bring out the bridal party!

Korang tengok ah this irritating conversation between Sham and my mat:

Bromance tak perlu sampai gitu sekali eh. Freaks!!!!!

But these freaks memang macam gini ah! All of us have no idea why but whenever this dua ekor meet mesti adaaaaaaaaaa je silly childish things that they want to say or do together tau, padahal dua dua turning 30 and dah boleh jadi bapak orang eh.

But because both of them are kaki buat benda tak perlu #1 dengan each other, it is probably a no-brainer why Sham is part of our orang orang kuat!

Aaaaanyway. Thought it'd be nice to list down why we chose the people we chose for our bridal party - you all already know who they are from the Orang Kuat tab and I've mentioned here before why we chose 4 groomsmen and 4 bridesmaids for our bridal party. But I haven't really posted anything on why these are the people we're keeping close to us for our wedding preparations and of course the wedding itself.

I actually told my mamat to list down the reasons why he chose Sham, Ahmad, Fadzly and Poji as his groomsmen for the purposes of our wedding website, but I guess I can cari chance to reproduce them here lah eh:

After being the best man for some of my buddies and attending countless wedding receptions, the moment finally arrived for me to handpick my own band of jolly men for my wedding. You see, the task of selecting your groomsmen is akin to an emperor handpicking his finest soldiers for battle. [Farhana: *cough* drama mama *cough*]

Groomsmen never help, groomsmen catch handsome, groomsmen can’t be relied upon and groomsmen no show are just some of the complaints I frequently hear after a wedding reception. Often friends question me so what makes you think your band of jolly men won’t screw up? Well, here’s why:

Why Sham?

Sham was picked because of his exceptional ability to plan and execute. Sham is also what you call a “shameless haggler”; a very important figure for those intense hadang moments.

Why Fadzly?

Fadzly was chosen because in the words of my momma “Ibu suka kawan E’en yg Fadzly tu, tengok muka dia tenang tak menyusahkan orang tua”. Simply put, Fadzly is like Valium. The person you can always rely upon to keep you calm. Expect to see more of him during the akad nikah.

Why Ahmad?

Ahmad was drafted into the team for a very simple reason. BITCHY. Blessed with a sharp tongue, Ahmad is the voice of reason. He’ll give you a straightforward answer if you can’t decide whether to hold the keris with your right hand or left hand.

Why Poji?

Finally, Poji, the man who aspires to open a Ramly burger joint in Korea.  Poji was selected as a groomsmen because he doesn’t mind having to sweat to get shit done. Probably because he sweat also still handsome (Nani can attest to that).  

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Hahaha amacam?????

Sounds very good and very steady and very capable capable belaka kan our groomsmen? Our bridesmaids pun very good, very steady and very capable okay! So I pun nak cari chance tulis about them jugak lah hehe:

Why Nad?

Nad is my fellow diplomat who knows how to exercise tact when dealing with different characters and I've seen her in action when we were bridesmaids at Nani's wedding! She was extremely helpful and reliable as my fellow bridesmaid, and I'm sure she'll be just as fantastic as one of my bridesmaids. (Don't you just abhor bridesmaids who stand around and tangkap jambu only? Unless your purpose for having bridesmaids is for show only ah then that one no hal)

Plus, have you met Nad? Damn woman will get you laughing in stitches with her witty comebacks and hilarious tales of her latest misadventures within the first five minutes. I know Nad will be able to distract me from any possible hiccups and soothe my nerves with her wicked humour... and I look forward to hearing all the funny anecdotes that Nad will take away from the wedding! :P

Why Nani?

I trust and respect Nani's thoughts and I'm largely influenced by her opinions on some of my wedding-related items! Nani is like the big sister I never had - dependable, decisive and always gives me good solid advice, not just for the wedding but for everything else as well.

Unfortunately, she's exactly like my mat when she feels like being an annoying immature ass - we don't call them twins for nothing! I always throw my hands up in despair whenever they start goofing around but truth be told, I really do find their synchronized giggling and mischief-seeking ways ridiculously endearing. This is one woman who I know will get things done and still be able to entertain me with her colourful comments during the wedding. Haha.

Why Aisyah?

Aisyah is the sweet young(est) thing in the group! Always cheerful, always supportive and has sparkles and sunshine radiating out of her every being. I know Aisyah will be the one who will help me see positivity in every person, every situation and every incident because she is just that sort of wonderful person.

With her grace and composure (zappppp), Aisyah is and will be the wingwoman who brings me the calm I need before and during the wedding. Plus, Aisyah is so easily pleased and easily impressed with almost everything, we'll get a kick out of laughing out loud at her overt positivity and enthusiasm. Hahahahaha.

Why Nina?

You know that one friend everyone has that puts the itch in bitch? Now, Nina - she's my itch in bitch. Fierce, capable and comes with an icy sharp tongue, Nina is THE person to unleash on recalcitrant vendors or guests. The best part of all is she's a fellow earlycomer!!!!! I love earlycomers okay, everytime I meet one I just want to stamp a "Good Job!" across their foreheads.

I also know I can depend on Nina to get things done in the quickest and most painless way possible - in a way I see a fair bit of myself in her when it comes to planning and organizing, and it's comforting to know that there is someone who will do things the way I would should critical decision-making moments arise during the wedding.

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But above everything else, there is actually one very important reason why we chose this particular band of orang orang kuat - it's because we know that they are our true friends who are and will be truly, madly, deeply happy for us, our union and our happiness. Penting tau ni!

We've seen and heard of horror stories where the orang orang kuat are petty, argumentative, unreliable, overly assertive without considering the pengantin's feelings and constantly gives the pengantins nothing but trouble and stress - and we know we won't get that sort of nonsense from Sham, Ahmad, Fadzly, Poji, Nadiah, Nani, Aisyah and Nina. Three and a half months left to the wedding and they've been helpful sweethearts so far so it's not too early to say kan? :D

Okay, cakap cakap pasal bridal party ni, I'm #nowthinking of possible poses for our bridal party!!! They're definitely joining us for the complimentary 2-hour outdoor photoshoot that comes with our Bliss Photocinema package so should be quite fun to posing posing ramai ramai. Hehe.

Here's the standard 'huddle close' or 'stand at the back' pose most bridal parties do!

 (Source: 100 Layer Cake)

And portraits of each bridesmaid and groomsmen (below)...



(Source: Unknown)

(Source: The Simple Things)

... which is one of my faaaaavourites so we're most definitely doing this!!!

Or we can do variations like these:

(Source: Apple Brides)

(Source: Unknown)

There's also the 'tengok bawah' pose...

(Source: Unknown)

(Source: Wedding Photography)

(Source: Exposeure) 

... which I do not like that much lah actually hahaha.

Don't think my mat and I photograph well when shot is taken from the bottom lah!

An alternative to this would be a shot taken from high vantage point? So instead of taking dari bawah, the shot is taken from a very high point then semua orang donggak ke atas ah, macam gini.

And then there's the classic 'V' pose!

(Source: Blue Dandelion)

(Source: Jessica Feltz)

Slightly boring imho, but still looks nice lah when everyone arranged so properly like that. Can't go wrong with classics like this, I guess.

Ooh, there's also the "duduk diri duduk diri" pose!

(Source: Unknown) 

 (Source: The Ruffle House)

Ala ala Mad Men! Seen a few local Malay bridal parties do this kind of posing for photoshoots. Very cool arrangement but not really a die-die-must-do for me...

And here's another classic alternate male female male female arrangement:

(Source: Style Me Pretty)

(Source: Clary Photoblog)

(Source: Green Wedding Shoes)

Will most likely do this classic arrangement - I think we'll look really nice with our orang orang kuat by our sides, plus I'm a sucker for this kind of nice-looking arrangement things. (Sorry, I don't have enough energy to think of a proper word for it haha) Cantik kan kalau ambik gambar lat lat!!!

Ooooh there's also the very fun jump or "throw" shots!

 (Source: Snippet & Ink)

(Source: Rock N Roll Bride)

 (Source: Rock N Roll Bride)

(Source: Aphrodite's Wedding Blog)

I'm really hoping we can do something like this!!!!! I really really like jump shots because they're so fun and can potentially be very kekek because of semangat expressions on people's faces and all the tonggang terbalekness that happens when a big group of people try to do jump shots haha.

Aku sucker for this kind of merepek gonjol things okay.

Oh, but the throw throw shots most likely tak boleh ah walaupun fun sebab... patah pinggang bridal party kitaorang, nyah! Actually jangan cakap patah pinggang ah, mesti diaorang patah semangat nak hidup lagi ah sebenarnye hahahahaha

Okay, next is the heart-shaped arrangement!

 (Source: Unknown)

(Source: Wedding Chicks)

Standing in the form of a heart shape, y'allz.

I actually find this pretty cute... but macam very the cheesy kan??? Haha.

Okay next one is another one of my favourites... bridal party pyramid!!!!!

(Source: The Wedding Community)

(Source: True Photography)

Love this one the most, y'all!!! The last one's a perfect example since we're having 4 groomsmen and 4 bridesmaids for our bridal party! :D

Now this, I reaaaaaaaally want to do this but most likely... tak akan menjadi ah geng. Sebab satu satu confirm tak boleh angkat ah geng hahahahaha.

Plus can you imagine us with our baju pengantin and our orang orang kuat with their baju melayu and baju kurung segala... mau rabak pe dah pakai tertib tertib tutup tutup sopan santun segala and kena do this?!?!?! Sampai mengucap panjang nanti mak andam and photographer kitaorang.

Oh, there's also the super cute "in the mirror" pose!

(Source: Bridal Guide)

Super cute hor???!!!!! Got different variations for this as well lah, of course.

Will need a nice long/big mirror to pull this off so we'll see how it goes on event day.

There's also the shot that has close-up of the bridal party's outfits...

 (Source: Magnolia Rouge)

 (Source: Unknown)

 (Source: Green Wedding Shoes)


 (Source: Unknown)

... which is SO cute but memandangkan we've already decided on matchy matchy uniformed outfits for our orang orang kuat (since my last post briefly considering on how to dress my bridesmaids), the effect might not be as ketara... this kind of shot will nampak lagi lawa if we dress them in different prints or styles instead, I think.

Ok next - shots of bridal party holding up boards or letters! 

Something like this:

 (Source: Bridal Guide)

I already have a few in mind.......... okay lah not just in mind aje lah, sebab I dah suruh my sister design the boards pun ah actually hahahahaha. Tinggal nak print! So we might have a few shots macam gini :D

Oh here's a super awesome one where your bridal party can angkat something to show to the camera - get your bridesmaids and/or groomsmen to indicate where they met you on chalkboards and then hold them up for a shot!

(Source: Storyboard Wedding)

Maaaaaddd love this idea, please. 

But I'm not sure if this is something that we'd want to do... ours won't really have much variety, I think? Balek balek CJC, balek balek Twitter. Hur hur.

Never seen this in a Malay bridal party picture but this one incorporates tug-of-war!

 (Source: Rock The Aisle Bridal)

 (Source: We Heart It)

(Source: We Heart It)

Yang last bukan tug-of-war lah but still looks fun! Haha. 50/50 about this, though.

But one thing is for sure ah - we definitely won't do any kissy kissy shots because my mamat and I are just... not that sort. Part ni, kita ada conservative sikit. Kirakan part part lain tak conservative sangat ahhhhhhh ape maksud cakap macam tu.

There's also the "bayang bayang" pose:

(Source: Scoop It)

Kalau ada enough sunlight, nak buat jugak!!! Maybe boleh buat bayang bayang heart-shaped macam my mat and I try buat when we went for our outdoor photoshoot recce last month:

Hahahahaha yes aku tak habes habes dengan aku punya cheesy heart shape ideas.

Oooh, there's also the "from the back" pose!

(Source: Unknown)

(Source: Unknown)

Ada different variations for this kind of 'back' pose - pengantin and bridal party with their backs to the camera or pengantin face front but bridal party face their backs to the camera, etc. Whichever floats your boat lah kirakan.

Okay, okay, I know we can trust our photographers to do a good job with this since we're paying them for their professional services kan??? Tau lah dorang nanti macam mana nak posingkan semua orang. As long as it's not this or this or this, kitaorang actually no hal punya.

Oh, but we definitely do not want to do anything like this ah:

(Source: House Goes Home)

 (Source: Sterling Image Works)

Buang tebiat ke ape nak letak dinosaurs or robots dalam gambar photoshoot. Haha!