marvin gaye - how sweet it is (to be loved by you)

One more outfit.

I'm thinking I need to wear a white dress for the shoot..so I'm re-using my white lace corset top, paired with the white tutu skirt I wore for my hen night. Genius.

Of course this outfit won't be shown at the reception - hello, corset? Strictly for private and facebook purposes ;)

xxx

Duuude.

I am thrilled - I scoured and dug around the house and found more 'vintage'-y stuff for the shoot! What I found:

- old, rustic, chandelier. This one was actually from my mom's room, but they took it down coz it's super old. How awesome would it be to hang it from a branch??

- authentic, vintage 'Jacobs' serving tray. This find was so random..my maid, Kak Khadijah served me nescafe ice on the tray this morning. I was about to send it back to the kitchen when I noticed the drawing on the tray is of a lady serving her family, and she's decked out in '40's - ish clothes, complete with hat! And it has the 'Jacobs' biscuit brand. Very cool.

- embroidered, knit cushions.

- two vintage-looking chairs...they're broken though, might use just one..we won't sit on them, just meant for props.

...still need to find a picnic blanket/rug, which is like the most important thing! haha. Worse comes to worst, we'll use a bedsheet as a picnic blanket.

Anyway, it just goes to show that you never know what you might find at home if you look hard enough :D

p/s: Ooh, forgot, I also bought a crochet lace umbrella from Bunga Reben the other day for the shoot!

xoxo

Birdcage veil?

The clock is ticking and it still feels like i've got a zillion things to do! Getting some stuff ready for the post wedding shoot...am thinking of blowing up pics to place around the reception venue. And after the wedding is over, we can frame some of the pics and put them up in our house :) So it's an investment! haha. I have been seriously thinking of getting a birdcage veil for the post wedding shoot, if not for the reception. I've got a couple of outfits for the post wedding shoot ready, it now depends on the concept and how many outfit changes i can make, so will be discussing this with the photographer tonight.

One outfit is a blue polka dot dress with slightly sharp shoulders - this one I bought months ago.

Another black and white polka dot, poufy skirt short dress - old dress, but I am wearing it because it goes with the shoes I bought for the shoot..the shoes have big red hearts at the front, similiar to these Vivienne westwood shoes:



But mine are black, with a stripey black and white heel.

Third outfit is a vintage-looking, lacey, champagne coloured babydoll dress...it has a romantic look to it, so I thought it would look nice for a 'dreamy' feel..

Fourth outfit is a dressy, black dress..this one is old, am thinking of pairing it with elbow length black gloves. Yasir will be wearing his black pants, shirt and an untied bow tie...I'm thinking these pics will be the one we'll blow up and place around the reception venue..

THINGS TO CONSIDER GETTING/ARRANGING/USING FOR POST WEDDING SHOOT:

- Birdcage veil
- Hair accessories
- Gloves
- Desserts (doughnuts, cupcakes, cookies etc)
- Yasir's (untied) bow tie
- Old books, vintage-looking frames
- Old suitcase?
- Small blackboard

...if any of you guys have the above, I would be ETERNALLY grateful if you let me borrow them! :D

Ughhhhh so many things to dooooo! :/ Have to make FULL use of this weekend!

Oh, a good thing happened today, I found more old, vintage books to use for the centerpieces or for the shoot..one book is even about marriage! :D

Any ideas/comments/suggestions regarding the shoot would be much appreciated.

Sloppy kisses!

One month.

Exactly one month from this date, I'm going to be a married woman! I'm going to have me a husband. I'm going to go to sleep everynight beside my koala bear, and see him first thing in the morning, when I wake up. And one day, we'll have little koalas of our own insyaallah haha.

:D

Can I jump for joy??

To future Malay brides

If you are thinking of having a Western themed reception and want your guests to wear suits/dresses, please also lay out other traditional options. Because there is a huge chance that your guests are going to refuse your invite based on the dresscode alone. Take it from me. Now I have to print out small snippets of paper to stick on to my cards, so I can put "Baju Melayu/Black tie".

Le sigh.

Ouch.

Went for my 'skin lasering' thingy yesterday at Dr. Ruben's. I now look like someone pressed a hot iron all over my cheeks. Dr. Ruben said it should be okay after 4 days..and I'm praying that that is the case' because my bridal shower is this Saturday! The actual lasering process wasn't too painful, it was qute bearable, but it got pretty darn uncomfortable after that. It basically felt like my skin was burning. Y'know, on freakin' FIRE. And the shit part was that I had to walk to my car with everyone staring and had to drive with my face feeling like it was melting.

Oh well, pain IS beauty.

Nenek and mama keep on staring at me like I'm a freak whenever I walk by them at home. And nenek keeps on muttering "Berani dia buat laser" under her breath. Thanks nenek, very comforting. Not expecting my skin to be flawless as a result of the laser, but hopefully my skin will be smoother and scarring less noticeable. Insyaallah Aminn aminn.

xoxo

Hair and makeup ideas for nikah

Been web surfing to find some inspiration for hair and makeup for the nikah..I think I've pretty much decided that my hair will be down, but not sure exactly how yet...swept to the side? Most probably..and a little bit wavy. Probably something like Penelope's here..

Check out the guy behind her, giving her the stalker stare heh heh. Anywhoo, makeup-wise, I'm definitely leaning towards the sweet, rosy, romantic look. Kena la sweet-sweet, nikah what. Have to channel the 'anak dara sunti' vibe, y'know? I'm thinking rosy lips (not total red, more towards a pinky red) and cheeks, definitely. And there has to be eyeliner, because my eyes would so sepet without! I actually use this look most of the time when I go out, so I'm comfortable with it. Something along these lines:

..and I'm also planning to tell all the 'dulang girls' to wear rosy blusher and pinkish reddish lips. If they love me, they'd better do it. Muahahaha. Okay, total bridezilla moment.

sloppy kisses!

Sigh.

I can't let it get to me. I'm getting married to the man I love and that's all that matters. That's ALL that matters.

Safe and sound

My nikah baju is hanging in my closet :)

Spa-ctacular

So, with one month to go, I've finally decided to do something about my 'bridal beauty'. I took up this traditional bridal spa package...four sessions, all in all, for RM750. Went for my first session the other day, admittedly, quite nervous about the thought of stripping down in front of a complete stranger, boobs akimbo, nipples ablazing. Did I use that correctly? Akimbo. Swear I've heard that somewhere. Hmm not to self, google 'akimbo'.

Anyway, the place is pretty secluded, nothing fancy, just a small bungalow in Jalan Ampang, a couple of rooms in one house. It was pretty quiet when I got there. Eerily quiet, in fact. I'd like to think it's so exclusive, like a secret only an elite group of brides-to-be share with one another. Cheyyy. So as I stepped inside, this girl straight away led me up to a big room, with two massage beds. The smell of traditional oils and lepat pisang (not making this up, I texted Yasir "I'm craving lepat pisang for some strange reason") wafted in the air. She told me to strip, and I was like whoaaa there stranger, I barely know your name, but I stripped anyway and slipped into the disposable panties. THANK MOTHER OF GOD for the disposable panties. Although this would then be pulled down later on in the session when she proceeded to massage and manhandle my bare ass.

So for four hours, I was massaged, scrubbed like a baby (we call this mandi lulur)..all the while acting like ho-hum I get half naked in front of strangers for a living pshhht, had a milk bath and sauna. The massage session was good, and I sweat like a pig on heat during the sauna session, so I'm guessing some of my toxins must have dripped from my body. At the end of four hours, I thanked 'adik' - the girl who now knows what my nipples look like - and asked to see what was in store for the rest of my spa sessions. She whipped out a laminated piece of paper, and I scanned the treatments. Lulur, facial, mandi bunga (flower...bath?), two more massages etc...and somethin somethin tangas. "Tangas? Apa tu dik?" I asked her. She went on to explain calmly about how they were going to smoke my vagina. I don't mean Malboro Lights Menthol smoke la..though that would make an interesting visual, I mean use good old fashioned smoke, you know, OH WHATEVER.

"Excuse me? Say what now?" was my reaction to this, when in reality I think I just stared at her and said, "Heh?"

Adik said it was very good for the vajayjay, gets rid of odours (mine smells fine, just so you know..Cosmopolitan magazine says musky odour is perfectly normal right??) and white...stuff. I just smiled and straight away made a mental note to self to shave for the fourth session. If smoke is what my vagina needs, so be it. So at 7pm, I walked out of that bungalow a new woman. Next mission: Posing nude for Playboy.

Oh, I'm going for a skin lasering session to help my 'Orang jahat' holes on my face look less jahat. We'll see how that goes.


Sloppy bridezilla kisses!

M.I.A

Dear readers,

I know I've been pretty much useless when it comes to updating this blog - it's because I don't have internet connection and am sans laptop at home :( All I can say is, sometimes you plan and plan, but not everything turns out the way you want it to. At this point, I'm actually feeling pretty laid back about the preparations. As we all know, the wedding is next month. AAAACK. I am still a wee bit upset about my baju nikah, but I think I'm still going to rock it anyway, and it's the fact that I'm getting married to my sweet koala bear man that should matter the most :) Still annoyed about the veil though. Might just get a whole entirely different veil done. Oh well.

The menu for the nikah has changed a bit too...still doing light, brunch'ey' food, but there won't be waffles or pancakes. There are crepes tho! Still contemplating getting a waffle stand. If I'm feeling generous, I might. but then again, I have to get a whole other veil done, so maybe I won't. Ha ha.

Pom pom deco for the tents are still on, fingers crossed that it turns out looking good. Bought some cute lil' lacy baskets which say "Our wedding" for the nikah favours - am going to put eggs in each of 'em, design a cute tag with two birds, and will have them read:

Tweet of you to come!

Geddit?? Tweet? Birds? Egg? :)

Till i get my hands on a laptop with internet connection,

'Aainaa

xoxo

Let the record show

That Man (my biological father) is not contributing a single cent to my wedding. Predictable, but nevertheless quite sad to stomach.

So what else is he good for then?

Ugh ugh ugh and updates

Okay, I know I'm not fat. Far from it. But really, I've tried on my baju nikah and my baju reception, and they both have one thing in common - my hips look ginormous. And I'm not looking to lose overall weight, just to lose some inches on the thighs and hips, that's all. Seriously considering going walking every single day until the wedding. YEAH RIGHT.

Anyway, my reception gown isn't fully ready yet, but I had my first fitting the other day. It's looking pretty good :) Had my nikah fitting yesterday......truthfully, am a bit disappointed. Not exactly what I had envisioned. But at this point, I don't really care..the outfit isn't fully ready yet, but from what I saw, it looked...normal. Nothing special. But considering the fact that a lot of brides just wear a plain baju kurung for the nikah, I suppose mine is alright.

Invites are ready! Now all I need to do is get the guest list together and start sending them out. Check out my black and white invite on Leanne's website *click!*

Sloppy bridal kisses!

Hmm.

The closer I get to the wedding, the more I don't give a rat's ass about it. It must be because everything seems to be moving in SLOW FRIGGIN MOTION. I really think I'll suffer a bout of acne attack later (nauzzubillah) at the rate things are going. Nikah favours? Nope. Pelamin? Nope no word from my wedding planner. Canopy for nikah? NOPE, still no quotation. Baju nikah? Tak siap lagi. Baju reception? Haven't seen it yet. Nikah documents? Nil. UGHHHHHHHHHH

Thing is, I literally have just 2 more months. I don't need things to be last minute - I don't want to stress out the day of my wedding. So this means that things need to be done way before, am I right?

Fuckity fuck la.

English vs Bahasa

Because my dearest datuk thinks it's "jijik" that my reception invite is in English ("WE'RE MALAY AAINAA!"), it will now have a Bahasa translation as well. Jijik.

Funnily enough, he was voicing his disgust to me in English.

My wedding gown is ready...

Am a nervous wreck. Fitting will be second week of May.

AAAAAACK!

Nikah invite

I am so in love with my nikah invite. Thank you to the ever talented Lee for making my dream come true :)

FRONT BACK

This invite will be going out to the small number of people who will be attending the solemnisation ceremony. It's a one piece invite, front and back. It's a small image though, sorry...

This is what is says at the front:

Together with our families

'Aainaa and Yasir

Warmly request the company of (insert name)

As we celebrate family, friendship and our commitment to each other.

The solemnisation ceremony will take place at 58, Jalan Keramat Hujung

And then the marriage prayer at the back:

Allah, help us to remember when we first met
And the strong love that grew between us.
Help us to work that love into practical things
So nothing can divide us.

We ask for words both kind and loving,
And for hearts always ready to ask forgiveness,
As well as to forgive.

Bless this marriage, Allah, as we continue our journey down the road of life together. The road turns and bends, but help us to make the best of whatever comes our way.

Help us to realise that if we hold onto each other, we will know that things have a way of working out for the good.

Help us to create for our children a peaceful, stable home of love as a foundation on which they can build their lives.

Dear Allah, we put our marriage into Your hands.

String quartet

Remember my string quartet idea? Well, I've been shooting emails to this guy, Jason Geh who provides music entertainment for weddings and events. He also provides a music band, if you want some singing...but I'm really particular about wedding singers who try and sing in English but sound really horrible..so I think it's safer to go with a string quartet, plus it will suit the theme. He's quoting me RM4,300 for a string quartet (2 violin, 1 viola and 1 cello) for an hour and a half. This INCLUDES sound system. Have a listen here ..you may want to forward past the talking and get to the performance. It's actually a clip Jason recorded from one of his client's weddings..the sound isn't clear though..but I imagine the quartet would sound great in real life. Will be paying the deposit this weekend. A string quartet at a Malay wedding..pretty cool if I do say so myself!

sloppy kisses!

Hantaran aka the gifts of luuurvee

Yasir and I are slowly but surely completing our hantaran gifts to each other..we decided not to go crazy and spend within our (very limited) budget. Here's the list:

His gifts to me (7 trays)

• Folding Rayban wayfarer sunglasses (have always wanted to get another pair since I lost mine but have been too sakit hati to buy them myself!)
• Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag (a yummy lilac-ish fuschia-ish colour)
• Aldo heels (4 inches, stacked, black, an updated version of the gladiator style..just the way I like 'em)
• Tiffany & co necklace (huge heart pendant on a long chain..the heart pendant can be used on their bracelet chain as well, so will buy this later on to switch things up from time to time)
• Wedding ring (eternity band, but not the normal eternity type..this one is encrusted with small diamonds all around.. I had a say in this! haha :) ) & wang hantaran
• Telekung from his mom (boleh pakai sembahyang terawih masa bulan puasa nanti heheh)
• Manisan (don't really know what this will be..a cake?)

My gifts to him (9 trays)

• 42" LCD tv from Samsung
• Blu Ray player (forgot what brand this is..Yasir says you can't have a high-def TV without having a Blu-ray player :P)
• Nike Air Force 1's (white with green swoosh)
• French connection watch (sturdy, manly looking - I had a say in this too heh heh..but he loves it!)
• Perfume set (Gucci Sport)
• Wedding band
• Manisan (cake?)
• Manisan (cupcakes?)
• Tepak sirih

Okay, we're a bit confused about the Tepak sirih dulang..is this supposed to be part of the hantaran, or separate? Because Yasir's supposed to give me tepak sirih as well. Does that count as part of his 7 trays to me? Anyone in the know? Would really appreciate some feedback!

xoxo!