Nothing will be the same again

I'm so busy that I forgot my days in my home are numbered.

I forgot to realise that very soon I will no longer live in this house anymore, no longer see my parents and sisters everyday, no longer hug and smell Pooh Pooh everyday, no longer sleep in my single-sized bed hugging my favourite pillow to sleep, no longer able to barge into my parents' room while they are watching the 11pm Taiwanese show, no longer able to disturb Mommy into saying 'Eh Oh' and 'Wye Wye' to me everyday, no longer have the luxury of having Mommy to prepare my breakfast and water bottle for work every morning, no longer able to throw my little tantrums as and when I like.

I know it's a growing up phase that we will eventually leave our nests and venture on our own. Okie... I admit I'm behaving like a kid but it's going to be one of the major changes in my life which will take a while for me to adapt.

All I can say is, nothing will be the same again.

How I wish time can come to a standstill now.

Stress.

Busy up to our eyebrows as the date draws nearer. Both of us are becoming very forgetful, probably due to the stress level.

Forgetfulness leads to misunderstandings, leads to arguements.

I hate this especially when our wedding is in just a few days' time. It spolit the mood entirely.

From a optimsitic perspective, we ironed things out and got to know each other better.

Thank you!!!

I really take my hats of to both Hui Han and Jasmine for being so dedicated to their emcees job.

Really, really grateful to these 2 first-time emcees for all the efforts and time put into it. They met up for a rehearsal at Hui Han's on Tuesday night and Jasmine didn't go home until it was close to midnight, not forgetting that she still has work the following day.

Minor amendments were made to the introduction and yum seng portion which I thought was very appropriate. Hui Han posted quite a few questions to me regarding the program which I feel glad as I didn't even thought of them!

I told both of them I will put in equal efforts if not more, for their future weddings. Hui Han has already asked me to help her think of wacky ideas for her weddng nrext year!

Gowns and Suits collection

We have sheduled a final meet-up with Wen Qing from Fairmont to finalise the details on the banquet.

A final confirmation on the attendance, including no. of muslims, baby chairs and table with 11 chairs required. I didn't know previously that they have to charge us for an additional pax whom we included at the VIP table because the dishes will be portioned out so it's tricky to distribute the 10-pax food among 11 guests, especially the abalone dish.

Next, we collected our gowns, suits, Mommy and sisters' dresses, fathers' jackets, hair accesories, ect at di Gio. Made minor amendments on the gown measurements. Apparently, I have slimmed down slightly. HAHA.

We paid a $500 desposit and also collected the mini album which was left out in our package earlier on.

Here are the dresses and gowns!

The jackets fit nicely on both fathers but Mommy and sister Daisy's dresses could not even zipped up. Jasmine wanted to make minor amendments to her dress too, hence, we have to make another trip to di Gio on Friday.

In the evening, we went to OG Bugis with PIL and Anna Auntie to buy FIL's pants and MIL's shoes for the evening. I managed to find a pair of wedges with some blings for MIL and everyone thought it looks nice! We bought both items as gifts for them.

Beauty session

Sister and I went to Jurong Point for eyebrow trimming. Mommy came down from the shop a while later and spent $178 on eyebrow embroidery instead of a supposedly $10-trimming. -_-

After that, I rushed down to Chinatown where MIL was waiting for me to buy the gold bangle together. It was one we saw earlier that Henry doesn't like and this is meant as a gift for me during the tea ceremony.

The price of gold increased from $66.5 to $68 just within a day. The bangle which we bought cost a whooping $980! I feel bad for letting MIL spent so much...

New look at Edward's

Henry went to get a haircut and hair colouring at our stylist in preparation for our big day!

He had dyed his hair brown with some fringe highlighted in ash colour - something different from the past.

We have also bought 2 King Coil pillows for our bed and a air purifier to rid the dust in the room!

All Ready!

Spent the entire afternoon to do a last-minute packing and touch-up on our room! There was indeed a sense of fulfilment when the room smell fresh and flooring is free of dust!

We cleaned the dust-covered windows once again before hanging up the curtains from IKEA. Have also cleared the desk and cabinet of all the clutters and it certainly cleared one's mind as well.

Lastly, we did the final touch-up to our room by putting up the digital photo frame and our wedding photo on the shelve, and of course, not forgetting to set up the TV which Daddy gave to us!

In the evening, I went to purchase the bed frame with the family but without Henry. It was my first time spending time alone with his family. Luckily, it was not that bad after all. We managed to buy the nice bed frame with a brown head board at $330, a $20 discount from the orginal price! Delivery will be made next Wed morning.

Hougang Parkview

We made a trip to Toa Payoh HDB Hub today to take a look at the mock-up of our future home - Hougang Parkview!



There are 528 units of 4-room flats available!

Flats along Upper Serangoon Road.

The other side facing the canal. I like this area but Henry reminded that it will be a longer walk to the bus stop if we were to select this block.

We drove along Upper Serangoon last week during the site recce.

Our first choice - Blk 471A - facing Upper Serangoon Road.

The facilities and multi-storey carpark below.

Blk 471A is one of the 3 blocks that has 18 storeys. The other 2 blocks goes up to 19.

Floor plan of a 4-room unit.

This is how a 92sqm flat will look like!

We also dropped our HDB loan form at the HDB Hub!

Yeah!

Wedding Gifts

Sis is getting us a set of bed as a wedding gift to us!

I rejected saying that we have already bought it but she insisted on paying us the money.

Younger sis also asked me what I want as a wedding gift since she will be going to Europe next Sunday and will be heading to get LV for Mommy, Chanel for Sis and Gucci for herself. Bags are too expensive for her so if I were to buy, I will only get a wallet at most but there's nothing to my liking.

To be honest, I'm quite touched by their gestures. I really didn't expect any gifts from them :)

Oh, our Slumberland mattress has finally arrived last night!!! We got it cheaper than we thought - $260!

I just went to buy the bed frame with my PIL in the evening. Very satisfied with it and we were given a discount so we managed to get it at $330!

I managed to reduce my sis' damage to $590. Probably I can throw in 2 pillows too! Haha.

Emcees meeting

1.5 weeks to the wedding and it's our first meeting to discuss the emcee script due to all the last-minute incidents.

Hui Han and Jasmine were rendered nervous all because of our last minute notification. I think they are just as stressed as the bride, having no experience in being an emcee before!

Initially, I assigned Jasmine to be the Chinese speaking and Hui Han to be the English speaking emcee. But after a dry run, it was apparent that Jasmine is more suited to take up the English instead.

I'm perfectly fine with them doing either language so long they are comfortable with it.

They will work on getting familiarised with their own part and have also planned to meet up next week for a rehearsal together. They will also decide between themselves the dress code for that evening.

Sisters Meeting Part II

The day is finally here!

Jasmine and I went Bugis for shopping prior to the meeting and we met up with Daisy at Suntec. Haiqi was the first to arrive, followed by Joo. Soon later, Emma came to join us.

It was not easy to host a dinner where you are the only common factor among them but fortunately, everyone warmed up to each other pretty fast.

I went through the morning program with everyone and luckily some pointed out a few areas which I overlooked. Of the sisters, Joo, Daisy and Yen Ling are experienced with being a Jie Mei but it's a first time for Haiqi, Jasmine, Emma, Ivy and Jasmine Chua.

We thought of 4 games, enough to cover the 45-mintue gate-crashing. 1 warm-up game will be played at the door step before the borthers and groom are let into the living room to continue 3 other games.

I can't wait to see them play the games and how they are going to be 'tortured' by the sisters! I believe the games that we thought of will be fun to play and at the same time, turn out aesthetially well on the photos too.

Ivy managed to rush down from her dept dinner and joined us at about 9am to learn more about the games that the sisters will be playing so that she can fill Yen Ling in.

And so, the meeting ended off with the run-through of the evening program and handing out of the skirts and t-shirts to the sisters!

Raymond

We had a casual meet-up with Raymond for the first time at Coffee Bean, 313 Somerset. Almost could not recognise him so we called to make sure that we do not identify the wrong person.

He was friendlier than we thought, though not as talkative as Joe. Everything went smoothly and we told him that we would like both him and Andrew to take some photos on the taxi convoy and the licence plate of our bridal car too.

Andrew will start out from Henry's together with the band of brothers and Raymond will arrive at my house at about 5am to capture moments of the hairdo and makeup.

Raymond showed us the photos and the montage that they did for Alicia's wedding a couple of weeks ago. It's a standard template style adopted by AR which we like, so we can put our mind at ease and leave the 2 of them to the job.

We requested to use "Wanna grow old with you" by Adam Sandler as the song for our photo montage but it was too short a song. In the end, we decided to use "Can't take my eyes off you"!

Betrothal Day!

The first customary preparation that made me feel it's getting really close to the Big Day.

Grandmother arrived at 8.30am, followed by Granny and 4th Aunt at 9.30am.

Henry went to collect the wedding cakes from Sweetest Moments at 9am before making his way to my house with his Uncle and Auntie.

He called to pre-empt that they have arrived then all of us 'hid' in the kitchen while they made their way in, placed all the wines, Si Dian Jin, oranges, canned pig trotters, traditional pastries and wedding cakes on the table.

Betrothal goodies...

Everyone gathered to take a look.

Mommy and Daddy preparing for the nececssary.

I like the cute Xi sticker which my MIL bought!

The lovely cakes from Sweetest Moments!

We went over to Granny's for the ancestral offerrings before bringing Granny back to our house again. After doing some packing and returning of the ang baos to Henry's Uncle and Auntie, we set off for Henry's. We have also brought my new shoes and clothes along with our 32-inch TV which Daddy gave to us back home.

While we do some packing at home, Daddy drove Mommy around to distribute the cakes, canned pig trotters and invite cards to all the relatives!

Hougang

After I triumphed as the cleanliness and neatiness monster, came another piece of good news! We have finally, finally, got a queue no. for the Hougang BTO!!!!!!!!

No more oversubscribed message, no more wasting of $10 for the BTO application (we have spent $70!)!

Our queue no. was 262 out of 528 units so it's a definite that we will be able to get a 4-room this time round.

My PIL were happy to know that it has come to our turn to choose a flat at last though my parents felt it was far away from them. But they understand what's most importantly is not to forgo this golden opportunity!

My FIL was more excited than us so he suggested we went to for a site recce after we buy the bed in the evening.

We are almost settled for the bed which cost at a special promotion price of $699 for a nice bed frame, inclusive of a 12-year warranty mattress. What held us back was the order we made for the mattress from Henry's friend. Until now, there was no confirmation on the delivery date.

Hence, MIL had a suggestion - to buy the bed set at $699 first and if the order for the Slumberland mattress is confirmed, she will replace her old mattress with the one from the bed set. If not, we will take the entire set.

We would like to wait a few more days for the confirmation of the mattress. So, both my MIL and I will go down together to buy the mattress on 20 May.

After dinner, we drove to the site to check out the location. Apparently, it's a distance away from the nearest NEL station, Buangkok but it's close to the nice Punggol Park. I think we don't have much of a choice here. MIL said we could consider buying a small car in few years' time to cut down on the inconvenience of going to work and going back to my house.

Mummy knows it best!

I was under tremendous stress to pack Henry's room before the big day arrives.

Being a cleanliness and neatiness freak, I just can't sweep everything under the carpet and wait till the wedding is over to do all the packing properly! I felt very troubled and uneasy in getting married in such a messy way.

I stayed over at Henry's last night, hopefully to start on the packing but it failed. Reluctant to get up this morning as I wanted to run away from the reality of packing. No choice but to drag myself out of bed while Henry has gone back to work on a Sat.

I took the liberty to pack all of Henry's stuff as I do not want to hold this back any longer.


There were too many stuff which I don't know if I should keep or throw.
There were too many clutters in his wardrobe and cabinets which disturbed me terribly.
There were too many unused space which are not utilised to their max.
There were too many things lying all over which I have no idea where to get started.

I think my MIL saw how vexed and frustrated I was, hence she offered her help. Being the mother, she knows room packing is not the son's forte and the best time to do it is when the son is not at home to obstruct. Hehe! Therefore, the 2 of us managed to pack, categorise and organise 3/4 of all the stuff properly before Henry got home.

I could not have done all these without my MIL, really. Of course, I expressed my heartfelt thanks to her after that! Love her to bits!

Packing done, and Henry and I were down to cleaning the windows. Tough job, I would say. The windows have not been taken care of for quite a while. We poured away 7 pails of black-coloured water and the 2 pieces of white cloths were completely reduced to a dark shade of grey.

I would say the room is almost 80% ready to be presented decently on 28 May, we will just need a touch-up and minonr packing to do 1 week prior to that!

Colleagues.

I have officially handed out all the invite cards to my colleagues today.

Some of them were very sweet. They were all prepared and were only waiting to receive my invite cards and some mentioned that they have already marked on their personal calendar, save for the 3 Accounts people who didn't really 'give face'.

Two of them were hesitating when I asked if they were free to attend so I said they can let me know at a later time, which kind of disrupted my plan to do up my seating arrangement asap.

When I handed the card to their boss, who is the Senior Finance Manager, she touched the card with one hand (while I was still holding on to it with both my hands) and the moment I mentioned my wedding date, she immediately withdrew her hand and explained that she needs to take her daughter to some classes that will only end at night. Of course, I was taken aback by her action of not even wanting to take the card!

Since I can't possibly reuse the card for another person, I told her I will just leave the card with her. When I related the matter to Henry, he said most likely she feels obligated to give ang bao once she takes the invite card...

On the other a, I got a more positive response from a new colleague who is just 2-weeks old. At least she received the card with more excitment and promise to check her schedule on 28 May before letting me know.

Initially, I was hesitant in inviting her as I thought some people might not like it when she is not on a good term with you just yet. But I feel bad for leaving her out since I invited everyone from the office. Looks like I was wrong.

On leave!

I applied for a 3-week leave and today is my last day at work.

I'm going to make full use of these 2 weeks prior to the wedding to rest, relax and appear as a beautiful bride on 28 May. Also, to catch up on the last-minute preparations!

It feels SHIOK that I don't have to work for the upcoming weeks!!!!!!!!

Sisters Meeting Part I

Arranged to meet up with Yen Ling and Ivy to run them through the program for 28 May, passed them the invite cards and handed them the t-shirts and skirts for the sisters' attire. Yen Ling was also helping me to pass the rest of the invite cards to the TMAP people.

Yen Ling will be in Bangkok on the 18th so she won't be able to meet up with the rest of the sisters whereas dear Ms Ivy See got the date mixed up so she will try to rush down to join us after her prior appointment.

It was no easy feat to coordinate a meet-up with so many people, thinking of a conducive venue and doing up a detailed program rundown. I'm guilty of killing tons of trees doing the rundown.

We discussed the program and informed them that I need their help at the reception table for the evening. As there are about 14 TMAP people coming for the dinner, I have split Rui Lian and Angeline to be at the Borneo Motors table while Yen Ling and Ivy will be together with my pri and sec school friends.

I'm glad that all of them are very accomodating on the seating arrangement to understand my difficult position.

So, I had a dry run for the sisters meeting. I hope all of us will be able to come up with great ideas for the gate crashing next week!

Photographers

Joe notified Henry that he wouldn't be able to help us on our Actual Day. Instead, Raymond and Andrew will be the ones doing the photo shoot.

He will compensate us with additional 50 photos for our album. Henry was ok with the arrangement but I was rather unhappy over it.

We signed the package and informed him on our wedding date beginning this year so why was there a sudden change at the last minute which added on more problems amid our busy preparation?

I could not come to terms with it.

I decided to call him up to give him a piece of my mind. We talked and I got to understand that it was due to a change in another couple's wedding date. Hence, Joe and Raymond had to split. Raymond and Andrew will be doing ours whereas Joe is holding the fort at the other couple's. He's currently searching for another partner to help him out for that.

And because the other couple requested Joe to do the photo shoot and editing for them, we had to compromise. What kind of reasoning is that?

Joe sounded very apologetic over the phone and he could not accede to stick to the original plan no matter how many times I asked.

I insisted on having Joe to do it because I thought we have a better chemistry with him, compared to Raymond.

We ran through the program together and realised that our timing is over-stretched by about 1.5hours. Joe mentioned that the photographers have to go off no later than 1pm in order for them to edit the photos and put together the photo montage for the dinner. Hence, we tried to shorten some timings but it still exceeded by 2 hours, from the time they come during my makeup at 5am to 1pm.

Joe had no choice but not to charge us for it as a form of compensation to us.

In the end, Raymond will be shooting me while Andrew, who is more experienced in shooting the grooms, will do his job at Henry's.

We have also arranged a meet-up with Raymond next Tuesday to finalise the program, inform him of our request and most importantly, build bonds.

Getting ready.

I have packed and moved some of the daily necessities, clothes and slippers to Henry's house yesterday. As I did the packing the night before, it struck me that I have only less than a month's time staying in my home of 17 years.

Everyone is getting ready for the arrival of the Big Day. Mommy just had her hair dyed and highlighted yesterday and she has also helped in preparing for the Betrothal Day next Sunday.

Sister Daisy is helping out to decide the Sisters outfit (yes, I know it has been decided quite some time back) on whether to go ahead with jeans or skirts from Uncle's shop. The thing is, Uncle doesn't have 8 pieces of the same designs! So I might get Daisy to buy them in BKK when she goes for a 2-day trip this coming Thursday.

She has also recce-ed for a very affordable mani & pedi shop at Pearl's Centre that does great nail art, with everything at the amazing price of $38, all-inclusive. Downside is that the male manicurist can't take all 4 appointments at one go. Hence, Daisy has to go on 26 May, Mommy and I will go on 27 May morning and Jasmine to follow suit after ours.

Emcees

We are getting desperating in asking friends to be our emcees for the dinner ever since Yiqian and Xiao Fen could not make it due to the devastating unforeseen circumstance.

Henry seeked the help of 2 of his good female friends a couple of weeks ago. Nothing has been confirmed with the pressing dateline and after incessant naggings from me, I approached them directly only to find out that they thought Henry was joking with them!

In the end, after some consideration, they decided that it's better to pass on the chance to others instead. Same for another set of Henry's colleagues who rejected us nicely.

Previously, we thought of another candidate - Henry's colleague - who offered her help in becoming our emcee but before we could ask her, she texted Henry to inform that she can't make it to our wedding. T.T

And so, the emcee-hunting task has to start all over again. We decided to ask both sides of our friends to get a faster and higher positive response.

Henry approached another 2 female colleagues whom were "forced" to say yes tentatively. While I seek the help from my primary school friends, Jasmine and Hui Han.

Both of them warned me that they have stage fright and afraid they might not do a good job. However, I assured that I have a script for them and believe that their chemistry would be able to alleviate the fear.

Finally! I received the good news from Jasmine that both of them will be able to help out! Another mind-boggling task off our list. I must now work on the emcee script and run through with them.

My heartfelt thanks to both of them...

Mini photo album

I was so glad that I look through my booking invoices with di Gio, trying to look for the dimensions of our portrait for our wedding coordinator at Swissotel. Because..... I realised we have been shortchanged for a mini album which was included in the list of items when we signed up for their package at Her World Bridal Show.

This mini album, however, was not listed in our invoices. It's a duplicate of all the 38 photos in the size of 4R or 5R. I contacted May but it was her off day so I got the help of her colleague who asked me to email the piece of paper we got from Jesline (our very first coordinator from di Gio who MIA-ed later) to her.

After verifying, she confirmed with us that we can collect the mini album the same time we pick up our gowns and suits! Yeah!

Leave

I have applied for 16 days of leave from 16 May - 7 June!

Due to the stupid policy of the company, I had to apply for about 8 days of no-pay leave and I'm will not be entitled to matrimonial leave ;(

Nevertheless, I'm taking 2 weeks prior to the big day to prep myself mentally and physically. This is also for the last-minute loose ends that might need some tightening.