one kursus perkahwinan... coming right up!

We initially wanted to attend the pre-marriage preparation course as close as possible to our wedding date because we wanted to "tangkap feel" - konon kononnye the nearer the kursus is to our wedding date, lagi rasa and lagi hangat the bahang nak kahwin, you know!

Unfortunately, we've been worrying about our vendor appointments and whether we will have the time and energy to rush everything because most of our appointments have to be scheduled 3 months before our wedding. If we count it backwards from November 2013, this means that our vendor appointments will have to be in October 2013 -> September 2013 -> August 2013.

Unfortunately for us, Hari Raya this year falls on 8 August 2013, which means that Ramadhan will be a month before i.e. July 2013. Can we even jumpa vendors during fasting month??? Really need to ask our vendors and our friends who got married few months after fasting month about this! If we can't meet vendors during fasting month, that means we can jumpa vendors only in late August 2013 or in September 2013... which means we will only have two months (or two months plus, if we're lucky) before the wedding to meet everyone and start the ball rolling! Nightmare!

Of course we can consider the fact that most pre-marriage preparation courses are held on weekends whereas appointments with vendors are most of the times, if not all, held on weekdays for obvious reasons (vendors kan ada weddings orang lain to settlekan and jayakan on weekends, dol!) so technically our kursus dates won't clash or rob our free weekdays to arrange appointments with our vendors. But the idea of everything coming together one after another at almost the same time... we become so penat just thinking about it ok. Which is why we don't want to risk it and we're trying to find ways to ease the time crunch two months before our wedding.

And it is because of this possible time crunch, we're now contemplating going for the pre-marriage preparation course before bulan puasa starts early July next year. Get it out of the way, we cry!

As of now, we're targeting classes scheduled in early 2013... excluding May 2013, of course, because it's my birthday month (I'll officially be on the wrong side of my twenties! Yikes!) and I want to keep it free for celebrations. Last birthday as a single woman, you! Mesti celebrate 30 hari 30 malam korban ayam and itik and angsa all ok hur hur hur

I've started monitoring (OK FINE, STALKING) the schedules of the four main organizations that offer pre-marriage preparation courses for Muslim couples in Singapore (at the least the ones I know of!) and so far, the basic information and the possible locations that we're comfortable with/nearest to us that I've identified are as follows:

Apkim (Link: Apkim)

For personalized 1 day session

Duration: 1-day programme from 9.30am to 6.00pm (for personalized 1-day session)
Cost:
$300 per couple (Mon to Sat) in Malay
$320 per couple (Sundays) in Malay
$400 per couple ( Fri & Sat) in English
Possible Locations: Only at Apkim Resources (134 Arab Street, Singapore 199824)

For 2-days Programme (Small group workshop) 

Duration: 2-days programme (small group workshop) 
Cost: $260 per couple for both English and Malay workshops
Possible Locations: Only at Jalan Besar Community Centre

Bio Dew Management International (Link: BDMI)

Duration: 2-day programme
Cost: $260 per couple (weekend), $400 per couple (weekday)
Possible Locations:
Kampong Ubi CC (Malay)
Changi Simei CC (Malay)
Tampines Changkat CC (Malay)
Masjid Kassim (Malay)

Kasih Sejati (Suchi Success) (Link: Kasih Sejati (Suchi Success))

Duration: 2-day programme
Cost: $300 per couple
Possible Locations:
Suchi Success Training Centre (Prosper House #03-00, 101 Lorong 23 Geylang)
Masjid Mydin (67 Jalan Lapang, Singapore 419007)
Masjid Sultan (3 Muscat Street, Singapore 198833)

SPMC (Link: SPMC)

Duration: 2-day programme
Cost: $260 per couple
Possible Locations:
Bedok Library (English)
Tampines Library (English)
Masjid Darul Ghufran (Malay)

What we've heard is that it is best to go for the kursus at a masjid because the feel and ambience is apparently better because participants are more careful and respectful due to the nature of the venue. Kalau nak go dating dating on special occasions kan mesti nak pergi good cosy restaurants to tangkap ambience, sooooo nak learn how to be a good married partner for a better married future pun nak kena ada the right feel and ambience pe! Have heard not very good reviews from more than one couple about the ones held in libraries so we're definitely going to avoid that :/

As for the language of the kursus, we have no issues attending one held in either English or Malay since both of us can switch comfortably from one language to the other. (Kita proud of kita nye bilingualism ok!) Asalkan jangan bukak bahasa Jawa or bahasa Boyan sudah. Kalau you tanya I "Wes mangan?" maybe I tau jawab you "Wes!" but other than that, kalau you ajak I ngomong Jowo, I angkat white flag and surrender ok. My mamat, jangan cakap lah, satu patah Boyan pun tak tau. Tapi bila part makan roti Boyan... woiiiii, laju macam peluru!

We weren't really that particular about which organization to sign up with at first, (although the personalized 1-day express course by Apkim sounds very tempting) because we assumed that the course content and learning process should be more or less the same, but then we started getting rave reviews from our friends and contacts about the kursus perkahwinan at Kasih Sejati under Suchi Success (some examples below)...

... and that includes our official wedding advisor Nani, my dear girlfriend Elvy (who blogged about her experience here!), fellow bride bloggers Ruzanna (who blogged about her experience here!) and Nasaty (who blogged about her experience here!) sooooo we've more or less decided on where to go for our kursus! Only need to wait for Suchi Success to open up slots at their partner mosques before we can book one that's good for us! Yay!

Earlier today, I asked my mat whether he has any preferences on the mosque itself:

Me: Nearest masjid for us under Suchi Success is Masjid Mydin or Masjid Sultan. You got any preferences between the two mosques not?
Him: Masjid Sultan ah... because nearby got Zam Zam.
Me: Eh ya. Opposite got Rumah Makan Minang also.

AH. BAGUS.

The next time anyone asks why we chose to attend the one at Masjid Sultan, our reply will be "Sebab dekat dengan Rumah Makan Minang and Zam Zam". Which is very tamak and very disgusting and very memalukan eh my friends. Budak gemuk je lah akan spot such #pbg things.

[Post-Edit: Our kursus rumahtangga experience here.]