The Pre-Wedding Preparations (Part 1)

Realized that my entry on my pre-wedding preparations will be as long as the Great Wall of China punya nenek moyang if I dump everything together in one entry so I'm going to break it down into 3 parts! Kirakan ada sequel triquel ala ala Hollywood blockbuster lah gitu.  

As we all know, about 3 weeks before the wedding I still had time and breathing space to blog about preparations but bila part dah masuk second last week, hah ambik kau obat. I started getting emails and text messages from my vendors, asking me to confirm this and approve that and approve this and confirm that! Sampai naik pusing macam gasing aku dibuatnye.

And that was when I knew my wedding was definitely creeping up on me (Take note eh guys!!! Once korangnye email inbox and Whatsapp inbox start jamming and beeping non-stop, maka itulah tanda tanda hari yang berbahagia dah nak sampai). I was so busy macam bee sampai niat nak kasi one short short good good entry before I became a wife pun tak kesampaian.

2 October 2013 (Revised on 28 October 2013)

Finalized Songlist For Dinner Reception

I think I pernah cakap that I was very pleased with my mamat for preparing our dinner reception songlist all by himself! I've mentioned here before that my mamat was put in charge of the songlist for our dinner reception because he is the more musically-inclined between us two and I've also mentioned here that I loved how he took the initiative to include the duration of each song so it'll be easier for us to kira how long the whole songlist will take. So much sayang for saya punya significant other yang sorang ni! :D

Now I just want to sebok sebok posting a screenshot of the Excel spreadsheet which my mamat prepared for our songlist! *beams*

And since we've decided to share our tak seberapa songlist after the wedding is over, here it is! :D

Guest Arrival

01. Dealova - Once (Youtube)

02. For The Rest of my Life - Maher Zain (Youtube)

03. Fallen - Lauren Wood (Youtube)

04. Turn Me On - Norah Jones (Youtube)

05. Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye (Youtube)

06. Beautiful As You - All 4 One (Youtube)

07. Just You and Me - Zee Avi (Youtube)

08. Reasons to Love You - Meiko (Youtube)

09. I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz (Youtube)

 

March In

01. Love is Endless by Mozella (Youtube)

Dinner Reception

01. Lovable - Kim Jong Kook (Youtube)

02. Near or Far - Carissa Rae (Youtube)

03. Darling It's You - David Choi & Clara C (Youtube)

04. Treasure - Bruno Mars (Youtube)

05. Love is Easy - McFly (Youtube)

06. I Think I'm in Love - Mocca (Youtube)

07. You Make Me Happy - Cathy Heller (Youtube)

08. The Best Thing - Mocca (Youtube)

09. The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson (Youtube)

10. We're Good Together - Cathy Heller (Youtube)

11. Quando Quando Quando - Michael Buble ft Nelly Furtado (Youtube)

12. A Thousand Years - Christina Perri (Youtube)

13. Greatest Story Ever Told - Oliver James (Youtube)

14. My Heart - Acha Septriasa & Irwansyah (Youtube)

15. Terukir Di Bintang - Yuna (Youtube)

16. I Do Adore - Mindy Gledhill (Youtube)

17. Best in Me - Blue (Youtube)

18. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz (Youtube)

19. You're Home To Me - Cathy Heller (Youtube)

20. Little Things - One Direction (Youtube)

21. I Swear - All 4 One (Youtube)

22. God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You - N'SYNC (Youtube)

23. All My Life - K-Ci & Jojo (Youtube)

24. I Do (Cherish You) - 98 Degrees (Youtube)

25. Everyday I Love You - Boyzone (Youtube)

26. You And I - Ingrid Michealson (Youtube)

27. Lucky - Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat (Youtube)

28. Missin' You Like Crazy - Us (Youtube)

29. Stuck on You - Meiko (Youtube)

30. I Need A Girl - Taeyang (Youtube)

31. I Do - Colbie Caillat (Youtube)

32. Two - Lenka (Youtube)

33. True Love - Pink (Youtube)

33. Sayang - Shae (Youtube)

34. Love on Top - Beyonce (Youtube)

35. Lucky - Pharrell Williams ft Daft Punk (Youtube)

36. Nothing on You - Bruno Mars ft B.O.B (Youtube)

37. Turn Up the Love - Far East Movement (Youtube)

38. Brighter than the Sun - Colbie Caillat (Youtube)

39. Something 'bout Love - David Archuleta (Youtube)

(On hindsight, I regret not remembering to include Selena Gomez's I Love You Like a Love Song and Lindsey Ray's You Make Me Happy into the list!!! Sigh pie lemon pie.)

We spent quite a fair bit of time on this, and even though we're ~pretty~ sure our guests didn't even pay attention to the music since everyone was so busy eating and chatting and conquering the photobooth lol, it was really nice to hear snippets of the music that both of us love and enjoy throughout the dinner reception. Ada satu part I even whispered to my mamat after I caught the both of us humming along to the same part of a song "Entah entah orang tak dengar pun lagu ape ni, kita dua je yang enjoy the music haha"

So aaaaanyway, our songlist is a happy mix of: 

• music that has meaning to our relationship (think True Love by Pink and Dealova by Once)

• music which is radio-friendly (like Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat and Little Things by One Direction)

• music which brings us back to our teenage memories (cue the legendary God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You by N'Sync and I Do (Cherish You) by 98 Degrees), 

• cute music which we - okay, I - like and listen to (such as You Make Me Happy by Cathy Heller and Darling It's You by David Choi and Clara C); as well as 

• catchy tunes which can guarantee earworms for the next few days (that's Lucky by Pharrell Williams ft Daft Punk, Treasure by Bruno Mars and Turn Up the Love by Far East Movement for you. I decided not to include Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines into the mix in the end because of my apprehension mentioned here. Meh.)

We didn't have a specific songlist for the afternoon reception - except for a short list of must-haves which my mother-in-law provided - so we left that to the good hands of our trusty entertainment people from Medialite.

Oooh, a little cerita about our march-in song: it was initially supposed to be Everyday I Love You by Boyzone tau but it was too much of a snoozefest zzzzz and ignited groans from our orang orang kuat hahaha EH KORANG YANG TAK NAK JOGET BILA TIME MASUK APE (I've explained why we couldn't do a fun dancing entrance which is more reflective of our personalities here). Seriously itu lagu memang sappy and soothing ah but the only way to walk in to that song is to freaking sleepwalk, can?!

So we did a trial run on Mozella's Love is Endless, which is one of our favourite songs and has a faster beat, managed to get the right pace for the march-in (at 2 bloody am, one week before the wedding haha more on this in another entry) and tadaaaaa~ itulah al-kisahnye. 

Actually kita punya first choice is Treasure by Bruno Mars ah but tak boleh because the pace turned out all weird and cacat. I mean, how the hell do you just walk in selamba bomba to Bruno Mars' Treasure?!?!?! That lagu is the kind yang kena goyang punggung inul segala sak.

12 October 2013 - 13 October 2013

Printed DIY signages and table numbers

Etc Etc Etc

During the weekend before Hari Raya Aidiladha, I bought an extra pair of heels from Payless (which turned out to be maha useful because end up that extra pair lagi kena with my sanding and dinner outfits than the first pair that I bought in JB!) and printed out some of the DIY stuff, which I blogged about here. Itu time masih ada kuasa ah nak berblogging hahaha

After that there was a lot of movement during this period, which involved finalizing the necessary permission from Temasek Polytechnic for the outdoor photoshoot, booking the minibus for transportation (my usual go-to for minibus - Aunty Nancy from Million Bus!), chasing Compass for the license application approval, passing the colour samples that we bought from Princess (Arab Street) to the relevant vendors, etc etc etc x 100 etcs.

13 October 2013 (Sunday)

Confirmation of Guestbook Table and Dessert Tier Mock Up 
from Dessert Artisans

One of the emails that I was maha excited to receive was the one from Dessert Artisans, attaching the moodboards for our wedding dessert tier and the guest reception table setup for our dinner reception!!!!!

We got the complimentary guest reception table setup when we signed up with Dessert Artisans at Jentayu Gallery's wedding exhibition last year so if you thought our reception table was gor to the geous, it was all thanks to the talented hands of the amazing Dessert Artisans!

Wish I can show y'all all of their hand-drawn moodboards but I just kasi sneak peek of the dessert tier moodboard je okay, since I'm not sure if they're okay with me posting the actual moodboards wholesale:

Moodboard je dah cantik lah siakkkkk. APAKAH MAKSUD SEMUA INI?!?!?!?!?!

Needless to say, the actual day punya setup blew my mind to the moon and back. Sesangatlah terhutang budi to Nani, who is my bridesmaid and my mamat's female equivalent, because she was the one who planted this idea into my head and eventually sponsored this!!!!! I will share more about the dessert tier setup and guest reception table when I do the final review on Dessert Artisans in a separate entry. You all please sabar menanti.

14 October 2013 (Monday)

Received Actual Bridal Bouquet from Woodleigh Park

I was also very excited when I received an email from Woodleigh Park a day before Hari Raya Aidiladha, asking me to approve the colours, materials and accessories collected together to make my bridal bouquet!!!!!!! There was no freaking way I could have not given my approval lah seriously - all the pieces are so gorgeous and so exquisite and SO ARGH aku tak tau ape lagi nak cakap because seriously boleh membawaku ke tangisan kegembiraan *sandiwara*

Here's a picture of the materials and accessories which Woodleigh Park emailed to me for my approval... cut by a third so as not to reveal everything hehehe:

Fast forward a few days later, guess what arrived at my doorstep that very same weekend?????

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Mehehehehe! You cannot really see it here in the picture but baru pegang kotak my tangan dah terketar ketar kegembiraan seh. Nasib baik my tangan cannot nangis kegembiraan okay. Kalau my tangan boleh nangis kegembiraan..........

... okay lah, tak lah, seram lah pulak eh kalau tangan boleh nangis kegembiraan?! Hur hur hur.

A picture of my favourite piece out of the whole bouquet and the super cute detail at the handle! MEGA LOVE!

Oh, and can you see that little bit of white fabric with gold embellishment? I was prancing around my middle sister's bedroom and excitedly showing her the bouquet when she, being the selamba bomba person that she is, actually said in her ~usual~ selamba bomba manner: "Eh bouquet kakak macam pakai baju kurung." WTF INI ANAK HAHAHAHAHA NI TREND BARU LAH MANA KAU TAU

Bouquet aku pun pandai tertib lah okay, pakai baju kurung pergi majlis orang kahwin. Takkan nak pakai translucent kebaya top and tight leggings ketat tersendat kat bontot pergi majlis orang kahwin kan. Kan tak manis, my friend.

Alright, just sneak peeks for now but suspect kuat I'll spam pictures of my bridal bouquet in its front angle, back angle, side angle, top angle, bottom angle, right angle, left angle, cross section angle, acute angle and obtuse angle segala once I do a proper final review!!! Don't say I never say ah.

Oh, one of the good things about opting for a corsage bouquet (since I'm not a fan of fresh flowers, so sakit hati when they layu okay D:) - is the fact that I get to receive the bouquet wayyyyy before my wedding day and I get to keep the bouquet for keepsake thereafter! Even if tak nak or tak boleh keep in bouquet form, at least boleh simpan the accessories and brooches as kenang kenangan, you know???

And yes, if you also want to have a super gorgeous customized bridal bouquet to compliment your outfit colours on your wedding day but not yet convinced (WHY???), you can take a look at Woodleigh Parks' other works on their Facebook here and their Instagram here. Kalau dah convinced maha convinced then ape lagi, terus email them lah!!!!!

[Note: Woodleigh Park is a design brand by Facelift Design.]

Tapi tau ape yang lagi best tak??? 

Woodleigh Park is currently running a promotion that runs until 23rd November 2013, y'all!!!!! All you need to do is ask them about the promotion brochure via email before 23rd November 2013 to get the details tau. So must cepat cepat!

Okay lah, akak rasa that's all for now, yang lain akak sambung another day.

[Edit: Part 2 is out! To read more, click here.]

i am sure you all understand

Finally bought my spankin' new bridal corset and girdle last weekend!

 

Decided that it was too leceh and will makan masa to order something off Spanx online and wait for it to be shipped so my mat and I headed to Tangs to buy my corset and girdle off their physical racks. Discovered Spanx didn't have the kind I want, which is:

- a sturdy corset that comes with bra cups, something like this (Pakai satu kali harung lagi senang, babe. Malas pe aku nak pakai bra lain corset lain)

- comes with three levels of hooks for easier adjustment

- comes with adjustable and removable straps.

Told the Spanx salesperson my requirements but she said they didn't have anything like that in their line and directed me to the salesperson for XIXILI instead. The salesperson was really nice and let me try a few pieces before I settled on a basic plain black one that has all the features I listed above, and a matching girdle as well.

So happy I got this out of the way already!!! Okay lah memang dah kena cepat cepat beli anyway, because must bring them along for the the fitting this Thursday ma.

Rushed back to my place after that to prepare follow-up information for Dessert Artisans (our dessert tier vendor) before finalizing our wedding dinner songlist once and for all!!! Tinggal nak run through the itinerary with our orang orang kuat before we can pack them off to our Medialite (our wedding emcee). Sneak peek!

Tapi sneak peek tak guna because bukannya korang boleh nampak the chosen songs pun lah kan hahahahaha. Really don't mind posting up the songlist now but my mamat dah warning jangan letak dalam blog dulu because he thinks we should play them for our dinner guests first before publishing the songlist - and I agree!

We've also agreed earlier on that my mat will be in-charge of the dinner songlist since he is more uhmmm, tuned in to music than I am heh heh, and I am proud to report that my mat did very well on the list! He even took the initiative to include a column which indicates the timing of each song so kita boleh total up and know how long the whole songlist will be. Hehe sayang awak! Meh kita kasi awak standing ovation:

I love that he included Pink's True Love into the mix by the way - it's not exactly a song that caught our attention from the get go or our default go-to love anthem but it might as well be:

Sometimes I hate every single stupid word you say
Sometimes I wanna slap you in your whole face
There's no one quite like you
You push all my buttons down
I know life would suck without you

At the same time, I wanna hug you
I wanna wrap my hands around your neck
You're an asshole but I love you
And you make me so mad I ask myself
Why I'm still here, or where could I go
You're the only love I've ever known
But I hate you, I really hate you,
So much, I think it must be

[Chorus]
True love, true love
It must be true love
Nothing else can break my heart like
True love, true love,
It must be true love
No one else can break my heart like you

Just once try to wrap your little brain around my feelings
Just once please try not to be so mean
Repeat after me now R-O-M-A-N-C-E-E-E
Come on I'll say it slowly (Romance)
You can do it baby

At the same time, I wanna hug you
I wanna wrap my hands around your neck
You're an asshole but I love you
And you make me so mad I ask myself
Why I'm still here, or where could I go
You're the only love I've ever known
But I hate you, I really hate you,
So much, I think it must be

[Repeat Chorus]

(I love you, I think it must be love, I love you)

Why do you rub me up the wrong way?
Why do you say the things that you say?
Sometimes I wonder how we ever came to be
But without you I'm incomplete

[Repeat Chorus]

I love it. It's like this song was made with our relationship in mind. Heh.

Wish we can include Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines into the mix too, walaupun that song is not ~exactly~ a wedding-friendly song ah, not when it has lyrics that go like this.

Yes, yes, I know the lyrics are controversial and people have accused the meaning behind the song as being questionable - there's a number of written arguments against it on the good old Internet as well as Blurred Lines video parodies, which - I have to admit - are as entertaining as the original video haha. And I particularly love this "Lame Lines" parody video because it has this stud sauntering in with all his hotness at 0:15 and my oh my, he is mighty fiiiiinnneee *fans self*

(Google search "Robin Thicke Blurred Lines Meaning" or "Robin Thicke Blurred Lines Feminist Response" and you'll get a slew of articles and videos bashing the song)

Personally? I think the song is catchy, maybe a little cheeky, and I'm inclined to think that people are overreacting when it is ultimately just a song. But still, we can't be sure as to whether any one of our guests will be bothered by this, right? Mana tau someone in our guestlist might get offended if we play this song during the reception, right? What if some guests get find it distasteful and walk out during the reception??? Will people accuse us of encouraging sexual harassment??? D: D: D:

ERMAGAD LAH I AM TOTALLY OVERTHINKING THIS, RIGHT???

Hahahahaha. Ya. Overthinking. Just like how some extremists will overthink and relate every single bloody thing on this goddamn earth into a hardcore feminist issue. I have no problems kalau orang nak pertahankan women rights lah because it is a complex hot button issue after all and should be dissected and debated. But nak dissect and debate pun agak agak lah wei. 

Aku rasa these extremists kan, kalau orang cakap pasal aisbox belakang rumah datok dorang pun dorang boleh twist and turn sampai jadi feminist issue sak. "Why must the aisbox be belakang my datok punya rumah? Why not my nenek? Is it because my nenek is not seen as an equal as my datok because she is - gasp - A WOMAN? If the aisbox is behind my datok punya rumah, does this mean it belongs to him? Is my nenek, as a woman, not worthy of owning an aisbox??? This cannot be right! We must protest this inequality! We must give my nenek the right to own her own aisbox so she can put that bloody aisbox wherever the heck she wants!"

Hahahahaha what. Not I exaggerate hor, these people the ones who like to exaggerate. 

(If there is one video that strikes it right with me, it is the viral video parodying the treatment and perception of sexual violence against women, particularly in India, titled "It's Your Fault" - more information about this video and its message here. Clear and effective message, does not resort to extreme statements and does not run off its course.)

...... EH BAIK AH FARNA.

Dari berbual pasal songlist sampai berbual pasal topic heavyweight gini HAHA

Aaaaaaanyway. I was talking about my freaking wedding songlist kan? Ah yes.

My mat and I already decided on our march-in song as well and as much as I didn't want a slow-mo emo snoozefest song for a slow-mo emo snoozefest march-in... kita cannot run away from it lah geng. Because of three simple reasons: 

(1) my orang orang kuat tak cool so dorang tak nak dance haha;

(2) I will have to worry about my footwear because there is no freaking way I am going to wear my 4-inch bridal shoes for a march-in dance and risk tripping and falling flat on my face... even if we can laugh over it 10 20 years later;

(3) My future mother-in-law dah pesan "You all march in takde joget joget kan? Kalau Ibu mintak you all jangan joget joget time march in, boleh tak?" Aisehmenbedah, kalau mak mertua dah sound macam tu, takkan nak membantah kan? Plus her request is not unreasonable - I understand her reason for not wanting any joget joget + she is an excellent mother and FMIL to my mat and I so this is the least we can do to show our respect.

Ah well. So much for making my bridesmaids dance to K-pop during the march-in entrance lor HAHA. Nasib ah korang! Okay lah actually kita dah planning nak joget dua ekor je okay, when his supermother dropped the bomb on us. But no biggie, at least now we have a legit excuse if anyone asks why our march-in is not something friends would expect us to do :p

Not like we'd force our groomsmen and bridesmaids to still dance during the march-in if his supermother hadn't expressed her objection lah! They've registered their discomfort - no surprise there - and we respect them enough to not push them on this. Plus they've already done/will be doing so many things for us and our wedding! The least we can do is ensure they are comfortable and happy being our orang orang kuat, yes???

Oh, interesting related point: Last week, I happened to speak to two different girls who will be bridesmaids to two different brides-to-be and both of them expressed discomfort at some of the stuff they have to do for the sake of their bride-to-be friends. My take on this?

To the brides-to-be, pause at every important juncture and make sure your bridesmaids are happy and comfortable with whatever you're asking them to do. If your requests are reasonable by normal standards and it is merely the bridesmaid being uncooperative at every turn, cut the girl and change to someone else who can get the job done efficiently, happily and willingly. (I did this for my own wedding, and I cannot be happier with my decision. Will explain this in detail if I feel like it once the wedding is over.)

Or if your requests are reasonable but your bridesmaid's level of comfort or ability is different from yours then make adjustments that you can afford to make. Give and take. Yes, you're the bride and she's the bridesmaid... but that's exactly the point, isn't it? She is your bridemaid. Not your unpaid slave, not your emotionless puppet... your bridesmaid. This is the girl who is going to give you the help you need when it's crunch time. If you're nice to her, she'll do her best to do what's nice for you... assuming the person you choose to be your bridesmaid is a nice person at heart lah. Kalau dia pendengki, yang kau pilih dia tu apesal, kau punya salah jugak.

To the bridesmaids, if you're not happy or comfortable with the tasks you've been bestowed with, express your grievances to the brides-to-be sooner, not later - I won't blame the bride-to-be for going gangster on you if you decide to bolt 1 week before the wedding. If your concern/feedback is reasonable and the bride-to-be is an understanding sweetheart, she will do what is right - fix the problem or make the necessary changes. 

If your concern is reasonable but the bride-to-be cannot understand your grievance, tell her you cannot carry on being her bridesmaid... nicely. If she knows what's good for her, she'll apologize for putting you in a spot, find a replacement bridesmaid and still be gracious enough to put you on her guestlist instead.

If she wants to be a bitch about it and your friendship won't be able to survive this incident, then she is not worth your friendship in the first place. You don't need toxic people in your life. Cut the girl, cut the friendship, cut the toxic. You might feel terrible for the first few months but honey, those first few months of initial grieving is so much better than a lifetime of suffering a terrible friendship with an unreasonable person who demands the oceans and the mountains from you.

... Eh eh aku ni. Masih ah nak sidetrack???? Dah lama ke jadi counsellor?! Haha! 

Oh, talking about toxic people and toxic friendships lah kan, I first read this "This Terrifying Bride Is Only Joking Except When She's Not" article last week and wanted to MUNTAH DARAH, CAN.

Not sure how legit this story is but whatever - KORANG JANGAN JADI MACAM GINI EH PLZ

Perangai monster bawah katil LAST WARNING.

Okay lah guys, before I end this yet another panjang lebar takde purpose entry, I now have a teeny weeny request for my dear bridesmaids who better be reading and refreshing thisblog every hour because they will be tested on its contents once a week - Kalau this weekend kita cancel our trip to the tailor and I request you all pakai this baju below for the dinner march-in instead, you all akan tolak my permintaan tak?

TAKKAN TOLAK KAN??? You all akan pakai kan??? This baju kena with my ideas for you all tau.

I am sure you all understand.


[Editted as at 26 September 2013, 10:20am:

Okay, maybe not then. HAHAHAHAHA]

CHANGE

I previously mentioned that I'll blog about the change in one of our wedding service providers.

Jeng. Jeng. Jeng.

Hahaha ok lah tak perlu nak dramalah, let's keep it simple and keep it quick ok - the service provider that we've decided to change isssss...











... our service provider for entertainment.

That's right. Entertainment. Which is supposed to be - that's right - Sri Mahligai.

Before you all pikir bukan-bukan, let me explain what happened and why we've decided to change Sri Mahligai to something else.

It all started at Sham and Aisyah's wedding earlier this month.

(Yes, guys. Ni semua korang punya pasal ok!!! Hahahahaha.)

My future parents-in-law, who went to Sham and Aisyah's afternoon reception, were very impressed by the wedding emcee that the latter engaged for their reception. They really liked his eloquence and his steadiness in addressing a wedding crowd, and they were especially pleased with his mindfulness towards prayer timings and informing guests on the location of prayer rooms.

Even my mat and the rest of his friends thought the wedding emcee in question was a good speaker and handled the wedding proceedings well. But part yang paling penting that really appealed to them was: He did not make merepek lame jokes or inappropriate comments like some other wedding emcees that we've seen and heard at other weddings! Sejuk~~~ jantung aku dengar (a'ah dia ada telinga, boleh eavesdrop.)

It can be really painful to look and listen at some wedding emcees ok! Very cringeworthy. Everytime a wedding emcee cracks a joke yang inappropriate or tak kelakar - on a booming microphone, no less - I never know whether to force a laugh or cry in shame or yelp in extreme pain. Kadang kadang macam nak tolong dorang dig a hole for them to hide in pun ada.

My mat and I were talking about Sham and Aisyah's wedding when we started considering the idea of dropping Sri Mahligai and engaging the said wedding emcee instead. Our original idea was to get Sri Mahligai to help make general announcements for the reception (Sri Mahligai can make general announcements for receptions, it's stated somewhere on their website) but after talking it through, the idea of having an actual dedicated wedding emcee seemed to be more appealing.

Plus, his parents were really super duper keen on this dude, and my parents were super duper cool with the idea so after a quick discussion listing the pros and cons, we decided to take the plunge and engage Zan Sofiyan from Medialite as our wedding deejay/emcee!

(Without a goddamn karaoke set for all the mabuk microphone hantus to abuse! Woohoo! Very pleased that we didn't have to go to any perang dunia ke-tiga for this because our parents share our sentiments! Ok fine, my mother would have preferred to include the karaoke set but she's an excellent team player who goes with the majority vote so the motion to not have karaoke set was carried unanimously.

Fuh. Dah macam Annual General Meeting seh, ada motion carried segala. Haha!)

What we considered before making the decision:

(1) Our contract with Sri Mahligai is for a 6-hour gig from 11am to 5pm at the price of $1,600.00. Our initial plan was to have Sri Mahligai play at our lunchreception and then engage a deejay/emcee (someone who will come with own equipment segala) for our dinner reception, which would have cost us an extra $500.00 to $800.00.

(I know some people rope in friends to help emcee dinner receptions but we didn't want to do that right from the start because we wouldn't want any one of our friends, especially a rapat one, to stress over or focus too much on his/her role as an emcee - we want all our friends to be able to enjoy the proceedings in peace and move around as they please.)

The Wedding Lunch + Dinner DJ Package from Medialite, on the other hand, costs $2000.00 for a 10-hour gig from 12pm to 10pm, which fits our lunch and dinner reception schedules perfectly.

This means that: 

(a) We don't have to susah payahkan diri to look for another deejay/emcee for our wedding dinner; 

(b) We only need to liaise with one service provider, instead of two separate ones; 

(c) The cost is more or less the same, with more convenience and better planning for us (instead of Sri Mahligai setting up in the morning then packing up in the afternoon to make way for the dinner emcee to set up, it will only be Medialite setting up the night before, and then packing up after the dinner reception is over. Quick, clean and fuss-free.)

(2) One of the things that we realized from helping or attending our friends' weddings is that having a good wedding deejay or emcee is something that is pretty important - sadly, this is something that is often overlooked by bakal pengantin, including us!

We used to only fuss over bridal and decor and catering, but surprisingly our wedding journey has shown us that having a good wedding deejay or emcee at your wedding makes a huge difference to your wedding reception - a good and trusted wedding deejay or emcee ensures that:

(a) your guests are properly welcomed and entertained and he/she knows when to announce for guests to come up to the dais for phototaking

(You'd think that this is perkara standard that all deejays/emcees will do but ho no no no, my friend, there are idiotic deejays/emcees out there who will stand around and play music with no initiative to usher/direct guests - this happened at my friend's wedding recently wherein the deejay had to be prompted a few times to announce that the pengantins are ready for photo-taking... and even then he didn't get a list of names from the pengantin's family or whatever - he just did a generic announcement over the music which did not even get the guests' attention or get the guests moving, and my friend didn't get to take pictures with a few key groups of friends);

(b) your event timing is taken care of and does not run off course for too far or too long due to unnecessary hegehness; and

(c) ensure that guests get clear directions as to who or where the mak bapak pengantin are, what is going to happen in the next five minutes, explain the proceedings to your guests who are not familiar with Malay wedding proceedings, stuff like that.

(One of the criteria that we had for a wedding emcee was for him or her to be able to speak comfortably in English. My mat told me that Zan Sofiyan's English is pretty lancar so that's a plus point for us!)

The downside to this whole thing is of course the forfeiture of our $100 deposit with Sri Mahligai, but the pros outweighs cons by berkilo-kilo so in the grand scheme of things, forfeiture of $100 is something that we can take. We might have been more reluctant to let go of the deposit if it was $500 or half of the contract price but it's not so... let go of Sri Mahligai, it is!

To think Sri Mahligai was one of the first few items that we booked for our wedding early tahun ni seh. (Don't judge ok, we did not plan to book entertainment that early, until we realized at the point of enquiry that Sri Mahligai was booked up until early 2014. Tak kelakar, geng.)

Both our mothers, my mat and I met Zan Sofiyan last week (our fathers wanted to come along but had other commitments) because he preferred to have parents around so he can get a feel of our family backgrounds and dynamics. The meeting went pretty well, I thought, different from what I expected but it was good nonetheless.

He was tersangatlah chatty hahaha (he's a deejay/presenter, of course he's chatty, geez) and was very serious and religious-centric when it came down to business, sampai at one point he must've have caught the mood of the discussion and he himself said "Ni dah macam marriage counselling eh" hahahahaha ah tau takpe eh bang. Even my future mother-in-law joked at the end of the session: "Rasa macam berbual dengan tok kadi!" Haha!

When my mat and I recapped the whole meeting over the phone that night, my first comment was: "Wah, at the start of the meeting, I ingatkan dia nak kasi khutbah or syarahan agama or something seh." Not that there's anything bad with this, of course! I must say you're better off with someone else if you're looking for a gila-gila wedding emcee though, because Zan Sofiyan is - in the words of my future mother-in-law - someone who is very... beradab. Which is something that both our parents like so it's a good match lor.

(Side note: This dude believes and is forever quoting “The wedding belongs to your parents and the marriage is yours” - a sentiment that I understand and can agree with to a certain extent, but I also feel that this is something that cannot be applied across the board. Judging from our tweet exchanges about this statement, my group of friends are pretty divided about it but we haven't had the time to fully debate the statement... TIME TO CATCH UP OVER DINNER AGAIN, GUYS! New topic to pertikaikan! Hur hur.)

It's a damn shame we can't have both Sri Mahligai and Medialite together at the same time for our reception. I still think Sri Mahligai is one of the best Malay traditional bands in the market and would love to have them perform at our wedding! Unfortunately, we think that $1600 (Sri Mahligai) + $2000 (Whole day emcee services) = $ 3600 for entertainment is a bit too excessive so it's one or the other.

Plus, we also have to bear in mind that having them both onsite would mean we would have to allocate more space for entertainment alone. Mana nak letak pelamin, mana nak letak dessert table, mana nak letak buffet tables, mana nak letak sound system, mana nak letak kerusi meja, mana nak letak kandang untuk letak and ikat kanak kanak budu yang suka lari lari tak tau diam...

We also considered having Sri Mahligai for our lunch reception and then Zan Sofiyan from Medialite for our dinner reception but that idea very cepat kena tanam di ladang gandum because it didn't make sense to top up $1380 for Zan Sofiyan to emcee our dinner reception for a mere 2 and a half hours.

If any of you happen to have the same wedding date as me and memang nak Sri Mahligai, cepat cepat cepat pergi place your deposit before the slot gets snapped up ok! (Note: FYI, Sri Mahligai's rates are no longer $1,600.00, but $1,800.00. Their price hike happened on 1 May this year.) 

So I guess this is it... Bye bye Sri Mahligai booking :(

I hope you'll go to another couple who deserves good music and entertainment at their wedding ok! (Nampak sah dah gila, berbual dengan a mother bloody booking hahaha)