Thursday 21 July 2011

Kate Middleton's dress

(This picture was taken off the internet therefore I do not own this picture.)
 A few months ago, HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton tied the knot. I managed to watch half of the ceremony as I was out in the city with my friends (abroad). I always had a thing for Prince William eversince I was 10. My late mother loved collecting things of the British Royal Family. So when both Wills and Kate decided to get married, it was something I was looking forward to.

I love Kate's wedding dress. When I saw it on telly, in my mind, I wished that a designer in Malaysia could help design something similar to her dress for my big day. I was so relieved when both Syahrir and Hatta said they could create it. I know a lot of people said the dress looks simple but I love how the lace are patched at the bottom of the dress like the drawings below. My sister even texted me from Malaysia telling me I should wear something similar to Kate's dress. Since I'm wearing tudung (hijab), I would have to make a covered up version of the dress though. :-)

Looking forward to see the outcome.

(This picture was taken off the internet therefore I do not own this picture.)

(This picture was taken off the internet therefore I do not own this picture.)

Appointment with Syahrir Nurdin and Hatta Dolmat

Yesterday I went to see both Syahrir Nurdin and Hatta Dolmat at their boutique. Both located in Shah Alam. I've already asked for a rough quotation previously but this time, with the materials for my wedding outfit, I met them slightly longer and asked them the exact price that they would charge me if I commit to any of them. How much do they charge? I don't think it would be appropriate for me to discuss here. But I dare to say that it all depends on what type of outfit you want them to design and make for you (e.g. the usual traditional Malay outfit or modern dress) and also, whether you already have the materials or you want them to find it for you. Both involves different pricing of course. :-)

Anyhoo, they were both super friendly and helpful. They took out several pieces of A4 paper and started drawing breathtaking designs for my wedding dress and my partner's tux. Maybe for them they consider it just a rough sketch/idea of how they would design my outfit but for me, woah..! During my teen years (I'm in my mid 20s by the way), I had this gazillion ambition and one of them is to become a Fashion Designer. Used to remember buying a sketch book to sketch out my ideas. They were awful ideas by the way. Thank God I'm nowhere close to the industry otherwise my outfit will be in the fashion magazine for fashion faux pas! Ok back to Syahrir and Hatta. After they drew the whole design, they explained what materials they would use (mine and additional materials) and what the whole package consists of (e.g. veil, shoes). I got all excited when I saw the end result of the whole sketch. If I had the purchasing power (unfortunately I don't.. just graduated my Masters degree), I would definitely say 'yes' on the spot to one of them. I'll be away for approximately two weeks so I promised them I would let them know my decision after I return. It's going to be tough to decide cause they both are talented and their boutique are just a few minutes away from my house but like it or not, I have to put my foot down when I return.

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Baju, baju, baju..

Alright today I want to talk about my (or your) wedding outfit. Every bride tentu nak look amazing on their big day, right? Well, there are a wide array of stunning outfits that you can rent. Too many to list out. If you flip through magazines such as Pengantin, Stailista, Ratu Sehari and Tepak Sireh, they will provide you with so many numbers of bridal stores near your housing area :) From Selangor or Kuala Lumpur to Johor and Kelantan.. There's no reason for you to be worried having to travel far just to get the perfect outfit for the special day :) Different stores will provide you with different designs and price. It's all up to you how much you are willing to spend to rent your outfit and what type of outfit you prefer.. dress ke.. baju traditional ke.. :) When is the right time to book your outfit? If it's a popular store, I reckon you should approach them at least three or four months before. But people might book things even earlier..

In my case, I have less than four months to go. So I really gotta speed things up! I'll probably have my outfit made by Hatta Dolmat / Syahrir Nurdin / Syomir Izwa / Azura couture.. They are all amazing designers and I trust that any one of them that I commit too (still deciding and weighing some other things), will create a great end-result. Again, I have to speed things up cause I need to give room at least three months for them to design my outfit. Both for nikah and bersanding. That is for my side of course. For my future husband's side of the wedding, we're thinking of renting the outfit. Mine will be modern and we've agreed that we will be wearing the traditional Malay wedding costume during his side.

I'm extremely excited and counting the days to my big day but at the same time anxious cause it's not just about tying the knot and living with your partner but there are other great responsibilities that comes along with marriage. You're not marrying just your partner you know.. you're 'marrying' his whole family as well! :) Don't worry I'm not trying to scare you off. It's something that us women should ponder and get ready before committing ourselves. InshaAllah all will be well.. :) Just pray for the best..

Soon-to-be-married x

Sunday 17 July 2011

Wedding favors

There are so many different types and shapes of wedding favors on the market. You can go for the traditional Malay wedding favors - the bunga telur and bunga rampai or, the usual favors such as chocolates, cupcakes and sweets. At first I wanted to go for chocolates and place it inside a really nice box shaped like a carriage cause I believe that my guests can just eat the chocolates and that's it. But then, when I went through house-of-favors.com, I was like... I want to give my guests this... and this... and perhaps this? Spoiled for choice. Darn! There are many other sites but so far I like that one the best. Haven't communicated with them yet but they do have a shop in Bukit Jalil so you can probably check it out :)

Ok.. Depending on what you want to give your guests, the price range per gift could probably start from RM2. If you're thinking of giving people chocolates/sweets, well, a box might cost you approximately 60 cents.. and that does not include the chocolates/sweets! So if you have about 500 guests, RM2 (more or less) times 500 = RM1000. Mine so far is about RM2.50 per item times.. probably.. 650 guests.. which means, I have to pay about RM1625. That's just a rough figure. I'll probably think about this towards the end. I've yet to design my wedding outfit, book my invitation cards, attend the marriage course (kursus kahwin).. a lot!

Wedding Invitation Cards (Kad Kahwin)

So, I see you're planning to order your wedding invitation cards (kad kahwin), ay? That's good. I haven't done that but probably in a month time. However, I've scouted a couple of interesting websites to order your cards such as kadkahwin.com, thekadkahwin.com, kadlestari.com and kad-kadkahwin.com. There are a wide array of designs (with different prices) to choose from but if you ask me, I'm into simple wedding cards. Yes that's right.. simple.
A lot of wedding cards are delivered to my house over the past years mainly from my dad's friend's son or daughter. You get these different cards such as ones with a hard cover, ribbons, three-folded cards, tiny ones (but cute!), colourful cards.. just plain white cards.. you name it!
But one that I don't fancy (but hey, everyone has their own taste) are cards with their pictures the bride & groom on it. There's nothing wrong placing your picture on the card. At least people can identify that you're getting married instantly! Imagine what guests would do with the card after the ceremony is done? I'm not talking about those mumbo jumbo things.. no no.. I meant, people might dispose the card and you wouldn't want your face to be in the thrash can do you? Well you might think that your special friends and family wouldn't do that thing and keep it as a 'souvenir' but trust me, one day someone has to dispose it. Maybe not soon but later in the future. That is just my perception and it has nothing to do with anyone that sent me an invitation card with their face on it. :)
So yeah.. why don't you choose a card that goes with your theme colour? If pink, probably you could choose a pink card? Or white+pink? Try not to order expensive cards cause like I said, in the end, it will get disposed.
When is the right time to order your cards? Depending on the company that you choose to order, often people order their cards three months (or four?) before and give room for the card to be produced for a month max. This includes sending in your map to the company, editing: adjusting dates or any errors, finalising the prints..etc. You can send it to everyone two months prior to your wedding. Since most of your friends are working (right?), you have to give them time to take leave incase your wedding is held at another state or you require their assistance prior and during the wedding. (You need as many helping hands as you can get!). Getting people to RSVP your wedding is very difficult. Trust me.. even if you give them a reply card and place a stamp on it, often people have the tendency of ignoring it and assuming that your friend will understand that you're coming. Tsk! Tsk! So what you can do get yourself a prepaid card for just this occasion and bombard a text or email to the guests asking whether they would like to come to your wedding. I know having to do that to 500+ guests is not an easy task but hey, nothing is easy in this world.
Oh another issue. If you plan to be very selective with your guests especially if it's a sit-down ceremony, do not.. I repeat do not make a 'Facebook Wedding Invitation'. You know, you scan your wedding card and you tag everyone in your list. Do everything traditionally. Send the card via mail or by hand to the person personally.

What to buy for your hantaran?

A lot of people have the problem of thinking what to place on the dulang hantaran. It depends on the amount of dulangs you and your husband-to-be agreed upon. In my case, we've decided to exchange 9 with 7. Me being 9 of course. From my experience attending my friends and families' weddings, I noticed that people often place gadgets especially cellphones on one of the dulangs.
It is wholly up to you if you want to do the same and keep the whole trend on. Now that we have iPads and the latest iPhone 4, it wouldn't be a surprise if those who get married this year, will have any of the two gadgets placed on one of their hantarans. Me and my husband-to-be haven't decided on what to get for each other but we did agree earlier this year that whatever I wanted, I would buy on my own, and vice versa. I strongly feel that this would be fair to one another especially that we're young and still in the early years of entering the workforce (threw away a bit of hint about me, ay?). But I mean this is totally up to you guys. :)
Often men would give us Muslim women items that include the Holy Quran, prayer clothes and mat (telekung and sejadah), mas kahwin (depending the State you live in), probably baju kurung, something sweet (manisan) such as cakes or chocolates, of course the ring, toiletries (optional), and whatever other things that you agreed upon.
As for us women, we would often give men the Holy Quran as well, prayer mat, Baju Melayu and songkok, a nice shirt for work and shoes (optional), toiletries (optional), something sweet as well, and other things that you and your husband-to-be agreed upon.
Besides the must-have things (e.g. Holy Quran, mas kahwin), people nowadays have so many different ideas on what to give each other during the wedding. I mean I have nothing against people giving the key to a Ferrari or a big bungalow house cause it depends on what you can afford. But make sure that the whole preparation doesn't go 'overboard' in the context of Islam. This is a reminder for me as well. I have 4 months to get married and I pray to God that I will not go overboard and not do things that are in contrast to the Islamic teachings along the way.

Seating arrangements

If you're planning to have a 'sit-down' ceremony, you have to arrange the seatings for your guests! It may sound easy to do but trust me, if you have so many relatives, friends, family friends and colleagues, trying to think where to sit them is tiring and complicated! You also need to consider about your friends who just had a recent break up with another friend of yours.. so you can't possibly sit them together right? If you want both of them to come, you have to put them in different tables. Also, if you have a friend who doesn't know anyone else during the wedding, where should you sit him/her?
Basically before you jot down the names of people per table (normally 10 each), you have to know whether they are your family/friend/colleague.. are any of them interconnected? E.g. probably your friend knows one of your family members so you can sit them together.. Or perhaps your friend is a friend of your colleague as well.. so those kind of things must be considered. And again, make sure that they don't have issues together. But if you plan to make them 'make up', then be my guest, put them together. As long as they don't spoil your wedding, all will be well :)
If you don't feel like making your own list of 'Seating Assignment'. I got mine from budgetplannersoftware.com/worksheets.html. Don't worry, it's free! Just search under 'Seating Arrangements'. There are a bunch of other handy checklists in the website. It's still pretty useful for us Malays eventhough it's more catered for Western marriages :)

Pre-wedding preparations: Done, done, done?

So, you're planning to get married.. have you done any of these?

Pre-wedding preparations:
  1. Selected a date for both side's (bride & groom) ceremony.
  2. If yes, have you selected and booked the place that you will be having the ceremony? Note: Seriously in Malaysia, or probably other countries across the world, you have to book your place like way ahead of your wedding date. I had to book mine 10 months before my wedding day (I'm not married yet) but still, that was probably the third hall that I had selected cause the first two choices were fully booked since last year!
  3. If yes, does it require external catering services?
  4. What other things does the package include if done at a hall/hotel (e.g. photographer, door gifts, decorations)?
  5. Have you selected your outfit? Both for nikah and the ceremony? Remember for those who do not wear the hijab, you have to cover your head when you akad nikah in the mosque. Even your friends and family too.
  6. Have you attended kursus kahwin? I haven't but will do so real soon!
  7. Have you done the medical check-up (HIV test)? Ok I haven't done that yet too.. but definitely real soon!
  8. Once you have the certificate from the kursus kahwin, you can then book the Tok Kadi. Heard that you have to book him in advance as well cause he could nikah more than five couples in a day! So yes he is busy too! Oh and also, do remind him prior to your wedding day cause there was one incident where he had forgotten to come to one of the ceremonies (got this story from a friend).
  9. Have you determined the amount of dulang for hantaran and what it consists of? (7 balas 5, 9 balas 7..Quran, prayer clothes, shirts, bags.. up to you)
  10. Date, check. Location, check. Food, check. Photographer, door gifts, decorations..etc., check. Outfit, check. Kursus kahwin, check. Medical check-up, check. Book Tok Kadi, check. What next? Other preparations include guest list, pick out wedding ring, select your bridesmaids, your runner (who's going to help you with the seating and greeting of guests) and so forth.

Getting married soon? Download a 'Wedding Countdown Ticker!'

The first thing that I did when I knew the date of my wedding was to download a 'Wedding Countdown Ticker' on my laptop. Currently it says I'm "Getting married in 4 months and 1 day". (Yikes!)


I downloaded mine at weddingcountdown.com. The widget is pretty neat and handy especially for those who often sit in front of their laptop doing their work or just surfing online. It doesn't have any sound so it won't disturb you. You can leave it open and place it on the side of your screen or, if you decide to close it, you can easily open it and check the time remaining for your big day!

Soon-to-be-married x

A little info :)

Hi everyone!

I've decided to transfer my blog from OnSugar to Blogspot. It's easier for people to locate this blog than the previous blog site.
Anyway, hope this blog will be useful to those who will be tying the knot real soon (like me)! :)

Best wishes,
Soon-to-be-married x