Goodbye, Kahwin Khronicles

(Credit: Shahdan @ Blissphotocinema)

It's been such an exciting and eventful chapter, hasn't it? 

Two years of careful and detailed planning, hours of agonizing over tasks to do and places to go, hundreds of text messages and emails exchanged between vendors and families and bridal party.... for that one most important moment which lasts only a few seconds. So brief, yet so life changing.

This life chapter has been especially special for me because I started something that has turned out to be even bigger than its original intention. Most people have records of their wedding planning and memories of their wedding day itself - either via a blog or a written journal, some via copies of email correspondences, scraps of signed agreements and receipts or mementos saved from the wedding reception itself.

Me? I have records, and I have memories in those forms too, but I also have a little something else on the side - I have Kahwin Khronicles.

Why I started Kahwin Khronicles  

When I started the blog and published my first entry on Kahwin Khronicles about two years ago, it was meant for personal keepsake and for sharing with our close friends who wanted to keep themselves updated on our wedding preparations.

The plan has always been in this order:

(1) open a wedding preparation blog

(2) blog about my wedding preparation to my heart's content; and then

(3) draft a final entry to finish off the blog once my wedding is all wrapped up.

It was never my intention to continue this blog after my wedding is over.

But I never once imagined that now as I am writing this final entry, 350 days and 255 blog entries later, that I would've gained so many new friends whom I've met and made because of weddings and wedding planning in general (who would have thought!), and have had the privilege to work and/or know of so many wedding vendors who work so hard and so well to make dream weddings a reality for their clients.

Kahwin Khronicles has done so much for me, even more than I can ever imagine, and it brings me so much happiness when friends and strangers alike tell me they have found the things that I've shared useful for their own planning - I am genuinely touched by every single comment and email that I've had the honour to receive throughout my Kahwin Khronicles journey.

(Okay, save for a few weird ones that asked me, a bride blogger, misguided questions like "what is my quote for catering for 500pax" and "whether I supply chairs for a wedding" hahahahaha but that's okay, even those made me laugh and have a great day afterwards haha)

People have asked me why I've been generous in sharing the information and knowledge and experiences in planning my own wedding when I've gained everything I know through help from my own friends, my own research and my own hard work. To that, I say - why not?

My own married friends have been very generous with me, past brides who blogged have been very generous with their experiences, why shouldn't I be generous too and share them with people who are in the same position as I was when I first started my wedding planning? Some brides-to-be don't even have married/going to get married girlfriends who can share and teach them the tips and tricks like I did, you know.

It would have been an incredible shame to keep all the information that I know stored away in my folders and files to collect habuk kan?

I am also very pleased with myself for bothering to blog so much about my wedding preparation because I now have a wonderful archive of memories that I can read back on whenever I want to reminisce on this beautiful journey, such as: how Saliheen and I met, how our engagement went, how he proposed to me in the epic way he knew I'd love so much haha, our trash the dress photoshoot, our solemnization, our sanding reception, our outdoor photoshoot and our dinner reception.

And I guess it'll be fun to give our future children (insya Allah) something to read when it's time for them to start planning their own weddings, yes?

But as much as I am very appreciative and grateful for all the blessings that I have been given throughout this journey, I also feel that it is now my time to move on... and the only way I can do that is to end this chapter of my life with this final entry.

I also never imagined that I would be writing this final entry for Kahwin Khronicles so soon. Time really flies when you're having fun, yes?

Why this will be the final entry for Kahwin Khronicles

I have gotten such kind comments and emails from well-meaning acquaintances and strangers who encourage me to continue blogging about weddings since I'm very passionate about them.

While I am very thankful for their vote of confidence, I feel that I no longer have the right to talk about weddings in depth (even if I had any right in the first place, which I really didn't) since:

(1) I am no longer planning one myself;

(2) I am no longer fully updated on the latest trends and the progress of the wedding industry; and

(3) I am not a professionally trained vendor who plans and executes weddings on a regular basis - so who am I to talk and discuss and advise about weddings for the rest of my life?

Besides, I have found that my interest have gravitated to other stuff not related to weddings! I'm starting to be really obsessed with make-up and beauty products and I've been spending some time flipping through home interior and design magazines and looking out for interior designers so I can know my direction once I get my new home at the end of this year. (In between taking care of my husband's makan dan minum and learning how to be a nice holistic wife, of course. CHEHDEHBAH.)

Senang cakap, my attention is no longer solely devoted to doing wedding research and planning, and I believe maintaining Kahwin Khronicles will no longer be true to who I am as a person.

Brief Note on Our Wedding

Our wedding wasn't perfect and wasn't 100% what we wanted but we truly believe that our wedding was amazing and beautiful in its own right.

And, really, all that matters is that we did the most important thing that we set out to do when we first laid out our joint plan together at a kedai kopi belakang my rumah in 2008: we married each other so we can fulfil our ibadah and take care of each other for as long as we shall live.

Of course it didn't hurt that our loved ones wanted to join us in celebrations for our union, we have awesome pictures and videos to remember it by, and we have this special memory etched in our minds which we will share with each other for the rest of our lives.

Our 'Thank You' Notes

But before I bungkus this blog buat makan kat rumah, I'd like to post our thank you notes to the key people who have made our wedding the lovely success that it was:

To both of our parents, who have invested their time and money for the biggest and most special day of our lives - thank you so so much for all the encouragement and support that you've given us, for blessing our marriage and for treating the both of us as part of the family. Nothing we do can ever repay everything that the four of you have done for us;

To Saliheen's brothers, who are now mine as well, for being so hardworking and so freaking awesome - helping us to buy and bring back our barang barang dulang, helping us carry stuff, helping us to clean up the venue after the afternoon reception, etc etc etc and always offering to help with whatever we need help with (and helping us to rock the photobooth shots!);

To my sisters, who are now Saliheen's as well, for being with us right from the start of the wedding preparation - the designing process, the need-korang-punya-opinions-NOW process, and for helping out with a whole ton of stuff especially leading up to the wedding day itself. Thank you for indulging your kakak with all her silly requests and for getting everything done right on the wedding day. I don't know what I'd do without you girls.

To our groomsmen, Ahmad, Sham, Poji and Fadzly, for taking the time to entertain Saliheen's whims and fancies, for tolerating his fussiness, and for being the best bros any groom can ask for.

To our bridesmaids, Nani, Nadiah, Aisyah and Nina, for being such darlings who attended to my every question and request, for always keeping yourselves available and for always giving me sound ideas, advice and opinions on everything that I ran through korang... choosing you girls as my bridesmaids was definitely one of the best decisions I made for my wedding.

To our helpers, Mimi (in cream) and Haziqah (in orange) for taking the time and making the effort to help usher guests, to help sort out wedding favours and to help man the guest reception table during our dinner reception, amongst other things. (And of course, enjoying the photobooth macam nak gila in between hahaha)

To our best cousins, Intan and Sadik for stepping up when we asked for your help, for making the effort to dress up and arrive early for our solemnization so you can help us with the things prepared before, during and after our solemnization - we knew there was a good reason why we grew up as best cousins with the two of you!

To our relatives, who have wished us nothing but the best for this chapter of our lives and for lending their hands whenever we or our parents needed help. I know it seems like we didn't really needed much help from relatives, but that was because we didn't want to trouble anyone with our wedding and preferred to pay other people to get the job done for us so our own family members can sit back, relax and have their own fun times during the reception.

To our talented bunch of wedding vendors, thank you for the phenomenal job. You guys worked hard and worked well, and you guys deserve every bit of love and support that has come your way. (If you wish to read my reviews on our wedding vendors, you can read them here, here and here.)

To various wedding vendors that we did not engage but were sweet and helpful and lovely to us anyway - thank you so much for your hospitality and professionalism, and we wish all of you the very best in your future endeavours (All of you are on my recommended list so hopefully I'll get to send some good clients your way! To you all you all who want recommended wedding vendors from my list, please feel free to ask me!)

To our guests, thank you for taking the time and making the effort to attend our wedding, for we were very honoured you could grace our reception with your presence. From the deepest recesses of our hearts, we also apologize for all our shortcomings during our reception and hope that all our salah silap boleh dimaafkan. Apa yang buruk itu datangnya dari kami, dan apa yang baik itu datangnya dari Allah.

To everyone else - everyone who have commented on my blog entries, everyone who have sent me lovely emails, those who have met me in real life and gave me endless words of encouragement, those who have never met me in real life but spurred me on anyway... and especially all the fantastic brides bloggers that I've had the pleasure of knowing, interacting with and learning from (we were all learning together and teaching each other!) - thank you all so so so much for the love, support and encouragement.

I'm truly touched and overwhelmed by the love and warmth that I've gotten for the past few years and no amount of thank yous can demonstrate how truly blessed and honoured I am to have walked this special journey with you.

And with that, goodbye Kahwin Khronicles.

If you'd like to know how I'm doing post-Kahwin Khronicles, you can click here and come say hello to Hello Khronicles.

Oh c'mon, did you reaaaaally think I was going to stop blogging?

P.S. I've uploaded wedding templates such as wedding itineraries and checklists in my new blog so if that's something you need, you might want to check them out. See ya!