a story about bob and cherrie

Have you guys seen the bridal room decor and in-house dias setup by Bonito By Bob???

(Thank you @nraishah for the pictures!!! Such a darling, this girl.)

Saw these on Aishah's Instagram and I was squealing all over (dalam hati je... sebab time tu tengah dalam train haha) So damn refreshing and cantik kan??? I especially love the bridal room decor!!! 

I'm not going to have any bridal room decor for my own wedding since my reception will be held somewhere else so takde chance nak consider pun :( (Well, I am planning to spruce my bedroom up a liiiiittle bit though, since I'll be getting ready at home and our photographer will take pictures of me in my bedroom segala kan)

But if you're looking for a vendor who can do a different kind of bridal room decor + in-house dias, Bonito By Bob might be the perfect vendor for you!!!!! Some other samples (which is tak banyak at the moment, because they kind of just started on this whole bridal room, in-house dais thingamajig)

(Credit: Bonito By Bob)

If you need a vendor to do your gubahan trays sekaligus, even better - Bonito By Bob can conceptualize and decorate them for you too! Their gubahan trays are very cute miut okay! I first knew about Bonito By Bob because of their gubahan trays actually - another bride-to-be (Shaz from Glitter On My Finger, I think) tweeted about them earlier this year and their gubahan trays left an impression on me because they were so cute and totally up my alley :P

They got the laci laci kind... 

(Suka eh dorang laci laci ni semua... bridal room decor pun banyak laci kat belakang haha!)

... the acrylic box kind...

... as well as the normal tray kinds lah. Oh, they also have gubahan trays yang ada crate tau!

(Credit: Bonito By Bob's Website)

For those who want a little bit of kelainan! :D

I'd advise bakal pengantins who will have the Mean Makciks Movement at their weddings to steer away from the crates though, because you know lah their mulut... mesti ada je comment dorang when it comes to something that looks different from what they are used to. Mulut tempayan boleh ditutup, mulut makcik how you want to tutup? Tenyeh dengan chilli and sireh pun their mulut lagi pedas, girl. No challenge.

But well, talking about sireh...

(Credit: Bonito By Bob)  

... even their sireh dara looks different hor?! In a super cute new way! Hehehe.

I wonder if they're ever done / considered doing bridal bouquets since they're so crafty?!

But even if they haven't done / not considering bridal bouquet services, you know who you can approach for cute bouquets for your engagements or weddings tak?????

Cherriesmitten!!!!!

I sangat suka with her presentation okay! Jom kita lihat her wonderful creations:

 (Credit: Cherriesmitten)

The perfect option for people who'd love to have fresh flower bouquets for their engagements or weddings or even any other special occasion lah! 

This Cherriesmitten make my tangan very gatal you know, macam nak order bouquets for my bridesmaids all! But this is not really a need (more like a want, hehe) and since I don't want to incur more costs for the wedding (cukup, Tipah, cukuppppppp!), this shall remain an angan angan.

But just because it's angan angan for me, doesn't mean it is just an angan angan for other people so if you're looking for someone to do your bridal bouquet with fresh flowers... tau tau lah nak buat ape lah eh. Kalau tak tau, meh I kasi you tau:

Click here to follow Cherriesmitten on Instagram lah, ape lagi.

Alternatively, you can email her at cherriesmitten[at]gmail[dot]com for orders. 

But for those yang prefer brooch/satin bouquets, there are other options such as House of Bouquet and Budgetnista Chic, besides Cradle Love and Heirbloom Bridal Bouquet Couture - who is having a September Sale for first ten 2014 BTBs who confirms their order right now by the way! - (my bridal bouquet choice, Woodleigh Park, does fresh flower bouquets and corsage bouquets.) Ni kalau you tak nak choose the tukang buat brooch bouquet yang pernah main busuk earlier this year ah.

Oh, and is it just me, guys... or did I see such lawa modern weddings happening during my bachelorette weekend??? Saw two or three weddings with a modern twist on social media and I was so happy to see them!!! Might blog about one of the weddings in the next post because I am semangat about pretty weddingy things like that :D

demi cintaku padaku wahai si kotak

Ingat tak few months ago I wrote about acrylic boxed gift trays?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Tak ingat??? Benda cantik boleh eh tak ingat??? Ok meh I tolong ingatkan, come sini, you baca here.

Kan last I mentioned the two local vendors who I know offers acrylic boxed gift trays in their gubahan selection are Jentayu Gallery and Love Createz??? Now I iz very excited and I iz very suka because the vendor doing my gift trays pun dah introduce acrylic boxed gift trays to their gubahan selection!!!!!

                

 (Source: Ola Lola)

Of course tanpa berlengah dan tanpa berhegeh lagi I emailed Ola Lola to chope these trays!!!!! Champion eh, gubahan pun kena main chope chope. Heh heh.

The only thing that's sliiightly bugging me is the fact that one of my barang dulang will probably be without an acrylic box because it won't fit the box dimensions. Which means it might look cacat! Oh, the travesty! Ni semua my mamat punya pasal ah! (Kesian itu anak kena dipersalahkan hahaha eh but really his fault lor)

TE-TA-PI! Oleh kerana this newest offering from Ola Lola is tooooo cantik to ignore, I shall try very, very hard to ignore it because... seriously takde maksud eh nak anal sampai macam tu.

Self-service terajang diri sendiri satu, please.

bought, sealed, delivered in an arcylic box

Another promo for chiavari chairs... this time from Jentayu Gallery!

Sekarang memang tengah musim promo for chiavari chairs eh??? Ingatkan buah durian buah rambutan je ade musim, promo chiavari chairs pun ada musim seh hahahahaha

And in case you missed their hantaran gifts promotion earlier (also for January 2013 to April 2013 weddings):

(Source: Jentayu Gallery + Photography by The ProjectPixel Photography)

Siapa siapa yang very the suka and don't mind forking out a bit more for dulang hantaran that use the acrylic box kind macam yang dalam the gambar atas (very the chic, you!) can grab this promo from Jentayu Gallery! Sungguh best kan! Of course yang buat tak best is if they no longer have available slots for your wedding date! But don't fret if you're too late to grab their promo - there's one other vendor whom I know dah start providing acrylic box type of hantaran trays in Singapore, and that vendor is Love Createz:

(Source: Love Createz)

(Question: Kalau nak pakai this arcylic box style of hantaran tray, means the barang inside must be of certain length or height lah eh? Quite restrictive seh. Unless your barang barang memang cute mute belaka ah.)

Personally not really a fan of their style but we all know lain orang lain citarasa so you can choose between these two vendors if this is the type of dulang hantaran that you're looking for ok! Kalau kat Malaysia jangan cakap lah, geng. Dari dulu dah bertepek tepek bendealah dulang hantaran yang pakai acrylic box ni. Vendor and pengantin Malaysia tengok kitaorang berebut rebut baru nak start pasang ini arcylic box, diorang flip hair flip tudung segala ok.

Kalau you're the rajin sort pulak, you can always go up to Malaysia, buy the acrylic box and materials segala for yourself, DIY your own hantaran dulangs pastu lepas majlis kahwin and have no personal use for them lagi you can always rent the materials to upcoming brides-to-be at a much cheaper rate! Side business opportunity! Mesti ada interested parties punya. 

Alternatively kalau you don't want to risk other people jahanamkan the materials if you rent them out then you boleh buat as perhiasan rumah, put barang barang that's very dear or significant to you and your spouse on the trays and pasang the acrylic boxes, pastu buat macam showcase for all your tetamu yang datang rumah to look see look see. Buat macam museum. Mesti all your rude and intrusive makcik pakcik kaypo yang suka masuk tengok your bilik without permission will be very delighted with such things. (Please tell me everyone else has this kind of kaypo makcik pakcik in their midst, and it's not just me!)

onward to the second stage of preparation, comrades!

Looks like half of the items on our list for the next stage of proceedings are more or less settled!

Padahal supposed to look see look see dulu aje tau then early January 2013 baru start chop, but after kita dah recce and we like what we see, we didn't want to hegeh or bother ourselves with details any longer so out out out the deposits go. No pain, no gain, no guts, no glory, y'all.

1. Kompang

Signed, sealed and happily settled with Kompang Zapin Berdendang!

2. Kursus rumahtangga (Pre-Marriage preparation course)

Already identified when and where we want to attend the pre-marriage preparation course and am now waiting for 2013 slots (at the masjid that we want to go to) to open! Called the main centre and they said most probably December baru the slots will keluar.

Ni macam baru betul kalau gua bukak line "Lu tunggu Christmas ka pa?!" hahahahaha

3. Berkat (Wedding favours) 

I last wrote about berkat here and here and since then, both our mothers (whom we've given the right and freedom to choose our wedding favours) has stuck to their choices, which is pulut kuning with telur merah and macarons respectively. Very decisive, I very like!

I'm also liking the fact that these two items are such a contrast from each other  - pulut kuning with telur merah is such an old school berkat whereas macaron is such a modern berkat. Berkat yang lama bergading bahu dengan berkat yang baru at a combined reception, fuhhhhh dah macam sepakat membawa berkat, babe! (Takde link as usual hahahaha)

My mum's been bugging me about confirming her orders and placing the deposit... I think she maha excited about her pulut kuning and telur merah berkat because she's not the sort who bugs me about stuff! Hahaha so cute lah my mother ni. Pasal decor, dia tak kacau aku, pasal bridal, dia tak kacau aku, pasal catering, dia tak kacau aku, pasal berkats pulak dia betul punya enthu.

Ok lah, terus terang I was sliiightly dragging my feet on this because as much as I lurrrvvveee the idea of pulut kuning and telur merah as wedding favours (so nostalgik!), I'm still takut and apprehensive about my mum's berkat choice because I'm concerned about the quality of the pulut kuning berkats! It's quite tricky to maintain the freshness of pulut kuning and I wouldn't want the pulut kuning to become basi when my family gives them out to guests :(

But almost every other day the goddamn berkat issue bugs me to end sampai otak aku yang naik basi ok! So I decided to tawakkal and went ahead to book the berkat for my mum few days ago. SETTLE THE KETTLE. No more thinking about pulut sampai brain cells pun boleh basi.

In my previous entry on berkats, I mentioned Ovenly Sweet and Rasa Syiokur @ Breeze Bait (and Rita Pretty Pastries but she confirmed with me that she does not do bulk orders for pulut kuning - such a shame, because she's super friendly!) but I ended up booking the pulut kuning favours with MelJ's Genre! Mostly because Ovenly Sweet did not reply my messages and because both my mum and I prefer MelJ's Genre punya design over Rasa Syiokur @ Breeze Bait.

My encounter with MelJ's Genre is another one of those twist of fate moments that I've experienced on this wedding preparation journey! (Which I'm very versyukur about, Alhamdullilah):

Added them on Facebook sometime back for something totally unrelated - a girlfriend asked me for contacts for coconut blossoms earlier this year and I happened to see MelJ's Genre's blossoms picture tagged on someone's wall so I added them to see more of their albums - but somehow when I was compiling information for pulut kuning berkat, I didn't notice them in my Facebook list (which is why they're not listed in my initial list for pulut kuning berkat vendors).

As mentioned previously, I was dragging my feet on this pulut kuning business until sometime last two weeks, I thought ok stop stalling and let's get this settled once and for all. Logged in my Facebook account and lo and behold - a picture of their berkat pulut kuning appeared at the top of my feed!!! Coincidental maha coincidental sak. Realized that I missed them out after checking through my list so I immediately messaged them to for quotes! Took me two weeks to finally sit down and show pictures to my mum, who immediately approved the design and quote, so I gave them my confirmation, deposit transferred and there you go: another piece of kahwin khronicles history.

 

(Source: MelJ's Genre)

Silly thought but I'mwondering why the name was MelJ's Genre seh. Kenapa genre? Pulut pun ada genre eh? Pulut soul? Pulut reggae? Pulut rock? Pulut pop? Pulut K-pop? And kenape MelJ? Adik beradik dengan Mel B and Mel C from the Spice Girls ka? Tapi ni Spice Girls dah bercampur dengan rendang spices ka? Hahahahaha)

Ok ok I'll quit it with the cheap lawak jenaka and move on to the next part on our quest for wedding berkat - now for my mat's side! His mum right from the start memang dah cakap nak macarons so I've been looking for vendors on her behalf - as of now, I have three vendors who have given quotes:

Cake Love Couture: I've mentioned that their stuff are very sedap before and I trust that their macarons will be just as sedap but I'm not a big fan of the speed of their response (the lack of it, rather) - so I'm not going to consider them.

Sweet Merveilles (under Macarons, Cookies and Cakes): Never tasted their stuff before so I don't know what to expect. Seems nice and reliable enough, and gives very prompt response. Thought of getting a sampler pack so we can taste their macarons before making a decision.

Ola Lola: I was pleasantly surprised when they told me they do bulk orders for macarons as wedding favours because I was under the impression that they do smaller quantities! Am paling keen on them - they'll be doing our dulang hantarans anyway so satu shot sekali ah kirakan.

I also asked Dessert Artisans but they have their hands full with our wedding dessert tier that weekend so they can't quote us for macaron wedding favours heh heh heh.

There's also another player in the market who does sweet treats like macarons for wedding favours but I cannot seem to put my finger as to why I don't really fancy or trust this company / person all that much. I know it might seem silly to not trust and engage a company / person based on a gut feeling but better to be safe than sorry, tio bo?

Anyway I mentioned about this person to Nani, who gave me a good reason as to why I might be feeling this way: she is always posting pictures of "inspiration" - which is totally fine by the way - but the problem is she posts very little pictures of her own creations. Even the very few pictures that she does post are heavily editted or angled in such a way that you cannot really tell the quality of her workmanship. Sorry eh geng, lu dodgy, gua dodge, selamat jalan romeo, sister!

Anywaaayyyyy, the update on this is:

We've decided not to wait any longer and have confirmed our interest with Ola Lola! Waiting for them to confirm that we can transfer our deposit before this berkat issue can be laid to rest and our minds will have more space to think about other more pressing wedding-related issues like deciding on a wedding theme once and for all!!! Maklumlah, akak ni one year away from being on the wrong side of my twenties, memory space pun makin lama makin kurang and makin karat. Akak punya bakal pulak jangan cakap, memang dah maha on the wrong side of twenties pun.

 (Source: Ola Lola)

4. Barang barang dulang

Nothing concrete yet - although we do have a more or less confirmed list of the type of things that we want to put on the dulangs - but we'll definitely borong during the next Great Singapore Sale! This one cannot bring forward in advance eh because sale period memang dah fixed June/July 2013.

Also glad we have flying friends (no, no, not pigeons or fatimah rockers, mak ai SERAM PE kalau ada kawan pigeons or fatimah rockers hahaha) and travelling friends who are willing to help us purchase our stuff from overseas to take advantage of the cheaper costs, if need be! His parents might also be going to London sometime in June next year for his brother's graduation and we're hoping to tumpang bahagia by kirim-ing an item or two for our dulangs heh heh heh

5. Wedding Bands

December is coming up in a week's time so let the Christmas sales begin!!!

Since we didn't buy a ring for my mamat masa time beli cincin for my engagement, we're not very sure how the selection is like for lelaki rings - will need to set aside one of the weekends before Christmas to pergi recce wedding bands. Sesiapa yang baru jejak masuk ke alam wedding planning ni, ingat eh, number one golden rule among the kakak kakak kahwin network is that you must always always always wait for Great Singapore Sale or pre and post Christmas/Chinese New Year sales to buy cincin tunang or cincin kahwin because the harga all kena slash maha slash!!! If you beli your barang barang outside of these sales period punya windows then you're either terlalu selenge or terlalu kaya. Or both. Or mintak kena back hand.

6. Bridal Henna

Henna is not really an issue now since I've already made my booking with my henna artist sometime in March this year. (Not because slots get snapped up fast but because I already knew who I wanted and didn't want to put it off.) I mentioned before that I'm not a fan of henna but my dad will probably make noise about it and henna is seriously something that is perkara kecik as compared to all the other wedding-related things. My feelings towards henna is impartial anyway (I don't love it but I don't hate it either - same as my feelings towards cats! Meow~) and I can choose to opt a super simple design anyway sooooo book bridal henna it was! And with Syraskins it was!

Very glad I booked with Syraskins because the owner is so so so uber nice and prompt!

Ok what happened is really caused by my gatalness because what happened was: I initially booked my henna appointment date on the Friday afternoon before the wedding - thought it through and decided that it was too close for comfort, and what happens if I have last minute things to do on that day?! So I recently asked to change the appointment date to the Thursday before the wedding date via email, got a phonecall from Quraisha from Syraskins letting me know the available timeslots to choose from and I carelessly chose an 11am timing (tengah tak concentrate seh tu... I was tucking in to my Samurai burger leh!).

Processed the idea after that but realized I didn't like the idea of waking up early to get the bridal henna done (hahaha what WHAT) and what if I want to schedule my spa session that Thursday afternoon?! Ok probably won't make any difference but I'd rather not "kacau" the henna on my hands and feet right after it's applied *cough* irrational fear *cough* Called Quraisha again to ask if I can change to an afternoon timeslot instead - unfortunately, the best timeslot (6pm) already taken by another bride-to-be :(

Had to make do with a night timeslot instead, which I guess is ok lah because I don't plan on doing anything intricate (so I shall assume the process will take a shorter time) and it also means that I will have time on that Thursday afternoon to settle other stuff before winding down with a henna appointment (Apa ni?! Two days before the wedding masih planning "to settle other stuff" ni?!)

Quraisha was super nice and patient and oh so bubbly with me even though I kept changing my appointment  - BOO ME!- and I am so grateful she didn't reach out through the computer screen or telephone to give me a tight bitchslap even though she should have lah seriously. Benda lain boleh decisive tapi bila part henna menggelabah semacam. Ape maksuddddd.

Bridal henna prices and packages are easily found on Syraskins' Facebook page!

Some designs from their Silver package:

 

... and some from their Gold package:

(Source: Syraskins)

Another bride-to-be blogger Strip Shidah did an entry on bridal henna here before so if you're more particular about bridal henna than I am, you might want to read on. Tapi kalau tak particular pun boleh baca because she listed down some tips on booking bridal henna... very useful!

Ok dah tu je for now. Next step is to meet my future mother-in-law to run through decor ideas!!! :O

But that one I kena come back and bukak entry baru pulak ok. Kalau tak nanti overrun pulak entry I ni nanti.