the nitty and the gritty

We've pretty much made it through the second stage of preparations so my mat and I have started on the nitty gritty stuff like preparing our songlist and planning rough outline of our itinerary!

We have 10+ months left (already?!) to our wedding day but in terms of wedding planning timeline it's still ~pretty~ early to start preparing our songlist and itinerary. But hey - no harm starting early, right? Won't kena penalize, right? Bukannya potong markah, right? Right??? Hur hur hur.

Anyway we know we'll be busy busy busy bumble bee running errands and meeting vendors and all that jazz when next year comes so we wouldn't want to hastily come up with a half-arsed itinerary for our orang-orang kuat and vendors to work with at the last minute.

Plus, friends have told us that we might "burn out" three months before the wedding i.e. dah malas nak layan benda benda kahwing kahwing ni semua sooooo I guess it's better to have at least 70% of the plans figured out while we still have the time and energy and mood. Betul tak kak?!

Our wedding itinerary is still a Work-in-Progress but thought I'd share sneaks!

[The last one is mainly for our wedding emcee - pretty important and useful to give your deejay / emcee a list of all the family names that he needs to call out for phototaking during the wedding itself, yo. You know, stuff like "Mengundang Encik Wahab sekeluarga untuk bergambar dengan mempelai..." "Ingin menjemput Cik Emah dan sekeluarga untuk naik ke pelamin untuk bergambar dengan pasangan mempelai hari ini..." - cannot be he one day come down your reception, one day know all your relatives punya nama nama kan?!]

Very excited for this Friday because we'll be meeting some of our Orang Kuat to watch Nani's wedding video over supper! (Damn woman keeps squealing about how much she loves her wedding video and made me really pumped to watch it too!!!!! Yak-dush!!!) Which also means we will have the chance to ask them to:

(1) Start cracking on what kind of outfits they want to wear for our reception;

(2) Start cracking on their quotes/speech for us (Time to update 'The Orang Kuat' tab on this blog!);

(2) Let us know which of their self pictures we can use for the Orang Kuat list! Heehee.

[Yes guys, we are putting korang punya gambar in the square columns in the list. For, you know, easy identification hahahahaha what what?! Our vendors and some of our family members don't know how some of you guys look like, right! "Oh, kena collect from/pass to "Ahmad"? Si Ahmad ni... mana satu eh???" Hence, the gambar... *twirly hand gesture*]

Next to-do item on our list that I'm especially excited about pulak is our Save The Date! I've always wanted to do a video for our Save The Date but we've already established earlier on that it'll be a waste to splash money on a Save The Date video, which is why I've pestered my youngest sister to do one for us. She's not a professional so we're going to keep it reaaaaally simple and reaaaaally basic if we do end up having one. My sister has been practising on this specific skill that I've asked her to learn though (hur hur kakak pembully!) and hopefully it'll come out decent.

At first our target was to send out the Save The Date on his birthday - which is two months before our wedding - but we realized that that will beat the purpose of having a Save The Date, which is to give a heads-up to our friends so that they'll keep that date free for our wedding.

Which meaaaaans... we might have to record the footage before Ramadhan next year so it'll be ready by the time we want to give notice to our friends! Uber exciting stuff!

(App: Wedding Caddy - app that can be synced with a site version so you can access it both ways!)

It's going to be a wedding-related weekend, guys! Cepat sebelum gua burn out! OVER AND OUT!

superthemed

Here's one for the Arabian/Middle Eastern-inspired theme lovers! Not a theme I'd personally choose for my wedding, but this version is super duper gorgeous all the same:

(Source: Kudegraphy)

I guess one of the things that makes Malaysian weddings more beautiful, more exquisite and more breathtaking than those in Singapore is the fact that they have more space and therefore have more spacious venues that cater to varying budgets to choose from - architectural structure and details of the venue for this wedding looks like it is very 'kena' with the theme of wedding itself.

Love everything about this wedding! Am especially smitten by the bride's and bridesmaids' lovely outfits. Which reminds me - I should start finding inspiration for the bridesmaids and groomsmen punya attires by early 2013 as well! Jaga korang, korang suka tak suka KORANG KENA PAKAI OK.

it's a party! it's a carnival! it's... a wedding!

I don’t even want to say anything much anymore before introducing a Malaysian wedding here. (You’ll know my feelings towards Malaysian weddings from my entries here and here.)

And yes, my friends, this is another one of those awesome Malaysian weddings that made me squeal like a child. Fantastic photography shots, impressive decor setup, gorgeous outfits and andaman, beautiful couple with lovely friends and family, fun vibes… I really can’t get enough.

(Source: Afnan Omar Photography)

I took a short break to regain my composure after drooling and squealing over their nikah and sanding pictures… only to lose it again when I saw pictures of their wedding dinner:

(Source: Afnan Omar Photography)

As usual, pictures best viewed from the original source itself.

Even their freaking engagement looks ridiculously awesome ok. (Please catch your breath first before taking a look here and here)

One of the few themes that I thought would be nice to consider for our wedding during the initial brainstorming stages was a carnival theme ok!!! (Especially since candy floss, popcorn and ice cream machines rental are so readily available for local Malay weddings nowadays – some caterers offer such additional services, or you can always rent the machines from a separate vendor. Check out Petitfour Express or The Party People if you’re interested)

But I’ve already struck out the carnival theme idea earlier on because I know it’ll be too outrageous by local Malay wedding standards and it’ll be too over the top for our parents to stomach (I try to push my luck most of the time but there are certain times where I’ll keep our parents' feelings and interests in mind, certain boundaries that I try not to push or cross.)

Seeing such a theme incorporated into a Malay wedding makes me so happy and gay and thrilled! Not thrilled enough to force a carnival-themed wedding on our parents, of course, but hey – I can still tumpang gembira dalam hati kan! Hehe.

roly to the poly

I think I've said many times that I'm not really a big *big* fan of K-pop.

I do listen to some of their music (I have the most random collection of K-pop songs in my ipod, mostly recommended by hardcore K-pop fan friends who like different groups and different songs), and I do recognize a few of the popular bands and their members... but that's about it, really. I don't really bother to actively find out and match which names to which faces (although my mat who is a big fan of SNSD has tried teaching me how to identify them hah) and can only point them out only after they appear in Running Man (MY FAVOURITEST VARIETY SHOW EVAAAAARRR).

One of my long-time online friend, who is a hardcore K-pop fan (by hardcore I mean she knows every TV show, every movie, every band, every song, every name, speaks their lingo, knows the latest and hottest gossip, queues for tickets, goes for concerts, went to Korea for honeymoon, is learning Korean, ALL THAT LAH - hahaha hello Zak, if you're reading this), once told me that there's a few stages to the whole K-pop madness - first is denial, second is grudging acknowledgment, I think, and then acceptance, etc etc etc, I can't really remember the whole list that she said but I think I'm somewhere in the grudging acceptance stage right now and erm, not likely to move up the list anytime soon!

Although I did do something I told Azrul I won't do, which was to wait in front of a computer just to book tickets to a K-pop concert (because they sell out in less than five freaking minutes). GASP

Once in awhile, some of the crazy K-pop fans on my social media timelines will get into a crazy frenzy over some gossip and scandal and I'll get nosey and snoop around stuff but that pretty much sums up my relationship with K-pop bands.

The latest scandal to break out involves T-ara (in case you're nosey, some stuff to read here and here) - I don't know much about them but I do like one of their songs enough to keep it on loop at one point of time.

If you tell me that isn't bloody catchy, YOU BLUFF.

The reason why I brought this whole T-ara scandal up is because... I actually thought their Roly Poly song and dance is fun enough for my bridesmaids to replicate seh hahahahaha. What! What! I really think that the song (and the dance) is super catchy ok, and I can relate the lyrics to our relationship. I've actually listed it as a possible song in my mental checklist - I don't know specifically for what lah, but something, anything - maybe for a dinner dance item, video footage, or whatever item related to the wedding that might come up. Another song that I've listed as a possible choice is Secret's Shy Boy - quite catchy, and dance is quite nice (although not as nice as Roly Poly's, imho!)

To my future bridemaids - sorry if I make you guys do nonsense things like learn a K-pop song and dance ok! Just layankan please.

will you be my bitch - ahem, i mean, bridesmaid

It was Nad’s birthday dinner last night and one of the topics that came up was synchronization of our attires for Nani’s upcoming wedding!

We had a quick discussion on the types and colours to don for the photoshoot and reception and now we’re all set to be Nani’s lil bitches for her special day! Looks like I’ll need to look out for kaftans for the reception and beg borrow or steal one of my aunt’s kebaya for the photoshoot as well (I borrowed her baju kurung once for a relative’s wedding – the fit was good and it was comfy as hell).

Which also reminds me – I need to get Indian garb for another good friend’s wedding! Not entirely sure why I’m the maid-of-honour for his wife-to-be when I’ve only met her less than five times, actually. I tried to tell the couple that she’s better off having a cousin or close girlfriend as her maid-of-honour but they wouldn’t listen to my protests so…

Anyway.

I don’t really know when and how this whole “trend” of appointing girlfriends as maids-of-honour and bridesmaids came about (Would you call it a trend? Did our mothers have bridesmaids when they got married? Hmm… something to ask my mother) but I’m not going to argue with a useful “trend” that ropes in extra help for brides on their wedding day.

As with a few other items on my wedding checklist, this is something that I don’t have concrete plans on yet since I’ll need to know our theme/colour scheme before I can start planning on what I want my maid-of-honour and bridesmaids to wear.

We don’t even know how many bridesmaids and groomsmen we want to have for our wedding! As of now the count is: one maid-of-honour, one bridesmaid, one best man and one groomsman (total: 4 pax) but we’re open to increasing the numbers if need be.

My plan for now is: one baju melayu/kurung for them to wear for solemnization and afternoon reception and one casual baju for wedding dinner. The baju melayu/kurung they can wear whatever existing piece that they have asalkan semua sama colour whereas for wedding dinner, we might have to tailor or buy something new.
Some ideas that I have for my bridesmaids for now!

Tutu skirts

(Source: Project Wedding)

(Source: Elegala)

I’ve always adored tutu skirts! So cute and so flirty and so fun.

Different hues, different styles

(Source: Todd Pellowe Weddings)

Very interesting concept and lovely if executed well (plus will look very nice in pictures) but I’m quite a sucker for matching colours and/or styles so this might not be something I want to do.

Same fabric, different styles

(Source: I Love SW Mag)

(Source: Jarvie Studios)

Ooh! I don’t mind this! The fabric and colours are the same but are in different styles to spice up the mix. Jadi tak boring lah, kalau semua sama colour, same style, semua boriah dah macam kendarat lah pulak kan. I like the second picture especially, sebab lagi interesting when you play around with the pieces rather than just the necklines.

I suspect it is also because the outfits are ~glittery~… the girly girl in me shudders with pleasure. HAHAHA

Stripes

(Source: I Love SW Mag)

(Source: I Love SW Mag)

If we decide on a stripey wedding, this will be the perfect choice, of course! I think I like the style in the first picture better than the second one, because at least tak tenggelam sangat kan kalau only half of the outfit is stripey. The second one still works though, because the stripes are light grey in colour so tak too overpowering and I reaaally like the design… lawa seh! (albeit tak sopan for a Malay wedding, but well… y’know… just sayin’)

Colour blocking

(Source: Green Wedding Shoes)

I is very like colour blocking! Semua sama uniform but to make it more outstanding boleh pakai bold colours. Mix it up with different accessories, maybe?

Same coloured dress with stockings/colour leggings

Oooooh can I get my bridesmaids to wear stockings! Or leggings!

(Source: Style Me Pretty)

(Source: Green Wedding Shoes)

I like this very much jugak! Either stockings or coloured leggings… will have to depend on the theme, of course. The coloured leggings are very the love! Very kena with one of the wedding themes that we have in mind so I’ll definitely bookmark this. Heh.

(Source: Amber Glanville Photography)

Have I mentioned how much I am in love with barebacks?! Maybe I can incorporate it to my bridesmaids’ dresses… with lace, like the picture above! So prettz!

Ah well, flimsy ideas for now but as we get nearer to the date, the theme gets more or less confirmed, we’ll know how many and who we want as our bridesmaids and groomsmen, and we’ll get to decide which style will kena the most for them and for the wedding theme.

What I do know now is what I do not want for our wedding – you know those little kids who are roped in to become flower girls and bunga boys and all that? Yes, that. I do not want that. Friends and family jolly well know how icky I can be when I have to handle kids so for alllll our sakes, we can make do without all that unnecessary stress, yes? YES.