Blessings and Decisions

A roof over our heads and a place to call home. All we need to do come October is to pack our bags and move into our new dwelling. As simple as that.

No headaches on whether to settle for landed property or an apartment unit, no hassles in living miles away from the places we've grown accustomed to. Count it a blessing that He has graciously provided above and beyond what we deserve or could have asked for.

While the major and fundamental decisions have been taken care of, we're left to attend to the details and specifics in customizing our new home. Should we be prudent and take the house as is, complete with its furnishings and fittings that may not be quite what we want? Or should we stamp our mark and give the place a total makeover so that it aligns with our style and musings?

Sure, we would like to opt for the latter but who are we to demand and insist that things are done our way when we are not the ones footing the bill? Some things are not ours to dictate so we will learn to be thankful and content for what we have knowing that we are among the blessed few who do not have to worry where we'll be making our bed from day to day.

The Recessional

How difficult is it to decide on a song for us to walk out to as husband and wife? For us, it seemed like forever as we could never agree on the other's song selection. Hers would be too ballad-like and mellow for his liking while she thought his was either something from the 80s or otherwise monotonous.

What's more, he wanted to choose something that reflected his style as she had already taken first dips on the processional. She argued that it just wouldn't fit to have his type of music as the closing sequence. See our predicament?

It wasn't until we were out for lunch one weekend when we chanced upon THE song. Strangely, we knew that we had finally found something that we both liked and something that would fit the mood of the wedding when we heard what we now claim as our recessional.

How Long More?

News from the grapevine revealed that our church dedication has been shifted back to September. Is this something we should worry about? Maybe. Our plans right now revolve around the new hall which many couples who had tied the knot before us had been eyeing.

The new building has been eracted for close to three years but we had only received the CF towards the end of last year. Because of the delay, renovation work only took off this year. Half a year has come and still the light at the end of the tunnel remains but a tiny speck.

We had never really given this much thought as it didn't really concern us then. But now that a number of weddings have come and gone and none are near the prospect of being the first to have their marriage solemnised within the four walls of the new premises, we are beginning to doubt whether it will even be ready in time for ours.

So much for wanting to plan in advance and get things done well ahead of time.

A challenge to our faith? Perhaps. A lesson in letting Him take charge? Almost certainly. All remains to be seen as we wait in anticipation for news of our moving in.

Dowry

In this time and age, you would assume that such traditions are pretty much dead. After all, think about the possible problems that can arise from the boy being sort of Indian and the girl being fully Chinese. Who receives the dowry then? Should the boy demand for an Osprey Crescent 85 backpack (she broke his) or the girl expect a pair of proper diamond earrings (she claims the elegant ones he gave are too small)? Maybe it should be a symbolic exchange of angpows between both families. One gives in Renminbi and the other in Rupee. Ok right?

Foetoegraffee

We are now officially a few thousand bucks poorer, thanks to our wanting nice pictures to capture the most important day in our lives. It's funny how decisions are easily swayed when we initally wanted to cut corners by just employing our friends as photographers.

After thinking it through though, we figured that it would have been a missed opportunity had our wedding pictures not turn out the way we want them to and there was surely no way to re-enact the entire scene again. A second opinion was sought and we were encouraged to go ahead with a professional as only they or a die-hard photography enthusiast would be willing to spend on the additional equipment which does in a way contribute to the overall quality of the pictures.

Weeks of enquiring, looking and searching for potential candidates turned into months. Yet, we still weren't entirely convinced that we should allocate such a huge proportion of our weddding expenses for photography.

It was on one of those days when Jo went gown hunting, that we stumbled on our photographer who at that time gave us a very brief preview of his work as he was rushing off for a shoot. Anderson was somehow certain that this was the one we would eventually hire even from the short briefing we had. Jo, as usual, was being her indecisive self and wanted to chew on it a bit more.

It was back to scouting around for other options and we even scheduled a second meeting to talk further about what was being offered and what we wanted. It was then that we were brought to understand that our date for the wedding is a popular date - perhaps due to some auspicious day in the Chinese calender? Jo was still a little reluctant to buy the idea at that time but a few more price checks convinced her to entrust Exes Studio with our wedding memories.

Whatever the reason, it didn't leave us with much room to procrastinate any longer so we sealed the deal. Our decision was somewhat due to the new payment scheme offered by Exes Studio which enabled us to split our payments into two lump sums with a 12-month interest free period each. While we weren't able to get the main photographer to do the honours, I suppose this is a lesson for us in trusting others and letting them do what they do best.

50-50

It is close to a year since we've been to Marriott Putrajaya to secure the ballroom for our wedding dinner. Not knowing whether our contact person was still around or not, we decided it was about time we paid her a visit to put to rest a few burning questions we had and firm things up a little seeing that it's already mid-May.

The drive down was the usual, but we discovered that the toll rates via the LDP have increased by a significant amount! We would advice you to take the North-South Expressway (if it's convenient for you) as you'll only have to fork out RM1.60 compared to the RM3.20 you would have to pay if you're passing through the Sunway and Puchong tolls along the LDP.

Anyway, we met the person in charge of our account and went through the details of the contract yet again. Of course, you can't always have your cake and eat it so we had to do away with some of our wishful thinking - converting our complimentary day rooms into overnight rooms, requesting for free flow of bread during dinner, flower arrangements to our liking and specification - just to name a few.

On the consolation, we walked away with a couple of items in the bag, one of which is a major relief to us. Good thing we managed to reduce the amount that we are required to settle a month prior to the event from 70% of the total to 50% full payment and the remaining 50% on pre-authorised credit. Still, we'll almost certainly be swiping numerous credit cards to clear such a huge sum!

A Day in Our Lives

MAY 7, 2007

Pantai Hillpark 11:00 a.m.

Jo was surprised by a lovely hand tied bouquet of white lilies and yellow gerberas which Anderson gave her as he came to pick her up for their day out together.

Carat Club 11:30 a.m.

After manouvering around some BMWs and Mercs, we parked our humble car in front of a bungalow turned commercial property along the infamous Jalan Maarof in KL's affluent suburb of Bangsar. There we were greeted by two bouncer-like staff who led us through thick wooden doors into the realm of the sparklies. The feeling was surreal, just as if you were in an ad and the doors when opened, beckoned you into a world of the unknown. We both contemplated on our wedding bands over a cup of cappucino while receiving counsel and feedback as to our options and settled on something that we liked.

Marmalade 12:30 p.m.

Nitty gritty details of the big day were discussed over a hearty beef stew, cheesy lasagne and mushroom fetta brushcettas. They say that you can't think on a full stomach but we choose to disagree! Jo also chanced on a potential dinner gown by Beatrice Looi while walking around the complex to work off the calories.

Antalis 2:45 p.m.

Plain or shimmery? Textured or smooth? 160 gsm or 240 gsm? Though decisions to make within the span of an hour as we pondered on how our invites and programmes would look like.

One Utama 4:00 p.m.

Waiting in line for Spiderman 3 tickets was quite a breeze compared to a few days earlier when everyone was rushing to get their hands on one. DQ's Blizzard and Julius' Orange Juice provided the much needed sweet fix to top off our scrumptious lunch before we headed to the cinema for the Marvel blockbuster.

Taman Tun Dr Ismail 8:30 p.m.

In life death is inevitable. Ironically, it is the only thing that is certain when all other things have the ability to change. In a sad twist of events, Jo's granduncle left his earthly life before he was able to witness the wedding in December. It would have been an honour to have him attend as this man who had seen 96 bittersweet years was also the man who walked Jo's mom down the aisle.

South Pacific 10:15 p.m.

Round 2 of binging began after the intake of food earlier in the day had settled. This time, we indulged in a 4-course menu complete with pork ribs, tau foo, fried squid and beef. Yum!

And so, our eigth anniversary came and went in a somewhat eventful and leisurely manner. Nothing special or spectacular planned, but we enjoyed ourselves (and each other's company) all the same - which just goes to show that you don't have to have special things in store just to make it a good day!