Mr. & Mrs. Quah

WE DID IT!!

4th December 2011: WHAT A DAY TO REMEMBER =)

Thank you everyone for your continuing support, encouragement, help, advice, guidance, smiles and gifts! It was a beautiful day of joyous celebration, blessed with good weather, superbly kind and patient friends, cheerful parents and delicious food...

Looking forward to a lifetime together =)

Final Briefing Done!

The final briefing with our pals helping out at the wedding was held last Sunday. It started messily enough due to unexpected venue issues, but thank goodness for friends with good sense of humour and high levels of tolerance! Actually, we're super thankful to our friends for putting up with so much and offering to help us with so many things! This wedding would not be what it will be without their input and advice and helping hands.
Here's a big shout-out to (in no particular order):
Jon, Jean, Nitya, Rachel, Ting-Ting, Justin, Alexa, Adrian, Mark - Thank you so much!

So anyway, the schedule is more or less done, as is the mass booklet. We went for the final gown-fitting and everyone is super excited, thanks to our super enthusiastic designer Jeff from La Vie! He's added a few more touches to Sherm's evening and bridal gown, and totally reshuffled my suits order. I'm happy too!

We collected the Made In Candy customized candies yesterday and will be doing packing them in the coming few days. Come Wednesday morning, we'll be submitting the administration forms to ROM. Some sound testing will be done at the hotel on Wednesday, followed by the church rehearsal in the evening. The caterer's site-inspection will be done just before then too. We'll be doing a mock-up of the decorations as well so as to provide our helpers a visual aid.

The only thing left to do is slide-editing for the church, and a complimentary 75-min spa from Grand Park City Hall's Spa Park Asia! haha.. (how did we manage to find time for THAT?)

Looking forward to being Mr & Mrs Dax Quah!

10-DAY COUNTDOWN

Highly stressed.

Absolutely no sense of humour left.

Panicking about everything.

Swamped with things to do (both work + wedding).

Lacking sleep; no appetite to eat.

Welcome to the world of a bride-to-be!

=0

Solo Soldier Shermy!

Dax has gone off to Vietnam to attend a family member's wedding, as well as to have his stag night with a few friends...

It's up to Shermy to man the fort this week, so she's doing what she does best... getting frazzled by the impending wedding! ONE MONTH LEFT TO THE BIG DAY!

Haha... among other things, settling the scheduling for the run-up before then... arranging to meet the gown-makers for a final fitting, altering the tea-ceremony cheongsam, ordering customised sweets for the church favours, trying to set up a final briefing with the helpers etc...

Can Shermy do it without Dax?!

Come back soon, you!!!!

过大礼 / Guo Da Li

The gift exchange or guo da li (过大礼) was carried out last Saturday morning to great success! The two families have officially agreed to the wedding!
Thanks go out to Auntie Dolly, Gideon and John who helped me out as Matchmaker and assistants. We brought over the gifts of Ang Baos, Traditional 伍色糖 / 饼, 2 bottles of XO, some seeds, oranges and a suckling pig as well! The bright and gleaming home of Shermaine's parents was such a welcome, with everyone dressed up as well.
Each item was introduced and the significance explained by Auntie Dolly (in English!), while broad smiles were seen throughout. We were served some cakes and drinks while Uncle Danny proceeded to cut the torso section of the suckling pig, and Auntie Karin repacked some of the edible goodies to return to my family.

Along with part of the goodies we brought, we were also given the following items to bring back: bedlinen, pillows, bolster, quilt and quilt cover, as well as Ang Bao for my parents and 2 grandmothers. These items that were previously agreed on between the 2 families during the food tasting session at Park Palace Restaurant.

The exchange signifies the agreement by both sides of the family to the wedding. It's official!

Full Steam Ahead!

Things are moving pretty quickly! We're down to the last 3 days before the big Gift Exchange - the Guo Da Li! Recently, both our families met at Grand Park City Hall's Park Palace restaurant for the food tasting and ironed out all the specifics of the exchange as well as made our choices on the final menu for the big night.

The past week and earlier have been spent gathering recommendations and doing research as to where the buy Suckling Pig, Teochew traditional biscuits called Wu Se Bing, and other things. We've also received our Chinese Dinner invitation cards (see sample above) and will soon receive the Church invitation cards. Today, Deepavali, was spent writing out names and addresses for some of our invitees.

Following the Guo Da Li, we'll be sending out the Dinner and Church invitations to our guests. Apart from the collection of our finished Wedding Bands, our next big project will be the photo montage and arranging for the gown refitting before the actual day itself. It's all coming together quite nicely! Oh yes, and we've been doing lots of research into Italy for our Honeymoon too!

Just today, we were browsing through some photo albums that Shermaine's mom put together about her daughter. There were quite a lot of photos of Shermaine in her younger years, up till about 10 yrs of age. I think its quite endearing to see so much of her current mannerisms and behaviour manifesting from age 2 onwards. =D Adorable!

Success!

You have successfully filed a notice of marriage online with the Registry of Marriages (ROM) on 10/10/2011 11:10 AM

Your e-filing a notice of marriage is successful.

The History Of Teochew Wedding Cakes!

(Lianhe Zaobao SUNDAY - Translated by bobafett81)

In the olden days, the Teochews usually married people from the same villages back in China. During engagement and wedding day itself, they will distribute 10 over kgs of peanut candies, sesame candies and other candies to relatives. Those elaborate weddings would even get hundreds of 月劳 饼 (Lao Bing). The teochews would put these wedding cakes, pork, dragon phoenix candles, wine, wedding invitations and other presents in 2 bamboo baskets. A pole would bind these 2 baskets together and they would be carried back to the female's parents house.

In the Teochew province back in China, they value the variaties of the wedding cakes. Usually, there will be a Tau Sar Pia 豆沙饼 with 4 candies (Gong Tang, Mi Run, Soft Candy and Soft Cakes) 贡糖， 米润， 软糖， 软糕. This 5 variaties became known as 普宁喜饼 Pu-Ning Wedding Cakes. The Hokkiens also had similar wedding cakes, but had Tau Sar Pia with 4, 6 or 8 candies wrapped in red wedding papers. Pu-Ning Wedding Cakes were more expensive then the common teochew wedding cakes 月劳 饼 (Lao Bing). Therefore, the common cakes were more popular and when the Teochews came to Nanyang (Singapore), the tradition of Lao Bing for wedding became common.

During the Japanese Occupation in Singapore, 泰茂栈饼家 Tai Mao Zhan Pastry Shop was set up at 连城街. Majority shareholder Mr Xu Shu Ting was the 1st generation management, who was previously a Teochew grocery shop manager. In 1943, he cooperated with 3 Teochew pastry chefs to established the pastry shop. Other than the Lunar 1st and 8th month, the chefs were busy baking wedding cakes for customers. As the teochew cakes were oily and has a nice texture, it was popular among the immigrants in Nanyang. Chefs at the pastry shop increased to 10 over peoplpe, and other Teochew goodies like 油酥饼， 咸豆沙饼 came out from the oven. Many customers bought their cakes and pastries from this shop.

Looking at the way things are going, we will likely be getting the most traditional Pu-ning style cake box to give to the bride's relatives, as pictured above. It is also known as the "Wu Se Bing" or Five-coloured Sweets/Biscuits, as my dad had specifically requested for "the most traditional one", the "poh leng biah" (Teochew dialect for Pu-ning biscuits)...

Need to find a reputable and traditional Teochew baker to acquire these goodies... have shortlisted Gim Thye so far, but theirs is amazingly pricey... hope we can find a better substitute, or it's going to be more $tre$$ haha!

No Grecian, its gonna be a European Honeymoon!

Will it be winter in Prague? Snow-capped architecture!
or Beer in Munich? Where's my beer wench!?
maybe Sounds of Music in Salzburg? ~I am 16 going on 17......
or Romancing in Venice? ~Wheeeen thhhe moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie!
or Romancing in Rome.. err... I mean, Vaticanizing in Rome!

Oh the choices! I love the European Honeymoon options!!

Help Comes... in the Form of FRIENDS!

Thanks to lovely friends who have stepped forward to gallantly volunteer their help, things have started rolling with more momentum, and at no better time too, as we enter the 2-month mark before our big day!

A big shout-out of THANK YOU to the dear friends who have availed yourselves at our time of need, being so kind and giving in your advice, help and support... helping to set us back on track, re-invigorating us and giving us fresh hope again that we can get everything done (barely) in time for 4th December!

Short term focus is to have our first major meeting with the key helpers/coordinators/brothers + sisters, to iron out the day's schedule, and to try to do as much pre-planning as we can before crunch time, namely the videos, cards, montages, decorations and favours!

Thanks friends, for being there always, and making us smile again!!

Feelin' loved! =)

Invitation Cards Nearly completed!

We've been going full steam working on the Church invitation cards. By completing the invitation cards, we would have achieved:
1) Alerted and informed our guests as to the date they should be keeping free,
2) Ascertained the number of people attending the Church ceremony,
3) Completed the design and layout of the invitation cards,
4) Ensure that the cards can be sent out at the opportune moment.

Thank goodness for having done the pre-wedding shoot way in advance! Using some of the shots for our invite! =D Watch out for it!

Things we've been busy with recently - confirmed our choice of caterer for the Church high-tea reception (just need to book them in October), working on the Wedding Schedule, arranging food tasting at the hotel, deciding on the Guo Da Li date, repacking and arranging new layout of my room. Need to continue sending out FB and SMS invites, and follow up.

What's been completed - Painting. we've got a new coat of paint in a colour scheme that gives the room a fresher look. As a result, I've gone through another session of stuff-throwing (with probably a final one to go).

Highly Stressed!

3 months to go: Wedding planning (guest list not compiled!!), dealing with multiple highly stressed individuals, rings/cards/theme designs, room redecorating. The wedding stress is surely getting to us... And our sad Honeymoon planning is on the backburner again.

Voyage Night Festival, 2011

 

Falling hearts, Shermaine has already captured mine. ;)
 

For more photos, click here.

Graduates of MPC!

We've graduated from the Catholic Marriage Preparation Course (MPC) at last!

Six weeks of lectures, sharing, "couple-pak" worksheet doing, presenting and candidly ironing out our differences in views... it was a good experience on a whole, we learnt some useful and valuable lessons. Hoping it will help us to pave a smooth path to, and in our married days to come!

Next up, planning for the Church wedding caterers, guest lists, schedule for the actual day, stag/hen parties (I'm not even sure if I want a hen party... being the anti-social creature that I am), consolidating all our plans, outfits for the parents, gathering our brothers and sisters for the big day... only 3 months left, so many things to do!

Gambatte!!

Attended the first of the family weddings for 2011!

I was invited to shoot my cousin's wedding this August, she liked my style of candid photography and I was looking for experience shooting such events. Match made in heaven, just like the two people pictured at the top of this post =D

It was a lively and fun wedding, definitely not the run-of-the-mill type ending with a Chinese dinner. Even though I was preoccupied shooting most of the time, I'm glad for my family, including my aunties and cousins who kept Shermaine occupied and entertained!

This is one of my favourite shots of the evening, rendered in Black & White, a mode I'm growing to like a lot actually. Shermaine actually helped me with the composition! While watching one of the bridesmaids give a speech, I noticed Simon slipping his arm around Cherie and took the opportunity to snap a shot since they happened to be caught by the light. Shermaine mentioned that I should try lowering my framing a little and voila, the shot above was taken! Tag-team double-combo!

Next of the family weddings - my Uncle Ivan's! Then my own at the year-end of course! Busy! Thanks Shermaine for holding the fort and getting us back on track regarding the planning.

To see more of the Wise Wedding, click the link here.

Welcoming Roxy Rocket!

5 months before our big day, and we've adopted a kid! She's a 5-year-old miniature Pinscher from SPCA and awesomely cute! Sherm's been coming over daily to train and feed the little girl, I can't complain. Our first priority was to get her to assimilate into the Quah pack, including our 2 four-legged friends Jacky and October. That's sorta been done already, and we've established ourselves as the Alpha and higher-ranked pack-member. Next up - training her. She understands her name already, we just need to get her to "Come" more frequently. "Sit" has taken about 5 days and she's sorta getting it more on the dot already, so we'll be moving on to words like "Go", and "Heel" soon.

You may be thinking, that must make you quite busy before your Big Day doesn't it? Adding on the extra load of taking care and training the new member must be affecting your schedule. Well, sort of yes and no. We're seeing more of each other now, but we're not getting the things done. Take for example, we're into our 3rd week of the Marriage Preparation Course (MPC) and we've accumulated 2 couple-paks that need doing before this Sunday. We're still tossing about ideas for our Honeymoon, and we've got the guest list that still needs to be put together. Furthermore, I'm meeting up with my buddies to plan my Stag party, and I still need to make arrangements for my flight and lodgings for Uncle's Vietnam wedding in November. Phew.. Not to mention the wedding event things that we need to finalize (oops).

Oh well, Roxy's a darling, and she's getting both our combined effort and energy to keep her in check. She'll be the most well-behaved dog in the house, and we hope to bring her around where we go in time to come too! haha..

Ah well, that's the latest update for ya. =)

Keeping the parents informed

So it is just over 6 months to our wedding. During the entire process, thinking of things to do, trying to get them done, organizing and planning - it is quite easy to forget that the parents are an integral part of this as well. So as a dutiful son or daughter, one must also take the time to meet up with both sides and let them know what is going on, touch base, and check that the expectations are aligned.

For instance, if like us, your dinner venue is small (26 tables is comfortable, max of 30 incl 2 reserve tables), managing the parents' enthusiasm to invite friends and relations from way back is absolutely necessary. I have assigned a certain number of tables to them, and I hope that they are able to keep within that number.

I met up with Shermaine's parents recently, and talked to them about the Guo Da Li (approx conducted 1-2 weeks prior to the actual day). Since neither of us knew who was supposed to give what to whom, and how many, I had assured them that we will be getting the list, after consulting with the traditional wedding gifts fella. Using this list, we will then ask the parents to check off which items they absolutely must have, and which are optional. I also informed them of the exchange in Ang Paos, including the dowry (or pin jin which they have to return a portion of) and the err.. Ang Pao for Sherm's mom for bringing her up (I shan't mention the exact name here, its quite crude lol), which she gets to keep. Of the gifts we bring over during the Guo Da Li, we should also indicate the exact number which the in-laws have to return to us. This I will consult with said traditional wedding gifts fella.

The follow-up meeting between the parents where all this will be finalized will be at the official food-tasting session at Grand Park City Hall, about 2 months prior to the big day. During this dinner, all terms and requests should be brought up for discussion between the 2 families.

Those Doc Marts..

About a year ago, Sherm and I came across a limited edition run of Dr Marten's boots that Sherm totally fell in love with. The boots are white and flocked with a silver baroque print in silver glitter. Apart from that, everything else was the standard DM design.

Well, by some strange/lucky coincidence, Sherm's chosen evening gown design went very well with the boots and we decided to use it during our pre-wedding photoshoot!  When we presented the idea to our designer Jeff, and showed him the boots, he was so excited as he was actually eyeing a similar design in gold but didn't purchase them cos he couldn't fit in them! Thank God for a designer who was so supportive and shared our ideas! We used the boots with the short version of her skirt and practically pranced around Ubud Pasar in them. =)

 Those Doc Marts are unique and beautiful and we hope it gets some 'air-wair' time on our wedding day!

Pre-Wedding Photo Shoot - DONE!

We're back from Bali! I have so much to say, I don't know where to start.. For this post, I'll just talk about the pre-wedding shoot.

At the Goa Lawah bat cave,
not one of our pre-wedding photos!

So our pre-wedding shoot arrangement with Aditi Niranjan Photography was discussed entirely over email with Thea, Aditi's marketing manager. The discussion started months earlier and only within the last 2-3 weeks did we finally get down to the nitty gritty details of planning the locations and props to be used. On their Facebook page, Aiditi called us their "most creative and organized couple" haha.. I wouldn't say we were organized, we just knew what we wanted!

On day 1 in Bali, the Aditi team manager Dedy, assistant photographer Wayan and make-up artist Annie came over to our villa and we had a sit-down discussion with them. They basically went through all our details, venues, made some recommendations, noted our outfit changes for each venue and planned the day's itinerary, including lunch and advising how to take our breakfast! We went through the style of make-up and hair as well, so everything was set. We just had to be ready by the time they picked us up early the next morning.

Day 2 was the day of the shoot. Shermaine and I, along with our entourage of friends, were driven to the Aditi Niranjan studio for make-up before our first venue - the Ubud Pasar (market)! At the studio, we were introduced to the rest of the crew that would follow us that day - Mario the owner and main photographer was a bald man with a charming smile.
So off to the market we went! What a culturally interesting place it was, offering at least 3 different looks for the background of our images! We even got to sit on a local police motorbike!
We headed back to the studio for a touch-up and outfit change before the long drive to Kintamani. The drive there offered excellent views of Mt Batur at the crest of the perimeter before descending to the valley where we had our 'lonely' roadside shoot with the mountain as our backdrop. What a lovely blue sky we had! Not to mention the Vespa that was ridden there for us by the umbrella-man =D  Our friends Jackie, Jon, Mark and Justin really helped a lot here, helping bear the heat with us, knowing where our accessories and clothes were, and picking up Sherm's train and sash after every click (in order to avoid the many trucks that would pass by every 3 minutes or so!). We wouldn't know what we would have done if not for their generous help!
We couldn't have Ikan Bakar for lunch as initially planned, so Wayan drove us to the famous Ibu Oka for Babi Guling (roasted suckling pig) lunch.
Next, we proceeded to a black sand beach nearer to Ubud and had our 3rd series of shots with a rented horse which was adorned with a shiny new red bridle. The horse was lovely and perfectly well-behaved, apart from him sticking out his tongue and the occasional foamy cough! Still, Sherm was smiling from ear to ear (she really loves horses) the entire time.
Our final location was Tengal Wangi, a beach location that would replace Tanah Lot since that was a place that Sherm could hardly let her bridal gown down (it being a very wet location). We hadn't realized how much of a treacherous climb down it was to get to the beach itself! Anyway we managed to do it, and took another excellent series there before changing out to casuals so that Sherm could climb back up with less difficulty and without worrying about ripping the intricate lace on her gown.


That night, we sat up for about an hour after being sent back to our villa. With assistance from Wayan, we chose our 80 pictures to be edited. These pictures would also make up the 2 albums that came with our package, and 1 would be our blown-up large size canvas wall-hanging. During this time, we could specify the edits we wanted to make to any particular image, or simply leave it to their good and capable hands.

Two days later, some staff from Aditi came to deliver our 2 albums, CDs, video DVD and the canvas. We spotted a few images which used a green filter which we really didn't like at all. So we told them about our dissatisfaction. Luckily we had 1 extra day to our holiday, so they promptly returned to make the alterations and could deliver our perfect album early the next day, before we set off for the airport!

There were some issues with their service, of which I will state here:
1) The make-up tended to the heavy side... Annie's initial hair arrangements was not to our liking as well, but that was fixed with some advice frm Jackie - thanks!
I would suggest bringing more pictures of what you want done, or examples, which will help greatly.

2) Effective communication in English is not so perfect either. It would be good if either the bride or groom spoke some Bahasa Indonesia, or have a member of your entourage help in the communication, to express ideas, or make specific requests.

However, on the whole, we were VERY IMPRESSED with the service we received from the company throughout, and I would whole-heartedly recommend their services to anyone wanting to do a pre-wedding shoot or even a family shoot in Bali.

Some acknowledgements:
Once more, thanks again to our friends, Mark, Jackie, Jon and Justin without which this shoot would not have turned out as fun, as relaxing or as enjoyable as it did. =D
Jean, Jessica and Kelvin who accompanied us on our holiday to Bali.
Finally, to Mark and Jackie again, who fervently recommended the studio to us after going through a similar experience 2 yrs prior, a heartfelt thank you to you both!

Tried on the custom Wedding Gown + Suit

And they are fantastic looking! Sherm fit her gown excellently, and Jeff even took off 1/2 an inch off her previous measurement, but she still can breathe easily and looks marvelously gorgeous in it! Sherm's fitness fanaticsm has paid off! How do you like the preview above? It's been mosaic-ed to preserve an air of mystery =D That's the Italian lace that Jeff (our designer) is really proud of. He hand-carried it all the way from Europe, and told us about how he was watching his tailors like a hawk since he only had that one piece. If they had ruined it, that would've been it!

We really love working with Jeff, Jolene and Louis from La Vie Bridal. They incorporated all our suggestions and the gown looks great! No problems here at all, and they're really really accomodating - super highly recommended! Oh and my Armani-inspired suit looks fab too, and the colours for the suit & Sherm's gown complement each other! I love the inner lining detail that they actually bothered to sew in - will get a shot of that during the photo-shoot and upload it here next time.

We'll have to pick-up the outfits a day before we take off for Bali next, then its a full day of shooting - all arranged already, including the hand bouquet and style of shots we want (there'll be a meeting on the day we arrive where we can discuss with the photographer how we want our shots). Email liaisons with Thea from Aditi Niranjan has been smooth and they seem to excel at top notch service as well. I sent her all our preferred locations, sample of shots we like, and the style of the hand bouquet that Sherm likes, so they'll be taking care of all that. Requests were well-handled too, and after discussion with Mark Tan who introduced them to us, I realized too that they really say OK to everything we ask! Very excited about the upcoming shoot - it'll be fun fun fun! =D

Just a Thank You note to my friends who've been helping us out so far:
Jean, Justin & Jon, for helping to plan and make arrangements for our Bali holiday. Jean dug up a whole tonne of activities for us to choose from, sure made it easier to plan our itinerary as a group!
Jackie for graciously accepting to help Sherm as her ad-hoc bridesmaid during our upcoming photo-shoot. 
Mark also for sitting down with me yesterday to recreate a logo from scratch.
We are grateful for your help and all the offers of contribution from the rest of our mates - we will be calling on you for help as the big day draws closer! =D

Working Out

So we've been pounding the gym for the last couple of months in preparation for our shoot in May. Shermaine especially has been very consistent and focused, going up to 4 times a week! She uses both her office gym and the Yio Chu Kang Club Fitt with me. She also takes October out for hour-long walks/jogs on the occasion, and you can see the benefits of these sojourns that both of them are reaping! haha..

Shermaine, an avid reader of all things mostly non-fiction, has been picking up health books and trying out different diets. She mainly watches her calories these days, limiting her intake to a certain amount. This is a great system, because if you plan to eat heavier for dinner, for example, then you should cut back on your breakfast and lunch. In the end, you will have eaten your heavy dinner, and still be within the required calorie intake per day, but you would have effectively balanced it out without eating extra! Fantastic!

I must praise her on her very effective and non-tortorous diet and workout regime because she has really put in a lot of effort! Actually, I don't even have to praise her, cos all her office colleagues and friends are already doing so! They're quite taken aback by her new look. Good job Shermy!


As for me, well, I'm not trying to lose weight, you know I've always had the unusual problem of not being able to gain weight! After 3 months of gymming, I didn't look much harder or bigger, though I definitely feel more lean. But I needed to gain weight, and the usual fruits and protein thing didn't seem to change anything, except make me healthier.

But that was fine, since I had my office Banana Run in early April, and all that running on the treadmill allowed me to go into the competition as a Pro-Runner without much need for additional training. I came in 2nd for the 5km run, at a time of 19 mins 40 secs, which is not bad considering I used to run cross-country, when I was 18, at 19mins +! 10 years later and I can still kick it eh? haha..

So once the Banana Run was over, Shermaine jumped in to the rescue again! She's been force-feeding me consistent 2nd breakfasts that I eat at work about 9.30am, and ensuring that I eat a substantial post-work snack at about 4.30pm, along with my usual 3 meals. Also, I'm not avoiding the fried foods now.. yay! love those unhealthy fried edibles..

The result? I'm putting on about 1kg per week now for the past 2 weeks. Yay! Looking forward to hitting 65 kg just in time for the photoshoot in Bali..

So, in summary, this is another reason why I'm very happy with my chosen life partner - Shermaine. =D

Excited!

...and looking forward to spending the rest of my life with someone I adore =)

YAY!

Step-by-step...

Next on our hit-list before 3rd Week of April 2011:

1) Buy Bride's Shoes
2) Buy Groom's Shoes and Socks
3) Tailor Groom's Shirts
4) Conceptualise Photoshoot and prepare necessary props
5) Finalize Wedding Shoot Locations and notify Bali counterparts
6) Decide on appearance of floral bouquet for Photoshoot

... and Before Photoshoot in mid-May 2011:

1) Apply several rounds of facial masques (LOL! DIY at home)
2) Hair-styling session
3) Dental session
4) Mani/pedi
5) Conceptualise Photoshoot and prepare necessary props
6) Pack luggage and make sure gowns and whatever accessories are all ok and good-to-go!
7) Practise wearing wedding attire by ourselves - making sure we look halfway decent and do the customised outfits justice! =)

Another busy stretch ahead of us... >_<


Update (by Dax):
And further afield:
1) Work on that video we were talking about. A lot more groundwork before we can go ahead. Thinking if a viral Youtube preview will work hehe..
2) Marriage Preparation Course in the 3rd quarter of the year - 6 weekends of effort!

And here's a recent shot of Shermy that I would like to share =D

Official Photographer - Yi Ting from OneEyeClick!

We finally settled our official event photographer! As early as November 2010, Sherm and I have been keeping an eye out for a photographer - that special someone who can take interesting, inviting and fantastic shots, yet leave the subjects looking comfortable and thoroughly at ease. In the end, we chose OneEyeClick.

[This image was stolen off the OneEyeClick website, don't sue me!]

Being photographers, both Sherm and I, we don't believe in paying so much for photography. In Singapore, wedding photography can be priced as high as S$5000 for a single person to cover an event! I've seen the quality of those shots, and I don't believe that is necessary at all. Nor did we need the bells and whistles such as an event-day wedding album. We just wanted some interesting pictures that come off fun, and definitely have that unique look.

Using my network on Facebook, I asked my friends for recommendations, combed the various portfolios of the various studios. I cruised the SG Weddings forums and even trawled some friends photo albums for great images. From the initial list of 8, I managed to cut it down to about 2, with Sherm's friend Rachel adding another for our final consideration.

Why we went for OneEyeClick:
I was smitten by the pictures in OneEyeClick's blog from the start (a recommendation of our Kendo friend Kevin Chua). I liked all their shoots: pre-wedding and actual day images were both equally good. There is a certain amount of style in their colour processing, not to mention the interesting compositional skills and crops. Lovely. Terry was a joy to email, which was practically our entire pre-agreement discussion. He has a very 'can-do' attitude, and I was won over by that.
I was, however, expect a meeting of sorts, to discuss the style or preferences, but I suppose that might happen nearer the event. Well, they're pros, so if this is the way they work, I don't really care, I like their end product enough! Putting it in their very capable hands! (Update 26 Mar '11: Terry has already contacted me after sending the contract, and there will be a meeting set up between Yi Ting and us just prior to the actual day.)

Apart from our main photographer, we are also engaging a videographer to work on a video documenting the first half of our big day, ending with the matrimonial ceremony in Church. He will be producing a video, popularly termed an "Express Highlight", to be screened during the same-day wedding dinner. Hope its good!

Sherm and I do have a large number of friends who take really nice pictures. So, I do expect that our friends will be bringing their cameras as well, and we can probably get some great candids from them. =)

If I've missed out any detail regarding this aspect of the wedding, pls do drop me a note and make a suggestion!

Trial Make-up Results Unveiled!

[left: in the midst of makeover from ugly duckling to (black) swan;
right: caught unawares by trigger-happy Dax]

Wowwee! Lookin' good and feelin' even better!

Went for trial make-up session and selection of evening gown today at La Vie. Very chuffed by the awesome job Jolene did with my make-up, didn't know there was something pretty inside of me! Granted it was a bit scary cos it was my first time wearing make-up, but she was awesome and it all went so well. Apparently, I have nice deep-set "socket" eyes, as a result of having a defined brow-bone, which Jolene says is rare in Asians and very attractive! LOL!! How to not feel good right? ;p

As for the evening gown, it's going to be something really unique, gonna be channeling a bit of the punk rock princess in me! ;p Wasn't sure if of which gown to go for at first, but finally decided on the one that the 2 merry men, Jolene and Dax unanimously voted for. Hope everyone else will love it as much as we do! =D

Gown designer praised my weight loss profusely, admired my progress, and best of all... told me I only need to lose 1 kg more in total!! On a very buoyant cloud 9... super motivated again!

日本、 がんばって！ (Japan, Hang in There!)

So our wedding prep has taken a backseat to global events, as we struggle to digest the massive devastation that has struck Japan - first a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the sea off the Tohoku region, followed by a powerful tsunami that obliterated towns and ports, to be finished off by the present crisis of leaking nuclear reactors in Fukushima prefecture.

We've contacted our many friends in Japan, who have all assured us that they are well apart from inconveniences like electricity rationing, but the situation remains dire in the northeast. Food is in extreme short supply, and many survivors haven't eaten or had access to clean drinking water for over 48 hours or more. Medicine is severely lacking; those available has been inundated by floodwaters or contaminated by silt and mud. The weather remains biting cold as the seasons are only just turning from winter to spring. The death toll is rapidly rising, with a huge fraction of the population of Sendai, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures missing and/or unaccounted for.

We are now focusing our energies on ways to raise funds for our fellow humans in Japan, and to think of other ways we can help those in need.

To the religious, let's keep Japan in our prayers. To the humanists, freethinkers and agnostics, let us keep Japan in our thoughts.

Regardless of their past history, the Japanese people have risen above the present disaster and proven themselves a truly united and compassionate civilisation. May the Japanese people's stoicism and determination in these difficult times be a model and reminder to all of us to be patient, charitable, caring and giving to our loved ones and all those around us, through not just the good times but especially the bad.

Time is of Essence...

... when we have 10,000 things to do on our actual wedding day! Busy now with preparing a tentative schedule for 4 Dec 2011, including pointers we need to remember, logistical issues, who is in charge of what etc.

Schedule is going to be tight! Counting on everyone's help and blessings!! =)

*snap!* *SNAP!* *snap!*

Hunting for a wedding photographer for our actual day now!

Since we're not likely to be going with a videographer (can't see ourselves plonking down on a couch and re-watching our whole wedding, or even worse, making others watch it), hopefully Mr. Photographer will be able to cobble together some express highlights of the day's events for the wedding banquet attendees! Because I'll bet the banquet peeps would love to watch how the groom-to-be and his "brothers" get bullied and fleeced by mah awesome sisters! *cue nefarious laughter* =D

Other considerations - why are wedding photographers so expen$ive in Singapore?! Is this the situation all over the world, or are we just getting hammered of our hard-earned moolah?

Other errands we need to run soon - tailor shirts for Dax, get some bling-BLING wedding shoes, pick out wedding bands, start working on miscellaneous things like picking music for the actual day etc... BUSY!

Some thoughts after the Lunar New Year

Chinese New Year just passed, and it was both a boon and bane to wedding couples.
Remember the times when you were unattached, and people kept asking you when you were getting married? Then when you got attached, and more people asked when you were getting married?

Well, when you've made your wedding announcement, things are very much different during Chinese New year. For one, the aunties are more excitable and chatty with a hundred and one things to get excited about. It's like a barrier has been broken and now they can go full scale into the process!

For me, I made use of this time to spread the news to some of the relations that we see less of. Also, this would be a good time to ask your recently-married relatives about the problems they faced, and what you should have to plan for, and stuff that you absolutely must not forget. Of course, your wedding is still your own, and whether you want this custom, or that jewellery, etc, is for you (and to some extent, your parents) to decide.

During this period, even your wedding set at the end of the year would suddenly seem to be taking place next month. Good in a way. Stress is good cos it makes one panic, and panic hopefully gets things done.

In my case, I needed that kick in the bum.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To our last Valentine's Day as singles!
Made him some special "traditional" (whatever that means...) V-day gifts of strawberries, shortbread cookies and chocolate mochi dipped in bittersweet chocolate... was fun to see his excitement and surprise at receiving it!

It was a memorable, cosy V-day for us... heartfelt, cos that's what matters most! Cos when one is in a fulfilling relationship, even walking the dog together and catching a rare sight of a night sky studded with stars is a special event... because there's someone to share that wonder with!

Remember to say "I LOVE YOU" to your dearest ones! A little reminder now and then never hurts... =)

And the Wheels are in Motion...

...as we work together towards planning more stuff for our big day!


Finally starting to feel a bit of the "fun" factor of planning our own wedding, though there are still many issues (mainly parents-related, mine not his) to iron out, but as ideas start budding and we begin thinking of how our wedding should look and feel, things are picking up!

This is especially after the fruitful session we had with the gown designer, who, the genius multi-tasking design whiz he is, managed to draw up a wedding gown for me that incorporated all my comfort requirements, Dax's ideas and requests for embellishments, as well as his own distinctive eye-catching style all in one!

Excited to see how it turns out!

Stay tuned! ;p

LaVie Wedding Gown Trial

It was an awesome experience! If you ever spent time at Tras St or Tanjong Pagar getting harassed and bullied into picking up their packages or trying their gowns, the service at LaVie is a complete U-turn!
Outstanding and friendly! We loved talking directly to Jeff the designer! Sherm's gown will be truly a one-of-a-kind and custom-made with our inputs as well!
Ohyes, it was probably a boost for Shermaine's ego when she could try the gowns right off the mannequin =D That's cos she's been working real hard 3-4x a week at the gym, and managing her diet well. Top props for the lady who is to be my wife!

Stressed!

Although it's still 11 months to our big day, I must admit to feeling pretty stressed about how things are going to turn out! There are so many things to plan for and decide on, from the choice of gown/suit to the photographer, to the locations for our Bali photoshoot, to the kind of entertainment for the wedding day itself!

Thankful for Dax and his research skills... here's to hoping we make good choices, and that our journey to 4th Dec 2011 be a smooth one... =)

The Price of Gold, aka 四点金

As preparations of the wedding continue, there has always been one thing that I've been keeping track of very closely, and that is the price of Gold.



As an FX analyst by profession, one of the things I write commentaries on is about Gold. Everyday, I'm charting the movements, and putting down my expectations on where I think it will go next. As most of you may know, Gold has been setting all-time highs for the past few months. There has never been a time in history where Gold has been more expensive than now.

What does that mean for the groom-to-be? Well, it just means his wedding will be that little bit more expensive. In traditional Teochew weddings, the "四点金" (or 4 items of gold) is a traditional requirement of the family of the bride. The groom's mother should present these 4 items of gold to the bride. This is an assurance to the bride that she will always have a roof (or rather 4 roofs) over her head. Or if ever there are monetary woes, she can always hawk it off for $$.. =P Click here for a write-up on the 4 items of gold.

As excited as my mother has been, I've been reigning in her enthusiasm to go jewelry shopping as I've been expecting the price of Gold to correct for the longest time. As of now, there are signs again of this correction happening soon. However, I no longer am as confident about that as Gold has been defying gravity, always finding strength to return to newer highs whenever the supporting lows get compromised.

Here's hoping the true correction occurs soon. I will then advise my mother to go ahead and shop for those 4 items with Shermaine. Hopefully near US$1233/ounce (no, I'm not even hoping for a crash in Gold prices).