The Post-Wedding Errands

So what happened after our solemnization, our sanding reception, our outdoor photoshoot and our dinner reception were over and done with?????

A whole lot of, uhm, administrative things happened! And by "administrative things", I meant these things lah actually:

Post-Wedding Errands involving Wedding Vendors

We had to make a trip down to foreign land (also known as Hougang lol) to return the gift trays to Ola Lola right after we came back from our 2D1N staycation (more on this in a separate entry!) because we promised them we'd return the gift trays on the following Monday - they had pengantins who wanted to use the acrylic gift trays for that weekend so they needed to start decorating right away.

Also had to arrange to meet our caterers to pay the balance payment and give them our post-wedding feedback. We ended up not meeting them even though I would have liked to catch up with Kak Aisyah and manager Fariq because we were just. too. freaking. TIRED. Only parents went, in the end.

But it was okay lah, because at least we were around when Bob and his Bonito By Bob team finished up their packing, and we could properly give them our thanks and wish Bob for his 18th birthday haha (Oh, and bye bye awesome bridal room, you were mega awesome while you lasted!!!!!)

Oooooh, we also had A LOT of leftover favours and dessert tier stuff so we had to pack them up and distribute to more people somemore!!! Whatever leftovers we couldn't distribute, we kept them for ourselves so we pretty much had macarons and pulut kuning for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next few days lah kan. Nasib baik berak tak keluar macarons and pulut kuning kat jamban.

Transfer of Barang Barang from Saliheen's Home to My Home
(And a little surprise from Starhub!)

Saliheen had to transfer all his stuff over to my parents' place after the wedding since that's where we're staying while waiting for our BTO flat to be ready next year!

Unsurprisingly, we had to buy a few things from IKEA because all the barang barang in my bedroom doubled in amount. Boohoo. And even though my bedroom is pretty spacious, we had to buy more storage and a table from good old IKEA to accommodate Saliheen's stuff seh. Even now, we're still struggling to keep things properly packed and stored away and might have to make another trip to good old IKEA to buy more stuff for the room!

But that's okay because guess what I recently got from Starhub????? 

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An IKEA gift card!!! 

How timely is that kan?!

What happened: I had wacky mobile connection a few days before the wedding, which was reaaaaally frustrating because I had website links to check and double check! Emails to read, emails to send! Whatsapp messages to reply! Wedding preparation moments to post on Instagram!

Vented my frustrations on Twitter (via desktop) and was pleasantly surprised when a Starhub employee tweeted to me to ask about the issue I was having. He/she was really patient and helpful in addressing my issue and even though my mobile connection stabilized on its own the day after, I was pretty impressed with their customer service seh.

Next time got problem, no need to call their customer service and wait while being put on hold already... can just tweet tweet on the go to Starhub's official Twitter account at @StarhubCares!
 

I've been a huge supporter of Starhub from the first time I needed a mobile line so it looks like I am so going to stay as a loyal customer of Starhub. Got perks ma! Maybe next time they will give me a year's worth (or two) free supply of Starhub TV cable????? #tuahandasiapayangtahu hahahahaha.
 

Oh well, a Starhub loyal supporter can dream. But that said, I guess there was a good reason why my mobile connection became wacky a few days before the wedding, eh? Rezeki pengantin much??? :D 

Honeymoon-related Errands

We went shopping for our honeymoon during the 4-day gap between our wedding day and our honeymoon and went absolutely BATSHIT CRAZY!!!!! 

No pictures as evidence because we were too caught up with the shopping but believe me - it was, like, ALL kinds of craziness broke loose that day okay.

We really borong maha borong machiam the shops going to close down for a year lor!!! Guess that is what happens when you put a couple who have not massively shopped for two years in a bunch of shops together??? So kecoh.

It was so... buruk, to the point that the two staff at Marina Square's Ripcurl outlet (or was it Quiksilver?) we were at actually asked "You guys just got married and shopping for your honeymoon, is it???" hahahahahahaha. (My bridal henna was the "newly married" giveaway, obviously, but other than that, I would like to think it's because we had seri pengantin hahahahahaha)

Packing for our honeymoon was a pretty exciting errand but I shall leave details of that for when I write my entry about our honeymoon in a few entries to come. EH EXCITEDNYA NAK TULIS PASAL HONEYMOON HEHE.

Okay lah guys, now that I've gotten the boring yawn-worthy post-wedding errands and administrative stuff out of the way, I shall stop stalling (Yes, in case you didn't notice, I've been stalling lol) and I'll now start writing and publishing my vendor review entries already.

Let the thank yous and damn yous..... begin.

bulan madu di awan biru

Less than a week to the outdoor photoshoot now and I am starting to feel...

... ridiculously nervous.

Amacam cakap?! Baru photoshoot dah nervous! Ni belum actual wedding day tau :/

A few days ago, our photographer gave me the link to his Sessions Stylebook for pointers on what to wear, what to do and what to expect from the photoshoot but as useful as it is, I am seriously a big bundle of nerves right now lah kan. 

No thanks to all these annoying little thoughts running through my mind!!! Stuff like - I haven't lost much weight! What if I look like a ikan paus darat??? What if I can't take instructions properly??? Will Zak hate me??? What if I cannot pose for nuts or for freaking balls??? What if Saliheen and I look awkward sebelah each other?!!! Will I get an anxiety attack?! What if I look super stupid in my dress!!!

Oh, and talking about the dress.

Received my package last week and I was obviously super excited to rip off the package! But I tried the dress on and was quite disappointed when I tried it on because the bodice is a tad too thick for my liking (adding more bulk to my already bulky frame haiz) + sleeves were not as fitting as I'd like :(

My supermummy is working on the dress now, I haven't tried it on since she's not yet done tinkering with it but hopefully it'll work out fine by this weekend.

That's my supermommy and her trusty old sewing machine to the rescue.

Anyway, in happier news, I am psyched to report that I recently won a complimentary 1-night stay at Orchard Parksuites' 1-Bedroom Loft!!!!!

Thank you, Nuffnang SG! :D

 

We initially thought of using this as our staycation after the wedding but pikir pikir balek macam wasted gitu kan so we'll most probably use this to throw a nice little get together for our orang orang kuat after the wedding instead. Yay yay!

And as with most other couples who are getting married and hoping to go for their honeymoons with the next few months, we headed to NATAS Fair 2013 over the weekend to recce deals for our honeymoon!!!!! We went pretty late on Saturday because he needed to sleep after reaching home from camp at noon + I was out for jalan raya with my primary school friends so we were pretty tight on time.

I've mentioned in my previous entries (here, here and here) that we've been planning between Maldives and Eastern Europe for our honeymoon trip... and can you believe it? Even after months and months and months of discussing and asking for opinions from our friends via social media (thanks for the input, guys!), we still couldn't reach to a decision on our honeymoon destination bila dah ada kat sana.

Okay fine, I couldn't reach to a decision on our honeymoon destination.

My mat was already inclined towards Maldives after we spoke to a few agencies but I was still stuck between the two. At last macam bodoh sak diri kat tengah tengah dunia - Maldives brochures in one hand and Eastern Europe brochures in another - oblivious to the throngs of people milling around me because all I wanted to do was stop myself from being so wishy-washy, stand still so I can let my thoughts process freely and make a goddamn decision.

Took me 10 minutes to finally declare my final decision before we rushed back to the counter of the agency who gave us a reasonable quote for that particular trip and was told... "Sorry ah, just now I give you the quote actually cannot because the accommodation you want is we don't have one"

Mak dia peh datuk.......................................

Dah penat penat weigh pros and cons, sampai dah discuss beribu kali macam dalam parliament, dah shortlist maha shortlist then you come tell me this?!?!?! Apek, you cut my heart deep deep, you know?! You dah lama hidup eh apek?!

We left his counter to reconsider our options - my mamat didn't want to tergopoh gapah letak deposit for anything else in our frustrated state. He said we shouldn't rush it that night and suggested coming back the next day so we can make a well-informed decision. I agreed with him, of course - ni decision bukan pakai duit berpuluh puluhan aje oi, ini decision makan duit beribu okay. Must chop confirm guarantee maha maha punya!

So we went back home, did more research (while on the phone with each other) and went back to the NATAS fair the following day with the intention of asking for quotes from three other agencies that we didn't visit the day before "just to puaskan hati". 

Our first stop was Chan Brothers - mainly because they were the nearest to the directory. After about half an hour of waiting in line, we were attended to by a very nice young woman who spoke very well, knew what she was talking about and was extremely patient with us.

We gave her our list of short-listed accommodation and she gave us the relevant brochures to look at + a few others that weren't on our list for our consideration. Discussed prices, details, dates and terms and conditions and we ended up confirming the trip... with accommodation that was suggested by the Chan Brother's staff instead haha! This kind of proactiveness, I like. Thumbs up, toes up.

Anyway, kita pun dah malas nak gi tanya other agencies lagi ah hahaha.

Omgahhhhh can't believe our honeymoon is finally settled!!!!!

Okay, our honeymoon comfirmation is making me even more excited than before for November to come roll around!!!!! I'm also very happy that we don't have to push the honeymoon back for whatever reason so we'll get to enjoy our honeymoon a few days after our wedding :D 

And yay yay, ada countdown baruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

Hahahahaha. That's his extremely pleased face after successfully annoying me. 

Kadang kadang macam masih tak boleh percaya I'm marrying this silly bugger in... less than two and a half months' time. Waktu oh waktu, kenapa engkau laju?

campak campak

Have you guys seen this??? The demonstration video on how penyangak penyangak can break into and reseal your locked luggage bag with just a ballpoint pen?????

Such a disturbing thing to know lor. A good thing flyboy Azrul was with us when we bought our honeymoon luggage because he was the one who strongly advised us to get a clam shell luggage instead of the regular zipped ones (macam the one dalam the video above) because the latter memang senang kena tamper :/

Our huge clam shell luggage bag with 360degree wheels + Complimentary cabin luggage that we bought in February because there was a great promotion!

The pink ones are mine! 

My mat's black ones not in picture because he was - unsurprisingly - playing with them.

Anywaaayyy. Cakap cakap pasal benda untuk honeymoon ni kan, my mat and I recently went to Mustafa Centre to get ourselves barang baik (also known as monopod haha) for our honeymoon as recommended by Eleventh October in her entry here.

Ini bendealah seriously useful gila, please. My sisters and I had a go at it when I brought it home two weeks ago and we did an impromptu Beauty and The Beat music video at home hahahahaha. Will probably go back and buy another one! Satu untuk pakai for honeymoon, lagi satu buat pakai sekarang. Hwa hwa hwa.

Ok, there's something else that I want to share - it's not honeymoon-related though, so very the sorry eh this entry ada kena campak campak sikit macam rojak (mmm rojak). My baby sister (who worked on our dinner invitation cards) also worked on a little something else that I asked her to! And that little something else is this:

Contact card for our vendors! Yay! I'm assuming that we'll be too busy in the days leading up to the wedding + on the wedding day itself so we'll pass contact cards to all our vendors so they know who to contact for arrangements, payments, extra help, etc. (Our parents and siblings punya numbers are also on the list)

There's also another copy with all our vendors' contact numbers which we will print on the other side of the card and hand out to our parents, siblings and orang orang kuat. Never know when they'll need the vendors' contact details, y'all.

I mean, you letak your vendors punya contact numbers dalam your handphone aje pun buat ape kan? Buat jeruk? Maaaaana lah tau electricity blow so kena panggil the orang venue ke, kaki meja patah so kena panggil caterers ke, tok kadi lambat so kena pressure dia suruh cepat sikit ke, things like that, y'know? Must prepare as best as you can for emergencies ma (Unexpected things are bound to happen of course, but even if they do despite your best efforts, at least you know you've tried your best, yes???)

Might also prepare a bridal emergency kit for our orang orang kuat in case of emergencies - sooommmmmething like this ah:

(Source: Swatchbook Weddings)

Click to enlarge image.

(Source: Bayside Bride)

Oooooh paling penting must remember to add blue tack and straws into the kit! Terpikir nak letak blue tack based on previous experience (Nad and I terkial kial nak cari something to stick the food label stands because they kept falling down macam London bridge due to strong wind for Nani's wedding ok. Nasib baik Zahrin from Kasai Sayang had a wad of blue tack and let us use the whole thing) whereas straw was mentioned by someone before - was it turun temurun btb advice from Rina or Dyan? (From Dyan to Rina, right?)

Something about the straws being useful for pengantin to minum from because kalau dah pakai lipstick setebal Great Wall of China, how to minum direct from cawan kan??? Plus will look more sopan if use straw to minum ah haha (Eh. But if I want to mintak swirly straw instead of the regular straight ones, rasa rasa my orang orang kuat bo layan tak??? Hahahahaha.)

Ok dah lah tu je for now. Sekarang tengah sabar menanti for our kursus rumahtangga which is coming up in less than two weeks and for Great Singapore Sale 2013 to start on 31 May 2013. Once GSS starts, we can finally buy the final item for my dulang and we'll be done din dun for the whole barang dulang thingamajig woohoo! Completed almost all of our purchases for the barang dulang in early March and it's been such a motherfreaking pain waiting for the final item to be ticked off the barang dulang list ok.

But pain schmain ni semua lain hari boleh cerita, I'd now like to end ini entry with this:

Happy 4 and a half years anniversary, baby! We're halfway there so hang on tight ok XX

you're the honey... to my moon? (part II)

Not sure what triggered my mat's sudden enthusiasm to gear up research for Maldives resorts (take note that we have not yet decided between honeymoon-ing in Maldives or Eastern Europe since our last discussion) but he's been bombarding me with names, links and amateur Youtube videos of people who vacationed in Maldives (which he says will give a better gauge of how the resorts actually look like, and I agree) over the weekend!

One of the resorts that he mentioned - and I took notice of - was Huvafen Fushi Maldives.

Pictures of the resort look luxurious and breath-taking (as with all other pictures plastered all over websites promoting other Maldives resorts actually lol) but I think none of the other stuff I saw on their website took my breath away as much as this:

Click image to enlarge.

You can watch a "propaganda"-style (hahaha) video of the resort here.

OMGWTFBBQSAUCE SO CANTIK FOR WHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT SIAK THIS ONE!!!!!

Half of the swimming pool is at the living room area ok!!! Bangun pagi can terus dive into the pool and have a quick swim. Kalau nak avoid the sun or dah boring look out to the ocean at the outer part then can swim over to the "indoor" part of the pool and watch TV while sitting or lazing in the pool macam badak berendam (the animal ye, not the kuih).

Shiok or what!!! Ok nah, some more pictures of their Ocean Pavillion room lifted off Google images:

And floor plan of the Ocean Pavillion:

Click image to enlarge.

TOO GORGZ LAH PLZ.

Actually there's another reason why I very the cinta this Huvafen Fushi - it is also because of the fact that they have underwater spa facilities!!!!! WAH!!! NAK!!!

I might not like eating fish, but I sure as hell would like to be surrounded by fishes while I'm having a nice calming massage lol

But dah lah ok, tak nak excited lagi about the Ocean Pavillion after this because I don't think we can afford the rates if we decide to go with Huvafen Fushi (BOO TO HOME RENOVATIONS!!!) But will definitely consider getting another room (the Ocean Bungalow, maybe!) since their other rooms are no less luxurious and we quite like how they look! Plus that means I still get to go for underwate spa and massage kan???! :P

Another one of the gorgeous Maldives resorts that we're looking at is Ayada Maldives!!!

This lovely resort was recommended by Miza (Hi babe!!!), another long time online friend whom I've known since my Livejournal days and we've pretty much seen the development of each other's lives - when she was in a relationship, when she got engaged, when she got married, when she went on honeymoon (to Maldives WOOHOO), when she bought and renovated her flat and most recently, welcomed the newest addition to her family... and now she's the one who will see me go through the life stages that she has gone through the past few years! Hehe. 

Anyway, yes. Ayada is another one of the resorts that she recommended, and it is also very gorgeous, very luxurious... and expensive. Haha. But tengok!!! Tengok!!!

The 1st time I showed my mat, he exclaimed that he loved it and wanted to get this because dia nak play with that net thing. To the point that bila kita tengok at other resorts, his 1st remark will be "I tak nak yang ni, yang ni takde net" -___- Tak penting eh boy lu nak net net ni semua, lu duduk satu corner main dengan fish net sua.

So anyway... once again, if we do decide to choose Ayada, we will most probably choose a less pricier option like their Ocean Villa. Looks cosy enough for two of us, still looks very dreamy and relaxy (lol look at all the English teachers squirming in their seats) TE-TA-PI! Yang paling penting????? Their Ocean Villa tetap ada that net beside the swimming pool ye tuan tuan dan puan puan.

Oh, there's another Maldives resort that we've looked at called Conrad Maldives, and this is the one that has the underwater rooms and restaurant segala!!!

Very novel and sure to be gorgeous, I'm sure, but I don't really think this berendam underwater concept is my cup of tea (probably not our bank account's cup of tea either hur hur) because... macam rimas kan surrounded by water for most part of your stay? Tengok gambar memang lah breath-taking. Tapi kalau dah sampai sana and kena tinggal 5 hari 4 malam dalam air aku rasa aku terus takde breath langsung agaknya.

I also have another favourite choice - the W Resort and Spa Maldives!!! Their Ocean Haven is very cantik!!!!! HUARRRGGGHHHHH AIYAH, I give up lah nak squeal squeal lagi. Korang tengok lah sendiri.

My mat swears the only reason this resort is one of my favourites is because the architectural design is bulat bulat. Roof bulat, day bed bulat, swimming pool pun bulat. Ah ye, thanks eh. Tak susahkan kau, ape. Aku suka kau pun sebab kau bulat, ape.

Ok, yang this one belum habis research so belum look at their prices (Tengah takut mengigil ni nak tengok their harga, actually hahaha) but I would think the less pricier option that we can consider if we do want to stay at W Resort and Spa Maldives would be the Ocean Oasis. Ok ma, till got bulat bulat features! Hahahahaha.

Ooh, we squealed over the double-storey Ocean Pool Villa at Angsana Velavaru too!!!!!

(And yes, my mamat squeals as much as he giggles. Which is why we're always joking about how we're actually in a lesbian relationship lah kan hahahahaha)

Two freaking tingkats, y'all.

Unfortunately aku rasa benda yang kita boleh afford cuma mangkuk tingkats, y'all. 

Haiz. Pretty damn awesome to have a second level to feeling feeling look out into the vast blue waters and cari inspiration and ketenangan segala, kan?! But my mat tells me takkan ada privacy because the people sebelah sebelah boleh look over from the second level so no need to consider this one, no matter how lawa.

Elehhhhh. Sudah lah. Cakap jelah takde net tu pasal tak nak. Chet.

Ok lah guys, since I need to go for lunch soon, I'll leave this blog entry hanging dulu ok. Got some more resorts that we've looked at yang dia punya cantik pun yaaaaa ampun!!! Kalau mata aku ada perut, memang dah kenyang dan dah boncit aku rasa.

weekend come quick!

Can't wait for the weekend sebab excited to look see look see the deals at Natas Travel fair!

(Blogged about it here)

You know where to be if you have no plans this weekend, bbs!

But if you're not looking for honeymoon packages (or any other travel deals for that matter), then there's a wedding show you might want to attend this weekend instead:

Dear Dyan blogged about it here - Charisma Bridal recently opened a new restaurant that you can book for your wedding event! One more restaurant venue to add to the current list so you'll have another choice to consider other than Lagun Sari, Desa Kartika, D'Pelangi, Gurame or Warung in the East!

to the east, to the east... of europe

Spent our whole Saturday researching for and discussing our honeymoon (about damn time) and couldn't stop squealing at this package from CTC Travel:

I am loving maha loving everything I see in the 'Exciting Highlights' column, and am especially stoked for Poland and Germany!!!!! Nak pergi honeymoon besok jugak boleh tak??? Besok I takde jemputan.....

you're the honey... to my moon?

We recently realized that in our kesebokkan to put our wedding together and finding alternative ideas segala, we haven't really planned for one other major thing...


... our honeymoon terbengkalai lah seh :/

We've set aside the budget, and we've briefly mentioned ideas to each other once in awhile but we haven't really made up our minds on where to go! Our chosen destination will most likely be somewhere really safe, tried-and-tested routes segala because my mat is not exactly the adventurous sort (I cannot seem to make him want to agree to try bungee jumping - I LOVED the experience - but I'm really, really, really hoping he will layan my karenah and go skydiving with me one day!!! Before our tulang dah reput, at least. Kalau tulang dah reput baru nak skydive nampaknya so long and farewell my friend lah jawabnye.)

[Side story: I think my adventurous streak has tremendously mellowed down over the years, probably because I'm in a relationship with a super boring scaredy cat who worries excessively about all the what-ifs, and his pessimism has rubbed off on me somehow + I watch and read (and get too heavily influenced by) too many crime documentaries / stories for my own good.

Did you know that in my teens, I used to dream of backpacking all around Brazil? That was until I watched Turistas, and that movie freaked the bejeezus out of me ok. Didn't help lah kan crime investigation and forensic science shows (both betul and bedek shows) like CSI pun selalu ada portray Brazil as a country teeming with thugs and all the bad stuff e.g. CSI Miami: Horatio in Brazil...

... maka tamatlah riwayat niat aku nak backpack ke Brazil. Amin.]

One of the reasons why I'm having difficulty putting my foot down as to which destination I really want to go to for our honeymoon might also be due to the fact that I grew up in a family that didn't spend on holidays - the only countries I've ever travelled to is Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia - so I'm very overly jakun about this whole travelling hullabaloo that I cannot decide which countries to travel to first!

Let's look at the honeymoon options that my mat and I have mentioned a few times to each other before, and we'll work it out from there:

Maldives

The only beach destination that we've seriously considered before is Maldives - we have quite a number of friends who went there for their honeymoon and came back with glowing reviews. (Will blog more on this when I  have more details!) Another 'pull' factor is the fact that the main religion in Maldives is Islam - hoi hoi hoi assalamualaikum, sedara! Hur hur hur.

We've looked at Boracay, Phillipines before for one of my birthday trips (we ended up going to Phuket, Thailand) but somehow Maldives seems like a more exciting option for honeymoon, yes? Might have to re-look at our research on Boracay again and see where that leads us.

Korea

Have mentioned why there is interest to go to Korea here before!

While I'm keen to go Korea (sebab nak stalk TOP from Big Bang pastu kahwin lari dengan dia), I'd prefer to go to Korea for something other than honeymoon - maybe break-from-work holiday trip? Anniversary trip? Birthday trip? Not really as a honeymoon ah, although I might be more open to this option if we add in a quick beach trip after that ala what my friend Ika did for her honeymoon - she and her husband went to Korea for a 5D4N stay then flew to Bali for a 4D3N stay before coming back to Singapore.

I quite like the idea of visiting two countries at one shot and am starting to toy around with such an idea - maybe this is something we can explore? Ending off with a beach holiday destination (provided the first destination is not a beach holiday one) sounds quite tempting!

Will have to calculate how much more that will cost us to see if it's worth it first. Maklumlah... ni semua bayar pakai duit yer my friends, bukan bayar pakai rambut atau bulu dada yer.

Eastern Europe

The reason why we have the idea of travelling to Eastern Europe for our honeymoon as mentioned here!

If there is one place that I really, really want to visit in the whole wide world, it is the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp - but now I'm not so sure whether I want to make that our honeymoon. After going through the options in my head, a beach destination for our honeymoon seems to be the best bet since both of us are huge fans of beach holidays and I would want to sit back and chillax after membanting tulang for the wedding preparations segala, instead of walking around to shop or to see historical monuments, stuff like that.

I guess our ultimate choice will also depend on the quality of travel deals that's going to be on sale at the upcoming awesome Natas Travel Fair 2013!!!

(Source: Singapore Expo)

Woohoo! Quite excited to recce for honeymoon deals at Natas Travel Fair next! Don't think we'll book any deals at this upcoming travel fair - we're under the impression that they'll usually hold one early of the year, and another one at the end of the year, so we're targeting to recce deals and prices at this upcoming February one pastu end of the year punya baru kita will book, in shaa Allah. Itu pun depends lah kalau the deals are attractive enough - kalau tak, we'll just have to book our honeymoon on a separate occasion.

Nampak nampaknye, kami berdua sudah bersedia untuk mara ke peringkat yang seterusnye yer tuan tuan dan puan puan. Jangan terkejut, jangan terperanjat, ini semua memang natural yer - Lepas dah puas pergi wedding exhibitions, pastu pergi travel fairs pulak, then esok lusa pergi furniture fairs, then after that kalau ada rezeki, terus serbu babywear exhibitions pulak. Heh heh heh. Jumpa anda di sana!