Fluffy kerfuffle

Was looking at this photo...can't remember where I got it now, but I thought that the photo of the tent with the fluffy balls looked super sweet...inspiration? Defo. It would take a lot of hardwork to get each ball done and strung across...but it looks AMAZING in pics though. KIV.

I am seriously seriously considering injecting a little rose pink into the colour scheme..because nothing says 'romance' like rose pink? Or maybe a dark pink? Ugh, I'd better get this colour nonsense sorted out before everything just gets jumbled up! Crap crap crap.

xoxo

Nikah attire

I have an appointment tonight with Abang Syed from Dezaine to see what he can do (and most importantly, how much he will charge!) for my nikah attire. Dear god, please let it be good and unexpensive. Please. Updates soon.

Sloppy kisses!

p/s: Went material shopping with Nik last Sunday. Saw this GORGEOUS kain, but guess how much per meter - around RM1,700. PER METER. Whatevs. Bought french lace instead, and Nik said he would spruce it up. Am admitttedly a bit nervous, but staying positive. Insyaallah things will work out just fine :)

Photographer

In case you guys are wondering, nikah and reception photography will be done by Kudegraphy. They are a super talented couple..Ili is actually my BBGS junior :) They do beautiful, beautiful work. It was a bit difficult for me to choose a photographer, because I'm a bit picky when it comes to wedding photos (okay I'm picky when it comes to everything :P). Their work has been featured on the famous international wedding website, JunebugWeddings.com, and they even won an award!

Be sure to check out the photos they took for Serina (Chef Wan's daughter) and Gavin's wedding. Major love for their work!

sloppy kisses.

Old Hollywood Strikes Back <---title by Yasir Yusoff

Where was I? okay, so on to the reception. Eeqa brought me back on track with my initial reception theme...yes, black and white, but I haven't been focusing on the 'old Hollywood glamour' feel all this while - so it was good to be reminded of it. She brought up a couple of awesome ideas that I love. She showed me a bouquet that had feathers, and I remembered wanting something like that when I first contemplated the idea of Old Hollywood. Think it would look great. And another idea, which I absolutely adored, was using mannequins as decor. No, not the human looking ones we see in window shops, but more of the vintage mannequin, without legs and arms...the cloth type.

This is nothing original, but to go with the Old Hollywood theme, i'll be labeling the tables after names like Monroe, Sinatra etc...and maybe the occasional Malay names like Saloma and P.Ramlee. The pelamin is a bit of a tricky one...how exactly would we be able to incorporate old glamour into this? Eeqa and Aunty Pah had a few ideas (one was to have those lights that we usually see surrounding dressing room mirrors in old theaters...you know, the light bulb-ish ones?) as part of the pelamin. The idea of it seems really cool, but am a little afraid that it might look too try-hard. Hmmm. Will probably still work on this....but you have to hand it to Eeqa, the girl is so creative - which makes me feel so much less stressed out about this whole wedding thing!

Bought a 'Greatest 50's hits' CD pack at Speedy yesterday...have been listening to it, and it's made me even more excited for the reception. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Doris Day, Nat King Cole...that was the time of great music, man. I especially think Sinatra's *Love and Marriage* tune is so quirky and adorable. Am toying with the idea of using that song for Yasir and my post-wedding shoot. Have yet to discuss ideas for this project, but as soon as I heard the song again I imagined a cute, colurful picnic. Props like balloons, cupcakes, strawberries and cream, soap bubbles (i won't be eating the strawberries of course) will make it look even more festive. Me in a cute, vintage dress and Yasir in a relaxed white shirt and loose tie. Then another photo shoot where I'll try to do the cheesy, ol' school housewife thing...apron, oven mitts, serving Yasir a meal or cake. Or a shot of Yasir reading the papers while i'm knitting. Not too sure where I'm going to find yarn or knitting tools, but it might be possible!

Sorry, have gotten a little off track haha. Back to the reception. If all goes well, Eeqa will get black tabletops for all the tables. Then I'll get white paper doilies to use as place mats for each guest. They're a bit thin though, but I think they should be fine...told her my idea about making black napkins just for the main table and she said it's definitely possible. Never knew that napkins could get me so excited. Ha ha.

Okay, internet's acting up and I'm getting sleepy. Soz for cutting it short, but a girl's gotta get her beauty sleep! Night night people.

Done!

Finally met up with the wedding planner and her daughter; Shafeeqa - my senior in BBGS, last Sunday morning. Felt soooooo good to express all my ideas to Eeqa...she gets me, so I'm confident she understands my 'vision' for the nikah and reception. We spent a good hour just discussing the nikah. It was a flurry of polka-dots-and-vintage talk. I listed down the key words for her:

1) Charming
2) Vintage
3) Quirky
4) Kitschy
5)...and a little bit of the R word - Romance.

Sounds confusing, even to me. Ha ha. We also discussed favours...there was this favour that was sitting around in their house which I thought would be the PERFECT nikah favour. One thing though - it's from Indonesia. It's a hardcover, floral notebook/diary. Would be even more perfect if I could change the print to polka dots. Love, love, love. Hoping to get my hands on them, to give out to guests. They've got reaaally cute stuff on their **website** too...check check check it out.

Next post will be about the reception...

Opinions needed!

Thoughts on this dress?

Take my (baby's) breath away

Okay, cheesy-o title. Sorry. Found this image on The Knot. Baby's breath look really pretty too for centerpieces...and the definite plus side? It's majorly budget-friendly. Bunch them all up together in one vase and they look sooo pretty and ethereal!

Pretty sweet, if you ask me. Oh, bought yet another bridal magazine on Sunday. I'm glad I did though, because I've picked up one or two DIY ideas..like tying daisies to the chairs. Will work it out with the wedding planner to see if it's do-able!

Sloppy bridezilla kisses!

Oopsie daisy!

There's something so fresh, charming and whimsical about daisies. I think they'd look adorable as centerpieces, surrounded by baby's breath. Apparently, they're pretty cheap too.

p/s: This blog will be on a little break; the laptop is busted, so it's a tad bit difficult to squeeze in time to use the computer at work to update. My apologies, ladies.

Woodwork

I'm having one of these in Yasir and my future house, I don't care:

Yasir has given me his word that he'll actually do the whole testosterone thing, find some wood, cans of spray paint and make a stencil. I have all of you guys as my witness. I mean, how cute would it look near our shoe rack when guests come over?

And just for the record, he has promised to make one of these too, for the nikah and also to put in our home:

It says "...and they lived happily ever after". Not only would it look good in the nikah photos, but I would imagine it would help Yasir and I get over our arguments (as all married couples have) in the future, everytime we catch a glimpse of this, sitting in our house somewhere. I also like the romantic quotes too:

One of these signs would either be sitting in the bridal room as a backdrop for the pics, or on a table somewhere for the nikah...or both.

So sayang if you're reading this, you have your work cut out for you!! Ha ha. Love youuuuuuu :P

sloppy kisses!

And the verdict is.....

.....I'm getting my dress made! :) Going material hunting with Nik this Sunday. Fingers crossed it turns out gorgeous!

xxx

DIY weddings

I heart DIY weddings. I think DIY details make a wedding so much more special and fun, and are so personal. I know having DIY details for a reception would take so much hard work, so I'm trying to include touches here and there for the nikah, to lend a 'homey' touch. And first up on my DIY project is getting a 'LOVE' sign made, to use as a centerpiece for the main table. I came across a picture in a magazine and fell in love (pun intended) with the image of the LOVE letters surrounded by flowers. I ran through the idea with my cousin Juliana who is the creative DIY person in the family, and she suggested we go look for places that make signage. Found one online which is in Ampang, so I'm going to drag Juliana by the hair and see if they'll be able to make a LOVE sign for me.

*pic courtesy of Gabriel Ryan.net

The secret's out - I'm planning to use old books as centerpieces for the tables at my nikah. We have heaps of classic, vintage children's books on the shelves upstairs - so I thought since Yasir and I are both 'writers' (well somewhere along those lines - though i'm not technically a writer anymore, I'll always see myself as one) and we both love reading, so having books as centerpieces convey a little bit about our personalities. I'll be putting love quotes on each table too - haven't finalised what material i'll be using for this; but it shouldn't be too difficult, I think. Then of course the look will be completed with flowers.

Toying with using scrabble letters for centerpieces for the guests' tables too....ideally, I would prefer alphabet blocks...but my office has a scrabble set..........

more ideas to come!

Sloppy DIY kisses!

Decisions, decisions...

Am seriously considering having my wedding gown tailor made. Met up with designer Nik Erwan Rosely and we chatted and came up with a gown design. He's got some serious talent, and I think he'll be able to see my "vision". The reason why I am contemplating having my gown made instead of renting, is because I'm a bit broken hearted that the gown I wanted to rent was booked by some chick who lives in Ipoh. To cut a long story short, last saturday I went with shikin, my cousin, my sis and my mom to pick out a dress. Found The One, got a little teary eyed wearing the dress, was overjoyed that the search for The Gown was over...just to have the shop assistant tell me the dress was already booked. OUT OF ALL THE DATES, right? Went a little crazy thinking about changing my wedding date just to accommodate the dress, but now that I've come to my senses, I am seeing that changing everything for one dress may seem a little too over dramatic, even for a bridezilla like me. Sigh.

So anyway, over dessert in Delicious, Nik and I poured over the bridal mags I brought, and finally zoned in on one design, which is a bit too complicated to describe in detail. But I stressed over and over to Nik that I would like to stray as far away as possible from looking like I'm wearing a gown which is TRYING to look Western. Of course he understood, and I'm pretty sure he'll be able to do an amazing job. My heart is nagging at me to give the green light to Nik so he can start working on the gown immediately. But something else is telling me to keep looking for The Gown - it's out there, I just need to find it.

So will I finally decide to rent or to make a dress? Stay tuned.

Oh snap.

Even bridezillas need a break :(

Invitation teaser!

Met up with Lee last night to discuss designs for the invite. Just part of what will be on the invite:

Sooo excited! :D

Sloppy bridezilla kisses! xxx

band

where can i get a string quartet band on the cheap? anybody?

Bring it black.

Small updates on my black-and-white reception in general:

I haven't scouted around yet, but I really really really really want black table napkins, just for the main table because if I were to buy them for all the tables, I would obviously have to declare bankruptcy. Plus, what would I do with 500 black napkins after the reception? Worse comes to worst, I'll get black linen material and have them made. Probably around 15 pieces, I think.

As for the general tables, Mar made an excellent suggestion about having DIY napkin wraps in black, with Yasir and my monograms in white. This can be done on medium thick paper and shouldn't be costly, seeing as they won't be very big. The above pic is an example of a napkin wrap, but in a different design than what I have in mind. I think they'll be nice touches to the black-and-white theme. Oh, and I couldn't find a proper pic online, but I'm looking into including black lace table runners for all the tables. Will need to discuss this with my wedding planner. And with regards to tie backs for chairs, this will include black ribbons, which will need to be DIY as well.

I present to you....my reception favours! ta-daaaaah! haha. Found them online, and thought they were spot on with my theme. They're actually made to look like chess pieces. I never really knew this, but the coulours of your favours also add to the reception decor, when placed on the tables. It's good that the packaging comes with black and white checkerboard and black and white ribbon. Will make stickers to personalise it a little bit more. I know, I know, candles are so bleh, but these are cute candles! I mean, come on, would you throw these if you got them at a wedding?? Haha. Which reminds me, need to bank in the cheque for the deposit soon.

Invites are going to be very very simple but (hopefully) chic and el cheapo too. It's going to be just a single card. Black background with white cursive lettering. And in English. But there will be an element on it that's kind of quirkily cute ;) Will post it here when we finally get a design sorted out. And I want black envelopes too. I have been looking for paper lace in A4 size which I want to include in the invite, but no luck yet :( Am seriously considering to opt for doilies instead. I might be getting Lee to design my invites, so at least I can be involved with the whole step-by-step process. Really need to get this sorted out ASAP though. Lee, call me!!

So I've been thinking about how I'm going to incorporate black into my outfit, as I'll be wearing a white dress. The easiest way would be to have my hand bouqet tied together in black ribbons or black cloth, like the pic above. And this particular bouqet is so easy to make too...they're carnations, which I love. I'm not really a 'roses' type of gal...I like my flowers on the fluffy side. Definitely KIV-ing carnations. Plus, they last long.

Another obvious option would be to have a black sash around the waist. I dont really have to go nuts trying to find a dress with a black sash, I can just DIY (or should that be DIM? heh heh man I'm so funny) - get some material, turn it into a ribbon and attach with a brooch etc. Easy peasy. Plus black and white wedding dresses are so in this season, daah-ling. Cheyy.

....and then of course an important element which will add to the black and white theme would be my gorgeous family and close friends who will be wearing classy black dresses :)

Okay, that's all I got for now. Any ideas or suggestions on how I can add to the black and white theme are always welcome!

-sloppy black-and-white bridezilla kisses!