Zim & KeY - 10.01.09

This is the exact soft copy of the wedding album (Actual Day)~






















I love looking through these pictures..

Blissful~

Typically KeY

I was just looking through the wedding pics (Well, I promised Jim to upload it by erm, 9/12/09. Okay, Jim, dinner on me the next time we meet!) and found this...
Heels and KeY, just don't quite go together!

LOL..

Random thoughts on Zim & KeY's wedding..

It's interesting how most couples would create blogs just to pen down their wedding preparations and flaunt photos of what was captured. Ever wondered why Zim and I didn't do that? The answer is pretty simple - we are just plain lazy. It's a little sad as recalling back, I can't quite remember what we did when organising the wedding. I'm getting so accustomed to married life that it actually felt like the wedding was a loooong time ago. (Oops) Now that I've several friends getting married, it's actually quite difficult to answer their wedding questions as firstly, Zim and I didn't do it the conventional way. And secondly, I simply can't quite remember..

I'm quite amazed by how bo chap we both were. Impressed, but yet there were some regrets. Thanks to the last minute planning (I only confirmed my wedding guest lists two weeks prior to the wedding), I left out a couple of friends and the guilt of missing them out of the invite list still haunts me sometimes. (I promised I'll invite u if it happens again? LOL Choy~) Plus, right after the wedding night, I was quite overwhelmed and disturbed by the fact that we neglected quite a handful of guests (I'm really sorry if you are one of them..) and were unable to spend as much time with some of our best friends as we would like too.. Oh, and did I mention the part that I cursed when the ring didn't really fit. (OMFG)...(FYI, I went back to Love&co to get it enlarged eventually. -_-")

The most shitty part was when we received negative feedback from family and relatives about certain aspect of the wedding. It was so hard to listen since there isn't much we could do to rectify the situation. Of course, positive feedback did make our day!

The funniest part of all, is our wedding album. Till now, we have yet to collect our wedding album and this is definitely NO fault of our photographer. In fact, I really thank and applaud him for his patience. Initially, right after the wedding, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the photographs and was a bit disappointed that I had to wait for 1 month. So the time came and the photos were finally out. By that time, I couldn't be bothered about it and totally sat on it for the next two months. We were procrastinating so much that our photographer had to send us 'reminder' emails. Guess he wanted to get us off his "To-Do List". Well, at least the album is finally in printing.

Now that it's all over, it is fun to relive the thoughts of it now and then.. but to do it again, NO WAY. LOL... well, good luck to the soon-to-be-married couples! Pleased to say I'm done with mine! *Grinz*

Happily Married Key~

The morning..

Just a quick blog before i put on my mask...

Anxious? Somewhat. Annoyed? Yes. LOL. Expectedly, I was unable to sleep last night, tho I did managed to catch some quick wink. Mom's tossing and turning didn't help at all of cos. Woke up with an awful headache and was abit annoyed with my mom's initial arrangement for the makeup process. Oh well, at least she managed to resolve it before it was too late. First hiccup of the day - SOLVED~

It's amazing how brides can still look so happy and recharged on their wedding day. I'm definitely feeling like shit right now. Can't wait till the day is over, smoothly of course.

Hm, hope things go better for the rest of the day. SIgh, I'm barely able to open my eyes now. (Hm, quite impressed by how i can still put on the contacts tho.) Just had a quick run through of the itinerary. Found out that I kinda missed out on a couple of items. (oops..) Shall rectify it along the way today la...

Good luck KeY!

7 days to go...

Just 7 more days to go. Oops~

Well, matters settled~ :

1) Wedding invites - We started handling out the cards really late, just two weeks prior our wedding! Thank god most of our friends were still able to attend! Guess we took a bit more time to make the cards than we expected. But at least it was worth the effort!! Did get quite some praises from the recipients (maybe they were just being nice~ =P)!

2) Florist - Thanks CY for her recommendation and co-ordination! We managed to settle the florist (Secret Garden by Jane) quickly! And, it's all within our relatively tight budget. Colour theme has been decided - Flowers will be a mixture of white, champagne and pastel purple! Though I'm not too sure what sort of flowers they will be using (well, no surprise, since I'm never a flower person to begin with), but I'm sure it will look just great!

3) Food tasting~ Yummy yummy (will update a separate post on this~)! For the curious people, our caterer is 1827!

4) Final Fitting - This is kinda embarrassing to mention, but I ended up having to enlarge my evening gown cos I, erm, put on some weight. =P But at least it's done and I no longer have to fret or stress about losing weight!! Susan and Euzart, from Jawn.Happy.Ever. After, are superb and really helpful! Thank god for them!! My conclusion is, it's definitely worth the $$ spent!

5) Pre-Wedding Photo Album - It's gorgeous! I love love love it! Can't wait to see the effects for the actual day! (Thanks Terry from OneEyeClick!)

6) Wedding Favors - After some amount of debating and scouting, we finally mentioned to find the RIGHT wedding favors - ******** (keeping some suspense). Thanks to Zim's colleague, Innocent (From Gobi!) for the special rate that kept it within our budget and I just can't wait to give them out!

7) Wedding Cake - Yes, we are having a 3-tier wedding cake! And it's a 100% real cake (Not the weird dummy cake at last). Thanks to Qian's recommendation. We got it from Pine Garden! The best part of all, each tier is of a different flavour! So make sure you get a bite from each of the tier, specially tasted and selected by Zim & KeY!

The not so good part now:

Matters arising -

1) Wedding Itinerary - Though we are just a week away, we have yet to sit down to work out the actual programme. (Guess I wasn't really in the 'wedding' mood especially after all the naggings from Mums from both sides) Well, we better settle it this weekend, by hook or by crook!

2) Wedding Band - Thanks to Kitty, we will be getting her friend's band to perform at a special rate! But, now it's the tough part! I'm thinking of giving the wedding a jazzy and lounge touch, yet I want to include some playful tunes to spice up the event! (And of course, a couple of chinese songs!) So, it's selection time.. Help~ Sissy!

3) Arts House - Guess Me and Zim got too excited and kinda over-invited. (Oopsy~) We stretched our initial guest list of 200 to erm, about 270! Oops~ can't help that we are popular~ =P But the main concern now is whether there will be ample space for our guests to move around. So, think we needa meet up with Lynne from arts house asap to settle the space issues.

4) Helpers - Managed to get my beloved sistas and brother and Sangee & CY to help out. The funny part is, I'm not too sure what responsibilities they have! LOL, guess this will fall in place after we settle the itinerary.

5) Wedding Vows - huh? We'll come to it eventually. LOL. I thought I only need to say "I do"?

At least we still have one more week to sort out all these outstanding issues. But it's starting to get a little scary! (Paranoid KeY @ work) I'm worrying that things might not go as planned! Thank god Zim seems alot more confident than I am. Sigh, Can't wait till the wedding is finally over!!!!!!!!!

Almost there.. just 7 more days!!!

Our Wedding - The making of the invites...

Let me introduce to you the factory line in charge of making Zim & KeY's Wedding Invites... *drum rolls*

Raw Materials were handpicked at several shops and purchased personally by Master KeY over a course of 1 month. After placing the raw materials in the storage space for a couple of months while the masters experimented with different prototypes, the masters finally decided on THE design (with approval from international credentials) after numerous attempts. The raw materials had been delivered to the factory the day before!

Factory line begins with Master Zim, who is responsible for cutting the strips of words with precision and accuracy. (With the help of a slicer of course!) Master Zim, who is young for his age, can actually cut 16 strips in just 10 minutes! (Wooooow~) A true master indeed.. shi fu~

Once the strips are nicely sliced, QC is done by Master Pong, who quickly glances through the stripes, eliminating failed samples. Small as he seems, Master Pong has the sharpest eyes of his traits and can identify the smallest tear/cut with his power glance. A highly sought after master of his kind. (Each failed strip = 5 cents off Zim's pay)

Affer QC is done, Master KeY then proceeds to painstakingly glue each strip to the base of the cards. Master KeY, aka sticky hands, can stick 1 strip in just 30 seconds, a whooping 10 seconds faster than her peers! The downside unfortunately, is that Master KeY suffers from finger-cramps due to the squeezing of the glue tube and has to take rests quite frequently~ =P

Last in the line, is Master Ping, aka Counter Ping. Despite his tiny size (in contrast to the cards!) Master Ping can count up to 100 in just 20 seconds! Master Ping is best known for his silent counting - Doing all this counting just with his little paws and little brain!! You won't even realise he is there! Definitely a silent killer~

Definitely a gathering of Masters of the Masters!

FYI - the cards are just 40% done.. The masters got kinda tired and called it a day.. Till next weekend la~

Sneak Preview...

Journey to becoming Mrs Lim

Well, work aside, at least some parts of my life are still going smoothly (and blissfully too!). Phew~ Wedding shoot went really well (very unglam, but good)! Thank god for good weather~ We are still waiting for the selection of the photos, seriously hoping that at least some of the photos look good! (Please make me look Skinnier~ Please...)

A little slack on the preparation of the wedding dinner, but I think we are still on track! I'm still short of a florist, a wedding cake and wedding favours. Wedding invitations are, erm, 2% done? Wedding guest lists are still pending. Food tasting to be confirmed...Nice isn't it? LOL, I'm pretty sure I have everything under control... (erm, it's just 2 months away, fyi)

Hm, as for our sty (shall refer it to sty, since sty is what ping and pong calls home)... construction work has since begun and is expected to be completed by 1st week of dec! Furniture shopping is 70% done!! Well, while the hole in our pocket is ridiculously big at this point of time, it sure was a great deal of fun shopping for things (tho, the decision making aspect was quite a headache!). We are still short of a few pieces of furniture.. but at least we still have some time to search for it! On an interesting note, I never quite realised how expensive SCV and internet connection can be... I really should stop taking those at home for granted!

So far so good isn't it?

Bridal Shoot..

I can't wait till friday is over... At least that means I can stop watching my diet and stop abstaining from certain types of food.. (Think cheesecake.... chocolate cake... rice.. ).. for a while before 10 Jan approaches..

Honestly, I have never been so stressed about my weight. While I might have gone on diet every now and then, I wasn't exactly stressed over my progress.. and didn't really bother me if I lost or gained any weight. Didn't even bother abstaining from food, but instead just exercise more to compensate.

Been quite a torture for the past month. Though I have not purposely gone on diet either, I have a constant nagging voice in my mind telling me that I cannot put on weight, cannot/shouldn't eat this. And it really sux. I actually feel guilty for eating certain food and sometimes just kinda blame myself for eating something I could have done without.

Best of all, I didn't exactly lose any weight.. tmd...Well, it's not really about the effects of the shots. It's more for the worry that I cannot fit into the made to measure gowns... Sigh~

Not happy. Really dislike this kind of life.. so I'm actually looking forward to the end of all these. =( Looking forward to when I can go for buffets, go and eat what I like and not be stressed by the consequences.. Put on weight, nevermind, just work it off overtime.

Almost there...

Want some dessert?

Macaroons anyone?

Nope.. I did not bake them (unfortunately...) but they rock!

yummilicious.. =P

Guest List..

It's a complete headache deciding my guest list... Due to constraints (we wanted to keep it small and simple) and the fact that I've a ton of relatives (63 to be exact), I am unable to invite everyone I wanted to or rather, I should.

Initially, I thought that I probably don't have alot of friends, just a few selective group of friends that I bothered to hang out with.. But after doing some head count, it turns out that i've actually burst my quota.... So the tough part begins - the process of cutting the guest list.

A wedding planning book I borrowed from the library gave the advice that you should invite friends of the future, not the past. Invite people whom you will keep in contact with, not people whom u shared a past with and probably nothing in the present. Keeping this in mind, I did indeed manage to cut my guest list significantly.

There are a couple of names that I am still pondering about. A part of me says "cut", yet the other part says "keep". At least I have till the end of Oct to think about it. Maybe I will be able to make a firm decision by then, and hopefully, stick to it...

Our Wedding Shoot...

Met up with our Photographer, Terry to discuss our pre-wedding shoot. Lazy KeY didn't keep up with her schedule and we ended up meeting Terry two weeks later than we were supposed to. =P Luckily not much damage was done. Phew~

Well, we were supposed to come up with about 3 photoshoot locations but only managed to come up with two after some discussions - Arts House (our wedding venue) and Boat Quay (one of our first dates) before meeting Terry. Turns out that two locations were insufficient and we needed to come up with a couple of more significant places. After some brainstorming, we actually managed to come with up with a few more locations (Make a guess?) and I'm starting to get excited about how the photos will turn out! ^_^

Best part of all, we are involving my two little pigs!!!

Stay tune for the effects!!!!

Contractor Scouting...

Wedding preparations are falling in place in bits and pieces. While we are right on track (and a little ahead on several aspects), we now face the most challenging task in our wedding - Scouting for THE ONE contractor. It's interesting how diversified friend's feedback on their own contractors can be. On one hand, we've friends cursing their heads off at horrible contractors, and on the other, we've friends full of praises for theirs. Of course, a couple fell in the middle. Guess they are those that agreed on the logic that what you pay is what you get - so don't expect world class workmanship when all you are willing to fork out is marketplace prices. Nonetheless, with all these in mind, we set out on our very mission to search for our own contractor.

I didn't expect the need to meet up with more than 3 contractors, afterall, Zim and myself are relatively easy going and easy to please (READ: Lazy to find too many). To a huge extent, both of us rely hugely on our gut feelings (that's how we settled on our bridal shop and photographer!) and if we are comfortable with someone, we would more or less follow our 'feelings'. So we kinda thought that it would be pretty easy to settle on one.

The first 3 we met were very, erm, diverse. The first one came with huge recommendations from a friend. Hence, me and Zim happily went for our appointment, only to be disappointed by him (well, he stood us up and got his colleague to meet us without informing us beforehand), His colleague was nice, but our gut feelings just doesn't seem to feel the same. In addition, the quotation given was missing so many items that while the quotation was still within our budget, we were concerned that add-ons would eventually kill us. So, STRIKE ONE!

The second one was pretty good. We were really pretty comfortable with him and he was able to work within our budget. (After we removing several items that we would love to include) However, one major concern was that the person whom recommended him had 3 times our budget, so, does having 1/3 budget equate to 1/3 workmanship? Inevitable I guess. So, let's just put him on hold for now.

The third one was, hm, interesting. We listed down what we would like to have during our first meeting and the person pretty much assured us that what we wanted was workable for our budget, and even better, might be less. When the quotation was ready, instead of emailing us for our convenience, they insisted that we visit them personally again. Fair enough. The fun part was, the quotation was not only not less than our budget, it was 1.5 times our budget. (WTF) The contractor even boasted of how he repeatedly change his company's name to avoid paying GST. Erm, guess he wasn't aware that Auntie me, and Uncle Zim are both civil servants who do have integrity (why do I feel slightly guilty saying this. =P). Our main concern was how much discount (up to 10%) he could give simply because we were recommended by friends. It gave us the impression that he purposely brought up the price, only to bring it down again just to make us fall into his trap. (Not gonna work, Mister) We didn't feel good about it (duh) and clearly rejected him during his follow-up call a few days later. STRIKE TWO!

We were almost ready to settle on the second one when I gave in to my mom's constant nagging. (well, she believes in the principle that the more you see, the better you can decide) For once I am actually thankful to her nagging! The two additional ones we've seen were satisfying. Not only were we able to list down what exactly we wanted, each meeting with a new contractor raised some concerns that we had overlooked earlier (and interestingly, not being mentioned by any of the 1st three).

We are still waiting for both their quotations, but I am having relatively high hopes that we might just have hit the jackpot this time and found THE ONE contractor.

So, do Stay tune....

Back from Hong Kong... AGAIN...

Finally made it back from Hong Kong. Definitely glad to be back! No place feels as good as home! Hm, seems like the Hong Kong trip pretty much concludes my travelling for the year. Yap, NO MORE plane rides for the rest of the year! I officially have enough of plane rides.

Overall, the trip was pretty fun, thanks to the company of my sistas + brother. Shopping was GOOD as usual (it's better not to mention the damage done. =P). To add on to our adventure, we survived a No.3 Typhoon! (Nay, it was nothing wow, just lotsa rain and occasional strong winds. Nothing too exciting)

Now that Zim and I are finally back for good, wedding preparations are picking up once again. (Yes, that also means that the wedding headaches will be coming back too, oops. )Kinda scary to think that although the wedding is just 6 months away, there are still a long list of items that require our attention. *Faints* Who ever said preparing for a wedding/marriage is easy~ =(

Oh, by the way, after some discussion with the husband, we've decided to purchase a resale flat (somewhere in Bukit Panjang area). Yeah, we know that resale flats are generally more costly, but there's nothing much we can do since our luck with HDB's balloting system just seems to be really really bad. Started our house scouting a couple of weeks ago, saw a couple that we have pretty good vibes of. (but our moms don't quite seem to agree.. ) Anyway, nothing is finalized at this point of time.. Guess that means more scouting...

Sigh~

1.4 Wedding Gown..

Went to settle my wedding and evening gowns on Saturday @ Jawn.Happy.Ever.After . After discussing my 'homework' (I was given the assignment of looking through fashion magazines, runway photos to decide what kind of gowns I like a couple of months ago) with Euzart and Susan (the two fantastic designers), we sorta settled for a rough idea of what kind of evening gown I will be getting. (Nope, not saying anything here. =X) Final design won't be out till end of June though, can't wait!!!!

Anyway, I went on to select my wedding gown with the help of the two designers and XP & Bud. I've decided to get off-the-rack gown earlier simply to save some cost. Besides, Jawn has really gorgeous gowns to begin with. While it was somewhat tiring, it was also pretty fun trying on gown after gown, gathering varying opinions from everyone. I tried on a total of 6 gowns, eliminating a few along the way and finally came down to the final two. (shan't spill any beans about how they look, =x), There was something about each of the two gowns that I liked and hence, found it awfully difficult to decide on the spot. Kinda wished that Zim was around to just make the final decision for me.

But guess not...

So the KeY did what the KeY has to do: She went home to sleep on it and finally decided on THE ONE!

One more item done!

^_^

Wedding updates...

Hee, details are finalized, (erm, at least most are)!

Venue: Arts House (aka Old Parliament House)
Date: 10 Jan 2009 (saturday)
Time: 7pm onwards
Theme: erm...thinking along the line of colour themes - white & purple (will be further refined...)
Style: Cocktail Reception Dinner
Caterer: Restaurant 1827
Gown Boutique: Jawn.Happy.Ever.After
Photographer: One Eye Click - Terry Ng
Wedding Band: Love & Co.. (haven't bought yet, just managed to identify THE pair)

Hee, really glad to be able to settle the main skeleton of the wedding plan... Now it's time for the headache - details details and more details...

what gown design, what layout, what types of flowers, what wedding favours.. blah blah blah..

Well, on the flip side... at least I'm finally starting to be excited abt it!

Wheeee...~

Almost there..

It's officially 287 days away!

Sigh, so much more to settle though.... =(

1.3 Venue scouting...Dilemma!!!!

Visited one last venue today... Was curious and excited how the my impression of the place would be as I heard pretty good things about it. After waiting for two weeks, we finally managed to get hold of someone from NLB and got to view the pod at last. (aka the place PM gave his national day rally speech) This place is... nice. Really really really nice. From the 16th floor of NLB, there's an almost breathtaking view of Singapore. (Almost as we viewed it early in the morning. But I'm definitely convinced that the night view would take my breath away.)

Damnit, dilemma lah. Unsure of which of the two location we should choose. Sigh.. what a headache..Unlike the previous comparisons where we would choose arts house over everything, we were unable to make a decision of which venue we want. Both venues have their respective pros and cons and both venues are just as impressive. Interestingly, both venues have the potential for very different atmosphere. Comparatively, Arts House gives a warm and cosy feel, while Pod gives a cool and 'glam' feel.

What a tough decision....

Anyway.. we made up our mind after some struggles...

I hope we made the right choice... hee...

1.2 Our Wedding.. - Venue Viewing..

Hee... went venue viewing today!

First to Arts House, followed by Singapore Arts Museum...

Fell totally in love with the rooms (Gallery & Living Room) in Arts House (Better known as the Old parliament House). Fits our wedding concept brilliantly.. just like a hand in a glove. Just standing there, I could almost visualize hosting a party there.. Mingling around with friends, holding a wine glass in a pretty cocktail dress. Just like the way we wanted it to be.... Perfect.

Unfortunately, prices ain't exactly very pocket-friendly and availability could be an issue. In addition, they have official in-house catering, and any external caterers will cause us to incur some costs... =(

Anyway, with ultra high expectations (set by Arts house), we popped over to SAM shortly after.

Beautiful courtyard and Glass house. (not so keen about the atrium as it used to be a chapel.. gives the feeling of a church wedding..) Rental rates are more reasonable and availability is not an issue as yet. But still, Arts house has already wow-ed my heart away... And sadly, SAM doesn't seem to impress me as much as arts house did... Oh, but the courtyard at SAM is really pretty, definitely one of the places I wanna take my wedding photos at (that's if I decide to sign up any packages lah)

LOl..oops, seems like I'm pretty biased towards what I want... but shall try to remain open-minded.. Time to fix up appointments for other venues too!

1.1 Our Wedding

Yap, wedding bells are ringing! Actual date isn't fixed as yet as usual (still needa go 'count' our eight characters before selecting "THE DAY".) But if nothing goes wrong, it should be somewhere during the 4th quarter of 2008 or 1st quarter of 2009.. (LOL, not really helpful I know...but that's about all I can confirm for now)

Honestly, planning for a wedding is so much more tedious and frustrating than I thought. Not as enjoyable as I expected, especially when you need to consider budgets and family expectations.. (thank god both our families are easy-going..) Oh well, I'll get through this!

After some discussion, both of us agreed on our wedding plan:
- No wedding banquet, no hotel venues. No wedding march, no 撞门, no church wedding...
- Just a simple lunch reception for relatives to announce our marriage and ... a simple chill out/cocktail party with a small (is a hundred people considered small?) group of close friends.

We also shortlisted a few places that offered venues that suited our wedding concept - NLB building, SAM, Arts House, Asian Civilisation Museum and Legends.

Time to start emailing them for venue viewing...

Hee.. let the 'fun' begin...