark paints on the door.

Trust me, if you got invited to select a Balance Flat, please do the following:

  1. Before going up to the unit, look around the vicinity. Are there supermarkets or convenience stores? Is the MRT/ LRT near? If not, look for the nearest bus-stop and check out the bus that stops there and would it be convenient for you? Remember that you be staying at that house for at least 5 years and you sure do not want your house to be inaccessible for yourself and your guest.
  2. Once you get up to the lift lobby, look for signs or those loanshark ‘drawings’ O$P$ and unit no etc. Go to the unit and check if there paint marks or sometimes dodgy paint-over jobs. We came across at least 8 units with paint jobs on them, One of them even had a black and red paint splashed all over the door. wth.
  3. Look around for the neighbours. My theory is, if the neighbours have a whole lot of shoes and bicycles lah, skate scooters lah, taman bunga lah, confirm ramai anak or a very messy family. I hate messy stuff so that was a no-no for me. But if you can live with that, why not?

There are a couple of things we look out for especially the view. Kita tak nak pagi2 bangun, tengok luar tingkap, nampak orang block sebelah tengah gosok gigi. potong steammmm.

We actually love the location of the house and everything about it so it was no surprise how ecstatic we were when we found out we got it.

At first, we pretty much apprehensive. Kept asking ourself why people rejected that house and took some others less favourable ones.

Then i realised. My Unit No is #04-40. It is deem as unlucky to the chinese.
But oh wells, i don’t care much about these superstitions.

Their loss is my gain! 🙂

Bus-stop nearby – checked.

2 mins walk to LRT Station – checked

Long Corridor + Neat Space + Chinese Neighbours – Checked!
No paint marks – checked!
Only 1 neighbour will be walking past my door every day. Next to my unit is the lift lobby. So technically speaking, i only have 1 neighbour. Cos the other neighbours are quite far and i don’t need to pass by their door. Neither do they need to pass by my house.
God, i sound like a social outcast.

Don’t get me wrong, i am a people’s person. I love talking and all that but i require a certain amount of privacy especially since it’s a corridor flat. I don’t want the whole of the 4th level to know what TV show i’m watching or what i’m cooking today. lol

Side view from the corridor. Neighbour bawah orang melayu.
Pokok dia peh banyak, dah macam Botanic Garden.

Front view from the corridor / living room.
Open space + Carpark. Good enough for me.

Towards the Lift lobby.

I took this picture through the window panel. My house, naked.

I’ll be going down to the house again on Monday with the HDB officer to check on the house. Will be bringing my contractor down as well to measure the area and get him to do a quotation for me.

I can’t wait!

Musings of a Bride, Our Shoebox

A place of our own.

Dyan

Yesterday was my 1st appointment with HDB to select a flat.

WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!!!!!

We got the unit we wanted!! Happy, happy, happy!

Sumpah sebelum nak masok Sales Room, my hands were all sweaty and i was so scared (don’t know why!)

But Alhamdulilah, everything went well. 🙂

The boy signing for our BIGGEST purchase ever. lol

Anyway, if all goes well, we might get the keys in April.

However, i am facing a dilemma. We are applicable for the AHG (Grant) of about $20,000. But that would mean that we need to produce our Marriage Certificate when we take the keys in April.

If i don’t take the Grant, they will give me about 6mths to get married after taking the keys.

I have emailed HDB to appeal for an extension. We’ll see what they say about it.
2011 is gonna be interesting for us.

Looks like it’ll have to be a simple solemnisation for us 1st and then followed by the Reception maybe one year later. 🙂

Musings of a Bride

Dollars & Cents

Dyan

Just how hard is it to manage the Wedding Finances and keep within your budget?

Very hard!

I was browsing through and looking for ideas on how to manage your budget for weddings or a checklist but most of it are for wedding-wedding Mat Saleh.

So i came up with a modified version. Suitable for Malay Weddings.
It is quite comprehensive and should be able to cover all aspects of a Malay Wedding.

But lumrah manusia, mesti ada yang terlupa. So if you think ada yang tertinggal tu, pepandai lah tambah sendiri k cos this is done on an Excel Sheet so it’s easy for you to add and delete whatever you think is necessary. 🙂

Please download the files below:

Budget and Checklist for Engagements

Budget and Checklist for Malay Weddings

Hope these would be useful for you!

Musings of a Bride

Wedding Cake Cookies

Dyan



Aren’t these cute!

Lil’ mini wedding cake cookies that would actually be perfect for favors if you have a battalion of friends and relatives to help you with the baking and packing etc.

Or you can also use this as your Nikah berkat? Maybe make about 30-50 pieces?
Mesti cantik kan?

Kalau lagik malas, can consider baking this and using it for Dulang Hantaran.. 🙂

This is actually Martha Stewart nya idea but u can get the recipe from HERE.

Musings of a Bride

Oh, Mother Hen!

Dyan

I was browsing through my picture folders and i saw pictures from the previous Hen Nights with my girlfriends. So far, three of my close girlfriends have got hitched and we never fail to organise Hen parties.

It can be a simple do’ or an elaborate one. We just need a reason to celebrate!

WARNING: It’s gonna be a lengthy post with loads of pictures cos after all, there are 3 Hen parties.

But if you are currently organising a hen party for your girlfriends or even yourself, you are welcomed to curik some idea! 🙂

The Hen parties are all clean fun so if you are expecting to see Male strippers etc, you are going to be quite dissapointed. hee.

  1. Caca’s Hen Party

Caca is one of my longest friend ever. We have known each other from Nursery.
We went to the same Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary School and remain friend’s till now.
It has been about 21 years now? and counting!

We went to this Hotel at Balmoral Road called VIP Hotel which is a budget hotel at Orchard Road and not so sleazy. haha

The Theme is Pink Pajamas Party. We have to wear pajamas or sleepwear and it must be pink.
This was our first Hen Party so we kept it simple. It was just decoration, lotsa foods and games to keep us occupied. We also blasted music and had our own private party and annoyed the hotel staffs. It was really fun cos we started asking the bride-to-be really mushy and naughty questions. lol

Apart from that, we sure did a whole lot of camwhoring!

All my good friends!
 

 

♥ Me and the Bride-to-Be. ♥

 

Ever heard of naughty Scrabble? This is it!
 

 

The candles that accompanied our night.

 

♥ ♥ ♥

 

2. Nini Hen Night 

Nini is one of my bestie. We have known each other from Secondary School, so it was really exciting to plan her Hen Party!

Since this was our 2nd Hen party, we decided to be more elaborate with the deco and the theme. Read on to find out more.


We pasted lots of our pictures over the years together for memories sake. It was really nice to view old pictures and reminisce.

before

 

after

We decided to go with a somewhat “Bring-Your-Own” theme. But we must put on heavy makeup and wigs. That is why you see all of us like a drag queen. lol

me and oh-so-thick-makeup

 

me and the zombie-bride-to-be

 

i find this picture sangat freaky.

 

sar – arabic princess
 

 

finah – vampiress

 

nilam – the grecian goddess

nini – ju-on bride

dee – geylang hooker. lol

me and nilam.
i ♥ this wig. Contemplating to cut my hair like this.
but it will be very high-maintenance. le sigh.

3. Ira’s Hen Party 

Next up is Ira’s Hen Party and this time round, we did a Spa Party instead at Spa Le Kraton.

It was a great spa experience but because we had to do our spa treatments and be quiet, it was not as kecoh as the previous two. However, we compensated with a great dinner and a talk-talk session at Vivocity. (you know yang kat rooftop.. aaaah sgt lah best. rasa mcm zaman muda dulu2, dok melepak sampai malam.)



The syiok thing about the Spa Party is that Spa Le Kraton actually closed the spa for 3 hours for us. So we were the only patrons there and we have total privacy and could do whatever we wanted to. If i can remember correctly, we only paid $98.00 for a 3hr treatment which consists of Spa, Body Scrub, ear candling and something else ah.. Cannot remember.

So that’s it. the 3 Hen Parties i have organised for my girlfriends.

Tips for Hen Parties:

  • Do something that you know you girlfriend will appreciate and not cringe when she has her surprise. For example, if you wanna call a male stripper, make sure she is up for it and her partner do not mind that much. 
  • Have a Theme Colour and make sure everyone follows!
  • Keep it to a close circle friend if you wish to have some bonding time but do a large party if you know the bride-to-be is a Party chick!
  • Research, research, research for the best Hen Night Package. If you want a spa package, make sure it has the things u want, like a body scrub etc but do ask if they are flexible with their package because not everyone will want the same package as you.
  • Always pay for the bride-to-be. It is just a courtesy gift for her. However, do sit down with your other girlfriends and work out what would be the ideal budget.

With that, happy planning for your Hen Party!