Preparing for the wedding Part 4: The start of dowry shopping
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Dad blurted out of the blue this morning, "Do you have time to go and look at bedsheets today?" Let me backtrack a little and explain...
The wedding dowry, also known as trousseau. Definition: the money, goods or estate that a woman brings to a marriage. For Chinese weddings, this includes a whole range of things to help the bride and groom start their new lives together. For instance, a tea set for the tea ceremony at the groom's side, wedding lamps, jewellery, apparently a luggage filled with 10-12 sets of new clothes for the bride's use etc.. And yes, bedsheets are one of the requirements as well.
So off to OG we went! Spent almost an hour choosing 2 sets of bedding that Mum bought for me - 1 wedding one for use when we 按床, and another normal set in gray and pink reversible for normal day use =) Pictures only up after we have done the 按床.
As mentioned, another component of dowry is a luggage filled with 10-12 items of new clothes for me. My mum's role is to buy the luggage, mine is to fill it! Muahahahaha sanctioned clothes shopping! :D:D I've already bought a top, a dress, a skirt and a blazer. Quite a well-balanced attempt if I do say so myself. Need to get a couple pairs of pants, and maybe a few more tops. The fun part is having the license to shop, the not-so-fun part is 'cos I'm not supposed to use these clothes till after the wedding :(
Must...resist... Hehe
Labels: Wedding
dance those blues away...
Preparing for the wedding Part 3: Wedding gown selection
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Guess what! We are exactly half a year away from the big day! Starting to get a little excited now :D
Wedding preps have however taken a hiatus these 2 weeks though, which is good 'cos we don't want to be working on wedding stuff every weekend and burning out.
But the next exciting wedding-related errand will be in 2 weeks! We are going to try on and select my gowns and B's outfits! And I'm nervous! What if I don't find a gown I like? What if the gown I like isn't flattering? There's always the option of having the gown made to measure, but what if it doesn't turn out the way I want it to look?? :(
I've about a week and a half left before that day. Time to dig out my wedding mags, and find pictures of the gowns I like so that I can give the studio an idea of the kind of style I'm looking for.
Labels: Wedding
dance those blues away...
Preparing for the wedding Part 2: Traditional Teochew wedding cakes
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Another busy weekend full of wedding-related errands.
Met up with my parents and in-laws on Saturday to go check out a 饼家 that specialises in traditional Teochew wedding cakes: Thye Lee confectionary at Lorong Ah Soo.
Mum definitely wants to check out a few other shops though, as she recalled the cakes purchased for Xiaojiujiu's wedding were quite good. But then it has been 6 years ago, who knows how much has changed since then. So she'll let us know if she finds somewhere that she likes better.
Went for an early dinner together at B's uncle's stall at Old Airport Road food centre. I like it that our families can have a casual dinner together like this from time to time. Things aren't so awkward that way.
B and I then headed to City Plaza to check out jiemei dresses. Saw a number of pretty/cute ones that I would seriously consider :) Guess I gotta organise a jiemei gathering soon!
Sunday was less hectic. Just met up with our videographer Stan to pass him the photos for our montage. Still owe him a couple more though, 'cos the resolution wasn't ideal. And a couple of videos if we can dig them up as well.
Fortunately this coming weekend we haven't anything planned. I could use the break!
dance those blues away...
Being Organised
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
And with that, I've plunged into our joint wedding email account to file away the whole mountain of emails that can build up when you're planning a wedding. Quotes from various vendors for each requirement (hotel, photography, band etc), and then there's the eventual to-ing and fro-ing with your selected vendor(s) to refine the contracts.
Well, I've pruned down our inbox considerably. Absolutely cannot stand a messy inbox! Any item that gets finalised gets filed away in separate folders. At least I know if I want to refer back to anything, I can get to it quickly enough. All that's left in our inbox (it really feels more like MY inbox though, since I've been managing it since Day 1) are the outstanding items like wedding car rental. And the very helpful wedding timeline that Vannessa sent me!
Anyhow, I'm glad I'm used to scrutinising numbers and contract wording in the course of my daily work. Good example of how work skills can be applied outside of work. I found it helps a lot to ensure all bases are covered for my vendor contracts, and the trusty pair of eyes have spotted more than 1 mistake :) This is important! After all, it's our big day and we only get one shot at it. Wouldn't you want to do more prep work beforehand to try to avoid anything within your control that can go wrong? I've heard first-hand horror stories, so I did my research and did the best I could.
Heh. I almost feel myself morphing into a Bridezilla. It's up to my 'sisters' and B to keep me in check!
Labels: Wedding
dance those blues away...
Preparing for the wedding Part 1
Monday, April 16, 2012
B and I have been planning our wedding for about 5 months now, and so far the tally stands thus:
Hotel banquet venue - Booked
Bridal studio - Booked
AD Photographer - Booked
AD Videographer - Booked
Live band for dinner - Booked
I think it's been pretty good so far, don't you? :)
On the traditional wedding front, we've also been busy, with both sets of parents meeting up to discuss their requirements for the 过大礼 (betrothal ceremony). I would have thought this modern 提亲 would be settled in a single meet up, but we've been going back and forth, and another meet up this Saturday to go to the 饼家 together and check out the 喜饼.
On the traditional wedding front, we've also been busy, with both sets of parents meeting up to discuss their requirements for the 过大礼 (betrothal ceremony). I would have thought this modern 提亲 would be settled in a single meet up, but we've been going back and forth, and another meet up this Saturday to go to the 饼家 together and check out the 喜饼.
At least Mum found a shop that sells the 过大礼 package for the Teochew dialect that has everything that she deems necessary, so we'll just get that, and save the headache of getting things a la carte! Hehe.
B and I are now prepping any props we want to use for our photoshoot in July, but I'll save that for another time.
Less than 7 months to go! Jiayou us!!
Labels: Wedding
dance those blues away...
a year of marriage :)
Monday, April 02, 2012
Happy 1st marriage anniversary B! Now that we live together on weekends, I start to see a new side of you. You may be really reeeeeally hard to wake up, but you are always willing to help out in the kitchen, and to do the laundry and just generally help out around the house. I like it that you take care of me like that :) It's your way of showing your love.
We're about 7 months from our wedding, and I'm looking forward! I think we've made good progress with the preparation work. Met up with my in-laws to buy 四点金 as part of the 过大礼 process, as well as a 龙凤镯 for the tea ceremony. A little stressful to be honest. I never liked jewellery-shopping in the best of times. But anyway we got a 四点金 set that I liked, and PILs chose the bangle. It's quite nice-looking really :) And I'm lucky that they have been generous and easy-going about the whole thing.
Here's to many more years of happy marriage B! Hugs!
Labels: BB and me
dance those blues away...
Year of the Dragon
Sunday, January 22, 2012
It's the eve of CNY today! Wishing everyone health and wealth in the coming Dragon year! :):)
Labels: random
dance those blues away...
