Bride on a Budget

Yes, as cheapo as that title might sound. No rampant wedding shopping spree as the heart pleases as we will make big financial commitment in the near future.

But we had real fun in the process and I think that's what's most important. No matter how much money you have to splurge on your wedding, if you didn't take the time to enjoy the experience, and instead stress on every littlest detail, it won't be a great memory to carry with.

So anyways. Here's the breakdown of what has been done up until now.

1) Solemnization
So far I think we have everything covered. Borang nikah for both sides have been finalized, FINALLY, THANK GOD! Now we can get married. When the personnel at the religious office asked me to go see the ustazah to certify all the forms I brought, he told my mom that I shall go inside alone. Towards the end of our interview, of which she asked why get married in Kulim when my IC stated Alor Setar etc, the ustazah asked me, "Do you really want to get married on your own will, this is not forced right?" Then it made sense why I had to go in alone. I just wanted to scream "Yes, I DO I DO wanna get married to this guy!" Gatal. Hihi.

Advice numero uno, arrange HIV appointment way beforehand as most health clinics can only issue a result for up until 3 weeks. That, or you have to wait up to a month to get an appointment. I did mine at Klinik Kesihatan Bangi. Booked an appointment 3 weeks beforehand but the process took overall 10 minutes and I got the results within an hour. Talasemia is an optional test; Fudhail did his HIV test in Kangar, where they took one bloody vial of blood to carry out both test. I opted out because in Bangi, you have to be poked once for each test. Fudhail's already tested negative for talasemia so nahhh..

2) Details for Majlis Nikah
Pelamin (dais), hiasan katil, hiasan hantaran, extra beading for the dress, make-up, veil + tudung, bouquet of flower, all of these will be provided by a friend of my aunt. I like the make-up she did, not too heavy on the shading, kinda natural as far as a bride is allowed to look natural. Everything costed about RM800 and although I would have gladly forfeited the katil pengantin deco, my mom reasoned that it was for photography purposes, to put all the hantarans, not for us to sleep anyway. Ok noted.

3) Wedding Rings
We bought both our rings at My Diamond. Habib was way over our budget. A classic cut diamond ring with just one diamond costs about RM3k. Seteress. I actually went to My Diamond with my mom first, and the first ring that really caught my eyes, she disagreed with, saying that it's too fancy to be a wedding ring, not like your usual conventional wedding ring.

When I went back with Fudhail, I asked him to pick the one he likes to see me wear, without showing my preference just so not to influence his choice and lo and behold, his first pick was the one I had my eyes on! I knew that we had found the ring! Problem then was my mom. But we bought it anyway, sorry mom. I believe it'll grow on her some day, no worries. The diamond is brilliant cut, with detailing in rose gold. So excited to wear it everyday forever for as long as I live!

We bought the groom's ring there too; cincin suasa, an alloy made up of gold, silver and copper with its gold percentage less than both silver and copper combined, making it Ok for our Muslim husbands to wear it. Both rings costed us about RM2k. On top of that, we got rebate RM250 some more, yay to us thrifty bride/groom!

4) Photographer
As I insisted on having our days commemorated in videos, edited and all, this is one area that I could have but didn't feel like trimming. The cost for covering both nikah and reception events in photos would be around RM1800. Together with cinematography, the package costs RM3400.

5) Invitation card
We went to Gedung Kad Kahwin, in Kompleks Puchong Perdana. They have batshit crazy deal! For instance, RM580 for 1000 pieces cards, 2 free banners, 10 free signage, 500 chair boxes for door gift. And the design, whoah, the selection is very extensive. From garish overdone designs to modern minimalist ones, you name it, they have every design to suit your taste. Unfortunately, it would take at least a month for them to complete your order. So it pays to be early! Padan muka semua pon nak buat last minute. So in the end, we placed our order in some printer shop in Kulim, who could get everything ready in 2 weeks time. I'm trusting my mom on the design as I do not have time to actually go back and pick the design.

6) Self-pampering
You gotta love Groupon for this. Bought a facial and waxing package worth RM500 for just RM80. So  next weekend is pampering time; including dentist appointment, getting a hair cut, spa mani/pedi at the Nail Parlor because your nails will stay shining for one whole month!

7) Engagement prezzie
We decided to opt for watches instead of rings for our engagement. One tip is to buy from a certified watch dealers at shopping complexes instead of a branch selling just one brand, simply because you can  get extra discount on top of the official discount offered at the time. In our case, we got and extra plus minus RM200 discount apart from the 10% discount.

8) Reception hall.
Got to see the inside of the hall for our reception in December. Got the layout plan already so super excited! Mom got in touch with her high school friend who has a band we're gonna have a live band on the day. Have to compile a list of songs to give them so they can practice. Was thinking of singing a song on the day hihi perasan sungguh tapi takpa, permaisuri sehari kan bagila can walaupun suara tak sedap mana.

I wanted to have a projector to play the video to our solemnization ceremony since most of the friends will not be present on the day because of raya. But the hall is an open space I don't think there'll be any dim corner to allow the video to be watchable on the white screen. Haihhh.

Need to call the halal marshmallow person. Printed balloons. Door gifts. Survey horse carriage, my mom said she has seen a white horse before. Need to create FB event. Inform friends if they want to stay at the hotel, need to book now (plus there's 10% discount for guests), because December will be packed with people wanting to go to Langkawi.

List of things to do keep growing. Doakanlah supaya semuanya dipermudahkan ya, I really need all the help I can at this moment. Need to rest now, good night!

Letter to Future Son(s)/Daughter(s)

Dear future child(ren),

In less than 2 months, I will be married to your father, someone I have loved for quite a long time. I still do love him, with an increasing intensity with each passing day, and he still makes me blush and giggle like a schoolgirl.

We are both 25 years old this year, not rich, not broke either. Just enough to get by and enjoy the little pleasures life has to offer from time to time. Life is not that hard, we had it easier than our parents, that's for sure, but it's not a breeze all the time either.

Dreams, we have many of those, many of which have not materialized yet.

With the wedding inching closer, it's the inevitable to have people ask us about our plan in popping out mini us in the near future. To tell you the truth, I find the question terrifying. Like for instance, a colleague in office told us she is 3 months pregnant and the rest joked that I will be next. And I became defensive, to the point of near hyperventilating that I would exaggerate every single problem into a mountain.

Am I going to be able to go after all of my dreams after I have kids to tend to? What about the kids' father, is he going to miss out the baby's first smile, first word, first step? (As for now, both of us has agreed to live separately after marriage due to work obligation.) What about me; with the hormonal change and all, am I going to endure all that without someone holding my hair behind my neck while I puke over a the sink, cry and puke some more? What about my cravings, who's going to tend to that when my husband is going to be 4-hour drive away? Who is going to take care of the kids? Have you seen the video where the nanny kicked and stepped on the baby when it cries? I'm not putting my kids at such a risk, I'm going to hate myself. If I have to work, who's going to take the kids to museum after school, teach them about the world more than what the school can teach them, nurture their inquisitiveness? Am I going to have time to take them to the playground? Would they end up spending most of their waking time with the nanny than with me? Would they end up preferring to play Angry Birds on iPad than talk to me, or read books? Am I going to get fat with lots of cellulite? Am I going to get ugly? Would my husband find me ugly? What am I going to wear? Am I going to be able to endure the 9 months of such hormonal instability gracefully when having to deal with it a few days every month turns me into a time-bomb bitch ready to explode? Am I going to hate my husband's smell like some stories I've heard? Am I going to stay fat after the pregnancy? And then there's the childbirth itself. Natural labor, are you kidding me? This is someone who takes pain killer each month before I even get stomach cramps just so I don't have to feel it. If I did opt for Caesarian birth, I heard tending to the wound is hellish. Even giggling would cause great discomfort. And don't make me go into breastfeeding that's a whole another story. Would I actually have any idea on how to raise a child? I mean, I cut and bumped and bruised myself all the time from unfortunate miss of judgements, how can I make sure I don't hurt a child? Is now even the right time to raise a kid, I mean have you read the news, kids are being snatched off the streets all the time! Like just now, I forgot where I put my wallet, am I actually fit to be a mother? Are we going to be able to raise the kids in a comfortable life? How do one travel with little kids anyway, I mean can they actually go to Macchu Picchu, we haven't been to Macchu Picchu and I've always wanted to go to Macchu Picchu so bad! Would my in-laws and family hate me if we decided to wait a few years before having kids? If we did plan on waiting first, would God consider us ungrateful and not grant us any kids at all, like ever? What if we did have kids and it turned out we weren't ready? Would having kids change us into a different person?

All these rendered me paralyzed with fear sometimes.  

But the thing is, despite all that chaos in my head, I have this feeling that one day I am going to be a mother. And I am going to relish the role. Just that the feeling seems to be quite a distance from now.

So if you are old enough to read this, if there are times when I am being difficult like mothers tend to be, you should know that I went against all of my own arguments to go through something I am most terrified of; childbirth and being a mother. Do know that I love you with such ferocious tenacity, rivaling that of the fiercest lioness of the savannah. So don't be too difficult on me and your father, please.

Lots of love,
Me.

Searching for That Dream House

Having a roof over your head is one of the basic necessities in life; apart from food and the clothes on your back (not so much that three shirts you have in your wardrobe in 3 'different' shades of white). 

Rental in Kota Damansara is getting outrageous. A run-down old flat will cost you around RM700-800 per month. An extra RM400-700 per month will get you a well-kept apartment. A basic condo unit can fetch up to RM2000-2500. Then there's the high-end condos for which you have to be ready to fork up around RM4000 per month. A landed house..let's not go there. Yet. Mission impossible.

This sentiment is felt across the country actually, where price of houses is reaching an all-time high; without any sign of stopping soon. Some took this as a sign of a housing bubble; a situation in which the price is driven up by the speculation that the price is going to get even higher until at one point, due to lack of actual need in housing, the system will burst, leaving people with mortgages they cannot afford. Like what happened in the U.S. a few years back. Once it crashes, it went with a Bang, not a mere Pop.  

In the Netherlands, if a property is vacant for more than a year, it is not a crime to occupy it. This is to ward off investors buying property and keep it until the price has gone up profitable enough to resell. An opinion of my German language teacher is that the need we feel to own a house is hammered into us by our society, without much benefit to us. He argued, what's wrong with paying rent your whole life? But of course, this, coming from a man who paid cash for his Viva car. 

What caused the property prices to grow exponentially in the last 30 years? The answer would lie in the government's policy. Like always, the government would conjure (or lately, say) something up with the best of intention (or so I would like of believe) at its core, until the success of the system became its own monster. 

In the 60s, bank would only approve housing loan, 60% of the total amount, and the repayment would last at most for 10 years. Now one can expect to get a 90% financing which has become a standard practice for most banks, and recently with the My First Home Scheme (M1HS),  lending margin can reach up to 100%. Monthly repayment was reduced as the repayment period which was at 10 years in 1960 has been extended to 30 and sometimes up to 40 years now. See the inevitable booby trap?

Let's look into the M1HS. This scheme allows fresh graduates who have just started working with a monthly income of less than RM3000 and is younger than 35 years old to take out a 100% loan, for a property that is valued under RM300k. For joint applicants with income of less than RM6000 combined, they can apply for a 100% loan for a property valued to up to RM400k. This means, young working individuals do not have to worry over how to fork up the 10% down-payment, what with having to worry about wedding/hantaran and stuff. 

This situation has seen young generation flocking to take out home loan and shop for their dream house, or for investments. The question is, is it a wise decision?

In my humble opinion, it depends on how informed you are on your current situation. You need to know if you are going to be committed to being responsible in your monthly spending. You need to know the prospect of the area you're buying into; is there many ongoing development that will add value to the area, etc. You need to know the developer. The owner if it is a sub-sale. The current bank valuation of the property. You need to be prepared to do research on a lot of these.

But in the end, who knows for sure if the market is going to continue this steady rise in the next 10 years? What if the market crashes tomorrow? Nobody can tell you the answer, even the most expert in the industry. Only God knows that. 

But put it this way; if you buy a home, in 1 year you will have won a total of 15% equity in your property if you took out a 90% 30-year loan. And imagine this; if you rent, in a year you would have paid 5% of the landlord's mortgage. So generous, eh?

Helipad

We were driving past the road leading to the house I'm staying in. Honestly I didn't know how we ended up there, my humble national car must have felt pretty out of place sometimes sandwiched between a Mercedes and a Harrier and Swifts other whatnots in the parking lot. I hope my Viva doesn't have a car inferiority complex, because I couldn't care less about cars.

Along the road, any empty vast space left are being developed into residential units. There's this double-storey resort homes, with its own private pool. Then there's this luxurious condominium, its starting selling price is RM1 million. It gets one wondering what comes with a unit with a shared roof and floor at that price tag.  Deep burned curiosity alone is not enough to overcome the intimidation to actually enter the sales office and take a tour around the show unit.

An evening drive on that road if it's not congested makes you feel like you are on a holiday. Rain trees lined each side of the road. A sign board by the roadside across the road opposite the luxury condo caught our attention. It says: Helipad. Behind it an expansive area which we initially thought was a football field.

Wow. Just wow. Seriously, normal people need heli to move around these days? That's obnoxious but hey, if our Prime Minister gets to ride in one, whose to say no to other equally busy and mobile individual?

Fudhail joked that we could land our own heli there some time, albeit a battery-powered one. Yeah sure.

I'm not hating. Kalau la kita ditakdirkan sekaya itu, no telling what we might do. It could be worse. Maybe instead of a heli, it would be a heli fashioned to look like a unicorn. See. Told you it could be worse.

TT

We were in the process to look at houses to buy, as the house rent here is ridiculously high, we thought might as well we pay the same amount every month for us, instead of to pay off someone else's loan.

Last weekend, Arief, the mystery creature who only appears to the naked eyes once in a while whenever it pleases, who also happens to be my brother, decided to follow us to the viewing of the houses, since he is going to be living with me. Most of the time.

After we are done for the day we decided to go for dinner together. Left alone just the two of us, Fudhail off somewhere, the following conversation took place.

"Tadi tengok kakak dengan Fudhail buat belanjawan bulanan lepas kahwin, rasa sedih."

"Awat? Sebab kami sengkek ka? Hahaha."

"Taklah, sebab cepat sangat rasanya. Tu yang adik lari masuk bilik tu."

"TT."

'TT' wasn't a word, it was me crying. I cried in public. Got my mascara running down my eyes so that I look like a panda.

I told my mom and she said, "We're happy for you but we're both still adjusting."

"TT."

As much as a weirdo my family is, our love for each other in undeniable.

Wedding Planning

Yes, I have accepted the fact that the bride is not the only excited for the wedding. The entire family is. That's a good thing of course. Sharing the excitement also makes them prone to conjuring up ideas on the big day, which of course, might differ from the idea I have in mind.

So I have made clear the two 'sacred' things I'm not willing to compromise on. These things, come hell or high water (sounds creepy since the wedding would be near 'kola' as Perlisians called it), shall be present on the day, unless they are not meant to be by the bigger force of Heaven :

1) Unicorn carriage. I'd settle for a horse (a white horse with a horn attached to its forehead).
2) Rainbow sponge cake

Not that too much to ask for eh?

Some other details that I'm fond of:

1) Floss candy
2) Foosball table - We first bonded over a game of this; by the way I won on our first date!
3) Smarties / colorful jellies
4) Printed balloons
5) Live band
6) Soap bubble and paper confetti
7) Slideshows of our baby photos/video on solemnization

Why not throw in some elephant and trapeze swingers, since it looks like you're having a circus not a wedding?

Well, it can be a carnival-themed wedding, like Britney's Circus album. I think I prolly should do an inspiration board, to show to Ibu and mother-in-law.

I would be nice to have a laid-back not-too-formal wedding where we and our favorite people can have a good time at.

So the progress so far? Mr Groom has completed his form, so it's my turn to do it before we could get a signature of the Tok Imam. I'll share the details in another post. Mana tau boleh buat rujukan masa hadapan.

Blood test. Oh man..susah gila nak buat kat area sini. 3 minggu prior kena buat appointment tau!

Photographer/videographer confirmed. Called the guy the other day (he's really cool btw), cakap nak tambah macam-macam daripada package asal, nak outdoor photoshoot 2 kali la, nak tambah lagi satu clip extra untuk tayang time wedding la, tapi still dapat harga yang sama yayy me!

Baju nikah dah beli! Beli yang biasa-biasa aja, nak meng-Vera-Wang tak mampu. Baju yang beli ni kaler putih, mode style, retro habis ah. Planning nak tambah beading sendiri nanti. Puiii macam la sempat. Baju pengantin lelakiku nak tempah weekend ni.

Rumah masih lagi menyopping. Yang susah sebab ada limited budget. Scratch that. Very limited budget. On top of that, memilih pulak tu. Yang apartment/rumah teres biasa-biasa takmau hehe. Tapi in all seriousness, we are looking for a well-maintained condos like the one I'm renting now because of the tight security since I would be living alone most of the time kan. Baru-baru ni ada kes perempuan kena kelar leher dekat apartment dekat-dekat sini! Scary, ya Allah minta dijauhkan! Kalau tak sebab memilih walhal budget limited, dah lama dah beli, banyak kot yang berkenan. Rumah dekat area Kota Damansara ni harga dah shoot through the roof dah, sebab dah confirm nak buat MRT. Oh man, kalau ada duit, it would be a very god investment to buy in this area.

Make-up artist dah janji dengan a good friend in Kulim nanti dia nak bawakkan jumpa officemate dia ada kedai.

Apa lagi? Lah. Baru tu ja. Banyak lagi ni tak siapppp! Hantaran belum beli! Ibu dah pesan jangan beli kasut, dia tak gemar nak kena letak atas dulang semua I can't understand the logic pfffft.

Off to work now, bye!

The Wedding Planner

As soon as I walked out of the shop selling personalized wedding door gifts and accessories, twinkled-eyed and mouth-agaped, I turned to look the boyfriend straight in the eyes, and with utmost conviction proclaimed, "I know what I wanted to be!"

"Oh no, not again...you've been changing your--"

"I want to be a wedding planner! That's my calling, my true calling!"

"Babe, let's focus--"

"I've never felt so sure in my life about anything than this moment!"

"Well, you said that when you told me you wanted to run a resort by the beach---"

"This is different!"

"Sure.."

"Why are you not being the supportive boyfriend, we are getting married in 4 months!"

"I think you should calm down, maybe it's just the adrenaline--"

"No! This is real, I know I'mma be awesome at it!"

"O-K..."

Been changing my mind of what I want to be since I was a kid. Guess some things stay the same, huh?

Part 5 : Quest of The Ring..and Others.

Smacked tired. Bliss nevertheless. I'mma sleep like a baby tonight.

Went to have a look at the stuff to buy, in order to establish our final choices and more importantly, to have a establish our budget on each of the item. We can't go on a careless shopping spree and risk at the end of the day having a budget shortage for something super important like the ring. 

In terms of that, today was a success. The ring, the doorgift, invitation cards, hantaran and the fabric for wedding and akad nikah's ceremony; we have found the place, in which we have set our eyes on selected few items. We just need to sleep them over and hopefully by the next two weeks, when we meet again for kursus kahwin we can finalize our choice and set everything into motion. 

Mom told us to check out Jakel. They have this bridal package in which the bride gets to choose the fabric for dresses and the guy's fabric in matching color will come for free. The arrangement makes it looks like the bride is supposed to be the star of the day and the groom is just the handsome accessory, which of course is how things are meant to be! Weddings are for the bride! But not in my case apparently as my groom is the kind of man who actually cares about the color scheme being almost as much of a vainpot as I am. I've never spent that much time in a kedai kain before without being bored! Akak salesgirl dah muncung-muncung dah when we kept changing from one theme to another. Chill la, that's the first time we ever went to see the fabric for our wedding suit/dress, you can't expect us to make up our mind on the spot. 

They have every fabric imaginable, even the lace, beaded lining in any color and shapes, multi-tone chiffon fabric which is so Zuhair Murad pon ada. And the fabric comes in a broad price spectrum, from 240 per set to 2500. Pilihlah ikut kemampuan masing-masing. 

Final status : He wishes for me to dress up in brighter color for our wedding day while I'm still mulling over wearing cream/off-white for both our nikah and wedding day. I mean, it's a classic color right?? You can NEVER go wrong in it. Repetitive, yes, but....I don't know. But we have a few other options now to think over.

Wedding ring. First time I saw this rose gold/white gold ring with diamond-studded butterflies, I fell in love! Though I admit it's a tad too playful to be a wedding ring..he asked me to imagine being 50 years old and still wearing it. I mean he has a point but 50 is double my age now it's still a long way to go I can't really imagine it and well, when I reach 50, don't I deserve a new ring from my husband?? The butterfly ring can be turned into a pendant or something..

Before this I kinda like the diamond band thingy. But as I tried one after another after another just now, they simply do not look good on me. They look awkward on my ring finger! =( Frustrated, I asked him to pick one he likes to see best, disregarding my preference whatsoever. He chose this brilliant cut diamond ring, the diamond placed against a heart-shaped mini-diamond-studded plate. Good luck imagining it I know my description sucks so bad. So anyways, this ring looks very feminine, very timeless..I love it! I think I might consider my diamond-band-ring only policy. 

Doorgift. 

That'll have to wait some other time. So tired and sleepy right now.

Second week of Ramadhan. Have a blessed one! 

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!

Bridezilla Part 3 : Venue - Confirmed

By yesterday the venue was down to 3 choices; Timah Tasoh Lake, Putra Brasmana, and Dewan Warisan or 2020. The latter choice we didn`t have any contact so we proceeded wih the first two.

Mama Rohana said Timah Tasoh if she remembered correctly wasn`t so pricey so we went to have a look. The place evokes a romantic mood. The hall overlooks the tranquil lake, series of lush green hills acts as the perfect backdrop.

One minor downside is it`s about 15km from the city center. Second major one is Fasha Sandha. Given the recent exposure of the place thanks to her, the place is overglamorized now the price has shot through the

roof. RM18 per head PLUS you have to also take the wedding decoration package they offer which includes RM500 for wedding cake table, RM1500 for walkway, RM3500 for pelamin, RM1000 for meja pengantin. These are the areas you can cut corners on, areas where you can save a lot. I`d rather splurge on good food for the guests.

Next up is Ocean Glow, Putra Brasmana. First look and I fell in love. From afar you can see these white canopy arranged on a jetty extending out into the sea. I can imagine the scenery during sunset. Mesti romantik abessss. *dreams*

The person we talked to was super sweet. Looks like an easy person to have to work with. We can bring outside food too in addition of the ones that were prepared under the package. Personally I like to pay for a hall which includes food, meja kerusi semua. Senang. Less hassle for my inlaws and my mom since I won`t be able to handle everything.

This package which is at RM12 per head includes all that and more. Meja makan beradap pengantin, red carpet, PA system, semua pon termasuk. Ada 10% discount on the hotel room kalau sedara mara nak duduk. I think the price is fair enough. And the management is also ready to accommodate our other needs macam pelamin, extra food etc.

What sold me on the place is...ada horse carriage! Kalau ada kuda putih, nak letak horn bagi jadi unicorn! Maybe the excitement was all over my face that both families agreed on the venue. We booked it on the same day.

Venue: settled. Time to fuss over other fun details!

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