Wedding updates: Part 2.

 For Part 1 of wedding updates, read here.

Just received some drafts of our invitation cards yesterday, which made me quite giddy with excitement, haha! Since I am in the mood, I will blog about some wedding updates now. :D

Starting with... one of the most most most important thing of the wedding ceremony...

1. The actual registration of marriage

 We have been delaying this 'cause the boy is really busy with work, and couldn't find time off work to go to the National Registration Department to submit our application.

Our plan is to invite the officiant to our wedding ceremony. But our application is a little tricky as we stay in different states (actually KL and Selangor only wtf)-- which means we have to submit our applications TWICE to the respective state offices. After talking to some married friends, they all recommended for me to change my IC address to be the same as the boy's, in order to only apply ONCE to one office.

So a couple of weeks ago, I obediently went to get my IC address changed. And I didn't get to find time to collect my new IC till suddenly the boy announced that he was able to take one day off to get our ROM application done. So the plan was for me to head to NRD early in the morning to collect my new IC, and then we will go to apply for our ROM together.

When I went to NRD, I was told that I didn't provide a photo, therefor my IC request was considered null! WTFFF!! The staff who served me didn't tell me that I need to give a photo also!!! He just took RM10 from me and asked me to come back the next day to collect my new IC. Without even looking at me, I might add. Then when I pointed him out to confront him, he said that I should have known, and "Itulah dia". WTFFF MY BLOOD BOIL UNTIL....

Anyway, I was really really pissy and quite panicky too as the boy has purposely took leave for this! And without my IC address changed, it meant we couldn't get anything done... Means one day leave wasted, plus the boy would STILL have to take another day leave later on....

Thank god the man is damn calm. He suggested for us to head to Putrajaya (NRD's HQ), banking on the fact that the HQ will be able to accept applications from different states.

AND HE WAS RIGHT!!

We managed to submit our application, woohoo! One major to-do ticked off my wedding list man. Next step (after our application is approved) is to apply for the officiant to be present at our ceremony-- which is another unknown again, haih.


What I wore to NRD. Very proper right, haha.

Hibiscus print skater dress with exposed backzipper: AZORIAS
Cameo brass necklace: Topshop
Cutaway pumps: Zara
Bag: Louis Vuitton

2. Wedding invites

This was a big headache for me initially. 'Cause no way are you going to get me to send out those 'red bomb' wedding invites that look like giant ang paos wtf. Also, these invites are not appropriate for us as the boy is in mourning. I wanted something personalized, something that's fun, and very much cohesive with our wedding theme....

Which is why I am the LUCKIEST girl ever to have one of my really close high school friends to illustrate our wedding card!! Zahra is a professional illustrator in Melbourne, and she has done work for Deloitte, Target, the Melbourne Art Tram project, to name a few. AND her animation work has been featured on Fox TV! She is so freaking talented, and now she is drawing for little old me. T____T As our wedding gift. T______T

You can check out her work here. And I will share the card's design on my blog when it's done! :D

3. Wedding cake

One requirement-- YUMMY.

I was so disappointed at one of the weddings that I attended recently, to discover that the cake was made of STYROFOAM!! It was a super duper fancy cake (like 6 layers high and 3 feet tall wtf), but it's all FAKE. I even went on stage (after the wedding la wtf) to confirm this. T__T

No fake cakes at our wedding! Very happy to find one of my favorite bakers in town to be doing our cake. :D

Hehe, that's all for wedding updates today! Overall, I am quite happy with my wedding planning progress. :) Wedding blogs and Pinterest are my best friends in wedding planning, but it is really important to follow local sites to get a feel of the local vendors that best fit you. In my wedding research, I find that Wedding.com.my is really helpful! Based on its intuitive Pinterest-like layout, I am able to pin vendors that I am eying, and compare them easily.


A screenshot of my Inspiration Board on Wedding.com.my.

Also, as you guys already know, we are not doing our pre-wedding shoot this year. BUT BUT BUT, it's awfully tempting to, especially with this awesome contest on Wedding.com.my!



All you have to do is to follow the pose and submit a selfie. Which comes quite naturally to me, I might add, haha. But the boy is super not public, so I am not sure how will he feel if I join this contest.. T___T

Now if you may, I have some persuading to do....

PS: Will blog about my wedding dress soon! And my wedding shoes! The most exciting parts of a wedding, haha.

Seoul family trip 2014: Day 1.

You can read about Day 3 here.

Am going to blog about our Seoul trip again! This time properly start from Day 1 hehe.

I am a really light sleeper, so usually I will take half a sleeping pill (very light dosage) if I am taking a night flight and have to be on the go the next day. This way at least I am well-rested and am ready for the start of my trip. We took a night flight, and I stupidly forgot to take a sleeping pill from my dad (who sat quite far from me)!! So I ended up being REALLY awake for most of the night, and I think I only slept about an hour max during the whole 7 hour journey. T_T

By the way, since we are on the subject of flights, I need to complain about MAS service!!When the air stewardess served me breakfast, I accidentally dropped my fork, so I politely asked her whether I can have another one. She glared at me, and raised her voice: "Why are you so careless?".

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

I was really sleepy, so I could only gape at her with no comeback (normally I will give her a piece of my mind wtf). She saw me with my jaw agape, and realized that she has gone too far, so she quickly shoved a fork into my hands and walked away.

Seriously WTF man! Another time while taking another MAS night flight, it was still really early and most passengers were sleeping, but it was time to serve breakfast. This air stewardess (fat and old btw) walked down the aisle and dragged her hand down the side of the seats roughly, while screaming "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! TIME TO EAT BREAKFAST!" and everyone woke up with a jolt. -___-

Anyway, on to happier things. We reached our hotel, but we weren't allowed to check in first, sniff. So we went to get ready at the lobby restroom. And when I say I get ready, I really mean washing up and changing plus putting on make-up and doing up our hair, hehehe.


I was really impressed with myself 'cause I looked so good despite only having 1 hour of sleep the night before! :O


This time with Teeny. All these photos are unedited!!! But still I look better than the times when I have 8 hours of sleep. -_-


Another one. Either there's something in Seoul's air that make people extra pretty, or I need to sleep less to achieve good looks wtf.

Since our hotel is really near to Myeongdong, we decided to head there! That way, it is easier to go back to the hotel in the afternoon to properly check in (and get a much-needed nap T_T).


Bought strawberries from a random stall and sneaked it into the cafe where we were having breakfast.

The strawberries are so HUGE and RED and JUICE and SWEET! I buy Korean strawberries back home, but in no way they can compare to the ones here. :O


Spot Teeny! She went to start scouting for beauty products while we settled down at the cafe.


Cereal latte and waffle- Holly's Cafe
Strawberry- stylist's own, haha.

To show you the process of our family photos...

Pre-shoot:

Scrambling for props... Except for my brother who was forced to camwhore with us haha.

Say cheese:

All act cute wtf. Please look at my brother's very insincere smile and pose LOL.

Post-shoot:

Everyone goes back to doing their own thing WTF. This family damn cold hahaha.


Outfit of the day! The weather was really nice, so although I actually brought out a blazer, there was no need for it at all.


Lunch was Myeong Dong mandoo, which is like Korean gyoza. It's really popular with locals and tourists alike, and it's even featured in Lonely Planet! It is quite similar to Chinese food, which suits my mom wtf.


With mummy! She is very proud of her dressing so she asked to take a photo of her. Usually when she travels, she will be dressed more for comfort, but this time she claims to have turned over a new leaf, haha. But I highly approve of her dressing this time around! :D


Dinner was Dak Galbi.Which is like grilled chicken?


Chefs in the making wtf.


This is how it looks like when cooked...


And you can choose to add cheese and rice into it!


Then it becomes cheese-baked rice. Yummy!


No more photos after that 'cause we were too busy shopping at Dongdaemun, haha.

Outfit details:

The blazer that I had on initially. But it got so warm later that I regretted bringing it out wtf.


Close-up shot of my lace pants! Really good buy from Zara in Hong Kong. :D



Balloon sleeved blouse: AZORIAS
Green crochet lace pants: Zara
Perspex statement necklace: Korea
Black suede balled pumps: Topshop
Bag: Celine

Wedding Talk: My engagement ring.

Almost exactly a year ago, the boy proposed to me! I haven't blogged about the proposal yet (*bad blogger*); however, today, I am going to talk about my engagement ring.

Save for this photo that I shared on my Instagram, I have never posted a photo of my ring before:


Everyone commented on how big the rock is, haha. It's not true! We took the photo with a flash, hence the halo of diamonds made it look super unrealistically big haha.

Anyway, here is a photo of the ring:



Well, the thing is, while the ring is really beautiful, I didn't feel that it was ME. When planning the proposal, the boy consulted help from Teeny.... who for some reason didn't try to sneakily find out what sort of ring designs I like. T__T

Instead, she gave him some random Tiffany & Co. design that I showed her more than 10 years ago. T___T To make matters worse, she took one of my rings for the boy as measurements' sake for the engagement ring, and I don't know which ring she took-- 'cause the ring is 4 sizes too big for me. T______T We took it back to the jeweller (who is the boy's aunt, hurray!), but it was impossible to resize it to fit me perfectly as it was too big and has diamonds down both sides of the ring. The boy's aunt could only reassure me that when I get pregnant, my fingers will swell and then I can fit into the ring WTF.

My ring was kept in a safe since. It does make me feel sad sometimes, when I see other girlfriends flaunting their engagement ring, whereas mine did not even fit properly. Not to mention, I felt immense guilt inside for not LOVING my ring.

The boy did tell me on the night of his proposal to feel free to change the design of the ring. But I steadfastly told him no. 'Cause I would feel really bad for doing so, I think! It's kind of like cheating on the original ring wtf.

Anyway, it wasn't till a dinner with Kit Mey end of last year in Singapore that I revisited the idea of changing my ring's design. Kit Mey also did a mild modification to her engagement ring (by adding some diamonds to the band), and she reassured (practically forced, haha) me that it's completely okay to redesign my ring, that I should LOVE my ring and be proud of it, and that I am the one who has to face it for my whole life.

And y'know what? SHE IS RIGHT!

I went back to the boy that night, and asked him whether it's okay that I redesign the engagement ring, and he said okay. And thus my ring research started. I will have to emphasize here that I had NO idea what sort of rings I like. So in a way, I can't blame Teeny or the boy for not knowing my ring tastes at all. In fact, even Jing, who probably has the most similar style preferences to me, admitted that she wouldn't know what sort of ring I like as well! Which is why although Carrie Bradshaw said in Sex and the City before: "Wrong ring, Wrong guy", I wasn't affected la hahaha.

Anyway, during my research, I realized that I don't have a penchant for platinum rings (which is what my ring is made of). Instead, I kept on gravitating towards... ROSE GOLD. Now this is a BIG problem. It would be much simpler if I were to recast my ring i.e. melt the platinum and make a new design. But changing to rose gold is a whole new level of complexity (and cost)! Not to mention, rose gold is so uncommon. What if I regret it in 5 years? 10 years? I was so scared and almost chickened out of the whole ring-redesigning idea.

Nonetheless, I have a ring design (in rose gold) that I like, and I showed it to the boy as I wanted his blessing for the new ring design that I would end up with. At the same time, I managed to find a photo of a platinum version of the same ring. I was quite nervous, 'cause the boy hates gold, so I told him that I am okay with a platinum version too. And he told me that the rose gold version is much nicer, and that I should just get something that I really love, that's all he wants for me. Bless him!

So I took the plunge, and sent in my ring for a complete makeover early this year. And yes, I decided to throw away all my worries about rose gold and just GOLD FOR IT (haha). Yes, rose gold is not a classic choice for brides, but I am not a classic girl anyway! I am sure some people will not agree with my choice, but at the end of the day, it is MY ring, and I know what I want best. :)

Well, very recently I got back my ring... And ladies and gentlemen, this is the FIRST time I am revealing it!



TADA! It's really simple, but so delicate and beautiful. And I don't regret getting rose gold one bit! Since young, I have always preferred gold to silver/ white metals anyway. In fact, almost all my costume jewellery are gold, so this would go with my existing accessories collection much better. :)



And that's the story of my engagement ring, hehe. Am admiring it as I type this post LOL.

Speaking of engagement rings, I will be updating about my wedding-planning real soon! Am thinking of popping by at KLCC this weekend as they are having a wedding expo from Fri-Sun (25-27 April), and will definitely make a pitstop at Wedding.com.my's booth to redeem a gift. :D

Repetto Malaysia store launch.

Went to Repetto's launch in Pavilion KL sometime back!



If you don't already know, Repetto is a French ballet shoes company that was created back in 1947. This iconic company has transformed ballet shoes into something so fashionable and covetable, and has had collaborations with Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Commes des Garcons, and even Karl Lagerfeld!

I have always been fascinated with ballet (wanted to learn ballet since I was a young kid, but my dad never allowed me to T_T), so needless to say, I was always intrigued with Repetto shoes. I first came across Repetto shoes in Korea (Repetto is HUGE in Japan and Korea), and subsequently in Paris-- in Galleries Lafayette. I regret not actually visiting the Paris flagship store at 22 Rue de la Paix (first ever Repetto store!) though, 'cause another reason that Repetto caught my eyes a few years back was 'cause of this:



Such a beautiful (interactive) window display! Especially for a ballerina-fanatic like me hehe.

I was really excited to see how the Repetto store in Malaysia will be like, and I wasn't disappointed!


First sight that caught my eyes-- Repetto ballerina shoes in all sorts of delectable rainbow colors OMG.


With Audrey! We were in awe with the beautiful interior of the store-- high ceilings, chandeliers, tutus... And a whole wall of ballet pointe shoes behind us!

Floral print silk tee: Zara
Velvet embossed polka dot midi skirt: Korea
Perspex statement necklace: Korea
Black cutaway heels: Zara
Bag: Dior


Repetto also has an adorable collection of bags and ready-to-wear.


Both Audrey and I were eying this electric blue patent ballerina pumps with a slight heel! So comfy yet striking.


In the end, I was deciding between these electric blue ones and hot pink ones with a lower heel. I like the higher heel but I think I prefer the pink color! Ahh tough decisions...

Which ones will you pick if you were me?

And if you want to admire Repetto ballerina shoes upclose, their store is at: 3.43, Level 3, Pavilion KL. But don't say I didn't warn you-- you won't want to leave!

Wedding Talk: Save the Date.

Over the weekend, we had a mini photoshoot! By 'we', I meant Rocky, the boy and I, hehe.

It's for our Save the Date (which is actually just a simple FB event, har har). We weren't planning to do a Save the Date, but seeing that we have friends coming from all over (Singapore, Australia, Korea), we thought we will just do a simple one on FB! And I got the idea of including Rocky, 'cause I figured it will put a smile or two on people's faces. #crazydoglady

Since it was meant to be just a simple shoot, I asked for a favor from Teeny to be our photographer for the day! She actually has quite a good eye for photography, so she was the perfect person for the job. :) We actually meant to do this shoot a few weeks back, but somehow someone was always busy, so in the end it was pushed to this weekend. This makes me feel quite sheepish, 'cause traditionally Save the Dates are supposed to be sent 5-6 months ahead of the wedding (I just found out about this yesterday wtf). Oops. Anyway, it turned out to be the perfect timing 'cause Jing was back, and she was Teeny's assistant, haha. I.e. holding our stuff and making weird sounds to entice Rocky to look at the camera wtf.

It actually turned out to be really fun, and we took a lot more shots than I initially anticipated! Maybe can share in our wedding even, haha. .We are not taking any pre-wedding photos this year, so this is a good prelude to our wedding shoot and any pre-wedding shoot we will do next year! :P

Anyway, here are some behind-the-scene photos. All candid photos! :D


Reminds me of the 'Follow Me' photo series. :P


Finally got to wear my old Vivienne Westwood x Melissas! I do think that they make great wedding shoes (so whimsical and fun!), but they are not really my style anymore. T_T So it was fun to be able to wear them for this shoot! :)


Time out to bribe the star.


Corgi butt maketh the happy family.


Got this photo while testing lighting under this tree lol. Wearing a floral crown from Bangkok, and an old dress from Topshop.


Wheeeeee!

In the end, we chose this photo for our Save the Date.... :D



We have quite a few that we like though, so maybe we might change the photo soon? Haha.

More wedding updates coming up!

Seoul family trip 2014: Day 3.

Finally got our Seoul photos from Jing, so I can blog about it! Going to blog about our 3rd day, 'cause there are too many photos from the other days haha.

Day 3 in Seoul was off to a bad start! I wanted to bring family to eat gamja tang (pork bone stew; kinda like a Korean bak kut teh) at Apgujeong, but it was a streak of bad luck. First, we took the wrong exit from the subway station so we walked for a long time before we realized we were headed to the wrong direction. After that, we finally got the right street but we walked for what felt like an eternity before I was forced to make the conclusion that the restaurant has either moved or closed down. T__T

We were really hungry and tired (from walking wuwuwu), so we ended up at Paris Baguette, one of Korea's largest bakery chain. The pastries there are really yummy, but I felt bad for making my family (especially my parents T_T) walked so much for nothing. Not to mention, I am sure they would have preferred to eat some authentic Korean food instead of just pastries. :'(


Huge array of pastries!


Eenie meenie miney mo...


Haha both the passerby and I looked so intent on the selections with puckered lips wtf.


Colorful drinks! The purple one is sweet potato latte, and the gray-ish one is black sesame latte.


Toasting with lattes wtf.


Behind the scenes-- the drinks are actually very hot! Just look at my face haha.


With Jing, who just went back to Brisbane today. T___T


We ordered too much food! There was still another 2 plates of pastries on another table. -_-


Outfit:




Neon polka dot netted sweater: H&M kids
Leather flare skirt: AZORIAS
Pink diamante drop necklace: Korea
Suede heeled ballet pumps: Topshop
Bag: Celine


Yes, I was wearing a kids sweater! Sometimes I shop at the kids department hehehe. And I love my new necklace so much, it changes colors under sunlight!

 After lunch, we took a short walk around Apgujeong. Apgujeong is filled with cosmetic surgery centers-- in fact, they are so common that they are literally right next to Starbucks and supermarkets. And they are not hidden at all, they are huge, tall buildings that blatantly promote cosmetic surgery. A Korean friend has mentioned to me before that the waiting list for a good cosmetic surgery hospital is about 6 months. :O


My mom cheekily slap on a plaster on her nose when she walked past a cosmetic surgery hospital, hahaha.


After that, we went to Garosugil which was nearby. Garosugil is a street that is filled with boutiques and cafes-- which is basically a girl's heaven. For men, not so much, haha. But there are a lot of good looking people prancing about on this street though, in fact, a lot of aspiring talents hang out here hoping to be discovered.



I always enjoy shopping here and admire their store displays. Koreans are so good with their visual merchandising!!


Some of these boutiques are actually opened by Korean celebrities!


Saw this pack of Shihzus obediently following their owner around. When the owner stepped into a restaurant to grab something, these dogs just waited quietly outside the shop!! Why can't Rocky be like that, haih.


Randomly picked a cafe to chill at. There are tonnes to pick from! We chose one that is on the ground floor so that we can people watch, hehe.


The three musketeers!



Weirdo siblings that deserve each other.


At night, we went to Gangnam, which is one of my boyfriend's favorite places in Seoul, as he loves the abundance of city lights there. He thinks he is a moth lol.


Couldn't resist snacking on some cheese fries at the subway station although we were headed for Korean BBQ.


Freezing at night! Until legs also crossed already haha.


When in Gangnam... :D