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#57 - These bantals are not for sleeping.

Remember my post about the white dulang hantaran i've managed to secure? Now this is why i wanted a Dulang berkaki, but pasal aku cerewet tak nak silver/gold, kena lah cari merata singapore.

I was browsing a few Malaysian nya wedding blog (I heart them seriously!, budak2 tu semua pro-diy.), and i came across a lot of them trying to DIY bantal hantaran. I had always wanted Fresh Flowers for my Hantaran, cuma tak tau aku ada time ke tak nak gi Thomson beli Fresh Flowers and i was scared it would cost me a bomb.

The idea is to make your own bantal (stuff it with the kekabu and what-nots) and then decorate the hantaran using Fresh flowers and the Oasis sponge.

Ideally, the kain, jangan pakai satin pasal dia licin sangat and takut nanti susah pulak nak handle benda tu. So far, yang aku tengok, tak yah jahit, just glue everything together. Bagus jugak lah, pasal kalau nak harapkan aku jahit bantal, sampai kahwin pun benda tu tak siap.

For the fillings of the bantal pulak, maybe jangan cari yang original punya bulu, pasal tu mahal. Maybe kena cari those synthetic nya. Alah, asalkan at the end of the day, bantal tu gebu2 lah.

Semalam i tried to call Far East Flora (Thomson) to get their pricelist for the Fresh Flowers. The lady said ni harga semalam lah pasal harga bunga turun naik (macam stock pulak).

I love Rose, Carnations & Gerbera the most so i only got those flower nya pricelist but if you are interested in other flowers, can just call their Fresh-cut department at 6251 5151
So far, this is the price she gave me lah.

Roses:
China - 20 stalks at $13.00 | Malaysia - 20 stalks at $8.00
I know, u be thinking, "aik?? apasal Rose China lagi mahal? Selalu made in China lagi murah pe.."
The difference is actually Rose China lagi lawa. Dia nya tips is pointed, while Malaysia is rounded.
China punya pun kalau kembang, besar and lawa sangat... So kalau you all nya bf or husband kasi you all Rose, pi tanya dia beli yang China nya ke or Malaysia nya ok.

Carnations:
20 stalks at $7.50
I love carnations (especially pink ones cos of it's pom-pom effects)

Gerberas:
10 Stalks at $3.50.
Gerberas always make me happy cos of the bright colours.

Baby breaths:
Big Bundle at $23.00 | Half bundle at $10.00
Yang ni, mesti beli. I feel that it adds a very nice touch to the flowers.

Oasis Sponge:
1 box of 20 pieces at $17.00
This is not the normal green sponge that you all cucuk bunga plastic tu. This sponge is specifically good for you to rendam dalam air and baru cucuk fresh flowers so that your flowers taklah mati siang sangat.

They said delivery is Free kalau kita order more than $30.00 but i suggest you go down to Thomson, pick the flowers you want and then order and get them to deliver nearer to your date lagi bagus then just calling in to place your order.

You can try looking for Betty, such a patient lady, she helped me answer most of my questions =)

#56 - We turn 4!

We got a spanking new look cos we turn Four this month!
Time pass so fast.

I can still remember my first client, where we met and the design i gave them.

Coming up: Tips on choosing your Invitations!

#55 - The Pink Gift Bags

I work very near IMM and i go to IMM everyday for lunch.
So, naturally, i will try to go Daiso once every two days. Yes, i love that place that much.

Today, i saw something that nearly made me leap with joy.

Pink Polka-dot Gift Bags!!

There were two sizes available. One is Size S and the other one in Size M.
I bought both cos i don't know which size would be ideal.

However, lepas dah bukak plastic tu and tenung lama2, i think i prefer Size S better.
Cute sangat and it is just nice for the Favor that i'm gonna give.

I like it cos it's simple and sweet and because it has prints on it, i don't need to much with the decoration of the bag.


This is how it looks like bila ada isi. It also comes with this transparent sticker to seal it.
But kalau nak biarkan kosong macam ni, boring pulak.

Kalau nak letak ribbon, takut sarat sangat, because the bag comes with prints and on the bag ada gambar ribbon.

So, while i was googling on ideas just now, i figured why not buat macam ni?

But instead of covering the whole bag edge with the label, i figure, it would be nicer to do it like this instead. So that the sides is till visible. I plan to do up the labels in Black and Pink so that it can blend well with the gift bag.


I have just called Daiso IMM to check if they can get me stocks for the bag. It's only $2.00 and there are 12 bags in it. So it's only about $0.16 per bag. Cheap kan?

I need to get hold of about 33 packets of this. I'm trying hard to make sure all the bags are of the same colour. But if they don't have stocks for the same colour, i guess i have to mix and match the colours. *cross fingers*

#54 - Nak cari dulang.. Nak cari dulang.

I think by now, you would have known my tendency to DIY most of the wedding stuffs.
Tu pelamin kalau boleh DIY pun aku DIY agaknya. Tapi pasal Uncle Jais bikin confirm lagik lawa, takpe, kasi chance. muahaha.

So, the dulang hantaran tu pun, i was thinking of DIY-ing as well.

The boy's mother intends to give me Yellow dulang. Yes, yellow. Ye saya, YELLOW!
Nak aku cakap apa lagi, walaupun Yellow is my least favourite colour. Tapi takpe, cool.
Tak nak gado pasal dulang. lol

I am still undecided what colour i wanna give the Boy. Tu ari ada ter-mention nak kasi dia Pink Dulang. Mata dia punya besar dia bukak. Wah wah.. dia kasi aku dulang kaler kuning boleh, aku kasi pink tak boleh!

Anyway, i knew i wanted the dulangs to have a white base. Tak kisah lah, white bakul ke, white tray ke, white styrofoam ke, janji white.

I wanted to rent only pasal kalau beli, lepas tu apa yang aku nak buat ngan dulang tu kan?
So bila part nak recce mana nak sewa dulang, balik2 dulang kaler silver and gold je ada. Punya lah susah nak carik dulang or bekas kaler putih.

Tapi aku persevere, kuatkan semangat (cheh cheh).

At last, i found it!

It's made of those heavy-duty plastic, so according to the owner, it won't bengkok or retak kalau aku letak barang kat atas. Should be ok lah. Bukan aku nak letak batu-bata ke apa kan.

The owner have about 22 pieces of these trays and guess how much it is?

Rental is at $2.50 per tray!
I took 10 trays so i only pay $22.50.

The security deposit is $2.00 per tray and it's refundable once u return the trays to her.

So if you girls have not got your tray or tak tau mana nak rent, you can go to her website HERE

If you girls are still looking around for those Silver or Gold nya Dulang berkaki, this girl takde..
But i can recommend you another person who has it and she only rents it out at $3.00 per tray.
Cheap cheap! You can add her at Facebook HERE.

#53 - Facebook Status

If there's one thing that i can't manage to convince the boy, it is go and open a Facebook Account. Punya lah susah nak suruh dia bukak tu account. Kutuk lah dia apa2, mati2 dia tak sign up for Facebook.

I always tell people, my boy is allergic to technology. He only checks his emails, MSN and Youtube.
No facebook, no twitter, no tumblr, not even a Flickr account!

Ni saja je aku bilang, pasal i came across these pictures which are oh so cute!

Cute kan?

#51 - Decisions and choices

Things are definitely looking up so far.
We have confirmed our photographer, Chase Hasemi last Saturday after a not-so-short meetup with him and his wife.

Both the boy and me felt very comfortable with him and decided to just engage him for our wedding and pre-wedding shoots. I love that we both had that chemistry with him and could talk and crack jokes with him. He seems like an easy guy to work with so we are keeping our fingers crossed definitely.

Like i mentioned before, Photography is one of the things i really recce-ed for and prior to meeting Hasemi, i actually shortlisted a few of the photographers, some of which i met and did not have a connection with and some of them, i did not even have a chance to meet up with.

Knowing me, the boy told me not to meet too many people and just settle with the one whom we have chemistry instantly cos he knew, the more people i meet, the more confused i get and the more fickle-minded i become. Yang seksa dia nanti pasal nak kena layankan aku nya what-ifs and all.

The same goes for the bridal house. I actually shortlisted Lyanaz Bridal and Weddingku Gallery. I met up with Lyanaz Bridal, liked Kak Yatee and confirmed on the spot. Tak sempat pun jumpa Kak Lynn from WKG.

Back to the Photographers, i have actually shortlisted TRQ Irfaan Photography, Anis from Innovazione and Studio 41 (Eyeris Studio).

Alas, we only managed to meet Irfaan & Hasemi. If only we could afford multiple photographers. lol. Machiam paparazzi. Tapi kang nanti mata aku plak sepet, asyik kena flash je.

Hasemi was great right from the start. He was willing to listen to our ideas and explore it and gave out some good pointers that we should take note of. We arranged for our Pre-Wedding shoots to be taken in July, just before Ramadhan so that I would have ample time time to design our Wedding Cards.

Talking about Wedding Cards, i don't even know how i wanna have mine. Each time, when i do it for my clients, i can throw off ideas to them to get their ideal wedding card designs. But bila part aku, satu benda pun aku tak tau apa nak bikin. I only know that i wanna DIY part of it. Of course not the printing part. But i will most definitely have ribbons on it etc to set it apart from the ones i did for my clients. I probably would take the longest time to design mine cos i can be so anal sometimes. But that's the fun part isn't it?

I would also DIY my own Sticker Labels for the favors, the labels for the food etc and I am thinking of what i can DIY for each Guest tables to add our personal touch.

Yesterday, we met with Uncle Jais as well for our deco. I have told the boy numerous times to take a look at their multiply site to get an idea of how the deco's gonna look like tapi pasal dia busy macam Menteri nak pi election, sampai kita jumpa Uncle Jais pun, he still don't know how his works looks like.

So imagine his surprise when Uncle Jais showed him an album of his works. Muka dia mcm Menteri baru menang election. He went "woooooahhh!!!!" at every flip of the album.
Buat malu aku je. Kejap2 tanya "betul b, dekni charge $1580? betul??" haha.

Right there, i knew we made a good choice. We chose Baby Pink with a touch of cream and black. I am still contemplating whether to let him have the black chair covers. Sedapkan hati bakal laki ler. Kesian pulak black yang dia suka amat tu setakat setotet net je.
Maybe kasi chance ah kat dia.

Uncle Jais pun best. Such a nice person whom you know, does this for passion and not for money only. I told him of my requests, nak add ni, nak add tu, macam2 lah aku nya request all at no additional charges. Yay!

Up to this point, i'm blessed. It has been pretty much easy and straight forward so far.
Let's just hope it stay this way!

#50 - Breaking apart.

It took me a long time to decide if i should go ahead with this entry but what happened last Saturday kinda shook me up a bit hence this entry.

Prior to meeting, bercinta2 sampai tunang dengan the boy, i was actually engaged to another guy, Mr T.

We got engaged in 2007 and was supposed to get married in Oct 2009. But i broke off the Engagement on November 2008.

It took me a long time to tell my parents about it.
Back then, i was very sure, i did not want to proceed with the wedding. I was very sure Mr T is not The One.

Mr T was a very nice guy (he still is actually). In fact, lots of my friends actually reprimanded me
for breaking off the engagement 11 months before the wedding itself.

No doubts about it, he is a very nice guy, a man of few words, jarang marah2, takde banyak kawan perempuan. Senang cakap, siapa dapat dia untung lah.

I had a series of bad relationship before i met Mr T. Hence, when he came along, i thought he was The One. He was so different from all the guys i have went out with.
He was so patient with all my mood swings, he never raised his voice with me, he never try to argue with me. To him, i'm always right.

Which was good. Only for awhile.

After we got engaged and we started the preparations, i begin to see his traits as a negative one.
Macam tak kena dengan my personality. He gives way to me all the time, even if it is so ridiculous. At times, i would just test his patience, just to see how far can he go. Trust me, he has a high-tolerance for my nonsense.

I keep telling myself, that it's good but i know deep inside, i want my husband to have a stronger hold on me. My kepala ada satu besar peh batu duduk kat dalam.

So i either get a husband who can tolerate and keep quiet about that batu besar or i get a husband who have an equally batu besar kat kepala and help me to keep things in check.

During our engagements, we rarely fought. In fact, if you ask me, kita tak pernah ada major fights. Because he always give in to me. Tak pernah nak cakap tak boleh. Mesti boleh.

He leaves all decision to me. Everytime i asked for opinions, he would say "sembarang lah yang, kalau u suka, i pun suka".

To be really honest, i got sick of it. Lama2 i saw him as someone yang takde pendirian hidup.
He would just follow whatever i tell him to do.

I began to slowly drift away from him. Kadang2 call dia sekali je sehari. Kadang2 tak call, sms je.

What made me decided to broke off the engagement was, one day, i totally forgot to sms him.
Not that i didn't want to, but i totally forgot about him. I forgot his existence in my life.
I knew then, that if i could forget about him, he really does not mean much to me after all.
Hari tu jugak, i sms him, to meet. I told him it's not working out and we should call off the wedding.

He cried and i was tempted to take back my words. I sympathised with him.
But, i wasn't in love anymore. I had no feelings for him anymore.

Friends told me it could be just Wedding Jitters. So i gave myself few weeks to think it through.
But i still oculd not ignite that sparks i had last time. zilch.

The love and feelings i had for him, gone.

I found it hard to explain to people why i felt that way. BUt at that time, i knew definitely, i had no feelings for him and i just couldn't see myself with him 10 years later.

My friends couldn't understand but they were supportive of my decision.
Informing my parents about it was very difficult. I couldn't muster the courage to tell my mom.
I only told them about it 3 months after i called off the wedding.

Seriously tak tau nak cakap apa. But surprisingly, they did not even scold me for it.
They were very calm and supportive and while they didn't exactly say that they saw it coming, somehow, they couldn't figure out why i was with him in the first place cos we did not complement each other very well.

But being parents, they just want to see me happy. If they think i'm happy with my choice, they wouldn't wanna interfere.

Mr T had it worst. He began calling my friends and asked them why i had a change of heart.

Till today, i still say that it was the best decision i have ever made in my life.
I still cannot see myself with him. I cannot envision waking up to him every morning, making coffee for him and acting happy.

My relatives were ok, tak de yang mulut laser, cakap bukan2 depan aku.
Tapi, belakang aku tak tau ah. But to be honest, i was mentally prepared for that and apa orang nak cakap, cakap je lah. Aku peduli apa. Aku yang nak kahwin nanti, yang sengsara nanti pun aku, bukan dorang amik kisah pun nanti!

I had to be strong for myself. I did not even cry after that. I just felt relieved it's all over and i can stop pretending.

Why did i bring this up was because of what happened last Saturday.
I had a breakdown and cried in front of the boy, who was totally caught off guard cos i cried for no reason.

There was so many things going on with the wedding preparations, the finances, the house and all that. I bottled that up and one day it just got over me.

But i was glad, the boy was very understanding of it.
He grabbed a cup of Coke, told me to drink it and cry it all out.
He told me to tell him what's up when i'm ready.

When he wiped my tears away and assured me everything is gonna be alright and he loves me lots, I know, this boy, he is the one.

I know i can depend on him to keep things in check. To tell me, everything is gonna be alright.
When he says he loves me, i believe him. Really i do and i can't wait to start my life with him. :)

#49 - The Photographer

In my previous post, i have mentioned about TRQ Irfaan whose works i admired and last saturday we had a chance to meet up with him to discuss on the possibilities.

While i truly do like his works (and i still do), i do not feel a connection with him. He is a bit shy (maybe because he has just started out and is not comfortable yet with meeting people). I was like that too, last time, so i totally understand.

Him being quite young is also a crucial factor. I believe he is still in his early 20's. Like between 19 -20 years old? Cos when we asked how long has he been shooting, he mentioned 4 years back, since he was in Sec 3 (15 years old). So plus minus, 19 lah kan?

It was ok to talk to him, but i still don't feel a connection with him.
Entahlah susah nak cakap apa. So even though his rates were reasonable, we had to let him go and go for another one.

After countless research for another Photographer, i think i might have found one.
His price is really reasonable and most importantly, i LOVE his works.

To be really honest, i think, his portfolio fits all my criteria for my wedding pictures.

He has this romantic feel to his pictures and his post-processing works are awesome!

His pictures kinda remind me of one of my all-time favourite Photographer, Sarah Yates
Not an exact one or even a duplicate lah but macam iras-iras gitu! lol

That person is Hasemi from Chase Hasemi Photography.
Go check out his works if you are free.


How did i get to know about him was quite stalk-ish actually. I hope he doesn't read this. lol

I was actually googling for Malay Wedding Photographers, Singapore.
Then i got directed to Clubsnap and read the forums, then i got to know about Kliqueimages which is actually a Forum for Malay Photographers

Bila dah sampai kat Kliqueimages, surf lah the forum also, then i saw a posting by a username chasehasemi. I fell in love with the pictures he posted so i clicked on his profile, hoping that i can at least have his email address, to no avail.

So i went to google and search for Chasehasemi and voila, i saw that he has a FB account.
Yay!

I immediately asked him for a quotation and was very pleased with his quotations.
Like seriously pleased that i cannot wait to meet him this Saturday to confirm his services. lol

I shall share with you guys some of the pictures i love from his portfolio.

I love all these classic pictures from him below. Very timeless.:

I love how this is so quirky + romantic at the same time.

The last three pictures are the ones that remind me of Sarah Yates.

So if you are still looking around for a Photographer for your Wedding or Pre-Wedding, you can get a quotation from him.

I asked him for his hourly rates only because i want a DVD copy of Hi-Res pictures only. I will tell you why in another post. :)

I'm a happy girl!

#48 - Doing it myself.

I consider myself a creative person. I am considerably good with crafts and other hands-on project.

So it does not comes as a surprise to my Family & friends when itold them i wanna DIY most of my wedding stuffs.

One - because it is cost-friendly (ni paling important)
Two - because it will hold a certain sentimental value to me
Three - because i enjoy doing it. It gives me a kick when i manage to DIY anything successfully.

So far, i have managed to DIY my Cake Stand.


Next, i'm gonna DIY my favors.

I went to Phoon Huat yesterday to look for Baking Materials. Yes, mak nak try buat cupcake.
Kalau senang, then boleh buat untuk Hantaran.

While looking around, i saw some white boxes. (will show you girls the boxes in details in another post pasal semalam lupa nak amik gambar box tu inside out)

I love the box cos it's of the right size and it's white inside out.

Yes, it's not those Cake boxes yang luar white, dalam cardboard tu. It was selling at $1.25 for 5 pieces so i just got 1 set of it to show the mother and also to try testing how it would look like with ribbons.

Here's how it looks like with ribbons. But, my ribbons for the favor box will be a lighter shade of Pink though. Ni kes pakai je ribbon apa yang ada untuk testing2.

I'm also gonna paste a Monogram Sticker at the sides.

What am i gonna put inside?

I'm gonna bake some cookies (which lots of friends love cos it taste like the Famous Amos ones - sumpah tak bedek! lol) and my mom is gonna have Egg & Pulut Kuning to accompany.

The cookies will be baked at least one month prior to the wedding and kept in air-tight container and then sealed in party bag to ensure dia tak lemau.

The Egg & Pulut Kuning, my mom say hari Jumaat boleh bikin..

As for the egg, i was thinking of doing the Lace Eggs that Sofia had during her wedding.
Cun-cun pulak she posted a link to Martha Stewart's Lace Egg Tutorial.

It looks easy enough lah for me and 300 eggs are still manageable.

But i don't know whether to dye the eggs in Red or Hot Pink!

Another DIY project will be the tempat Bunga Rampai that i have to give during Nikah.


I'm thinking of DIY-ing this cute little bottles with Black Lace and Pink Ribbons and stuff bunga rampai in it.

Guess where i got these little bottles from?



Hahahah yes! Brand's Innershine. There's six bottles per box and i reckon i will have lotsa spare bottles which i can use for other DIY stuffs.

I have not start the DIY process for this yet. Will update you gals when i think of something!