Monday, 30 May 2011

Phase 1


Salam ladies,

Finally, a time for a breather. The past week has been a busy one, filled with a lot of last minute preps for the start of Phase 1 in my life. :) You'd be happy to know that after a number of trials with many recommended make-up artists, I have finally decided on two final ones and I'm quite happy with my choice. One of them actually did Phase 1 yesterday and although I still looked a bit tired, the end make-up was exactly the way I pictured myself to be. I absolutely loved it. :) Plus she was a friendly person, which was a bonus, as it eased my nerves a little bit. ;)

Anyways, syukur ke hadrat Allah s.a.w., Phase 1 proceeded well. :) It still feels somewhat surreal to be in this position but I'm thankful to be one step closer to a new chapter in my life. :)

Wedding preps have otherwise slowed down generally. I've just received an email from my invitation vendor that the wedding invites are nearing completion and she is aiming to send them to Brunei by the end of the week insyaAllah, so that's exciting news! That's earlier than the expected timeline I had for them so I can't be more happy. :D

And the trip to Singapore to get the hantarans is coming lusa, so that's next on the agenda. Till next time b2bs!

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Alhamdulillah

I've reached the last session of the kursus pra-nikah without hitch and glitch. Syukur alhamdulillah, my prayers have been answered. :))

Sunday, 22 May 2011

Bits and bots

Salam b2bs,

Apologies for the lack of posting, work has been taking its rightful priority these days. :)

Anyways, hope everybody is in the best of health and iman, as always. There hasn't been much going on in terms of wedding preparations these days. Only bits and bots of it sja... and they came through the mail! Heeee.


My tudongs for the engagement. Thanks to the lovely sister for delivering them all the way from the UK. :D So sooo happyyy!

Also, these came in from my Mum. She had the engagement folder designed by a friend of hers and we just got it back yesterday - it did not disappoint!


Sorry had to give in sneak peaks saja, do not want to disclose my identity here, hehe. But lawa kn?? Simple but nice. For once, I gave the entire responsibility to my Mum and I'm glad she made a good choice at choosing the designer. Not that I don't trust her, but I just have a little bit of an OCD perfectionist disorder. ;)

As for the designer, she is not well-known but I have to say, she's quite meticulous and neat with her work. I'm very fussy about my wedding preps and this was one situation where I did not have the chance to research and review, but her work still made the cut anyway. Definitely a high recommendation for this one! If anybody's interested, drop me a comment and I'll pass you her number or for those who know me, contact me sja *wink* *wink*.

Also, just a quick review on Roza Rohaya! The other half and I managed to drop by their boutique during one of our lunch breaks last week and we had a look at their boutique and prices. I have to admit, out of all the boutiques I've gone to so far, this has got to be the priciest place to rent your wedding things. But! I loooooove their wedding bajus and they pretty much have everything there, from the renting of veils, inner tudungs, kasuts, you name it. The ones that I've been to so far focused mostly on the bajus and wedding accessories but the wedding accessories are often incomplete so this was definitely a plus-point for this place. I suppose quality-wise, they're quite high up in the list so if anybody's looking for quality and is willing to pay the price, this might just be the place. Otherwise, other places pun ok jua and better pricing too! :)

Till then!

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Sesudah sampai serunya untuk menikah...

Salam all bride-to-bes,

Sometimes we take a lot of things for granted. When given opportunities, we always believe they will come again and again but neither do we realise that not everything is within our control or within our grasp. We can plan, but Allah decides for us everything else. Here's a reminder for all, but most importantly, to myself:

"Apabila datang kepadamu seorang laki-laki datang untuk meminang yang engkau redha terhadap agama dan akhlaqnya maka nikahkanlah dia. Bila tidak engkau lakukan maka akan terjadi fitnah di muka bumi dan akan timbul kerusakan yang merata di muka bumi." - HR Tarmidzi dan Ahmad

Saya tidak tahu apakah ini merupakan Hukum Sejarah yang digariskan allah

Ketika orang mempersulit apa yang dimudahkan Allah, mereka akhirnya benar-benar mendapati keadaan yang sulit dan nyaris tak menemukan jalan keluarnya.

Mereka menunda-nunda pernikahan tanpa ada alasan Syar'ie dan akhirnya mereka benar-benar takut melangkah di saat hati sudah sangat menginginkannya.

Atau ada yang sudah benar-benar gelisah tak kunjung ada yang mahu serius.

Lingkaran Ketakutan Berlanjutan

Bila di usia dua puluh tahunan mereka menunda pernikahan karena takut dengan ekonominya yang belum mapan, di usia menjelang tiga puluh hingga tiga puluh lima berubah lagi masalahnya.

Laki-laki mengalami Sindrom Kemapanan (meski wanita juga banyak yang demikian, terutama mendekati usia 30).

Mereka (laki-laki) menginginkan pendamping dengan kriteria yang sulit dipenuhi.

Seperti Hukum Kategori, semakin banyak kriteria semakin sedikit yang masuk kategori.

Begitu pula Kriteria Tentang Jodoh, ketika menetapkan kriteria yang terlalu banyak maka akhirnya tidak ada yang sesuai dengan keinginan kita.

Sementara wanita yang sudah berusia sekitar 35 tahun, masalahnya bukan kriteria tetapi soalapakah ada orang yang mau menikah dengannya?

Ketika usia sudah 40-an, ketakutan kaum laki-laki sudah berbeza lagi, kecuali bagi mereka yang tetap terjaga hatinya.

Jika sebelumnya banyak kriteria yang dipasang pada usia 40-an muncul ketakutan apakah dapat mendampingi isteri dengan baik.

Lebih-lebih lagi ketika usia beranjak 50 tahun, ada ketakutan lain yang mencekam.

Iaitu kekhawatiran ketidakmampuan mencari nafkah sementara anak masih kecil.

Atau ketika masalah nafkah tak merisaukan khawatir kematian lebih dahulu menjemput sementara anak-anak masih banyak perlu dinasihati.

Bila Iman Tiada Makan Muncul Putus Asa

Jangan ditunda-tunda apa yang menghimpit saudara kita sehingga mereka sanggup menitiskan air mata.

Awalnya adalah kerana mereka menunda apa yang harus disegerakan, mempersulit apa yang seharusnya dimudahkan. Padahal Rasulullah s.a.w. berpesan:

Wahai Ali, ada Tiga perkara jangan ditunda-tunda; apabila Solat telah tiba waktunya,Jenazah apabila telah siap penguburannya, dan Perempuan apabila telah datang laki-laki yang sepadan meminangnya." - HR Ahmad

Hadis ini menujukkan agar tidak boleh mempersulit pernikahan baik langsung mahupun tak langsung.

Secara 'lansung' adalah menuntut mahar yang terlalu tinggi. Atau yang sejenis dengan itu. Ada lagi yang 'tidak secara langsung'.

Mereka membuat kebiasaan yang mempersulit, meski nyata-nyata menuntut mahar yang tinggi atau resepsi yang mewah.

Sebahagian orang mengadakan acara peminangan sebagai acara tersendiri yang tidak boleh kalah mewah dari resepsi pernikahan sebahagian lainnya melazimkan acara penyerahan hadiah atau wang belanja untuk biaya pernikahan secara tersendiri.

Bila seseorang tak kuat menahan beban, maka bisa saja melakukan penundaan pernikahan semata-mata hanya kerana masalah ini.

Saya sangat khawatir akan keruhnya niat dan bergesernya tujuan, sehingga pernikahan itu kehilangan barokahnya.

Naudzubillah! Penyebab lain adalah lemahnya keyakinan kita bahwa Allah pasti akan memberi rezeki atau boleh jadi cerminan dari sifat tidak qona'ah (mencukupkan diri dengan yang ada).

Pilihlah Yang Bertaqwa

Suatu saat ada yang datang menemui Al Hasan (cucu Rasulullah). Ia ingin bertanya sebaiknya dengan siapa putrinya menikah? Maka Al Hasan r.a berkata:

"Kawinkanlah dia dengan orang yang bertakwa kepada Allah. Ini kerana, jika laki-laki mencintainya, ia memuliakannya, dan jika ia tidak menyenanginya, ia tidak akan berbuat zalim kepadanya."

Nasihat Al- Hasan menuntun kita untuk menjernihkan fikiran. Jika kita menikah dengan orang yang bertakwa, cinta yang semula tiada meski cuma benihnya, dapat bersemi indah karena komitmen yang memenuhi jiwa.

Wallahu alam bi showwab.

Original article was taken from here.

Sunday, 15 May 2011

Reaching a plateau

Salam all bride-to-bes!

I feel like I've been on hiatus with the wedding preparations as of late but when I look back on my past posts, that hasn't been the case, has it? I guess the proper term for it is 'reaching a plateau' maybe? Everything else just seems like a waiting game at the moment - waiting for the invitations, waiting for dates to come and the list just goes on...

But anyhoos! Today the other half and I went to do some more preparations for the big day. :D

First up, I had another make-up trial session with a new MUA in the afternoon. Quite liked this one compared to the first MUA trial that I had - the make-up was shades lighter and natural-looking. Most importantly, I felt more confident bringing it around but I still have a thing with the eye make-up. :S Antah ah, I don't quite know how to explain it but it just makes me look older?? Maybe it's my eyebrows kali. Balum be-usai. Or maybe my face is just too dry?? I don't knowwwww. Mama says that it looks good in the photos but I don't think I can put that up as a deciding factor. Ndakn dlm gmbr sja lawa kn??

Either way, I think with regards to my make-up for the other events, the decision is still up in the open. Gonna try out for more make-up trials while I can!

Later on, we made a visit to Ruzz Enterprise (Batu Bersurat). The other half had to book some gangsas for the engagement so we decided to drop by there. I've been wanting to have a look at this place for aaaaaaagess but just didn't get the chance and now I'm thankful that I did. I absolutely loooooove their gangsa decos there! Lawaaa berabis!! They charge at a price of $25 per gangsa (which is relatively standard) if anybody is interested. ;)

I also had a look at their pelamin collection album and these too, were gorgeoussss. I have this thing for ceiling decorations (I'm not quite sure what they're called) and they had a lot of those. Might actually consider these guys for my bersanding nanti. :D

Till next time!

Bargains!

Who doesn't love them??

Bought 150 of these cute favour boxes while they were on promotion two nights ago.

RM38 for 50 pieces! A steal or what?? Hehehehe.

Won't be using them anytime soon though. They're for my malam berbedak campur. :D

Thursday, 12 May 2011

Slowly settling in

Salam all bride-to-bes!

Hope everybody is in the best of iman and health :)

Today has been a productive day, both with wedding preparations, work and life in general, syukur Alhamdulillah. After much delay and difficulty, I was finally able to transfer the first payment to my invitation vendor and just before lunch, I had my statutory declaration (for the alias in the name) cleared so that just needs to be delivered to the Jabatan Pendaftaran Perkahwinan for my sijil nikah to be processed and then we're pretty much set! At least for the time being lah. It feels good actually, to know that things are slowly settling in. :)

Anyways, just thought I'd share what I picked up yesterday during my second session for the kursus pra-nikah. The topic discussed was: the responsibilities and duties of a wife and husband. Truth be told, despite the amount of information I had to digest and take in for myself, I actually had such a good time listening to the speaker because he was sooooo hilarious! I was thinking about this randomly hari atu tapi andangnya kah kalau ustaz-ustaz becerita ani, drg kuat becali? Because I laughed sooo many times during the session, caliiii banar! Lol. But I guess yang penting, di sebalik semua jokes-jokes nya atu, the moral of the story remains kn? I guess it was his strategy to keep us awake and interested throughout his talk. Hehe.

Anyhow, there were a lot of interesting notes pointed out by the ustaz psal tanggungjawab bini-bini ani. I've heard of people saying that tanggungjawab bini-bini ani berat and after going through that sharing session, it is indeed as 'heavy' as a lot of women have said it would be. Obviously there's the whole housework and chores, being expected to serve your husband when needed, taking care of the children and family as a whole but what really struck me was, how important our roles as a wife to a husband are from a religious point of view. Kalau isteri nda menutup aurat and nda ditagur laki, laki dulu kana soalkan di akhirat. Kalau isteri nda menurut kehendak (batin) suami kemudian suami tidur dalam keadaan marah, isteri akan dilaknat dan tidur di dalam keadaan berdosa. Amongst many others, of course. Scary.. :S

As a future wife, it scares me to know that I have such a huge responsibility. But I do hope and pray that I'll be able to fulfil most, if not all, of the above. I pray that I'll be able to please my husband by being a good wife, a good mother to my children and most importantly, be a better Muslimah to my deen. InsyaAllah. Ameen.