'Married' car plate

Just contacted Gina from mbossed.com to order our 'Married' car plate!

The white background and black text remain. I have changed the Cupid and heart graphics to dark pink! Cost: $49

Their office is located at Tuas, so we have to arrange for courier at $8.

Slumberland Mattress

We have a really good deal for Slumberland 9" Queen-sized mattress all thanks to Henry's friend!

Have made an order for it and we are only paying for $250??! I checked out their shop at IMM during lunch time and guess how much it cost? A whopping $1,298!

That's $1,048 saved!!!!!!!
Downside is that we have to arrange for the delivery by ourselves.

Musical Box

Sister tried on the M-size t-shirt from Third Republic and it fits nicely though I find a little tight on her. Grabbed the remaining 4 t-shirts during lunch!

I remembered Mommy saying that I would need to buy a musical box for the customary so while I was shopping around Jurong Point in the evening,I saw one I like! Called Mommy down from her shop to take a look.

So, this is what we bought! A white, English-inspired musical box with simple curves.

Settling down on a lazy Sunday to do....

1. HDB flat application at Boon Lay Fields
Applied for a 5-room flat this time round. Price range: $334,000 - $391,000.

2. Briefly discussed on the layout of the album that we are going to print for our casual wear photoshoot by Sia. The rest will be done up by Henry.

3. Do up our programme rundown for Actual Day. Patience is only up to this point. Both got very fed-up and frustrated so we paused and Henry took up the responsibility of doing the rest.

Failed to work on our guest list yet again.

We got into disagreements quite a few times regarding the preps of the wedding. Sometimes we just don't talk to each other in order to cool down. I'm trying all means to create a unique and memorable wedding that is within our budget for both of us. I don't wish for a cookie-cutter wedding and thus, here I am, making myself and him so upset and stressed up over a supposedly happy occasion.

I ought to take things easy and not be too fussy over the nitty gritty. After all, every wedding is unique to each individual couple! It's THE day where they commit themselves to each other and live the rest of their lives together, not as 2 individuals, but as ONE, SINGLE existence.

So what if you have the most perfect wedding but ultimately ends up in an unhappy marriage? Joo is right, "It doesn't matter if the wedding is perfect, it's the marriage that is important."

Weekend

Weekends are the best to run wedding errands!

Bought Henry's shoes for the wedding dinner at Raffles Place. Damage done: $159

Saw his house and room for the first time after the minor renovation.I believe we can do something to make more room within the room! We need to make good use of the space available for our Queen size bed and an area to sun my laundry.

The living room is done up pretty nicely, with cabinets for storage holding and shoes as well. It looks like a second TV console area.

We also did some packing up for the room before we realised that it's high time to get a brand new vacuum cleaner! Hence, that night, we headed to Best Denki at Great World City to purchase our very first home electrical appliance from Bosch.

'Just Married' car plate

I wanted to get a 'Just Married' car plate for our wedding car.

Did research and there were some recommendations for a shop located at Far East Plaza and a website: www.mbossed.com.

I did not manage to find the shop when I went to FEP.. maybe I should have mine customised from mbossed instead. Prices are about $40 for customisation.

T-shirts

We have been putting the Xiong Dis and Jie Meis' attire for the day on hold for quite a while. Other than checking on the printing rates and cost of t-shirts from Giordano, we have not really begin the project yet. I made good use of my lunch time to source for t-shirts at IMM.

The crewneck tees from Giordano work out fine for the Xiong Dis but they will definitely look sloppy on the girls since they are not tailored to be tighter fitting. Those lycra round-neck tees are good though but they cost slightly higher at $12/pcs as compared to the guy's at $8/pcs.

I was sourcing around at Hang Ten and Cotton On as well but none was as good as Giordano, until I chanced upon Third Republic! They have on sale the exact lycra white round-neck tees for only $7/pcs!!!! However, for fear of the compromised quality, I shuttled between Giordano and Third Republic to try them on. Apparently, their quality is slightly better than that of Giordano's. PERFECT!

Right now, here's the costing of the t-shirts in total:

Guys - $8 (t-shirt) + $5 (printing) x 8 = $104
Girls - $7 (t-shirt) + $5 (printing) x 8 = $96

Total: $200

We intend to print extra pieces just in case, so that will work out to be $52 additional.

I bought 6 pieces from Third Republic first as I'm unsure if Yen Leng and my sister could fit into M size (the shop was only left with all M sizes).

I checked out Poh Heng for their Orro22 collection too. Mommy and Daddy were asking if I would like to have a jewellery piece for my wedding so immediately I thought of the collection from Poh Heng which I wanted quite badly. Heehee.

Pens

I bought 4 pens - 2 blue and 2 pink - from Popular for the writing of invite cards.

I was that fussy...even to the extent of PENS?! Anyway, blue are meant for Henry and of course, pink are for me!

Dresses for MIL and Mommy

My MIL was excited in sharing with me the clothes that she has bought for our wedding dinner.

It was a cheongsam-inspired red laced top with a pair of black baggy pants that resemble a long skirt. She likes it very much and have even thought of wearing her pearl necklace and earrings, just short of a pearl bracelet to make it a complete look.

I don't fancy the idea of mothers and MILs wearing gowns/ dresses from Daniel Yam etc. as I feel that they are not being themselves in the clothes they wear. No doubt much due respect should be given to the son/ daughter's wedding but I feel they should wear something they feel comfortable in and at the same time, formal enough for weddings. Hence, I'm perfectly fine with my MIL's choice for that day.

Same goes for Mommy, who has chosen a purple knee-length dress for the wedding dinner. It will look perfect after the make-up and hairdo! MIL said she will have her hairdo and make-up done at her hair salon as she said the auntie knows what suits her best. In this way, Mommy does not have to go early to the hotel for her preparation since only 2 of us need to have our hair and make-up done.

Oh, I wanted to give my MIL a little surprise so I bought a pearl bracelet from Chomel for her! Hope she will like it!

Betrothal

Betrothal date is set on 15 May, Sunday.

Preparation for Guo Da Li is still half-way done. Mommy is too busy with work to bring me to buy Pj, musical box, fan and other miscellanous.

Fortunately, my MIL was kind enough to offer her help in buying some stuff (that were supposedly to be bought by Mommy) when she goes wedding shopping with Henry's Auntie.

Queensway and IKEA

We checked out the rates for printing of t-shirts at Queensway. Most shops quoted a higher price than the one we found online.

So we thought of buying the t-shirts from Giordano and only get them to do the printing. The most affordable we could find was $5 per t-shirt printing and lead time only required 2 - 3 days.

Cost of t-shirts from Giordano - $8/ pcs
Coat of printing - $5/ pcs
Total: $13/ pcs

Cost of t-shirt and printing from online - $6 to $13/ pcs (depends on the fluctuation of prices from time to time)

One downside of the t-shirts from online is that the sizes are in US size so it will be difficult to judge the correct one whereas Giordano is a safer bet. Moreover, the t-shirt quality from Giordano is guaranteed.

We made a trip to IKEA from Queensway to check out the sale they are having right now. Not much of a surprise on the beds and some room accessories/ necessities. The dream bed which I wanted was not on sale and it cost $699 excluding the mattress! Quite a disappointment in fact...

Culinary Tasting

The food tasting for both families is finally here!!!!

Attendees:

Groom - Parents, Brother and Ah Ma
Bride - Parents, Aunt and Ah Ma





For our comments on the food tasting.





Our menu.





1st: Deluxe Cold Dish Combination. We change the sushi to jellyfish and fried baby squid to ngoh hiang.



2nd: Canadian Lobster Meat Broth with seafood and Fish Maw. Fairmont has a anti-shark's fin policy. Hence, shark's fin was replaced with lobster. Both families found it to be equally tasteful.

Satueed scallops with baby asparagus, macadamia nuts and pine nuts.

Deboned fried chicken stuffed with minced prawns, served with wasabi mayonnaise. At first sight, I thought it was just normal fried chicken but after tasting it, everyone found it to be very unique!

Brasied whole baby abalone with Chinese endives. I'm not a fan of abalones but this has good reviews from all.

Steamed live dark grouper with supreme sauce. Tender meat with great sauce.

Stir-fried assorted mushrooms with waterchestnuts with diced duck in sambal chilli. Does not taste as good as it sound. Meat is too tough and we could not tell tell that it's duck meat.

Changed this dish to seacumber.

Stewed Ee-fu noodles with shredded abalone and beansprouts.

Chilled pearl sago cream with mango and longans. I love cold desserts but we had it changed to yam paste with lotus seeds for auspicious purposes.

The chef came out to find out about the comments and his food. We highlighted to him a couple and requested to change as per above. Overall, both families found the food to be very satisfactory!

After the dinner, we brought everyone for a tour to the Stanford Ballroom and we received good comments regarding the big reception area as well as the ballroom itself.

Design, Build and Sell Scheme

We heard from relatives on the availability of DBSS (Design, Build and Sell Scheme) in Boon Keng area. Hence, we are keeping a tight lookout for the launch of City View and we are all geared to queue overnight for the ballioting!!!

Blues.

MONDAY BLUES!!!!!

I had a strong urge to quit my job to focus on my wedding preparations.........................................

EnergyOne Gym

Joined EnergyOne Gym at Jurong Safra finally!!! I shall procrastinate no more and get moving with my exercise regimen for the big day to come!

Invested $214 for 3 months which allow me to use the gym's facilities, swimming pool and even jacuzzi. I reckon it will be money well-spent and I have plans to head for Jurong Safra after work on every alternate day.

Collection of invite cards & ang baos

Collected our customised ang baos and invite cards at Jasvy today!

Gold Printing on 270 light pink inserts (25pcs extra @$0.20 per pc) - $5.00 nett. Tie thin ribbons on 245 red cards @$0.30 per pc - $73.50 nett. 100 hong bao @$48.00 nett.

Total damage: $126.50 nett.

Headed to di Gio again after that to confirm on the final layout of the photo album. We made some changes and they were done on the spot! I was absolutely amazed with how that person's PhotoShop skills to reduce the size of the face and a sunlight effect on one of the photos!

After which, we chose design of our album, the various photos for the tabletop photo frame, the big frame to be hung in the bedroom, the photos to be given to relatives, the front cover photo for the album, the photos as bookmarks to be placed at the reception table, and last but not least, the design of the frame.

Later in the evening, we went to the traditional wedding shop near my house with my PIL to check out the items required for the customary wedding. Bought items like the bed lamps, comb and a couple of ang bao packets for the 聘金. Actually more stuff are to be bought from the bride's side but Mommy was around so I will make another trip with her again.

3 more months...

It's the 1st day in March.

Officially less than 3 months to the wedding and my moving out of the house which I lived in for the past twenty odd years.

I feel that time is not on my side; I do not have enough of it to cherish the things around me amid my busy working schedule.

In less than 3 months, I will be living together with 3 other men in the house, a vast difference from the current one of 3 other women. I need to adjust to it. No more funny antics of doing things my own way - not locking the door while showering, roaming around the house without a ***, slouching lazily on my sofa, peeling the dead skin on my feet while on the sofa (yucks, I know..).

I kept emphasising to Mommy of the time I have left in this house and this never fail to make her eyes teary. I'm bad, I know. But I just want her to cherish me even more.

She is very concerned about my moving into a different environment and staying with Henry's family, not because she's worried about the difficult MIL-DIL relationship that we have all heard of. She knew my MIL is a very nice MIL.

Mommy knew my character well enough that I'm not a child who knows how to say honeyed words or get into the good books of the elderly easily since young. I was never the one to gain the favour of the elderly as compared to my 2 other sisters. This was what got Mommy worried.

She told me incessantly of what I should do daily when I move over and to call her every night.

I'm going to miss Mommy, Daddy, the 2 sisters and the Pooh Pooh......