onward to the second stage of preparation, comrades!

Looks like half of the items on our list for the next stage of proceedings are more or less settled!

Padahal supposed to look see look see dulu aje tau then early January 2013 baru start chop, but after kita dah recce and we like what we see, we didn't want to hegeh or bother ourselves with details any longer so out out out the deposits go. No pain, no gain, no guts, no glory, y'all.

1. Kompang

Signed, sealed and happily settled with Kompang Zapin Berdendang!

2. Kursus rumahtangga (Pre-Marriage preparation course)

Already identified when and where we want to attend the pre-marriage preparation course and am now waiting for 2013 slots (at the masjid that we want to go to) to open! Called the main centre and they said most probably December baru the slots will keluar.

Ni macam baru betul kalau gua bukak line "Lu tunggu Christmas ka pa?!" hahahahaha

3. Berkat (Wedding favours) 

I last wrote about berkat here and here and since then, both our mothers (whom we've given the right and freedom to choose our wedding favours) has stuck to their choices, which is pulut kuning with telur merah and macarons respectively. Very decisive, I very like!

I'm also liking the fact that these two items are such a contrast from each other  - pulut kuning with telur merah is such an old school berkat whereas macaron is such a modern berkat. Berkat yang lama bergading bahu dengan berkat yang baru at a combined reception, fuhhhhh dah macam sepakat membawa berkat, babe! (Takde link as usual hahahaha)

My mum's been bugging me about confirming her orders and placing the deposit... I think she maha excited about her pulut kuning and telur merah berkat because she's not the sort who bugs me about stuff! Hahaha so cute lah my mother ni. Pasal decor, dia tak kacau aku, pasal bridal, dia tak kacau aku, pasal catering, dia tak kacau aku, pasal berkats pulak dia betul punya enthu.

Ok lah, terus terang I was sliiightly dragging my feet on this because as much as I lurrrvvveee the idea of pulut kuning and telur merah as wedding favours (so nostalgik!), I'm still takut and apprehensive about my mum's berkat choice because I'm concerned about the quality of the pulut kuning berkats! It's quite tricky to maintain the freshness of pulut kuning and I wouldn't want the pulut kuning to become basi when my family gives them out to guests :(

But almost every other day the goddamn berkat issue bugs me to end sampai otak aku yang naik basi ok! So I decided to tawakkal and went ahead to book the berkat for my mum few days ago. SETTLE THE KETTLE. No more thinking about pulut sampai brain cells pun boleh basi.

In my previous entry on berkats, I mentioned Ovenly Sweet and Rasa Syiokur @ Breeze Bait (and Rita Pretty Pastries but she confirmed with me that she does not do bulk orders for pulut kuning - such a shame, because she's super friendly!) but I ended up booking the pulut kuning favours with MelJ's Genre! Mostly because Ovenly Sweet did not reply my messages and because both my mum and I prefer MelJ's Genre punya design over Rasa Syiokur @ Breeze Bait.

My encounter with MelJ's Genre is another one of those twist of fate moments that I've experienced on this wedding preparation journey! (Which I'm very versyukur about, Alhamdullilah):

Added them on Facebook sometime back for something totally unrelated - a girlfriend asked me for contacts for coconut blossoms earlier this year and I happened to see MelJ's Genre's blossoms picture tagged on someone's wall so I added them to see more of their albums - but somehow when I was compiling information for pulut kuning berkat, I didn't notice them in my Facebook list (which is why they're not listed in my initial list for pulut kuning berkat vendors).

As mentioned previously, I was dragging my feet on this pulut kuning business until sometime last two weeks, I thought ok stop stalling and let's get this settled once and for all. Logged in my Facebook account and lo and behold - a picture of their berkat pulut kuning appeared at the top of my feed!!! Coincidental maha coincidental sak. Realized that I missed them out after checking through my list so I immediately messaged them to for quotes! Took me two weeks to finally sit down and show pictures to my mum, who immediately approved the design and quote, so I gave them my confirmation, deposit transferred and there you go: another piece of kahwin khronicles history.

 

(Source: MelJ's Genre)

Silly thought but I'mwondering why the name was MelJ's Genre seh. Kenapa genre? Pulut pun ada genre eh? Pulut soul? Pulut reggae? Pulut rock? Pulut pop? Pulut K-pop? And kenape MelJ? Adik beradik dengan Mel B and Mel C from the Spice Girls ka? Tapi ni Spice Girls dah bercampur dengan rendang spices ka? Hahahahaha)

Ok ok I'll quit it with the cheap lawak jenaka and move on to the next part on our quest for wedding berkat - now for my mat's side! His mum right from the start memang dah cakap nak macarons so I've been looking for vendors on her behalf - as of now, I have three vendors who have given quotes:

Cake Love Couture: I've mentioned that their stuff are very sedap before and I trust that their macarons will be just as sedap but I'm not a big fan of the speed of their response (the lack of it, rather) - so I'm not going to consider them.

Sweet Merveilles (under Macarons, Cookies and Cakes): Never tasted their stuff before so I don't know what to expect. Seems nice and reliable enough, and gives very prompt response. Thought of getting a sampler pack so we can taste their macarons before making a decision.

Ola Lola: I was pleasantly surprised when they told me they do bulk orders for macarons as wedding favours because I was under the impression that they do smaller quantities! Am paling keen on them - they'll be doing our dulang hantarans anyway so satu shot sekali ah kirakan.

I also asked Dessert Artisans but they have their hands full with our wedding dessert tier that weekend so they can't quote us for macaron wedding favours heh heh heh.

There's also another player in the market who does sweet treats like macarons for wedding favours but I cannot seem to put my finger as to why I don't really fancy or trust this company / person all that much. I know it might seem silly to not trust and engage a company / person based on a gut feeling but better to be safe than sorry, tio bo?

Anyway I mentioned about this person to Nani, who gave me a good reason as to why I might be feeling this way: she is always posting pictures of "inspiration" - which is totally fine by the way - but the problem is she posts very little pictures of her own creations. Even the very few pictures that she does post are heavily editted or angled in such a way that you cannot really tell the quality of her workmanship. Sorry eh geng, lu dodgy, gua dodge, selamat jalan romeo, sister!

Anywaaayyyyy, the update on this is:

We've decided not to wait any longer and have confirmed our interest with Ola Lola! Waiting for them to confirm that we can transfer our deposit before this berkat issue can be laid to rest and our minds will have more space to think about other more pressing wedding-related issues like deciding on a wedding theme once and for all!!! Maklumlah, akak ni one year away from being on the wrong side of my twenties, memory space pun makin lama makin kurang and makin karat. Akak punya bakal pulak jangan cakap, memang dah maha on the wrong side of twenties pun.

 (Source: Ola Lola)

4. Barang barang dulang

Nothing concrete yet - although we do have a more or less confirmed list of the type of things that we want to put on the dulangs - but we'll definitely borong during the next Great Singapore Sale! This one cannot bring forward in advance eh because sale period memang dah fixed June/July 2013.

Also glad we have flying friends (no, no, not pigeons or fatimah rockers, mak ai SERAM PE kalau ada kawan pigeons or fatimah rockers hahaha) and travelling friends who are willing to help us purchase our stuff from overseas to take advantage of the cheaper costs, if need be! His parents might also be going to London sometime in June next year for his brother's graduation and we're hoping to tumpang bahagia by kirim-ing an item or two for our dulangs heh heh heh

5. Wedding Bands

December is coming up in a week's time so let the Christmas sales begin!!!

Since we didn't buy a ring for my mamat masa time beli cincin for my engagement, we're not very sure how the selection is like for lelaki rings - will need to set aside one of the weekends before Christmas to pergi recce wedding bands. Sesiapa yang baru jejak masuk ke alam wedding planning ni, ingat eh, number one golden rule among the kakak kakak kahwin network is that you must always always always wait for Great Singapore Sale or pre and post Christmas/Chinese New Year sales to buy cincin tunang or cincin kahwin because the harga all kena slash maha slash!!! If you beli your barang barang outside of these sales period punya windows then you're either terlalu selenge or terlalu kaya. Or both. Or mintak kena back hand.

6. Bridal Henna

Henna is not really an issue now since I've already made my booking with my henna artist sometime in March this year. (Not because slots get snapped up fast but because I already knew who I wanted and didn't want to put it off.) I mentioned before that I'm not a fan of henna but my dad will probably make noise about it and henna is seriously something that is perkara kecik as compared to all the other wedding-related things. My feelings towards henna is impartial anyway (I don't love it but I don't hate it either - same as my feelings towards cats! Meow~) and I can choose to opt a super simple design anyway sooooo book bridal henna it was! And with Syraskins it was!

Very glad I booked with Syraskins because the owner is so so so uber nice and prompt!

Ok what happened is really caused by my gatalness because what happened was: I initially booked my henna appointment date on the Friday afternoon before the wedding - thought it through and decided that it was too close for comfort, and what happens if I have last minute things to do on that day?! So I recently asked to change the appointment date to the Thursday before the wedding date via email, got a phonecall from Quraisha from Syraskins letting me know the available timeslots to choose from and I carelessly chose an 11am timing (tengah tak concentrate seh tu... I was tucking in to my Samurai burger leh!).

Processed the idea after that but realized I didn't like the idea of waking up early to get the bridal henna done (hahaha what WHAT) and what if I want to schedule my spa session that Thursday afternoon?! Ok probably won't make any difference but I'd rather not "kacau" the henna on my hands and feet right after it's applied *cough* irrational fear *cough* Called Quraisha again to ask if I can change to an afternoon timeslot instead - unfortunately, the best timeslot (6pm) already taken by another bride-to-be :(

Had to make do with a night timeslot instead, which I guess is ok lah because I don't plan on doing anything intricate (so I shall assume the process will take a shorter time) and it also means that I will have time on that Thursday afternoon to settle other stuff before winding down with a henna appointment (Apa ni?! Two days before the wedding masih planning "to settle other stuff" ni?!)

Quraisha was super nice and patient and oh so bubbly with me even though I kept changing my appointment  - BOO ME!- and I am so grateful she didn't reach out through the computer screen or telephone to give me a tight bitchslap even though she should have lah seriously. Benda lain boleh decisive tapi bila part henna menggelabah semacam. Ape maksuddddd.

Bridal henna prices and packages are easily found on Syraskins' Facebook page!

Some designs from their Silver package:

 

... and some from their Gold package:

(Source: Syraskins)

Another bride-to-be blogger Strip Shidah did an entry on bridal henna here before so if you're more particular about bridal henna than I am, you might want to read on. Tapi kalau tak particular pun boleh baca because she listed down some tips on booking bridal henna... very useful!

Ok dah tu je for now. Next step is to meet my future mother-in-law to run through decor ideas!!! :O

But that one I kena come back and bukak entry baru pulak ok. Kalau tak nanti overrun pulak entry I ni nanti.