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.

The Pre-Wedding Preparations (Part 3)

Okay, sudah tiba masa for my last installment entry on my pre-wedding preparations! Baik ah man, satu lagi entry, siap!

27 October 2013 (Sunday)

Facial Appointment at Spa Jelita

Remember I booked a facial session promotion with Spa Jelita in January this year during a wedding exhibition? After 10 long months, I finally fixed my facial appointment with Spa Jelita the Sunday before my wedding day!

I thought I'd be excited to go for my first facial session ever (yes, I've never done facials before!) but surprisingly, I was pretty blasé when I went... might be because I was ngantok and just wanted it over and done with ah haha.

The entrance and the waiting area!

I think I'm quite lucky to have girlfriends who regularly go for facial sessions and they've shared with me before that facial extractions can hurt like a mother efffffff, so I sort of knew what I was in for? But I don't think all the horror stories from my girlfriends prepared me for the actual freaking pain ah.

Remember I mentioned that I have high pain threshold in my previous entry? Looks like I might have found something that borders closely near my pain threshold haha! Let's just say if I had to choose between kena hit on the face with a periuk besi and facial extraction, I'd choose getting hit on the face with a periuk besi anytime any day 20 TIMES OVER LAH EH.

The consultant did ask me whether I was doing fine and whether the pain was too unbearable for me at the initial stage of the extraction but because I just wanted it to be over and done with, I told her I was fine and she can continue at the pace that she was going at.

But really, this was me when the consultant was doing the facial extraction on my nose... for what felt like a million days of summer:

And here's a picture of the torture chamber. Hahahahaha what what.

And the nice cosy bathroom area that you can meraung at after your torture session is over hahahahaha

But only extraction part yang buat aku macam nak nangis bawah ketiak mak aku ah. The rest of the facial was fine, and I even got some needed shut-eye during the session.

So what is my verdict on my first ever facial session with Spa Jelita?

Verdict: Meh. I don't think I'll go back to them for facials lagi ah. It seems like whatever facial treatment they did for me was not very suitable for my skin because my skin became much much much drier after that D: Or is dryness of skin supposed to be normal after a facial session??? I wouldn't really know because I've never been for facial sessions before this lah kan.

I let it be for about three days but the maha dryness didn't let up so I decided to buy a box of My Beauty Diary's Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing Mask from Sasa and wore them for half an hour before I went to sleep for the last few nights before the wedding. Helped to alleviate the dryness, heng! I must admit the facial extraction did what it was supposed to do though, because I can haz no blackheads and whiteheads on my face, y'allz! Itu part ah yang workz.

And I guess I should be grateful it didn't turn out teruk like the incident I mentioned here previously, right??? Itu rabak siak, till today I wonder which beauty establishment caused that whole uproar tau.

The mehness of the facial session made me a bit apprehensive about my spa and massage session with Spa Jelita (which was scheduled a few days after that) but as it turns out, I didn't really have to worry because it was much better than my facial session. Deets in the later part of this entry!

30 October 2013 (Wednesday)
Haircut, Face Threading & Purchase of Contact Lens 

My leave already started by this time so I took the opportunity to tie up loose ends, give more instructions to vendors, as well as moarrrrr personal grooming.

First up was a much needed haircut at my usual hairdresser because my split ends was so serabai here there everywhere!!! I know, I know, I'm always having hair issues (had one during my engagement and another during my pre-wedding photoshoot bah) so this was actually another gamble I took - cutting my hair a few days before the wedding ha ha ha ha ha TAK SERIK SERIK AH INI ANAK. Memang mintak kena rotan.

Lucky it turned out fine this time round ah. Nasib pengantin kot?! :P

The next session was a full face threading session - as recommended by Nani because she said that it will make a difference to the kecerahan and glow of my face! So I scheduled a full face threading session with my regular threader (?) instead of my usual eyebrow threading session, and I am happy to report that memang ada difference seh! Awesome or whuttttttt.

Also went to my neighbourhood optician after my threading session to buy the "big eye" contacts! You know the ones yang make your eyes look bigger??? I think they're also known as circle eye contacts - I chose Geo Bella's black ones because the salesgirl told me it's the most natural-looking. (You can also read reviews here and here.)

Yang ini, Kak Nora from Ishq By Nora Zee was the one who suggested I get a pair because she said it'll make a (positive) difference to the way I look!

To be honest kan, I was very apprehensive about wearing these on my wedding day, and the reason is because I've used them before and they made me look like kakak kepada Ju-on lah siak. Tak bedek, geng. I'd put up a picture from when I wore them briefly back in 2007 but if I did, habislah korang tak boleh tido, terkencing kencing kat atas katil malam ni.

But I really didn't have to worry so much because the contacts turned out great on me (after make-up) in the end and did make a difference okay!!!!! If I may say so myself lah eh. Hur hur.

I didn't take a 'before contacts' and 'after contacts' picture (drats!) so I just sharing this gambar which I kapok from Kak Nora's Facebook je okay:

The contacts still look a bit weird on me when I'm not wearing make-up (possibly weird with light daily make-up too) so not sure if I'll wear these contacts again for daily use :/ Maybe during special occasions when eyeshadow + thicker make-up than usual is required??? 

30 October 2013 (Wednesday)

Bridal Room Setup By Bonito By Bob

That night, after I was back from running errands and my personal grooming sessions semua, Bob and his awesome Bonito By Bob team came over to start setting up my bridal room! It took a little longer than their usual setup time of about 2 hours but it was so worth it and I am very excited to report that this was one of my favourite highlights from the whole wedding!!!!!

How can it not be, when my bridal room setup LOOKED LIKE THIS:

 You can watch an instavid of the bridal room tour (lol) here.

IT WAS SO PRETTY, I CAN'T EVEN. SERIOUSLY. But all these excitement yang membuak buak I shall save for later later eh, when I do my final review on Bonito By Bob. For now, all you need to know is that my bridal room was crazy awesome and if you want a bridal room that is as crazy awesome, you all know lah who to look for!!!!!

Oh, another thing - by a stroke of luck, Bob also passed me two of my pre-wedding pictures which he initially printed out to put up as decor but didn't use in the end - I was feeling uninspired on how to do the signages for our afternoon reception tables, you see, and the pictures he gave were perfect. One of me, and one of Saliheen :D

Activated my sisters to help me cut out the wordings from construction paper before sending it off to the printing shop for lamination.

Tadaaaaa~! Not the most creative of ideas but as long as it serves its purpose, it was good enough for me.

31 October 2013 (Thursday)

Spa and Massage Appointment at Spa Jelita

Two days before the wedding, I started the day bright and early with a bridal spa and massage session at Spa Jelita.

Their lorong lorong:

The spa and massage room:

This session turned out better than my facial - I felt rejuvenated by the end of it, and I don't really have any major complaints about the whole experience. The masseuse who attended to me was friendly and their ambience was pretty great + I expected some kind of package hardselling at the end of the session but there was none of that so that's a yay!

If you ask me whether I'll go back there for another session, I'll probably give you an unenthusiastic "Maybe" though - the overall experience was fine but I feel as if the spa and massage sessions that I've had in Batam and Bintan were more satisfying and  lagi worth my money? (I would've gone for a bridal spa and massage session in Batam or Bintan if I could, but I didn't want to travel days before the wedding so that was out of the question.

Also, I've not been to other spa and massage salons in Singapore so I can't really do a legit comparison.

31 October 2013 (Thursday)

Printing of Guest Seating Chart  

As some may know by now, my guest seating chart list for the dinner reception looked a little something awesome hahaha like this:

My mamat and I had a bit of trouble with the guest seating chart - due to the uncertain nature of guest lists, we had to constantly change the seating arrangements and couldn't print the chart earlier to get it out of the way.

(As a matter of fact, I was still inviting people weeks before the wedding because I had a few more people I wanted to invite and had to puss-in-boots-face my way through my mamat's heart first in order to get him to agree to an extra table hehehe)

 

I actually thought of a way to counter this issue - I suggested printing out the table bases on big boards, then separately print and cut the cartoon faces into individual pieces so we can still play around with the seating arrangements as and when our guests informed us they were able or unable to attend. We could have put velcro or sticky tape at the back of the face pieces and pasted them onto the board according to the assigned tables - the concept is a little something like this, you know?

But the idea of the guest seating chart not looking as seamless if done that way remained as a bugbear for me so I persevered to the end and only printed out the guest seating chart two days before the wedding (oh wait, was it one?). Cut it pretty close but IT WAS BLOODY WORTH IT, SUCKERS!!!

This was from the night before, when my sister was helping me make the last minute changes and improvements to the seating chart. Thank you my adik tersayang for spending so much time on this lovely piece!!!!!

Much love for helping me design my invitation cards for the dinner reception tooooooo! Which of course, looks like this:

The front part has a scratch out portion!

Something very simple but I loved that we managed to incorporate scratch out stickers into our invitation cards!!! The scratch off portion, when scratched, reveals our names and the link to our wedding website :D

You can also see an instavid of the card getting scratched (haha that sounds so salah somehow) here.

I was a bit concerned about the invitation cards being too simple but it turned out to be a hit! We were especially surprised when we realized our male guests were the ones who got all excited over the scratch off portions haha (I mean, it's always safe to assume that females will be more appreciative of such... fun details, yes?)

On the other hand, a lot of our female guests told us they didn't want to scratch the card off because dorang rasa macam "sayang" wtf. Melampau eh korang, yang korang nak sayangkan card jemputan aku tu dah kenape?!?!?!

I also know that the element of surprise is not reaaaaally there because, well, all of our guests already knew we were getting married during the Deepavali weekend but we decided to just go ahead with this card design just for the fun of it. Initially the main wording was supposed to be different, though - it was supposed to be "Saliheen and Farhana are getting married! Guess when?" and the scratch off portion was supposed to reveal the date. But I decided to make the changes a few weeks before we sent the cards for printing... because I am just a kakak yang suka menyusahkan adik like that :P

31 October 2013 (Thursday)

Bridal Henna Session with Syraskins

After getting my bridal spa and massage done and printing of collateral settled during the earlier part of the day, I went home hoping for a quick nap before my 10pm henna session with Syraskins. But it was not meant to be, because Syra called me slightly before 5pm, asking whether she can come by at 6pm instead because her 6pm client was still settling other things and requested for postponement of appointment.

Since I initially wanted the 6pm slot anyway (but didn't get since that other bride beat me to it... well, like I always say, if it's your rezeki, it will be your rezeki hehe) and I didn't really feel like doing anything else at that point of time, I agreed! So Syra and her sister came at about 6.30pm, and it must have been the most. freaking. boring. henna session they have ever been to... because it was just me, myself and I hahaha.

I didn't want a big festive henna session since I'm not a big henna fan in the first place (I've mentioned this here and here) and the only reason I was having bridal henna is because I succumbed to societal pressure and had some on just to "nampak macam pengantin". All I wanted was to get it over and done with as quickly as possible and with no fanfare so that was an *achievement unlocked*!

Picture of the bridal henna on my feet! None from my hands because by the time my sister came home to tolong ambikkan gambar, the henna was dry and peeling and looked pretty horrendous.

 Mandatory happy shot with the henna masters!

Them henna masters told me to leave the henna on for 4 hours to max out effect but because I didn't want to risk the henna stain staying longer than I wanted it to (again, I reiterate, I do not fancy henna all that much and specifically wanted them off as quickly as possible after the wedding), aku pun cowboy and peeled the henna off after 1 and a half hours hahahahaha.

1 November 2013 (Friday)

Onsite venue visit

Delivery of Ola Lola Trays

And then came... the day before the wedding. JENG JENG JENG.

Can't really remember what happened during the early part of the day because it went by very very very fast (I do remember a string of hasty phonecalls and flurry of emails though... masih ah nak bertukar emails at the eleventh hour hahaha) but by 5pm, I made my way down to Silat Federation to take a look at the pelamin and decor setup and make sure everything was in place. 

My mamat was already there with his family and groomsmen and this was one of the things that he and one of his groomsmen Sham were up to:

TENGAH PRACTISE NAMPAK? TENGAH PRACTISE NAMPAK? Hahahahaha.

Went home straight after that to finish up last minute DIY photoshoot props (like pasting and cutting out the alphabets you saw in an earlier picture here) with the help of my sisters and the laki bini si Poji and Nani, start packing final payments into envelopes and start packing my staycation bag.

And while I was doing all that, my living room was buzzing with chatter and activity because a whole bunch of relatives came over at night to makan makan!!! I was very happy to see my aunts and uncles and cousins merrymaking over at my place, made the whole night really meriah :D

Just after they left, the wonderful girls of Ola Lola came over to my place to deliver my gift trays (gift trays from me to my mamat) after delivering his (gift trays from him to me) and it was pretty surreal to see all the barang barang that we've accumulated over the past year all wrapped, tied and prettied up for our very own special occasion!

 Gift trays sitting in all their prettiness against an equally pretty backdrop <3

After I was done with all the packing and fussing around, I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep and expected to toss and turn in bed that night (a number of ex-brides told me this will happen!) but as it turns out I wasn't nervous or anxious enough for that to happen??? Because believe it or not, both of us (I asked Saliheen after our wedding day) slept like babies that night.

But babies we were not, because babies don't do adult things like get married the next day... betul tak? :P

onward to the second stage of preparation, comrades!

Looks like half of the items on our list for the next stage of proceedings are more or less settled!

Padahal supposed to look see look see dulu aje tau then early January 2013 baru start chop, but after kita dah recce and we like what we see, we didn't want to hegeh or bother ourselves with details any longer so out out out the deposits go. No pain, no gain, no guts, no glory, y'all.

1. Kompang

Signed, sealed and happily settled with Kompang Zapin Berdendang!

2. Kursus rumahtangga (Pre-Marriage preparation course)

Already identified when and where we want to attend the pre-marriage preparation course and am now waiting for 2013 slots (at the masjid that we want to go to) to open! Called the main centre and they said most probably December baru the slots will keluar.

Ni macam baru betul kalau gua bukak line "Lu tunggu Christmas ka pa?!" hahahahaha

3. Berkat (Wedding favours) 

I last wrote about berkat here and here and since then, both our mothers (whom we've given the right and freedom to choose our wedding favours) has stuck to their choices, which is pulut kuning with telur merah and macarons respectively. Very decisive, I very like!

I'm also liking the fact that these two items are such a contrast from each other  - pulut kuning with telur merah is such an old school berkat whereas macaron is such a modern berkat. Berkat yang lama bergading bahu dengan berkat yang baru at a combined reception, fuhhhhh dah macam sepakat membawa berkat, babe! (Takde link as usual hahahaha)

My mum's been bugging me about confirming her orders and placing the deposit... I think she maha excited about her pulut kuning and telur merah berkat because she's not the sort who bugs me about stuff! Hahaha so cute lah my mother ni. Pasal decor, dia tak kacau aku, pasal bridal, dia tak kacau aku, pasal catering, dia tak kacau aku, pasal berkats pulak dia betul punya enthu.

Ok lah, terus terang I was sliiightly dragging my feet on this because as much as I lurrrvvveee the idea of pulut kuning and telur merah as wedding favours (so nostalgik!), I'm still takut and apprehensive about my mum's berkat choice because I'm concerned about the quality of the pulut kuning berkats! It's quite tricky to maintain the freshness of pulut kuning and I wouldn't want the pulut kuning to become basi when my family gives them out to guests :(

But almost every other day the goddamn berkat issue bugs me to end sampai otak aku yang naik basi ok! So I decided to tawakkal and went ahead to book the berkat for my mum few days ago. SETTLE THE KETTLE. No more thinking about pulut sampai brain cells pun boleh basi.

In my previous entry on berkats, I mentioned Ovenly Sweet and Rasa Syiokur @ Breeze Bait (and Rita Pretty Pastries but she confirmed with me that she does not do bulk orders for pulut kuning - such a shame, because she's super friendly!) but I ended up booking the pulut kuning favours with MelJ's Genre! Mostly because Ovenly Sweet did not reply my messages and because both my mum and I prefer MelJ's Genre punya design over Rasa Syiokur @ Breeze Bait.

My encounter with MelJ's Genre is another one of those twist of fate moments that I've experienced on this wedding preparation journey! (Which I'm very versyukur about, Alhamdullilah):

Added them on Facebook sometime back for something totally unrelated - a girlfriend asked me for contacts for coconut blossoms earlier this year and I happened to see MelJ's Genre's blossoms picture tagged on someone's wall so I added them to see more of their albums - but somehow when I was compiling information for pulut kuning berkat, I didn't notice them in my Facebook list (which is why they're not listed in my initial list for pulut kuning berkat vendors).

As mentioned previously, I was dragging my feet on this pulut kuning business until sometime last two weeks, I thought ok stop stalling and let's get this settled once and for all. Logged in my Facebook account and lo and behold - a picture of their berkat pulut kuning appeared at the top of my feed!!! Coincidental maha coincidental sak. Realized that I missed them out after checking through my list so I immediately messaged them to for quotes! Took me two weeks to finally sit down and show pictures to my mum, who immediately approved the design and quote, so I gave them my confirmation, deposit transferred and there you go: another piece of kahwin khronicles history.

 

(Source: MelJ's Genre)

Silly thought but I'mwondering why the name was MelJ's Genre seh. Kenapa genre? Pulut pun ada genre eh? Pulut soul? Pulut reggae? Pulut rock? Pulut pop? Pulut K-pop? And kenape MelJ? Adik beradik dengan Mel B and Mel C from the Spice Girls ka? Tapi ni Spice Girls dah bercampur dengan rendang spices ka? Hahahahaha)

Ok ok I'll quit it with the cheap lawak jenaka and move on to the next part on our quest for wedding berkat - now for my mat's side! His mum right from the start memang dah cakap nak macarons so I've been looking for vendors on her behalf - as of now, I have three vendors who have given quotes:

Cake Love Couture: I've mentioned that their stuff are very sedap before and I trust that their macarons will be just as sedap but I'm not a big fan of the speed of their response (the lack of it, rather) - so I'm not going to consider them.

Sweet Merveilles (under Macarons, Cookies and Cakes): Never tasted their stuff before so I don't know what to expect. Seems nice and reliable enough, and gives very prompt response. Thought of getting a sampler pack so we can taste their macarons before making a decision.

Ola Lola: I was pleasantly surprised when they told me they do bulk orders for macarons as wedding favours because I was under the impression that they do smaller quantities! Am paling keen on them - they'll be doing our dulang hantarans anyway so satu shot sekali ah kirakan.

I also asked Dessert Artisans but they have their hands full with our wedding dessert tier that weekend so they can't quote us for macaron wedding favours heh heh heh.

There's also another player in the market who does sweet treats like macarons for wedding favours but I cannot seem to put my finger as to why I don't really fancy or trust this company / person all that much. I know it might seem silly to not trust and engage a company / person based on a gut feeling but better to be safe than sorry, tio bo?

Anyway I mentioned about this person to Nani, who gave me a good reason as to why I might be feeling this way: she is always posting pictures of "inspiration" - which is totally fine by the way - but the problem is she posts very little pictures of her own creations. Even the very few pictures that she does post are heavily editted or angled in such a way that you cannot really tell the quality of her workmanship. Sorry eh geng, lu dodgy, gua dodge, selamat jalan romeo, sister!

Anywaaayyyyy, the update on this is:

We've decided not to wait any longer and have confirmed our interest with Ola Lola! Waiting for them to confirm that we can transfer our deposit before this berkat issue can be laid to rest and our minds will have more space to think about other more pressing wedding-related issues like deciding on a wedding theme once and for all!!! Maklumlah, akak ni one year away from being on the wrong side of my twenties, memory space pun makin lama makin kurang and makin karat. Akak punya bakal pulak jangan cakap, memang dah maha on the wrong side of twenties pun.

 (Source: Ola Lola)

4. Barang barang dulang

Nothing concrete yet - although we do have a more or less confirmed list of the type of things that we want to put on the dulangs - but we'll definitely borong during the next Great Singapore Sale! This one cannot bring forward in advance eh because sale period memang dah fixed June/July 2013.

Also glad we have flying friends (no, no, not pigeons or fatimah rockers, mak ai SERAM PE kalau ada kawan pigeons or fatimah rockers hahaha) and travelling friends who are willing to help us purchase our stuff from overseas to take advantage of the cheaper costs, if need be! His parents might also be going to London sometime in June next year for his brother's graduation and we're hoping to tumpang bahagia by kirim-ing an item or two for our dulangs heh heh heh

5. Wedding Bands

December is coming up in a week's time so let the Christmas sales begin!!!

Since we didn't buy a ring for my mamat masa time beli cincin for my engagement, we're not very sure how the selection is like for lelaki rings - will need to set aside one of the weekends before Christmas to pergi recce wedding bands. Sesiapa yang baru jejak masuk ke alam wedding planning ni, ingat eh, number one golden rule among the kakak kakak kahwin network is that you must always always always wait for Great Singapore Sale or pre and post Christmas/Chinese New Year sales to buy cincin tunang or cincin kahwin because the harga all kena slash maha slash!!! If you beli your barang barang outside of these sales period punya windows then you're either terlalu selenge or terlalu kaya. Or both. Or mintak kena back hand.

6. Bridal Henna

Henna is not really an issue now since I've already made my booking with my henna artist sometime in March this year. (Not because slots get snapped up fast but because I already knew who I wanted and didn't want to put it off.) I mentioned before that I'm not a fan of henna but my dad will probably make noise about it and henna is seriously something that is perkara kecik as compared to all the other wedding-related things. My feelings towards henna is impartial anyway (I don't love it but I don't hate it either - same as my feelings towards cats! Meow~) and I can choose to opt a super simple design anyway sooooo book bridal henna it was! And with Syraskins it was!

Very glad I booked with Syraskins because the owner is so so so uber nice and prompt!

Ok what happened is really caused by my gatalness because what happened was: I initially booked my henna appointment date on the Friday afternoon before the wedding - thought it through and decided that it was too close for comfort, and what happens if I have last minute things to do on that day?! So I recently asked to change the appointment date to the Thursday before the wedding date via email, got a phonecall from Quraisha from Syraskins letting me know the available timeslots to choose from and I carelessly chose an 11am timing (tengah tak concentrate seh tu... I was tucking in to my Samurai burger leh!).

Processed the idea after that but realized I didn't like the idea of waking up early to get the bridal henna done (hahaha what WHAT) and what if I want to schedule my spa session that Thursday afternoon?! Ok probably won't make any difference but I'd rather not "kacau" the henna on my hands and feet right after it's applied *cough* irrational fear *cough* Called Quraisha again to ask if I can change to an afternoon timeslot instead - unfortunately, the best timeslot (6pm) already taken by another bride-to-be :(

Had to make do with a night timeslot instead, which I guess is ok lah because I don't plan on doing anything intricate (so I shall assume the process will take a shorter time) and it also means that I will have time on that Thursday afternoon to settle other stuff before winding down with a henna appointment (Apa ni?! Two days before the wedding masih planning "to settle other stuff" ni?!)

Quraisha was super nice and patient and oh so bubbly with me even though I kept changing my appointment  - BOO ME!- and I am so grateful she didn't reach out through the computer screen or telephone to give me a tight bitchslap even though she should have lah seriously. Benda lain boleh decisive tapi bila part henna menggelabah semacam. Ape maksuddddd.

Bridal henna prices and packages are easily found on Syraskins' Facebook page!

Some designs from their Silver package:

 

... and some from their Gold package:

(Source: Syraskins)

Another bride-to-be blogger Strip Shidah did an entry on bridal henna here before so if you're more particular about bridal henna than I am, you might want to read on. Tapi kalau tak particular pun boleh baca because she listed down some tips on booking bridal henna... very useful!

Ok dah tu je for now. Next step is to meet my future mother-in-law to run through decor ideas!!! :O

But that one I kena come back and bukak entry baru pulak ok. Kalau tak nanti overrun pulak entry I ni nanti.