Part II: The Reception

Salam ladies~!

It's been a long while since I've written. After the nikaa', married life has taken quite the most of me and I've never had the time to write again after that. Well, if any of you have been faithful readers to the blog, you would have known that my reception was due sometime at the end of last year and that we had about a 4 month gap after the nikaa' before we officially had our reception (bersanding).

That reception happened a week back and Alhamdulillah, the ceremony progressed well. :) I cannot say thanks enough to the many family members who lent out a hand (or two!) and to all those who had prayed for our safety, our health and for the smooth progression of the ceremony. I will always cherish and value the assistance given - from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Mudahan segala usaha-usaha dan jasa baik abiskita dibalas oleh Allah s.w.t, jazakallahu khair :)

I can't possibly talk about the whole preparation process leading to the reception but I will, however, give out a summary of my most valued recommendations - hope it will be of great help to the many bride-to-bes out there! Kurang jua sakit kepala sedikit ;)

Pelaminan

For the wedding dias, I highly recommend Roz Flower Boutique in Delima and Nurhayana Enterprise in Kiulap. I have only had the opportunity to experience the services of three bridal boutiques (these two included) but these two gave me the best services and professionalism ever. Their pelaminans were in tip-top shape despite frequent usage and they were open to suggestions and changes when requested. One perk for me was that both of these boutiques used fairy lights for their pelamins, which is an absolute must-have! Why? They make the pelamin even prettier ;)

Directions for Roz Flower Boutique: Drive into the simpang into HSBC serusop, and the boutique is located at the building just behind it.

Directions for Nurhayana: Look for Express Kiulap, and follow the building in which it's located. Nurhayana is just above Guardian. Or look for Lauren boutique, it's in the exact same building then look for Guardian.

A less recommended wedding dias supplier would be RN Wedding. Despite the pretty and modern contemporary pelamins, I'd have to say that services provided by them were below par than expected. First and foremost, the pelaminan given to me was in bad shape - there were nicks and crooks here and there, and there was no attempt to even hide them! A day after the pelaminan was set up, one of the headboard designs fell off so we had to give it a quick fix - wouldn't want it to fall on my head or my husband's head during the ceremony now, would I? Getting an appointment with them was also difficult - a bride reported that she tried contacting various times and when she finally managed to get a hold of them, their PR was so rude that it turned her off. So all in all, a bit of a disappointment. :( Wouldn't exactly recommend it to people unless they're really into the contemporary theme.

Baju bersanding

As for the baju bersanding, my husband and I opted for Mutiara Ayu (or better known as Hajah Lina) at Spg 97, Ong Sum Ping. I know that there has been mixed reviews about this place - they have the most gorgeous baju for bersanding but the only problem is that they are always delayed in finishing the baju. I've heard of brides receiving their baju bersanding on the day of their bersanding just as the jemputans were walking in, eeks!

But Alhamdulillah, we didn't experience any of that, thanks to a few tricks of the trade ;) Here's what you should do (if you intend on making your baju with them) :

1) Check on very often. - I had a friend who kept on checking on the status of her baju every few days or so, and when she can't do that physically, she'll call or text them every now and then. And guess what? Her baju bersanding finished a week earlier from her wedding date!

2) A little white lie. - Assume your wedding date to be a few days earlier so they could finish the baju on the 'assumed' wedding date instead. By the time your 'real' wedding day comes, your baju will be all ready to wear! :D

Make-up Artist

My MUA for almost all of the wedding ceremonies was Naqiyah Ishaaq and I cannot speak highly enough of her. Very professional, open to opinions and suggestions (you can bring in photos of the type of make-up you would like to have and she'll try her best to create it for you) and most of all, friendly! Highly recommended. You can look her up on fb for photos of her work. :)

I think that's about it for now. If anything else pops up, I'll definitely pencil it in.

Till next time ladies!

Safely married

Salam ladies~

It's been a long break, hasn't it?

Well, Alhamdulillah, as the clock ticker rightfully announces on the right hand bar of this page... Mr. A and I are now safely proclaimed as husband and wife. :)

After all the preparations and immense emotional turmoil over the past few months or so, it feels great to finally be at a stage of peace and relaxation. :) I can never forget the many faces who have helped on that very special day when everything came to be... my immediate family, to whom I am eternally grateful and to whom countless thank you's can never be enough; to my external family members, who came to our rescue in ensuring that things were laid out smoothly and as planned; to the friends and colleagues who turned up, equally as excited as I was; to the guests, who contributed to the merriment of the ceremony. I am sincerely grateful for the du'as, prayers and thoughts initiated by all and can only pray that Allah give you much deserved blessings in return. :)

Two weeks down the road since I've been a Mrs to the hubby, it's been quite an interesting change. It feels like the family has extended to include more sisters and an additional mother and father but when I reflect back, the reality is we have created a family of our own - of two people, directly intertwined with a set of two other families. Sometimes the realization brings tears to my eyes - both of joy and sadness, for a part of me is happy to be in a lawful relationship with my former fiance and ex-boyfriend, but another is sad to have been separated from a relationship and tight bond that has raised me for more than two decades - my parents and my family. When prior to this, I only had my parents and my siblings to attend to, that priority has now shifted to my husband. I am sometimes filled with a range of mixed emotions but I suppose this is part of the change in process. I hope I'll be taken gracefully through the process iA and ameen. :')

The walk

Sifting through old photo albums of people doing their nikah now and for some odd reason, I'm feeling nostalgic... wondering how it felt like for them , how their family members felt at the time and how relieved the couple must have been after weeks, months or even years of intense wedding preparations. I'm not even that stage yet and yet, I can still sense the feeling of happiness, joy and relief as I go towards the end of the album. I sincerely can't wait until it's my turn. :)

Anyways, salam ladies~

Lately I've been surrounded by a lot of baby bumps and baby talk, and it's making me think a lot about when I want to have them, how many and how soon. It may seem a bit too early to think about it but if any of you have realised, the countdown ticker on the right hand side of the page only indicates a solemnisation countdown. What happened to the sanding, you say? Well, that will be held at the end of the year/early next year. :)

Why the huge gap? Why not selajurkan saja tarus? Ohhhh I've got a whole list of reasons for this - one of which is financial planning and then there's waiting for my sister to be back in Brunei before we embark on a socially-official function... amongst a few others. The thing about doing something like this is: it's not widely culturally accepted yet, at least not within my parents and my grandparents' generation. They are so used to a full launch wedding ceremony, where the nikah precedes the malam berbedak and that precedes the bersanding ceremony so imagine their disbelief when this little, bride-to-be initially requested for a nikah only. Oh the heated discussions! Hehe.

Alhamdulillah, with Allah's grace and blessings, after all the discussions and initial hesitations, the parents and the grandmother eventually accepted the idea with a little bit of compromising of course - that we do the other events too but at a later date. And that, is how we got to be, ladies. :)

Updates

Salam ladies!

So as of yesterday's 'hunting' session, I have successfully booked myself a white tudung and tiara accessories! Weehee and syukur Alhamdulillah. :) I've been having these two things at the back of my head for the past two weeks or so now, and to finally get them somewhat-settled is very relieving indeed.

And to top it off, managed to scrap off a few things from the to-do list as well. Bought the other half a simple Alquran to finish off his hantaran and bought some lulur (lulut?) for yours truly. Hehe. The girls have been talking about this for as long as I can remember, might as well make a headstart now right? :D

Toodles~

Happy happy

Salam again ladies~

Alhamdulillah, after a second fitting and after some minor alterations, my baju nikah is finally done and paid for. This bride-to-be has never felt so relieved. :)

Preview shot

I love the beadwork on the baju and I absolutely loved the veil. It's exactly the way I want it to be - not too blingey and not too plain. Can't wait to wear it when the big day comes! Hee.

Now that that is out of the way, it's time for tiara hunting and tudung hunting! Will be doing that this afternoon with a few of the colleagues who have kindly offered their hands (and listening ears) to me. Never in a million years would I thought I'd be doing my wedding preps with my work colleagues but I suppose outside of work, they're more friends than they are working partners. I'm so glad to be blessed with these ladies and eternally grateful :)

I'm off to work on my campur bags now. 180 of them! Wish me luck! :D

Part 2

Also, my baju nikah is ready from altering!! Will be picking it up soon, within the next few days and then it will be white tudung hunting and tiara hunting. Wish me the best of luck! ;)

And look what I got in the mail when I arrived back from work last week?

My campur boxes!!

Looks like it'll be a fun-filled weekend this week! ;)

Pre-wedding jitters?

Two more days to workshop completion!

And two more weeks to the big day and my mandatory leave!

Is anybody excited? Because I know I am!! Hehe.

Salam lovely ladies :)

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've updated. As per usual, work has taken pretty much all of my time these days. Last week in itself was a crazy one - outstation trips here and there, conferences to attend plus a last minute seminar in which I was given the duty to present. Currently attending a four day training session and then there's another workshop coming up next week.

No wonderrrr my hormones are going cuck-oo.

I say that lightly but to be honest, it's the one thing that has been bugging me for the past few days. Been getting a lot of 'spotting' and unusual discharges as of late and this has never happened in this frequency before, it's kinda scaring me. :S The good thing is I've made a visit to the gynae and the doctor said that my 'peranakan' is normal so all of those were probably a result of the hormones. I sure hope so, cos it's making my life a bit difficult with regards to being 'clean' or not! And of course it conveniently comes two weeks before the big day.

So to conclude, wedding preps + intense work load = hormonal imbalances = normal?

Funny that this is happening to me too. People say that it's common to get pre-wedding jitters and everything before your wedding but I, for one, certainly did not think it would happen to ME! Not to say I was being ignorant plang, but I suppose with all the heads up and early wedding preps, I just thought that I wouldn't have to worry about anything else closer to the big day. But I suppose I was wrong. Mentally I didn't quite think I was stressed or burdened or overwhelmed, but it seems like my body knows me best. Hence all the hormonal changes.

Can't wait to get all of this back to normal! Wish me patience in my undertakings!

PS: My other half is awesome. :)