Monday, September 27, 2010

wedding: painting the town red

so this is the last wedding celebration we threw back in singapore.

the intention of this party was purely to say "thank you" to our bridal party who trooped all the way down under and to invite my parents' work colleagues, friends, extended family and such. something small and intimate, formal and serves chinese food. these were the parameters my parents gave me to work with. but as i explained earlier, nothing in my family is done "little" or "casual". every excuse we get to party, we'll be there bells and all.

paddle fans to help guests keep their cool in the balmy warm evening heat...

the afternoon started when we checked in at noon! we did happy little dances cos we found out that our next door roomies are our best man & lady! :) yayy for more champagne brunches & afternoon tea dates to come!! and then my favorite girl of all time, arrived from korea to my door step. we nearly passed out in the excitement!! we did our hair and make up and lounged in our ridiculously luxurious bridal suite.

the wedding celebrations started with tea ceremony.

in my mum hand-me-down, 28 year old kwa, chinese traditional wedding tea dress and mum in her modern cheongsam! :) she intends to keep it for her grandchildren *hint hint* at which point i promptly told my brothers to start working on that please.

my lovely aunts all followed the chinese-theme and dressed in gorgeous silk cheongsams.. pretty!! they too had a change in dress! :)

we then knelt for a relly long time and gave tea to everyone. these are my grandparents who gave us really cute matchy gold rings. how quaint!!

we also had matchy red kneeling cushions, a must-have if you know that you'd be kneeling for a long time!!

fast forward about ONE MILLION PEOPLE later, we got up from our knees and got into the chair...

the munchkin and their tea. they each had something sweet to say to us!!

and for some photobooth fun, anna got us some cool props... i'll have to post our favorite pictures another day! meanwhile, you can check us out here!

our kids table with their kids menu & goodie bags filled with toys, crayons, candy & colouring book, put together by my dear friend laitheng. she was amazing! did everything by herself but so perfect.

the room was filled with candles and tall centerpieces with red roses with a touch of white. all i did was pick the colours and gave anna full reign of the room. i loved it!! subtle but not overwhelming!! see the little bunting on the stage, it says "love is sweet"! i love that she added that additional fun twist to an otherwise classic colour theme & floral design.

red roses was picked by grandma as its her favorite flower and she was so pleased she took some flowers home at the end of the evening!!
room conceptualization & design by spellbound weddings (thanks anna & ellie!) you've outdone yourselves, again!


dessert buffet, filled with yummies contributed by the amazing chefs in the family.

for real, the best tasting dessert buffet i've ever seen. (i might be biased) but these ladies in my family, are amazing.. needless to say, the dessert station was wiped clean way before dessert time!!

see the touch of cuteness? there was little glittery hearts on everything with our names & touch of bling. amazing details from spellbound again!! and thanks to  &  for coming early and making it happen!! xx


my team of chinese speaking reception girls... :)


with their zodiac-themed escort buttons! :)


everyone chilled out with a glass of singapore sling, a classic singapore must-do. especially if you're at the raffles, the home of singapore slings.. im personally not a fan! do you fancy it??

we had a few guests that found it so yummy they got a little slurry and told mum the first 4 dishes passed by in a whizz. i love our guests, they are so hilarious!!!

check out didi & daniel's corsages. i got so overwhelmed with crafts my mum took that off my plate. so so cute!! she got them from tongtong friendship store. a pretty penny but it was so cute we now use them on our dresses! :)

our handsome host, navin, who spoke so beautifully.

he is one of the most gracious and lovely person. for more than once in my life, he has stood out and saved my ass. he is also one of the most charming people i know :) he is what makes my world go round and in his work, equally brilliant. im so so proud of my fellow swiss-singaporean! :)

p.s. not coloured contacts. his eyes are that mesmerizing.. *swoon*

surreal fairytale entrance..

shortly after i was ATTACKED by rose petals.. someone aimed straight for our face and down the cleavage of my dress. for real. i was not impressed when i had to reach in and fish out the last bits... maybe i overdid the petal cones and should have only made enough for kids that reach up to our waist.. *sigh* all going into my notes for our anniversary party (JUST KIDDING!!!!!)

HAD to share this one.. i love it! check out grandfather looking like superman ready to save the world!! 

the friend who introduced the both of us at salsa class, yingjie, gave a lovely speech. i love this shot. check out her amazing dress in the reflection..

the funny thing is, i wore the same colour for her weddings. so next time i see this colour, i'll always think of her. and tiffany & co (!!) all good stuff!

it was song's turn with teng as support.. he said the sweetest & funniest things. in his crisp british accent. and was so nervous it was too cute. even though it was my wedding, we had to calm him down for days.

im so so proud of my brothers. and i miss them very very much.

im fast forwarding all the cheesy bits of champagne popping and cake cutting. daniel was very keen to do it all! :) 

my only request for the entire evening is, if we had to do a yamseng toast, i want a proper one.

one of my biggest pet peeve at weddings is the traditional chinese toast "yamseng". i really dislike the half arsed wussy ones of everyone looking like they're bored out of their asses and all posing for the camera. with their fake "O" smiles. and also the part where they invite bridal party to come, and you have to name them one by one and wait for them... i guess i've also seen enough toasts to know the difference. but mum promised me it would be ok...

so we did things a little differently. we requested our bridal party to join us on stage instead of family... and boy did we...

"yaaaaaam seeeengggg!!" 

interspersed with random "huat ah!" like chinese new year!! hahaha.. and from where i stood, it was a pretty solid yamseng!! :) :) :) and i could see my cousin's child's tonsils from the stage!! so so funny!!

bosslady & ellie approves of our yamseng. (thanks for the flowers, they were a dream come true!!)

we then did the typical, "thank the world" speech, teared a little, took a few pictures. and ducked out to have fun at the photobooth!! there was absolutely no farewell lines (another pet peeve.. hate it.) and no table shots (ditto.) here's what the rest of the evening was made of...

self-posed shots with us.. complete wedding-planner flop, but turned out ok in the end! :)

showered with a lot of love...

and hung out with the best friends ever. this is us, watching a surprise video they made for me. of my long-time crush, chua en lai, i've been head over heels in love with him since i was 17. and yes i know he is probably attached and probably does not swing my way.. *pout* but a girl can dream, right?

the girls tracked him down and he did an interview for me. sang a little, clapped a little and he like said my name and all! :) *swoon*

and then, we packed up, drank a few beers and went out for bak kut teh with them. fought over the cheque, illegally parked and ordered way too much kiam chye, just like any other normal saturday evening!! and life is back to normal again!! shiok! :)

so this is it. c'est tout!


thank you so much again for your lovely words this entire time!! it was an absolute dream to have planned my own wedding, in our own terms, (WAYYY!!!!) within our budget. it has also been such a fun (and insane) journey to have share with this illusive (cyber)world of people i don't know in real-life. thank you for putting up with my constant wed-crazed rattling.. i love you all! and i wish you love!

p.s. many of you have sent me questions asking about budget and help with stuff. i will try to get back to each of you personally soon!!

love,
mrs. a

27 comments:

  1. I like your Chinese outfit! You put in SO much effort in your wedding I'm in disbelief.. I feel like such a lazy bride in comparison cos I did nothing, oops....

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  2. just a passerby, but I've really enjoyed your posts on all the wedding bits.
    feel so inspired to do the same for mine next year but I'm so lazy!! :p
    anyway, love your outfits, especially this red dress. it really fits you!

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  3. Everything is so perfect!! Congrats again babe!
    Will you plan my little girl's wedding in 25 years time? Pretty please with chocolate coated strawberries on top :)

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  4. Yours has to be the best planned wedding ever that I've known!!!

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  5. Your gown is so beautiful here! You must tell me where you made it!!

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  6. love love love it!
    I intend to have escort buttons too but in the colours of navy, white, fuchsia.. where did you get yours from?
    p.s. your mums outfit its gorgeous.. was her 1st CS from tan tan (can't remember the shop name at Shaw)

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  7. i got mine from etsy online.. but if you only have 3 designs, there is a dude in singapore that can do it. let me go through my emails and find his name.. he's pretty cheap too!!! :)
    yeah! mum's dress was from tong tong friendship store. she is a big fan and prolly spent my entire inheritence on cheongsams!

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  8. thanks hon... it was specially designed by dang from dang bridal. she is brilliant.. you should look her up! :)
    she also made my jewellery and hair-pieces for me.. everything is customized to match the dress!!
    xx

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  9. hahah thanks babe.. helps to have wedding planners around! :)
    im just relieved that despite the bridezilla-ness, my friends didn't abandon me at the end of the night!! *phew*

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  10. teeeheee your icon is super cute!! one day you'll like little stick figures with a little baby!!
    p.s. urm... did i miss something... are you having a little GIRL!!!!!!!! *bounce* ok, if you're expecting a boy, yayy too! but a GIRL!!!!!!!??? and yes of course, if im still relevant and wedding-trendy then! :)

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  11. haha! thanks hon!
    you'll slowly get into it. when i first started, i too told myself, i'll chill out about the singaporean one and just take everything from the hotel. but one thing led to another.
    thanks for popping by!! when is your wedding next year?? and congrats,you!!!

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  12. hahaha im just obsessed!! i think yours turned out really gorgeous!! and what matters is that we both are happily married so outcome, achieved!
    p.s. your parents are great wedding planners!! they give the professionals a run for their $$!

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  13. love your (mum's) kwa and your cheongsam!
    betta work hard to give her a team of grandkids eh! ;p

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  14. so sweet.
    i so want a wedding(s) like yours.... =)

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  15. yay! congrats mrs A! on to the next part of your journey!

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  16. babe, his name is Joe (Hp:82556939) and his website,
    ButtonPinBadges.Multiply.Com
    here are the prices he quoted me for 2.25 inch:
    101-500 = $1.00 per piece( add $0.40 per piece for real life photo prints)
    These are the price for 1inch:
    101-500 = $0.45 per piece
    good luck!! xx

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  17. hahaha!!! thanks love!
    i could do it ALL again! it was so much fun! :)

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  18. thanks thanks!! :) glad i got both to keep! can't imagine what i'll wear either to in future cos its a little tooo much! :)
    hmm.. we're not actually working on that yet. but will see!!!!

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  19. Congrats babe! I love all your outfits and the lil' details which made the whole occasion so special.
    What're escort buttons for?? They look so cute in your picture!

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  20. No handbouquet for your Singapore do?
    Daniel's xi boutonniere is SO CUTE! So is everyone's little red flower boutonniere!!

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  21. no handbouquet!! :) i wanted to practise my queen's wave at people (and i did!!) haha...
    thanks thank. i make the little red felt boutonnieres and mum bought dan's for him! :) joint effort! :)

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  22. thank you!!!! have fun with your new chapter!! ;)

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  23. you're welcome!! :) show me pictures if you get them printed!! :)

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  24. i love both your kwa and evening gown, and the entire wedding looked beautiful, down to the pictures taken. I'm sure Raffles Hotel did a great job, as well as your wedding planners!
    by the way, your brother, teng, looks hot! ;p
    p.s just a passerby!

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  25. thanks!! :) the pictures were taken by picscanfly. yixin, our photographer, is brilliant! :) we got lucky!
    and yes, little baby brother got all the looks! :) he is also single so if you want me to put in a good word! *wink*
    thanks for reading!! xx

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