Come as you are. As i want you to be.
Isn’t this cool?
Cute kan? Probably great for today’s generation since almost everyone we know has a Facebook Account, this would be an informal way of telling your friends to save your wedding date on their calendar.
Save the Date_Radzi from John Hafiz on Vimeo.
Save the Date_Alia from John Hafiz on Vimeo.
If you follow me at Twitter, you would figure out what i was up to the last two days.
I first went over to Phoon Huat at Bencoolen Street to get some Cake Boards.
I then hopped over to Arab Street to get some ribbons, cloths and Lace.
Kin Soon at Arab Street is awesome. Buat orang mengeram je kat sana. There’s just too many shades to pick from that you are spoilt for choice.
I spent close to half an hour by myself trying to pick out one colour. Last2 beli dua roll je.
Cos I just wanted to wrap that Cake Board.
I initially wanted to get this Pink but because my cupcakes will be in Light Pink, i figured kalau amik Shocking Pink ribbons baru contrast kan. So Pink yang ni kena lah kensel.
Ni macam peh banyak ribbon, kalau keluar tangan kosong jugak, tak tau aku nak cakap apa.
My loot from Arab Street! Cake Board yang paling besar kat bawah tu 14 inch je. Nak carik 18 inch nya tapi tak dapat. So i probably will source it out somewhere.
The three Cakeboards + Cupcakes cost me $21.00
I beli that cupcake nya cups pasal nak gauge how many cupcakes i need to order.
The ribbon is $5.25 per roll. Satu roll tu 25 yards.
Then kain Lace tu is $8/- per meter. Tu pun lepas dah bargain + kenyit mata kat apek tu.
That is the cheapest sey. Kedai yang lain (Alibaba, Aladdin, entah kedai apa2 tah lagi) semua quote me between $16-$22 per metre.
But pasal kain dorang lembut ah sket. Then ada glitter2 sket.
Tapi nak kain lembut pun buat pe kan, not as if nak pi buat baju. So i settled for the cheapest one. Asalkan nampak the lace and nettings sudah.
Oh, kertas cantik tu i buy from Made With Love, this scrapbooking store at Plaza Singapura, tingkat tiga, depan escalator. Yang tu pun boleh rambang mata. So, jagalah diri dan pocket bila pergi sana.
Now, you’ll probably be wondering, apa kebendanya sampai cupcake stand pun aku nak DIY?
As much i would love to have a Wedding Cake / Cupcakes on my wedding, I could not believe the amount i have to pay for a cake to stand so proudly for six hours!
Most of the quotations i got was at least $400 for a two-tier Wedding Cake and Cupcake.
That is inclusive of the Delivery and setup charges.
Seriously, $400 can get me a small sofa you know, and that can definitely last more than 6 months at the new home as compared to a Cake.
I initially wanted to go without a Cake. But the boy wanted a Cake-cutting ceremony. I know right, orang lain nya tunang entah perasan ke tak ada Cake kat wedding dorang. Tunang aku sibuk nak potong cake!
So, we shall have cake then.
Kalau nak DIY cake sendiri, confirm tak menjadi. Baik takde cake dari ada cake yang tak senonoh.
So i figured cupcakes can be easily bought and it is so much cheaper. Then i was looking around for Cupcake Stand when i chanced upon ”How to make a cupcake stand”.
That’s how i know i can actually make my own cupcake stand which i could personalize.
Remember, i bought a cupcake cup (6cm diameter) which is commonly used by all bakeries.
I lay them on the cupcake stand and calculated how many cupcakes i need and it turns out i only need 30 cupcakes on the stand!!
My Little Cuppies quoted me $1.80 per piece for the cupcakes so technically i have to pay $54.00 only for the cupcakes. But 30 pieces seems a bit too little so i will be ordering 36 pieces of Mini Cuppies ($0.80 each) which is half the size of the normal cupcakes. I will then place all the 36 mini cuppies all over the table (rapatkan saf) lol.
So, technically, i only spend $83.00 on the cupcakes. So cheap kan!
There you go, one more way of saving $$ for your wedding.
Just a quick since i have been missing for almost a week.
Our progress are quite slow to be honest. I still have not booked my Photographer because i am still comparing their portfolios and pricings. I have shortlisted a few i really, really like though.
Tomorrow im gonna go and meet the Khemah guy, so one more down.
I might scheduling a videographer this week and a photographer next week.
Oh, itinerary pun da bikin. You know, last time i always chase my boy’s clients for their itinerary. Apalah susah sangat bikin itinerary, lambat sgt nak submit.
Now that i’m the one who has to do it, i finally understands why it is so hard to schedule nicely.
Stress aku buat itinerary tu.
Aku rasa buat itinerary holiday lagik senang.
Also, while discussing abt the wedding, the boy’s mother requested to ask for Portable toilet yg ada seat because dia tak nak menyangkong. *slaps forehead*
>_<
He, the one who makes me laugh as much as he makes me mad (and cry sometimes).
He, who has always been there for me. The 1st one i will share my good news and bad news with.
It has been a wonderful 2 years, B.
Here’s to many, many years together, Insyaallah.
I have decided on my Bridal House yesterday night. I am so amazed at my decisiveness, if you ask me. But i blame it on my incessant research that i have been doing.
I have crossed out one more item on my to-do list. In fact, this is the 1st Vendor i have met.
I am quite happy with the package, the costume, the makeup and most importantly, the service.
Kak Yatee made me feel at ease and was very very friendly that i have no qualms handing over $400 deposit to her yesterday. hahaha
Anyway, one down, many more to go.
Wedding Planning is kind of taking a toll on me. I keep fearing things may go wrong, vendors will cheat me lah, entah apa2 lagi lah.
All i can do is, pray hard everything goes smoothly.
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!
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.
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.
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. 🙂
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:
Trust me, if you got invited to select a Balance Flat, please do the following:
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.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.
Front view from the corridor / living room.
Towards the Lift lobby.
I took this picture through the window panel. My house, naked.
I can’t wait!
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
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. 🙂
Deardyan 