of prints and kicks

Now that I've updated the previous entry about Fluff Bakery postponing their official opening date  boohoo (check their Instagram for updates okay), back to our wedding planning progress!

Quite glad my mamat and I managed to complete all of our major tasks together by the first week of October because he had a work-related summit to go to last weekend.

Which is just as well lah, because that means we get to cut down the number of times we meet each other before the wedding. We've decided not to strictly follow the jangan-jumpa-40-hari-sebelum-kahwin pantang since we'll have to meet for the final fitting anyway, but somehow the stars are aligned in such a way sampai we didn't have to meet this week as well as the next. The weekend after next will be our final fitting (already?!!!), so we'll have to wait until then to see each other again before we officially and legally become husband and wife.

Since I was on my own last weekend, I decided to run through the list of items that my little sister has painstakingly designed for my wedding and finally went out to get half of them printed (since the other half still needs last minute edits.) Been putting off this task for quite a bit because I am very... malas. Haha. Give me a break lah okay, I'm suffering from wedding planning burnout lah!!!

(Also, my little sister will be too busy with her don't know what runway event setup two weeks leading up to my wedding so kena catch her before she starts coming back late and tired and too cranky to take my instructions lol)

Printed out the stuff at Tampines Printing Services, which is located at Century Square because I'm, again, too malas to travel out from my neighbourhood to the usual printing shops I go to at Sunshine Plaza (91 Bencoolen Street). Slightly pricier I think, but what the heck, at least I don't have to brave through the weekend crowd at Bugis area!!! Tak kuasa pe.

In case anyone wants to know which shops I usually go to when I print stuff out at Sunshine Plaza, they are Out De Box and Image N Print, located on the ground level and look like these:

For bigger orders, I've printed with One Ink Jet, which is located at Bendemeer Road, and I've blogged about their maha efficiency here. Would suggest opting for One Ink Jet only if you have transport though, because it's located at flatted factory area and kena masuk a bit dalam. Kalau nak somewhere more accessible, Sunshine Plaza lah jawabnye ye. (Thank Nani for this because she was the one who gave me all the reliable contacts when I first started out!!!)

Anyway, service at Tampines Printing Services was okay okay je, the auntie that attended to me was quite blur so I had to guide her step by step. Nasib baik I numbered the items in my thumbdrive and renamed each and every filename with the description + size required + number of pieces required e.g. 01. Contact Card (A7) x 25 pieces. So senang tengok from one glance. Kalau tak, dengan aku aku sekali confused, dengan aku aku sekali mata blink blink blink macam lampu rosak tak tau nak repair hahaha.

Oooh remember I mentioned about contact cards in my blog entry here? Finally got them printed as well so will pass them to our family, our orang orang kuat and the relevant vendors soon.

 Mad love!

And here's a cheeky picture of my sisters, who have decided to impose ERP charges on those who wish to pass through their bedroom door hahahahaha:

These speech bubbles are my favourite pieces from the loot! I know it's usually "He asked..." and "And... She said yes!" but since our original love story is terbalek, become like that lor. Hehe.

A special board to counter our concern about lurking Uncle Bobs! I've blogged about the Uncle Bob phenomenon here.

This board actually ruffled my cousin's feathers for a bit, but I hope he understands now, after my explanation. I guess if he had read and understood the message fully before jumping, he would have realized that guests are free to take their own photos and videos, not the other way round.

I mean, that's exactly what the board says, isn't it? "Take your own photos and videos if you wish"! As long as guests don't block the official photographers and videographers and only start taking their own pictures and videos after the official people are done with their shots, we're good to go. Heh. The response has been generally positive though, so I guess we're not the only ones who feel strongly about this! Hehe.

Oh, and of course I would not have finished cutting and pasting and assembling all the signages and props within such a short amount of time if not for my supermother and sisters!!!!!

Cinta sampai mati <3 <3 <3

Anyway, since dah terlanjur keluar to print the signages and props and stuff, I managed to find back-up bridal shoes at Tampines 1! Woo hoo hoo.

Yes, yes, I already have one pair of bridal shoes which I bought from JB and I really, really love but all it took was a horrified "What do you mean you only have one pair of bridal shoes??? What happens if you break your one and only pair of bridal shoes on your wedding day?!?!?!" from my middle sister to convince me to buy another pair of bridal shoes as back-up. Muahahaha.

I mean... that little naggy girl does have a point lah kan.

Not as fab as my current pair of bridal shoes imho, and does not exactly fit what I usually like but I think it looks nice and decent enough to act as back-up! What I love about this pair is the thick glittery glittery straps, and the small elastic band at the back strap which makes wearing this pair sooooo much more comfortable than my current pair of bridal shoes!!! And considering the fact that I only paid $15 for these babies... okay lah tu kan. Yay for sales at Payless! :D

Maybe I should consider wearing this pair for the solemnization... or dinner reception instead eh??? My current bridal dress for dinner reception has a bit of train and I am very, very concerned as to whether I will be able to walk properly when the time comes! Bila try try during first fitting je macam anytime boleh wobble seh. At least with this pair tak payah maintain balance sangat since it's slightly lower and I can stabilize my balance better.

Seriously tak balek modal eh, kalau pengantin dah pakai cantik cantik pastu jatuh tersungkur padang terkukur di depan khalayak ramai. ITU JAM JUGAK aku patahkan aku punya heels and walk down the aisle dengan kaki ayam. Kaki ayam as in kaki ayam the peribahasa eh, not literally kaki ayam yang beli kat pasar untuk buat jadi sup.

count to the down

About five days ago, I posted a screenshot of our wedding countdown on Instagram:

 

Which pretty much means that by now we've already crossed over to a double digit countdown, you gaize!!!!! 95 days left, to be exact. Our friends weren't kidding sak when they warned us that time will zzzooooommm by like nobody punya business.

Naik motokar ape ni sampai laju macam gini!

But I think the countdown paling dekat and paling scary for now is this countdown:

(Yes. I have a countdown for our photoshoot, countdown for our engagement, countdown for our wedding and countdown for receipt of keys to our future home. Kalau boleh buat countdown to my next toilet break memang aku dah buat dah.)

Less than a month to the outdoor photoshoot already okay!!! Badan masih macam tong, macam mana ni?!?!?! Pakai stunt double yang muka sama but lagi kurus boleh tak????? Hahahahaha. (No progress on the #kilokhronicles journey so far - I keep losing and gaining a few kgs every other day haiz. Tengoklah macam mana nanti lepas bulan puasa. Mungkin pindah Africa untuk sementara waktu or what.)

Ooh talking about the photoshoot, coincidentally I received postcards from our photoshoot photographer Zakaria Zainal slightly after the countdown went down to less than a month -  ahhhhh I've always love receiving mail from vendors by the way, baik mails in my email inbox or mails in my physical mailbox :D

Love the postcards and note! The note started off with a "half a year has passed, with another to go" and it reminded me all the more about the next big change that both my mat and I are going to go through this fateful year.

Boleh bikin I sentimental, you know.

But before I ter-start I punya sentimental sakit mental, some updates on the preparations we've done so far for the photoshoot itself:

Photoshoot Location

Dropped by Bidadari during one of our free weekends since everyone keeps telling us about how good and spacious and quiet it is (including those who commented on my photoshoot location recce entry here) so we went to check it out... and fell in love!!! 

Exactly what we really want - spacious, ada patches of grassy fields, interesting pokok pieces without having too many trees... love it love it love it. 

It is pretty quiet - which is a good thing - but there was the occasional jogger and cyclist passing through the area while we were there so gotta keep that in mind. But okay lah boleh lah, that pretty much wraps up our chronicles in looking for a photoshoot location woop woop!

Photoshoot Dress

 

Remember I asked my mum to sew my photoshoot dress for me????? Turns out she's now too busy with Ramadhan and Syawal and ada time constraints segala so she won't be sewing one for me. BAH. 

Can't sew it myself because I am pretty much orang paling hopeless dalam dunia when it comes to DIY so tak penting eh ada hati nak sew a whole freaking dress. I knew I had to just purchase it off the rack or online... spent a few days trawling through malls but nothing caught my eye. Another BAH.

So in the end I had to turn to trusty old Etsy and found someone who can sew a dress for a slightly higher budget than I intended... but at least it will be close enough to what I've envisioned, insya Allah. Will make some minor tweaks once it arrives and I am very excitez!!! I'm actually 50/50 dengan ini budak Kim but tawakkal je lah eh?

My dress won't exactly be like the one posted in the gambar above because I requested for some tweaks - cannot be too terdedah dedah because that was one of the terms and conditions imposed by his parents before they gave us permission for a pre-wedding photoshoot ye (1. No intimate pictures 2. No revealing outfits. Yang No.2 tu nampak sah for aku lah kan, yang mamat aku nak pakai revealing revealing dah buang tebiat ke ape. Although he does have cleavage.....)

Photoshoot Props

These are DIY pompoms from my awesome tahap maksima future mother-in-law! She did the pompoms "suka suka" she says, and we're free to use them any way we want. So we thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to use them for our photoshoot! Yay yay!

So now all we have to do is figure out what exactly we want to do with them. Heh. Have one or two ideas in mind so we'll see how that pans out. We've also bought / ordered three props that we have in mind for our photoshoot so save for a few minor DIY touches, we're actually pretty ready when it comes to props :D

Oh! Also draaagged my mat to Plaza Singapura to get materials for a patricular DIY projek after visiting Bidadari and I can't wait to get cracking! Cuma between now and end of August, entah boleh dapat the free time to do it ke tidak :/

A few other stuff happening this weekend for me as well but the two wedding-related tasks would be... *drum roll perut roll lapis roll*

- Meeting my photoshoot MUA for my make-up trial. Yay!

- Collecting my lunch reception punya cards from From Fran With Love! Yay!

Hur hur. Baru benda kecik tapi excited semacam eh aku. Yay sana yay sini.

And ni baru photoshoot seh, belum lagi wedding, perasaan rollercoaster dah membuak membuak rabak macam gini. How to handle the bundles of nerves and excitement once the wedding comes ni?! 

Must remind my bridesmaids to sediakan 10 gallons of oxygen, epidural, sedatives segala during my akad nikah and sanding lah like this.

DIY this, DIY that

We were actually not planning to buy any props for our outdoor photoshoot because we figured the main feature that we'll be bringing in will more than make up for it.

But after our discussion with Zakaria Zainal (who is very lovely and very insightful in person, by the way!) on Monday, we realized that what we're planning might not be sufficient... which is why we've now decided to have propsssss, y'all :D

I'm trying my best to make the photoshoot as DIY as possible (even though I am the most rubbish person when it comes to DIY lolololol) so I've already collated several tutorials to run trials on. Some of the stuff we're incorporating our outdoor photoshoot with!

Pinwheels

 (Source: Measured by the Heart)

(Source: Etsy)

(Source: Bridesmaid)

 (Source: Unknown)

(Source: Postcards and Pretties)

(Source: Wscottchester Blog) 

(Source: Project Wedding)

This was actually sparked by the memory of my little cousin Shah Indra playing with this pinwheel toy at our engagement ceremony....

... and I thought it'd be great to incorporate pinwheels into the photoshoot since they're fun and they're colourful - the two exact elements that we want for our outdoor photoshoot. The only part I'm still not sure about is whether to do the usual matte ones using papers or felts or shiny ones like these. (Of course if the DIY process doesn't pan out well, we can always ask Shah Indra where he bought his pinwheel toy HAHA)

Oh, the best part about DIY pinwheels is the part where I can rope in people to help me with this: My sister has these awesome patterned square papers that she has used before to make pinwheels for her bedroom decor + and then there's Nani the DIY Diva! HALLO NANI! Amaciam, dah lama tak unleash the DIY Diva in you kan heh heh heh. 

Especially great to rope her in for this because she was the one who pernah cakap she wants to have a go at creating a DIY pinwheel bouquet, and she was the one who DIY-ed pinwheels for one of our picnics a few years back:

Oh, I also thought pinwheels will be great because it's senang nak buat ha. ha. ha. ha. ha.

Fabric or Felt Bouquets

At first I thought of just buying rainbow roses bouquet but on second thoughts, I didn't think that it would be fun enough as compared to some of the DIY fabric or DIY felt bouquets that I've seen before sooooo...

 (Source: Unknown)

 (Source: Camille Styles)

(Source: The Brides' Cafe)

(Source: Kreated by Kelly)

(Source: Labelle Bride)

(Source: Elizabeth Anne Designs)

(Source: Rock 'N' Roll Bride)

(Source: The Wonder Forest)

I was so excited squealing through pages and pages of the wonderful world wide web during the last half an hour in office that I decided to drop by the Art Friend outlet near my office to grab some materials to do a trial once I reached home:

Not perfect but I quite like it! Not bad for a DIY noobie who is used to taking the easy way out by paying someone else to do it for me ok. I had a very hard time trying to suppress thoughts of "Eh nak patah pe tulang belakang aku duduk potong ini bendealah" (padahal baru buat 1, 2 pieces LOL) and "Siak ah aku bayar $12 for everything, puas hati aku top up lagi $12 to $15 boleh beli and ship in the pom pom flowers bouquet from Etsy seh." 

HAIYA HOW ALL YOU DIY QUEENS DO THIS NI?!?!?! HAIZZZZZ

Anyway. Will experiment with a few other materials and few other designs (from the links above) before I decide which one will work the best. Maybe buying a cute pom pom bouquet from Etsy will work the best eh OK NO.

There are a few more ideas that we have on hand when it comes to props for the outdoor photoshoot but I think don't need to share everything right now lah ok. Nak jugak kasi surprise to our friends! Hehe. Plus I don't want to be too ambitious sampai everything gets rushed or terlalu banyak props sampai it messes up the look too much - too many elements in a photoshoot might take the essence away from the main purpose of the photoshoot - the couple themselves. (Zakaria warned us about this too!)

There are some ideas here if you're not sure what props you want for your wedding photoshoot... I think I quite like the exploding lollipops one hahahahaha. I know balloons are popular but definitely no balloons for us because I'm not a fan. My mat jangan cakap, dia lagi not a fan because he is scared of balloons.

And yes guys, you read that right - my mat yang badan besar muka fierce ni is scared of balloons ok. Macamlah itu balloon nak creep up on him in the middle of the night and drag him to a torture dungeon lah kan.

cerita atas bumbung

So what were our plans after we left Jentayu Gallery Wedding Showcase last weekend?

Rooftop barbeque and hostel staycation with some of our orang orang kuat, that's what!

My mat and I rushed off to Shophouse the Social Hostel for our long weekend plans with our orang orang kuat after the wedding exhibition last weekend - we opted to go to a hostel instead of booking a hotel room to lounge around and be lazy and silly this time round so staycation with a difference lah konon! Asyik staycation kat 4-star, 5-star hotels, this time kita tukar angin - angin on the rooftop of Shophouse pulak.

I mean, kitaorang Melayu seh. Atas bumbung pun kita boleh ajak lepak, betul tak? :P

This was before Nani, Poji, Ahmad and Mus (one of the hostel owners who is also my mat's closest buddy) joined us for the barbeque and lepak session... Nina was in KL stuffing herself with Wondermilk cupcakes so she couldn't join us.

We ordered food and BBQ pit package from BBQ Wholesale because it makes things sooooo much easier for us! I've always disliked having to lug around a lot of things for barbeques and there's always something that you'll need to remember, kalau tak, leceh ah nak kena gi keluar and beli - the arang lah, the thongs lah, the firestarters lah, wire mesh lah, what lah. When we ordered from BBQ Wholesale, tinggal choose the package we want, add on whatever additional food items kita nak, and that's it. Everything else is in the package (except the protable BBQ pit itself which you'll need to add on from ala carte) and they'll deliver it to your location with a fee.

It was a very simple and laidback lepak session but I loved every minute of it!!! Took the chance to explain in detail to our orang orang kuat why we're having venue issues but it took all of 15 to 20 minutes before we started chatting about other things - it was great to be able to let loose and not think about the wedding for the weekend ok!

By the way, can I just mention that this rooftop space will be awesome for bachelor and bachelorette nights?!!! Asked Mus whether the space is up for rental for parties and he said yes, which is great because I think the space is awesome for small private events - it is right smack on Arab Street, there's ample tables and chairs, a sink for washing, and you'll get an awesome view of the sky (if your event is at night ah.) If you takut you'll be too tired to trudge back home after the event then you can just book yourself a bed in one of their hostel rooms instead and crash for the night (or do what we did if you're in a big group - we paid for all the beds in the room and had the room all to ourselves)

You can browse through their website here and email them for the rooftop rental rates!

Oh, one of the awesome things that happened that night was us making friends with an Austrian guest who wandered to the rooftop area at around 1am, I think? Everyone else was either sleeping already or not back from their partying so we got her to join us and it was really fun exchanging stories sampai pagi. Sham even took the opportunity to show her his and Aisyah's wedding video by Flipside Stories because we were telling her how Malay weddings work! Sempat betul promote wedding sendiri eh ini pakcik!

Then my mat did something that both of us have thought of doing before - he asked her whether she was open to us bringing her around Singapore... and she said yes!!! So after the night was over (at 5am eh lol), we slept for about 5 hours before starting the day as unofficial tour guides for our new Austrian friend, Katharina. Woot woot!

You see, my mat and I, we've agreed before that once we're married and have free weekends, we'll drop by the Shophouse to mingle around with the hostel guests and then bring out whoever's up for a free ride around Singapore just for the fun of it. But since we were at the hostel over the weekend and we were presented with such a great opportunity, my mat decided to just kickstart the whole thing!

We had a reaaaaally great time because it was so interesting to interact with someone who has different experiences and perspectives and was in Singapore for the first time and now we can't wait for the next free weekend to bring out the next guest that comes to town!!! Which might not be so soon lah since most of our weekends now are filled with wedding-related plans and stuff boohoo.

Really really really love the fact that I'm marrying someone who enjoys doing such fun stuff as much as I do!!! (Or probably more, that over-friendly bastard) Guess this is one of the great reasons why I know he is the one for me??? Hehe. Kekasih-kekasih lama aku mesti dah kirim salam seh kalau aku ajak buat kerja macam gini.

Oh! One of the good things that happened from bringing Katharina out to various spots in Singapore was being able to singgah the kedai which sells these colourful babies!!!

SUKAAAAAAA!!!!! Can't wait to use them babies!!! Sooooo tak sabar ok!!!

Now my head dah start ah planning macam macam for the photoshoot MACAM MANA NI NAK CONCENTRATE KAT KERJA NI. Step concentrate kat kerja in the first place je lol

jom kita innovate!

New promo from Innovazione Gubahans for this lovely month of May! 

If y'all nak tau, Innovazione Gubahans was actually one of our top choices for gubahan when we first set out on this wedding preparation journey! Seriously think their gubahan work became prettier and more up to date since we last considered their gubahan services. Dari dulu memang dah pretty lah - if not why would we even consider them in the first place kan hur hur - tapi sekarang makin better and prettier and I, for one, am always fond of vendors yang ikut peredaran zaman, y'know! Come you tengok sendiri:

Very cantik! I've always preferred gubahans that are simple and "clean" and I think Innovazione Gubahans fits that bill swee swee, so if you share the same sentiments as me then Innovazione Gubahan are the ones you need to seriously consider ok. Super reasonable price + Complementary gubahan colours = Akak give two thumbs up! If akak ada tiga thumbs macam Hrithik Roshan, akak dah kasi tiga thumbs up dah.

(My mat and I are still trying to figure out what to do for the uniformity of our barang dulangs, by the way. We agreed that all our items must be in black - with the exception of our rings, my duit hantaran and one gadget that we reaaally wanted but only comes in silver (the packaging's black, though) - the problem now is two or three of our items comes in red and blue packaging so tak kena dengan our colour scheme!!! Must remember to ask Ola Lola (our dulang gubahan people) for their expert advice.)

Ok patah balek to the main story - as you can see from their May promotion, they also do photography for wedding events and outdoor photoshoots. Sample works lai la lai la~

(Source: Innovazione Gubahans)

Kalau you're the kind yang suka kill two birds with one stone then this May promotion package from Innovazione Gubahans might just be the one for you hor! 

Anyway, just thought I'd mention this sementara tengah ada mood nak berblogging - remember I previously mentioned about lack of local vendors who provide DIY photobooth props punya service? Right after I published that entry, tiba tiba macam one after another lah seh that kind of vendor keluar at my Facebook newsfeed. Haha! 

So now to add to Nina from Tweexis Little Booth, there's also Fabuloustix Moments, Whimsi Whisk (only pre-orders + not customized), Pretty White Veil (only pre-orders + not customized) and of course the faaabulous Le Papier Project launched by one of our darling bride-to-be, Chase The Bride! So bagus right bride-to-be sekarang, so many choices for so many categories of wedding-related items to choose from! Cuma kalau you're the kind yang fickle-minded then maybe not so good lah kan nanti berbuih mulut sebab tak tau mana satu nak choose hahaha

Oh oh oh! Can I also mention how happy I am that Zudyra Creation has started providing backdrops for their print-and-snap photo services??? Again, super love vendors who do not practise perangai katak bawah tempurung and are always improving or adding value to their services from time to time. Just last two months I mentioned choosing a snap-and-print service because they offered a backdrop (I know there are photobooths who offer backdrops but this is different from snap-and-print services) and now Zudrya Creation pun dah ada! Yay to more options for fellow bakal pengantins! Hehe.

(Source: Zudrya Creation)

You know, I think there is a high possibility I won't delete several wedding vendors off my Facebook list for this exact reason - it's always lovely and heartening to see our local Malay wedding vendors increase their standards, offer better services and prettier styles of work. I've to admit I can't run away from starting to prep up for the next stage of lives now though, so I have started deleting so-so wedding-related vendors off my Facebook the past few months to make space for interior decor and design-related ones. 

It's about time, really - my mat and I met Ashik and Fisz when we went out with our primary school friends for dinner and karaoke last Friday and we started talking about our upcoming BTO flats. FYI, we've scored flats within the same development and will be staying a few blocks away from each other! Ashik and I currently live sebelah block so when we found we'll be block neighbours again at our new houses, I mockingly accused Ashik of stalking me into my new life hahahahaha. 

Anyway, conversation steered towards the possibility of getting our flats earlier than the projected Q3 of 2014 because of super cepat nak mampos construction (sampai you'd think HDB dah employ The Flash to build our flats instead of bangla construction workers sia) so if God be willing, we might just get our flat before Ramadhan next year. Which means... time to start working on our #konstructionkhronicles, y'all!

Apek kontractor, LU TUNGGU. This time next year gua datang cari lu ok.