I don't think I've done this much for the wedding till today.

Hantaran gifts
Purchased some items for the hantaran gifts this morning. Mak sponsored The Book & a nice wooden box for it. Lovely.

After much nagging about me being unable to sew curtains (plus a lot more), strangely, Mak offered to sew a nice set of new curtains for my room. She sponsored that too :) (What luck?! Syukur!)

I bought him a prayer mat. I sms-ed to ask what colour he'd like, but he didn't reply. Chose the blue & beige one instead of the red & blue one. The feeling I got, when his late reply came after I had purchased the sejadah was priceless. Sms read : Beige & blue, and a bit carpety. Alhamdulillah, I'd hit the nail on the spot!

Cardlink
Later in the evening, we went to Cardlink & surveyed the cards. $0.75 per card for 250 cards. $0.60 for orders above 500. (Mental note: If we send out 300 cards, it'd be $225 just for the cards). If we combine the orders, it'd be ($0.60 X 600 + $30) $390 for both of us, divided by 2 (about $195).

Gift tokens (berkats)
Still undecided whether we want to give eggs (hmmm, traditional symbol of fertility....OOooohh) or chocolates (can't imagine the tedious job of wrapping the chocos).

But I think I've got my mind (& heart) set on the baskets I wanna use. They're so lovely. At $1.70 a piece (contents not included), they're quite expensive. I hope people won't just throw them away like rubbish, coz they are indeed precious baskets, hand made out of natural materials.

Overall, I think I've had a fruitful day. Alhamdulillah :)

Now for tomorrow....

Alhamdulillah! What I had in mind materialised! With Mak's help (She sewed the dangling beads & flowers), we managed to get 1 basket done. Ran out of superglue, so I'm hoping to get some later & finish up 2 other baskets.

Can't thank tea enough!

Seems that I'll be able getting a little "room makeover" really soon.

A nice double bed & dressing table (I've lived without a dressing table since I was 12), prolly new grills, a nice new langsir holder & a fresh tint of colour on the walls. Now I'm inspired to look thru the deco magazines...yipppie!

This morning, I threw out old uni readings, CREST course booklets, clothes, and other junk (seriously, how did I live amidst all those, not to mention dust?). Maybe tomorrow I'll rummage the wardrobe & see what else I can throw out.

More wedding-related thingies...
Today, I called this lady, to ask about when I can have a look at the berkat baskets. Hope to meet her sometime mid week. I hope all goes well. Coz I really can't see my self painstakingly wrapping 500 pieces of berkats up.

And just now, Mak said that the berkats would come under her wing (of expenses). I'll just have to pay for the baskets. Sounds like a good deal to me :P Alhamdulillah, berkattttt....

I can't wait for Tuesday. Hope all goes well, insya-Allah :)

Closer, scandalous, not very reflective but quite real. It's something I hope will not happen to any marriage I know (mine included). Moral of the story? Only see, no touch. Heh.

$$$ issues...
I thought I'd be able to save, but I spent quite a bit on 3 pairs of shoes today. I'm so ill-disciplined...the more I aspire to save, the more I spend!! Maybe I really shouldn't think too much about saving money, then I'll actually save more money.

Band Aid...
Just now, a colleague & I went window shopping at some jewellery shops.

Is a wedding band really necessary? Personally, I think not. I'm already wearing an engagement ring on my right hand, and a buttefly or some nonsense ring on my left one. I don't intend to wear my wedding band on my thumb or any other finger apart from the sweet finger.

Plus, a guy would look weird wearing 2 rings right? Especially a Malay guy.

So should I get a wedding band for the sake of getting one, or should i just scrap the idea & get something more practical instead?

This morning
This morning Mak, Nana & I had breakfast at Thosai Singapura. Later, we trotted around Geylang & I bought more satin cloth @$1.60 per ela (ela ke meter eh, tak ingat)

I also bought...

* beads @ $0.80 per metre
* little flowers @1.00 per packet
* Taufik Batisah's CD @17.95 & Peter Pan's CD @19.00 (which you can see, are totally nowhere related to the wedding)

KPRT Cert
Alhamdulillah, it's finally with us. I can still remember the stuff taught over the 3
days, so that's quite cool :P


Pameran Pengantin 2005
Istana's deco was impressive; throw in $360 & u'll get a really lovely 18 ft pelamin. And it looked kinda sturdy too.

Jumpa ramai orang seh! My ex-boss, Ernie & Hisham, Raizan & fiance...Harris' friends.

What shocked me was the $18 000 (1000 pax) catering package. It fascinates me though, that there are actually people who find it reasonable.

And..
My Samsung S300 spoiled overnight. With zero value for trade in & an expected repair cost $200- $300, I bought a new handset.

That's another $198 gone today.

So dear, nanti hantaran, u dah tak yah belikan i telpon! :P

The weekend's finally here & I'm so excited!

Finally, after just one Sunday of rest for the past 2 weeks, I get to chill out 3 days in a row (provided I'm not called down for chambers on Monday). I can't wait. I was wriggling in my seat the whole day, anxious to wait for 6.24 pm. Lucky Hana had lunch with me, if not, I'll just freeze in front of the laptop, typing away the millionth word for the week....

Actually I wasn't supposed to ramble about work here. After all it's my wedding blog.

Hmmm, 9 days before the registration is finally open for the CC. I'm quite worried but I'm praying really hard to get that place. Why oh why did it have to fall on a Tuesday? But everything happens for a reason, I guess. I shan't let a minor thing like that throw me off balance. Insya-Allah, if it's meant to be, it'll be available for us :)

I called the caterer today.
$10 per head (500 pax)

What we'll get:
1. Briyani rice (mutton)
2. Chicken
3. Dalca
4. 2 types of pickles - pineapple & lemon (?!)
5. Drinks (Hot & cold)
6. 1 type of kuih melayu
7. Fruits

What we don't get:
1. Chairs & Tables
(hai, mana aku nak dapat kerusi meja ni...)

but...
They've got contacts for me to rent kerusi at $0.70 each &
tables at $3 each.

Heheh, that's quite funny. Maybe I should just rent 10 chairs ($7) + 1 table ($3). Baru $10. Turn by turn mamam!

I also called the deco company. I hope I'll be able to meet them on Saturday morning. $1100 sounds good (read: cheap & kewl).

*more shots - nothing fantastic though

I tried to come up with a gubahan basket just now. Hmmm, too plain looking.
And, if anyone were to look beneath the basket, that he/she'll know just how bad my sewing is.

Maybe I'll stick a flower or two around the basket.

It took me about an hour & a half to come up with that. If it gets
so difficult & troublesome, maybe I should just rent the decorations.

May you be blessed always by Allah. Glad you liked the gift :)

Actually I was thinking of giving that to you as one of the hantaran gifts. But then again...lama sangat lah..wallet you yang lama dah takde space nak letak benda!

Hmmm, hantaran gifts. Gift exchanges, are always fun.

Anyhows, this is cool. This post was made possible by photobucket.

1. It's CNY & we've completed Day 2 of the KPRT (Kursus Persiapan RumahTangga).

2. It's also Awal Muharram - thanks for reminding me to read the doa. Year after year, we seek forgiveness & day after day we continue committing sins. Astaghfirullah. But I'm determined to make this year a fresh start, especially after you've pointed out my weaknesses.

3. And...today was the day we put a downpayment for the bridal package...a bit on the steep side, I think, but... I liked what I saw & I just couldn't imagine scouting around, surveying for mak andam packages.

I was tempted to sign on the Deco package too - although it was also quite steep $1980 for full CC deco. I stopped myself from doing that, coz I tot, it'd be fun to actually have a look at the Pameran, to cuci2 mata. Who knows we might find something we really like?

So that's it. Insya-Allah tomorrow'll be the last day of the KPRT. But frankly, I think the course has increased my level of self-awareness :)

Quite disappointed with the maniq st preachers - I'd expected something more, but hmmm...

Anyway H&V (cheh, macam HMV) was really kewl. I'm not the bertepok bertampar peramah type lah (although I am talkative & I do laugh a lot) but I really liked her services. And the clothes too, and the make up. Lovely. Hmmm, it'd be nice to look that pretty. Now I just have to prettify my character (long way to go) & insya-Allah all will go well.

So OK, I've made up my mind. H&V it shall be then.

Now, I'm really hoping no one books the slot we want in Aug 05.

Pray for us yeah? Thanks!

The past week has been quite a whirlwind...but alhamdulillah, things are looking up quite brightly now. I'm so thankful to Allah, and thank you too, for making that effort. I trust you & I'm looking forward (very much) to a newer us. Insya-Allah :)

Today, I learnt quite a few marriage-related bits.
Half the time I was imagining both of us in the scenarios given by the presenter. Nothing beats a role play in your own mind. Will the bahtera we sail on be a smooth one? Insya-Allah, with knowledge, usaha & doa, we will do fine.

I received the jacket & pants suit his mom bought for me yesterday. It's nice, I love it! Although as usual my bum's too big & becomes exposed & my thighs fit fully into the pants (bleargh...what amount of aerobics does it take for me to slim down?!). But i didn't tell mak (my own mom) coz I didn't want her to get jealous. Ye lah...nanti apa pulak dia cakap... Ohhh...kalau mak dia belikan, semua lawa...kalau aku belikan..itu lah..ini lah..

That's another thing I learnt today - adjustment, & feelings of loss take a long time to get used to. But with tact & time... insya-Allah, things will be fine...just fine..