Our Wedding Journal

Wedding Dinner (Part 1) ~ Preparation

2007-12-07T02:21:00.000-08:00

Our Honeymoon Suite

Sunday, Sunny, Our Wedding Dinner Day.

Radnam came at 11am to pick both Ben and I up to Westin. We loaded the car with bags and bags of stuff, clothes etc etc.... Mom inlaw asked Mac to follow us just incase we needed any help at the hotel.

We arrived at Westin, unloaded our stuff with the help of the bellboy and soon checked in to our beautiful honeymoon suite! We have a living room, dining hall and a room.

The bathroom inside our room beautifully decorated

Mac then unpacked all our stuff, I showed her around, made sure she had our gowns and suit placed in our room's wardrobe and shoes in the shoerack outside of the room. Ben and I took a short rest while Mac was left outside the room. Maybe I was too excited so I can't sleep at all...haha! I woke up and walked around the suit and the hotel delivered a box of chocolate and strawberries & Champagne for us.

And soon it was time for lunch, we ordered noodle for Mac and the both of us shared a plate because the last thing I want is a tummy to be revealed from my CheongSam...ahem~

After a quick lunch, I laid on the couch to write my script for that evening.

At 2.30pm, Radnam arrived to send me for Makeup. I finished the makeup at 4pm and went back to the hotel for some final arrangements and a quick rehearsal.

My family arrived, my sisters have done with their makeups and my mom and mother inlaw came to our room and started their makeups whilst I was away. Soon, my cousins and aunties also arrived at the room. Ben brought them to their day use room.

Ben did some final check on the arrangements, met with the wedding coordinator and asked the florist to add more petals all around the pre-dinner cocktail and registration table. Met up with Fiona's team and Peter's team.

As the clock was ticking, everyone got ready and my sister's bfs helped transferred and setup the registration area with the laptops and our photo albums. I also made sure the wishes cards were handed over to the banquet managers to be placed at the dedicated tables. Everything was a go!

Guests started arriving and whhooromm~~~ everyone left the room and I was left alone with butterflies in my stomach walking in and out of the suit dont' know what to do.....haha! Ben will give me a call when it's time for me to appear....that's when the guests are all settled down in the banquet hall.

Yin and ling called and they wanted to come to the suit and have a look! Perfect! at least I have some companion! ^-^ They helped me into the gown and we took some photos. Pat came up to get me ready, I did some touchups and the phone was already ringing. ^0^ nervous nervous....
Sis accompanied me down as she has to hold my gown's tail.

三朝回门

2007-12-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, the day before my wedding dinner, Ben and I went back to my parent's house. A newly wed bride is supposed to return to her own house on the 3rd day. It's called 三朝回门 in chinese, though I don't know what is it called in English. The newly weds are supposed to present tea for the new Father and mother inlaws too.

After brunch, I went to wash my hair and returned to KL.

I did a final confirmation on the seating arrangments as I received a call my dad about a last min changes. Also packed everything and made sure I have everything to be brought with me for tomorrow's dinner, e.g. Gown, Suit, Shoes, Heels, Photo Album, Wishes Card, Big Photo, Computers, etc etc.

Finally I sent Westin the table arrangements and layout to be enlarged and to be posted at the pre-dinner cocktail area. My cousin called me saying that they need a room to change to that they can come down earlier to do some shoppings. So I booked another room for my mom to stay overnight.

Everything was set and that's it! Tomorrow will be the long awaited and long planned Wedding Dinner of Ben & Pauline!

The day after my wedding day...

2007-12-07T01:12:00.000-08:00

On the next day, 090307 (Friday), there were still a couple of check list to prepare for our wedding dinner on Sunday the 11th.

~ Ben and I woke up late morning and the first thing we did was to greet my new father & mother in law with a cup of tea. Mom reminded me so many times to make sure I do that.

~ Later, we sent few boxes of candles we bought from Ikea to Westin to be used as the table decors. The candle will be placed in the middle of our flowers decors.

~ We then went to OneU and collected my GuoDaLi's photo printouts.
~ Collected my new pair of sunglasses for our honeymoon
~ Bought an international adapter
~ Dropped by at our wedding studio to collect the DVD, was returned because they did some minor mistake.
~ Cut CD/Song for Montages & Walk in songs
~ Final confirmation of seating arrangements which took me few hours
~ Pat dropped by to help my mother in law try on her night gown

The Garden Buffet

2007-12-06T02:00:00.001-08:00

On that very night, we organized a Garden buffet at our house, inviting close friends and family. Ben was terribly tired and he dozed off almost instantly. I was extremely hungry and went down for some food and chatted with some friends who're still around. I'm sure my mother inlaw was extremely worned out but she had to stay up to entertain her friends who're staying over for mahjong.

The Mahjong session

After a few hours of naps, we woke up at about 6+pm and started getting ready as the guests started arriving. I put on my own makeup and luckily my hair still stays after that few hours of nap. My parents arrived from Seremban, my sisters, my friends and mostly my parent in law's friends and family.

The food catered from Ben's high school mate was very good! Everyone including my parents can't stop complimenting the quality and the taste of the food. The roasted Lamb was on high demand and the whole lamb was finished as soon as the buffet started! Everyone was just queuing and waiting for the guy to cut them a piece of meat! haha! The Garden wedding was very nicely done, with waiters, nice decos of center piece, table clothes and etc, plus it wasn't a very hot day luckily!

The Delicious Food Spread

The Roasted Lamb

The table decos

Eventhough we didn't have much chance to eat because we were busy miggling around with the guests, it was a joyful evening~! Look at the photos :)

The Parents

Brother - Johnathan

The Queue for Roasted Lamb

Let the party behind!

MIL's Friends & my manicurist

MIL's sisters

My Family

Ivy & Kiran

Winnie & Vera

MIL's cousin sister & husband

Jasmin

Pre-Wedding Albums time

Chris & Erin

Wedding Day! (Part 6) ~ Into the Bridal Room

2007-12-05T23:36:00.000-08:00

It's time for some Family Photos session :)
Glad that Fiona was patient enough because the house was really full with people and they keep opening the white sliding door just besides where we're taking our photos...:P

She came to Ben's house a few days back to survey and recommend spot to take our family photos.

The Yee Family

My Mother-in-law's Family

My Father-in-law's Family

My mother in law's Mahjong Kakis

Going up to the bridal room

Removing the Veil & Jackets

Wedding Day! (Part 5) ~ The Groom's Side Tea Ceremony

2007-12-05T01:06:00.000-08:00

Photos Compilation of the Tea Ceremony at Ben's house ^0^

Wedding Day! (Part 4) ~ To the groom's house

2007-11-22T21:54:00.000-08:00

As it's very important to pray to your anchestors, we made a quick stop at my Grandpa's old house to pay our respects to my anchestors before we head on our journey's to Ben's house.

I was a little worried that some of the cars who's following us may get lost as it's not very near to travel from my house to my Grandpa's old house. Fortunately, everything was smooth and after a quick pray, off we go to the Groom's house!

At Grandpa's old house, sis is still trying to make sure I look the prettiest every sec of the day...;)

With a slight jam on the way, we managed to arrive on time at about 11am not missing the auspicious hour. I was feeling more and more nervous as the car drives closer to Ben's house. I kept thinking if there'll be any chance for me to drop by for a quick toilet break. I also need to touch up my face to not look so oily, but I left my powder with my fren. Luckily she managed to arrive before me, and before the bridal car drives into the long drive way, I managed to get the powder and touch up before I need to go down the car. ^-^

Dennis' baby boy, Lucas Mok was the one opening the bridal car door for us. After giving angpow, hand in hand, we walked into the house with Ben's relatives, my relatives..alot alot standing outside the house to greet us! It was overwhelming....Inside the house, all Ben's parents frens were already there, filling the whole house with cheers and laughters! While my 2 sisters were busy making sure all their assigned 'tasks' were executed, incl. my angpows, gifts, my wedding album, my gown :)

Walking towards the house

Entering to Ben's house full of laugthers & cheers!

Time for prayers again before we begin the Tea Ceremony at the Groom's place. The tea ceremony was again full of joy and fun with all the new names. Ben's grandmom held our hands showering us with lotsa auspicious greetings! The tea ceremony also includes my mother in law's friends as they were so close as if it was their own son who's marrying.

Prayers~

From Grandma

My new inlaws! Father & Mummy!

Brother in law - Johnathan

Felicia who did a video call from Melbourne for she was unable to make it

Wedding Day! (Part 3) ~ The Bride's Side Tea Ceremony

2007-11-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

Photos Compilation of the Tea Ceremony at My house ^0^

Wedding Day! (Part 2) ~ At the Bride's place

2007-08-23T04:30:00.001-07:00

We then walked out from the room, and started praying.

After which, we were supposed to eat this 'Tong Shui' to symbolize that we live happily ever after w full of sweetness! We exchanged and fed each other too..have to also be extremely elegant when I eat that Tong Shui....because of the wedding gown and the makeup, ....and and the fact that so many eyes are on me......hahaha!

There you come, the tea ceremony and it's just so funny to start calling father, mother....etc etc, for Ben la. Our "Dai Kum Jie" did a very good job too, pouring us with lotsa auspicious greetings!

And I must say it feels good to sit down when it's someone else's turn to serve you tea....my 2 sisters that is! Still remember the previous night, I wanted to prepare something different, to write a short msg to show how much I appreciate their help but they were just too busy going in and out of the room, it took me awhile to complete the little piece of msg slipped inside the angpow to them.

Then it's turn for photos sessions! ^0^

The immediate Wong Family

The extened Wong Family

Sisters and bfs

JiMui & HengDai's Group Photo

After all the photos sessions, we were still on time. My dad used a red umbrella (this is also according to the chinese tradition) to bring me to the wedding car. Many asked me if I was emotional then, but frankly, I was too overwhelemed that I barely feel anything, let alone being emotional....ermmm~

This was our wedding car borrowed from A. June together w the driver ^-^

The Wedding Day! (Part 1) ~ Preparation & Fetching of Bride

2007-03-08T07:11:00.000-08:00

I woke up at 5am today. AhOne, my makeup artist reached at 5.30 and Fiona, my photographer reached at 5.40am. My friend John also reached at 5+ for some shooting experience. Everything was on time!

As I was busy getting ready for my big day, sis, couz and my friends came extremely early and helped out with the games to torture the groom and his brothers. Dad & Mom were busy with the prayers with the help of our Sifu.

Ben got up extremely early too and have gathered all his brothers to depart at the break of day.

Ben and his brothers reached my house at about 9am. Christine and Ling helped out with my gown the very last min as they were playing games outside the house. My heart beats faster and faster, getting more and more excited as I hear the laugher and voice slowly approaching to my room. Special breakfast & juices, Yoga before they are allowed to enter the house.

After that, Ben was requested to sing a song! He sang it so well, I wish you love which both of us like so much! He even changed the lyrics, caught with suprise, I can't stopped laughing inside the room. He even ended the song with "So with your best, your very best, please let me in..~~~~" !!! Such a creative husband! ahem~

Ling suddenly asked, Pauline, aren't you suppose to put on your shoes? Yes!!!! Where's my bridal shoe!? Mom and sis were running around, looking high and low for my shoe, but at the end, I had to put on my sis shoe.... HAHA! Luckily it's white and it's new!

Before letting him in, the last hurdle will be choosing 3 chinese characters mean I Love You (Wo Ai Ni). He managed to do that with the help of the brothers...haha instead of 'Zhao Shou Nin'. =P

And Ben was let in to my room...^0^

Wedding day Eve

2007-03-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

Sis and I reached home at 10am+, after breakfast, I pampered myself on a 2 hours massage while Porsch & Dad prepares the food and etc for the dinner later that night.

Headed home for a short nap right after the massage. As I was then helping Dad on some decos, my nails broke!!! OUch~ Luckily Mom and Pat were at a manicurist and I went there to get my nails redone.

After that Pat and I popped to the opposite salon for a hair wash.

We reached home at 6pm after withdrawing money for tomorrow's Angpow. We had a small family and close friends gathering that night. Didn't take a lot of photos though....

Last minute check list

2007-03-06T06:46:00.000-08:00

Today's to do list:
1) Printed out the maps, wedding day schedules and games
2) Collected my wedding gown
3) Collected the DVD photo montages

Suppose to return home today but I was just too worned out.

Favors for brothers & sisters

2007-03-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

I met up with my senior over the weekend and she reminded me about the favors for my brothers and sisters. Ouch~! Almost forgotten about it..

Wanting to do something special rather than just flowers on the wrist, I've been shopping around One U & Mid Valley to see what will be the best favors and due to the shortage of time, over lunch, after work...and etc. Finally I saw this very beautiful female and male bears dressed in their wedding gowns and suits. Isn't it just Perfect?! But they didn't have that many bears for my bro and sis...so sad!

I continued to explore till I found a florist with almost the same bears minus the wedding gowns and suits...and I found an idea where I can customize!!! Here it is!

And after the personal touch - B&P added with a fabric pen!

Female bear to be tied to my sisters wrists and male bear to be attached to their shirts. I finished these the very night before I have to return to my hometown the next day!

Meeting the Manicurist

2007-03-01T08:44:00.000-08:00

My soon to be mother-in-law got me a manicurist. I met up with her today at our house to choose the design I want. Both of us went through the books, glanced through thousands and thousands of nails design....It's amazing what can be done on your little finger nails!

This is the design I chose, simple one...

Fixing bed ceremony

2007-03-01T08:39:00.000-08:00

Bed fixing was fast and Ben's mom was reading a list of auspicious greetings from a piece of paper, all good words and best wishes for the both of us as they were fixing the bed for us. As we're not buying new bed, we're just putting on new bedsheet, a really red and traditional bedsheet.

Ben's mom called a friend's grandson over for the jumping bed ceremony too!

And this is the thing that I have to bring to Ben's house during the 办嫁妆ceremony.

Prayers to Anchestors

2007-03-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

Today, we took leave for a prayer to show respect to my anchestors. The prayers took us a couple of hours and then we had to rush back for the Bed fixing ceremony.

Collection of outdoor album

2007-02-28T08:40:00.000-08:00

During lunch time today, we met up with Fiona at OneU to collect our Outdoor photo album. Chose this gold thai silk cover over the phone with her. Besides, we also went through some details of the wedding day and dinner, sequence and etc.

Distributing of roast pork and wedding biscuits

2007-02-27T08:45:00.000-08:00

Sis and Dad got ready and packed the wedding biscuits and roast pork to be delivered to our relatives as soon as Ben left our house. Dad & Mom wanted to deliver the pork to ensure its freshness.

We first went to my uncle's company and the bulk of it got distributed there itself. Then we headed to my grandpa's old house, few close friend's place, relatives, from Senawang to seremban town, to Rasah then Rasah Jaya. Mom was so excited that she asked Dad to pull over and stopped at the hair salon she always visit in order to pass them some wed biscuits. haha! We also stopped by Ling's place.

After dinner, sis and I headed back to KL and we were totally worned out!

Sending of gifts ceremony 过大礼

2007-02-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

Porsche drove Pat and I back on Monday evening after work, we reached home pretty early that evening so we had dinner with Mom. Went home and did some final preparation for tomorrow's sending of gift ceremony.

It's 10am in the morning, Ben, Aunty Mok and Joe together with Teck Weng and Dennis came in 2 cars delivering the gifts. We welcomed them at the gate while they slowly unload all the beautifully wrapped and decorated gifts.

It includes things like wedding biscuits, wedding joystick, gold ink coated coconut, fruits, wines, not forgetting the whole roast piggie! All wrapped in red paper and then decorated with double happiness ribbon around.

It's now time for Ben to pass my parents the 'Dowry'. hehe look at my Mom....

Then it's prayers time! I had to carry basket after basket of gifts to pray, half way through it, my hand was literally shaking as the basket of fruits are so so extremely heavy. After prayers at my house, we headed to grandpa's old house for the anchestor prayers. This is part of the ceremony as the roast pig was meant for the anchestors.

It finishes past lunch hour and all of us, exhausted and starved had the famous Hakka noodle and all of them packed 30 packets of noodles! wow! hahaha....then we headed back home and a. mok was helping my mom to sort out things that needs to be returned to Ben's mom.

It's the moment everyone have been waiting for....the roast pig cutting time! haha! We have Teck weng to help us with it. Everyone enjoyed it!

Mom then placed the Angpow and a pants she bought for Ben, it's called the Son-in-laws pants 女婿裤 in between the pig's head and tail to be returned to Ben's parents.

More photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/paulinewongwy/WeddingCeremony

Collection of Indoor album

2007-02-24T08:34:00.000-08:00

There's a little pot luck organized by Ben's mom and we spent the whole day hanging around with families and friends. About 4pm, we said goodbye to everyone and headed off to collect our Indoor wedding album.

2 big album and one SUPER big photo frame!!! Almost shocked ourselves when we see ourselves blew up so big in the photo. "Make sure we don't scare ourselves when we wake up at night", I told Ben. haha!

RSVP

2007-02-23T08:35:00.000-08:00

This week, everyone is busy calling their guests. Ben's parents, my parents and Us. We tried to make it more personalized by calling each and everyone to check if they can attend the dinner after sending our invitation card since no one actually rsvp-ed. Not even one email have we received in our us@benandpauline.com mailbox.

It's almost done and most of them have said that they're definitely showing up but our wedding dinner coordinator tells us to only expect 80% from the total who have rsvp-ed. Let's see.

Wedding gown

2007-02-10T08:31:00.001-08:00

My dream wedding gown?! It keeps crossing my mind, a bride with an ok~ wedding gown, not like a gown of her dream.... how can?!

As I was discussing with my sis over MSN, she sent me a pic of her Korean friend who just got married and tailored made her gown. I thought it was soooo pretty and after finding out the studio, Ben and I visited the wedding gallery the very next day. I even dreamt about it the very night.....! haha!

And her friend is definitely skinny, even with my weight lose to 47 kg, it still won't fit me!!! hmmmm...... besides, the price and the fitting doesn't meet my expectation either.... So we went back to our wedding gallery as I also suddenly realized I can use the wedding gown which I took photo with. yea! why not! that's also inline with our gold bronzy wedding theme.

After negotiation, we finally won! Rented this designer gown without any extra charges...yay!

Makeup!

2007-02-09T02:28:00.000-08:00

The first thing I look at is my makeup when we preview our outdoor beach shoots. I remembered it didn't amaze me when I looked at myself in the mirror but it could just be I'm still not used to such heavy make up, I consoled myself. But the photo proves me right. I don't like how I look in the photos.

So I had to make a decision now, to discuss with the makeup artist for improvements or simply hire another one.... Looking at the photos, I like the makeup from the indoor shoots. Trusting my own decision, I went ahead with the indoor makeup artist! The only draw back is that I have to be at his place for my makeup on the wedding dinner, besides, I have to start my makeup at 3pm in the afternoon. Can't help wondering if it'll last till the wedding ends. I can only hope for the best as he's already booked on that day....

Fingers cross! I'm hoping for the best!!!

Sample album

2007-02-07T02:29:00.000-08:00

Guess what! I received a phone call from the wedding studio and they've decided to use our prewedding photos as a sample. Frankly, I was immediately flattered! keke! They're giving us an extra 10R photo as a token of appreciation.

Florist

2007-02-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

Went to Westin again to meetup with the appointed florist. We first went through photos of their decos, the designs are really nice! but expensive! We've also decided not to spend so much on the flower decos as the existing Westin ballroom is speak for itself. Hence we're sticking within what's inclusive in the package. One elaborated center piece for the main table and smaller center piece for the guest tables.

We've chosen a golden yellowish rose which has to be specially ordered to be inline with our golden theme. I'm so glad that they have such a color and no additional charges. haha! We then went through a couple of designs, and decided to add a little more for the design I like for the main table center piece. And a little extra money for the flower petals on the guest tables.

Satisfied with the arrangement, kept within the budget. At least that's way cheaper than engaging a decorator we initially had planned for =)

Holiday today! Vivien at Westin

2007-02-01T02:28:00.000-08:00

It's a holiday today so we've scheduled a meetup to go through some final details with Vivien at the Westin Hotel. We ran through the entire Banquet Event Order (BEO) which consists of all the details about the wedding, from the entrance setup, program, cocktail to the table decos and the no. of candles on the guest's tables. Everything has been sorted out, except a couple of things pending confirmation on our end ie. No. of Wines/hard liquor, Date of delivery, confirmation on the no. of tables and etc.

We've also setup appointment with their inhouse florist - Wishing Tree to go through the details on the flower arrangements.

Wedding gown fitting

2007-01-29T06:14:00.000-08:00

After checking out from Guoman, we rushed back to our 3pm appointment with the Bridal studio for my wedding gown fitting. This time for my wedding day and wedding dinner. We glanced through countless number of gowns but I simply can't find any gown to my liking!

I recalled one designer gown I've tried the last time and thought it looks gorgeous. After describing how it looks like, the representative managed to find it. Everyone were happy with the gown but unfortunately it has been reserved for another bride for the SAME wedding day! What a co-incident!?

Left with no choice, we continue browing through, including the designer range. We saw one quite ok gown but the price that we have to top up just doesn't make sense! We were trying hard to negotiate for I'm only taking one wedding gown, no suit for Ben, no evening gown for myself.

At last, we found an ok gown, still not the perfect gown I've always dreamed of but.....................

Official launch of BenandPauline.com

2007-01-29T03:34:00.000-08:00

After collecting soft copy of our pre-wedding photos, I spent a tremendous hours sitting infront of the computer putting up this website in full flash. It's extremely hard for a person who has no knowledge on Flash to even edit the template I bought...

But the end result is worth it every suffering..~Check it out at http://www.benandpauline.com/

Pre wedding shoot at Guoman PD

2007-01-28T06:13:00.000-08:00

It's a Sunday today, early in the morning I dashed off for a hairwash at the same time, straighten my hair. It's a beach shoot today so straight hair should portray a more casual feel rather than my curly locks (you know wind blows and all....keke!). Moreover, I can't stand with my hairstyle which is out of style now, just waiting for my wedding to be over to cut it short! =P

After my hairdo and a quick tapao chicken rice (my fav chicken rice shop), we took off to PD from Seremban at about 1+. Reached Guoman PD at about 2+ and the makeup artist and gang were already sitting at the lobby. We quickly checked in and got ourselves ready and the makeup started.

Our shooting started at about 3+ , 4. The gang was extremely helpful and we thought the shooting session was full of joy and fun! Striking different poses was just so fun! Fiona made me ran towards Ben, jump on Ben, both of us swinging each other, running on the coast, slow walk, piggy back and the pinky fights! haha!!!! The gang was extremely helpful for we forgot to bring flowers with us!!! They actually plucked a nice bunch of white flowers from I don't know where for us; and it was sooo nice! The makeup gang actually stayed on cause I insisted not to tie my hair up and the veil can't stay strong. It keeps falling off! She had to pint it over and over again....=P The gang also helped holding my veil and ran as fast as they could when Fiona snaps!

No more scolding this time round. Hmm...I think we became pro posers, Fiona just can't stop saying we're both good at posing. We will literally stay there till she says 'cut'! kaka!

Later, I changed into my little white bikini and Ben into his board shorts baring his upper body....sexy! *boink ^-^ A few spashing water shoots and I changed to a short white dress to continue with the dusk shoots.

Definitely a fun experience! Highly recommended!

Last min shopping for PD shoot

2007-01-26T06:13:00.000-08:00

So this is it! 2 days later is our final pre-wedding shoot by the beach, the long awaited shooting. During lunch, I grabbed a quick bite of a Egg Mayo sandwich and started all our last min shopping for the shoot. As Ben was having an extrememly busy day, hence I was on my own. First, getting a white T-shirt and a board shorts for Ben as the photographer also suggested some more casual shoots. While I've got my white bikini prepared before hand, we can't help thinking that it maybe too obscene hence I also bought myself a white shorts just in case.

After work, I indulged myself with a french manicure and pedicure while waiting for Ben to pick me up from work.

Distributing wedding invitations

2007-01-24T06:12:00.000-08:00

This is a full week with scheduled meet ups with friends back to back. Almost every evening after work, we'll be meeting up someone e.g. my ex-colleagues, our ex-colleauges, high school friends etc etc to distribute our wedding invitation card. It's tiring but it's a happy process to be meeting up with everyone and spreading the news of our marriage ^^

Our meetup was at Pelita Bangsar, Naili's cafe at DU, Little Penang Cafe at The curve, a chinese restaurant at Jln Ipoh etc. During our trip back to Sban, I also visited 2 other high school frens and Ben's ex-colleague at Central HK cafe.

Videographer II

2007-01-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

Today after work at about 8.30pm, we met up with another photographer which was recommended by the soon be appointed emcee/event coordinator. He's a freelancer but recommendations and track records proven that he can provide a quality deliverables with a more affordable price.

During the meeting, although I didn't know anything about videographer, I just asked la....what sort of model of videocamera are you using, how many people will be deployed on the day... and so on. We posted a few requests and he's flexible enough to include it in the package some with minimal charges and some without any charges! Incl a 2 hours videographing at Ben's house on the 8th at a small dinner gathering. kewl~

When I asked for his portfolio, he promised to drop it at our house the next day!

Meeting with the emcee/wedding coordinator

2007-01-22T06:11:00.000-08:00

Before the confirmation to hire the emcee, we've decided to first meetup with him for an 'Interview'. So today after work, we've scheduled to meet up at One Utama. During the meeting, we basically ran through the schedule and every details of what will happen during the wedding dinner. He gave us a very good overall understanding of what to expect and also how he usually manages the weddings.

It's great meeting up with him in person, to know exactly how he looks like (as he look somewat more matured than his photo on his website =P) and listening to how he manages and handles the wedding and most importantly how he speaks.

His package is quite good, incl a 2+1 piece band, emcee and an wedding coordinating services. So at least we as the host will have some professional to guide as when to do what without appearing too blur. haha!

Cheongsam fitting

2007-01-21T05:54:00.000-08:00

Today it's our turn for fitting, both Ben's mom and myself. My mom purposely came down to take a look of the cheongsam. I look extremely stunning in the gorgeous piece cheongsam, need I say....=D The tailor did some further adjustment based on my figure and said that I've lose weight it seems.

He even gave me a quick and instand grooming lesson, teaching me how I should walk, sit and even turn elegantly to match the cheongsam. hahahaha! A very satisfying piece of work I must say!

Suit fitting

2007-01-20T05:48:00.000-08:00

Ben went for his 1st suit fitting today. Brought along his belt, black shoes and tie for a whole complete fitting. The suit looks perfect on him, very smart and handsome! =P Just a little adjustment here and there, esp stressing on the waist to be reduced by one size as he's confident that he'll lose weight by then. hehe!

Pre-wedding photo touchup

2007-01-17T05:59:00.000-08:00

Today after work, Ben and I met Pat and Alvin at the wedding studio to go through the pre-wedding photos double checking on the touch up made as per our comments.

We've confirmed on the spot all the photos, selected the photo album cover, photo frames. Pat also tried on some gown hoping to rent a piece of simple evening gown from the studio but unfortunately, those gowns are just not our cup of tea.

Videographer

2007-01-15T05:37:00.000-08:00

Based on the recommendation from my cousin, we visited the videographer that she hired at their studio. She first showed us their portfolio, incl the short clip of the wedding day and wedding dinner then the full version of each sessions.

Some of the videos even have a private interview session to talk about their upbringing, their families and the feeling towards each other. Others consist of the cliched growing up to dating photo montage.

We had a somewat different idea since the photo montage comes with the package. That is to compile a photos throughout the preparation of the entire wedding. From the wedding registration to our return from honeymoon which is about one year!!! Wooohooooo......~~~

Food tasting

2007-01-14T02:26:00.000-08:00

On 12th Jan (Friday), we arranged for a food tasting at the Westin Hotel. We arrived the last after picking up Patricia from her workplace; Porsche didn't join us that night. All of them, my parents, ben's parents and 3 of their friends were already there. The hotel reserved the Straits Board Room for the food tasting. There were even notice board put in place outside the door and at the entrance of the lift which read 'Private Dinner hosted by Benjamin and Pauline'. We felt honoured!

We were first greeted by the Sales representative and she presented us with a feedback form asking for our feeback based on each dish served. So there we go, started the 8 course fusion dinner.

We took photos of all the dishes, was tempted to post it but I think I should remain it as a suprise for you! (",) The dinner was a good one! We were all amazed by the taste of the food, the presentation and the generosity of the shark fins, seriously! During the reviewing session with the chef, everyone gave their comments.

Ben's parents who have been to 3 wedding food tastings prior said that food tasting is always far better than the actual dinner. We pointed this out hoping that they'll try to maintain the same standard as tonight. We felt delighted with their assurance that it'll be of the same standard! Let's see ^^

After the food tasting, we went to the ballroom to have a look since both our parents have yet to view the ballroom.

Confirming our honeymoon trip

2007-01-13T02:25:00.000-08:00

And YES! After the long researching and comparing, we've finally made up our mind and signed up for our Honeymoon to the romantic Europe! Went to the tour agent and went through the details on places we'll be visiting again!

So here we come, Paris - Switzerland - Germany - Holland - Belgium and England! Yes lotsa countries to cover in 10 days..... ^-^ But that's just the way we like it to be....as long as we're with each other.

Thanks to Ben's parents who's our sponsor! ^0^

Making the suit

2007-01-13T01:23:00.000-08:00

Today we first visited SparksMen's shop in Bangsar to enquire about Ben's tailor-made black suit. Later visited Classmen's shop in Lucky garden, after comparison, we placed an order with Classmen's shop.

Ben's mom seems expert enough to pick up a suitable cloth, very very black wool and later we were advised by the tailor on the style. Ben also wanted a tailor-made white shirt and we found an excellent piece of white cloth! He also requested his initials to be sewed onto the shirt - BY.

After taking down the measurements and confirming on some small details, the suit will be ready in a week's time for first fitting.

Invitation Card

2007-01-13T01:22:00.000-08:00

Our invitation card is out and everyone, Ben's parents, my parents, Ben and myself have started the calling, writting, posting and meeting up process to give out the invitation card. A little incident is that we under-estimated the no. of cards needed or rather the printer under estimated the cards that we need. Re-printing of another batch is not possible hence we went ahead with a different design, but it's still nice ^-^

Preparation for engagement ceremony 过大礼

2007-01-12T02:04:00.000-08:00

Ben's mom have been buying 2 days in a row, for all the things needed on the chinese engagement ceremony on the 27th Feb including bed sheet, pyjamas, bed light, potty, slippers, charcoal, tea pot, roast pork and etc. Thanks to her friend who has been a great help accompanying and voluntering to be the 'official' consultant of this event. Consultant for both mothers, incl my mom. She'll represent ben's mom delivering those things over to my house too.

My mom is sooo reliefed that all the necessary things have been bought and settled by Ben's mom, and all she has to do is just to pay her.

The amount for wedding biscuits have also been confirmed. My mom was so nervous when Ben's mom called her one morning for the amount. She had to call me and i had to call my friends to ask for the norm. haha!

What is...

2007-01-10T02:47:00.000-08:00

During the preparation process, I can't help wondering why are we doing a certain things e.g. Honeymoon, distributing biscuits and etc. How was it originated anyways?

Refer to my little 'Definitions' corner.

2 more months!

2007-01-09T02:49:00.000-08:00

It has finally getting to us that our wedding it's just 2 months away! At a blink of an eye, we'll be outside the weddingdinner hall waiting to march into the our dinner. My heart beats faster everytime this moment flashes through. OK! I started visualizing again..... .....

So it looks like we've got most of the things sorted out but I spoke to a goddaugther of my aunt who's a wedding planner and got to know that we're behind schedule! Ouch! It's like a wakeup call for me. okok! what has not been sorted out are...

1) My invitation card is still printing in progress
2) Guest list not finalized yet (she said this is ok, it's still changing till the last min)
3) Emcee
4) Band
5) Videography vendor
6) Pre-wedding photos (1 done, another one to go); we've yet to collect the 1st pre-wedding photos
7) Assigning roles and responsibilities e.g. Usher, drink coordinator, etc (which I have quickly assigned my sisters to be sole responsible and requested a draft schedule of the wedding day and wedding dinner to be submitted to me by this Friday...(",)
8) Makeup Artist!
9) My cheong same is still in the making
10) Wedding shoe!

OMG! I'm stopping here, I'll faint and never get to post this message if I continue with the list...
She also said ideally everything should be sorted out 1 month prior to the wedding, and the last month I should only concentrate on how to indulge myself with manicure, pedicure, facial, massages...etcc. Which means - I have exactly one more month to get all the pending items sorted out.

The planning continues

2007-01-05T01:55:00.001-08:00

Our honeymoon planning and research is still on going. Yes and we're going to Europe, but which part of Europe are we covering exactly? Hm....Some ppl say it's not recommended to do a touch N go kinda tour and some will say for 1st timer to Europe, it's better to do an introductory tour covering the major destinations of Europe; some will say you shouldn't join those hectic scheduled tour for a honeymoon........ hmmm....we've got those points and thankyou =) So I guess it boils down to what you want at the end of the day...

Research after research, from the local travel agencies like Holiday Tours, Reliances, GTT, Summit, UdaraTravels and Excellence Holidays to the global travel agencies like Trafalgar and Cosmos we have studied. Decision on whether we should do London - Paris - Rome or Italy - Switzerland - Paris - London or Paris - Rome yadda yadda yadda.... Trying every possible ways to stretch our money by exentending our stays, maybe some Free & Easy at the end of the tour... or maybe purchasing some cheap fares and board some local tour there... etc etc.

We can take Eurostar if the trip ends in Paris to London; or maybe go on a sleeper train to London if the tour ends in Rome; Some tour we've came across even stops at Milan, hmm and we can take the EasyJet over the London..... mixing and matching every possible ways.

And it's so nice of our ex-colleague, or shall I say current colleague who's working with IBM UK to offer us a place to stay during our stay in London! We can't thank you enough! So yes we'll be extending a few days in London just to recover from the forseeable hectic schedule during the tour across Europe.

Oh ... Have I mention we've made up our mind with the tour package covering Paris - Switzerland - Germany - Holland - Belgium and England. Yea! I can't wait! I think we've made a wise choice by combining both relaxing and hectic kinda honeymoon. Don't tell me otherwise.

Engaging Band & Emcee

2007-01-03T00:10:00.000-08:00

I've obtained a list of entertainers for the wedding dinner from Westin. We're looking for a band and an emcee for that night. Compared prices and this Alan guy seems to be quite good. Spoke to him on the phone once and he seems to know what he's doing and he has a package for Band, Emcee, Planner and basically the Single point of contact for that night.

I'm quite comfortable for he assured that he'll make sure everything happens smoothly, including the program for the night, coordination with the hotel, coordination with the kitchen and so on.....

Visited his website and listened to some of his songs, seems not bad too! He's giving us a 2+1 piece band consists of 1 Keyboardist, 1 Vocalist who's a Philipino and a Saxophonist who himself will be. He'll also be the emcee for the day. Have discussed this with Ben's parents and they seem to be quite satisfied with his work after reviewing his testimonial and sample music from the website. Will have to consult my dad on this too...

Preparing for beach shoot

2006-12-30T22:18:00.000-08:00

There're still a couple of little details here and there which needs to be done for our beach shoot. Yes the gowns are ready, white shirt is ready, I've just got my 5 metres veil collected.

I suddenly got an idea to have a picnic feeling and we bought a white rug and are thinking to bring along 2 wine glasses. I've even got my white bikini prepared! Don't ask me what's that for... ahem~~~

What's pending now? Ben's white shorts, white T-shirt, Lilies and I think that's about it. Or Is It?

Guoman, PD

2006-12-30T00:06:00.000-08:00

Due to some unforseen circumstances, we have decided to call off the Penang trip and swift our beach shoots to PD. ^-^

We started off with some research on the Internet and found that Guoman Hotel PD seems to be the next best choice after Avillion (since Avillion will never permit photo taking there). After gathering info on its location and some directions on how to get there, Ben and I together with my Mom took a short trip to the beach resort. It's about less than one hour drive from Seremban using the highway where we arrived right in the middle of Teluk Kemang. After about 10 mins drive, the hotel is on our right.

Entering the hotel's premises, we're glad that it was as advertised! ^-^ Headed straight to the beach, pass by the landscaped garden and it seems like a good place for photographs. I then got in touched in the PR department to double confirm the permission to take photos at their premises.

Communicated with our photographer and made a reservation with the hotel.

And I'm terribly sorry I can't make it to Penang to meet up with you girls!

Pearl Pendant

2006-12-27T23:56:00.001-08:00

I received a very lovely Pearl Pendant from my sister Porsche as my wedding gift bought during her trip to Chiang Mai! Thanks dear sis! ^-^

Planning for honeymoon

2006-12-27T23:33:00.000-08:00

We've been thinking to go Europe every since we started the discussion - "Where should we go for our honeymoon?". Yes! Touring Europe is definitely an ideal place for us as we always think it's a romantic place to be at esp for newly weds. One major concern is $$..haha we're not too sure if we'll have enough cash for the trip as the exchange rate is a killer!

We started scouting around to check out the tour rate. Dropped by Summit Holidays one day (the one we went with during the Korea trip) but it wasn't open =(. We tried Holiday Tours and they referred us to the tarfalgar's tour. We took home the entire Touring Europe booklet which outlines all different types of tours covering different places with different type of experiences. The agency told us it's best to purchase our package during the next Matta fair to get a 10% discounts! ^-^

On the day when Ben's mom is leaving for Melbourne, she passed us a newspaper cutting with some tour details from Reliance; coincidently my mom also asked me to refer to the same advertisement. We'll be dropping by Reliance in OneU one day for further enquires.

Food Tasting @ The Westin

2006-12-26T22:29:00.000-08:00

113 (Jan 13) is Ben's mom's birthday, no celebration but we're planning for our food tasting at the Westin on the 12th Jan. 13th Jan isn't available for food tasting as the chef and the catering executive will be away for a company get away.

and yea! After the initial deposit, dad also paid up for the 2nd deposit and I've signed with my credit card to accumulate enrich miles so that we can upgrade to business class during our honeymoon trip. wahaha!

Doing up my house @ Sban

2006-12-25T23:18:00.000-08:00

On the other hand, my parents are also preparing for the wedding and planning to do up the house abit like re-painting the exterior of the house, changing the carpet, curtains, ceiling fan and tiling the kitchen floor.

When I was back home this weekend, all of us went round shopping but unfortunately it was Christmas day hence not many shops were open. We finally dropped by Jusco @ S2 and sorted out the curtains.

1st draft of invitation is ready

2006-12-23T22:28:00.000-08:00

We dropped by the printers today to take a look at the 1st draft. A little amendments here and there and after another round of confirmation, it's good to go. So watch out for our red bomb!

Re-painting the house

2006-12-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

Ben's parents started re-painting for the entire house, interior and exterior to prepare for the wedding and also the coming CNY. However, we're not planning to buy new furniture for our room as we'll be moving to Aussie soon. Ben just planned to change the curtain and its railing so we're actually living without a curtain for the pass couple of weeks....~ SOB

Wedding shoes

2006-12-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

Before the first pre-wedding photos session, I was shopping all around for wedding shoes. It's just so hard to find one and after asking around, one shop in BSC (Bangsar Shopping Complex) seems to be the place for tailor-made wedding shoes. Went to BSC with Ben's mom to collect her clothes and I thought the design was alright. I actually quite like a design from Nine-West but it doesn't come in white or off white.

Besides, after making the cheongsam, both my mom and Ben's mom accompanied me to shop for a red/gold matching shoes and we finally got it! A perfect match with nice cuttings I like from Aldo. ^-^ I planned to show the shoemaker this red shoe so that they can make one same pair in white.

Butterfly Cheong sam

2006-12-10T22:18:00.000-08:00

During a casual conversation with my colleague, she suggested me to put on a cheongsam for my wedding dinner. She said I'm tall and slim so I should look nice in it! I was like: Yahor, I should! Then I started telling this idea to mom and Ben's mom. During the weekend, mom came down for shopping and Ben's mom joined us. We didn't have any specific place to go hence headed to Nichii@Sungai Besi for some CNY clothes.

Then Ben suggested to go Sungai Wang, and we stopped by Butterfly! Yes Butterfly again! Ben's mom felt in love with their 3D embroidery almost instantly hence decided to tailor-make a cheong sam for me. ^0^ Consulted the designer and we decided to use red Thai silk with lace on the shoulder portion. It's not like the traditional cheongsam but this has some modern touch to it.

Ben's mom too have decided to make a top with him. A black top made of Organdy instead of Organza and a hooked-on shawl with 3D embroidery. We'll be visiting Butterfly again on the 21st Jan 2007 for our first fitting!

Settled with pre-wedding photos selection

2006-12-09T21:44:00.000-08:00

Today, ben's mom and my mom came along with us to finalize the pre-wedding photos selection. 2nd look at the photos and I thought it didn't turn out too well actually. =( Ben on the other hand, look more photogenic than me! How could a groom look better than the bride huh.....?! Spent a couple of hours there filtering the photos again. This time, we know exactly what we want!

First I created a folder and shortlisted the photos we like, then slowly drilling down to the 42 photos inclusive in the wedding album package. We were doing pretty good and finally stuck to 42 photos without any additional photos. We took only one outdoor and one evening gown, most of it comprises of shoots of our white wedding gown and the chinese costume. We especially like the shots where I was in a mermaid cut gown. We took only one family photo as we thought it was over-priced and not quite worth our while.

After shortlisting the 42 photos, we then have to decide on 21 photos to put into the big album, another 21 to be included in a smaller album and which one to be used as the album cover. One big big headache is to decide which photo goes to the extra large photo with frame, the one where newly weds usually puts on their bed top. We discussed about this for quite long as each of us have different opinion. Everyone likes the full body view where I'm in the mermaid gown. Me on the other hand doesn't quite like the background as I thought it will look out-fashioned few years down the road. The shoots of both of us were good but the background. I asked the designer if that can be changed to a white background and the answer was no! We were also looking at another shoot but both our mothers said it cuts off the head so it's not too good for FengSui. We then ended up with another shot where both of us were looking at the camera focusing on our face. I hope it doesn't look tooo overwhelmed when we blow it up! (we might scare ourselves in the middle of the night)...hahahahahah! I'm just JOKING, it won't scare anyone because we're a gorgeous couple. ok!?

After which, both mothers got to choose their own pic of us as it is meant for them. It was a fast process, it's like okie this and ok that, settled! Next is 5 different poses to be distributed to my sisters and friends.

Done!

Wedding invitation card

2006-12-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

After a few comparisons, we finally made up our mind with the printers. We've finally placed an order today with a card which is aligned to our bronzy theme. This vendor was recommended by a friend of Ben's mom which was so much cheaper than the one we went to ask the very first time! We went there with her friend the first time and had to pretend that we were cousins to ensure a bigger discount...kakaka!

The card should be ready by end of the month and we can start distributing. hmmmm the guest list....let's get it ready too! I've printed out 2 draft copies, one for my parents and one for ben's parents to confirm the guest list.

Mom's gown ... yes again

2006-12-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

If you have been following my blog, you must be wondering...your mom's gown again?

Yes! Mom didn't like her tailor-made gown and was still hunting for gown for the longest time. She bought one gown from a boutique in Seremban and another one from KLCC the next day! Yes! she has like 3 gowns now and another kebaya-top for the tea ceremony.

However, the last gown she bought was absolutely stunning. A very striking pink and she'll guarateed to stand out amongst the guests. That's what she wants after getting opinions from her friends and sisters. And I guess the gown hunting mission for mom has been completed. ^-^
I personally like the gown very much, it's made of Satin and it has another layer of chiffon which functions like a shawl to cover my mom's fat arm (haha! her main concern is her arm). When she was trying on, lotsa ppl was looking at her, even an old lady said she looks pretty.

The sales girl even said if I get pregnant next time, I can reuse it because the chiffon shawl covers up till your tummy! hahahahah! Good sales person!

Chinese traditional custom

2006-11-26T23:13:00.000-08:00

Just collected all the above with regards to the chinese traditional custom. It consists of:

A detailed timetable of when to tailor new pjamas, 安床 (change new bedsheet), 过大礼 (Groom's side to deliver presents to the Bride's family), prayers, Bride to transfer her belongings and presents from her parents 嫁妆 to the Groom's house and etc. Ops! But mine is all in Ben's house already .... haha!

过大礼 (Sorry but I don't know what is this called in English) is quite a big thing and a must in traditional chinese wedding. It's usually carried out 15-20 days before the wedding day. The Groom's parents will prepare all the necessary presents including 龙凤烛 (candle), 嫁女饼(biscuits), 请帖 (wedding invitation card), 礼酒（wine）, chicken, red cloth and 聘金（ang pow) to be given to the Bride's family. These are the basic necessity and both parents can discuss if they want any extra presents. Also, the Groom's parents are not suppose to be present during this ceremony. The Bride's parents should also return the presents 回礼 given and not keeping everything.

They also provide stickers to be stuck onto the car when the Groom collects the Bride on the wedding day. There're 2 stacks of angpow cover, which we're suppose to give out to e.g. the person who does the prayers, tailor for our pjamas, person who combs over hair (上头）, person who introduces both of us, person who opens the car door for the Groom and etc. Many of these are not applicable in this modern society anymore esp the 'Introducer', I think it's called 媒人婆 in the olden days. A person who does match making when one family decided to wed their kids.

Our pre-wedding photos!

2006-11-25T23:23:00.000-08:00

I woke up feeling extremely nervous as this is the day to preview the pre-wedding shoots we pose very hard for last week. Can't help thinking on how's I'll look in the photos, haha! Reached the studio after brunch at about 12-ish and started pre-viewing about close to 500++ photos!

Ben and I were quite satisfied with the outcome after the initial glance. It wasn't as bad as we thought it will be....kaka! I was extremely relieved!

After one glance at those photos, it's time for some filtering. We have to choose only 42 photos out of the 500++ photos, it's really a hectic one! Three of us, Ben, Ben's mom and myself were sitted ajdacent to each other started off with individual categories, Family, Outdoor, Evening gown, costume and wedding gown, scanning through every photos carefully and wrote down the no. of those shortlisted ones.

We both like the wedding gown and costume shoot than the others. Some of it are very nice, but I look chubbier in some shots; Ben looks extremely attractive in most of them!

After the 1st filtering, we were all exhausted, I then suggested to come back another day to finalize.

Unfortunately, I nearly broke my thumb while I was too excited viewing the photos!!!

See you Ferringhi beach!

2006-11-23T00:39:00.000-08:00

Our 2nd pre-wedding photography session is scheduled on the Jan 5th at a stretch of beach by the Lone Pine Hotel, Penang. This is recommended by our photographer. She says it has a great ground for photography. I'm so excited and can't wait to pose again! hahahaah

She suggested a few options initially, one of it being the Golden Sand. We would love to be there but the price is just extremely expensive =P

Will be there on the 4th after work and hope to catch the sunrise on the 5th. Besides, I'm also meeting up with my friends who's coming back from Melbourne! It has been almost a year since we girls last meetup! I can't wait!

Pre-wedding shoot [1] - completed

2006-11-20T00:47:00.000-08:00

We arrived at the Bridal studio at about 11am after a quick breakfast at Rocky, Bangsar. Stopped by a bakery to buy some buns for lunch just in case we need some energy to continue with the photo shoot. As we were travelling to the studio, the sky was extremely blue! A sunny and blue sky decorated with lots of white clouds! Thanks thanks, keep it that way pls.......

They started putting body liquid and powder on me and I changed to an outdoor wedding gown. The stylist then very quickly applied foundation, powder, fake eyelashes, blusher and lip gloss on me; tied my hair half way up and I'm ready to go. Ben have also changed to his suit.

Our very first shoot was against the blue sky. It was my double chin who causes problem >-<, it took us about 10-15 mins to adjust and get used to it before the shoot is taken and I still don't know if it's a good one. We then quickly move around the park as the rain was coming anytime soon. It was although the dark cloud was following us! We also got our feet all dirty stepping into a pool of mud! After about 1-2 hours, we headed back to the studio, had our shoes cleaned and prepared for the 2nd session in the studio. Our families were already in the studio getting ready for the family photo. Ben and I quickly stuffed ourselves with the bun, changed and continued with our photo session. Our families then joined us; first 2 families together and then another shoot for separate families. They were 'asked to leave' right after the few shoots as we had to continue with our shooting. Poor thing, all properly dressed up and the ladies with full makeup on. We moved on to our 2nd wedding gown, 2 night gowns and 2 other costumes (cheong sum and chinese kua). As we proceeded, the photographer was showing his true color! He was extremely demanding and even scolded us! I didn't express my anger as I thought he was just trying his best for good shoots. However, when I think he was abit over board (he commented that I looked too stiff on how I stand). I told him off by saying: "Hello! I'm not a professional model, ok!?" I suppressed my anger though as my once in a life time photos are in his hand. It was a great experience overall! Ben likes me in the mermaid-cut gown where I love the chinese kua. We both know that it's not easy being a model now...hahahah!

Sunny day please!

2006-11-16T00:50:00.000-08:00

This is it! Our pre-wedding photo shoot day! Everything is ready now, all the shoes, socks, shirts, coat, pants, lense-less glasses....etc.... Put on my SkII whitening mask last night, slept at 10.30pm, didn't drink water after 8pm. Just burned the compilation of wedding photos I've collected so far for their reference.

Really nervous! kakakaka! cos I know I'm not a person who look good in a heavily makeup shoots. Worry that smile will look fake, worry that my complexion will not look good, worry about the makeup will not suit me .... and pray that it will not rain so early today, at least not till i finish my outdoor shoots!

Please please please, once in a life time, make everything goes as planned!

It's 9.30am now, gotta run!

Preparation in action

2006-10-30T01:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone is busy preparing for the family potrait on the 17th November.

My Dad: Digged out his ancient suit.

My Mom: Not satisfied with the tailor-made gown, planning to wear the kebaya-chinese collared blouse but still shopping hard to get another gown.

Ben's Dad: Just bought a suit when shopping at KLCC last week, ben's mom and I keep talking him into putting on a matching purple shirt with ben's mom.

Ben's Mom: All set with her pink tailor-made outfit.

My sisters: Still indecisive on what to wear.

Ben's brother: Will be bringing his suit back from Australia.

The soft launch of our wedding website

2006-10-28T01:03:00.000-07:00

Before putting on the flash version which I've yet to start working on, I thought I should put up something to fill up benandpauline.com. There you go, recording an important milestone of our wedding preparation, I've used a pic from the fitting to soft-launch our wedding website!

url: http://www.benandpauline.com/

~Wedding gown fitting~

2006-10-27T01:25:00.000-07:00

It's a Friday today, Ben and I took one day off for our wedding gown fitting. We arrived at the bridal gallery around 11.30am, together with my mom and sister Porsche.

The first thing is to search through every single piece of gown and select your preferred type before trying them on. All of us went like mad flipping through all the gowns and started staking those selected ones on the couch. Our hands got pretty tired flipping through a couple of hundreds gowns.

Right before I try on the gowns, I asked the consultant if Ben gets to try on any suit and only found out that he doesn't get to try on anything today! Poor ben~~~ as I made him put on a shirt and black pants thinking he gets to try out something today too. (",) It's so good being a woman! Man will have to put on whatever to match us! kakakaka!

While I was trying on my gown, Ben and my sister took turns to snap photos for me/us. I wanted to capture the moment as trying wedding gown is a very important milestone in the entire wedding preparation!

After trying countless type of wedding gowns, I finally decided to go with one strapless A-line Ivory gown and another strapless mermaid gown with a very nice train. It was about 2pm and we were drop-dead tired, esp myself! I still have 2 evening gowns to choose. I didn't pay much attention to the evening gown as both of us wanted our wedding album to be very simple and plain. The consultant keeps stressing that it's going to be super-duper plain hence I tried on about 4 pieces and selected 2 from there. It was 4pm when we left the gallery after making another 30% payment.

Guess what~~! I'm going back next Thursday to give some serious attention to my evening gown as I didn't really like the one I choice. I also called the consultant to replace the A-line gown with a designer gown which has an extended train! After looking through the photos taken at the fitting, I also start to like another wedding gown, so I might consider taking that too! ^-^

It's an extremely wonderful experience trying on gowns, it makes you feel like a princess! =D

Mom's 1st fitting

2006-10-27T01:03:00.000-07:00

After weeks of waiting and delaying, mom finally get to see, feel and try on her tailor-made evening gown for the first time. As it was the first fitting, the gown looks extremely incompleted. Before mom even trying on, she has lose all her confidence with the gown. >< She keeps complaining about her arms which are her biggest fear. I suggested to make another matching shawl so that she will feel more comfortable putting on the gown.

We'll be collecting the finished version next week for the family photo session. Let's see how it goes, mom might be buying another backup gown.

Phenomenal gown!

2006-10-23T01:29:00.000-07:00

Have been scouting around for wedding gown which I can use for a beach shoot; PrettyInWhite vs Butterfly. After my visit to Butterfly, I've been glancing through magazines for some design ideas. Shortlisted a few but have not really saw one I really like.

Yesterday, as both my sister and I were driving back from Seremban to KL, we dropped by KLCC for some eyebrow trimming. Walked around and spotted 2 wedding gowns that we thought were quite suitable for the beach shoot. One of it is a very simple, chiffon type of gown which has the flowing effect. Another one is a slightly more elegant with a little embroidery and it's made off some sort of silky satin cloth. After numerous times of swapping and changing between these 2 gowns, we still can't decide which will look better for a beach shoot.

We then quietly took some pics in the fitting room and sent it off using MMS to my hubby for his opinion, unfortunately the MMS didn't work. After thinking over and over again, I've decided to go with the elegant one.

It's a really nice gown and I'm really happy with the purchase. The best part is the price is sooooo affordable! Having compared with the other tailor-made gowns. and the even Best part is - It's a gift from my dearie sister Patricia! ^-^

www.benandpauline.com

2006-10-19T01:31:00.000-07:00

Wahahaha! Just bought a domain name and a hosting package to kick off our wedding website construction ^-^ www.benandpauline.com that is...!

Next is to look at some wedding website templates, I've laid my eyes on 3 templates from numerous template providers. Both Ben and I picked the 2nd option which is a full flash kinda template.

So....stay tuned!

Butterfly

2006-10-10T01:31:00.000-07:00

Butterfly, another place for tailor-made gown and evening dresses located at the Sungai Wang Plaza. Got to know about this place from my colleague who's busy preparing for his wedding in Dec. His wife has made 5 dresses from this designer, that must be something huh!

In conjuction of the public holiday today, mom came down from Seremban and we headed off to the boutique to check out. Spoke to the designer and he drew me 2 designs which will suit my purpose for the beach shoot. I was unsure if I will look nice in the gown presented on the paper. Tried on a similar gown but I thought I was somewat big.

We shifted the attention to mom as she was still looking for a dress/top for the tea ceremony. He drew 2 designs according to my mom's requirements, and I thought it was just alright. I went around the shop and picked a chinese+kebaya collar-ed blouse and thought that was a great outfit for that special occasion. However, Mom didn't quite like the top; We persuaded her as she looks really great in the red blouse; elegant and slim!

After we left the boutique, we went round the mall, dropped by The curve to see if we could get anything for the wedding.

At last, mom has decided to go with the red blouse from Butterfly and I will make another trip with Ben when he's back from Sydney to get that.

Fitting

2006-10-08T01:32:00.000-07:00

Called Mon Liza today to setup appointment for wedding gown fitting and a date for pre-wedding shoot. Few changes to the date because of everyone's schedule, my parents and most importantly Ben's brother who's in Melbourne now. We've planned a family photo after the pre-wedding shoot. It's lucky that he's also planning a trip back during that period.

So this is it! Scheduled 27th Oct for fitting and 17th Nov for the shoot ^0^

I'll be going to Bangkok with Ben to rejuvenate myself with Spas and Thai massages during Ben's business trip there. I hope to glow and shine to the fullest!!! HAHA!

PrettyInWhite

2006-10-05T01:33:00.000-07:00

Visited PrettyInWhite in SriHartama today, it's a boutique that do tailor-made wedding dresses. They have a wide range of wedding dresses and wedding photography is also part of their services.

Communicated with the designer that I'm looking for a simple wedding dress to be worn for my pre-wedding photograph by the beach. Co-incidentally she was half way designing a wedding gown for a beach-side wedding. I tried the halter neck dress with tail made out off chiffon. I thought it was very nice, but halter neck kinda make me look abit bigger. Was advised by the designer that people who have broad shoulder like me is most suited for halter neck cut.

Confirming the Westin Hotel

2006-10-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

Met up with Vivien today to run through the final details of our wedding dinner agreement and made a 10% downpayment. Also finalized the payment schedule and the series of action items before our big day; meeting with the decorator and the inhouse florist, finalizing the dinner menu, confirming the no. of guests and food tasting and etc.

Gave Julie from Ritz a call to inform her about our decision. We were very sorry as the service we received from her was terrific! The only little flaw was the ballroom.

Ferringhi Beach, here we come!

2006-09-30T01:34:00.000-07:00

Still very indecisive on which photographer we should finally choose? Should it be Fifoto, Kidchan, Armadale or just stick with MonLiza? We also heard that photoz is good!

hmmmmm....I then picked up the phone and spoke to Fifoto, after explaining to her my problem, she was very helpful and suggested that we could go up to Penang for the shoot as she's local! I don't need to cover her accommodation but only the travelling cost from KL to Penang. I thought it was a brilliant idea! At least the beaches are far more beautiful than those in PD.... ^-^

After my discussion with Ben, we finally made our decision! Finally~~~~

That's to stick with MonLiza and hire Fifoto for our wedding day photo and take up their complimentary pre-wedding day shoot at Penang! Perfectoooo~

There we go, paying the initial deposit via maybank2u as today is the last day for the complimentary pre-wedding photo.

Yes! 11th March 2007

2006-09-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

As I was about to compose an email to Vivien of Westin, I received a call from her! And it's a good news! The company has agreed to give way and 11th March is now ours! YEAH!

She will now draft out the contract to be sent to us.

We'll see how we can negotiate further before signing off the contract. ;that also mean that we have to put down the downpayment very very soon...... ~~

Searching for a nice beach for pre-wedding photograph

2006-09-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

I started searching nice beaches for our pre-wedding shoots. First I thought of Redang after seeing my friend's beautiful vacation photos. However, after calculating the cost, I know it's unrealistic as we don't have the budget for the luxury of taking the crew there. Hence I reduces my searching radar and decided to look for a nice beach in Port Dickson itself.

We were recommended few resorts by my friends, Tiara Beach Resort, Glory Beach Resort and Avillion Beach Resort. I have a lot of friends telling me Avillion is the place! After visiting the website, I was convinced. Picked up the phone to check out more details for pre-wedding photo shoots arrangement and only found out that they have 2 appointed photographers, Kidchan and Armadale. Besides, if you don't plan to go with the appointed photographer, you'll have to pay RM5000 for the rental!

Alright...I then explored Kidchan as I know he's a very well-known photographer in the industry. Made an appointment to visit the KidChan studio in Bangsar too. His charges is really more than we could afford. I was also very delighted when I found out about his package bundling with the Avillion resort stay. ^-^

Wedding Expo

2006-09-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

Got to know from the Bridal mag that there'll be a wedding expo at the mid valley convention center this weekend. Went with Ben to explore, hoping to find some new ideas or some vendors for our wedding. The expo mostly consists of bridal studio and hotels.

One photo studio which was decorated in all black caught our attention! Their style seems very new edge and modern. We then approached them to explore further and only found that our colleague actually did a pre-wedding photographs with them. It was taken at Putrajaya and the shots taken was very nice!

Fifoto which was started by this lady named Fiona. Went throught their portfolio, it seems like they're pretty new in this pre-wedding photo shoots. Natasha (a local actress) also went with Fifoto on their wedding day photographs. Their price seems abit pricey but I'm sure we're paying for the quality. It's a whole package that we're exploring which includes the pre-wedding and wedding day photographs.

In summary, we're both in dilemma now!

Dilemma continues...

2006-09-24T01:35:00.000-07:00

Our dilemma continues ~~~ as we've put down a deposit of RM1k with MonLiza and we're now pretty attracted by Fifoto. To be frank, we both feel that Fifoto is more towards our style and we're more confident that they're able to produce something more to our liking.

The problem is the Rm1K deposit! Oh!! >< why why!!!

The beauty about the package with Fifoto is that it allows you to choose 3-4 locations of your choice, and they also bundle in the wedding day photo, with the bridal makeup and what not. As both of us can't stop thinking to take our pre-wedding photos on a beach, this seems to be the perfect photographer for us. Also checked with my colleauge, Putrajaya seems to be a good place for some elegant shots.

But the problem is the Rm1K! Do we want to just burn it or do we want to forfeit so to not regret when the whole production is out?

*Wink* We also have a wild idea! To make use of the Rm1K for bridal gown rental with Mon Liza that is!; since Fifoto's package doesn't include bridal gown. Arha~~~~~ I hope this will work ... though....~~~

Latest update on the venue

2006-09-21T01:37:00.000-07:00

11th March 2007 vs 18th March 2007?

It all depends on Westin hotel. We got to know from Vivien that there's another tentative booking by a company for their event on the 11th March. Our ideal date will be 11th since our chinese ceremony will take place on the 8th March. It's only right to have our wedding dinner on the 11th March rather than 18th March. We were initially looking at 10th March which is a Saturday but unfortunately it's already taken up by a couple ><

Just got a call from Vivien that they have contacted the company to see if they can release 11th March for us. Stay tuned for the latest updates!

Viewing an actual wedding setup @ Westin

2006-09-16T01:37:00.000-07:00

Scheduled to view the settings of an actual wedding today with Vivien. We reached Westin around 4.30pm and it was raining cats and dogs! Went straight to the 2nd level where the ballroom is located.

Vivien showed us around starting from the pre-dinner cocktail lounge, the reception table and the walkway to the ballroom which was lighted up with tea-light candles. The floral arrangement right at the entrance of the ballroom was terrific! It gives you a very fairy-tale like feeling with lots of white roses and white petals on the floor. ^^ Co-incidentally, the wedding theme is also around gold + white. Hmm.....maybe we can steal some ideas!

When we stepped into the ballroom, the setup is simply amazing. A very cozy and nice elegant ballroom. The only thing is the walkway seems somewat plain. It should be okay if we put some decos there. ^^

We're both pretty satisfied with the whole setup of the wedding. It all depends on when the ballroom will be available for us.

8th March 2007! Confirmed!

2006-09-09T01:38:00.000-07:00

Just got a confirmation from our 'fortune-teller', Ms Wong that the best date for Ben and I to have our chinese ceremony will be on the 8th March.

We knew about this date actually 1/2 year ago, but were still trying to explore if there's any possibility to have the chinses ceremony on a weekend. Say 10th March for the chinese ceremony and 11th March for the wedding dinner.

Despite that, Ms. Wong still advised us to go with 8th March which falls on a Thursday. Well, I guess we'll have to go with whatever date that best fits us. Marriage is about life-long process rather than an one day event after all ^^

We'll follow whatever it takes to make sure we have a good future together!

Our meeting with the Decorator from FocalConcepts

2006-09-07T01:39:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recommended this decorator friend of hers. Met up with him after work to discuss on what he can do and what our expectations are. He started off by showing his company's portfolio, their service includes creating theme ideas, ballroom decorations, floral arrangement and what not.

Illustrated our theme in mind, which is golden, bronzy and white. He commented that it compliments the current settings in Westin which was a big relief for us! ^^ Also told him the budget we've allocated for ballroom decorations and we're glad that he is able to work something out within the budget.

The meeting ended fairly quickly but it was a fruitful discussion. At least we know that his service is quite reasonable priced. He will go back and come out with a proposal.

Loh Tat Bet 罗铁笔 [continues...]

2006-09-04T01:43:00.001-07:00

I called up Loh Tat Bet last Wednesday to enquire on the possible dates for our chinese wedding ceremony and was given a few dates, ranges from March to June. Good that the date picked by the other master is also in his list, 8th March 2007. It's a Thursday, so our dinner will mostly be on the 10th March, Saturday.

My parents came all the way from Seremban just to listen to what he has to say, together with Ben's mom. Master Loh brieftly runs through what needs to be done and etc. Everything has to be done according to the specific hour. For example, time when the groom picks up the bride; how long should the groom be staying in the bride's place; what time they need to arrive at the groom's house.

Next is for us to confirm on the date and tell Master Loh, he will then prepare a detailed checklist on what to do together with the timeline. Things are to be done approximately one month before the actual ceremony, like buying new bedsheet, new night gown and etc....^^

Tailor-made dinner gown for Mom @ Cordino

2006-09-04T01:43:00.000-07:00

We then proceed to Cordino, a boutique located at Damansara Uptown. We were recommended by Ben's mom. We seek opinion from Derek, the designer to suggest some simple yet elegant gown for Mom. He drew 3 designs in total, all V-neck as he thinks my mom is more suited for V-neck as it enhances her petite figure.

Mom picked the 2nd design, a V-neck, floor-lengthed dress, with 3 layers of chiffon and satin, together with the color-combination of green and yellow. We were at first very worried with the color-combi as none of us can visualize the design he has in mind. He then went high and low looking for the closest clothes to conceptualize his idea to us. Mom wanted to make 2 dresses, one for the wedding ceremony another one for the wedding dinner. We're sticking to one piece at this moment to see the quality delivered by this designer.

My sisters also seek some opinion from Derek but will probably buy off the shelf dresses.

Cyberview Lodge Resort & Spa

2006-09-04T01:42:00.000-07:00

I was also recommended by my colleague to consider Cyberview Lodge as they have a very nice garden. Made an appointment with Ms. Connie and went to sight the venue together with my family. It was a long-long journey there from KL, we reached there at about 4.30pm as there will be a wedding that night itself. We purposely visited that place at this hour just to have a rough idea of what the package includes and how the final result will turn out to be.

This wedding begins with a pre-dinner cocktail in the garden then dinner in the ballroom. I like the garden cocktail very much, though I don't quite like the whole ambience of the hotel. It's more to a gloomy and dark-side kinda feeling which doesn't quite suit our happy occasion. However, the setup of the tables are nice, esp the lights focusing on each candle on every tables.
We were then invited to take a look at the chalet, which we had to hop on to a mini-van as it was too far to walk.

Don't think we will be going with this option as none of our parents like about this place, main reason being the location at Cyberjaya.

The Westin, Kuala Lumpur

2006-09-04T01:39:00.000-07:00

This place was recommended by Ben's dad as he attended a friend's daughter's wedding a couple of weeks back. I then called up to make an appointment with Ms. Vivien Loh.

This is our first time ever stepping into the Westin, KL. The initial impression was pretty good, the ambiance, the classiness and the moderness of the hotel.

Visited on a Sunday afternoon. Waited for Vivien at the lobby, quickly put on my glasses to take a clearer look at every angle. Not bad...not bad.

After the initial introduction, she brought us up to Level 2, where the ballroom is located. The entrance leading to the ballroom itself already impressed us; with its bronzy feel which matches the theme we have in mind. It's even classier with the jazz music playing in the background...superb~~!

Due to the preparation for tomorrow's event, we were only showed half of the ballroom. A red carpet right in the middle of the room, leading to the main stage. There're 2 projector screens located at each side of the stage. This ballroom gives an entirely different feeling, very different. After the explaination from Vivien, we soon realized it was their special "Martin Architecture Lighting" that adds on to the modern ambiance.

Perfect! perfect! perfect! We could even save some money on the decorations since the room is pretty elaborated in its own way! yay ^^

We sat down to discuss more details on the wedding packages and enquired on the still available Saturdays in March. Unfortunately, 10th March is already taken, and the only available Sat is 3rd which was before our ceremony. Guess we'll have to explore 11th March, a Sunday.

Loh Tat Bet 罗铁笔

2006-08-26T01:44:00.000-07:00

Ben's mom took us to this Loh Tat Bet to seek consultation on what are the procedures, things to prepare and things to follow according to the Chinese custom. We're also asking him to calculate the best date to conduct our wedding ceremony and wedding dinner according to both our chinese date of birth. Although we have another master who has already given us the date, but this is just to obtain a second opinion as the date initially picked falls on a Thursday.

They took down our :

Names in chinese
Date & Time of Birth
Origin, whether you're Cantonese, Hakka or Hokkien
Parent's chinese zodiac

On top of that, they even asked things like where is the bride planning to be married and how long does it take the groom to pick the bride back and forth both families. We're be going back next week to jot down all the details. ^^

PreWedding Photography @ Mon Liza

2006-08-25T00:29:00.000-07:00

It's time for some serious preparation for time is ticking. Last week, we started looking at some wedding photography packages. CasaMia at SS2 is the one we first drop by to enquire as it was recommended by my friend. We both like the style of CasaMia as it promotes simple, elegant and casual style in their photos. We were quite tempted to sign up for the package as we were confident enough that they can deliver what we want. However, we held back as that's the first place we visited. We feel that we should do more researches before making our decision.

We went round SS2, as you know there're plenty of bridal shops around that area. We ended up at Mon Liza. The impression with Mon Liza initially wasn't too impressive as their style is more complicated, with lots of designs and lack of the simplicity we both like. We were planning to turn down their offer but at this time, the lady boss came back and she sat down and serviced us. She then offered us really good deal and showed us around her bridal shop with the different scenes and their collection of gowns. We were confident enough after she showed us some recent photographs taken by a newly weds.

One most interesting offer is that they're constructing a beach backdrop, as in with real water, real sand and sunlight at their backyard. You'll have to pay extra for that, but we were offered without any additional charges.

So this is it!!! We'll be trying out our gowns come October and taking photos in November! Things are really progressing man! I'm soooooo nervous now!!! Pls pray for us so that our photos will turn out PERFECTLY! not just nice, but PERFECT........

Diet Diet Diet!!! ^^

Carcosa Seri Negara

2006-08-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

Can't stop thinking of my dream garden wedding. I was having dinner with one of my colleagues and she suggested me to look at Carcosa Seri Negara. Did some research on the internet, the place looks perfectly well for my dream wedding. http://www.ghmhotels.com/hotels/hotel_home.asp?hotelid=10&section=home

Hence I called up to make an appointment to sight the venue. It was a saturday afternoon and we met up with Ms. Fifi. Carsoca Seri Negara is located up a hill near the Lake Garden. As we make our way through the tiny and carefully landscaped road, we reached the guardhouse.We met up with Ms. Fifi at the Carcosa Mansion lobby. As we walked in, the coziness and the ambience simply blows me away. I immediately picture Ben and myself walking down the stairs; while the guests looking at us from below^^. When it comes to the dining area, the red themed area, the final touches, the details simply adds-on to the ambience, the classiness and the elegant of that place. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Only that we found out the area only accommodates up to 80 pax. Ouch!!!

We were then brought to see the Carcosa marquee which was still under renovation. However, it can only hold up to 200 pax, which doesn't fit our requirements.

We then received the proposal from Ms.Fifi, and wow! the price is just amazing! ....Amazingly expensive~~~~~~. Don't think we can afford that just yet. However, it was a good experience.

Food Sampling @ The Ritz

2006-07-12T00:32:00.000-07:00

We were honourned to be invited for a food sampling dinner at the LiYen Chinese Restaurant in Ritz Carlton last night. It was a 7 course dinner with chinese menu and western settings. There were 20 of us and we were seated in a banquet setup (Long table).
The room was decorated with Oganza orange drapes, twig balls wrapped in red oganza cloth; hung from the ceiling. The tables were setup in a fusion style, with chopsticks, fork and knife. The table runner was bold red in color and was further enhanced by a couple of candle holders and fresh flowers.

We started off with a very light and interesting appetizer - 2 hot Appetizers, salad prawn and deep fried prawn. I personally liked the starter. It's light and was decorated in a very appetizing manner. Followed by a huge bowl of YinYang sharkfin soup. The main course was cod fish layered with honey. The next dish was Stir fried chicken. By then, I was 110% filled! Next dish was beancurd roll with a papaya carved 'Fook' character on top. Everyone was amazed by the precision of the carved 'fook'. It was then followed by a Lotus leaf glutinous rice dish, ending with a Pamelo and sago dessert.

These are the pictures taken during the dinner. We were each presented with an individual menu with our names printed on it. =) We were also asked to comment on the presentation and the taste of the food.

And lastly, the food in the Ritz is highliy priced! We were told the dinner costs approximately RM250++ per pax! wow!!!

The Room

The Food

Brides Ideas

2006-07-10T01:06:00.000-07:00

I buy bridal magazines whenever I go to the bookstore now. Got 2 of them; the Female Brides, June2006 edition and NiuYou (modern brides) June2006. Both has quite a good coverage on what you need to prepare, directories of vendors, hotels, venues, photography, gowns, makeups, gowns, wedding planners, and etc. Quite comprehensive.

To date, I have 3 different set of planning schedule template, which says what need to be done prior to your big day. Ben just did a check and found that ... phew! we're still on schedule, 6 - 8 months prior to deciding on your wedding venue that is! As our tentative date will be March 2007, about 8 more months to go. *nervous nervous* Still can't seem to make up our mind yet. I believe you have all the right to be choosy and picky for the event of your life..haha!

Still have alot of things to prepare, the photoshots, invitation cards, themes. Well, maybe not that much but ... deciding on one venue and vendor needs lotsa research and courage. It's like making the choice of your life, similar to choosing your partner...isn't?? *wink wink*

I do diaries |My Best Friend's Wedding|

2006-07-10T00:58:00.000-07:00

I was watching this program last night, The I do Diaries - My best Friend's Wedding. The idea is that 2 best friends came together and decided to get married at the same time; well almost, one week after each other's wedding.

They both are entirely sponsored to have their Dream wedding! But the catch is the brides are not allowed to participate in their own wedding, not a single details. The decision is entirely up to the best friend. The best friend will decide on the venue, the gown, the wedding cake, the theme, the invitation cards and the gift for the guests, even the brides makeup. Yes! Not a single detail can be reviewed till the wedding day itself. The bride will be blind-folded when they do their bridal gown fitting.

It was soooo interesting!

But that someone has to really understand what we really want laaaaaa......

Searching for the perfect place

2006-07-09T01:13:00.000-07:00

Where will be the perfect venue to hold the most important day of your life? We started going to hotels in town to sight the venues and enquire about wedding packages.
The first hotel we went to was Ritz Carlton. Remember going to that place to enquire when we were planning for our registration last year. Quite like the place because of it's classiness and coziness. We both want a small do for our wedding and coziness is an important element for us. Have been there few times already with both our parents and the Ritz reprentative have been very helpful and professional in assisting us. We even met up with the decorators and florist. But, I'm still not quite satisfy with the wedding hall, the 2 huge poles in the middle is just disturbing factor. Went to sight the actual wedding preparation, but it haven't blew me away. hmmmmmm......

While we were at the Ritz, the representative also took us to the JW Marriott, which is associated with the Ritz. Both hotels have their own selling point; JW Marriott for its grandness while Ritz for its coziness. Besides, JW Marriott has a minimum order of 50 tables, which we both feel it's a bit too many people.

So we decided to search for few more options. Went to Le-Meridien just yesterday. My mom's cousin's wedding was held there and I thought the decos and ambience was quite good. The only down side is the wedding package - doesnt include a lot of things, e.g. the Pre-dinner Cocktail, the jazz band and etc.

We then went to KL Hilton, which is just next door without making prior appointment. Hence haven't seen any of their wedding packages yet.

Planning to go to few more places like the Sheraton Imperial and Mandarin Oriental.

Preparation in action

2006-07-09T01:10:00.000-07:00

Those who knows us know that we both like taking pictures a lot. kakaka

Gifts we received from the guests

2006-02-18T01:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.blogcharm.com/paulinewong/35839/Gifts+we+received+from+the+guests.html

Our Registration

2006-02-16T01:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.blogcharm.com/paulinewong/35826/Our+Registration.html

Our registration lunch

2006-02-16T01:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.blogcharm.com/paulinewong/35828/Our+registration+lunch.html

Preparation for our registration

2006-01-03T01:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.blogcharm.com/paulinewong/35827/Preparation+for+our+registration.html

Ben popped the question!

2005-12-13T01:18:00.000-08:00

After a long wait, he finally gave me a suprise proposal at the outlet of Lazare Diamond, DeGem Bangsar. It was truly a shocking moment!

Before that, we've casually started going round, looking for our wedding bands and wedding ring. We both like the ring at Lazare, so one day Ben took 1/2 day off his work (He actually told his boss he's gonna propose to his gf hahaahha! .....and I was un-employed at that time) and came back to the house, casually asked me to go out to test out the ring. As I just woke up and followed Ben to the outlet with my bare face.

When we entered the outlet, everything seems too normal to raise my suspicion. Then Ben quickly said that he needs to run to the washroom. The salesperson swayed my attention by showing me the diff rings.

Then I could hear music started playing, it was a song by Kenny Rogers "You are so beautiful". Ben then told me that he prepared a CD with our song, "Amber" but there was some technical problem, so they had to make do with alternatives.

Ben then walked out with a bouquet of roses in his hand. He walked towards me and kneeled down in front of me. I blanked out!!! All I can remember was ... "OMG!omg! omg! omg!" I kept repeating. He said something along the line of '"Would you, Pauline Wong marry me as my wife?"..................And I'm still stuck with my omg omg omg.... hahahhah! Then he was like looking at me, waiting for my answer, then soon I realized ...Ops! I'm supposed to say "I do" now.....kekekekekeke

He then put the RING on my wedding finger and we were showered with blessings from the staff there. ^-^

Comments left in my prev post: http://www.blogcharm.com/paulinewong/35822/Ben+popped+the+question%21.html