Invites

Jasmine indulged me in bridal talk tonight over a meaty dinner.



The church invite is almost confirmed. Now I've got to settle the wordings for the dinner invite.

My invite cards are going to be VERY simple, some might even consider it plain. Jasmine had to stop herself from giving me too zen a design. Joe said that as long as it is nice, simple is ok.

Hope most find the simplicity refreshing and not too "sway2 bian4"! ;p

Hold back

Edmund wanted to use our top 20 pre-wedding shots as a screen-saver for his laptop. But I stopped him.

Must save it to show it only on the actual day mah...

Here's another 1 of those non-top-20 photos! haha!

Photography by Dominic Khoo

Pre-wedding shots

I got to see the pre-wedding photographs today!!! Thanks Dominic! I think the photos are really artistic and stylo!

Took us about an hour to pick 20 shots. So grateful Carol and Jasmine were around to help Edmund and I pick out the best of the lot. It made a huge difference that they were around to give comments. We had a good time laughing and joking!

OK, here's a teaser shot not in our top 20 list!

Photography by Dominic Khoo

Wedding 4

I've been waiting for KC's wedding cos we've been wanting to see what the crowd situation would be like for about 900 people at church.

What I loved at KC's wedding:
1. The short duration of the ceremony
2. The outdoor live music (just a guitarist and a singer, but the mood created was fantastic. The singer's voice was so soothing!)
3. The tentage in the evening (the setting and ambience was refreshing!)

Discussion Points:
1. Should I have a long train or short train? The long train has a great effect while walking down the aisle but a real bother when you're trying to move around, go toilet, etc. I always imagine collecting wanton and rice and other food bits under my train while I move around at the reception area

2. Why do I always see brides struggling with their gown as they walk down the aisle? I've seen my fair share of brides having to hold up or kick the front of their gown while walking down the aisle.

Points to note:
1. Ask Edmund to place the veil nicely in place after lifting it.
2. Remind Edmund not to walk ahead of me cos the gown tends to slow the bride down.

Wedding gift

Edmund was really shocked the other day when I blatantly asked:

So what are you going to give me as a wedding gift?

He thought I was trying to trick a present out of him!

Taken from the wedding website, The Knot:-

Qn.
Please inform us as to the matter of the wedding-gift exchange between the bride and groom. Is this a time-honored tradition?

Ans.
It is an optional tradition for the bride and groom to exchange gifts - the night before the wedding, the morning of, or once the festivities are over. You could give each other something to wear for the wedding itself (cuff links, a necklace) or maybe something for the honeymoon (a great pair of sunglasses, snorkeling gear). It doesn't have to be anything major - a photo frame or a treasured book of poetry make great gifts. Honor this tradition in whatever way you two desire!

Actually I never knew about this tradition until Wendy told me before she got married that she had bought Melvin a watch as a wedding present.

2nd year anniversary

We got attached 2 years ago.

Look at this photo taken in Apr 07! Do I look slightly skinner now in Apr 09? I don't think I can ever revert back to non-rebonded hair days! Can't stand the pom-pom hair!!! ;p

It's funny... while time seems to have flown by, it also feels like we've been together longer than 2 years. Maybe it's because we live such busy lives where things are constantly happening!


Dinner at Ma Maison. Now I know why Mie says she feels like she's back in Japan when she goes there! It's a nice and cosy place with yummy escargots.

Thanks Jasmine!

The person I miss most from my time working in church office is Jasmine. I love her random-ness, her creativity, her friendship, her cooking, her ideas... I miss going to the market with her! ;p

She's kindly agreed to design our wedding invitation card. Here's 1 of the 5 designs she's done!

Losing steam

Sharon warned me about it in the beginning, but even if I were to turn back the clock, I don't think I would have done it much differently.

Since my new job started, my excitement for wedding preparation has diminished. It's not that I'm not looking forward to getting married, but I'm just not as ON as I was the 1st 6 months after Edmund proposed. I probably got weighed down with the tiring house-search and the stress adapting to the new work environment.

The other factor is that I've realised that very little that you wish or plan for for the wedding will go just the way you want it to. So now I'm in a position where I'm delegating more, letting things unfold as they go along and being a whole lot more easy-going about things.

Friends have been asking me how wedding preparation has been coming along and I reply that I haven't been doing much lately.

Edmund asked if I'd met my March timelines and I said I didn't know. I kinda just adjusted the dates to Apr. Ha!

My makeup artist called me a bo-chup bride because:
1. I didn't get my manicure done before the shoot
2. I didn't have any photos of hairstyles I wanted to show her
3. I told her I didn't know when my wedding gown was going to be ready

But I'm looking forward to seeing the photos from the pre-wedding photoshoot although I'm slightly worried... most people spend 6 to 12 hours for their shoot and we only spent like 3 hours. Most couples comment how tired they feel after their photoshoot. Edmund and I weren't tired. We were just hungry cos we ended around dinner time! ;p

Spoilt but now repaired

Remember my post about starting my exercise regime in March? The threadmill at home konked out 1 week into my exercise regime and I happily stopped exercising.

But since it got repaired this week, I'm starting again! Thank God for the TV. It takes the pain out of exercise! You can tell how much I 'lurve' exercising, can't you? ;p

Removing makeup

I spent a really long time trying to remove the makeup and hairspray in my hair after the photoshoot last night. The one that gave me the most problem was the mascara mixed with the glue for the fake eyelashes (I think!).

I "complained" to my beautician this morning and found out it was because my order of removing make-up was wrong. In case there are some girls out there who are clueless about removing solid eye make-up.

1. With a cotton pad, use an oil-base eye make-up remover to remove the eye make-up (take care not to rub the skin around the eye area too hard)
2. With a cotton pad, use toner to remove the oil left behind by the make-up remover
3. Use cleansing milk to remove the rest of the makeup on your face (Excluding eye area) - might have to repeat 2 times
4. Use cleansing gel to remove the remainder makeup on your face
5. Use toner to remove traces of makeup on your face

Because I did step 3 & 4 first, I had a mighty hard time removing the eye make-up when I did step 1 later.

Even in the little things

Did you see the beautiful sky this evening? The clouds were out in lovely formation amidst the solid blue sky.

I now know why God caused the Feb 09 pre-wedding photshoot to fall through (it rained that day) and the end Apr 09 pre-wedding photoshoot to be brought forward to today.

Thanks Alice for coming to help me at such short notice. I'm grateful you were here to help me with my hair and dresses!

Thanks Wendy for lending me your dress. Of all the white dresses I borrowed, yours came up tops! :)

A gathering of brides

Tonight's Tan family gathering was like a mini brides discussion forum with 3 weddings (including mine) coming up in Sep 09 just days apart from each other.

We discussed photographers, bridal studios, house-hunting, hotel banquet, order of ceremony for the day, wedding bands...

Pity I had to leave early for another makan gathering otherwise we could have gone on all night...

Furniture browsing

After dimsum lunch today, Edmund and I started furniture browsing.

1st stop: flipping through magazines at the bookstore

We've decided that we'll go with the modern resort look. Inspired by Edmund's sister's homes!

Cousins back and going

In sudden twists of events, cousin Grace & Steph are now back for good (at least for 2009) in Singapore and will be able to attend my wedding! (YAY!!!)

But sad to know that Karen's leaving for Canada in Aug 09 and will be missing my wedding. However, it's been really nice of her to offer me her stuff while she's gone for 5 years. I'm especially eyeing her toaster oven, cordless phones, and VAX vacuum cleaner! =)

Family gatherings just aren't the same when certain cousins are missing. I'm blessed with wonderful cousins I can share freely with. I know not everyone is close to their extended family.

We've bought our flat!

FINALLY!!! (Daniel & Ivy must be so relieved! ;p They've been so patient with us!)

Last night, Edmund & DL were at the seller's house from about 10pm-12midnight. We got the Kovan flat for $20K above valuation.

I know some people will think it's too much to pay in such market conditions, but if you've visited more than 40 HDB flats and experienced how difficult/time-consuming the whole process is, you might think otherwise. I think Boon Yeow & Faith, Andy & Pearlyn, Matthias & Cynthia would be able to identify with me! ;p

Edmund & DL both say God's hand was upon the whole transaction. Here's why:-

1. Seller has visited LSBC before and recognised DL. DL felt there was a level of respect there.

2. Seller turned down an offer of $25K above valuation before and there were supposedly a few other interested parties besides us.

3. Seller's agent said that this was the 1st time the seller's wife was around during a viewing & negotiation. She was the key person to say "SELL!"

4. The last time Edmund tried to negotiate for a Sengkang 5-rm flat, he couldn't explain why but felt that $363K was the price to pay. We're paying $363K for this Kovan flat since we have an additional $10K grant being near parents + payment for the upcoming lift upgrading that should be all done by the time we shift in.

I was telling my colleague that it's hard to explain feelings sometimes. When we shortlisted the "Purple-M" house at Sengkang last time, it was because it was the best of the lot. But I just couldn't explain my feelings of hesitation. It was logical but the feeling wasn't right. Besides, negotiations just kept falling through. The fact that it was so hard made it obvious it wasn't God's plan for us.

But I think God had to bring us on the long "Sengkang journey" to prepare us for this Kovan flat. That's another story on it's own! Am I making sense to you?

God is good! Once again, He PROVIDES! Many thanks to friends who prayed for us and encouraged us through our house-search! =)

Now to get back to wedding preparation! Ha!