The Journey

2010-03-08T01:50:00.000-08:00

Ah, a couple of updates!

Last weekend, Yanxian and I went down to Ted Collection for her dress design (at last!) I must say, I can sometimes be averse to effeminate guys, but Don and Yap were simply amazing. They're like aunties, who chit chat about everything under the sun but still get things done. Yap was so accommodating about our designs, and based on the cut-outs that we brought along, he designed a really nice bridal gown with all the features that Yanxian wanted. I think we're more hyped about the evening gown though, it looks really quite nice, at least on paper.

Now we're finalising our photographer and make-up artiste. I got a little too fast and got hold of the florist, only to be told that the decor comes about 2 months before the event, which means it'll be Aug before we meet up with the florist.

Also, we've finally found a first dance song that we both like. =)

Songs chosen!

2010-02-07T20:41:00.000-08:00

Taking a break from work cos the little bugger cells just keeled over on me, and I'm too totally dejected to continue my experiments, so here I am! Wow, it's been more than 5 months since our last update! Not much have happened since then, since it was too early to plan the remaining parts (which are the minute details, we'll probably complain about that in time to come), but...

Tah-dah! We have chosen our dance songs! Yeah, we're thinking of doing a short performance of rhumba followed by lindy hop. I used Garageband (a program given by Mac) to mix the songs together, and I must say, I'm proud of myself. At least, that's something I'm better at than HY. Hahaha... spent a long time with the songs, not because the program is difficult to use, but rather cos HY kept changing his mind about what he wants. I was reminded of my stint at ST Logistics, where I met an intern from NTU computing, who always complained about how he has to rewrite his software every week cos his boss can't make up her mind. Now I know how he felt, no wonder he started pulling out his hair. Luckily, HY only changed his mind 3 times else, I'll be bald too.

Now that the songs are chosen with the correct music, we just have to choreograph the dance. I'm not too worried about the rhumba, there's only a few bars (most of the song is spent on entering actually, :P) to work on, so no sweat! But, lindy's gonna be tough. I feel out of touch with the dance, since we took a long break from it, and not sure if our repertoire of steps are not too limited. Actually, some of the nicest lindy performances were made of simple but well-practised steps, so maybe we ought to stick to that formula, rather try to fit too many things in and cause too much clutter? It was kind of strange, but we met up with some LHE people recently, not by choice, but nevertheless, they were still the same bunch of people. It's amazing how some people don't change, or maybe they are just too reserved to let us know their real selves. I've always felt awkward with them, sort of like I don't fit. Anyway, we never got round to the topic, but these people still don't know the two of us have registered. They're not on our facebooks directly, and something tells me they don't do much facebook, so I guess they might never know if we say nothing. so chances are, they won't be in the audience... Which is kinda good, cos I'm not comfortable with doing lindy in front of them, it's like 班门弄斧, if you know what I mean.

2009-08-23T06:53:00.001-07:00

We actually got a couple more things tied down during the span of 1 week! Visited Ted Collection again today to confirm that we're using their services, and paid the $500 deposit. As usual the men were very bitchy and even bitched about pregnant brides who only told them after the dress had been made, and showed us the very same dress in question! But wow. We both LOVED that dress! Anyway, we are working on a very comfortable schedule here for the dresses. We can chill out for the next few months and work on conceptualising everything first, then head back in Feb for a discussion on dress design. The dress should be complete by June, ready for photo-taking.

We also firmed up on what the dinner will be like, including a rough itinerary and some sort of theme to go by. I used to think that themes are plain cheesy. Stuff like Shanghai themes, pink/blue/gold themes etc have been used ad nauseum. I'm pretty excited by what we decided on. =) I realise now that perhaps, themes aren't as cheesy as I thought. They kind of serve a function even - to streamline the planning process, and ensuring innately that the aesthetics fit well together. You might not end up with a stunning piece of eye-candy, but at least you probably will not end up with an eye-sore either - not unless the theme colour happens to be a lurid, shocking pink.

2009-08-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

Finally! I think we're set on the designer for Yanxian's wedding gown!

We visited Ted Collection at Sago Lane today. They aren't the typical wedding boutique, but rather a tailor that specialises in cheong sam, but have since ventured into wedding gowns. My first impression was that they were quite friendly - I received a reminder call from them yesterday that I have an appointment today, and we met up with the designer for some discussion as well. To be honest, they aren't cheap. $2700 for a wedding gown to rent, a tea dress to keep and an evening gown to keep. That being said, the dresses are all bespoke, so it's actually VERY reasonable. A good bespoke suit would cost half that price alone, to be fair. Their fabric is of reasonable quality, and I like the insurance I get that I'll be paying just a set amount for the dresses - compared to those wedding boutiques that lure you in with $2000 packages but slowly start charging you $70-90 per extra photograph, $600 for extra lace on the dress and so on. I prefer honesty and knowing what I'm getting into.

Anyway, it looks like we're treading down the path of doing it a la carte. We'll probably use their tie-up florist and make-up artist though. In this case, we pay the respective vendors themselves, and not the wedding boutique, so that's cool. And that's the actual day makeup/hairdo and bouquet/car decor settled! How cool is that!?

2009-07-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

Need to settle the dress within these few months .. we've bought some magazines for reference, and possibly looking for a place that can make designs of dresses that we've seen in the mags. Problem is that almost all of these bridal shops are pushy. Pushy is just annoying, but some are plain dishonest (refer to my previous post on the Suntec city incident). Makes dealing with them a real pain. I'm really keen to take our own photos, but Yanxian thinks that my skills don't cut it. =( Oh well.

2009-07-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

Ooh we bought a few bridal mags yesterday from PageOne. The overseas mags are a much better buy than the silly local ones. For one, the models look more normal (read: not anorexic!) and of course, you are spared the visual bombardment of the same adverts again and again. The clothes are also more interesting, since they don't follow the same trends as the locals. Fun!

2009-06-07T04:35:00.000-07:00

Ah, things are in the works now!

We've already decided on our banquet venue, and are in the process of getting the menu sorted out. It's going to feature their very excellent dessert buffet, and the difficulty is now in making sure the dessert doesn't overshadow the mains. And yes, of course there'll be chicken for the mains. We're toning down the number of mains that'll be served on that day - less food, but better presentation.

Should be aiming for paperwork to be done in 2-3 weeks' time. We made a quick detour to their ballrooms last weekend and bumped into their wedding banquet sales manager and one of the chefs. As it goes right now, we'll be taking up 2 ballrooms with a dance floor in the middle. Unfortunately because the Raffles Ballroom can be split up, there will most probably be another wedding right next to ours. We're also going to fix the pre-dinner reception - they have a really handy bar counter and VIP room available for us right outside the ballroom.

Yay ...

2009-05-16T19:45:00.001-07:00

Venue, Part I

After some discussion with Dad, we're more or less set on Swissotel The Stamford! The cost is within budget, and of course it's of sufficient capacity. The only grouse I've seen so far on discussion forums is that they don't offer as many extra perks compared to other hotels, but then again .. perks aren't always that great or important. Have contacted the sales people there, and we'll see what we can do about the menu. I'm not really that hot on a traditional sit-down Chinese dinner, especially when the forte of the chefs there isn't Chinese. Their ballrooms are a tad sterile though, as they are usually used for conventions etc, so hopefully the decor people can work some magic on that.

So for this week, pending reply from Stamford regarding what we want. We might pay a deposit next week or in a fortnight to guarantee the date. And next up will be finding the gown.

2009-05-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

About the dance ... we're planning for a dance floor, definitely, for the dinner. It'll take the space of some 10-15 tables I think, depending on how big it'll be. The idea is that since a fair bit of our guests are actually dancers - ballroom etc - we'll just get the DJ/band (if we can afford one ..) to cycle through various genres of music for people to take to the floor. We'll also be doing a couple of dance items. Yanxian was very keen for rhumba since it's so romantic, but I must profess that it's not one of my strongest latin dances. So we'll probably end up with 2 dances - rhumba, and lindy hop. And thereafter, a mix of latin (cha cha, jive, samba), classical (waltz, tango, foxtrot), social (square rhumba, salsa, bachata, jazz/lindy) and of course a bit of the regular club music. Sounds good?

2009-05-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

This is very pleasant, preparing for the banquet. A nice silver lining amidst everything else. =)

We're now at the stage of preparing our guest list and subsequently searching for a hotel. Currently we stand at a minimum of 50 tables, according to my dad (he and his business friends etc etc), so there aren't many ballrooms to choose from - a blessing in itself! More or less we're thinking about Meritus Mandarin. We're doing a conservative budget of $1000 nett or so per table, it's just foolish and ridiculous to pay too much. (chances are, it might go beyond that.) Alas! I'm actually very interested in the Ritz. It has the capacity, and the look I want, but it's simply too expensive.

I actually don't want a traditional sit-down Chinese 9-course thing. How many times have you gone to such an event, gotten really full by the 6th course, tired by the 8th, and spent less than 5 minutes with the bride and groom? Eeeks. No, I don't want that. And I'm glad my parents are also all for getting rid of the ridiculous going from table-to-table photo-taking thing. =) We'll see how it goes. Yanxian actually had this really great idea of a themed party, like a masquerade. I'm pretty sure many of the younger folk will be game, but the problem will lie with the older ones, which unfortunately will probably take up much of the attendance.

More to come!

2009-04-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Whoa, the clearing-up was quite something to be reckoned with! We put some memorabilia into the ang pao box that Felicia so painstakingly made for us, and tried as best as we could to stash away everything else.

So what are we doing now?

Happily married for one, and Yanxian's staying over this weekend!

Just a couple more things actually. We need to prep for the formal dinner next year, and that includes looking for venues and gowns etc (i.e. the painful part). We also have to keep our eyes peeled for good housing deals - not that we require it at this time, more for the sake of taking advantage of those subsidies that are owed to us. =)

More to come!

2009-04-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

Computer's still down, so just a quickie. Photos stolen from Andrew's and uncle Dennis' Facebook, for the benefit of those who don't have access to them!

Weijian playing our march-in song

One of my favourite shots =)

Post-ROM

2009-04-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Yay! We're legally married! Up next: preparations for the tea ceremony and wedding dinner!

Our solemnization ceremony was just wonderful, albeit with a couple of hiccups. The weather was way too hot, I had a mini-freak-out during dressing up, stumbled most of the way up the stairs in my lovely long dress, food was served 1 hour too late... But then, the most important part, 5-5.30pm, was just perfect. Thank you, hubby, I loved your surprise rendition of Colour of my love. :)

Many thanks to all those who have helped: our best man, Aaron, our MOH, Valda, our two MCs, WJ and YK, our two bridesmaids, XX and XW, "receptionist" YJ, stag night guys and hen night gals. And last but not least, our parents (both sets) for their unwavering support and advice.

The whole event was over by 10pm, and the restaurant manager Kumar was very sweet to prepare us some food, since we hardly had time to eat anything at all. Hehe, after a refreshing shower, we ate our dinner of mushroom soup with bread bowl, steak, veges and mashed potatoes sitting on the floor in our room. I'm so glad we rented a room, I dun think we could have done without it, I wouldn't have been able to make up in time, and we wouldn't have spent the night together after our ceremony. Haha, in my haste to eat, I spilt the soup on the carpeted floor, resulting in a puddle that looked like vomit! Promptly lost my apetite after that. Haha...

All in all, we had a lovely time, and now, we're happily married! Love ya, hubby!

PS: some photos are up already on facebook, if you haven't seen it, go take a look. Many thanks to Andrew, my uncle Dennis, and also Sharon! Can't wait to see Chris'!

2009-04-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

The day is here at last!!

Alas, I promised a photograph of the bouquet, but i shot it in RAW, and Yanxian's computer can't read RAW files as of now. Had nasty dreams of the bouquet wilting, and woke with a start to check that it's actually still alright.

Not really sure how i should be feeling though. It's an odd mix of excitement ("It's finally here!") and of not wanting this to end. I must say, the preparations had been fun - who says marriage is a chore? OK, maybe cos it's the solemnisation, and we more or less call the shots. It probably will be different though when it comes to the customary part.

2009-04-24T01:08:00.001-07:00

Completed!

Valda came down to help with tearing the rose petals apart, while I worked away at the calla bouquet. The floral glue helps A LOT. This time, Yanxian chose the light maroon callas, and we did away with the bear grass. I've finally completed our hand bouquet - just waiting for the floral glue to set, so that I can start working on the backing. Pics to come soon!

2009-04-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

We got our laundry back, and wow! It was quite a relief that nothing serious went wrong, after the horrible week. I was told that 1) the bra cups could deform 2) the rhinestones could fall off or lose their shine. Thankfully, neither happened. I am impressed with the ladies there - for future reference, this was at Jelita Drycleaners on the 2nd floor. Highly recommended.

Going to buy our flowers today, and will make the bouquet later in the day. Yanxian wants something smaller, she says the old bouquet was larger than her head. (That is to say, the bouquet was monstrously huge)

Peng Tze was excellent. He called me up 2 days ago to re-confirm everything, and i filled him in on some changes. Initially we had a VIP table with floral arrangements etc, but after people pulled some stunts on us we decided to just scrape the entire VIP table thing, and now EVERYONE will get decorated chairs instead. Much more festive, I think!

2009-04-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

This has been somewhat a terrible week. Maybe as it draws closer to the date, my tolerance for slip-ups decreases drastically. I am now blogging using Yanxian's MacBook, as mine is now DEAD. Yes. Dead. With my last backup 2 weeks ago, this means that my edited photographs, songlists and others are now gone. I was plugging my computer into the printer outside, when it just went dead. Subsequently the computer couldn't detect the startup disk - probably a fried harddisk!! Thankfully, I still have all my RAW images on backup and on the SD card - I'll have to do post-processing again, but at least the photos are still there. Last night, Yanxian re-downloaded the wedding songlist and re-edited the important songs using GarageBand.

The other silly thing that happened was that we actually missed our appointment at ROM. YES, I KNOW. The website said to go down for statutory declaration 3 days in advance, but the date they gave us was FOUR days in advance. Hello .. anyway, we did manage to go down yesterday, and the queue wasn't all that bad actually, just 3 couples ahead of us. It was a quick affair - verifying our documents, making sure I wasn't forcing her into marriage (heh heh ..) and swearing that I am who I claim I am.

Also, a small little thing cropped up regarding Yanxian's dad - he's one of our witnesses - and we were slightly worried that he may not be able to attend. But thankfully that has also been settled, I think.

We're collecting our stuff from the dry-cleaner's today (praying hard that the dress and suit will still be intact!!) and I'll probably drop my computer off for some repairs. Well .. if it's going to cost me a fair bit, I might just bite the bullet and get a new one. Maybe an iMac.

2009-04-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hen & Stag Parties

My, what a weekend!

Just a little filler before the weekend thing - we spent 2 days at Jubilee Road doing our shoots in our makeshift home studio! I rented 2 very excellent lenses from Desmond, the Canon EF 24-70 f2.8L USM and EF 70-200 f2.8L USM. It turned out to be an excellent decision, even though it set me back by quite a bit. The images were contrasty and tack-sharp, and on hindsight I could have just made do with the 24-70mm lens. The second lens had a focal length that was just too long for my cropped factor camera body, althought it produced really flattering portrait shots at the long end of the zoom.

Here's a pic of the makeshift studio!

Yanxian's very ghetto dressing table. That lamp is actually my continuous flourescent light that is used for product shots.

The shoot covered 2 days - the first shoot was done in casual clothes, but alas! I initially set the camera to shoot in small jpg files while I was doing the lighting adjustments, and later forgot to set it back to RAW! Felt really sore about it, but thankfully the images were nothing to shout about anyway. The good thing that came out of this shoot was that it prepped me for the following day's shoot, and as a result things were done much faster as I was more familiar with the lighting adjustments and ratios.

We went back the next day with our ROM attire and a few other props. The main concept for this shoot was to do a series of seamless high-key shots, and some off-camera crosslighting as well.

I shall leave Yanxian to talk about her hen party.

For my part, I met the guys at Raffles City for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. I suspect part of the bill was a result of Weijian's flirting with the manager! Anyway, we had a delightfully expensive sashimi platter ($150, whooooo!) made of this odd lionfish, sea urchin and flatfish. To be really honest though, I think I'll stick to salmon.

Actually before that, we went into Topman to look at some ties that the guys were going to wear for Saturday. Most unfortunately, they spotted this awful-looking T-shirt that went "Does my C**K look big in this?" with a picture of a chicken in front. I was marched to the dressing room, my shirt got confiscated and they paid for the shirt - with me in it! It was seriously quite uncomfortable wearing such a cheeky-looking shirt.

After dinner we headed down to Clarke Quay. We knew that the hen party was somewhere around, but I put my bet that they were probably in The Pump Room rather than Attica, since Yanxian hates the latter. (too many SPGs and leery guys.) But alas for us!! The stag party met the hens in Attica! They brought along this delightfully huge underwear for me, which read "Size Matters" - I simply loved it!! It's now hanging on the back of my car window, muahahaha. After a bit of dancing and after presenting a pair of frilly red panties to Yanxian down on my knees, we went our separate ways.

I think the highlight of the night was going to the gay bar after Attica. It was less sleazy than I thought it would be - the worst sights being some narcissistic topless guys flaunting their stuff (they do have stuff to flaunt, thankfully!) and a couple others grinding on the dance floor. But the great thing was that the music was better, the drinks were much stronger, and as Yingkai pointed out, people were there more to have fun rather than hawking around to pick people up. It was actually a great experience - one of those places that you'd never dream of going on less-than-crazy nights. Thanks guys, for such a fun night out!!

2009-04-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

Urgh. Feeling annoyed.

We were planning for a photoshoot tomorrow, and all of a sudden Yanxian's boss magicked some meeting for her and it has to be cancelled. After all my preparation too!

Just had to rant.

2009-04-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

The last few things ...

Touch up Yanxian's dress tonight (some of the rhinestones that were set earlier by iron fell off .. )
Indoors photoshoot this Thursday 16/4/9 by moi
Send clothes to dry cleaner's this Friday
Finalise wedding vows
Call Prof Low by this week

2009-04-14T08:34:00.001-07:00

I'm not being OCD about the photoshoot, Yanxian. I just want to make sure everything goes exactly the way I want it.

Anyway, I do not see how much difference there is between me doing it and engaging some photo guy to do it. Wei has very graciously offered to help us take the photos! OK, obviously for the banquet day itself I can't possibly be part of the thing and do the photos as the same time. I'm hoping Chris' work will turn out to be to our satisfaction, and that'll probably be the banquet day photographer settled. If not, we could always get Black Box (they should start giving us a DSO Labs package discount already!)

I'm actually planning for a rather elaborate shoot. But whether it actually churns out award-winning photos .. that's another story altogether. =) I went absolutely nuts and bought an el-cheapo studio strobe. I'm still trying to digest that one now.

We did some finishing touches to the pen stand last night. In keeping with the sea-shelley theme, we wanted the pen stand to sit inside a giant clam shell - the same one which I gave Yanxian some 7 years ago. We'd then use vermiculite to fill up the gap and to conceal the original penstand gap, and adorn it with something sparkly. Problem is vermiculite tends to scatter all over the place, so I bought some clear sealant spray and did a bit of art and craft the other night. The spray was weird though, and it took an hour and several tries to get it right. It tended to make the vermiculite grey... eeeeeks. It was alright in the end, phew.

As promised earlier, pics of the wedding bands!! OK, something is VERY wrong with this picture. It came out kind of soft.

Horror stories of Bridal Boutiques aka one-stop-station-for-everything-they-think-you-need

2009-04-07T19:52:00.001-07:00

Hmmm, it's great that everything for solemnization is falling into place. Which leaves us with planning for the tea ceremony-cum-wedding-dinner day... Oh, did we mention that the date is sorta fixed? 21st Nov 2010 (Sunday).

I've been reading some horror stories from singaporebrides, cozycot etc.. the general gist is: every bridal boutique has it's own share of horrendous service. From empty promises to hard-sell tactics to late deliveries, you name it, they've done it. Which is silly, since the whole point of engaging them is to save yourself some headache, but it appears their entire existence seems to be just to drive you nuts (reminds me of administrators...).

So, we've been discussing. These boutiques supposedly give you a "package" which includes items/services that they think you need. If we break down the package, it basically consists of:

wedding gown (aka Big Dress) rental
evening gown rental
Tea dress rental
Gatecrashing Tux rental
Dinner Tux rental
Car decor
Indoor photoshoot
outdoor photoshoot
Hair and Makeup

Item 1 makes sense. to rent item 2 is a bit silly, since it can be re-used again (depending on how elaborate it is). Tea dress is redundant for us (since we already have a ROM dress). HY thinks he can buy a cheap G2000 suit for item 4. Item 5 already have (ROM suit, which cost me a bomb). Car decor can ask Peng Tze to do. HY wants to do his own indoor photoshoot (OCD again). Outdoor photos are done already. Hair and Makeup can engage our own.... So what does that leave us with??? just item 1! What the.....

So, we're going to get quotations/estimates of the ale-carte items and see how much the 9 items will cost us, then decide if we really want a package...

2009-04-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

Yay!!! We finally collected our wedding bands tonight! =D And we could still fit our fingers into them, after 3 months. The only thing is, the things actually came in little ZIPLOCK bags. OM. For the money we paid, you'd think that they would at least come in plastic boxes, if not acrylic. The lady took them out from their very ugly bags, and put them into a nicer box. Oh well. At least they gave us a free ring pillow. Pics to come when I get the luxury of taking photos.

2009-04-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

The seeds are finally here! Was thoroughly excited about it. Anyway, the packets were actually smaller than I expected them to be (250 seeds look like a teaspoon's worth of stuff) but it was fun mixing them up. The pic below is the mixing stage.

So what's in the mix?
- Zinnia elegans 'Lilliput Mix'
- Strawflower
- Nicotiana alata (Flowering tobacco)
- A selection of morning glory varieties: 'Carevale di Venezia', 'Crimson Rambler' and 'Milky Way'
- Arroyo lupine
- Love-in-a-mist
- Four O'Clock
- Sunflower 'Autumn Beauty'
- Marigold
- Cleome 'Violet Queen'
- Some fragrant herbs: Basil 'Genovese', dill, borage, sweet marjoram, black cumin
- Okra 'Burgundy'
- Amaranth 'Golden Giant'
- Portulaca
- Balsam: a selection of heirloom singles and doubles from my own garden
- Cosmos 'Bright Lights'
- Another Cosmos variety from my garden, I have no idea what it is. Bright yellow stuff.

A few lucky people will be getting some zucchini seeds and love-in-a-puff (Cardiospermum) seeds. The whole thing is entirely random of course, so not everyone will get the same stuff. They were packed into the bottles (remember we were busy tying ribbons to bottles a couple of months back?) with some vermiculite that had been soaked in nutrient solution. I'm guessing each bottle should have an average 50-70 seeds. Ha .. I'm going to cheat a bit and put extra lupine and cleome seeds into Aaron's. (BTW, did the cleome ever germinate?)

2009-03-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get worried about the seeds. Diane definitely sent them out, but no news so far and it's been 2 weeks! If, by the end of next week, I still don't get anything in the post, it's time for drastic measures.

Anyway, we're fretting about the music now. Weijian's keyboard is too soft, and the club won't let us plug it into their sound system. I'll see if we can get a mic or something, but there's still the issue of interference. And that silly woman at RSYC takes FOREVER to reply to emails.

On something more positive, I've finally done up the prototype for the penstand! Not that it's a big deal, since it's an extremely simple thing to do, but I just had to test it out.

And I had the chance to use my new light tent. =)

Yanxian is also almost done with her wedding vows, and once again I've got the rough thing in my head, but just need to write it down on paper.

Things are falling into place at last

2009-03-26T06:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, the meet-up with Sylvia was most fruitful. I like her, just about everything we asked for, she was ok with it. It's rare to see administrators who are so decisive and spontaneous about guests' requests. Now, we just need her confirmation about things. One thing abt her though, she doesn't seem to like replying to emails. Argh. It'll be easier if we have a written record about things. Oh well, nobody's perfect.

Went out today to shop for a suitable outfit for my mother, and was reminded yet again why I don't like to shop with her. I guess it's both our faults. She's only being herself, and me myself.

Melancholic mood today. Hmm, not just today.

2009-03-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

Finally met up with Sylvia, the sales manager at RSYC yesterday, to discuss some of the finer and final details. We fixed up the outdoors seating arrangement, and she'll be sending us the indoor blueprint so we can finalise the table arrangement too. It seems like we'll be taking up most of the restaurant, oops. We'll need to decide on the bouquet throw though - she said that doing a re-entry would actually be weird. Haha .. Ying Kai!! Where did you come up with that??

2009-03-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

Another sneak preview time!!

Yanxian and I did a DIY pre-wedding photography session yesterday, and I am pleased with the results. There were only 5-6 keepers, but these are great IMHO. By the way, I nicked the hydrangeas from my garden. =) Not too bad for a non-pro wedding photographer eh?

2009-03-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

Still waiting for the seeds to arrive - should be here any day now. The good thing is, the vermiculite has almost finished drying. Now I'm starting to wonder if I should have spiked the vermiculite with low dose gibberallic acid - it'll do wonders for germination, but people will end up with lanky plants.

Feeling somewhat annoyed too by the slow response on the RSYC side - I've been bugging them for a meet-up so that I can finalise the decor with Peng Tze. Heck, I'll just go ahead today and settle it with Peng Tze anyway.

As an aside, we're going to have a break this weekend!! =) Really looking forward to it - thanks for the suggestion, Yanxian. We'll see if we can take the chance to do a couple of shots!

2009-03-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Got a few things done over the weekend! After getting the vermiculite, I thought of soaking them in something to coat the stuff with goodies so that they can behave as slow-release fertilisers. So I dumped a batch into a solution of 30-5-5 nitrogen fertiliser and a vitamin B solution, and now they are in the process of drying out. I dug out a store of seeds as well, and to my surprise I actually have quite a bit of viable seeds stashed away. Most were collected through the years, including a few memorables ones which I bought from Morrison's in Glasgow. Now I'm just waiting for the real batch of seeds to arrive from Diane's, and we'll be packing the vermiculite-and-seed mix into the bottles as gifts.

I'm just hoping that people will actually grow them. I realise not everyone likes growing plants. But hey - it beats giving stuff like keychains right?

2009-03-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Yay, finally got hold of the vermiculite! I don't know why, but it was extremely difficult getting hold of any. I repeatedly visited several nurseries at Thomson, Ang Mo Kio, even at Sembawang, but to no avail. Finally I just bit the bullet and went straight to a hydroponics supplier and got a gigantic bag of the stuff today.

Now I'm just waiting on my seed order to arrive. Unfortunately, Singapore has suddenly become a major crop-producing hub in SE Asia - or you would otherwise be led to believe, given the amount of NEW red tape that our dear AVA has installed to prevent people from tending plants and saving the earth. I realised that I had to pay S$120 for a phytosanitary certificate for some packets of seeds from a reputable nursery in the US (which I suppose in AVA's eyes harbours copious amounts of Fusarium wilt fungus, aflatoxin, colorado beetles, aphids and bacterial blight). Bleargh. Anyway, I ordered from a new source, which should arrive in a week or so (fingers crossed).

Oh yeah - we've decided that other than our Bali photos, we might venture into doing a little photography ourselves. What we're doing now is scouting around for venues etc and doing some test shots, then we'll rent some equipment and do a shoot - should be fun! It might not be in time for our ROM, but it'll be fun nonetheless. So last weekend, other than my mushroom thingy, we headed down to Kent Ridge Park and took a few test shots.

It's nowhere as professional as the pros, but hey, it's all about the fun! This session was kind of impromptu though, so we didn't go prepared with insect spray and quickly became mosquito fodder.

2009-03-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

Ah hah, I've got quite a few updates here. We had our engagement party last Friday at Attica, which was really quite fun - if only I wasn't in a state of near-fainting from the stummy ache!!

Anyway, on Saturday Yanxian and I went on yet another romp at Pearl Centre. The place is an absolute gem for what we set out to do. Just months ago, Yanxian's favourite haunt for Swarovski crystal beads and beading supplies were Arab Street and Beads@Work respectively. Now, we found out that Pearl Centre has at least 4 very well-stocked shops selling these crystal beads at (if you'll believe it) even better prices than Arab Street. We went home with more of these hot-fix rhinestones by Swarovski at bulk prices.

Better yet (for me, the poor fiance-turned-tailor) I managed to lay my paws on this inexpensive rhinetone applicator.

The freaking applicator sped me up by more than 10x, and swiftly paid for itself simply for the convenience of it. As a result, I completed Yanxian's dress that evening! Hahahaha. Feeling very proud of myself. I'm not really sure what Yanxian was doing at that time though ... some belt or hair thing I think.

I also managed to buy the pen stand on Sunday at Bras Besah. That'll still need a little working on.

And finally, we have met with the 2 shortlisted florists, and decided to go with Peng Tze. He's actually this ice sculptor who also manages an events-decor company, and a real easy-going chap who's good to work with. I like the fact that he's not pushy about getting us to get more flowers or whatever - more of the contrary actually. He was giving suggestions like we don't need certain centrepieces (which the other florist was charging at $80), and even gave tips on the chair arrangement. The downside to it however, is that his style is really quite classic. I don't mean in the cheena sense, but just classic. Like what you'd expect at a company dinner, not at a DKNY runway show or something - i.e. staples, rather than chic. That's perfectly fine with me, however, since we weren't budgeting for extravagant decor anyway. The only problem came for Yanxian's hand bouquet - I'm sure Peng Tze would have provided a lovely bouquet, but I was really looking for something a little different and a little more fun for that one. I guess I'll somehow come up with doing it myself.

2009-02-21T17:20:00.001-08:00

Update time! (I'm shuttling between 2 blogs, so pardon me if I get confused sometimes.)

We went back to Chinatown yesterday to pick up several things - Yanxian's waist ribbon, more ribbon for our informal photoshoot (photographer being yours truly), beads and some hot-fix crystals for the dress. I actually suspect that Yanxian is using the wedding adornments as an excuse to buy more beads. Hah.

We decided to adorn Yanxian's dress on our own! Got our hands on some inexpensive Swarovski crystals which we'll be placing on the dress. I went onto Youtube to find out how exactly to do it, since the auntie at the beads shop sounded really iffy about how to go about doing it. So this morning I did a prototype - first on a scrap of tulle material, which worked really well. So I did 2 more on the dress itself, and oooh, it's actually quite nice. Shall post before- and after- pics soon.

Oh, and we picked up a tux for the naughty boy. He looked so totally endearing in it! Shame that he can't come though, he would have made such a cute ring-bearer. =)

OH YES. WE RECEIVED OUR PHOTOSHOOT ALBUMS!! Our thanks once again goes to Mario, Thea, Lennie and everyone at Aditi Niranjan for doing such a fantastic job. I keep hearing how my friends hated the pre-wedding shoot sessions, but these people really made it quite an enjoyable affair. Previews, anyone?

These are the raw photos - unedited shots, and they sent a total of 2 albums totaling 80 edited shots, 1 large canvas print, and a 30 minute behind-the-scenes video which was really awesome. Not that the videography was fantastic or anything, but it captured a lot of funny stuff that went on, such as the 2 failed attempts before we got that shot above (I appeared to be eating boobs at one point in time ...) and of the horse going wild at the beach. Mario also knew I'm kinda into photography, so he very nicely obliged and sent me 2 DVDs containing all the original shots (some 600 of them, I believe) in TIFF format so I can edit and print as I want to - which is very professional and kind of him, as most of the local photographers I know only return you a selection of shots.

Invites are ready for distribution!

2009-02-19T00:34:00.001-08:00

Finally, the invites are completed! Many thanks to HY's mum, Wei, Xuan and last but not least, HY! Everybody chipped in, and they couldn't have been done so nicely and so quickly if not for everyone's efforts. Haha, I finally realised yesterday, what a klutz HY is at handicraft. Can't even cut in a straight line even though I already printed out the line for him to follow! Wow. Hey, but he made up for it with his lovely handwriting, which is exactly what I lack.

My mother loves the invites, and even though she doesn't need one, she's requesting for one for keeps. Hmm, limited edition leh... Ok, I'll spare her one. Haha! So, those of you who are going to get your invites, treasure them! They were made with a lot of thought (each heart is different from the other, all intended), a lot of careful precise work (gluing, cutting, drawing, putting on the glitter) and $$$ (spent on repeated trips to shops all over the island to buy materials). Phew!

Just found out yesterday that F can't come for our solemnization! :'(

Aww, I did wish she would, but then, work is work, or rather, scholarship money is scholarship money. Go forth and spend all your conference allowance, spend while it lasts! :P

Been sourcing out florists and I've limited it to two. Feel bad, like I'm "leading" them on. One is the recommended florist by the restaurant manager, the other is highly recommended by F's fren. HY's been dealing with the first one (PT) and I've been dealing with the 2nd one (GA). We're going to see which one sways us more. haha...

2009-02-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

Finally collected my shirt! Quite pleased with it.

2009-02-17T07:10:00.001-08:00

Met up with our photographer, Chris Lim from Coffeestains photography, tonight over some Tully's coffee at West Coast Plaza. We looked through some of his works (which was partly unnecessary, given that we've more or less sieved through about a dozen photographers' works) and filled him in on the program. His style is just what we like - I suppose you could call it photojournalistic portraiture, but personally I dislike the word "photojournalism" and what many of these photographers claim to be doing. In addition, photojournalism seems to be the hip thing nowadays, much to the chargrin of certain groups of photographers. True, they tend to capture candid shots, but candid does not necessarily translate to flattering.

The total cost seemed a little alarming, but once you break it down I suppose it's actually quite reasonable. (Heck, tuition costs $60 an hour nowadays, and all they do is to sit there and talk!) We decided to do away with getting him to do an album for us, which would cost an additional $400 (!!). Instead, I'll probably do the touching up myself and if we ever decide to, I know just the place to get books printed. It's exactly where all the wedding photographers go to print their stuff anyway.

He's an interesting guy alright - as Yanxian puts it, a bit of the artistic sort. A little eccentric, a little autistic, and just not the normal sort of people we hang out with. I'll just have to email him tomorrow to let him know we would like to have him for 4 hours, and without the photo book. He'll go scouting at the venue himself beforehand, and I was favourably impressed that he bothered to turn up a little earlier tonight than he was supposed to.

2009-02-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

Went to visit some of the girly forums (i.e. Cozycot) and came across some people who did wedding blogs too! But oooh ... theirs are much nicer, lol.

Anyway, we'll be meeting our photographer tonight just to discuss the details. I'm thinking of getting a relative to do the video, it'll be amateurish but heck. Or maybe I'll shop around again on ClubSnap.

We're bursting the invites list!! OMG. It was planned for 50, and currently the list stands at 62.

2009-02-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

I'm finding things a little more manageable as the day draws closer - thankfully, most of the nasty things have already been done!

I had to go in to work this morning, but right after that we met up with my parents at Chinatown for a lovely lunch of frog's porridge, and went basket-shopping. We were fretting over the bridesmaids' floral baskets, and finally settled on 3 lovely-looking ones. We passed by a makeshift stall selling some seashells too, and I was really, really tempted to get tonnes of them. But alas! (and thankfully!) I didn't have any cash on me. We later got down to buying some lace for Yanxian's ROM dress, and also went to Ocean to get a load of erm ... facial products for me. Remember I bought the men's range from L'oreal? It certainly worked, so I got more today! Cheap and good. And pampered myself with some Kerastase hair products.

We rounded up the evening by finishing the invites (yay!) together with Xuan and Wei, and Yanxian did something extremely nasty to me. Yes, they decided my eyebrows were too unruly for me to be wed, so they did a trial eyebrow-shaping for me. OUCH.

2009-02-12T20:10:00.000-08:00

Well, there's been a lull in updates for the last week, so I thought I'd better do something about it.

Had a bright idea at lab the day before and brought back a nice cardboard tray leftover from pipette tips packaging and stuck masking tape at the bottom to make the surface sticky. Then, I stuck the little souvenirs (is this how it's spelt???) onto the tray! Tahdah! Perfect for transport! Now, I just need another tray, so I've got to watch out for it before it gets chucked into the bin.

Made the brooch for my dress already, somehow it still doesn't feel right, although it looks much better than the prototype. It's tough making your own jewelry, no matter how much effort you put in, it still doesn't look perfect... HY says it's nice though, so oh well, maybe I should stop fretting. Next would be the hair stuff, but no hurry, cos if I can't finish, we'll just buy them.

Thinking of making the invites tonight. Or running. Or skating. Why does time seem to slip by so fast when there are so many things to do? Starting to miss those days when we could just laze around or watch movies on his laptop...

2009-02-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

OK, I've been less-than-hardworking at updating this site. We managed to finish up doing the entire batch of bombonieres, so now all I'm left with for them is to get the vermiculite and seeds. Oooooh fun!!

Made a prototype of the invites tonight. It looked quite nice, but still lacks a woman's touch (hint hint) - it looks quite coarse.

Ah, something interesting. We went down for some bridal fair at Suntec last Saturday, together with Min Er and her beau. It was a useful experience. Firstly, those people are VULTURES. I absolutely detest them, if only for the fact that they are pushy, and untruthful. Like Bliss Bridal, these guys seriously dissed me. The effeminate man was going on and on and on, and pretended to give us extras on top of what the package offers. I glanced to the table next to us, and behold! They too received these apparent "extras"!

Also - maybe it's just me - but the photography services there were seriously not worth the money at all. They look like they were taken by an amateur with a DSLR and a rented studio.

To top it all, the gowns there were absolutely hideous. Why would anyone want to wear a dress that looks like it came out of "The Creepy Ballerina of Xmas Eve"? Anyway, I said it was a useful experience, as it at last convinced us that we don't need no package. We may (or may not) end up spending more dough, but I think a la carte is the way to go. BTW, Min Er signed up for a Taiwan photoshoot - I'm happy for her!

2009-02-04T07:16:00.001-08:00

Made some progress today with the bombonieres, or what is more commonly known locally as favours. Although not common in solemnization ceremonies, we thought it would be sweet to give people a gift to thank them for the attendance. Not that we're spending a bomb on them - on the contrary, but I think our wedding is gearing towards as little wastage as possible. How many times have you brought one of those silly salt-and-pepper shakers home and dumped them in a corner (or in the bin)? And I still have a fruitcake-in-a-box rotting away after several months (I think. Could easily have been a year.)

We're making invites that can be re-used as bookmarks, and bombonieres that are fun - a spruced up bottle of seeds! Initially we wanted to use love-in-a-puff, but I only have 300 seeds which amounts to 6 per person - it'll only look silly - and it's a pretty uncommon plant so buying them will cost a bomb. Yanxian got hold of a hundred of these nice glass bottles, and she and my mom spent the evening tying pretty blue bows on them. I'm in charge of doing the seed mix, which will be mixed with vermiculite. Apart from looking pretty, the vermiculite will be soaked first in a concoction of vitamins etc so they can act as slow-release fertilisers. Right now I'm thinking of a whole list of stuff to mix, including balsam, love-in-a-puff, cosmos, zinnia, marigold, sunflower and a few surprises. Will be fun for people to grow them and see what comes up!

2009-02-03T15:22:00.001-08:00

I just realised that this blog does not state the author who writes the entries. Ouch. An oversight on my part, it shall be fixed.

2009-02-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

Spent yesterday at Ngee Ann City doing several things:

1) Collecting my suit
It finally fits!
We passed by G2K Black Label (essentially the same thing except apparently better materials) and saw some very, very nice cufflinks, and suits going at a steal - $130! Didn't have the luxury of time to browse though, so I'm not sure if they are just left with the odd sizes. Still .. the workmanship is quite decent, surprisingly.

2) Invites
Finally got hold of the materials for the invites, and we spent most of our time choosing and matching the things. Bear in mind though, that these are just the raw materials - making them into something usable is another thing altogether.

3) Shoes
Yanxian finally found some very nice shoes, at a very nice price! Yes, despite the common perception (I'm not even going to say "misperception") that Taka's shoes are expensive. There was a range though, that used real Swarovski crystals on the shoes - now THAT's expensive. Pics to come soon - I didn't manage to do them justice.

2009-02-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

Isn't it a strange coincidence that one of the PhD comics' characters is also getting married? Are they spying on us???

2009-02-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

For the longest time ever, I actually skipped to lab happily on a monday morning, probably because of the very constructive chat last night with the guys. :)

Yupz, me and HY obviously have never prepared any ROM before, hence having YK and WJ give some valuable input was most helpful. And having A as the "man-to-run-to-in-case-of-trouble" was a really good idea. I couldn't have thought of anyone better. Now, it just seems that the girls don't have anything to do! But, we decided that HY's sisters can help me with the handicraft side of things, together with decor and flower stuff. I just wish V could be physically around more, I could really use a good galfriend for girly discussions. But then again, I'm a control freak, so even if she's around, I'll probably do everything myself anyway. Haha...

Friday's "meet-the-in-laws" was pretty successful. I secretly think my parents were nervous about the meeting, so was I, although we worried of different things. On the other hand, HY's parents seemed pretty relaxed about the whole affair. Generally, both sides have the same unspoken attitude that the ROM is only an engagement party, while me and HY think of this as something significant for ourselves. Oh well, I suppose it's only a technicality difference. In any case, the wedding dinner will definitely happen (which was what my father was worried about). I think everybody wants it to happen, so hopefully the parents will just trust us.

We'll be going to collect HY's suit again tonight. I say "again" cos when we went to Boss on Saturday, we found that the sleeves (esp the left one) were too long! Was a bit pissed off, since I paid a good sum of money for this, and I expected better of them. I guess the PMS was not helping. haha. Well, they better get it right this time round, else... Oh, and we had a terrific idea for the ROM invites, so we'll be popping by ArtFriend after collecting the suit to pick up some supplies. :)

2009-02-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

We met up with the guys last night at the Green Room Cafe, which serves vegetarian food. OK, for some odd reason I'm still ballooning up! Have decided to take only 1 meal a day and see if it works. It's very upsetting. Anyway, we got a lot done last night! =) Starting to feel really excited, lol. Weijian has very kindly consented to be our music guy as well, so we'll be having a clavi there! I just hope, in Yingkai's words, that the benign tumour does not turn malignant. I was really surprised to learn of the re-entry, but it sounds really cool.

The afternoon was ealier spent at the RSYC, where we met the GM Gary. So yeah, it's decided that we'll use both the indoors and outdoors area - outdoors for the ROM ceremony, and later adjourn in for the dinner with 3 long tables. Stuff to settle for venue will be the decor.

2009-01-30T07:14:00.000-08:00

Ah, tonight went quite well. I was fretting slightly during the day, especially as it surfaced 2 days ago that there might be political tensions, quite literally. We had a very pleasant 7-course dinner at Mandarin Hotel's Pine Garden restaurant, and the chef as usual came out to shake our hands. It's my first time meeting this guy though, who - I must say - is extremely talented. Under normal circumstances I would never dream of touching fusion Chinese food, but he really outdid himself this time. The first course was yu sheng, but it was no ordinary one. The entire dish was coated in edible gold flakes, and there was the distinctive aroma of truffle oil in it. I was impressed. I loved the addition of the coconut flesh particularly - it was daring, creative, and went very well with the dish. The highlight of the night though (I felt, strongly) was this vintage 1988 Chateau - probably the 2nd or 3rd best wine I've ever tasted. The nose was light and refined, with a very rich bouquet of aged french oak and a delicate cranberry finish.

In any case, I think it went better than both of us could have hoped for, and that's good enough for now.

2009-01-29T15:02:00.000-08:00

Been a little quiet these days, as we are quite busy with work and whatnot, and most importantly, we're actually busy dealing with the nastier aspects of this rather than the fun shopping. I headed down to Yanxian's on Wednesday (post-call, no less!) to 拜年, and cleared up some of our intentions. Her father thought we were planning to pass off the ROM reception as the actual banquet! Eeeeks .. it's the first time I'm meeting her dad since we returned, and of course there were some slightly awkward questions. The parents will be meeting tonight, which is again another scary part. Arghhh. OK, let's hope they see eye to eye and agree to everything we want - for the ROM, at least.

For the venue, we've tentatively booked the RYSC 2nd floor deck. Shall have to meet the GM this Saturday or so to discuss the nitty-gritty. It would be heaven if we also had access to the restaurant itself.

Yay! My turn to have a say!

2009-01-28T07:41:00.000-08:00

Finally, HY has decided that I get to say some things too!

Just ordered a bunch of acrylic crystals and glass beads online at honeynclover.com, an online beading shop based in Singapore. They don't stock much variety, nor do they have any swarovski beads (which is the highest grade of crystals for DIY beading), but hey, we get to save on shipping! Although we can get more variety at auntiesbeads.com, the shipping will cost as much as the beads themselves, regardless of weight! Goodness! Together with USD conversion, that's a h*** lot of money!

Ok, I just have wait for their confirmation email asking me to pay up, and tahdah, the stuff's gonna arrive at the doorstep this weekend! Can't wait to play with them!

HY's super jealous I get to customize my jewelry... hmmm, would you like some cuff-links? I can try to make for you, though they might be so bling-bling, you won't be caught dead in them!

I seem to be on a high right now, must be the mood swings. or the online shopping. :P

2009-01-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

Happy CNY!!

We went down to Arab Street again today for the Swarovski crystals, but alas! The shops weren't open yet! Ended up making a detour to Beads@Work at Holland V for some faux pearls and miscellaneous.

The other great thing we got today was a deal on a load of shells.

2009-01-24T16:15:00.001-08:00

Ah, got most of the costume stuff settled. Over the long weekend, we visited Arab street and got a nice scarf - not to wear on the head (I keep thinking of Lady Gaga)/shoulders but to cut up and stitch into Yanxian's ROM gown. Remember the Celia Loe gown? It's amazingly flattering for Yanxian, but unfortunately the plunging bustline isn't quite appropriate for ROM. She's thinking of putting the veil-like material in there.

We're also cutomising the decorations on the dress ourselves! Going to Arab Street again today, this time to get some Swarovski crystal beads to spruce up the dress and shoes, and to make the hair ornaments.

Headed down to Raffles Arcade yesterday with Aaron, to try and see if we can get some shirts done. Unfortunately the people at CYC were quite disgusting in terms of service, like they can't be bothered. Whatever. We didn't take a second look, and went straight to Peninsula shopping centre instead where I ended up getting a nice blue Egyptian cotton shirt.

2009-01-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

Yanxian just brought back from her lab 100 glass bottles to be used as bombonieres! How very smart ... it sure saves on cost, and on a lot of headache. We were thinking of using love-in-a-puff seeds in them, but the ones I have aren't quite enough. We just planted several seeds, hopefully they'll produce seeds soon enough?

2009-01-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

Ah, we took a short break off serious planning for the weekend, as I was just too drained. OK, the only major thing we have to deal with for now is the venue. We're looking at the RSYC venue as I mentioned, due to the good deal we're getting from them. Had a quick survey of the place on Saturday, and it seems that the outside area that we're looking at may be a tad too small.

What I'm actually looking to do is to have both the air-conditioned area and the outside verandah as well. The air-con area will be laid with eating tables in small groups, each seating 4-6 people, while the outside portion will strictly be for the ceremony. Dad had strange ideas though, of using the outside for both.

Finally, the gown!

2009-01-15T07:33:00.001-08:00

I was post-call yesterday, but stayed around till 5pm to meet our Justice of Peace, Prof Low. It was quite an enjoyable affair, although at one point in time it got slightly alarming when Prof Low forgot he had written my name down. He has another engagement after our though, so he probably won't be able to stay. Shame.

We finally bought Yanxian's dress today! We headed down to Delphi again straight after work, and checked out Amanda Lee which was having a sale. They did have gorgeous wedding gowns though, but not that much of ROM dresses. What really caught my eye was a gold-trimmed lace gown and a voluminous pink gown, but then again these are the actual gowns with trains, which was not what we were looking for.

Celia Loe proved to be the winner. There was this bitch in there who was HOGGING the change room!

2009-01-14T07:32:00.000-08:00

12 Jan 2009 - written in retrospect, as my net connection went down.

Had a bit of a brainwave this morning while driving to work, about using Disney's Fantillusion as a march-in piece. Haha .. a little too fairytale-ish.

After work we celebrated XW's birthday, then headed out again. This time, to Amanda Lee Bridal at Delphi as they were apparently having a 30-70% sales. Alas! We were too late, they were closed by the time we reached there. Had the chance to view a few more wedding boutiques there, but I thought the men's jackets were just so-so. True, most of them had the kind of lapel I wanted, but the cut was a tad ugly.

Slightly disappointed, we drove a short way over to Centrepoint. This time it was to view the collection at Celia Loe, but eeeeeeks. It was the wrong branch - this one sold mostly auntie-ish stuff! We were advised to go to the one at Vivocity instead. There was this VERY nice men's tailor, Milan men's boutique, which stocks the nicest fabrics. However, they were PRICEY. Has anyone spent $1800 on an office shirt yet? In any case, Robinson's was having a most fantastic sale. Shit, I went home with loads of CNY stuff instead of wedding things.

2009-01-11T08:04:00.000-08:00

Ah, finally decided on our wedding bands today!! I went to Love & Co this morning and took a fancy to this pair that seemed to meet both our criteria - an eternity setting for Yx, and a matte and simple on for me. The salesgirl was pleasant too, which helped seal the deal actually. The only downside is that it's 2x the price of that pair at Citigems. I was ok with that actually, which was a rose gold and white gold band, but frankly speaking the ladies' one at Citigems wasn't that fantastic.

We also took a trip down to Lavender (shop's name) to look at ROM dresses. They were indeed pretty, but not cheap eh .. almost $400, but worth considering as the materials were quite good.

In contrast, we headed down to City Plaza which was recommended by my mom and some online sources, but left disappointed. The cloths were rough and poorly-sewn, and somehow just looks cheap.

2009-01-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

Oh yay! Prof Low has agreed to be our Justice of the Peace! He's not exactly the fun or funky sort, but I thought it fitting for such an inspiring man to solemnize our marriage. And he was so cool about it too, no hassle.

We rounded more ring shops today (LOL yes .. like ward rounds). Or rather, just the one due to time constraints. From the recommendation of a friend, we went to On Cheong - it's located just opposite Sri Mariamman temple near Maxwell market. It honestly looked nothing like the sort of shop we'd normally check out ... jade and gold, but it did stock some really nice pieces of other jewellery at good prices. Heck, even the rings were reasonably-priced. I was tempted to scrimp on the ring ($170!) so that I can buy my jacket. I do so love the felt trimming under the collar. And the fine silk inner layering.

Both Dad and Mom had nice news for us though. Dad checked out through his F&B connections about holding it at the RSYC, and it's simply too good a deal to pass up. And it helps when you know the management. However, Brownie strictly not allowed. Disappointing, since he'd be such a perfectly adorable little angel if he could be our ring-bearer. =( Nonetheless, he'll definitely be included in our indoors photoshoot, by hook or by crook!

Mom on the other hand turns out to know the proprietress of French Bridal. We'll see how it goes from here. I do so love the idea of just getting a simple, unadorned wedding gown and puttin on the so-called crystals on our own (which are essentially Swarovski glass beads actually). The bridal shops charge $600 and up for additional crystal beads, and I thought it better to use that money in fine textiles and lace instead. And it guarantees uniqueness. Yx thought it might be too labour-intensive though.

Still stuck on what to wear for the ROM.
I have a choice of just office-wear (YUCK), shirt with a suit, and shirt with suit and waistcoat. The last one seems a little over-the-top though, and perhaps I'll reserve that for the customary day instead. Or should it be the other way round? Urgh. And I seriously am smitten by the suits in Boss. They're going at 50% now too! Which works out to be even cheaper than some of the usual bridal tailors. That being said, I do have a rather under-used Zara suit which was bought at a steal during their sale. It's collar isn't pointed up though, which is what I was looking at. So tentatively I'm thinking of a suit and a light pink dress shirt, with cufflinks. Something like this:

And I'm not kidding, but I do need new shoes. My Hush Puppies which have served me so well for the last 1 year is starting to discolor, not from the lack of love but rather from some serious wear and tear. The expenses .... and hell, do I need to lose weight. Which is proving to be extremely difficult right now due to ... one thing or another.

2009-01-09T14:43:00.001-08:00

Wedding bands

Having a slight jar over this one. We popped by T&C of course, and while a hell lot less expensive than a solitaire, their wedding bands aren't exactly cheap. True, as can be expected, the workmanship leaves little else to be desired, but other than that the designs were a little drab. We met T&Cs wonderful gemologist, Dorothy, who was really very kind and honest with us. At least we have a ballpark figure to work on.

Next in line were the usual home-grown brands - Soo Kee and Lee Hwa. Soo Kee was a complete let-down. The irritating salesgirl at the Wisma branch was disgusting, and so was their workmanship. The rings felt like those 50c slot-machine kind. Lee Hwa, on the other hand, was really nice. Their Destinee range felt substantial in the hand, and the half-eternity ring was really something to behold. Still a tad expensive, but about $700-900 cheaper than T&C per ring!

Last night, we popped by Ngee Ann City once more. This time we bit it and went scooting into the shops with the bling bling - Cartier, and Bvlgari. Ewwww. Not nice at all. Nothing we wanted. Thankfully, we chanced a trip to Wisma to look at Aspiel, Citigems and Goldheart. There was a particularly garulous salesgirl, Wendy, at Citigems. I was particularly tickled by how she chased away another couple so we could look at the wedding bands, oops. Anyway, we came quite close to choosing the bands that we wanted - and at less than 50% of what we'd have paid at Lee Hwa! I'm actually partial to platinum - somehow, gloss white gold looks too much like part of a chrome-plated faucet for my liking. Unfortunately, only the higher-end places stock platinum wedding bands, and if I were to be really honest with myself, who the hell scrutinises your wedding band? I can't find a pic of the ones we were looking it, but the man's ring is white hold with a border of rose gold along the edges, while the ladies' has a tiny little diamond on it. Quite elegant, I must say. The half-eternities, while absolutely gorgeous when stacked with the engagement ring, are a little too bling - or as Yx calls it, it makes her look like "a tai-tai wannabe".

Hmm .. just a couple more to visit. I'll just pop by On Cheong (slightly Auntie place with jade and gold, but who knows? We might find a deal there!) and Love&Co soon. The latter, as I surmise from online posts, is a tad expensive. We'll see.

Just as an aside, I went to Boss yesterday to view their suits. WOW. I like them. A lot. Maybe I'll reward myself. Just maybe.

2009-01-09T14:37:00.001-08:00

The day after returning from Bali, we started announcing the engagement to our families. OK, more like to her family. It's a little confusing how things should be done - I don't think there's anything set in stone, though some would prefer asking for blessings from the bride's parents before the proposal, while others did it like me.

In any case, we wanted a separate ROM and customary Chinese wedding. Much of it is because we know that the banquet is really a parents' Thing, and wanted something of our very own. Alas though, the only auspicious date for ROM was 25 April, while I initially was looking for something a little earlier. (Come think of it, ROM is not that Chinese, why bother with auspicious dates?).

Oooh, loads of stuff to be done!

1. ROM date (got that part down!)
2. Venue
3. Justice of the Peace
4. Attire
5. Decor for venue
6. Menu
7. Wedding bands
8. Vows
9. The legal stuff
10. Photographer
11. Guest list

Budgeting was difficult. People don't usually give red packets for ROM, do they?