Thursday, January 29, 2009

January 2009

Gong Xi Gong Xi! It's the new year again. Time passes really fast. (esp when u are older, dunno why.)

It's January and CNY is here again and it is already the 4th day today! As usual, relative & friend visits, consuming, drinking , gambling and getting the S.O.P questions from relatives: "Why never bring your gf along? Apply flat already? When R.O.M, etc... Well i always have my way of answering back. I know its irritating, but i understand they are just showing concern for me. I would smile back and says : " Soon soon, when i tio the 10million Toto angbow." ;)

After consuming too much heaty junk food and not getting enough good sleep , the sore throat and flu virus has come to visit me. Yes, that's why im here in my living room blogging, and not in office.

January is indeed a very happening month for my dear and I. We had our first ever fitting . Holy..y i was simply in awe when i first saw dear in those dresses. We had our very first outdoor shoot too. Man, it was fun man. But very 'siong', like army out-field. It was all worth while when we saw the end masterpieces. The header pics on Dear's blog and this are part of the collection. :) This is only the sneak preview. Catch the rest on our big day ba!

We also went for our first Bazi analysis appointment with Master Sean. We also recieved our bad news from our beloved HDB. :( What First Timer Priority , it's all bullshit lor. Its more like ToTo Quickpick in my opinion. Well , i always believe in Fate. There are 2 kinds of Fate in life. One is which we can control, for example , doing the correct things and taking the correct path in life. The Other which is beyond our control, like the family you are born in, who you will meet in life, etc.. So i will categorize the HDB thingy to be in the latter. We can't do much, can we? Haha, i believe what will come , will not go. And like wise, what won't come will go eventually if it is not meant for you in life. Nevertheless, we will continue to try. Dear says she got plenty of $10 to spare :/

We will be going to see our first play in 2009 in Esplanade too. Zheng Yuan Chang from Taiwan is the main reason why my silly Dear has spent money again! And having High Tea buffet at Marriot this weekend. Its free! We won it . =)

It will be an exciting new year for us. I hope i can find a better job.(i know its hard in this difficult time, but i will still keep this job and look out for more better opportunities. As the saying goes: A man without a good career is like a warrior without a good sword) More BTOs in the North East to launch. Save more money. A holiday during the second half of the year. Explore new things together. Plan and work harder together for our future.

May everyone have a happy and fruitful 2009 ahead! HUAT HUAT HUAT ar! ( i know my dear will say i sound like ah lao...)

A gentle reminder to all: TOTO 10million draw is on Friday next week. Good luck!

=)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Style Wedding Glamour bash 2008/09

2008 - After work, we rushed to Marriott Hotel for the wedding show. First wedding/bridal show we attended & won 6th prize in lucky draw! :)

We went for the April 2009's bash as well. It was held in Fairmont. And their service and hospitality (and not to mention the desserts) is really comforting. Althought it was a long day and we didn't win anything in the lucky draw, we still enjoyed ourselves.



There is the standard bridal fashion show. (Unlike the 2008's show, there aren't many gowns which i like in this show)


This is one of the small handful which i like. :)




They have setup ballrooms of different themes for us to see. And we spotted this huge VIP table which cab sit up to 20 persons!


Wedding shows attended

Marina Mandarin - 2009
Classy bridal suite, great food.
Poolside was not as nice as we expected, and a
tad pricey.
King Corpthorne Waterfront - Bridal Show 2009

Great lucky draw prices up for grabs, not very fantastic
ballrooms or food.


Won 12th prize in the lucky draw! We'll get to go for
spa treatment! :)


Siloso Beach Resort – 2008
Absolutely stunning venues! And delightful services.
But pricey and troublesome to get to.

Dawn's Wedding - part 1


Timeline:

19 October 2008 - City Square Bridal fair

Dear & I attended the Bridal fair at JB City Square. Got to know of the fair via wedding forums. We watched the bridal show, looked at the wedding albums on display, checked out some of the booths, and then we came to Dawn's Wedding booth. Janet was the coordinator who served us. We were both in awe after looking at some of their albums. And we know immediately the kind of wedding photos we want!

However, as Dawn is over the causeway, and we all know that City Square isn't the only place with bridal shops, we tried to be cautious, and decided to walk around a bit more and discuss between the two of us first. In the end we still decided to leave RM$150 as deposit for the package we negotiated.


23 November 2008 - Confirm package

Between the bridal fair and 23 November, we searched the website and looked up forums on raves and reviews on Dawn and JB wedding studios in general. Dear even managed to find a Dawn photographer's
blog! Looking through his blog (then), we were really impressed with what we saw. (I believe he has taken down a lot of the wedding shots he took.) But as his blog grew in popularity, this new blog appeared. And in it, we saw even more wedding or rather pre-wedding shots done by their other photographers!

If you have the time, do go in to take a look at their works. I really love what i saw, especially those done by Z-Feng. And thus when we went back to confirm our package, we were really happy. The service was good, even though they were swamped with customers on that day (a weekend). We managed to go through our package, and customise it to our liking. They were even flexible enough to let us take out time to go back for the actual shooting within FIVE years!

The price is half of what you can find in Singapore, and the quality and style is so much better closer to what we want. As the photos will be taken in Malaysia, it will be taken 'overseas' in our perspective!

Of course, there are disadvantages too. For one, we need to travel in and out a number of times, to confirm our package, choose the gowns & suits, take the photos, select the photos, review the designs, collect the albums, not to mention with the shifting of the JB customs, City Square will no longer be as accessible as it once was. But then nothing is free, and we firmly believe Z-Feng has the ability to make these all worthwhile.


As for when we will be doing the shoot, i really have no idea at this point. But i'm pretty sure it will not be for at least another year or two. ;)


Summary of our 'homework' so far ...


We started doing our 'homework' in the second half of 2008. By homework i mean flipping wedding magazines, reading forums (which according to dear, he started looong time ago), and of course attending wedding/bridal fairs, visiting various vendors ... etc.

First item on our list was actually the marriage preparation workshops. But that item still remains unchecked. I hope we can get it done in 2009. But it will really depends on our schedule. By the way, it is really tough trying to dig the information for the workshops over the internet. Sigh...

From the wedding magazines, we got to know of many Bridal events/fair by the bridal shops and hotels. We have actually went to a couple of them. (Separate entries on those)

The next very important thing that would come to mind is the date. Yes, at this point when the proposal is not done yet, setting the date would seems very weird. Anyway, we made an appointment to see a Fengshui master to see our Ba Zi. (another post on that)

Believe it or not, we have also been to see wedding bands! Yes i know, we are skipping steps ahead. But who can resist seeing the lovely blings? Haha. We have been very disciplined so far. It is all seeing (and trying) only.

We have also been into at least two bridal shops. And both of them we have signed something with them. *Shock!* Haha... (again, another post on those)

There is something even more substantial that we have done. And that is, to apply for a flat! (Yes very smart, it will be on another post)

Now not everything will be in 'another post'. Below are some of the things we have discussed:

  1. When is a good time for us (We are looking at 3 years)
  2. How much is our budget ( ... ... have setup an online wedding budget at weddingwire.com)
  3. The kind of wedding we want (But that is not cast in stone yet)
  4. The approximate number of people we can have at our wedding (200 to 250?)
  5. The possible venues
  6. even the kind of wedding favours to give! (We dislike those which the hotels provide. There is no personalisation to speak of...)
We will be looking at the above issues in more details and also at other issues. I believe it is not just the actual day that is called the wedding, but the whole process of preparations as well! So we should enjoy this whole process.

Do join us in our journey as we venture through.

:)

Friday, January 16, 2009

World of Fortune appointment 1

Our first appointment with Sean (Fengshui consultant) on 16 January 2009!

We sent our eight characters (Ba Zi) and the Chinese zodiac of our parents to him sometime before, and we got our Ba Zi reports from him in this first appointment.

We also got some favorable dates from next year till 2012. (We might get more dates just in case our flat application takes too long)

However, as we do not have much details, our Arcadia BTO result is impossible, and very importantly we are not even 'officially' engaged so to speak, we are not able to fix any other dates as such.

So we spent the hour asking him questions and for the rest of the items like detailed date selections and unit selection, will have to wait till we have some success in our future BTO *cross fingers*

:)

BTO - Punggol Arcadia


Just a simple timeline to commemorate the very first BTO we applied for.



14 November 2008 - applied BTO online
15 November 2008 - went to HDB hub to view showrooms and make enquiries
16 January 2009 - Results of BTO out ballot number 1132!


:( Pretty sad, but then we are not in a big rush anyway. So will wait for other upcoming BTOs.

In the meantime, these are the photos we took when we went to the showrooms at HDB hub...



What i thought our future home would be like.


Ahh... Too bad. May we have better luck the next time. :)