Memories of 2009

Pardon me for this late entry.

A lot of resting and laziness has been going on lately.

This is because my husband, Sharil and I are on a very long leave till last Thursday. Yup people, get jealous! We were on leave since 15 Dec 2009 all the way till 7 Jan 2010! Yoohooo!

Anyway, this is going to be a very long entry, so enjoy!

While year 2008 saw me travelling all over the world the most times in my entire life where I visited places like Genting Highlands, Port Dickson and other parts of Malaysia, I also went Batam and explored different countries in the Middle East like Dubai, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

Year 2009 saw a different side of me… I’ll break it down.

Dec 08: Graduated from SMU, finding a job and was contemplating on getting married. According to our engagement agreement, Dec 09 will be our 2 years together, and tying the knot would be the right thing to do. But as the market was hit by the crisis, finding a job was really a pain in my ass… opps!

Jan 09: I finally found a job and joined AIA under the executive development program. There’s exams and courses that I need to take, so I spent the entire month studying and taking exams before I finally signed the contract on 29 Jan 09.

Still contemplating on getting married because I realized that my parents were not able to sponsor my wedding and that I had to bear the cost all by myself without any savings in hand…

Because of this, I wanted to postpone the wedding to 2010 but Sharil’s family kind of disagreed and even wanted to lend me money for the wedding. Of course, I didn’t take up their offer. Aku pun tau malu ok!

Hence, from January a lot of solat hajat and istikharah done, in hope to help me get out of the dilemma and see the light from HIM.

Feb 09: Where I started my life as an “insurance agent”. Reason why I put the “…” is because a large part of me is doing sales and marketing of insurance products but at the same time, I’m spending quite a lot of time on company roadshows and presentations. I’m also teaching tuition as freelance, and had since started this month.

March 09: I received my very first pay. Surprisingly, I was very calm and somehow able to see the “light”. I cannot really put it in words but my heart seem to speak towards the direction of getting married.

A lot of discussions between the families took place, and we came to a decision – 19th and 20th Dec 2009 will be the final date, a day after my birthday.

This marks the start of Sharil and I putting deposits on things like bridal, dais décor, wedding cakes, bridal room décor and catering.

Honestly, I haven’t done any shopping or pampering myself with my first pay. It was used entirely for the deposits and marriage matters.

April 09 – Nov 09: Work at AIA went on as usual. I was still teaching tuition and had even taken up more assignments to increase my income. Yup, it really reached a crazy stage at one point of time! Too many things to juggle in 24 hours!

Anyways, I attended my graduation ceremony and prom night in July 09. A week after the ceremony, I also spent money (I paid for everything!) for my family studio shoot with Photo Image Gallery as a lifetime memory of my (and my parents) proudest moment in life.

That month also, I paid for the construction of the sliding door for my cats at my balcony. Some unexpected things happened with the neighbors and I had to remove some partitions in that balcony. I don’t want to elaborate more on that. It wasn’t very nice….

This period of time also saw Sharil and I going to and fro Johor and geylang for our wedding stuffs.

To summarize our wedding arrangements, we took the following from Johor:

1) My dinner gown from Exclusive Bridal
2) Cards for Saturday and Sunday were printed there from Plaza Impian and Marina Cards Design
3) Engaged a photo-shoot package from ATT Studio with 8 different outfits
4) Sharil’s berkat from Jelita
5) Bekas Bunga Rampai for me during the solemnization from Plaza Impian
6) Facial Treatment from Mai Beaute Parlour
7) Sirih dara and pulut paha from Plaza Impian
8) My best ladies baskets and collar pins from Jelita
9) Potpurries for the bunga rampai from Jelita

These are the packages we took in Singapore:

1) Bidal from Nash Bridal with 6 different outfits, make-up included
2) Photography for 2 days event from Wicked Photographs
3) Videoman from Artwave Production
4) DJ from Jai Sound Production
5) Caterer from a relative that we know
6) Dais and void deck decor from RH Bridal
7) Bridal room décor, wedding cakes, gubahans from Al’Emma Corner
8) Performance for dinner from Hylena Dance Group
9) Bridal car (Mercedez Benz) from Aziz Company
10) Kompang and kuda kepang from Kompang Putra
11) Kendarat from Boyz in Black

Don’t think I missed out anything else. Initially it was quite a challenge because if you noticed, we did not take it under 1-house. It was segregated and coordinating it was a challenge. But being me, who excels in project management, I believe we executed the event well.

Believe it or not, our entire wedding was planned by Sharil and me – without any help or interference from the parents. It can be deemed as our own dream wedding.

Dec 09: I worked till Dec 14 and then went on leave from Dec 15 onwards. When other couples were not able to see each other anymore at least a month before the wedding ceremony, Sharil and I still met on the 16 and 17 dec to do all the last minute stuffs and gown collection from Johor. I also did my fitting on the 17 dec with Nash Bridal. And that got my mum frowning.. haha.. she kept telling us to be careful, and drive carefully etc….

Berinai was on 18 dec, my birthday.

19th dec: The day I became Sharil’s wife, which coincides with his birthday as well. My solemnization ceremony started at 11am that day.

After photo-taking at the dais and lunch, Sharil and I changed into 3 outfits for our indoor shoot at my crib.

I started getting ready for my dinner reception at about 5.30pm. I wore a beautiful big purple gown that was specially rented from Exclusive Bridal from JB. I really liked how my mak andam dolled me up, and was very happy at the result.

Dinner reception went on well, with the guests singing for us our birthday songs during our cake-cutting ceremony. Sharil also got sabo-ed by the DJ to reenact how he proposed to me, and by my best ladies to sing me a song. He sang a bit of Bukan Cinta Biasa from Afghan and that left him perspiring all the way. Haha

20th dec: Majlis bertandang carried on as usual. Everything went all well except for the last part where it was a bit rushed. I reached back my place exactly at 5pm and there weren’t many guests left.

Alhamdullilah, my wedding ceremony went on well with a few minor glitches that were solved almost immediately. I also received lots of positive feedbacks about the décor of the void deck and the dais, my appearance, the gubahans and the bridal room.

Thanks for all the feedback people! It really made me feel that the money spent was worth it.

Thanks to the relatives who sponsored my berkats, those who gave us foods to add on to my reception and all the presents received. Many thanks to all who had been involved, especially my parents in one way or another on the day itself to ensure the event was a success. Thank you.

All in all, I spent about $26,000 for the wedding fully paid by me. (minus whatever that had been sponsored). Yup, I was surprised too that I was able to fork out so much after only 9 months of working. Imagine that.

A lot of self –sacrifice needed though. No shopping or a big feast. I had to scrimp and save as much as we could. Sharil also spent about the same amount for his side. Gosh, we were joking the other day saying that if we hadn’t been married, we both would have about $50,000 in our account. Yeah right.

21st dec: Spent the day settling all the outstanding balance in full

22nd-23rd Dec: Went for the photo-shoot at JB

24th-28th Dec: Went for honeymoon in Bali.

We visited 2 different places of 2 different environments. Our first hotel where we stayed was Alila Ubud. A five star hotel that was surrounded by sawah padi and flora and fauna. A peaceful environment for honeymooners.

Then, we proceeded to Kuta, the town of Bali where we visited and have lunch opposite Volcano Batur, had dinner at the beach watching the sunset, had a candle-light dinner at a hilltop witnessing the town filled with lights, witnessed the breathtaking view of the Uluwatu area where there were amazing breakwaters and their cultural performances such as the barongan and Balinese dance.

I also had my fair share of spa and massage, and finally indulging in a bit of shopping spree to bring back souvenirs for our loved ones.

It was really an amazing honeymoon, I must say! Totally worth the money.

I think I will stop here now. Though it is a long entry, I’m glad I managed to pen it down to share, and reminisce the good times that occurred as a wrap to the year of 2009.

Alhamdulillah…..

p/s: Honeymoon pictures will be uploaded to facebook. I am still waiting for the photographs of my wedding from my official photographers to be uploaded on facebook.

Till then, please be patient!