Wedding review - Malam Berinai

The malam berinai night wasn't really like some other malam berinai that you may have seen before. Some people would do 'khatam Quran' and marhaban (put baby in the beautifully decorated buaian) for those who has small babies in the family, of course. However, we think that it is not necessary as I have khatam-ed before several times and I dont have small babies in my family. So what happened during my malam berinai was simply geting together with my close friends and family members. 

Called the henna lady to help me with my Inai. 

I started to feel excited on that night. Started to see the tents, 

the pelamin, bilik pengantin yadaa yadaa yadaa.. 

Other people in my family as well as some of my friends also had some henna on their hands to show support.

  

But what I didnt do, but should have done was fotography session on my pelamin... ALONE! without the groom. I should have changed to multiple selections of traditional baju kahwin and pose at my pelamin and get blessings from my close family members. Maybe some advices from family, or something like that, I dont know, can be turned into a formal-informal occasion kinda thing? It'd be nice to have that I think. I just didnt have the time to plan for it. Maybe I'll do that for my daughter in the future, chewah!

Another advice from me, based on my experience, try to get the henna from Mekah instead the indian henna. The difference is in the colour, which the Mekah inai is more reddish than orange-ish. Or the inai from the pokok is also so much better. It lasts longer too. The indian henna that I had only lasted up to my honeymoon time (thank God it was still there during honeymoon, baru la ada rasa pengantin baru)..But after two weeks, dah no more pengantin baru.. inai pon makin hilang.. so get the Mekah one, or the one original from the pokok. If i can turn back time, this is one thing that I would change.

I loved my malam berinai anyway, because all the important people were there.

  

And I love the designs on my hands too..

My left hand fingers look like monster's, because the nail is super long. You can only leave your nails long if you decide not to put henna on, and do manicure instead. If you want to put inai..better not, nanti jadi macam gambar di atas. (Anyway, I cut my fingernails the next morning) :)

Wedding review - Before I became a Mrs

I am very grateful to be around these lovely and thoughtful people in my life. Although everybody was busy with things running in their lives, they had taken the time to plan and organize friends to get together before I get married. So even when I was very busy with my wedding schedules, I didn't mind to take some time off from 'weddings' and just be around my girls before life starts to change.

The first get-together was with my lovely ex-housemates at The Pressroom in Bangsar Shopping Centre.

With Adzy, Monzy, Tashy and Meeman (Dadat couldnt join sebab tengah berpantang). The theme was something like the B2B wearing white and the rest will wear striking colors. Very cute!

Great dinner and foto-shooting (a MUST).

And I received a a wedding present too. I dont need to show the lingerie now, do I? :D You see the tables are empty, not because we didn't eat...but because we left our table and went outside to take fotos...teehee!

Everybody was supposed to make ugly face but Monzy was cheating I guess... hmm..

Second get-together was with my wonderful bffs at Metropolitan Condo (I just made this up, coz I dont know the name) at Damansara Perdana. The theme was Tea Party by The Pool. Ohhh it's soo nice..

I was having so much fun with Ira, Sho-Anne, Zetty and Dyla. Everything was home-made (make with love) :)

This is us with door-gifts, done by Ira, lovely!

You see the bottom picture, especially made for me. :) Two tea-bags one for myself and one for my husband to be consumed during our honeymoon.. haha so thoughtful.

This was what written on the teabag.

And here again, they were all supposed to show ugly expressions except me, but it turns out that Zetty and Sho-Anne were cheating! grrrr..

The last gathering was with my extraordinary amazing and awesome girls from highschool. It was held at the Upstairs Cafe in Subang. We had the whole section for ourselves. And I oh love the decoration. There was one small section decorated, and there were wedding gifts, I cannot describe how lovely it was. I dont have much fotos here, because obviously I dont take fotos on my own occassion. And other people who had the fotos obviously did not upload them in FB. heheh.. So here are the little things that I can share.

We had some games and of course, foto-session (how can we call a complete occasion without that!)

The lovely people at the top foto from left, Jan (a gf), myself (was engaged), syikin (a wife), hana (a wife), ashik (a gf), hana (a fiance), dini (a wife), aliaa(a wife), dyla (a fiance), aziati (a fiance). I guess you can say that almost all my frens are taken :)

With favours for everyone to remember..It was cotton candy, how sweet :)

I had such great times with these people, those wonderful gatherings had helped me to get through the difficult days towards my wedding day. Those smiles, laughter and gifts of course, have kept me motivated and confident to go through the hardship and moments of stressed during the wedding preparation. Because they made me feel how important I am, and it is important to make somebody else feels important to get them moving.

They helped me to get through the days before I became a Mrs! Love you all so much.

New life, new beginning

I know I havn't been updating the blog since the day I got married. Not blaming anything, coz I was blissfully living the life of a 'newly wed couple' for the past 4 months (exactly 4 months from today). I will definitely update on wedding post mortem when I can find the time.

My husband is now stationed in JB, and undergoing training in Singapore, for how long, I am not too sure. Yes, he had been a weekend husband as much as I have been a weekend daughter to my parents. So during the weekdays, we were all very busy with work, and I can only call myself a human when it's Friday night, fetching my husband from the bus stand when he comes back from JB.

3 months ago was also the time when I decided to continue with my remaining 3 papers to get me to Chartered Accountant (CA). So 3 weeks before raya, I sent in my resignation letter. Serving one month notice was not very difficult, I had 1 week of raya and and there was a long weekend on Malaysia day, my boss also were not much around during that period, so wow!! 1 month felt like 1 week to me.

This raya was my first raya as a wife. What was different? I still go back to my kampung, but only on the first day of raya, so I wasn't there for bunga api, masak memasak, takbir raya from house to house and no malay raya movie on tv. I was also not there during the salam-salam mintak ampun part where it's usually a tradition to go to each person according to the rank in the family.

I was at my inlaw's the raya eve and also on raya morning. But I am not complaining coz the feeling is really good to be the new pengantin, everywhere you go, people will ask for the new pengantin. What's NOT nice is when people starts to hold my tummy and say "takde lagi ker?" pressure!

What else was different? I had to make sure that both of us have matching baju raya, ironed the sampin for the hubby, when it's makan time with the family, I have to make sure that my husband is eating first, had his drinks ready and make coffee for him after dinner. Really, this raya was the first time we ever spend time together for that long period of time...1 week!

Ohh, what else was different? I seek for forgiveness from my husband the night before raya and it was very touching. Tapi esoknya, buat dosa lagi.. hehehe :p

I have ended my career as an auditor in EY last thursday, a day before Malaysia day. Now I am in JB with my husband becoming the Lady of Leisure, that is now my job title! I'll seek for other new title next year, insyaAllah.

For now, I am happy with the thoughts of living together as husband and wife for the first time. And I am sure that there will be a lot more changes in my life as I go on.
This is my new life, my new beginning.

A week before Nikah

A week before nikah.. what did I do. I started to go on leave 6 days before nikah day. At that time, I felt I was at zero base.

- I have never done ANY fitting to ANY of my wedding attire.
- I have not gotten my bridal shoes
- No spa/facial/waxing/manicure-pedicure whatsoever
- I have not trimmed my hair for more than a year
- Have not found my source to do my henna
- 2 incomplete dulang for hantaran which eventually became macaroons and sejadah
- I did not have any baju for my malam berinai
- No ring for the groom
- The groom have not completed the dulang for my jewelleries
- Marriage approval have not been completed
- Bilik pengantin belum ada perabot (literally only a small walk-in-wardrobe, a katil and a tv)
- Have not searched for my wedding bedding sets including duvet
- Belum kurus lagi

Well, I think not mentioning the rest of other things is enough to make a bridezilla become panic. But not me. I went with the flow. I was never a bridezilla pon to begin with. hehe

In five days (a day before nikah, I was not allowed to go out anymore) I went to do the following:

Fitting Baju


Went for my nikah baju fitting five days before nikah. That was the first time I saw my baju nikah, and I fell in love with it. It wasn’t all ready, no laces, no beadings up yet, but I was already excited to be wearing that Ivory beautiful schiffon. I got my baju nikah 2 days before nikah ceremony.

I also went for my kebaya songket fitting. Still needed to alter after several time of fitting (ehem..bukan untuk besarkan ye..untuk kecikkan lagi.. heheh :))I got my baju kebaya 1 day after my reception, one day before the groom’s reception

Fitting for my reception dress one day before nikah, 2 days before the reception itself. I donno if there is any other person who was as calm as I was. The designer came to my house for first fitting at 3.30pm on my malam berinai day. First time I saw the baju I did not like it. Because it was champagne color. Not that I didn’t like the color, I just never had ANY idea that it was gonna be champagne. I thought it would be off-white with bit of silver, that was what in the sketch given to me...at least that was what I expected it to be. My husband had his suit grey, my bridesmaid and MOH are all wearing grey. And seriously, me being non-artistic at all, I couldn’t imagine my champagne could match with their greys. BUT, I had less than 48 hours, I couldn’t complaint could i? I kept on telling to myself, “Just a wedding reception, just a wedding reception, whats important is the marriage itself” I let it go. I got my baju 3 hours before my reception starts.

Bridal shoes


I really had no idea where other brides go and search for their shoes. I know Lewre had some good ones as my designer’s boutique is full of that brand’s shoes. So I went to Mid Valley, 1 days before nikah. I went to Lewre boutique, nothing caught my attention. Ada lah yang cantik but only 3 feet high. And considering my husband’s height, the designer told me to look for 4.5 height of heels. Gila nak mampos. My friend, Adzy told me to go to Lewre bridal Couture at the Gardens. MY GODDD…. They range from RM 1,500 to RM2,000 per pair of shoes. I will NEVER buy such expensive shoes, walaupun saya kaya macam Ivana Trump.

Adzy also told me to try to search at a shop at Ampang Park. Tapi, it was already evening, I had to go back to get ready for my Berinai session at night. So, my BFF’s lent me their wedding shoes, and my designer also lent me his 5 inch heels for my reception.
Bridal Pamper Treats

I went to do my Manicure and Pedicure 4 days before nikah. That only costs me almost a hundred bucks. Also, I went to salon to trim my hair, color and did some hair treatment, almost RM500 bucks on that.

Spa and facial was done at Tini’s spa in Shah Alam Section 7 2 days before nikah. But altogether was only about RM250. I loved it!!

Body waxing was done 1 day before my nikah. Thanks to my friends for the voucher. I loved it too

 
Henna


I had actually engaged a lady to do my inai, she agreed, she said she could come to the house and charging me RM150 plus transportation costs. 1 day before the Malam Berinai, she said she had no transport and asked me to go to her shop to do my inai. WTH??? I was gonna have a small ceremony for malam berinai at my house and she asked me to go to her shop. Bodoh.

So I cancelled and luckily, my friend Ira helped me to search for the Henna lady who did for her nikah. Her name was Rajesh. I loved all her designs. And she was only charging about RM100 for both tangan and kaki. She came to the house! Alhamdulillah…

Incomplete dulang

One was supposed to be an I-Pad (which he doesn’t want, tapi I yang nak :p) However, short of budget, so I tak jadi beli, he didn’t want it anyway. I replaced with Sejadah that my mom recently bought from Syria.

Another dulang was supposed to be chocolates. But I remembered that I gave chocolates during engagement, so I didn’t want to give the same thing. I told my wedding planner to handle that one. He bought some macaroons for the dulang. All these were settled on the day of my nikah day!


Jewelleries

I first bought the groom’s cincin suasa and my husband bought my bracelet from Tomei, Subang Parade. Only later we got to know that men cannot wear suasa. It has gold in it, so to be safe, we returned back the ring to Tomei to get something else, but they didn’t have platinum for men that goes without diamond on top. Mr A doesn’t like diamond. So I went to Diamonds and Platinum to buy my Mr his plain platinum ring that cost me a bomb. And my Mr also bought my one set of jewelleries over there that cost him Megabomb. Oh well, but they all were beautiful.



Marriage approval

Completed 5 days before nikah. Phewww!!! Orang nak kawin one month after me, also completed one month before I completed mine. Haiyooo.. But all were good, Alhamdulillah..


Bilik Pengantin

I bought a king-sized duvet, plus white bedding sets for my room 2 days before nikah. I bought furniture for the room like a writing desk, drawers, a bigger chest of drawer, a dresser, a TV console, all 6 days before nikah. And they all arrived 1 day before nikah.


Kurus

Something that was not achievable. Hah! I was a fat bride, whatever!



I am always a last minute person. And he married me anyway.

We Are Married

Alhamdulillah we got married last week on 19th of May 2011. We both look forward to this exciting new journey together and building a new chapter of our lives together as husband and wife.

Marriage Approval - DONE

I know this is a bit too late to share, not because i delayed the process of sharing, but the whole process of getting the documentation done was delayed upo to the last second week before the wedding.

1. Kursus kahwin
We first started our process for the marriage approval way in 2009, i guess (without intention to get married any sooner). We started by attending the kursus kahwin in majlis negeri, Shah Alam. There are few other places you can get your kursus from, but I guess the one in Shah Alam, could be the best as it is organised by JAIS themselves. They are a bunch of fun speakers too. Banyak benda you can learn from the kursus.

Antara my favourite was, (and I kept repeating this to many other people) that, women's responsibilities is only to satisfy their men in bed. ONLY, meaning, they are not supposed to work, not supposed to cook, to clean the house etc... those are men's responsibilities, to make sure food is on the table...is men's responsibility. If they can't do it because they are working, they are supposed to provide a servant for the wife, and not make the wife as the servant! ouhhh.. i love this, man! :p

The two days kursus costs you RM80, over the weekend. The first day would take probably from 9 to 4pm and on the next day would only take about 4 hours. Lunch is provided, and the food was damn good! Books for reference are also provided. All inclusive in the RM80.

2. HIV test
We did our HIV test separately, although at the same place. HIV test must be done at ONLY klinik kesihatan approves by JAIS.Opening hours ONLY from 2 to 4pm, mondays to fridays. We did ours at jalan tanglin, near masjid negara. You must take the borang to fill up at the klinik itself, and make appointment. Although sometimes, you can just walk in to do the test, it is advisable to make appointment with them.

Fill up the borang in advanced, went to the klinik as planned according to the appointment made. When I was there first time I didnt really know what to do and where to go. And nobody there BOTHER to ask if I was ok. Nak pergi klinik kerajaan ni, mulut kene kasi ringan sikit..must ask, otherwise, you'll be lost.

Sent in the borang, left IC with the registration counter and took my number. When my number was called, I had to pay RM5 maybe for the test, I dont know. I was then asked to go to the back and pass my borang to the nurses. Lama gila tunggu, I was eventually called after almost 2 hours of waiting.

The person explained to me about HIV (what, who, when, how), macam yang kita selalu dengar masa ceramah-ceramah HIV kat sekolah dulu, well, i took it very lightly...sapa tak tahu what is HIV kan. and how boleh get infected kan? While he was explaining, he poked my finger with the needle. sakkkiiiiiittt! berdebar jugak tunggu result. After result keluar, it was proven to be negative, i was then sent to the doctor who was gonna sah kan my result. The doctor then asked me what, how, when, where about HIV. I was blank.  And although i felt i sounded kelakar, i went ahead and gave her a text book answer. She finally signed and approved the borang. This result is only valid for 6 months.

3. Groom's documentation
In this case, i think Mr A was very efficient. He got his saksi, got his borang ready and complete and went to pejabat agama for his housing area, and his application was approved. This approval is only valid for 2 months. His documentation is part of my list of documentation.

4. Bride's documentation
a)Borang 2C - borang about the bride and the groom.
b)Borang 2D - borang about wali and saksi details
c)HIV test result
d)Dokumen sokongan - my IC, wali's IC, saksi's IC, sijil kursus kahwin (copy and original), surat keterangan nikah parents (as I am first child, to know if my father can really be my wali)
e)Borang bermastautin as my address in the IC is different then my current address as I just moved into new house early this yr. This borang must be signed by saksi  to approved

5. Approval
Called JAIS to ask where I am supposed to get my pre-approval from. According to my address in Bukit Jelutong, they assigned me to go to Masjid TUDM in TTDIjaya. They also passed me the contact person who is actually the Penolong Pendaftar Nikah. They prefer to meet up in between maghrib and isya', however, if you wish to go after isya', they want you to solat there, so after solat can go straight to his office. I went to see him with my wali and two saksi (my bro n uncle) two and half weeks before nikah. He vetted the documentations, all of us need to sign the borangs (in Note 4) in front of him.

A week before nikah, I went to the Pendaftar nikah from JAIS in shah alam, opposite the mosque. The documents were ready and signed for final approval within 3 hours. You have to pay RM5 for the approval. I had to bring back the approved documents to the Penolong Pendaftar Nikah in Masjid TUDM and left it with him. By then, you can book your jurunikah already.


ONE WEEK TO GO!!!

The kind that I loike

2 weeks to go!!! ok 2 wks plus plus laa ekceli.. Looking at Kate Middleton's wedding dress, I can't help but to think, if I were a lot more thinner, this is EXACTLY the kind of dress I have been dreaming of.

Soft lace at the top with, satin embroidered at the bottom, this is the perfect one.

Exactly how I have imagined it to be...IF i were A LOT thinner...this is what we call simple BUT elegant! but now it is a bit too late to do anything with mybaju, no? :p

Inspired by Grace Kelly's dress in the 50s, I thought Grace's dress was breathtakingly beautiful.

I even wanted the same kinda veil, but Mr A said it is sooo Christian'ish to cover the face. I dont know what is the logic, but...wth.. ikut jer laah!!

It's too late for me to kuruskan badan whatso ever, I wish I can wear something like this on my 10th anniversary of marriage. (bukan angan-angan di-siang hari)