Went to Choffles to look for wedding cake. Kinda expensive, but maybe its a standard price for wedding cakes?

He gave me this link that left me with a big gasp. Click here.

Now I want to go to pastry school too!

I'm gonna start designing for my invitation card soon. I'm looking around for ideas that will suit my wedding theme. Since I'm gonna share the card with his side, I gotta make sure that the design suits BOTH wedding theme. Find the balance but thats the tricky part - both theme seems to be clashes. Its like Indiana Jones meets Ironman kinda clash.  

4 months more to go. Thats like a blink of an eye thing.

I cant sleep thinking about a lot of things. To be frank, anxiety is eating me up. Many are asking me about the preparation's progress. Well, its moving. Not as fast as others I think, but at least its not stagnant. I'm pretty lucky to have my other close friends to share thoughts and feelings with - four of 'em are getting married this year. We compare, we share and we remind each other. Like me, they too are being swayed by all kinds of emotion's ride - happy, petrified, jumpy.

I am all that and more. It feels like standing still in the middle of a fast-moving crowd. I wish there's someone out there who will grab me by the shoulder and shake me off my panic state of being.

I was feeling rather dreamy with my wedding, that is until someone woke my logic up last night. So yea, whats with all the hassle and effort of planning an entire wedding that finally will leads to nothing but a 4 hours joy of wearing bridal gown? I'm just being a woman, I suppose. Probably thats what differs me and him. So what if I wanna stare at my pelamin design for a full 8 hours? I'm gonna pay for it, I'm gonna sit on it and I'm gonna make sure that the whole event thing I'm planning is gonna be a great one to whomever comes to visit. So if I stare at 'em for 8 hours..its my own time I'm wasting. And no, I did not stare at it for 8 hours. I'm not all ridiculous.

Honestly, if I wanna do it right, it would be just the akad and nothing more. And i'll save all the hours of preparing for a wedding with designing logos and writing copies and think of ideas for print ads. But I too, have a lifetime to spend flipping through pages of my wedding memories. So, 8 hours of staring at my pelamin, 4 hours joy of wearing bridal gown, thousands and thousands of ringgit to reward myself with one perfect day of my life...if it equals to my frikking happiness, why not? I'm a photographer, a designer, a copywriter - what do you think drive me to be all these if not for my emotions and feelings?

Sorry for the rant. I've been bottling it up for so long.

Sigh. Mm. I'm going for the course this week. I hate courses. I dont know exactly why we need it. Basically, people go for it just because. The rule has been written and as a good citizen, one must follow. I doubt people go for the courses to educate themselves on marriage. Ironically, from what I heard, the statistic of divorce shoots up each year. I just hope the course I'm going is REALLY going to teach me something.

A bit of update - I have switched photographer. Anna Rina isn't available for both dates so we are going for Syahrin Aziz for his side and Picture Elements for my side. Luckily for us to have a lot of great photographer friends but even though we are, we're still a bit picky when it comes to this matter. I love Syahrin for his composition and story-telling while Grom (Picture Elements), oh Grom has always been my favorite photographer for the longest of time. His work is always different and really gets to you. If you have the budget, you can try to hire these three fav photographers of mine - Anna Rina, Syahrin Aziz and Picture Elements. If you are a bit on the tight side, you can hire me. Haha. Oh, btw..I personally think that Picture Elements website doesnt quite do Grom much justice. I've seen his portfolios and they are wayy better.

I recommend you not because they are THE wedding photographer or whatever. But its more because I know them personally and I see them as a person than a company, you know what I mean? I know Anna Rina is one very happy-go-lucky gal, I know Syahrin yang sangat baik hati and Grom who's respectable and very very humble. I love Whizarts too. Their pictures are WOW through the end. But my pocket isn't deep enough to hire them. I'm still sad that I Anna Rina isn't available :(

I might be flying to Jakarta in April for a pre-wedding shoot with Syahrin. Actually, I dont feel like doing it coz it seems like very membazir but my fiance insisted on it. See if I change my mind, I'll go along with the plan. (Yea right) I've actually talked to Agam, my friend in Jakarta about using his cafe, Anomali in Kebayoran Baru as a location. The upper floor of the cafe is totally totally beautiful. On the lower floor lies a huge window with a one-seater couch so perfect for a shoot. I told Agam that I wanted to rent the space but he told me to just give him a date so he could tell his crew to be ready and the rest of it will be his wedding gift to me! Hihi. I'm excited. No, not because of the pre-wedding shoot but more because of Agam's kopi tubruk! If any of you are planning to go to Jakarta, head on to Anomali for great coffee.


The place I told you about.

Another spot. Thats me and my friends camwhoring, btw.

I'm gonna meet my make-up artist and tailor to finalize on my wedding dresses which includes baju for akad, two wedding dresses, one dress for the cutting-cake ceremony and one baju kurung for bertandang. I dont know if I need the majlis berinai though. If i do, then that means I have to think of what to wear for that too. Wah, a lot weh.

I am in love with Indonesian lace. Cantik banget sih! I'm considering either that or French lace for the reception's dresses. I'm thinking of finding my own fabric for the cutting-cake ceremony and make a very simple flowy dress. Still contemplating on that. Hmm. I can go endless with dresses. I can have a lot of it and wont care :P

Had fun blog-hopping around. Lots of helpful resources, these people really devote their time writing in, linking and inserting ads and badges and stuff. I dont have the patience and lack of time is my number one reason. So as much as I want this blog to be as informative, I'd rather keep it as a personal jots. So if you're looking around for resources - this blog aint it.

Right, I think i've blog too much its causing me nausea. Till then, TTFN!

It's one of those weekends again with a heck bunch of preparation. A nice Sunday and the cats are stretching lazily beside me. In between finishing up some design work, I open up my blogger and decided to write something in. It has been too long a silence.

The preparation wasn't as smooth of late. Hiccups. And lots of it. But I guess it comes with it all, right? It can't be a smooth sailing all the way without storm, I suppose. Jack Sparrow must agree with me.

I love beautiful things. Beautiful wedding dress, beautiful dais, beautiful music arrangement - everything must be beautiful and be done accordingly. So beauty when mixed up with a lot of reverie and fickle-mindedness have resulted with a lot of tears and pressures.

And a loose-written list isn't a help either.

Preparing for a wedding is not easy. NOT EASY. Unless you have a budget for a personal wedding planner to take care of everything, that would be a different story. Being my own wedding planner; I drove myself nuts thinking and planning. Juggling a 15 hours work and two weddings is crazy actually - my brain works around the clock, non-stop. I even have nightmares of having to wear an ugly-looking piece of wedding dress which- as far as I could remember - was certainly not Vivien's.

I am ever thankful to have a very supportive fiance. He hugs me after the horrible not-vivienwestwood-wedding-dress nightmare, find references on the net for me, help find venues for our beach wedding and even sneakily bought me wedding mags at Jasema. Anything to keep me happy (even though I secretly think its to keep me from thinking of the nightmare again) and for the wedding to go smoothly.

Now you know why I wanna marry my man.



Back to the wedding preparation. I am planning for both sides - mine and his. We already have a confirmed concept for both and are really working it out. I can't tell about the whole concept now or else its gonna wreck the element of surprise but enough if I said that for my side in Muar, its gonna surprise the folks. I'm so glad that my family members are more than supportive with the idea. Mom and my sister are beyond great. They both helped me a lot financially and taking care of the more bigger stuff. Caterer, canopies, bunga pahar and favors are well taken care of for the time being.

Two of my sisters are sponsoring favors - I heard my eldest sister is gonna buy the big lollipops and tie 'em up with ribbons. Lollipops for kids - how sweet is that?

I finally settled with the dais after much contemplation. I scouted a lot of wedding planners for this and locked down on three which went around the lowest, medium and highest budget. Each and everyone of them have their own specialties but I finally chose the one that I think could work on the magic better than the rest. I'm going for Reka Teemor and the fact that they have an advertising background intrigued me even more. Another one was Precious Moments. I personally like their presentation and i have to say theirs are so sweet and simple. Unfortunately, what they have didn't cater to what I want for my wedding. But hey if you are looking for a fresh flowers based dais and deco, you might wanna try Precious Moments. Unfortunately, I don't think they have a website.

I'm contemplating wether to design my own wedding invitation or not. But the one above look absolutely cool, innit?

I'll have to check with Matthew for the printing cost. Gosh, its nearly February and there's still A LOT MORE to be done.

I'm so screwed.

Looks like Tot succesfully destroyed my wedding list. She looks so content and fulfilled now, licking her fur.

Hmph.

I've booked my wedding photographer. Yay! She's gonna be my hero for the day and I personally picked her without much hesitation. I'm terribly fussy with things so you can imagine how important it is for me to find someone who can really take care of the most crucial task - capturing moments on my big day.

Some of the reasons why I chose her:

- intuition
- chemistry
- great personality
- her commitment
- her portfolio
- background
- she perceive things the way i do
- she's someone who is unafraid of ideas
- girl power! ( i shit you not, just look at her muscles!)

Announcing, ANNA RINA RAHIM! Yippieeee!



Am a tad bit sad that she switched from a full-blown curls to sleek straight hairstyle but I adore her pictures still *put flowers in hair*

Twas a great meet-up with lots of laugh. I hope I pressured her not :P



Unlike others who would mainly focus on famous photographers, discounted packages etc (correct me if i'm wrong though), its quite an easy thing for MN and I as we are looking for someone who can really document the whole event instead of someone who can touch up my face kaw2. Anna is someone who's good with moments and her pictures are very story-like, much to my preferences.

I have a few other photographers who offered to shoot for both pre-wed and the wedding day itself to which I would love to thank 'em so much. Some of the offers are so interesting its really hard to resist!

I first came across Anna Rina from those days her shots made it to Digital Camera and when she grabbed the Cleo's Young Achiever's award; I adore her even more. Someone who has lots of potential; she's someone I could rely on to capture my big day.

Can't wait!

Here's a few tips - from a personal POV and as someone who also shoots weddings; for all the couples who wanna find their dream wedding photographer:

- ask yourself what you want i.e candid, moments, theatrical etc for the wedding pictures and then scout
- take your time to scout and pick. see what they offer you
- look for quality not just from the word 'famous' / 'most sought after' or whatever other LIY (Label-It-Yourself)
- do a thorough research. study their pictures and see if they suit ur requirement
- hire someone who you can trust on. it has to be a two-way commitment
- look for good referrals. most of my clients are. its easier too as I prefer to work with someone who loves my work rather than 'just hiring'.
- i often trust chemistry, not just for wedding photographer but also in everything else
- believe in your insticts ;)
- if you have make up your mind, don't second guess your choice. not good fer yer confidence

I can say that one thing I like about my wedding photographer is the fact that she used to work in the same line as me - advertising - so that helps to determine everything too.

Hmm. It's 4am and I really need to catch up with my beauty sleep.

Psst - head on here and here and here to have a look at Anna Rina's work ;)

I found a totally lovely engagement dress in Ampang which I love a lot!

I've been scouting for a few other places but so far, this is the best I could get in KL plus its affordable.

A few hantaran stuff have been bought and mom is all ready to pour her creativity in making them. Our theme is whimsical magic in pastel colors. Dont know how it will turn out though. I've ordered the cupcakes from Ellie who baked a dozen for my birthday last year. There's a surprise on it for MN and Ellie promised to help me with it. Thank you, sweetie!

Also, I'm done with the engagement invitation. I shall post it up for viewing later.

Looks like i'm going to have three rings - merisik, engagement and wedding. Heard that he's gonna get it straight from the manufacturer and specially designed.

That's a quick update for you!

xoxo

Yay!

The date is set and i'm waiting for the last confirmation so that I could really work on other stuff i.e invitations, hantaran, this and that and really focus. Trying to settle the date can be distracting at times!

A friend of mine suggested that we hop on the jet-plane and go to San Fransisco to shop for wedding stuff. Ah, how I wish! It would be great coz I can try to find really cheap wedding dress over there :P

MN and I are going to do a little scout after work to look for a dress to wear on our engagement day. Have no idea what to wear, what kind of design, what kind of fabric but I'm sure we can figure things out once we look at the choices.

Weehoo!

Finally got the mood and also the time to write in. Probably just a quick update.

MN and I went around shopping yesterday for our engagement ceremony. We still have approximately two months before the actual date (which is not even confirmed yet) but already mom's keeping us busy with the preparation.

Honestly, I wasn't mentally prepared for this even though I am very very excited with the whole thing. I'm dealing with a lot of pressure from work and life, generally and I believe MN is getting nervous as well, that I'm beginning to think: everything is super tight for us right now - time and money most definitely.

But MN assure me that everything is going to be just fine. I dont know how he does it but he seems pretty calm despite the bombarding matters that arise.

First, we have to pick a very suitable date for the engagement to fit in everyone's hectic schedule, including our own. Most probably the ceremony will happen end of December but we just got a call for another shoot yesterday that might clashes with our chosen date. And MN's mother will be busy with accounts and my sister is flying to Australia and and lots of shoots to be done.

We bought our first item for hantaran already, yay for that! We chose kain for baju nikah, which is going to be a part of the hantaran from both our side.

And being wedding photographers, we have seen more than enough to know what theme and color to choose! LOL. Talking about the perks.

So we decided to break the tradition. No whites for akad nikah.

And yea, most of the stuff that we picked was based on 'whats gonna look good in the picture?'

:P

Back to the fabric, i really like the color that we chose and it suits my skin perfectly well. Its lace by the way. Its just a simple design with little flowers on the top and the patterns get heavier at the bottom. I'm gonna find a really really great tailor who will know how to work on the patterns and layers. I'm still thinking of the design - kebaya or kurung?

MN told me that he has two surprises for our wedding. Hmm, I wonder what it is.

Dang, looking at our list....we have lots more to face before the engagement! But it's gonna be good. Its gonna be good.

Sent out the little happy news to some of our close friends. Thanks everyone for all the warm, happy, funny wishes! You guys made me smile all day now!

xoxo

Is this blog too clean?

So i've decided to open up another blog to document the journey towards my big day with MN. I was so excited when I received an email from him telling that his dad was all happy when he heard of our plan.

Our engagement is still a big hush.
Nobody knows except for a few best friends of mine.
And of course our family.
And cats.

It is sooooo public that i did not dare to blog about this happy news there.
This is something very personal for us.

But already we have received two sponsorships :P
A wedding gown.
And a special home-made cake for hantaran.

Isn't it lovely?
I cant wait!

xoxo