Bridezilla Part 4 : Next Step

So the venue is confirmed. Ocean Glow Hall, Putra Brasmana Hotel, Kuala Perlis.

What the venue looks like at night captured by the lens of a highly-skilled photographer.

What the venue looks like during sunset captured by the lens of a artistically-inclined photographer.

What the venue actually looks like through the naked eyes and captured by a shutter-click-happy newbie.

So it's a not-quite-beach-wedding we're having. Finding ways to work with that. Praise to God, there's still a slot left free for us on the 8th December 2012. The remaining weekends of the month is already booked. Coincidentally, 8th December turned out to be the only date convenient for ALL of parties involved. Phew..

Date and venue for the wedding confirmed so what's next on the list?

Solemnization!

We chose to have it a month earlier for many reasons. Utmost important reason being, again, convenience for all the parties involved. Having it on the same day of the wedding would be a bit kelam kabut, having it on the weekend prior to the wedding would mean we both have to take almost 2 consecutive weeks of leave..

Hence we decided to have the solemnization on 10.11.12. Pretty neat date, huh? ;) Boleh ambil cuti sehari plus weekend untuk selesaikan semua urusan. Or maybe another extra 2 days of pre-honeymoon. Oops. Hehe.

Moving on. What you actually NEED to get married are :

1. Kursus kahwin
2. Sijil kursus kahwin
3. Surat akuan bujang
4. HIV, talasemia test
5. Borang kebenaran nikah
6. Salinan IC wali
7. Salinan IC dua orang saksi
8. Sijil nikah parents
9. Borang nikah dari Pejabat Agama
10. Jurunikah/Tok Kadi

These are actually the only things you need to be pronounced as husband and wife in God's eyes; the rest is just icing, frosting, fondant topped with sprinkles, sugar balls and chocolate sprinkles. Islam itu mudah. But I guess kalau tak menyulitkan keadaan, apa salahnya buat wedding untuk mewar-warkan ikatan yang sah tu dan juga meraikan pengantin, sesuai dengan kemampuan.

Lepas dah hadiri kursus kahwin, suruh si bakal suami ambil borang nikah dari Pejabat Agama, isi semua yang berkaitan, lepas tu suruh dia hand over semua documents untuk dilampirkan bersama borang yang telah diisi oleh si bakal isteri. Please take note, tak semua jurunikah mahu nikahkan dekat rumah, dan jurunikah ni kena book awal-awal jangan nanti nak berebut dengan Bridezilla lain pulak. But, the approved borang nikah is only valid for ONE MONTH for us ladies and THREE MONTHS for the guys. Jadi nak book awal sangat pon tak boleh jugak. Kena standby borang, cukup-cukup sebulan submit. But I do plan to call the Jurunikah 3 months in advance, who knows perhaps we can come to an agreement that the date can be reserved for us, even before any black and white is submitted.

Next up are

1. Photographer

I've been eyeing this very talented duo which happened to be my schoolmate during my SMK Sultanah Asma days. Asked for quote and the price is at a staggering range between RM2k to RM4k! Is that normal? I mean, I do respect people's talent and passion but that is quite pricey.. So that leaves me to square one and I'm gonna have to keep on searching.

2. Kain untuk baju akad nikah

The plan is to go shopping with the beau this weekend. We opted to go for the safe cream colour so we have to shop together because as you know, there's countless shades of whites available, off by 2-3 shade and it's going to look very odd.

3. Wedding dress

Kalau sempat nak pergi test baju sekali.

4. Cincin & hantaran.

Going browsing/shopping this week too. Lima dulang berbalas tujuh. Cincin dengan sirih junjung tu termasuk sekali dalam hantaran ka asing eh? Kalau sekali rugi la! Boleh tak cincin tu selit masuk di celahan daun sirih? Hmm..have to refer to Ibu and Mama Rohana.

5. Kad kahwin.

Have a few ideas running through my head now, have to finalize it with The Future Husband, materialize it somehow and discuss with The Mom and The In-Laws before going to the printer. or should we go to the printer first and ask them to materialize the ideas we have? Have to find out.

6. A house.

Utmost important thing is going shopping/window shopping for a house this weekend. Ibu is planning to take Maktok back to kampung pretty soon; Maktok's longing for a kampung life, come on, at the age of 70, jalan-jalan pusing The Curve, Putrajaya, Melaka, shopping complex lost its appeal soon enough in favor of the quiet, tranquil kampung life where everybody knows everybody.

The house I'm renting now is very comfortable in terms of the facilities, convenience and security it provides. The rent I'm paying now is however around 25-30% under market price, God bless the landlord who has not increased the rent for the last 5 years or so I believe. I should perhaps rent the house out at the current market price, and pocket the extra cash heh? If only.. Point is, if we decide to buy the house I'm staying now, at the current market price, the monthly payment would be 25-30% higher than what I'm actually paying.

Condos/landed houses around this area come with a price tag that makes mouths drop, eyes wide open, but there are some gems lay hidden if you are willing to look properly. I don't see the point of us paying a sum of money every month to repay someone else's loan. Money we worked hard for, money earned while being apart from each other.

So yeah. Definitely making a few appointments to have a look at the houses these weekends.

Gosh how I wish I have an extra 2 hours each day just to plan for these. Good thing is, with all these hecticness, the 4-5 months are going to fly by very fast!

15 minutes to berbuka! Selamat berbuka!