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

kalau ade jodoh X ribbons n ties

I first read about Kalau Ade Jodoh from Amalina of Chase The Bride when she wrote about them here, and then fell in love with their decor when she posted more of their works here. 

Followed them on Facebook but there hasn't been regular *regular* updates (nothing on Instagram too boohoo), but earlier today they posted a sneak peak of one of their new client's decor and I suddenly remembered again why their pelamins caught my attention:

(Credit: Kalau Ade Jodoh)

Okay, save for the rantings coming out from the vase (I think I have made it pretty clear on my blog that I hate anything branches / ranting ranting HAHA), I have mad love for everything else:

• the plain white loveseat 

• the minimized use of greenery and leaves - again, my dislike for excessive use of leaves is something I have made pretty clear on my blog haha

• the lovely drapes for the dais backdrop - my mamat LURVESSSSS pelamins with that kind of drapes okay, and he actually nak that kind of backdrop for our pelamin but since I prefer something else, we have had to compromise on our own pelamin punya look and feel heh 

• they use plain white or plain reflective flower stands for the pelamin sides (what do you call those square boxes that hold the flowers at the pelamin ah) + tall clear vases with clear water inside to hold the flowers!!!!! - my mamat and I always fret over how most local decorators will use roman vases for the pelamin flowers (which we are not really a fan of, in the first place) even when tak kena dengan the decor concept :( 

• it's an open concept pelamin! (I love open concept pelamins)

Might not be so clear from the picture above because of the narrow picture angle so I hijack two pictures of their pelamins from Amalina to post here lah (Thank you for the permission babe!):

 (Credit: Chase The Bride)

I'm a bit disturbed by the discolouring (?) on the second setup punya carpet but that might have been caused by... I don't know - Rain water? Accidental water spillage? Which might have been an incident that happened out of their control lah eh, cannot salahkan. Oh, but kenapa the two stands (pillars?) kat depan tak sama distance from the carpet... akak anal tau benda gini! Okay okay, maybe belum adjust betul betul when this picture was taken lah hur hur. 

But I guess it's not that bad since these pelamins were not for clients' weddings, but for their showcase in April. Pretty sure they've learned from experience and made improvements over the past few months! Plus cannot ignore their lawa and improving pelamin setups lah. Only wish they'd upload more pictures on a regular basis and share pictures of the whole decor setup, including the guest area, reception area and bridal table on their social media platforms.

Oh, Amalina also mentioned that Kalau Ade Jodoh were in collaboration with Ribbons N Ties for their showcase in her entry - which is another vendor that I stumbled upon earlier when another bride-to-be in my Facebook liked their page and it appeared on my news feed (Can't remember who it was, though!) Only listed them in my Directory before this but never got round to mentioning them in an entry - they're yet another gubahan vendor for pengantins to consider, especially for those who prefer something very simple but still sedap mata memandang!

Oh, oh, oh, Ribbons N Ties also offers other services such as in-house mini dais, bridal room, bunga rampai and sireh dara!!! Power lah. I really suka you know, when wedding vendors can offer many types of services under one roof macam gitu:

(Credit: Ribbons N Ties)

Really hope to see greater and fresher offerings from Kalau Ade Jodoh and Ribbons N Ties in the near future! Macam best gitu kan when vendors start to step up their game... lucky seh all you up and coming bakal pengantin (I know there are 2016 pengantins-to-be starting to lurk around haha!). Or unlucky, since korang will become more mata rambang lah kan HAHA.

Okay nak tido now, besok this bakal retiring pengantin got more wedding errands to run.

the bonito effect

Remember my post about the great Bonito by Bob earlier this month?

I mentioned that I particularly ~love~ their newly launched bridal room decor services but since I'm having my reception elsewhere after my pre-nikah preparation, I planned to just kemas kemas my bedroom, gantung nice langsir, pasang nice cadar, campak some nice cushions and ribbons and flowers into the mix and hope that when my photographer takes pictures of my pre-nikah preparations, the backdrop will look decent at the very least.

But as luck and fate would have it, one thing led to another, which then ended up... with this:

And in case you cannot tangkap what that means, it means that the Bob of Bonito By Bob is coming over my place next week. Which pretty much means...

I IZ GETTING MY BRIDAL ROOM DECOR FROM BONITO BY BOB LOR!!!

(Source: Bonito By Bob) / Photography By Azee Photographyical)

Which one to choose which one to choose which one to choooooooooose :D

There's currently three template designs to choose from - Le Parisian, Rustic Vintage and Ala Kampong (in order of pictures) - but pengantin can choose to personalize some of the elements such as changing the colour of the drapes and ribbons or putting up pre-wedding pictures onto the backdrop... ada banyak lah possibilities! Cuma kena discussing discussing je, which is why I absolutely cannot wait to sit down and discuss with Bob on what I can personalize for mine :D

I hope this service of theirs becomes popular enough for Bonito By Bob to consider adding more designs so pengantins will have a variety to choose from! Mana tau one day they will offer FULL customized bridal room decor services instead of just template designs with personalization so pengantins get to choose which option they want to pay for eh eh eh? 

(Although the beauty of template designs with personalization is the cheaper cost for pengantins lah heh heh. Full customization yang cantik cantik and class class punya boleh masuk beribu oi.)

Super overjoyed at the idea of not having to susah payah bertungkus lumus cari materials and gantung sana gantung sini, panjat sana panjat sini, tweaking sana tweaking sini (tweaking eh, bukan twerking, heppppp) a few days before my wedding in hope of beautifying my bridal room... because I'll have an awesome pawsome vendor who will do it for me!!! Boleh jugak concentrate on other last minute wedding-related tasks yang confirm tengah sabar menanti nanti.

september be crazy

Crazy, crazy month so here's a quick, quick update on what's been happening!

Ever since September started, my mamat and I have been meeting every weekend to discuss and finalize all the nitty gritty details of our wedding and as exhausting (and sometimes frustrating) as it is, I actually find it really exhilarating to see everything start coming together! 

We took leave last week to sit down and discuss our ideas and expectations with the two lovely ladies of Dessert Artisans and the two great gentlemen of Kasai Sayang separately, and I've been texting with the super nice liaison person for Puteri Wedding Services fast and furious to pester him ask him about the floor layout lah, tables and chairs lah, ini lah itu lah... 

(Why cannot just dump all the vendors into one Whatsapp group chat and let them sort out their requirements amongst themselves ah haha)

Have also sorted out some stuff with our wedding emcee, the awesome Zan Sofiyan from Medialite - he cracks me up with his bersahajeness sometimes!

Anyway! One thing that's been bugging us to no end is the projector and screen issue for our dinner reception - we were supposed to get the projector and screen from our venue but sekarang..... aku pun dah malas ah nak cakap eh. 

So now we're going to source them out on our own - asked our videographers CST for contacts but didn't get the answer I wanted, asked Medialite but their contact charges at a whooping $500 for laptop, screen and projector. Thanks eh geng, $500 boleh kasi 35 orang makan kat majlis aku sak. Sungguh tak worth it, considering we're only using it to show a 5-minute wedding highlights video to our dinner guests. If we can't find a cheaper reliable alternative, we might just end up paying that extra $500 though :/ (This is what we mean by last minute extra payments!!!)

Have also emailed Compass to apply for permit to play music during our wedding, and booked a minibus for a 2-way trip from Million Bus so our orang orang kuat, MUA and photographers don't have to worry about driving to and fro our venue and photoshoot location on the day itself. Woohoo, super yay to clearing all the minor details out of the way!!! (Ingatkan boleh cari chance ambik one of the sweet rides from Kombi Rocks but tak make sense ah bayar anything more than $100+ for a transport arrangement of this nature)

Oh, we've also asked for a change in the colour of our cushions - XOXO & Co recently launched their new black chiavari chairs as well as new coloured cushions... got new cute colours!

(Source: Tiffany Chairs BY XOXO & Co)

Luckily dorang ada new colour that can match our colour scheme hehe :D

Next week will be particularly exciting period for us too - heading to Ishq by Nora Zee's boutique next Thursday for our fitting!!!!! Still undecided whether I should take half day leave so I can go home, rest and wash up first. Kalau pergi terus dari office nanti takut penat. And bacin.

Then next Saturday will be spent accompanying my bridesmaids to Manja to collect their bridesmaids' outfits (I hope you are all excitez, girls! Adalah requirement untuk bridesmaids aku to be excited about such things eh) before running through the itinerary with them. 

On Sunday pulak, we'll be attending a friend's wedding before sending our barang barang dulang over to Ola Lola... we be heading to Hougang, y'all!!! I think the last time aku jejak Hougang, primary schools masih pakai PETS coursebook sak.

My mat and I are also trying to settle our post-wedding staycation by this week - I think we've pretty much decided on Oasia Hotel but it's just a matter of whether we can take up their Weekend Savers promotion... already emailed the hotel so we're hoping for good news. Hehe best kan staycation! Kirakan warm up for two, three days before flying off for our honeymoon gitu :D

Oh, simple reason as to why we decided on Oasia Hotel by the way: It is very near to Saliheen's place... kes kalau buat standing broad jump tiga kali dah boleh sampai kind.  Tak bedek! (Okay lah, bedek sikit lah, kalau buat standing broad jump tiga kali dari rumah dia, at most boleh lepas rak rak kasut dia je ah hahaha)

The reason why we want to be near his place: We'll be bundling up and storing all the barang barang from the wedding (e.g. gift trays, barang dulang, etc) at his place right after the wedding so once that's done, his dad can drop us off at Oasia Hotel without having to drive too far or for too long. Kesian bapak pengantin, nak rehat jugak after the wedding kan! 

And since we need to go to his place after we check out from the hotel to angkat his barang barang and baju baju to be transported over to my place (since we'll be staying at my place while waiting for our BTO to be ready in 2014), it makes sense to book a hotel that is near his place ah.

Well... that wasn't such a quick update after all, was it? HAHA.

You know, I really kesian everyone on my social media feeds who have had to endure influx of wedding-related Instagram pictures and tweets from me for the past few weeks!  Promise all of this kahwing madness will be over in six and a half weeks, korang.

Can't believe two years of Kahwin Khronicles will be coming to an end, eh?

demi cintaku padaku wahai si kotak

Ingat tak few months ago I wrote about acrylic boxed gift trays?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Tak ingat??? Benda cantik boleh eh tak ingat??? Ok meh I tolong ingatkan, come sini, you baca here.

Kan last I mentioned the two local vendors who I know offers acrylic boxed gift trays in their gubahan selection are Jentayu Gallery and Love Createz??? Now I iz very excited and I iz very suka because the vendor doing my gift trays pun dah introduce acrylic boxed gift trays to their gubahan selection!!!!!

                

 (Source: Ola Lola)

Of course tanpa berlengah dan tanpa berhegeh lagi I emailed Ola Lola to chope these trays!!!!! Champion eh, gubahan pun kena main chope chope. Heh heh.

The only thing that's sliiightly bugging me is the fact that one of my barang dulang will probably be without an acrylic box because it won't fit the box dimensions. Which means it might look cacat! Oh, the travesty! Ni semua my mamat punya pasal ah! (Kesian itu anak kena dipersalahkan hahaha eh but really his fault lor)

TE-TA-PI! Oleh kerana this newest offering from Ola Lola is tooooo cantik to ignore, I shall try very, very hard to ignore it because... seriously takde maksud eh nak anal sampai macam tu.

Self-service terajang diri sendiri satu, please.