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.

wedding errands over the weekend

Updates from the weekend, bbs!

As mentioned in my previous entry, I had two wedding errands last weekend:

Make-up trial with Lipgloss By Dyana Zainal

I had a make-up trial session with Lipgloss by Dyana Zainal on Saturday and was warmly greeted by Dyana and her parents when I reached their place in time for my 2pm appointment! Made myself comfortable on the high chair inside Dyana's make-up room (?) and she started the whole process almost immediately. Prompt!

We chatted easily during the session - might be because we have mutual friends and acquaintances and we've known each other for awhile now. Anyway! After about an hour and a half of chatting and brushing and applying (her) and whining that "this is the heaviest my eyes have ever felt" (me HAHA) this was the outcome:

Tadaaaaa~! I kasi 'Before' and 'After' shot lah eh so boleh nampak the difference.

Anyway, the application was clean and rapi and I was especially pleased with the blush contouring (?) and lip colour. Super love the eyeliner too because that was exactly what I requested!!! My only issues with the look were:

(1) The darker upper portion of the eyeshadow? Too dark for me. To be fair, I asked for dramatic eye make-up whereas the rest of the face has to be more natural... But I think it might be because of the fact that I seldom use eyeshadow so to me anything eyeshadow is aready dramatic enough lah kan hahaha. Told Dyana to tone it down and change to a lighter colour so I'm hoping that that'll work better for me;

(2) The eyebrow colour is a taddddd too thick for my liking so I've asked Dyana to tone it down for the actual photoshoot as well! You know, as much as I'd like to try having ulzzang eyebrows, I think I'll play it safe and stick to my typical kening minah Melayu. Haha! My original eyebrows already minahfied so jangan perasan nak ulzzang eyebrows, please. Makan kimchi hari hari pun belum tentu menjadi.

So aaaaaanyway I am super duper glad Dyana offered me a make-up trial because I found it really useful!!! I used the session to tell her what I like and what I didn't fancy that much and it prepped me for how I might look like on the actual photoshoot day.

Of course, trials can never guarantee that the actual day look will be exactly the same lah but at least you get the feel of it and can ask the MUA to level up or tone down the thickness etc, like how I did with Dyana during our session.

Okay come, I nak show one more gambar yang I tak post kat Instagram:

 

 Hehe miang!

Oh by the way, Dyana tried two different lip colours on me - one in pink and one in nude - but I preferred the nude one better because it looks more... neutral? I don't really like pink lip colours in the first place lah so memang dah biased dah in the first place. (And is it just me OR IS MY HAIR BESAR PANJANG ALREADY *denial*)

Collection of Invitation Cards from Farhana of From Fran With Love

The day after the trial, I went to Causeway Point with my family to buka puasa before heading to Farhana from From Fran With Love punya place to collect the invitation cards! This one is for the afternoon reception guests on my side pulak - the ones for my mamat's afternoon reception guests and the ones for our dinner reception already printed and collected in June (blogged about it here)

Come come, nak sneak peek tak! Kalau tak nak pun taaaaakpe, I nak tunjuk jugak. You tak happy you boleh tutup mata je lah ok.

Opted for customized design instead of something off her existing collection so I had to give FFWL the details that I wanted for my afternoon reception cards. Was a very fun process!!! Don't know if it was as fun for FFWL ah hahahahaha but I really love and appreciate her dedication and patience throughout the whole thing.

Cute little map that FFWL designed for the cards! 

(Oh, we opted for NO maps for our dinner reception invitation cards by the way -  we're assuming our tech-savvy friends akan auto and akan check Google Maps for directions. Let's hope this decision does not backfire on us lah eh ha ha ha ha ha.)

All 400 cards waiting to be distributed to my side of the family and my parents' colleagues!!!!! Okay fine not all 400 cards, technically only 350 are up for distribution but it's better to be safe than sorry yes? Ordered extra just in case terlupa ada makcik punya sedara punya bapak mertua punya adik punya bini kedua yang mesti dijemput, you know.

The other night my mat and I were out at bazaar Geylang with Sham and Aisyah when Sham asked us in a very pakcik way that is so typical of him - "So raya ni... card jemputan jalan lah ni?" Hahahahaha wth damn pakcik siak that line.

Yes Pak Sham, our card jemputan will "jalan" this coming raya!!! Two more days to the festivities and I'm already feeling nervous!!!!!

Tak tau lah nervous ape, mungkin nervous nak hadapi all the "Wahhhhh nak jadi pengantin lah ni???" "Ah, yang ini yang nak kahwin hujung tahun ni" "Biasa lah ni kan bakal pengantin" type of jibes that will surely come my way. Aisehmen. Kalau jalan raya pakai topeng, considered trendy tak, guys?????

Guess I'll be doing a lot of this in a few days' time then HAHAHA

oh embun, oh two, oh lola!

For those who were asking for pictures of Versari Ade's bridal outfits presented at Jentayu Gallery's Wedding Exhibition a few weeks ago, make sure you hop hop hopping over to Versari Ade's Facebook because they've posted some on Facebook already! Hehe.

Some pictures from their Embun collection:

(Source: Versari Ade)

Wahlauweh. Cannot wait to go through the racks of Versari Ade now lor. 

Three more months (to our outfit selection) ok guys!!! :O :O :O

(Jentayu Gallery has also posted official pictures of the wedding exhibition on their Facebook so remember to go check them out.)

And since I'm here, can I just express my heartiest congratulations to my chosen invitation card designer 'From Fran With Love' for hitting her first thousand 'likes' on Facebook?!!! Just in time for anniversary lagi ok! You all boleh dapat 10% off promo sempena FFWL's anniversary ok!

(Source: From Fran With Love)

Wheeeee!!! (I wheeeee untuk you all ok, because I dah tak boleh wheeeee for myself sebab dah book From Fran With Love in April gitu so tak dapat lah this promo. Hur hur.)

Anyway, anyway.

Finally bought the last maha last barang dulang last weekend and we finally got down to business - took measurements and pictures of our barang barang dulang and compiled them together with information on our chosen colours and theme into one Microsoft Word document before sending it over to Ola Lola. 

Here is a picture of my mat tengah semangat ambik gambar one of the barang dulang, siap dengan lampu spotlight segala hahahahahaha:

YAY, SETTLE! Really glad we eventually decided on the same (awesome) service provider for both our dulang gubahan because it makes things sooooo much more easier lor.

Oh, we also took the time to watch videos of all the tok tok kadi doing their thing for akad nikah in the videos listed in one of my previous entries and he has already listed down his Top 5 tok kadi choices - will only know our luck and fate in the next two days so I'll be back with news! Sit tight, guys.

tahta tiara's winter white wedding showcase & fiesta pengantin perdana 2013

 [Thanks Hana of From Fran With Love for the heads up! 

Pretty Orkid also published their screenshot here.]

Click image to enlarge.

(Source: Singapore Expo)

we cordially invite you...

Met my mat over the weekend to discuss about what else but the wedding!

After months of hem and haw-ing on what to do for our dinner reception "guestbook" - I previously wrote about not wanting a traditional guestbook - I've finally decided on one that will be fun but simple enough for our guest, and my mat pun dah give the thumbs-up! Wish I can shaaare but this is another one of those things that I think we should keep under wraps so it'll be a nice surprise for our guests heh heh heh. Yang ni tak mahal and I plan to DIY sendiri sebab very senang to buat so hopefully my malas urat won't get activated :D

But that aside, I want to blog about something else that kita dah kickstart - wedding invitation cards!

Since ours is a combined wedding reception + dinner reception, we'll be having three separate wedding cards (!!!) - one for my side, one for my mat's side, and one for our dinner reception. No issues for our dinner invitation cards so far because I've forced asked my sweet baby sister to design them for us but this kental anak dah protest tak nak design the afternoon reception punya cards because she's not confident enough (?!)

So now we're left trying to figure out what to do for our invitation cards for the afternoon reception.

I decided to ask around on social media before we embark on anything (Lol embark eh. Step mana peh pengembara je) and received recommendations to go Plaza Angsana (JB) from my... uhm, pengantin lama friends haha bless all you pengantins lama who are ever so willing to share your contacts and experiences!

Two kedai names that were thrown to me were Pusat Pengantin and Kraftangan Impian so off we went to Plaza Angsana with Sham, Aisyah and Ahmad last weekend! But I think I wasn't really feeling it so we left without looking at much, and ended up stuffing ourselves silly with cheap cheap good good food at Banafee Village JB... which pretty much wrecked my azam Kilo Khronicles for the weekend, of course. Gahhhhh.

I think the uneasy feeling might have datang because I'm biased lepas dah dengar all the horror stories from bekas pengantins who experienced terrible service and had errors yang melampau in their cards even after reminders... macam takde confidence lah pulak :/ Sorry Malaysia, I love your weddings to death but bila part wedding card printing...

We did think of considering recommendations to try Malaysian wedding card printing vendors who boleh liaise via emails only, because it limits the inconvenience and the hassle of having to naik turun another country... and at least boleh correct mistakes via emails dulu before printing, kan? I've looked at WeddingCard.MY (pretty ok, but limited choices to choose from their online catalogue), Kad Kahwinku (also ok, offers more in terms of variety - I had a pretty good chuckle at some of their names hur hur hur) and Jentayu Design (recommended by Elziii here and Mat Meets Minah here)

I also cuba my luck and asked Ken's Collections (they're based in Jakarta) for quotes because I remember their name from the back of a very pretty wedding card my dad received early last year! This one:

+ samples of some of their other cards:

(Source: Ken's Collections) 

... but as I predicted, their quotes - even though reasonable considering their lawa designs and superb quality (hardcover, beb, comes with sarung lagi!) - are much higher than I'm willing to fork out. Not looking to have hard cover with sarung segala for our wedding cards anyway so... next!

Of course the most attractive option for us is to engage a local wedding card vendor because tak leceh and in case you haven't notice, aku very the suka benda yang tak leceh ok. Hur hur. Might be slightly pricier but at least ada peace of mind and it feels more convenient, I guess? We're now looking at Card Maison, From Fran With Love and Dekor Wedding Cards and while we're pretty comfortable with the designs they offer, we're still not sure if his mum will like the designs. I think my mat knows his mum well enough and I've planned this long enough with her in mind to know her taste and preferences... and we both agree their designs might be too "young and colourful" for her liking hahahahaha. My mother pulak, jangan cakap lah, kalau I tell her kita nak print invitation cards on tissue paper pun dia akan cakap please go ahead. That woman deserves a goddamn "Mak Pengantin Paling Relek Jek" award, I tell you.