Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Wedding

The Wedding was over in a flash! I remembered sleeping at 1+am the night before after a slight quarrel with the hubs. Woke up at 5.15am and went to wash up plus bought breakfast for the sisters. My Make Up Artist (MUA) and her assistant arrived at about 6.15am. The videographer also arrived at 6.30am to start recording for my make up. Photographer only arrived at 7am (I asked him to come at 7am coz I was a cheapskate and didn't want to pay the extra charge) >_<

Sisters arrived and started preparing the gatecrashing items, from waxing strips to chilli padi to icing sugar etc. The hubs and his band of brothers arrived at 7.10am, but my cousin who was supposed to open the car door wasn't here yet so they all had to wait.

At 7.30am they came up and the gatecrashing began. I could only stay in the room and take selfies hahaha.

The whole thing ended at about 8.20am and they came in, relaxed for a while, got a drink, before we moved off to the hubs' place.

All his relatives had to hide in the bedrooms/kitchen when I entered. Then we had to eat some sweet dessert. Anyway his family is huge so there were about 50 people in the house. So tea ceremony began and we received many red packets and gave out a few too as the younger ones would serve us tea. After tea ceremony, I changed into my tea dress and we headed back to my parents' house. As I have only a few relatives, so the tea ceremony was pretty quick. We ordered buffet at both our houses so the brothers and sisters ate at my place, then after that they all went home to rest while we headed to the hotel.

Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre granted us early check in. Our room number was 422 and our helpers' room was 419. We rested for about 2 hours before my MUA arrived at 4.15pm. Her assistant also arrived around the same time to do hair and make up for my mum and my sis, as well as my mother-in-law.

Soon the guests started arriving. The brothers and the hubs went to meet with the banquet coordinator to coordinate for the evening. My emcees also arrived to rehearse together. I went down at about 7.20pm to mingle with my guests and to take some photos. :)

The whole dinner went well and I think for brides-to-be, don't worry stepping on your dress as all these are very common. I stepped on my dress countless times while marching in. After 2 march-ins and a very short speech, we proceeded with phototaking session with all the tables and very soon it was farewell time. To me it was a night that went very smoothly and I enjoyed every single bit of the attention. :) Can't wait for the photos taken that night to be out!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Countdown: 6 days to wedding

It's less than a week to my BIG DAY! I'm excited but frankly speaking this whole wedding has been quite a chore so I truly can't wait for it to be over. Those people who says they miss preparing for their wedding must be crazy. So this week I am still at work. My wedding is on Sunday but I am only taking leave from Wed onwards. Honestly by now the preparations work are almost all done. Below is a rough checklist of the things I did last week for your reference! :)

- Confirmed guestlist and number of guests
- Arrange seating arrangements for all guests
- Confirm timing to arrive with Make Up Artist and photographer
- Search for bridal hairstyles that you may want (unless you really trusts your MUA). When searching online for bridal hairstyles, bear in mind that face shape is very important because the same hairstyles would look different on people with different face shapes. Like I know that my face is long, so I need something that would give me more width.
- Burn march-in songs, first dish song, and background music into CD, I separated the march in songs, first dish song and background music into 2 different CDs, so that it would be easier to play and there will be no mix-ups.
- Confirm catering for tea ceremony
- Inform your relatives what time to arrive for tea ceremony
- Buy new bedsheets (if required)

This week, the list of things I have left to do....but perhaps I am really last minute haha it may be better if you can get these done even earlier I guess! :)

- Facial (this is a little last minute...should have done it last week in case sensitive skin etc but too late)
- Manicure and pedicure
- dentist appointment (for me it's because I wear Invisalign and have to remove the "brackets" but i think brides-to-be can go for teeth whitening!)
- my bridal studio (Destino) does not provide corsages for my sisters so I had to purchase my own. Collection tonight!
- Write down your TO-BRING LIST so you know what you need to bring to the hotel on that day. Things like undergarments, pyjamas, clothes for next day check out, wedding album, wedding montage CD, make-up remover, contact lens case, spectacles, handphone charger etc...my idea is to put all the stuff into a gigantic luggage so those things would be more easily transported. Just remember not to throw your gowns inside if they are easily wrinkled!
- put lots of masks and rest and drink enough water. Be a good girl and put on that lip balm, body lotion etc. Don't sleep late and stay happy!

I am seriously just waiting for it to be over man! Then there will be the honeymoon!!! Woohoo!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

My ROM ~ 30th November 2013

We are legally and officially married!!!! *throws confetti on self*

We had our ROM at lunchtime and on a Saturday. Since ROM does not open on Saturdays, it was slightly troublesome. We had to go to ROM 4 days before to collect our marriage cert.

On the day itself, we had to find ourselves a venue to have it. Since we were not planning to invite any friends or relatives, we only required one table. Hilltop Garden Restaurant at the Civil Service Club at Bukit Batok was able to give us a small function room (complete with karaoke system! haha) that could accommodate one banquet table and a small rectangular table for our ROM ceremony.

Our Pastor arrived really early. I really like our Pastor I feel that he is genuinely concerned for us. He met us twice before our solemnization to talk about stuff and run through the vows etc. He even said he wants to meet us again 6 months down the road to see how we are doing. So for Christian couples who are not regular church-goers, but you still want to honour God and get married not only in the eyes of the law but also in the eyes of God himself, you may want to consider inviting Pastor Nehemiah Koa aka Reverend Koa Guan Chian. Pastor can only do English though not Mandarin.

Our solemnization was simple and it was over in 15 minutes. :)

Then lunch began! It was a 8 or 9 course lunch (can't remember) but both the hubs' parents and my parents were really impressed with the food. We selected there because it was affordable but I've attended a wedding dinner there before and the food was quite good that night. I didn't expect their standard to still be this good after 4-5 years. They actually have quite a big, pillarless ballroom,  my father asked how come I didn't arrange for my banquet to be there. My concern was the location lah.

Anyway all in all it was a short and simple affair but one which should probably rightfully be like that. The customary wedding is a fanfare alright, but at least this solemnization which is probably the most important portion of all, is not an act put up for all to see, but something close to our hearts.

That said, customary wedding in 11 days! Can't wait for it to finally be over!