just another wedding-related weekend

Remember my mat and I already planned  to settle several wedding-related tasks on Saturday? 

We ended up completing only three tasks over a period of 12 hours: 

(1) sent my sisters' kain for nikah reception to my tailor;

(2) finalize the dinner reception guest list and assign their seat numbers;

(3) firm up our itinerary - it's not ready to be finalized though, because we want to run through it with our main vendors and our orang orang kuat first. Mana tau ada details that we might have missed.

Ah, well. Three completed tasks are better than none, right?

Kita lagi boleh sempat pergi majlis orang kahwin in between okay. Hehe.

The wedding that we went to last Saturday was held at Warung In The East - very cosy air-conditioned venue perfect for smaller receptions. It's located on the ground floor so it's easy to spot when guests drive pass + elderly guests and guests in wheelchairs don't have to worry about having to naik turun tangga or having to wait for lifts to transport them up and down. We drove to the location though, so I'm not sure how accessible the venue is via public transport.

The air-conditioned part of the venue was packed when we reached so we went to the non-air conditioned area outside to have our meal. Didn't sweat as much as I expected, probably because the non-conditioned area outside is shaded. Yay for that! 

The only thing that spoiled the experience a teeny weeny bit: There was a school event going on at the nearby field and they had speakers blaring louder than the sound system for the wedding - we were distracted by the event and didn't really concentrate on the music and announcements inside haha. (To be fair, I don't think this would be an issue if there wasn't any school event on that day!)

For a more thorough review on Warung In The East from a pengantin's point of view, you can read it here (written by a ex-bride who used the restaurant as her wedding venue)

Food by Doulath Catering

Food was decent - the rice and ayam masak merah was not to my preference but tasted just fine, the sweet and sour fish might have been better if it was hot... I liked the daging rendang the most! The rempah very nice and the meat was sooooo tender!!! In fact I think theirs is one of the tenderest I've ever tried at majlis orang kahwin seh! Hur hur. I super liked their kuih muih too... the ones I tried semua sedap! There were roti kirai and mee soto stations as well but didn't try them out.

Their buffet line presentation was pretty good by the way - very simple, neat and had proper food labels. There was always someone behind the buffet line who wiped up kuah yang tertumpah and made sure food was constantly topped up. Heard their package prices are one of the more affordable ones in the market so I guess if you want something affordable and fuss-free, they're a catering company you can consider.

Decor by Wedding Meets Design 

I've mentioned Wedding Meets Design before here! I was informed by one of their partners that they've started offering chiavari chairs in-house so if you want to save yourself the hassle of engaging decor company and chiavari chair supplier separately, you might want to consider their decor services! The decor they did that day was very nice and elegant - I especially liked the lace parasols which they used as part of the decor... tapi lupa pulak nak ambik gambar! Aiseymen.

Anyway! Berbalek kepada my preparations for my own wedding ye.

After my mat left my place at around 11pm on Saturday, he did some more work on our itinerary sampai 3 in the morning (aku adelah laze around watching Alcatraz sampai 3 pagi hahaha) and I am proud to say that he has done a fantastic job!!! Aku sungguh suka and very bangga okay with his attention to detail. Thank you for taking charge over the itinerary and making it even better, bb!!!

He improved it even further the next day (Sunday) and before korang accuse me of not contributing my part for the planning, I spent my Sunday afternoon trying to finish up our wedding website okay. Didn't get to finish it up (maybe because I was distracted by CSI and Running Man episodes hahaha) but I think I should be able to get everything up and running before the end of this week? 

It's not as snazzy or cool as the website I mentioned here but we'll have to make do with our current one, given my limited tech skills and zilch website design background (My mamat jangan cakap ah, everytime he uses the computer, I can't help but chuckle and call him Grandpa.)

Sneaky peeky of the webby! (Sorry, tiba tiba rasa macam nak jadi irritating hahaha)

Can't wait to get this over and done with so I can concentrate on other tasks. 

By the way, did your well-meaning married friends tell you your wedding to-do list will beranak pinak nearer to your wedding? Our well-meaning married friends did, and guess what? BETUL LAH SIAK.

a review on joyden hall

Reblogged from Feeling Feeling Kawin:

"After spilling my venue woes, one of the suggestions that came from you BTBs (thank you!) was The Joyden Hall, located at Bugis+. And while we were on the topic, in a rather timely manner, Shazana (who turned out to be my fellow marriage prep course attendee — small world!), swooped in and very kindly provided a detailed review of her Joyden Hall wedding, that took place on the 11th of May 2013.

While I think the venue might be a tad too big for my own wedding, I’ve extracted her comment so that anyone looking to hold their wedding there can locate her review more easily. It does sound like the perfect venue for a combined wedding!

Shazana’s review of The Joyden Hall:

I just had my wedding reception at Joyden Hall (on Saturday 11 May 2013). And the venue was so perfect and suited us exactly. The main hall was spacious, the stage big enough, excellent overhead projection screen, the air conditioning just right, the atrium wide enough to accommodate guests who want to mingle over cocktails, the outdoor rooftop garden was so pretty, great lighting and sound system, 2 private rooms for prayers and for the older guests to rest, attached kitchen which our Malay wedding caterer could use for washing up and heating food and the best part for me: THE CHANGING ROOM.

Because the hall is designed for theatre events, the changing room was first rate: good air conditioning, full wall to wall mirror, perfect lighting, comfortable seats, 3 cubicles (for toilets within the changing room), wash sink right next to the make up table and a row of cupboards to hang clothes. The design was so thoughtful, my make up artist was so happy! My husband and 3 friends who helped him dress could fit in comfortably along with my make up artist and my bridesmaid and I. I could change dresses in any one of the 3 the cubicles with ample privacy!

Yes the management is unfortunately pretty slow to reply to emails but that’s because they get a lot of inquiries. But they are extremely professional and the technician and ground manager who assisted us throughout the event went above and beyond their duties to make our wedding a success. In fact, everyone at Joyden Hall was on the ball for our event. They made it a huge success.

Joyden Hall is love. We were so so happy.

All our 1,600 guests were comfortable and no one had trouble finding the place since it’s close to the train station. Plus there was ample parking. And haha no one had a problem wearing baju kurung to a shopping mall. It’s our traditional dress and we look good in it. In fact, my guests attracted a lot of admiring glances from the other mall goers. If they are embarrassed though, they can take the lift directly from the basement carpark or Level 1 up to Level 7 where the hall is. They won’t be bumping into the masses that way.

Price wise, the rate is $6,900 for a half day event plus $500 weekend surcharge. $2,000 for security deposit excluding tables ($25 per table) and chairs ($3.50 per chair) and a levy fee of $5 per head for external caterer and refundable security deposit of $1,500."

(Source: Feeling Feeling Kawin)

For those of you who might be looking for a spaaacious air-conditioned venue in the Central area for Malay weddings! And congratulations once again on your very lovely wedding, Shaz! Super love your outfits (Syomir Izwa!!!) and your corsage bouquet (by the faaabulous Woodleigh Park woohoo!) and your outdoor photoshoot at the Eiffel Tower is mad mad mad amazing!!! Mad love.

I actually had a fleeting thought of switching to Joyden Hall if our issue with our existing venue doesn't turn out so well - I pass by the promotional wall on Joyden Hall everytime I'm on my way to work because I work near Bugis+, previously known as Iluma...

... but with this review, it planted that thought well and deep into my head. Unfortunately, a non-refundable deposit of S$2500 is at stake here and it will be very very very painful to deal with the heartache of losing $2500 because of someone else's incompetence and unsatisfactory service. A few hundred dollars maybe we can still stomach but $2500?!!!!! Boleh bayar catering untuk 178 pax more seh gitu :/

I have to admit I've been sitting on our venue issue and delaying action since my last post, partly because I hate the fact that I'm forced to deal with an issue caused by someone(s) incompetence + partly because I want to calm myself down first before dealing with it head-on. Tak manis you know buat kerja macam lembu jantan yang tengah marah haha. Plus! My mat and I wanted to gather and "arm" ourselves with as much information as possible, thus the previous post. Nak pergi perang must have enough ammunition wei! Haha. 

Thank you to everyone who emailed their experiences and well wishes, by the way! I am truly, truly touched by the help and concern received and want to reassure those who have booked Singapore Silat Federation - as long as you're handled by one of their female staff named Asiah (and another male staff named Kamal, I think), it is fine and there is no cause for worry. It is just our bad luck to have our booking managed by someone else who has been giving us less than satisfactory answers, despite our best efforts to screen through our options (My mamat and I ran ACRA searches before we booked Singapore Silat Federation ok.)

Ok, time to write in to the CEO and President of Singapore Silat Federation fellas!