selamat datang ke ROMM

Yay kita dah pergi ROMM interview! :D

Ok I know we have a few more months to go and as long as we do it 5 weeks before our solemnization date, we'll be good to go BUT (1) we wanted to get it over and done with; and (2) we already took full day leave on Monday to meet Zakaria Zainal to discuss the outdoor photoshoot anyway so we thought, why wait? Lagi muai can max out our leave!

(Initial idea was to get some rest before meeting Zakaria Zainal which was why we took full day leave but since we expected the ROMM interview to last only an hour or two, we decided to just get it over and done with instead of waiting for another day and use up another day of leave)

We arrived at ROMM at 10.00am and ended the whole process in about one and a half hour? Spent most of the time waiting, actually. Pffttttt. Several of our married friends dah warning suruh pergi bright and early i.e. once ROMM opens at 8.30am because once dah inching towards tengahari, there will more couples ahead of you which means the waiting time will be longer. TETAPI! Kerana aku ada bakal suami yang chronic latecomer argh end up we reached ROMM at 10.00am gitu.

The ROMM interview process was quite simple and straightforward, actually:

(1) Collect queue number at the reception.

(2) Wait for your queue number to be called.

(3) Once you're called to the registration counter, you'll be asked to confirm your solemnization details (information that was submitted during your online registration). The officer will tell you about the kadi fees ($100).

By the way, it's not stated on the list of documents to bring but please bring along your pre-marriage course certificate. I happened to mention our ROMM interview to Nani, who told me to bring them along and true enough, the registration officer and the Ustaz that interviewed us asked to have a look at the certificates as confirmation.

(4) You'll be asked to go back to the waiting area and wait for your queue number to be called into the Ustaz's interview room.

(5) Your wali will go in first for the interview then followed by you and your future spouse.

(6) Once you're in the interview room, the Ustaz will ask you a series of straightforward questions and will ask you to confirm your solemnization details once again before asking you to angkat sumpah and sign the confirmation document.

That's it! Takde suruh demonstrate macam mana nak angkat air wudhuk or baca mengaji or doa qunut or kena grilled with tough questions yang boleh buat you sweat your coli seluar dalam off segala. Nonsense lah all those rumours! In fact other than confirmation of our solemnization details, I think the Ustaz only asked us whether we are currently taking religious classes. Kacang cap tangan je.

Oh, we were interviewed by Ustaz Ismail Terimoh who turned out to be very friendly and funny, by the way! He joked freely with us and he put both my mat and I at ease from the get go. I was actually quite nervous when we were waiting to be called into the interview room - no idea why, though! Haha. Baru nak kena interview dah nervous wreck, nanti bila time nikah entah macam mana. Kaku beku agaknye.

And in case you're wondering (like me, before I went for the interview) - there is no requirement for you to put on the tudung (for non-hijab-wearing ladies) during the interview, although friends did advise me to wear something tertutup and sopan to look appropriate for the occasion. (Not that I would even dare to wear a cleavage-bearing top and shorts to a ROMM interview anyway lah kan, korang ni pun..........)

My daddy the wali and my husband-to-be! Tee hee!

After the ROMM interview was over, we dropped by Grand City Shirt Manufacturer at Frontier Building to collect our groomsmen punya shirts for dinner reception pulak YAY YAY. Fab service, great shirt quality and workmanship, friendly staff and tauke - needless to say, we were pleased with Grand City! :D

Here is my mamat waiting for the ~goodies~ 

..... and the finished product!

Actually kan I was pretty sceptical about the collar print when my mat showed me a sample of the chosen print (he went to the Grand City tailor with the guys only whereas I was out at another tailor with my bridesmaids few months ago) but they turned out really great and now I'm so psyched to see our groomsmen looking all nice and segak in their shirts!!! Meeting our orang orang kuat next Friday for dinner so my mat can personally hand the shirts over to our groomsmen!!! Benda gini pun aku excited eh haha

Ah, now I wish I have the bridesmaids' outfits on hand too! If it wasn't for the Raya season, we might be able to get the outfits for our bridesmaids earlier but since our tailor's pretty tied up, what with Raya season coming up and all, we'll have to wait for September before collecting the baju for the girls. Tak sabar nye~~~

For now I kena divert my excitement and look forward to this coming weekend pulak. Actually kan our plans for this weekend is to paint my bedroom and spruce it up for Raya, my andaman session time kahwing and my mat's ultimate move-in - in fact, I already took colour samples in boring shades of grey segala when my family and I went to HomeFix to buy paint for my sisters' bedroom last weekend...

... BUT! After meeting the amazing Zakaria Zainal yesterday, terasa macam more excited to recce locations for our outdoor photoshoot instead pulak! GATAL KAN.

We already have a few locations in mind (and props and DIY tasks too!) but kita kena play by ear and tengok dulu whether we can indeed head out and do the recce. We'll see what the weekend brings! For now, akak ada ten thousand things to do dalam office so... CIAO.

P.S. So sorry if you sent me an email over the weekend and I belum reply - had a bachelorette party for a girlfriend from Saturday to Sunday, and between running errands and attending appointments on Monday, I haven't had the time to reply to comments and emails... will try to do so within the next few days ok!

updates from the long weekend

Oooh! Saw pictures of Liyana Jasmay's pretty wedding reception over the weekend!

(Source: Mukhriz Latif Photography)

(Source: Ryaniez Moments Photography)

Super cute couple, prefer her nikah reception punya decor over her dinner reception's, thought her wedding dress for the dinner reception is pretty adorable! Love the ribbon detail in her hair as well, might want to have something like that for my dinner reception tee hee :D

Loved the sleekness of her bridesmaids' outfits and hair for the dinner reception...

... but seriously not digging their outfits during the nikah reception:

(Source: Ryaniez Moments Photography)

I don't know - the outfits macam inspired by baju Gregorian and seems really weird to me :/

But again - orang punya majlis, orang punya citarasa, yes?

(Post note: Ok, seems like she really likes this Gregorian style...)

Anyway, taaaaalking about bridesmaids' outfits - meeting my bridesmaids at the end of this month to get our cupcake fix, I'll be passing them their gifts (Very excited about this! Been keeping their gifts under wraps for close to a month now) aaaaand discuss about their outfits. Yay yay! Already prompted the girls to start looking for ideas and inspiration so we can hopefully decide on their outfit design on that day itself then we can terus head down to Arab Street to get the kain. Chop chop, settle the kettle, no need to wait for buah to jatuh.

I was actually planning on settling the bridesmaids' outfits only in April/May 2013 (before Ramadhan/Hari Raya period sets in) but as with all other things in this #kahwinkhronicles journey, someway somehow semua kena brought forward ha ha ha. I figured there's no harm in starting now anyway, because sekarang memang period kita tengah takde anything much to settle or decide so might as well use the free time, betul tak! Plus, this whole buy kain thingamajig is actually triggered by our parents' recent borong-memborong session of kain!

What happened was: I went for lunch with my family last Saturday, and since we didn't have any plans after that, I asked my mum whether she wanted to go recce for kain for our relatives. She's been talking about buying kain to give to our relatives so everyone can buat baju sepasang to pakai during my wedding, and I thought it was a good opportunity for kita sekeluarga to do something related to my wedding together.

The intention was really to just recce for fabrics after our lunch but once kita masuk the kedai kain at Arab Street, my mum said not to waste time (I think I take after her in this aspect heh heh heh) and terus proceeded to borong the prada lace that she wanted to buy for our relatives!!!

I called my mamat (who was out with his mum) to ask how much his mum paid for the prada lace she bought few weeks earlier to act as a gauge as to whether the price that the shop assistant was quoting us boleh considered reasonable and the price she paid earlier turned out to be higher! $9 per metre higher ok! Told her we were getting the kain at a much better discounted price and she immediately told my mamat that they'll make a trip down to the kedai at that moment jugak - she was planning to buy kain for their relatives anyway (sama lah macam my mum, nak semua orang pakai boriah), so it was a golden opportunity because she pun get to buy the kain at the same discounted price. Ala ala strike while the iron is still hot, y'know? 

Told my mum about it, and she told me (away from the store assistant's earshot) that the reason why she was keen to buy itu jam jugak was because the price that the store assistant initially quoted us was already considered cheaper than those quoted by other shops that she's been to. What made it even better was my supermother managed to bargain the price down to $7 less per metre than the initial quote!!!!!

Wah, seriously tabik all our mak-mak for their bargaining skillz, man. They all ada pergi some kind of sekolah mak-mak to learn such skillz is it?!?!?! Once I kahwin and have anak, can I enrol in this sekolah to belajar the skillz jugak?!?!?! Hur hur hur.

I think it also helped that the store assistant who attended to us was super duper nice and friendly and patient nak mampos!!! If you're interested, you can look for Nabilah (She calls herself "Ilah") from Princess Fabrics located at 96 Arab Street (sebelah Royal Fabrics). We eventually left with 10 bags in hand, even bumped into my mamat and his mum (who proceeded to borong kain for their relatives as well!) on our way out heh heh

But that was not the end of it - went back to the shop the next day with my mamat and my future in-laws to buy prada lace to letak on his dulang to me, and kain samping to letak on my dulang to him. We were too distracted by the borong memborong kekecohan the day before sampai kain for dulang sendiri pun lupa!

Really super glad for the Chinese New Year long weekend because it was a very fruitful period for us, wedding-related wise - besides finally buying the kain for our dulangs and for our relatives, my mamat and I managed to spend some time catching up on our favourite show together (SAYANG RUNNING MAN!), checked our wedding budget (we're on track!) and brainstormed ideas for our Save the Date, invitation cards and seating chart for dinner reception :D

Since we've firmed up the design that we want for the said three items, I went on to prepare the instructions and mock-up for my sister and emailed them over so she can start work on them:

After all, what are little (visual communications graduate) sisters for, right? :P

Really can't wait to see how they turn out!!!!! If my sister can get them done by next month, then the next thing we need to do is source for printing quotes... although I'll probably go down the malas route and just ask my cousin (the genius behind Dekor Geeks) whether she can pass us her printing contacts heh heh heh

Oh, also decided to scrape the Save the Date video idea because now I'm too malas to carry out the idea hahahahaha so we'll just do a simple e-card to send out to our friends nearer to our wedding date. Still trying to decide when we want to send our Save the Dates out though - 3 months before? 4 months before? Can't release it too early because our guests might forget, can't release it too late because it'll beat the purpose of Save the Dates then, which is for our guests to block their schedules and plan their holiday trips around our date.

Ok lah that's all for now! Off to research for ideas and inspiration for my bridesmaids' outfits!

Besok suspect kuat ambik MC because I'm doing this while nursing a fever and a bad sorethroat. Sakit sakit pun masih nak research pasal wedding eh. Ni lah my mother panggil, perangai bersemangat tak bertempat.