Vendor Reviews: Catering, Decor, Entertainment

Ahhhhh at last! Publish jugak ini blog entry kan hahahahaha dagu boleh berjanggut and rambut boleh beruban kan tunggu for this entry to get published? Hur hur hur.

Anyway, as promised in my previous entry, let the review series begin! :D

Let's start the review series with three heavyweight champions okay - iaitu catering, decor and entertainment.

Okay lah, Saliheen and I regard these three as heavyweight items for our wedding lah, maybe you and your partner punya definition of heavyweight is different from us. Manalah tau, barang dulang is more important to you all because you kasi sebiji motor as dulang item to your partner ke... kan considered heavyweight tu. 

Catering By Puteri Wedding Services

Services: Wedding Catering

Company: Puteri Wedding Services

Email: puteri.fariq[at]hotmail[dot]com

 Facebook: Puteri Wedding Services

Website: Puteri Wedding Services

I first wrote about engaging Puteri Wedding Services here.

I seriously don't think I can rave enough on how good the food and service by Puteri Wedding Services (PWS) was!!!!! I love their presentation, I love the quantity and quality of their food, I love their service, I love everything lah.

Kan I wrote about having some time to rest, makan then change to our second outfit for our sanding reception? We actually directed one of our orang kuat to bring us some food before we change into our 2nd outfit into our itinerary tau! Buttttt we didn't have to do that because less than five minutes after we went into the changing room, one of the budak kendarat from PWS brought up trays and trays of rice and dishes specially served for us :D

I was so pleasantly surprised and truly impressed, and I thought that was very proactive of PWS - don't know whether other caterers do this but I loved the gesture! Really make the pengantin feel like raja and permaisuri sehari, you know! Hehehehehe.

We only had one grievance with PWS (which we didn't get to mention to them personally because we didn't go to the post-wedding feedback session) and that was them not telling us in advance about needing a particular area of space for their dessert setup. It would have been better if they had asked us whether they can use that particular area of space instead of assuming that we will have that space ready for them.

There was a good reason why we kept confirming and double confirming with our vendors on the space that they needed, you know - the setup arrangement was particularly important to us because we had a few things to make space for for our wedding and had already agreed on the most ideal arrangement with our decorators beforehand. So for me to receive calls a day before the wedding, basically telling me we had to give up that space to make way for PWS threw me a little off-guard.

Then because of one area of space yang kita kena give up, we had to rombak balek the whole arrangement lor. But okaylah, thank you God for blessing me with quick decision making skills because I just told our decorators which tables to swop, which tables to sacrifice, swop here swop swop there terus settle the kettle.

I don't know whether there were shortcomings that guests might have felt while taking the food from the buffet lines or the quality of food itself but we've not received any complains (only sky high praises!) so as far as I'm concerned, Saliheen and I are very happy with the food at our wedding and the service provided by Puteri Wedding Services.

Plus the kendarat looked professional and were on the ball, and we loved that there were servers for the buffet lines to monitor the food, top up whatever's necessary and clean up any mess left behind by guests.

 

Decor & Dais By Kasai Sayang

Services: Decor & Dais

Company: Kasai Sayang

Email: kasaisayang[at]gmail[dot]com

Facebook: Kasai Sayang

Website: -

I first wrote about engaging Kasai Sayang here.

In case it isn't obvious, our colour scheme was white, pink and mint green (champagne was added into the mix by Kasai Sayang - it didn't clash terribly so we were okay with it and let it go) and we incorporated scallops!

Our initial idea was to have a white-based wedding with pops of rainbow colours (something like this and this and this) but we decided it might be too "childish" or "party-ish" for our parents to accept, so we changed to a white-based wedding with pops of blue, yellow, purple and pink idea instead.

But about a year before our wedding, we went down again to our venue, realized that the colours of our venue might clash with that mix (we weren't really sure and didn't want to risk it) and made the final change that we thought would match the colours of our venue better - teal and pink, which then evolved into mint and pink because:

(1) We realized it'd be better to have a shade lighter than teal so the decor tak tenggelam (kononnye ada contrast lah gitu); and

(2) We came across a lot of inspiration boards for mint and pink from our research lol so senang sikit ah nak refer (ni nampak sah case dah malas!)

So itulah dia, al-kisah warna warni Aidilfitri of our wedding~~~~~

(Well, honestly, if you want me to terus terang as to whether those two colours were my dream wedding colours, I'd tell you a straight 'No." 

If we were given full free rein of our wedding colour scheme, without having to bear our parents' preferences and feelings in mind + if we were able to find a bare white-colored venue in Singapore that does not cost an arm and a leg and our freaking heads and does not have ten million "cannot do this" and "cannot do that" rules, I'd have wanted a white-based wedding with pops of neon - something like this and this. 

But alas, the ridiculous limitations of planning a Malay wedding in Singapore have denied me of my ultimate dream wedding lolz)

But, anyway, back to our wedding decor and dais:

[Pictures by Kasai Sayang]

The centrepiece (?) in between our reception tables that helped create a distinction (this was before there were writings on the blackboard) and our sireh dara, also by Kasai Sayang! So pretty, we ended up lugging the whole thing home hehe. There's another huge one in white but I can't seem to find a picture. Meh. Oh, and that's the reception table for my side, before my sisters propped the sign up on a mini wooden easel bought from Art Friend.

Our bridal table:

I found out much later that our bridal table decor was done by none other than Fazly from Chic Factory Wedding!!! Tak dapat Chic Factory Wedding as our main decorators pun takpe lah, at least dapat bridal table done up by the talent himself right :D 

(Chic Factory Wedding was one of our top choices but we took them off the list after they decided to stop doing weddings in 2012 boohoo)

 

 Some pictures by our official photographers, Bliss Photocinema:

The last picture is of the dais without the kerusi at the end of the night. Don't worry, it's missing not because the kerusi kena makan, the kerusi just kena drag aside for end-of-the-wedding pictures lololol.

Oh, and as you can see from pictures, we opted for a single chair instead of two separate ones because we wanted to be seated together for easier conversations on the pelamin HAHA. And entah lah, to have one chair instead of two is pretty symbolic, I guess? After all, the union is about two individuals getting together as one... right? Yang nak duduk lain lain tu dah kenape hahahahaha oh tak eh

Oh, and we were very happy when Kasai Sayang allowed us to use our own entrance arch!!!!! So sweet kan dorang. Before we asked them for permission, we actually expected them to say cannot seh, because some vendors are just very rigid and very particular about sticking to their own look or concept kan. But Kasai Sayang was different! Which was why we chose them as our decorators in the first place lah kan.

The reasons why we chose Kasai Sayang as our wedding decorators:

(1) We wanted a vendor who was flexible and would allow customization because we didn't want to choose a template design;

(2) We wanted decorators who were realistic - Saliheen and I were wary of overconfident vendors who will sweet talk their way though but then fall short at the end of it. Kasai Sayang was confident of doing up our wedding, but they brought us back to Earth by being transparent and telling us the limitations that we should be aware of, the technicalities and the realistic expectations that we should have, so that was the hook for us; and

(3) Kasai Sayang's rate was waaayyyyy within our budget. So ape lagi kan :D

Oh, and our wedding entrance arch was actually from this wedding:

(Source: Hafiz Ismail International Wedding & Portrait Photographer)

Suka sangat! I didn't realize this until I scrolled through our Instagram hashtag after the wedding but our guests actually used the white light coming from the bulbs to take great flawless pictures!!! (Kirakan you stand facing the light so it reflects nicely on you and gives you a very pretty glow) Pandai sangat eh korang seize the opportunity hahahahaha.

How our entrance arch looks like:

The entrance arch was built by my uncle yang memang suka bertukang, by the way - we weren't going to make Kasai Sayang build up a brand new arch just for us, what did you think we were, pengantinzillas???

If you'd like this arch for your own wedding, feel free to ask Kasai Sayang okay! We gave it away to Kasai Sayang so they can reuse for other weddings. Takde gunanye pun if we were to lug it back, takkan nak pasang depan bilik kot, siapa mau layan.

Anyway, I'd just like to say that Zahrin and Rashid of Kasai Sayang are really the sweetest vendors ever and I cannot thank them enough for their professionalism and kindness and for being such gems!!!!!

It sucked for us knowing that we subjected our decorators to our venue's rigid regulations - we got into a lot of issues with Singapore Silat Federation, you see, (I will blog about what happened in a separate entry because those bloody buggers need to have their own entry), which in turn affected Kasai Sayang's setup in a pretty major way :(

But considering the limitations that were imposed on them, I think Kasai Sayang managed well and great okay! And I really, really appreciate the awesome boys of Kasai Sayang for being really patient and really accommodating and understanding throughout the whole process.

Overall: Saliheen and I thought the decor was very lovely, the dais could have been improved but considering the limitations they had, it was good enough + they gave us the big open concept pelamin that we wanted and of course, their accommodating and friendly nature was the best of them all. So easy to work with them!

Music & Entertainment By Medialite

Services: Music & Entertainment
Company: Medialite
Contact No: 68714141 
Email: enquiries[at]medialite[dot]com[dot]sg
Facebook: 
Website: http://www.medialite.com.sg/

I first wrote about Medialite here. 

What can I say? I love love love absolutely LOVE Zan Sofiyan of Medialite.

Let's just say we might have missed telling them certain last minute changes and arrangements which caused a fair bit of kelam kabutness on their end (you have no idea how terrible we felt!!!) but Zan came out okay in the end (we hope!) and he was a true gem during the receptions!!! 

His delivery was flawless, he was proper and did not make silly inappropriate jokes and he was quick on his feet (as we expected) and I don't think we would have been this happy with any other emcees. Bummed we couldn't talk to him in person on the day itself so I think we owe him a Thank You email... soon!

 You can check their packages out here and find their contact here.

Okay I'm gonna cut this entry here because it has gone on for too long now, but more reviews coming right up!!!!!

Tapi tak tau ah bila akan dipublish, mungkin... tahun depan kot.

three weekends down, three more to go

Last three weekends have been nothing but madness!

Now that we're down to the final month before the wedding hits (gasps!), my mat and I have been scrambling to meet vendors, shooting out confirmation emails to vendors, tying up loose ends, making bulk payments and travelling all around the island to run our errands.

 Collection of Bridesmaids' Outfits 

 We started out last two Saturdays with a trip to Manja to collect our bridesmaids' outfits!

So excited to see my bridesmaids excited, and I am happy to report that both their outfits for afternoon and evening receptions are very pretty and flattering! :D

Something simple and tertib - we're not into fancy schmancy drastically over the top designs.

Oh, and guess what - what we've heard about Manja and their workmanship? 

It's true. Their workmanship is superb. Just very sayang my experience dealing with the Manja tailor who attended to us was freaking horrible lor. Pfft.

So now that I've seen their workmanship for myself, do I think Manja is worth paying more for, since they're slightly pricier than other tailors? Yep. Would I go back to Manja to tailor baju in the future? Well, that would be a... maaaybe. Maybe, because if I do opt to go back, I'll probably avoid that grumpy auntie who first attended to us lor. She wasn't around during collection, and the other auntie who attended to us seemed nice and normal, thank God.

Had our hearty lunch at Hajjah Maimunah before running through the itinerary!

No picture of the itinerary, so I put picture of my lunch lah okay:

YUM YUMZZZZZ IN MY TUM TUMZZZZZ.

I would totes take up their catering package if I'm having an intimate 150pax to 250 pax wedding! Heh. (Dulu time engagement tak tau nak take up eh. Chet.)

Discussion on Bridal Room with Bonito By Bob

My mat and I made our way to my place after that because we had an appointment with Bob of Bonito By Bob! We were pretty early so we decided to make a pitstop at the petrol station but turns out Bob and his assistant Zura lagi cepat dari kita lah seh. Appointment 4pm but they came half an hour earlier! Dorang datang naik kilat and petir, aku rasa.

Bob and Zura took some pictures and measurements of my bedroom and went through the timeline and some ideas with us - discussion was very rancak and I love how they were really warm and sincere and friendly! Totally felt at ease even though baru first time jumpa :D

And oh oh oh, whaddya know - kita happen to mention that we're looking for white cushions for solemnization (alas nikah) since our decorators takde white ones and Bob said that he rents them out!!! Sui or what!!!!! So one more task struck off the list, baik ah.

To siapa siapa yang tengah cari alas nikah rental, you know who to look for lah eh heh heh. In case you're wondering how the alas nikah looks like, it's yang macam dalam gambar ni:

Now that we've sorted out our alas nikah issue, I'd just like to say this to my mamat: Sekarang lu gi tanam lu punya cita cita nak nikah atas beanbag lah ye. HAHA.

OH. BY THE WAY. Since we're talking about Bonito By Bob...

Have you guys seen one of his latest gubahan designs?!?!?!?!?!

AKU SUKAAAAA!!! AKU SUKA. GILA. OKAY.

I was telling him ini very the kena with my pop art engagement theme lah eh.

Delivery of Barang Barang Dulang to Ola Lola

The next day (which was a Sunday), we went to send our barang barang dulang to Ola Lola kat Hougang! Seriously tak guna okay kita, we lost our way and had to tawaf the area three times before we finally located the exact address. Dah macam nak naik haji pulak bertawaf tawaf. Nasib baik we went out early and reached in time for our appointment. 

(Saliheen and I - and our friends pfft - have unanimously agreed that if we ever masuk Amazing Race, kita sure banyak gaduh especially on the road but that also means we'll definitely be milked for TV entertainment purposes to death haha)

No pictures from our Ola Lola meeting because I very shy to ~take picture ~take picture together (hahaha) so I letak gambar makanan from the wedding we attended before we made our trip to meet Ola Lola lah okay. Walaupun takde link ah sebenarnye hahahahaha

Makanan from this wedding was superb, by the way. The sambal goreng, the udang black pepper and wadeh was power gila and the nasi berderai very nicely one okay!!!!! 

Pengantin (who is my primary schoolmate and also my first boyfriend ha. ha. ha. ha. ha.) told me it's by Zaiton & Family Catering, which is a longstanding family business that has no online presence whatsoever so they're usually highly recommended via the old school word-of-mouth style instead of through social media sharing (they have no website and no Facebook, guys!)

Apparently the pengantin's relatives have used this particular caterer for 5 of his cousins' weddings and semua memang consistently sedap and sempurna! For $12 per head and up, I say this is sungguh the worth it, man. 

If anyone wants the caterer's number, feel free to email me please! But I warning you all dulu eh - one of the pengantin's cousins told me her aunt spoke to the caterer and apparently they're fully booked even until the end of 2015 wtf?! But no surprise lah kan, since their food sedap sedap belaka.  So at most kalau nak, boleh try luck je lor.

Discussion on Menu with Puteri Wedding Services

And since kita dah rancak berbual pasal makanan, let's talk about our meeting with our caterers next! Coincidentally they're the next vendor in line that we met, anyway. Heh.

Just like Bonito By Bob, our caterer was early for our appointment by half an hour! Sampai terlintang pukang aku sekejap nak siap (because I just came back from work, and belum sempat wash up) but of course, we still had to wait until my mat and his parents sampai. Ours is a combined reception so must have combined discussion and combined decisions ma.

Very happy with the menus for both our sanding and dinner receptions!!! I'm still a bit skeptical about having black pepper chicken instead of ayam masak merah for the dinner reception though - do people look for ayam masak merah when they go for wedding receptions??? Because I do ah. Hmmm.

(Explanation: Since the dinner reception will be for our friends only, they will not get to eat the ayam masak merah, which will be served during the lunch reception instead.)

Oh, my mat and I also decided to give up our cita cita to have square tables instead of round tables after consulting Kasai Sayang as well as Puteri - will be susah for them to arrange due to the layout and size of our venue as well as measurements of the square tables themselves. We didn't mind giving this up because we trust the professionals' judgment and didn't want to trouble them with this! Asalkan sempurna, tak kisah lah kan square ke, round ke, octagon ke.

Final Appointment with CST Singapore

Woke up bright and early for our appointment with our videographers, whose office is located in Woodlands! Grabbed a quick snack because tak sempat nak duduk and have a proper breakfast since dah buat temu janji dengan orang, and we must respect people's time lah kan.

Turns out we could have afforded a nice and long breakfast because the staff who attended to us was very late and made us wait for more than an hour without an acceptable reason. Guess tagging yourself as #bestintheindustry in Instagram gives you the right to get cocky, bersikap sambil lewa and regard your clients as unimportant? Didn't know being "the #bestintheindustry" means having sloppy administration and shabby customer service, really.

Wish I can explain in detail what happened that day (and more) but I guess it's best I leave this for another day, in a few months' time, because I want to be fair and see the quality of work, service during event and the after service first. For now, let's just say we left in a bit of a huff... well, actually more like stomping out with balls of fire blazing behind us lah kan. Haha.

Anyway, the unnecessary delay caused by someone else's tardiness screwed up our schedule for the day so we had to rush through our next errand - zoomed to Arab Street to grab a quick bite at Working Title (15 minutes) and quickly raced through our material selection at Princess Fabrics (10 minutes) when we were supposed to have slightly more than two hours to do both.

Which meant we didn't get to have the nice leisurely brunch we were planning for and we couldn't slowly and carefully pore over the different materials to ensure we got our colours right - we wanted to buy kain in our theme colours to pass to our decorators and dessert tier vendor so they can use the colour of the kains as reference,  you see.

I guess if I want to look at it positively... this can help us prepare mentally for unexpectant delays which might happen during the actual wedding day????? Although we're already expecting delays anyway, didn't really need a vendor to tolong demonstratekan lah kan.

Called Naz from Bliss Photocinema to tell him we might be late (since our appointment with him was next) but turns out Arab Street was nearer than expected and kita sampai just on time. Phew.

Final Appointment with Bliss Photocinema

How surreal is it to be standing in front of a door we last saw almost two years ago? I hadn't even started blogging when we booked Bliss! (I started blogging about wedding preparations only after booking videographers, photographers and ex-andaman)

Discussed our itinerary with him and this was yet another appointment that I genuinely enjoyed because Naz is so nice and friendly and professional. I remember being wary when we first met him because he seemed really reserved but all it took was my mamat to crack a few jokes + them finding out that one of Naz's buddies is my mat's cousin to warm things up (Tak nak cakap heat things up lah, heat things up dah macam lain macam pulak bunyinye haha)

(Side note: My mat has this habit / itch as well as the ability to make people laugh whenever we meet people for the first time and he feels that the other person is reserved or shy or uncomfortable or awkward, and this is one of the great qualities that I really love about him.

Just before we were officially together, I was concurrently seeing another guy who I could converse with in private but when thrown in social settings with my friends and strangers, he clammed up and became very reserved... whereas for my mamat ni, he flourishes under social settings and makes great company when we meet new people and make new friends. Guess that was one of the things that pushed the other guy down to friendzone and Saliheen up to marriageable zone for me personally! Hehe.)

Anyway, I was telling my mat the other day that kalau ada orang tanya bila kita punya wedding, we can say "bulan depan" and truly mean it already!!!!! Ambik kau, dulu suka sangat kan, main main jawab "bulan depan" bila relatives tanya bila nak kahwin... now happening for real already.

Our countdown as at today:

So many things to do, with so little time, to the point that even on our 4th year and 11th month anniversary recently, we were too busy running wedding-related errands.

But that's okay lah. Because by the time our 5th anniversary comes around, we'll get to go big and celebrate it with a kompang procession, photobooths, rows and rows of delish food and desserts, and the company of our family, friends and guests we do not know personally, yes?

Sounds like a smashing 5th anniversary celebration to me :P

hey newbie, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey newbie

I can haz a make-up artist (MUA) for our post-wedding photoshoot!

Hahahahaha ok ok actually amidst the booking of service providers and planning the guestlist and itinerary, the thought of getting a MUA for our post-wedding photoshoot didn't exactly cross my mind. When we first booked a slot with Bliss Photocinema, my only thought was "Well ok, since it's a casual photoshoot, I'll just get Nani to make me up or worse come to worse just pergi kedai buat make-up and hairstyling" so I didn't exactly keep a lookout for a MUA.

And then, my dear Dyana recently launched her freelance MUA services on Facebook! So I thanked her for officially launching, asked her for her rates and boomz - I can haz a MUA for my photoshoot!

Hee hee hee.

Ok I know you must be wondering - who exactly is this Dyana ni? The new and improved version of Diana from Janji Diana ke?!?!?! Oh tidak, my friends!!!

Hahahahaha I have obviously picked up some dramatics from my very dramatic auta keling mamat. (Do you know that if he snubs his toe or something minor like a scratch or what, he will wail about how he is injured, make his breathing fast and short and cry out that he will need medical attention, an ambulance, anything?! DRAMA NAK MAMPOS.)

I actually know Dyana from sometime back - we didn't hang out or anything (although she once passed me a bag of gummy bears through a secret backdoor hahaha dodgy much pe kita) but we're on each other's social media so we've been connected online for quite awhile. I've seen her make-up works on Instagram and really liked it but she can do super simple and she can do dramatic bold colours - really versatile!

As a fresh face in the industry, of course tak banyak to showcase but some of her few works here:

 (Source: Lipgloss by Dyana)

Eh, very interesting eh all these MUAs. They all semua ada "by" "by" - you know - Faceworks by Juliana Naim, Magic Touch by Wiwit Anggun, Faces by Sarah dan segala macam by by by lah. Kalau aku lah MUA, mesti aku call myself "Puakaface by Farhana". Siapa yang nak muka make-up nampak macam puaka, ah silalah kasi aku make-upkan muka kau ye hahahahaha (Nampak nampaknye time Halloween je baru make-up services aku akan laku ye)

Ok berbalik kepada kami di studio satu.

I think it's a well-known fact that one of the awesome things about getting service providers who are new to the market is that their rates are usually awesomely cheap, and it's no different for Lipgloss by Dyana! So if you have engagements ke, photoshoots ke, dinner and dance ke, suka suka nak duduk rumah feeling feeling datin sambil tunggu husband balek from kerja ke, and don't see a need to spend a bomb for it then Dyana's your girl for it ok!

Cakap punya cakap pasal fresh faces in the industry, you all ada nampak kelibat fresh new face of a wedding photographer tak??? I got nampak, you know! And it came in this form:

 

(Source: StudiogerakPhotography)

[More stuff over at their Facebook but naturally, not that many wedding albums because they just started out in October! If you like their work and decide to engage them then next time your album pulak lah yang akan masuk their portfolio and tolong other pengantins-to-be decide whether to engage them for wedding photographers ke tak ^^]

Price-wise, same thing - much lower than the big boy players in the market because newbie ma sooooo if you belum dapat wedding photographer, this is a company you can consider - catch them before they naik harga sampai setanding with the other photographers in the market ok!

Ok guys. Since we're on the topic of new players, guess which newbie is also coming into the market???

You see the two pelamins and decor in my instagram pictures above??? Everything painstakingly and lovingly DIY-ed by the pengantins (and their awesome helpers)! Super awesome considering that they're first-timers at this, please. Planning a wedding is tough enough but to pull everything off yourself without professional help??? Takes hard work and dedication, y'all. Respect.

What makes me very happy and excited is that they've decided to establish their own wedding decor and catering company and will be able to cater to different styles and tastes of fellow pengantins-to-be. Shall wait for the newly-weds to come back from their honeymoon (they're flying off only next week) before blogging more about this new venture of theirs.

You all just tunggu snug and tight in your seats ok. Now if you will excuse me, akak have a wedding to go to in an hour's time.

gendang si gendrum

Ok so which one of you buggers did not get engaged or married on 10/11/12???

Hahahahaha kecoh pe Facebook, Twitter and Instagram aku jadinya, everywhere flooded with pictures of engagements and weddings and congratulatory messages for even more engagements and weddings! Congratulations to all 158 Malay-Muslim couples who got married last weekend!

Unsurprisingly, my mat and I had weddings of our good friends to attend, so off to Bedok and Clementi we went last weekend! Ok, I must explain here that I've never really followed my mat to any of his friends-related events like dinner gatherings, housewarming parties, birthday celebrations, weddings, stuff like that - I'm usually busy with my own events or feeling extra bloated or extra pemalu hahahahaha so I almost never make an appearance at his friends' events. Sampai to the point that they actually asked him before whether he really has a girlfriend, whether I actually do exist and jokingly speculated that he must have "an imaginary girlfriend".

SO TAK BAIK YOU ALL.

So when my mat asked whether I wanted to accompany him to his good friend Shahrizat's wedding in Clementi last weekend, naturally I flat out refused and used the excuse that I wanted to stay on at my good friend Sheikh's wedding in Bedok. He quietly grumbled about how we're already engaged and I'm still not open to meeting his friends but knew better than to nag about it.

He must be in luck that day, though - I don't usually change my position no matter how crestfallen he looks, but I was positively buzzing from all the happy wedding vibes and he looked extra adorable quietly grumbling and pujuking his disappointed self that day that I decided oh what the heck, let's go rentas to Clementi together. Anyway, no harm lah, right? Clementi je, ape. Cuma kena bawak passport je.

In the end I was very glad I had that tergerak hati moment to follow him that day because I was "rewarded" in two ways! Firstly, I found out that the caterers for his friend's wedding was Haji Abu Catering when I went to the buffet line! Been wanting to taste their food since berkurun lamanye because I keep hearing good reviews, so it was nice to finally try their food myself.

Hahahahaha yes as you can see, I had to seize the opportunity and tried the usual nasi minyak with sambal goreng pengantin, ayam masak merah and rendang and the mee soto and the gado-gado. His friends must've thought I was such a gelojoh perakus hahaha what what, this is the giveaway signs of an enthusiastic bride-to-be lah ok. Musttt try everything at the wedding baru muai!

[Personal opinion: Have tasted better food from other caterers - and the daging rendang was keras ke-batu! - but I usually forgive if one or two out of so many dishes fall short of expectation because things can't be perfect all the time sooooo overall, the food tasted pretty good and I liked their neat and clean presentation - almost similar, if not the same, as Maria's Le Caterer's presentation. Just the right amount of variety in terms of food (Personally liked their gado-gado sauce! Thick and spicy, yum yum), servers behind food counters were attentive, kendarat was fast and efficient, but not in an annoying way like some over-enthusiastic kendarats who hover over you like a pesky little housefly while you're still trying to savour your last few bites. Eeeyer. At least housefly boleh sebat dengan fly swatter seh. Kalau kau sebat budak kendarat dengan fly swatter kat majlis kahwin orang dah jadi lawak tengahari nama nye tu.]

I know there are quite a number of fellow Malay btbs who keep Googling and keep asking around for Haji Abu Catering punya contacts because the latter does not have a presence on the online platform and social media, which sucks for modern young 'uns like myself who depend on social media to find vendors, read reviews, trawl through albums, etc, when planning a wedding. So for those who are searching for Haji Abu Catering contacts, here you go bbs!

 (There's no email addresses, only handphone numbers, but still better than nothing hor.)

Now for the second "reward" that I'm very excited about!!!

Ok, you see, now that the engagement's out of the way, my mat and I are starting to gear up for our next stage of preparations. The last few months have been very peaceful on the wedding preparation front since we didn't have anything else to do after settling the major vendors on our list, except wait until the next wave due early next year.

We talked about it a few weeks back and decided on five main things that we want to start recce for, and one of the items on our list is a good and reliable kompang group for our reception.

We've started to actively recce a few groups since then, but have not really firmed up on anything because we didn't really have any opinions on the kompang groups that we saw online. (Although a few of them were quite meh). We weren't really too bothered about it though, because we were only planning on recce-ing the players in the market first so that our research can help us decide from a list of kompang groups by the time January next year comes around.

Well, well, whad'dya know?

The kompang group that played at Shahrizat and Nadia's wedding turned out to be awesome!!!

When the kompang group came in to iring the pengantin, I was so impressed ok! The bunyi of their kompang playing was very sedap and crispy (rasa dia sikit sikit macam ayam KFC gitu ah) and it was so loud and thunderous, it created a rancak and bertenaga atmosphere where everyone was so excited to see and sambut the pengantins! Not lemau like some other groups punya kompang playing at all! And something that really, really appealed to me was the fact that the kompang group comprised of sturdy grown men who were dressed to the nines in their matching bright baju melayus and their trademark songkoks adorned with a piece of feather!

Oooooh aesthetic value! Akak very appreciate all these! Look!

(Source: Kompang Zapin Berdendang)

Ok I'm not a fan of anything feathery (Bulu bulu feather ni semua very the feeling feeling cabaret, nyah) but that distinguishing mark of theirs really stood out fabulously enough for me to accept it, man. Even caught the attention of my mat who immediately declared that he was going to have his own feather on his songkok for our nikah!!!!!

Korang tengok ah dekni. Perangai dasar jantan cabaret sak.

Anyway. Bakal laki perangai cabaret who I shall deal with at another time aside.

I posted the picture below on Instagram, and mentioned that it was a lovely wedding with lovely pengantins and that I fell in love with their kompang group!!! My mat thought they were fabulous as well and we agreed that we've found the kompang group for our wedding reception!!!

The first thing we needed to do was find out the name of the kompang group.

My mat texted his friend for the name of the group but we didn't get the answer immediately (For obvious reasons, of course. Aku rasa kalau Shahrizat keluarkan handphone dia kat atas pelamin, itu jam jugak bini dia crack out dia nye whip hahaha) so we thought we'd wait it out. In the end tak payah tunggu lah pun sebenarnya because less than an hour after posting the picture, one of my girlfriends Faezah told me that the kompang group in question is... Kompang Zapin Berdendang!

(Later that night, Shahrizat replied my mat's text and said the name of the group is "Gendrum Network". We did a quick check on Google and Facebook and discovered that both our friends' answers were correct - Kompang Zapin Berdendang is in fact under the wing of Gendrum Network. In other words, sama sama lah aiyah.)

The next step was to watch videos of their performance online to reaffirm our decision on engaging Kompang Zapin Berdendang as our kompang group. Unfortunately, there are no videos of them tengah iring the pengantins (not an issue though, since we've already seen them in action at Shahrizat and Nadia's wedding) but they've posted up videos of their short performances after they iring pengantin - one of our favourites is this one:

So niiiiiccceee! I very like and I very approve! Ada accordion somemore!

In a way, this helps to soothe the ache of sadness I felt after letting go of Sri Mahligai! Tak dapat awesome traditional Malay music at my wedding for 6 hours, dapat sikit for a 3 minute performance pun jadi lah. Jamah sikit so tak kempunan, betul tak, geng! Hur hur hur.

Tanpa berlengah lagi, that night jugak I sent a private message to Kompang Zapin Berdendang on Facebook! For good measure (or a bakal pengantin's irrational anxiety, whichever way you see it haha), I called up the number listed on their Facebook page the next day to confirm that they're available on our wedding date and confirm our booking but my call was unanswered! So I emailed directly to Gendrum Network in hopes that they'll reply faster via emails.

No such luck. It turned into an excruciating week long wait because there was no reply to my Facebook message, no return call and no email reply received. I usually don't bother anymore when a vendor or service provider does not reply within a week but we really like them and we weren't as keen as this when we saw other kompang groups so I decided to make an exception and thought well, ok, let's wait it out then - maybe their administrator has had a very busy week.

Yesterday, my mat and I were discussing about another one of the five major items that we want to settle for the next stage of preparations when I mentioned to him that I was having no luck getting a reply from Gendrum Network/Kompang Zapin Berdendang as a form of update. At the spur of the moment, we opened up their Facebook page again and I saw that there was another number that I hadn't tried yet so I said "Ok let me try texting this number and see whether boleh dapat response."

Lo and behold, we got an almost immediate response and the text correspondence went like this:

"You are in luck." "That's our last slot in November." 

With heart racing and head pounding (a very familiar feeling I've gotten ever since I embarked on this crazy wild journey of planning aggressively for a Malay wedding muahahaha), I immediately flashed the text message to my mat, who shot me a stern "Book." and after that was pure Kahwin Khronicles history - texted the person back with my confirmation and transferred the deposit sepantas gazelle yang kena kejar dengan a pack of lions. It was only after I transferred the deposit and got confirmation that the receipt will be sent to my email inbox come Monday that I could go through my thought process, which went something like this:

"Are you freaking kidding me??? Last freaking slot for November??? Next year??? KOMPANG???"

My mat and I were so relieved after that, we started high five-ing and patting each other on our backs macam baru menang a million dollars from a game show or something hahahahaha (Ok bedek. Kalau betul menang a million dollars, I'll be so happy sampai PENGSAN BERDIRI LAH OK)

SO THAT SETTLES THE PART FOR KOMPANG!!! So much for waiting until early next year to settle it. Hur hur. Looks like we don't really have a need for the list of kompang groups that we've complied! In case you're at the same stage as us and looking for kompang groups for your wedding receptions or whatever other event that you have, I've included the list that we've complied below:

Andika Prak Bing Bing  
Facebook: Andika Prak Bing Bing
Youtube: Andika Prak Bing Bing

Putra Al-Qawi 
Facebook: Putra Al-Qawi
Youtube: Putra Al-Qawi

MizteeQ Services
Facebook: MizteeQ Services
Blog: MizteeQ Services
Youtube: MizteeQ Services

Kompang Fityan Darul Ghufran
Facebook: Fityan Ghufran Love
Blog: Kompang Fityan Darul Ghufran
Youtube: Kompang Fityan Darul Ghufran

Kompang Al-Itqaan
Facebook: Kumpulan Kompang Al-Itqaan
Youtube: Kompang Al-Itqaan

Ilhan Damai
Facebook: Ihman Damai
Youtube: Ilhan Damai

Ikatan Setia
Facebook: Ikatan Setia
Youtube: Ikatan Setia

Kompang Kumpulan Ikhwan & Al-Mujahhid
Youtube: Kompang Kumpulan Ikhwan & Al-Mujahhid

Kencana Kayangan Satria Dewi
Facebook: Kencana Kayangan Satria Dewi
Youtube: Kencana Kayangan Satria Dewi

Kumpulan Kompang Nurul Ihsan
Facebook: Kumpulan Kompang Nurul Ihsan
Youtube: Kumpulan Kompang Nurul Ihsan

Sinaran Surya
Facebook: Sinaran Surya
Youtube: Sinaran Surya

Kompang Warisan Utara & Putri
Facebook: Kompang Warisan Utara & Putri
Youtube: Kompang Warisan Utara & Putri

Kumpulan Kompang Syabab

Facebook: Kumpulan Kompang Syabab 

Twitter: @teamsyabab

Instagram: @teamsyabab

Blog: Kumpulan Kompang Syabab
Team Eva-luna
Facebook: Team Eva-Luna Wedding Services
Website: Team Eva-luna Weddings
Youtube: Team Eva-luna 

Ukiran Rentak
Facebook: Ukiran Rentak
Youtube: Ukiran Rentak

Etrust Services (Kompang by Nurul Iman Connectionz)
Website: Etrust Services
Youtube: Nurul Iman Connectionz

Lanang Warisan
Facebook: Lanang Warisan
Multiply: Lanang Warisan

Kumpulan Kompang Sehati Sejiwa (Qalbu Hapbun)
Facebook: Kumpulan Kompang Sehati Sejiwa
Multiply: Qalbu Hapbun

Sriwana 
Facebook: Sriwana
Website: Sriwana
Youtube: Sriwana Kompang

Sri Warisan
Website: Sri Warisan
Youtube: Sri Warisan

Firqatul Wannazam 
Facebook: Firqatul Wannazam
Youtube: Firqatul Wannazam

 Kompang Kumpulan Al-Muqtadir
Youtube: Kumpulan Kompang Al-Muqtadir

(Kindly note that I do not have contact details of all of the groups listed above because I only got to the stage of compiling names and links, but belum dapat all of their contact details and prices.)

Thank you to Nurul and Seri Pengantin for providing a list of recommended kompang groups as well as trusty old Youtube for recommending links after links of one kompang group's videos to another hahaha wah helpful lor that function! Actually got more groups lurking around Facebook and Youtube but since we already found one kompang group that we really like, now I malas want to go through and put them into the list already.

Biasa lah... Habis madu sepah dibuang! Cis! (Takde link hahaha)

More on what's next on our list in another entry because this one is getting a little bit out of hand already! Seriously minta kena serve with Beyond Parental Control order ah ini blogger hahahahaha

Next up in December! Ashik and Fisz's wedding! Quite excited to attend their wedding because Ashik stays a block away from me so it'll be easy breezy lemon squeezy for me to make my way to his reception - turun lift, walk across the carpark, daaahhhhh selamat sampai haha! Partly also because Fisz's wedding will be held at Siglap Community Centre, and I've been wanting to see how the venue is like. I keep hearing from other people and reading on forums about how Siglap CC is one of the community centres in Singapore that has a special area kat sebelah where you can cook onsite, instead of having to incur extra costs booking a nearby void deck for your caterers to cook and wash. Sounds good hor? Which is why I really want to see how it looks like!

Plus plus plus they shared with me that the rental cost is less than $2K! When most community centres in the East side can easily cost $2+++K! How damn awesome is that!

Really liked their matching matching hard cover invitation cards as well - not my cup of tea but it's really nice and simple and functional and oh ho ho, whad'dya know - it's lovingly designed and printed by the pengantins themselves! So if you want to know what they have to offer in terms of invitation card designing and printing, you can give them a call at their numbers (see below) ok! Sorry no website or Facebook page, I think they're planning to launch full speed ahead only after their wedding.

Ok guys, bergendang bergendrum, over and out!