Vendor Reviews: Dessert Tier, Chiavari Chairs, Kompang, Gubahan, Favours, Photobooths, Bridal Room, Bridal Henna, Bridal Bouquet, Invitations

Fuhyooooo, panjangnya blog title ni.

Lagi panjang masa berlalu, menunggu ini next entry kan hahahahaha.

Okay, ANYWAY, as you all can see now, I've decided to consolidate alllll my reviews for alllll other aspects of my wedding into one entry instead of breaking them down into three smaller entries!

Because akak dah penat and akak dah fed up - akak actually dah almost finishing one super long entry on dessert tier, chiavari chairs and kompang pastu the page got accidentally refreshed terus *POOF* whole entry that I spent three hours on? ALL GONE. Macam magic. Magic yang buat my blood go upstairs into the room and down the toilet bowl.

But HAIZ, what to do lah kan - yang dah lepas tu buat lepas lah ye. Buang yang keruh, ambil yang jernih, baru teguh peribadi, you know! This one not my mother teach but P Ramlee yang teach hahahahaha. So without further ado, I present to you the third and final installment of my review entries!

Wedding Dessert Tier - Dessert Artisans

Services: Dessert Tier

Company: Dessert Artisans

Email: dessertartisans[at]hotmail[dot]com

 Facebook: Dessert Artisans

Website: Dessert Artisans

Another one of my favourite vendors, y'all!!!!! The duo behind Dessert Artisans is one of the most creative and talented and lovely duos I have ever met and we have no regrets choosing them over any other vendors for our wedding dessert tier!!! 

We actually ran into problems for their setup position (as mentioned in my earlier entry, we had to rombak balek the arrangement because there were additional stuff that was not communicated to Saliheen and I) but Dessert Artisans took it in their stride and I'm really, really glad everything worked out in the end :D

Must thank Nani for this really, because we wouldn't have had a dessert tier if not for her - we weren't even considering a dessert tier and it was she who offered to sponsor one for our reception - and it was absolutely ~gor~geous~

Plus point - desserts were yummy hor!!!!! You know how some orang stuff nampak je jambu but the insides and the taste is rubbish? NOTHING OF THAT SORT WITH DESSERT ARTISANS HOR. Enjoyed every single dessert that they laid out, including the mini cake that they oh so very nicely threw in for us!

(Threw in as in include dalam the setup eh, bukan dorang really threw, threw as in campak itu cake. Yang dorang nak campak campak cake ape cerita, mengamuk ke ape.)

In case you aren't familiar with Dessert Artisans' work, they usually don't have cake, like an actual whole cake, on their setup because their Wedding Dessert Tier is actually an alternative to a Wedding Cake table, y'know? So they have cupcakes and other sweet treats to replace the wedding cake. 

But since Saliheen is a pretty convincing whiner who can work a pretty good kitty face if he wants it hahahahaha and he was the one who really meronyok nak "mini white cake with scalloped bunting" *cough* groomsaurus *cough*, the girls graciously obliged with his request. So sweet sehingga membawa diabetes pada usia yang muda kan these two?!?!?!

Oh, and yes - because we signed up with Dessert Artisans during Jentayu Gallery's Wedding Showcase 2012, we were entitled to a special promotion package which included a guestbook table setup for our reception. Which turned out to be SO CANTIK, OF COURSE.

Love it! 

No prizes for guessing who will be our go-to people when we need a dessert tier for our housewarming party... our first anniversary party... our birthday parties... our future baby shower... our future child's first birthday party, our future child's first steps celebration party... #ohtakeh

Chiavari Chairs / Tiffany Chairs Supply - XOXO & Co

Services: Chiavari Chairs

Company: XOXO & CO

Email: contact[at]xoxo-co[dot]com

 Facebook: XOXO & Co

Website: XOXO & Co

I've blogged about XOXO & CO here and here.

All our dealings with XOXO & CO were fuss-free, the owner is super easy-going and we had it lucky because Kasai Sayang and XOXO & CO have worked well with each other several times before. We just left the collection, delivery, set up and teardown all up to them! I also love that the chairs and cushions looked new and clean and fresh so akak gotta give them two giant thumbs up for that :D

So would I recommend XOXO & CO to those who are looking for chiavari chair supply for their weddings or formal events? YES.

Is XOXO & CO the company you should go to for all your chiavari chair needs (haha chiavari chair needs)? Absolutely freaking YES. 

Kompang - Kompang Zapin Berdendang

Services: Kompang

Company: Kompang Zapin Berdendang (under Gendrum Network)

Contact No: Qamar Baba 90223451 / Ayu Sam 90239870

Email: gendrum[at]hotmail[dot]com

 Facebook: Kompang Zapin Berdendang (under Gendrum Network)

I first blogged about Kompang Zapin Berdendang here.

We didn't get any response from them when we wanted to book them initially but we persisted because we wanted them that much... because we knew that they are that good.

Very happy to report that they lived up to our expectations, the sound of the kompang was loud and crisp like we wanted, they looked super good and coordinated in their uniforms and songkok berbulu (hahaha) and I really wished I could've enjoyed their 3-minute performance more thoroughly! (We had guests coming up to the pelamin for phototaking so I couldn't really concentrate all that much) 

Really, really, reaaaaalllllyyyyy hope our videographers or one of our guests steps forward with video footage of their performance. I nak play and replay and replay over and over again macam budak dah kena sasau. 

Gubahan for Gift Trays - Ola Lola

Services: Gubahan for Gift Trays

Company: Ola Lola

Email: sales[at]ola-lola[dot]com

 Facebook: Ola Lola

Website: Ola Lola

I first wrote about Ola Lola here. And a whole lot of times after that.
 

I don't know how many times I've raved and raved about Ola Lola in my blog sampai mulut berbuih (?) but let's just say the dynamic duo behind Ola Lola did not let Saliheen and I down!!! They have REALLY honed their craft in making gubahan trays look like a goddamn million bucks lor.

I also think Ola Lola has turned my mother-in-law into one of their greatest fan girls because she couldn't stop fawning over the gubahan and the macaron favours after our wedding hahahahaha. Baguslah sangat, anak menantu and mak mertua sama sama fawning fawning over Ola Lola. Girl bonding lah konon.

Wedding Favours (Groom's) - Ola Lola

Services: Macarons as Wedding Favours (Groom's Side)

Company: Ola Lola

Email: sales[at]ola-lola[dot]com

 Facebook: Ola Lola

Website: Ola Lola

Macaron favours for our Saliheen's guests + our dinner guests beautifully done by Ola Lola <3

The favours came a little later than scheduled on the wedding day itself but everything arrived before our guests started streaming in so that wasn't an issue for us at all! (In fact Saliheen and I didn't even know about it until way after the wedding hahaha)

We were a little puzzled when we saw the leftovers at the end of the day though - there were a number of macarons which had colours which were different from the ones we ordered. TETAPI. We didn't have an issue with that either because... kita lagi suka ah dapat rasa lain flavours hahahahahahaha. (My mother-in-law mentioned they had a perfectly valid out-of-their-control reason for it anyway so no issues.)

Plus, our guests were just happy to get macaron favours - who the hell cares what colours or shades they are? Yang penting, sedap.

AND SEDAP, THEY WERE. Gua tak bedek, babe. We ordered the macaron favours from Ola Lola with minimal expectations when it came to taste (we had never tasted their macarons prior to our wedding and we didn't think about ordering some for a taste test) but when we finally got to taste some after the wedding, we were blown. 

Saliheen, who usually hates sweet treats, loved them to bits and his mother, who is the ultimate macaron lover, was pleased as punch with them as well. Laki happy, mak mertua happy, I pun - ape lagi - happy jugak lah.

Wedding Favours (Bride's) - MelJ's Genre

Services: Pulut Kuning as Wedding Favours (Bride's Side)

Company: MelJ's Genre

Email: -

 Facebook: MelJ's Genre

I first wrote about MelJ's Genre here.

I had super quick responses from MelJ's Genre and did not worry much about the taste because I've ordered cake pulut from them for my cousin's engagement before, prior to my wedding.

Funnily enough, their delivery was later than scheduled too! I can just imagine both our supermothers sweating buckets in their baju melayu finery, waiting for the favours to arrive hahahahaha.

But I'll give MelJ's Genre the benefit of doubt because like I said, I've liaised with them before and they've never been tardy with me and just don't seem that sort! Plus hari tu kan hari public holiday. Traffic jam terlebih agaknya hari tu. Lagipun they arrived in time before our lunch reception started proper so asalkan sampai and asalkan selamat, okay lah tu.

Taste-wise, my relatives seemed to really like the pulut a lot sampai berebut at the end of the day for the leftovers hahaha and can you believe it - I tried my luck and popped the pulut out from the fridge four days after my wedding and it was still edible!!!!! Awesome lah siol.

I remember telling my supermother about how dead worried I was having pulut as wedding favours - takut cepat basi lah, ape lah - in the end, my worries were unfounded. Baik ah MelJ's Genre punya pulut! Tahun depan mesti menang award Pulut of The Year.

Photobooth - Snap A Picture Services

Services: Photobooth (Lunch Reception)

Company: Snap A Picture Services

Email: snapapicture[at]rocketmail[dot]com

 Facebook: Snap A Picture Services

I first wrote about Snap A Picture Services here.

Is it just me or does Saliheen and I and our wedding have such great luck when it comes to working with teams that comprise of two awesome girls???

The two girls behind Snap A Picture Services, which was our photobooth service provider for our lunch reception, did a super phenomenal job!!!!! The backdrop was great, the props were so cute, and I can see from our guestbook (which they did up for us) how much fun our guests had!!!

Here's just one of our bridal party :D

AND HAVE YOU SEEN THE ULTRA CUTE PHOTO JACKET THEY DESIGNED FOR OUR WEDDING?????

SO cute. Totes diggin' the funky colours and creative use of scallops!

And our pretty guestbook by Snap A Picture Services:

 

It was so kelakar and so fun to flip through our guestbook after the whole wedding was over, you know!!! All the pictures and messages... *happy sigh* 

I really think our decision to get a third party to handle the photobooth for us paid off handsomely. So damn happy we took up their service lor - initially we only had a photobooth for our dinner reception, and not for lunch reception.

Funny story: We were happily reading through the guestbook together when we reached one page that had an elderly guy who took a picture by himself and gave us well wishes that took up almost the whole page (or was it two pages?!) - we were happily reading the message out together when this happened:

Saliheen: "Yang ni, you punya relative yang mane?"
Me: "Eh, ni bukan relative I. Bukan relative you ke?"
Saliheen: "Bukan ah! I tak kenal ni siape"
Me: "I pun tak kenal siape"
Saliheen & Me: "............... Eh siape siak ni?????" *pause* "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA EH SIAK AH SIAPE SIAK NI HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Wahlau eh susah payah orang tu tulis sepanjang tidak sebanyak tidak sebesar tidak, at last dua dua tak tau siapakah gerangan orang itu. Hahahahaha.

Photobooth - Hello Forever

Services: Photobooth (Dinner Reception)

Company: Hello Forever

Email: hello[at]helloforever[dot]com[dot]sg

 Facebook: Hello Forever

Website: http://www.helloforever.com.sg/

In case you're wondering who the hell these two people are, they're the Hello Forever staff that tended our photobooth during the dinner reception hahahahaha. Bahagia pe hidup, asyik ambik gambar kat photobooth orang je!

CANNOT EXPRESS HOW FREAKING MUCH SALIHEEN AND I LOVE LOVE LOVE THE PHOTOBOOTH FROM HELLO FOREVER!!!!! The staff was crazy energetic, the quality was crazy fabulous and everything was just... freaking awesome. Now all I need to do is find another reason to spend thousands of dollars to engage their services again hahahahaha.

Compilation of pictures done by Hello Forever here (I know I've posted this up before but nak post lagi pulak. Aku punya blog ke kau punya blog?):

Hello Forever | Saliheen & Farhana from Hello Forever on Vimeo.

Don't think I'll ever get sick of looking at our Hello Forever booth pictures. Check back with me again fifty years from now, I'll probably still be trying to find every rhyme and every reason to post and share this video with everyone mehehehehehe.

Bridal Room - Bonito By Bob

Services: Bridal Room

Company: Bonito By Bob

Email: bonitobybob[at]hotmail[dot]com

 Facebook: Bonito By Bob

Website: Bonito By Bob


 I first blogged about Bonito By Bob here and here.

What else can I say about my fabulous maha fabulous bridal room by Bonito By Bob except that it was FREAKING FABULOUS????? I LOVED my bridal room setup to the core of my being and I LOVE Bob even more. He is the sweetest, greatest person ever and his crew is made up of sweet and hardworking individuals. And they are the people who should be doing YOUR bridal room okay!!!!!!!

I'm still pretty embarrassed Bob had to see my bedroom in its horrible and messy and dirty state hahahahaha - he had to clear under my bed and mop the floor segala, you know!!!!! I naively thought I wouldn't have to clear the shit under my bed (because tak nampak ape.....) but Bob did it all the same because he is fantastic at perfecting his work like that.

It is a ridiculous shame that he is no longer providing his mad creative gubahan services anymore but I understand why there is a need for him to stop the service (*teeny voice* for a short temporary period, I hope?) and can only wish him all the best in his future endeavors. Cheh, formal gila or what, sampai keluarkan future endeavours segala. Asal tak naik pentas kasi medal of honour sekali hahahahaha. 

Bridal Henna - Syraskins

Services: Bridal Henna

Company: Syraskins 

Email: syraskins[at]gmail[dot]com

 Facebook:Syraskins

I've mentioned Syraskins here, and my opinion have not changed since.

Syra and her sister came to do my bridal henna two days before my wedding - they were pleasant and quick and I genuinely feel that their henna designs are one of the best in Singapore.

Can't seem to find the pictures that have my bridal henna close up but I was happy they listened and let me have the "paling basic paling simple" design that I wanted. (Some of you might know how I feel about henna because I've blogged about it here and here.)

Bridal Bouquet - Facelift Design

Services: Bridal Bouquet

Company: Woodleigh Park (under Facelift Design)

Email: info[at]faceliftdesign[dot]biz

 Facebook: Woodleigh Park

You know how I feel about Woodleigh Park from my posts here and here. (That's right, I love them to bits and pieces.)

I still remember the feeling of deliriousness when I first held the bouquet in my hands and I truly and genuinely believe that if you are a bride-to-be who wants a modern, gorgeous and well-thought out bridal bouquet but can't find the time to DIY or can't be bothered to DIY (like me), Woodleigh Park is the company to engage.

Pictures of me in three different looks with my bridal bouquet:

Little beauty is now sitting in my bedroom, by the way!

Might dedicate a special space for it when I get my own home and have more space to place around, we'll see how it goes.

 Wedding Invitations - From Fran With Love

Services: Wedding Invitations

Company: From Fran With Love

Email: fromfranwithlove[at]gmail[dot]com

 Facebook: From Fran With Love  

I wrote about From Fran With Love here and here. I was very happy with the colour and quality of my invitation cards which was designed and printed by From Fran With Love and would definitely recommend them to those who are looking to print their invitation cards, favour tags, gubahan tray tags, etc!

And Farhana, the person behind From Fran With Love, lives up to her name okay! She is always happy and bubbly, she is super nice and patient and she is very efficient. Akak very suka. Sebab akak punya name pun Farhana. Hahahahahaha. Masuk bakul, angkat sendiri, y'all!!!!!

(For reviews on heavyweights for my wedding like catering, decor, entertainment, bridal outfits and andaman, photography and videography, you can refer to my earlier blog entries here and here.

Also, if you've emailed me anytime between the mid of December and now and have not received my reply, please bear with me!!!!! I've been sluggish during the holiday period and I'm only starting to pick up momentum now - and clearing a month's worth of email backlog is NO JOKE.)

******************************

And with that, pop your champagne, pop your booty, because my reviews on all my wedding vendors are complete already!!!!!!!!!!

One last entry, and I'm out of here.

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.

The Dinner Reception

And finally... here comes the last part of the wedding - the dinner reception!

It was a freaking mad rush from our outdoor photoshoot back to our wedding venue for the dinner reception because we (and our vendors) only had turnover time of about 2 hours before the dinner reception starts proper!

There was a whole lot of madness that happened between that two tight hours but if I were to list them all.......... I will finish writing this entry only in the year 2020 lah kan. But if there is one thing that I really want to mention and express my thanks for is the fact that I was so freaking glad I opted to top up for fresh make-up!!! Penting wor!!!

My face was thick with oil and grim and what disgusting have yous by the time we returned to the venue - I actually started feeling very icky during the later part of the sanding reception already so to be able to wash off the thick gunk and have fresh make-up for the dinner reception felt SO GOOD.

We have A WHOLE LOT of people to thank particularly for the success of our dinner reception but I'll leave that to the 'Thank you' entry that will precede the end of this blog (Yes, there will be a 'Thank you' entry lol) so let's just jump straight in to the story now lah okay:

Us, getting ready for the night:

And this is us, all ready to get the party staaarteddddddd!

Orang orang kuat! Roll out!

We marched in to Mozella's Love is Endless, as mentioned here.

I look damn toothy in all the march-in pictures, but that's because I was grinning so hard, I was so exhilarated!!!!! I really don't know how to describe the whole experience but it was truly a special kind of joy to see beaming, happy faces of all our friends who made the time and effort to come celebrate our love and happiness :,) 

Us, giving our half-baked speeches lol (I dilly dallied on preparing my speech and ended up with NO speech prepared on wedding day. So I just blurted a quick impromptu one, as did Saliheen.):

Settling down to give way to the video highlights and our speech givers...

Love love love our wedding video highlights, by the way! Well worth the same-day edit top up and the video editor used the song we suggested (Love is Easy by McFly) so it was nice to groove to something we like :D

Ahmad and Nadiah were our speech givers that night. Sayang korang!

Not posting up the picture of Nadiah giving the speech because... she will haunt my dreams as a cik pon if I do hahahahahaha. (Tip to all photographers: NEVER EVER photograph a plus-sized person from a bottom angle. EVER.)

Lainlah kalau it's someone skinny like my brother-in-law.....

(Brother-in-law seh...)

And yes, my brother-in-law ended up giving a speech, too! It was a last minute addition because he told my mamat he wanted to give a speech about two weeks before the wedding. Ngawww. The addition kind of dragged the time for a bit though, and I was feeling slightly anxious about making people wait for their food but I guess it turned out fine in the end? :/

(My mamat specifically didn't want to make our guests wait for the video highlights and speeches to be over before they can makan the food macam Chinese weddings so we explicitly stated in our wedding website AND we made our wedding emcee announce that guests were free to take their food before the ceremony started (before we marched in) and they were free to eat during the speeches as well.

But nobody moved an inch towards the buffet tables pun so everyone ended up waiting for the video highlights and speeches to end before they had their fill!!!!! This one I blame my mamat bulat bulat okay! I told him it's natural for guests to wait until after the video highlights and speeches before they help themselves to the buffet so no matter what you do, it will happen that way - after all, it's only good manners, and I would think all our colleagues and friends have that, right?! 

But nooOOOoooOoooOoo, he insisted that if we give notice and the emcee makes the announcement urging guests to start eating first before our march-in and during the speeches, people won't have to starve through the video highlights and speeches. PFFT. Yet another instance where I am proven right but will this rebel without a cause listen to me the next time we try to sort through a possible issue?!?!?! NooOOOoooOoooOoo)

Ho well. Dah terjadi. At least everyone enjoyed their food in the end! :D

And yes, that's our guest seating chart which I love love looovvveeeee ♥ ♥ ♥

But I wished I had left the description of which group goes to which tables... apparently some guests didn't know where to start bila nak cari their names! 

Actually the initial draft had the description of all the groups e.g. 1 - TNPS, 2 - TNPS, 3 - TKGS, 4 - TKGS, 5 - TP, but the descriptions made the design look jarring + Saliheen and I have mutual friends yang cannot be categorized into a description (Macam mana nak explain eh????? Susah.) so we scrapped that off. Heh. So sorry kepada mereka meraka yang had to spend some time trying to find your names eh hehehehehe

Besides our guest seating chart, one of the stars of the evening was Dessert Artisans' freaking amazing dessert tier, of course!!! My mamat and I were extremely pleased with it and so were the guests!!!!! But of course, reviews will come in a separate entry lah ye, macam tak tau pulak the SOP by now :P

SO AWESOME HOR?! ♥ ♥ ♥

It was SO awesome, someone was caught on camera hijacking desserts off the setup that night.......... 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. EVIDENCE KUAT PE ILI!!!!!

And Nunu, you jangan nak ketawa ketawa eh, what is this I hear about you running around with a plate of Puteri's desserts around the hall????? Hahahahahahahaha!

Oh oh oh, by the way, I should also mention that Dessert Artisans did not just set up our wedding dessert tier that night - they were also responsible for the maha lovely guestbook and guest reception table for our dinner reception tau!!!!! This guest reception table setup came complimentary with the package that we booked with them at last year's wedding exhibition held by Jentayu Gallery (See, this is why people go to wedding exhibitions, you know. To get discounts and freebies. Although we went to that exhibition with no intention of booking anything lah actually :P)

Yummy nak mampos macaron favours from Ola Lola for our dinner guests! ♥

Favours were arranged by my little fairies tau! Little fairies being my sisters, my cousin Mimi and our family friend (who is also my middle sister's good friend) Haziqah - I enlisted their help because I knew my bridesmaids would have their hands full, what with the tight turnover time to clean up and get everything running, and having extra (helpful) hands wouldn't hurt.

I was so happy with them in the end because they were such great help!!! Oh, and apparently, salah satu of them was the one who came up with the brilliant idea of displaying the macaron favours on the table in an 'S ♥ F' arrangement and I totes love it!!! So teratur and pretty!!! Made for pretty pictures for our guests, who snapped pictures of the arrangement and posted them on Instagram!

I would have been happy enough if the macaron favours were just stacked up nicely so this is above and beyond my expectations ♥♥♥

(Side story: When I first enlisted their help, I told my sisters I'll call their group "my little elves". My baby sister, being the cute, naive and maha selenge bacin girl that she is, actually asked innocently: "Huh??? Kakak nak kita dress like little elves during the dinner???" HAHAHAHAHA LEPAK KE APE KAU BUDAK. 

Was almost tempted to rent elf costumes for them after that!!! Tapi takpe lah, nanti orang ingatkan early Christmas dinner lah pulak :P)

And of course, the other star of the reception would be our Hello Forever photobooth, of course!!!!! AKU MAHA SAYANG ITU PHOTOBOOTH TAU!!! But more on that in my review entry, lagipun you guys would have seen the video of all the photobooth shots which I posted here, and reproduce below:

Hello Forever | Saliheen & Farhana from Hello Forever on Vimeo.

Another thing that we were very happy about was our wedding emcee pairing up with our videographers during our dinner reception to walk around and get guests to record video dedications for us!

We didn't catch everyone's video dedications while they were ongoing because we were busy walking from table to table to mingle with our guests when we weren't on the pelamin taking pictures, so now we can't wait to see the actual video footage of all the dedications!!! (We can't wait to watch the whole wedding video lah, period.)

Oh, and in case I didn't make it clear enough - our dinner reception was made up of our colleagues and friends only, by the way. Right from the start, we'd already agreed that we'd want an arrangement that can separate our families and relatives from our colleagues and friends for our wedding.

The main reason for this was because we wanted to have more time to interact with our colleagues and friends during our wedding rather than a quick phototaking session and a rushed "hi! congratulations! bye!", which is something that usually happens when we go for our friends' wedding receptions.

This became one of our best decisions because we were really happy with how the dinner reception turned out and we definitely got what we wanted - we had time to chat and mingle with our different groups of friends, even took photobooth shots with some of them, and our friends didn't have to worry about "kena kasi family members ambik gambar dulu" or anything of that sort. Senang cakap, they didn't have to compete with our relatives for space and attention, and we were very, very, very pleased with that.

And with that.......... THE WEDDING IS OVER, SUCKERS!!!!!!! 

OVER! FINISH! FINITO! THE END! HAAAAABIS!

Aku punya blog entries je yang macam tak habis habis ni.