Foreign Labour

Although Malaysia is a land of plenty, there seems to be a shortage of skilled labourers who are willing, committed and passionate about what they do. Having exhausted our list of contacts and picked our brains for suitable names that would fit the bill, we were still left with several vacant positions that were crucial to the flow of the wedding.

Little did we know that there was this certain clan from Down Under who had taken a keen interest in our wedding and had made it a point to cross the miles to join us on our special day. It wasn't until later that we considered them as candidates to fill in the role of dinner co-ordinators, which they gladly accepted without much persuasion.

Thank you for your accepting this responsibility - we are truly blessed to have people like you assist us, even if you are self-invited guests! :)

Past Midnight

It's set. We've decided on our honeymoon destination and we're booked to fly to the beautiful land of Chiang Mai for our much needed post wedding rest.

As the clock struck 12, the familiar red and white website was constantly refreshed in the frantic rush to secure two of the 500 thousand free seats that were up for grabs. It was only about half an hour later when all systems were up and running and we finally managed to scroll down to the 'December 2007' option from the drop down menu.

Then, there was a bit of a hiccup and we had to re-fill the form requesting for our details. When we thought that we had cleared that hurdle, Anderson's credit cards were declined ... not once, but twice! And so in the end, it was back to Jo's good ol' card that had to bear the brunt of the damage.

Well, at least we can now move on to looking for places to go and things to do when we're there. Any suggestions?

Fuelling the Romance

A romantic walk in the night. A lubricant bottle in one hand, the shoulders of your fiance in the other. Walking in the still of the night, stars above shining its rays upon us, as we look for love and fuel. Staring at each other's eyes, talking, thinking, 'We are so glad we found each other ... but will be more glad if we can find a petrol station'.

Three Months

Three thought provoking months for Jo to conceptualise and decide on the most expensive gown she will ever wear. Three painful months of strict discipline for her to look less like a Michelin tyre man. Three months of self denial to the ever-so-tempting spread of local cuisine.

Does it have to resort to this?

Special Delivery

Last night, a hand delivered package from a certain doctor in Melbourne was received with much anticipation and excitement. As Jo poured out the contents of the envelope, she was absolutely thrilled at what it contained. Feeling overwhelmed, she examined each item which was lovingly put together with much thought and creativity.

We are truly grateful for all those hours spent hunting for materials and conceptualising our samples to specification. The mock ups are simply gorgeous, and even more so because it carries with it much more than its physical form - thank you!

Double Take

It was one of those rare days where Jo got off early from work. Since we had the evening ahead of us, we decided to head to one of our favourite joints, which was, at one point of time also our second home. We managed to find a park near the entrance minutes after we entered the carpark, much to our surprise. It was only later that we found out that Mid Valley had revised their parking rates.

Gone were the days where you got to park your car for RM 1.00 for the entire day. Guess the MV complex management got a little wiser!

Anyway, we continued our ring hunt as we had not been scouting for some weeks now. And so we headed for Selberan, the birth place of Jo's engagement ring. We were a little disappointed with their wedding range as there were not many choices. The only consolation was that they custom made rings to your preference.

On to our next stop, Love Diamond. We had passed this shop many times before but never actually set foot in it because it looked classy and I guess we didn't have any reason to before this.

Theirs was a different concept altogether. There you get to choose the design of your ring, then the thickness of it and finally the type of finishing. We found it pretty amusing and you could say it is custom made to a certain extent.

We spent some time considering our options and settled on two rings which we then asked for a qoute. The salesgirl told us that she would check with the factory and that she would give us a call the following day to let us know.

Well, off we were to dinner when we got a phone call from Love Diamond. Apparently, a colleague of the salegirl's had offered to work out the price for us on the spot and they had called us back to the shop.

When we got there, we were introduced to the other salesgirl who coincidentally was the same salesgirl who had sold Anderson the engagement ring from Selberan. She had recognised us when we were in the shop earlier and decided to do us favour.

So much for Anderson choosing a plain band ... it still cost way more than Jo's band even though there were some diamonds embedded around hers!

Now Hiring

Available Positions
1. Decorations Co-ordinator
2. Dinner Co-ordinators
3. Musicians (strings, woodwind, brass sections)
4. Advisor (females only)

Criteria

1. Forgo social life in order to perform in a pressure cooker 24/7

2. Can make people run even on empty

3. Able to find a needle in a haystack without forgetting that the horses need to be fed

4. Willing to be a slave who can work without the master breathing down your back

5. Can do and have done personality

6. Regard datelines as DEADlines

7. Will walk with us wherever ... even without limbs

Benefits

1. 2 exclusive passes to an eat-at-your-own-risk post-wedding meal

2. Flexible working hours

3. Permission to harass those working with you

4. Meet members of the opposite sex from other 'departments'

5. Guaranteed invitation to the wedding

6. A certificate of recognition to add to your list of achievements for your resume

7. Our eternal gratitude :)

The above benefits are accorded to all who perform well. Exceptional performance will be recognised and awarded bonus points which can be exchanged for duplicate gifts we may or may not receive during the wedding.

If you posses any of the qualities listed above, we would love to hear from you! Please submit your resumes with a certified true copy of all supporting documents. Shortlisted applicants will be contacted for an interview with the bride and groom-to-be.

Two Ladies

If you come across someone who is able to provide you with 3-4 good and reasonable contacts for every food item you suggest, you've found a good help. If you have two of them, all the better! You'd be unwise not to engage their services, for they will help you stretch your dollar for what it's worth. And if those two people are related and work well together, you had better hunt them down and do whatever it takes to ensure that they are contracted for they will keep you sane by saving you much time and energy.

Options, Options

White & Lacy or That Special Occasion? Two-piece gown or a one-piece ensemble? Embroidery down the front for a change or at the back so it's more visible? 3 inch train which boasts grandeur or a manageable 2.5 inch one? 30% buy back option or a discounted keep-for-your-daughter offer? Polite and diplomatic or an upfront and honest designer?

Endless questions to be answered just for ONE dress. As McCartney would sing it ... it's 'the long and winding road' ahead.

Bangkok, Here We Come!

We will be going to Bangkok for round two of shopping thanks to Air Asia :) Since our first visit in January this year, Jo had always said that she wanted to make another trip before the wedding but didn't think that her wish would turn into a reality. In a pleasantly surprising twist of events, she had one day checked her email and found an Air Asia e-newsletter sitting in her inbox.

Under normal circumstances, she would have just discarded the mail without thinking twice. On that day however, she decided to take a look at its contents and found that they were again offering good deals for flight tickets. Bangkok was on the list so she checked for available dates out of curiosity.

Well, those of you who are frequent Air Asia flyers will know how difficult it is to obtain cheap tickets, and that these are not normally offered on weekends. Also, this was not just any other weekend, as we were considering going over the long weekend surrounding National Day.

For obvious reasons, we were surprised and excited when the cheap tickets were available on the dates we were looking at. We were already short on leave (Jo was, at least!) so being able to spend three days there without needing to take off from work was a plus point. Of course, we had deliberately planned to hit the weekend so we could head to the infamous Chatuchak Market, which houses more things than any one shopping mall can hold at very reasonable prices!

It's a good five months before we set foot on Thai soil again, but already we're compiling our shopping list for wedding supplies - hopefully we'll have enough luggage space for all the stuff that will inevitably burn a big hole in our pockets!