Musings of a Bride

Oh oh..

I finally realise how close my wedding really is.

The ticker says it’s in 66 days but that still sound kinda far actually until i did some mental calculation.

It’s 2nd week of Ramadhan now (oh, lagu raya dah kluar kat radio u know!) and before we know it, it’s gonna be Raya in September (and also Wings nya Concert, which i’m going. Yay!) and after all the ketupat and rendang, 2 weeks of Raya is gonna pass by (where i will get asked “kau nya persiapan majlis dah siap yan?” many many times, for sure) and before you know it, it’s October, already!

I need to stock up my innershine soonish and finish up all my DIY stuffs and start baking those cookies very very soon and i have not done the prototype for the dulang hantaran and so many other stuffs, i actually freaked out a lil yesterday night.

😦

Musings of a Bride

The one who knows me best.

I was trying to clear some of work mails today cos oh well, my inbox is out of space (what’s new). I have a hoarding problem when it comes to emails. I just refuse to just thrash them away. lol

While doing some housekeeping, i saw something dated months ago in December 2010.

click & magnify to read.

At that time, i was on a “dah jelak-nak-makan-ayam” mood. He remembered.

He even remembered i will order Barley when i am at Burger King and Iced Milo when i am at Mc’Donalds.

He remembered i love The Gotan Project even though i only mentioned it so briefly to him years ago and that iPhone thing was so funny. He finds it so irritating that i am so attached to my iPhone. Boleh jadi gaduh ok.

This is the guy who knows me the best and the one i’m gonna share my life with in 71 days. lolĀ  #gedik

p/s: yes, he loves to watch cooking shows and he cooks better than me. Lucky me.
Lol

Musings of a Bride

Rizalman Bridal Collection

His latest collection made me go WOW as always. For those who don’t know who Rizalman is, he’s one of Malaysia’s top and finest designer and i have always always admired his collections. The way the clothes fall og so nicely, his good choice of materials and his colours, most of the time are subtle but so stunning!

Here are his latest bridal collections:

It’s simple but oh-so-chic!

So va-va-voom. The neckline reminded me of Kate Middleton’s wedding dress though. This would look so nice for a photoshoot at Tanjong Pagar on a Sunday. lol

Some other pictures from his runway show i took off from one of the blogger walktheberry.

Starting je dah style. sigh.

Swoons and wish for money to drop from the sky so i can buy the entire collection.

Musings of a Bride

Why you need to be careful

… and do lots and lots of research when it comes to Catering.
I think everyone would know why. Your food will make or break your wedding. Not the deco, not the many2 baju pengantin. But the food.

Catering also takes up a huge part of your wedding savings and i always tell my friends to be very careful when they engage a caterer.
Try get a reputable caterer or someone who is recommended by a close friend and relative. Even then, you can’t guarantee there won’t be hiccups. To be honest, do expect some hiccups from your vendors, even though they have been in the business for many years, they are also capable of making mistakes too. If it’s a small and honest mistake, let it go and don’t let it ruin your day. But if it’s a huge one, do make sure your family is able to handle the problem for you.

Most of the time, i warn my friends not to take an all-in-on package, that comprises of your favours, cards, deco, DJ etc. Cos if they mess up one aspect of your wedding, the chances are higher, the rest of your wedding will be in a huge horrible mess as well.

Yes, it will require more effort on your part to organise the wedding etc but at least it’ll give you a peace of mind that your big day is not entirely ruined by one irresponsible person

You can read some of the bad experiences that some B2Bs had with their Caterer at Majalah Perkahwinan Forum

(click to read thread 1)

(click to read thread 2)

If you happen to engage any of the Caterer featured in the MP Forum, i suggest you re-look the contract and express your fears to your vendors. At least they know you knew about this incident and listen their side of the story as well. šŸ™‚

Musings of a Bride

Kasut Chantek!

Was bloghopping when i saw the link for Figgie Shoes. So chantek!

Some of my favourites:

They even have it for kids!

Cantik kan? Perfect for those who wants something different or to spice up their wedding dress.

But in my opinion it would really go well with short dresses ah. Especially those tutu kind of wedding dresses. Kasut dah cantik2 gini, sembunyi bawah long dress macam rugi je.

and oh, kasut macam ni sungguh tak sesuai pakai dengan Baju sanding songket korang dengan sanggul lintang. Tolong jangan try. lol

Musings of a Bride

Bukan senang nak simpan duit.

I always hear that from my dad. My dad is someone who is very wise with his money and i really really hope to emulate him and his ways of managing the household finance.

Now, bila pikir2 balik, i wished i had kept a small sum of money since i started working. Simpan sikit pun jadi lah. Lama2 mesti banyak. But oleh kerana i am such a spendthrift, tabung tu tak naik naik jugak.

I am so lucky that i am working at Jurong East now. Limit2 pun selalu gi IMM je, apa lah sangat boleh belanja kat heartland mall kan. Pusing2 itu jugak yang ada. Cuma Daiso je yang selalu memanggil2. Benci aku.

Last time, when i use to work at Town area, duit keluar macam air.Ā  Toleh kiri ada Tangs, depan lagi ada Paragon, sebelah kanan ada Wisma. Asalkan keluar lunch je mesti nak kena shopping. Beli satu benda pun jadi lah.

Dulu, satu store room tu penuh dengan kasut aku. Belum lagi part wardrobe aku yang kadang2 terngangah mintak tolong. Gara2 banyak sangat shopping.

My spending habits died down a bit when i was working with Shell Oils. Kena pulak office kat Jurong Island. Amik kau. Makan pun kena makan kat canteen je. Sedap tak sedap, belakang kira. Tapi murah gila ah. Luch tak pernah lebih dari $3.00. Kalau lebih dari $3.00 means aku gelojoh atau lapar.

Yang tu best pasal pergi balik ada Transport, lunchtime pun semua malas nak kuar pasal Jurong Island tu jauh dari Jurong Point. Belum lagik nak kena pass thru the checkpoint etc.

Tapi kerja kat situ, jimat lah sikit duit aku. Kat situ jugak lah tabung aku dah mula naik. lol

Nowadays, since our big day is getting nearer, i always have to remind myself and the boy to spend wisely. Each time any of us complains of not being able to spend on anything frivolous like before, we will remind each other, few months to go of saving 3/4 of our pay for the wedding and honestly, i can’t wait for us to start saving 1/4 of our pay instead of 3/4 right now.

But i know it’ll be all so worth it. It just take a little bit of willpower to stop spending on unnecessary stuffs.

80 days to go, baby!

Musings of a Bride, Our Shoebox, The Card Maison

Sneak Preview: The Invites

I printed a prototype of the cards this morning and while i love love what i have done so far, the perfectionist in me wants more. So i’m gonna tweak a few more, change some backgrounds etc before i finalise the design.

The cards are gonna be square. Not as huge as the prototypes of cos. It is the first square card i’ve ever done! I’ve been wanting to do Square cards for the longest time cos they just look nice lah, but the pe-dengki in me wants it first. So i’m gonna have square cards first and then introduce it to my clients. lol

I’ll also be DIY-ing my Pochette envelopes. All 300pcs of them, i think. (God bless my fingers and the rest of my hands and also arms).

I’m not done with the front part of the card yet. (soon!)
Once that’s covered, i’ll design the stickers with our monograms etc.
Decided not to use that template monogram i posted earlier cos i wanted the whole card to be fully designed by me. Aku sangat ambitious kekadang.

I am just lucky i managed to get the PC up and running already. I have so many back-logs. The laptop crashed on me, so did the Photoshop of course and luckily i had everything backed up on my external hard disk. Kalau tak, menangis lah aku tiga hari, tiga malam.

Oh.. 1 week to go before Ramadhan! I’m excited but ada feeling, 1st day confirm kena ponteng. Macam ada chance tu Aunty Flo nak datang. I can feel it cominggggg. lol

But anyway, i’m excited and sad at the thought of Ramadhan and Raya this year. It’s gonna be the last time i break my fast every single day at home with my family,Ā  kemas rumah, cuci bilik air macam bangla under-paid time Malam Raya, tengok those Salam Lembaran show with my sisters (sambil mengutuk mana yg perlu.)

I definitely will miss that. I will miss part sahur, where mak aku nanti terpekik2 cos aku masih golek2 kat katil padahal dah nak dekat Imsak.

Next year, aku yang kena kejutkan laki aku bangun sahur and knowing him, confirm aku terpekik2 suruh dia bangun. Itu pun kalau aku pun boleh bangun. haha

Oh, have i mentioned how we are spending more time at the new home as compared to our current home? lol

It feels like we have already stayed there already. We held Movie Marathons with some close friends, sampai 3-4 pagi, pas tu semua tertido sampai besok pagi.
I tell you, the couch i have at home now is so evil. Asalkan duduk je mesti ngantuk.

Ok, what was supposed to be a sneak preview to the invites dah jadi panjang berjela plak. :p

DIY Project, Musings of a Bride

DIY: Hydrangea Pomander Ball

My new DIY project – The Hydrangea Pomander Ball!
SUKA!!

I ran out of pink pearlesque paper so i made do with ivory ones as well. Gonna get few more pink papers and complete the balls and make a few more.

I don’t exactly know what i’m gonna do with them but i’ll probably be hanging them in the Bridal room and i’m also considering to do few more of it and get my girlfriends to hold it during the outdoor shoot after our nikah.

Benda important aku malas nak bikin, benda ni aku bikin dulu. lol

Oh, i saw these beauties from blogwalking.

Gorgeous x 1000 Jewelled Silk Flowers Bouquet.

These gorgeous bouquets made my Pomander Balls pale in comparison. Damn!
Tapi cantik kan? Tapi confirm mahal ah.
And they are peonies! Cantik!!

Musings of a Bride

DIY Bouquets – Possible?

One of the things i wanna do, apart from the other DIYs that i have been planning to do, would be my own wedding Bouquet.

Lyanaz Bridal will be giving me a complimentary bouquet but because i very mentel, i want two different bouquets instead of one. lol

Getting a bouquet straight from the florist will cost me a bomb (ok, bedek lah) but still, the other time, my friends got her wedding bouquet for nearly $80.00 which is a rip-off honestly.

So, since i’ll be getting flowers from Far East Flora for my dulang hantaran, i might as well grab a few more for my bouquet kan?

I wanted a simple one, but with a diferrent tones of pink.

This would be great cos Carnations are one of my favourite flowers cos it’s sooooo fluffy and it comes in gorgeous gorgeous colours it just makes me wanna romos romos the whole thing and put it near my face.

Another reason why i love Carnations is because of it’s close resemblance to Peonies especially when it’s all bundled up together.

Peony is my favourite flower, but it is almost impossible to find them in October.
Even if i can find it, it would be quite costly cos it’s out of season. Carnations, it shall be and i probably will throw in a Gerbera or two. We shall see.

As for the handle, i will wrap it with ribbons and secure it those pearl pins and adorn it with a fancy brooch and i’m done!

I think this is seriously manageable and if you guys wanna go get something simple for your Photoshoot or anything, it probably won’t cost much as well.

My only concern was the prep works. Like how soon should i buy the flowers etc. How long should i leave it hydrated? Should i submerge the whole thing with water etc?

But, i found a good guide to DIY-ing Wedding Bouquets and i’ll just share some with you.

Flower Prep Basics

The most important thing to do when first getting your flowers is to put them in water! During transit from our growers, your flowers have been without water in a state of ā€œsuspended animationā€ for many hours. DO NOT PANIC if they appear wilted or limp. You are receiving them in the same way that a florist would. To bring your flowers to peak health and beauty, they must be re-hydrated immediately!

  1. Prepare clean vases or containers and clean, sharp, utensils such as clippers, shears or knives. Never use ordinary household scissors. Using scissors will crush the stems and prevent proper hydration.
  2. Prepare lukewarm water (100° to 110° F) mixed with the enclosed floral
    preservative. If your tap water is very soft or very hard, use spring water.
  3. Ā All flower stems must be re-cut to enable absorption of water. If possible, cut under water or under running water. Cut at least one inch from the bottom of the stem at a 45-degree angle. Remove all foliage that will be under the vase or container water line to delay bacteria growth.
  4. Immediately place the flowers into the prepared water. Do not overcrowd! Store them at room temperature and away from sunlight to let them drink and recover. This process may take up to 12 hours. If any stems still appear wilted, re-cut following the above directions.
  5. If you want to slow the re-hydrating & blooming process for a day or two, use cool water and store flowers in a cool place (Do not store in a refrigerator).
  6. If you are using floral foam material, thoroughly saturate it in water and floral preservative. Place your vase or arrangement away from heat, drafts, and direct sunlight. Do not let your arrangement dry out!

I have uploaded the DIY Guide to my 4shared account. If you wanna know more, you can download the guide HERE.

It’s such a useful guide, rugi tak baca!

 

Musings of a Bride

Fingerprint Guestbooks

I know i’m on a blogging roll. Haha. Mood ni datang sekali sekala je. lol

I found this online and thought it would be awesome!
Especially if you are holding a small private party, even better if it’s a sit down dinner and you have the name-list of the people who are attending.

This one has the names of the people that attends. Either you have their names on the poster and just get them to thumbprint near their name, or you get them to thumbprint and then write their own name on the poster.

Like i said, this will only work for a small-scale dinner or party.

Kalau untuk Reception sunday, korang buat gini, lagi2 jemputan 1000 orang, confirm tu satu poster nampak cap jari aje.

Tu gambar pokok ke kereta ke rumah ke, semua dah tak nampak lagi. lol