10-12 Month Wedding Checklist

I just realized that my little wedding-countdown ticker on the right-hand panel says "10 Months 13 Days before I marry the love of my life!" :D

A lot of people have commented that I'm too much of an eager-beaver -- starting my preps so early. I wonder if that is just short of calling me a Bridezilla. Eeks. I hope not :P I refuse to be deemed one...

Anyways, I just unburied this checklist from my "Our Wedding!" folder in my laptop. Irwin actually found it on the internet for me when we first got engaged some 2 months back. Keke! Looking through the list, I realize that I am actually ON TIME as per this checklist's recommendation!!! We've done most of the items there... except for a few (important ones) which we will be getting down to SOON. Hehe!

Not a Bridezilla after all yeah... *PHEW*

CHECKLIST

1. Set your wedding date -- 11th July 2009
2. Discuss with parents and future in-laws on the style & size of wedding ceremony -- DONE
3. Set a budget -- SOON (I hope) :D
4. Book a wedding consultant or wedding planner -- DONE
5. Book a date with the ROM and the ceremony venue -- DONE
6. Begin your guest list -- DONE
7. Source for reception venues that suit your taste and budget -- DONE
8. Organize and file all important documents in a systematic order. Keep a separate file for payments and receipts. This will help you keep track of what has been done, what needs to be done and also manage all your expenses -- DONE
9. Begin shopping for your bridal gowns, headpiece and bridal accessories -- DONE

YAY! :)

Capturing the Moment (part III)

Photo taken by Patrick Low; Exes Studio. www.exes-studio.com
Another struck off our wedding prep to-do list; 8390492043 more to go...

After many weeks of looking through a gazillion photographers' portfolio and quotations, we have finally decided to appoint Exes Studio to play (what I think is) one of the most important role at our wedding!!! -- to take our pre-wedding and actual day photography and videography. Patrick Low; the main creative photographer which we have engaged is an award winning photographer who specializes in taking wedding portraiture and capturing the events as it unfolds on the actual day. The above picture is actually his latest winning shot which he recently bagged at the WPJA 2008 awards for Most Creative Portrait. Check out his website to see his entire portfolio :)

Overall, we're very pleased with what he has offered us (although it comes with a really large price tag) and included in the contract which we signed over the weekend. We'll be taking our pre-wedding photographs in February next year... *EXCITED!* :P

Praying for the best! :-D

Read Part I & Part II here.

Of suits, shirts & ties

A day out shopping with Irwin turned out to be a weekend of trying suits for the wedding instead! :D We went mall-crawling 2 days in a row to The Gardens, Pavillion and KLCC -- trying suits from Zegna to Armani, Boss and even Dunhill! keke! It was quite fun! And I've also come to realize that men sales assistants are much nicer than women sales assistants. They seem more accomodating, and would go through lengths to dress you up -- even down to shoes and ties... with no obligation to buy. If you walked out after that, they'd still be nice about it :)

Anyways, Irwin settled for a suit, matching shoes and tie from Boss -- just couldn't resist the Mega Malaysian sale!

Capturing the moment (part II)

Picture taken from http://www.signaturephotographers.com.my/

Today was rather exciting :) We attended the Signature Photographers event -- an event bringing together 7 of (I dare say) Malaysia's more outstanding wedding photographers. It was held at the Sheraton Imperial hotel and for RM100 per couple, we got lots of vouchers from different types of wedding vendors and sponsors of the event (ie: flowers, car rental, decor, etc), a wide buffet range from the hotel's wedding menu and most importantly, first-handed tips from all 7 photographers. I thought it was quite a bang for our buck :) We even won a lucky draw! :D (and was called up onto the stage to be 'models' for Louis Pang) That was quite an embarassing bit though :P

Anyways, after weeks of research -- comparing portfolios and quotations; I sort of had a shortlist of photographers/videographers that I thought would be able to capture the styles that Irwin and I like. So this event put alot of things for us into perspective, making things a little clearer. We're quite close to appointing one of the most important 'players' for our big day! :P I just need to bring out my negotiating skills to carve out a good deal now!

Read Part I here.

Happy 2-Years to Irwin & Van!!!!

This is our 1st ever couple pic!

Today marks 731 days since we got together :) Its a wonder how the last 2 years have flown by so quickly and wonderfully and magically (and all the nice mushy things that I will keep to myself)... and that we're actually getting married. This whole getting-married-thingy still feels somewhat surreal to me. I think it'll only sink in when I finally walk down the aisles next year... and when we move into our newwwww place. WOOPEE-DOO. I can't wait! <3

We didn't do anything special tonight though... which I think is quite bad and sad :P We both admitted that we haven't actually put much thought into doing something special for each other... until yesterday... But we still didn't have a plan when we got done with work today. Haha! Please tell me it wouldn't be like this after getting married though. I'd want us to celebrate anniversaries till we're 98.

I've been busy setting up our wedding website here. keke! Its been alot of hard work populating it with content and editing all the pictures to go with it. PHEW. I hope to launch it in another 2 weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to nag Irwin into finding time to fill in the parts where he's supposed to 'say something'. So in the meantime... the password's only for Irwin and I to know. keke!

For those of you who are getting married and might be interested in setting up one too, check out Wedding Windows. Alternatively, there's also another site -- Wed Share; which Justine (my future sis-in-law) told me about. I decided on Wedding Windows because I liked this particular design they had. (And its also about 20bucks cheaper) Anyhow, the price ranges from about US$80-US$100 for a 1-year subscription. Its pretty standard.

Sometimes we pay to be tortured. Why?

This is Robert our personal trainer at Fitness First... who over the last 8 months has became more of a good friend to the both of us :) He trains us twice a week -- 1 hour per session, per person. Throughout the 7 years I've spent working out at different gyms (yes, I started when I was 19), I must say that he's one of the better trainers I've had because he really works you to the core. After every work out, my body 'suffers' from this bitter-sweet ache. Bitter because it feels lousy going around with an aching body... but sweet at the same time because it'll remind me of how hard I've worked to lose those fats! :)

Having said that, Irwin and I still occasionally wonder WHY we pay Robert to work us so hard, especially after a long and tiring day at work. It can get pretty torturous, I tell ya...

Ever since our engagement, Robert's been feeling rather stressed and pressured by us though :P Because Irwin and I are planning to have our pre-wed photo shoot by the end of this year, Robert takes it upon himself to ensure that we're in top form -- aesthetically :P His goal is to have Irwin build a bigger chest... (MUAHAHA!)... and for me to go on a 6-week diet to rid my thunder thighs and jiggly arms :P

Here's to good pre-wed pics at the end of this year! CHEERS! :)