A huge sigh of relief....NOT!

And so there you have it, everything for the major vendors and heavyweights had been deposited and settled! Alhamdulillah! Really a huge load off my shoulders. But.....it does not end here. There's still more to go, all the nitty gritty stuff and what's not.

Decor, 25 December 2013
Went to Expo for the Makan Makan Kahwin Kahwin exhibition they had on 21-25 Dec with Raizal, his parents & Kak Yana. Met Abg Remy (whom I mentioned before in my previous post that he worked with Nour Weddings & also Raizal's brother, lol), to make the confirmation on what package I wanted and also to get a receipt from them. We will be meeting again 3 months before the wedding as they wanted to see the wedding venue, confirmation on what kind of dais I want and also to collect another 50% payment off the balance(irk!!).

Andaman, 16 December 2013
Finally!!!!!! This is the only thing that gets me excited and hyper! Hehehe..who doesn't right? It's every girls dream to be in a beautiful and elegant gowns on their special day. So in summary, our meet up with Kak Nora was short, simple & sweet. So sad that she had to cut it short cz she was having fever.

Nevertheless, I AM VERY EXCITED U OLLS BECAUSE KAN I DA CONFIRM PLUS CHOP BOOK ISHQ BY NORA ZEE!!! YAY!! So freaking happy can! Just cannot wait for our 1st fitting! Kak Nora said that she will be bringing in more new designs next year and there will be more baju to choose from. Wah so egggcited please! Hehehehe!! **Btw, menyesal giler please tak amek gambar with Kak Nora before departing...tapi tkpe there's always next time ;)**

Photography & Videography, 08 December 2013
Let me tell you why I wanted Bcreative to be our photographer + videographer.

(1) Our good friends, Lin & Zaidi took them as their photographer + videographer on their wedding day and I simply love how Abg Shah editted their wedding video and how great the pictures turn out!
(2) We have worked with them before for Lin & Zaidi's wedding telemovie shoot and somehow I roughly already know how they work and also we can easily get along and they such friendly people!
(4) It's a complete package so easy and fuss free! It's like 2 in 1. I don't have to worry about finding another vendor for photography and it save cost too.
(3) Most importantly, we know them and they know us so WHY NOT? It will be easier for us to work together (i hope). LOL!

Anyway, promised Kak Dila to come down during their Expo exhibiton to see what they have to offer and also ask for their quotations. But lucky for me, they will be having a private exhibition together with Aat Photography Boutique on 5-8 Dec. So I thought why not just take a look first at their private exhibition and maybe if we are interested, then we can just come back during their Expo exhibition and give our deposit.

It was pouring heavily the whole day & what's worse was, I was not in a good mood because SOMEBODY decided to overslept and we were late for our appointment. Texted Kak Dila that we will be late and luckily she was understanding. By the time we reached, there was no other customer except for us. Yay for that cz they can give their 100% attention to just us! Hehehe.. To be honest, we came for videography & photography with Bcreative but little did we know they have already change the menu and now focusing mainly on videography only. As such, they are now callobrating with their trusted partners which is Aat Photography Boutique and they came up with their own packages. Without wasting any time, they showed us their promotions items and did their presentation and tried to impress us with their works and suprisingly, they did!! I was truly amazed and in awe with all Aat's photography. It was simply mesmerizing and beautiful!! It really took my breath away lol. After all that need to be said and asked is done, they showed us their packages and I chocked looking at the prices! It was not what I expected! Like what Aiirul said "With a good & better quality of photography, definitely comes with a price". Oh yes you got that right! I wanted to give it a thought and come back during Expo to give deposit as we also need to discuss about this with Rosli (Raizal's brother in law). But Kak Dila said that if we sign up with them during Expo, the price would be different and higher and we won't be receiving the promotions item too. It was really out of our budget but Raizal being the positive one said this is once in our lifetime and photography is something that we keep forever so why not just spend a bit more for something that is worth it. And so we took the "" package and paid our deposit.

But wait...the good stuff is coming....Converstions between me & Kak Dila:

"You da book photobooth?"

"Blom lagi..nak book gn Fazlina nye cousin nye photobooth but blom lagi confirm. Why eh?"

"Oh then gitu you ckp dgn Faz sorry tak jadi nak amek dier cz you dapat photobooth FOC from Aat Photobox."

I went speechless, excited & HAPPY la of course kan!

I knew that for the 1st 3 couples that sign up with Aat will get a free photobooth but I didn't expect that we really got it! Alhamdulillah rezeki rezeki!! Amin amin! On top of that, we will be getting a free crystal thumbdrive from Bcreative too. Sooooo frigggging happpppy!!!!!

100 things I wish I had known before travelling

Chanced upon this article while scrolling my news feed in facebook. Read it here.

Here are the top 10 tips that I totally agree on 100% & it is really important to know as well as remember!!

1. Take pictures. Always. Everywhere. If you forgot/lost your camera, buy a disposable. Everybody will grumble and hate you for being the annoying camera person during the trip, then send you ‘thank you’/‘you’re awesome’/‘will you marry me?’ notes at the end of it.

2. Buy an extra battery for your camera.

3. Always check your passport validity before buying the plane ticket.

4. Take a camera that’s good enough to achieve the results that you want, but that’s not so heavy that you will start leaving it at the hotel on the second day.

5. Take care of yourself: when you start getting sick, your body is sending a signal. Do something about it, or it will linger, get worse, and ruin the rest of your holidays.

6. A universal plug adapter is a great investment: you pack it every time you go on a trip, no questions asked.

7. Pack at least two days before leaving. That way you have an extra day to figure out everything you forgot.

8. Learn to know which friends you like traveling with: the person you love sinking beers with on Saturdays might be a nightmare on the road. If you’re planning some long-term travel with someone (i.e. several weeks), go away on a weekend together first as a test!

9. Rain ponchos look stupid. Still pack one.

10. When things get rough, remember how lucky you are to be travelling — and that everybody back home is super jealous of you.

On a side note, since we are talking about travelling, Raizal & I have not decided or have we had a proper discussion on our honeymoon destination yet! But 1 thing for sure we had agreed that we would postpone our honeymoon to a later date as he wanted to go some place further than where we usually went for our holidays and we would have some more extra time to save more moolah $.$ for our honeymoon. Oh well since we are postponing the honeymoon, there is no rush for any planning yet. But it's not wrong for me to be excited and pre-plan way ahead right? :)

11.12.13

Oh how nice it will be if we were to get married on this special date.(HAH IN MY DREAMS ONLY!) Tapi to think of it ok kan kalau kite nye wedding anniversary 11.12.13. Cool kan? Hahaha.

Anyway today marks to 9 more months left to the wedding, and gladly I can say that I have yet to panic and freak out (maybe not for long heh). But seriously what the hell...so fast ah? LOL. It just feels so surreal and unbelieveable that I am really going through this. With less than a year left, even with all the major vendors already been booked and confirmed, there's still alot of preps and things that still need to be done.

So for now, I will just stay calm and continue saving money.......YIKES!!

Wedding Updates!

Firstly here's an update on my wedding deets! This will be a lengthy post so bare with me ok! :)

The Heavyweights!

1. Catering - I was actually firm in my decision ever since my cousin's wedding few years ago that I am not keen in taking my family for my catering as I wanted them to come, relax and enjoy my maljis and not being there busy and going through all the fuss and heavy duty in the kitchen and especially I do not want to trouble anyone at all. But my decision was changed when Cik Musa convinced me and talk some sense into me on my engagement day that having my family members as part of the maljis is not a bad thing afterall because it will be more meriah, riuh rendah and my parents don't have to worry of not having enough nasi bungkus to give all of our guest. And shortly after that, we went to Nek Ngah's house to book the date and finalise the food that we wanted. Just like that, my catering is booked! Yay, alhamdulillah!

FYI - defintely there is pro and cons liasing with family members esp on this major event but I will just tawakal and pray that everything will go well (which I know it will) cz I have faith & trust in them. Insyallah.

2. Decor - I did a whole load of survey with so many decor company and finally one day while reading one of the BTBs blog, I came across SIDS pelamin and oh boy was I in love!!! The pelamin is so beautiful and just nice to my liking. So I decided to look for them and added Saiful Imran Sidevents on Facebook. Browsed through all their photo albums in Fb and each and every pelamin that they did is so so so so so so BEAUTFUL!!!! I really love their work and so without any hesitation, I texted Saiful for quotations. Finally after receiving the quotation from Kak Mas, decided to show my parents on what think of the price as well as the decor. Sadly to say, luck was not on my side cz they think that it was too pricey. :( Below is some examples of decor that is done by SIDS that i really love!!

Photo courtesy from: Saiful Imran Sidevents Facebook.

To sum things up, my parents (esp my dad) pester me to take the same decor as Raizal which is Nour Weddings because to them it is easier as Raizal's brother is working under NW. Kalau tak dengar kata mak bapak nanti drg merajuk pulak kan so sebagai anak solehah (macam paham hahaha), I engaged Nour Weddings for my decor. On the 15/10/13, my family went to Raizal's house to talk about the decor with his brother and also to finalise our wedding date. And lucky for me, for NW, any package we take for decor, it comes with complimentary bridal chamber or solemnisation corner. I was so thrilled and excited as I don't have to source out for bridal chamber. Double yay for me!

3. Entertainment - Am not very particular on who or what company I choose for entertainment as long as there is karaoke and most importantly, my guest will be entertained by the DJ and also as requested by the mother, she do not want the music to be too loud -.-". Asked around for recommendations as I have no clue on where to source for this. So Eka asked me to check out Boyz to Entertaiment at YouTube cz to her they were amazing and they have superb vocals too! And yes, she was right! They are really very good! Added them on Fb and wanted to ask for quotations but .....yet again luck was not on my side. They accepted my request a little too late cz 1 of my ex schoolmate approached me asking have I booked decor or DJ. Obviously I said NO! Hahaha...Oh how prefect the timing was! Just when I'm sourcing out for it, an angel in disguise came to help. Thanks Aidil!

Contacted Yazid from Azie Productions which happens to be Aidil's father (ex-schoolmate) and also one of the big boss at Mawarprada Wedding Gallery. So, tup tup tup voila~! He is available on my date and asked me to meet up with him to sign contract and place deposit. It was quite a relieve that Raizal likes him and says alot of positive things about him cz I know Raizal bloody well and that is HE DO NOT LIKE TO GIVE COMPLIMENTS.

4. Bridal - This one is a big of a headache! It was very very hard for me to choose. Kak Lily, Raizal's sister, helped me to ask for quotations and source out MUA for me and thankfully she found one whom was there during her wedding day as an assistant to Kak Yatie from RW. Contacted Kak Ilah to ask for her availability on my wedding date and YES SHE IS AVAILABLE! Yessah alhamdulillah! But here's the catch...she asked me which bridal I'm interested in as she can do both Sutra Bridal or Ishq by Nora Zee.

Now I am very confused....so confused cz I am really not sure which to choose. These 2 bridal is way different in every way. SB's outfits is more traditional and their package is very affordable. As for Ishq outfits, they are way more modernize, in trend and to top it off, they bring in well known designer outfits from Malaysia too! Special thanks to Farhana Malek from Kahwin Khronicles for her review on Ishq (read it here) and with that my friends, I have made my final decision and book an appoinment with Ishq! Yayness!! More on this when I meet Kak Nora for my appointment this coming 16 Dec 2013. ;)

5. Photography & Videography - Sourcing out for a good photography & videography under 1 vendor is not easy you know. Watched and saw many different videos montage from so many different vendors and nothing impressed me except for 1 which is Lin & Zaidi's videographer for their wedding day. Asked Lin on how much they charge and so far the price is quite reasonable & affordable. So I pm-ed Kak Dila for quotations but sadly though they don't give quotations via online, email and pm. She asked me to make arrangements to drop by her studio to view their packages and so after 2 months or so finally we made an appointment with them...and i shall keep the details on my next post!!

The Lightweights!

1. Henna - All I can say is that I don't think I have fate with Syraskins ever. U know why? Cz I've been wanting to let my hand drawn by her eversince last year Raya but didn't get the chance too. :( So I told myself that for my wedding henna, die die I want to engaged Syra. I was sadded by the quotations I receive from them cz it was way too pricey than what I was expected. Furthermore I have to pay for the 2-way transportation too? Hmmm...not worth it. But no doubt that what you get is what you pay cz her work are all gorgeous, nice and also well known by all but I don't think I wanna pay that much for a 2-3 weeks bridal henna.

Lucikly for me, Eza have contacts for henna artist, Waty, which happens to be 1 of her old friend and she engaged Waty for her bridal henna too! Asked for her availability and she was free! Yay! Confirmed slots, paid deposit and settled! I would like to thank Eza for helping me out in this and also for paying the deposit! Sayang kau byk2! Now I can't wait for my henna party with my sisters & bff!

2. Bunga rampai - Sponsored and done by my most supporting makcik ever, Cik Pai.

3. Sireh dara - Sponsored by Cik Mutiara from JB.

4. Berkat - I leave this 100% responsibilty to my mum to decide on what to give to our guests.

Honestly, to tell you the truth, I was not that sure and confident in planning this wedding on my own. Or worse! I did not know where the hell to start! But alhamdullilah, slowly with the help of some BTBs blog that I read and of course with the help of MYSELF (must take credit for myself jugak lah kan hehehe), I manage to clear all the major vendors.

Yes alhamdulillah! All thanks to Allah!

Amin.

Welcome back!

HELLO!!

After much consideration, fickle mindedness and reading other BTBs blogs, I have decided to create a space for me to rant and also share about my wedding journey updates. The main reason why I finally decided to create one is because I want to remember this special and memorable once in a lifetime journey forever and this space I will keep as memories with all the good and bad things that happen along the way. Insyallah 90% of it will be a happy one! Hehehe. It's a very good idea indeed!

Well, since this is my first post after so so loooong of not blogging. Hmmm let me see....when was the last time I blog....it has been 4 years!!! Wow that long huh. Lol. Ok, I'll shall keep it short and simple. Most importantly, I have to fix my layout and beautify it a.s.a.p cause from what I see, my blog layout and template is all in a mess. To make things worse, I'm struggling with all the updates and edits cause I don't remember how to do it. HELP!! Ok Shika.....steady ok don't panic. I'm sure you will adapt to this soon enough. :)

Anyway, WELCOME BACK TO BLOGGING SHIKA!!!