My Wedding: 03.09.11

Very picture heavy post of my BIG DAY! 03:09:2011

Refer to Part 1 of my wedding day here.

So to continue from my previous post, we all left for Cs' house/my new home by about 830am. We were ahead of schedule actually. I estimated one hour for the tea ceremony but all it took was not more than 10 mins and we were done! Very efficient and plenty of time to spare.



Upon arrival at cs' place, someone had to let off the fireworks. That someone in this case is Jerrick, who is also the photographer.

Poor Jerrick was definitely working overtime on our wedding. Haha. He was at my house at 4am in the morning and during the dinner at night, I see him walking around with his camera, hardly eating anything. :) Thanks again ya!


Jerrick aka brother in law.

If anyone reading this likes my wedding photos you see here on my blog or on my Facebook, both on my wedding day and my pre-wedding photos, feel free to engage Jerrick for his photography services. Contact me! Or him: Jerrick Studio. Here, his contact page.

Jerrick doesn't need the advertising really. He is so busy flying here and there taking photos. So if you really want to book him, call in advance! :D



During the car ride from my place to Cs' place, Jerrick and Paul were trying to take shots of us in the car, and then they had to race ahead of us to be able to take shots of the car arriving home.

And at the same time, Jerrick had to light the fireworks with a heavy Nikon in hand.. Just writing it out seems tiring..

(Paul is the other photographer. Some of his photos are also in this post. But, I don't have any way to contact him. Ask Jerrick if you're interested! :D)

So we arrived at our home!


And walked up two flights of stairs to our room. The photo above is by Jerrick, the one below is by Paul. So hard to choose photos lah from two different albums. Hundreds of photos to shift through and pick out. I shall try my best!



Put down the luggage, take some more photos and feed each other..



I actually don't know what it was that we ate. I know that its sweet and I assume that it means/symbolizes that our marriage will be sweet too. I think.. Well actually Cs says so. If wrong, blame him. Haha.



Notice my canopy bed. I was actually quite paiseh (embarrassed) and asked cs to take it down the night before our wedding but he either was too lazy/can't be bothered to humor me anymore or he thought it looked good what, cos he didn't take it down. =.=

Next up is the tea ceremony for Cs' side of the family.



The tea ceremony was done with very fast as well. We estimated too much time in between. So, without further ado, we all left to the hotel by about 10am for the church ceremony. Or earlier, I don't really remember by now..


Happy couple!



Our names on the screen! Feels surreal somehow looking at that tv.

We decided to use the same ballroom for our church ceremony and for the dinner reception at night to save costs. This way the florist don't have to move the flowers here and there and charge us extra, and we don't have to look elsewhere for the sound system, microphone and projectors etc cos they are provided by the hotel.



Arrived at the 3rd floor corridor..The lifts/elevator (which is correct?) at the hotel were under repair that day. OMG. Horror upon horrors. There were only 2 working lifts (if I remember correctly), and people had to wait for quite some time for the lift to arrive.

We were afraid that guests would be late for the dinner, but surprisingly almost all guests arrived by about 7:15pm. Very punctual people.





Kissing under the pretty arch. I like the arch; its pretty, feminine and sweet. The florist did a good job. On this arch and flower stands, but not on the main table deco. Or maybe I didn't estimate properly. I should have asked for a bigger flower deco for the main table but oh well.

It was the last thing on my mind on the day itself. Flowers bah overrated! :) hahaha easy for me to say now that its over!



So pretty! :D



These pretty cupcakes were from Jerrick and Priscilla. Apparently they are quite pricey heh heh cos Jerrick was urging me to ask my friends to eat the cakes and to not forget to bring the cakes home afterward.



The edible bride and groom on top. The inside is chocolate cake. Yum!



Dad and I during the march in. I mentioned about the march in already actually in a previous blog post. Click here.

But because I am nice, I shall copy it out here again:

I thought I would be shy/awkward to walk arm in arm with dad. That either one of us would be shy, but surprisingly we both were actually giggling together at the door.

I had to estimate how long the march in song was (less than 2 mins), and I kept reminding dad not to walk too fast in. He laughed with me, saying that he has never walked this slow before in his whole life.

Yeah, in case you were wondering why dad and I were laughing throughout the walk in. We were talking about our steps. At some point, I was worried that we were walking too slowly and that the song might finish halfway before I arrived, so I asked dad to walk faster.

He laughed again, saying are u sure? You told me to walk slowly. By the time we reached Cs, dad was laughing and telling Cs: she keep telling me to walk slow, then fast, then slow again..

In my defense, I was nervous what. People staring! Have to remember to keep smiling. Try not to step on own dress and trip. What if the song ends before I reach Cs? How?? So I ended up making dad nervous too. Hahaa..

Winnie reading out a short speech from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I only told Winnie that she had to read something out that morning of. So she was quite unprepared. If I remember correctly, after reading, Winnie did a sort of grunt and slight nod then walked off the stage to much laughter from most of us. Heheh..



Mum looks really cute and young in her white headband and dress. Dad looks..proper; actually he looks proper in all the day time photos. At night, he just looks happy..very happy and drunk..By the end of the night, he had a trail of people shadowing him wherever he walked.

No seriously. Mostly it was Kevin and Winnie or one or two of his friends following closely behind dad while he goes from table to table.

I had people coming up to me saying: your daddy is drunk already. Don't let him drink anymore. Watch over him etc etc. LOL. It was good fun though cos dad is just very happy after alcohol. Smiling, joking, dancing, so its all good! :D

But I digressed.



Chuan How and Xiao Wei taking the blessing ceremony very seriously! :)



Cs saying I DO! Pastor Jerry looks very happy here..

Btw somewhere during the vows, Cs said ANNIE instead of AMY. Did anyone notice? I sure did! He also realized his mistake!!!

I TSKED him while he laughed and turned red. You could hear him in the video (if you listen closely)!! :((



After saying our vows and exchanging rings, the ceremony was done and over already. It was over quite quickly. About 40 mins tops. Or maybe less than that..don't really remember by now.


♥

Confetti!! This was arranged quite last minute as well. I think Winnie brought them from home, if I'm not mistaken.



Finally its time for lunch! Quite hungry by then already. Nice feeling being at the VIP table. For the whole day, I was being pampered heheh. People taking food for me, no need to wait in the queue. Ahh../contented sigh! I could get used to this. haha ! :)



Later on, we went to the 4th floor/pool side for the bouquet toss. Most of the girls were mostly too shy/paise to catch the bouquet, so their other halves represented them here:



Kheng and Ai Hui caught it! Technically Kheng did. I really think that the next wedding would be theirs, among this group of friends I mean. The more likely ones. :)



♥♥♥

***************

OK, this is from the night session. Phew such a long post. As you can probably tell, it took me a really looong time to shift through all photos to select the more flattering ones, upload all photos and write everything out.

For future brides and grooms, it is very important to remember to eat something before the dinner itself, because you most likely won't have a chance to later.

Before the dinner, Cs went to tapau KFC at about 4pm. I was still getting hair and make up done. So I had some nuggets when I went back to the hotel, and Cs had a colonel burger. My family also went to tapau KFC. According to dad, the colonel burger he had saved him from getting drunk much earlier on.

Allow me to explain. I hardly see my dad at the main table. During the first dish, the cold dish appetizers, dad was at the table, he ate a few bites, refilled his whiskey glass and from then on was busy mingling with his friends. He didn't get to eat any of the other dishes at all.

Not just my dad. Cs' dad as well. Both of them were not at the VIP table, but were walking about the whole night. No chance to eat at all, and already being asked to drink alcohol. =.= Busy men.



Guests arrival. That's my aunt standing beside my mum, if you were wondering..



I wrote some parts of this post weeks ago, when this was still fresh on my mind, and I don't want to delete them. But at the same time, I don't really know how to organize the photos with snippets of random information here and there. Haihh so be it lah. I'll try to make sense out of all of it.

This excerpt below for example was written weeks ago:

I wasn't kidding when I said that I was so nervous I forgot things. I overlooked things. Normally when I'm myself, I would have noticed that mum wore a white headband (she never does wear one out in public) for the church ceremony, and that Rita had on make up at night (she looked awesome btw!), and what type of dress or what color dresses my friends were wearing.

As it is, I didn't notice anything like that at all. Only when I looked back at photos that other people took did I realize this. Not just me. Cs too. Hmmm..obviously we were more stressed out than we thought.



Rita and Kah Yee with make up. Gorgeous! And shocking cos Rita never does dress up. So touched that she made an effort for my wedding. =)

Before the dinner, I was upstairs in the hotel room, waiting for time to pass (between panic attacks, blogging and Facebook), while Cs, his family, and my family were working overtime downstairs.



This was what I was doing in the hotel room alone upstairs. Between typing on my blog, answering Facebook comments, and panic attacks, I was taking photos of myself. Hahaha..

Actually I don't really like the make up, or maybe I'm just not used to seeing myself like this. Ahh duno lah..



Later in the night and over the next few days when we finally had a chance to talk, I found out that our group of friends were all at the registration table (instead of my family members). This was quite unarranged. Winnie was supposed to be at that table (or so I thought), and I thought that Cs' sister would be there too.



Friends at the registration tables. Thank you to all of you for all your help that day!! :D

But things really don't go according to plan. There were a million and one things to worry about by then..

Who could have foreseen that the lifts at the hotel to be all under repair, resulting in only two working lifts on the day of our wedding. Construction work was being carried out at the hotel. As such, when guests arrived on the 3rd floor, the lift was always full. So guests arrive in big groups at once. Which kept everyone busy on the 3rd floor.

I had totally no idea. I was getting quite agitated and bored alone upstairs. I could tell of course, when Cs called me, he sounded so stressed..he had no idea what he was saying. :)



Cs brought me down at about 720pm. Getting ready for the main entrance..

We had a cartoon animation video on the night itself too. From xbugs animation. We found them through Facebook. Honestly speaking, it was a risk in itself. We don't know who the sellers/makers are, we have no idea where they are from, and had no recommendations from anyone.

But we did anyway. We paid the money in advance, and gave him instructions on how exactly we wanted the video to turn out. To do this, we had to prepare a story line, prepare songs that would suit the theme, and provide photos of ourselves so they could draw a similar cartoon photo of us. It wasn't easy; credits go to Cs for this definitely. He was the one coordinating with the sellers.

They were supposed to send the DVD to us a week before our wedding. We wanted them to send it much earlier, but it was Hari Raya holidays (post delayed). It was delayed day after day. Either there is some mistake on the sellers part, or they lied to us? More likely lied lah! Fuck it!By the night before our wedding, they promised to upload it on Youtube and we could download it onto our own computer.

But of course we would be compromising on quality. Not exactly what we paid for. But we still have not received anything from him yet. By the night before, Cs was already stressed out with other things to do, what more to say this. So he enlisted Chuan How (best buddy) to help him out. To wait for that darn email. Still nothing!

It was only duing the day of our wedding, about 5pm did we receive the video.

Hello?! Right before the dinner reception! Stress much??! Damn irresponsible leh! Fucking stressed out!
Chuan How was the one who downloaded it at home, burned into DVD, and rushed it to the hotel for us. At our hotel room, we realized that they messed up the ending for us. It wasn't what we had asked for.

So, Cs and CH had to edit and insert the song at the ending by about 53o - 6pm. Phew. Kan cheong max! They finished editing the video by about 6pm (so late - guests started to arrive by 630pm!), and Cs had plenty of instructions for the MC, the band, bills to pay and so on and so forth.

All for this video below:



So please watch and enjoy our love story! :) Alot of work went into this..Cs did really direct almost everything. The script he wrote out was about 4 pages long complete with photos.

The cartoon animation video wasn't our only video that night. For some reason, we seem to have quite a lot of programs lined up for the night. Cs and I were afraid our guests would fall asleep haha! Serious.

630 - 730pm: Guests arrival. Pre wedding slideshow from Hollywood bridal and childhood photos slideshow (made by Jerrick).


Doing my job. Getting ready before our entrance!

730pm: Live band singing during bride and groom's first entrance. Song chosen - From this moment on by Shania Twain. Sang by: Mary Swyny (my friend).


Mary ♥

She's awesome btw! Anyone need her number, ask me!! I also have praises for the band and the MC. We did the right thing in choosing them.

(We chose six friends, all dressed in black, to walk in front of us holding candles, and then to line by the side, before our first walk in). Photos shall do the talking.



All dressed in black! Haha very nervous group!



Everyone damn nervous by then.. nobody smiling or looking at the cameras..

I shall forgo the timeline here now because it turned out to be quite useless. You can't predict the time.

But you can estimate what/when to do things according to when the dishes come out. This is how they coordinate. They here refers to the MC, band, videographer, and waiters.
They each get a list of our program, so they know when to do what exactly.





Btw, I have huge praises for the service staff at Riverside Majestic on that night. Particularly for Johan! That guy is wonderful! So helpful, and so polite. All the time. All smiles, and he even reminded me to collect my stuff before I left the ballroom at about 1am.

By then, I forgot everything already. He tapau-ed the leftover food for me (without me asking him to), showed me where the gifts were, and reminded me to collect the laptop (how could I forget this?!)



I asked for a bottle of water, and he gave me half a box. As in about 20 bottles inside. I asked for some flowers, he found a huge bouquet for me. Ask him anything, and he would do it willingly/come running to you (literally), with a smile on his face. Very helpful guy. I'm so thankful. :)



As I only come down when all the guests have arrived, I get the full impact at one go. (I don't know if this is a good thing or not!) As I sit down in my seat, I felt almost in awe. I was so pampered. The staff pulled out my chair for me every time I stand or sit, I get served first even at the VIP table, before Cs. Before any of the elders. Hmm..I could get used to this. :)



We walk up to stage straightaway for the lighting of the unity candle. It symbolizes the union of two individuals becoming one in commitment and love. Something like that anyway..or two families into one. Either one.

In truth, I hardly noticed what I was eating. I was staring around (with a smile pasted on my face), wondering why is no one eating yet, when I realized ohh...no one has been served yet. Its just me. =.= dummy. I get special treatment for this one day! :D For being the bride, every eye is on me. When I turn, Jerrick or the videographer is pointing the camera at me. /pressure



The ballroom

Mum looking gorgeous!

Our wedding favors. Did anyone keep this? Can someone give me? Cs and I totally forgot to keep one for ourselves. I didn't even open it! Didn't get to see/eat the sweets at all~! Grr..

We arranged to have the wedding animation video starting during the third dish. So Winnie, Cs and I went out to change when the 3rd dish arrived.

Cs and I were supposed to have our second walk in after the animation video ended, but no one informed us that the video was playing, or that it was about to end. So we were standing outside the hall waiting..waiting..and ahhh just walk in then lah. :)

We were a little late walking in btw.

Actually it doesn't matter. I don't care about little blips like that. Even if people remember that, so what? Its okay. You can't plan everything after all. I care about the guy I'm holding on to..



This time they left the light on. T____T

To scare the hell out of me. But you can't tell can you? :)

My heart was beating so fast, I didn't know where to look or at who. But I kept smiling and waving.

This time, we walked up to the stage for the cake cutting ceremony...



Oh oh..that is Johan below. Standing beside us! Johan, the very helpful guy at Riverside Majestic Hotel! I forgot to collect the vase that night. Flower vase. The florist told me to remember to return it to her. I forgot. =.= what else is new?

So, I called Riverside, and Johan told me he kept it for me!! /weeps tears of joy! Thank you Johan!


Time to pop open the champagne.

Poor baby..I recognize his expression as "very nervous". He took quite a while to pop the champagne.





And when it finally opened, there was no pop. None at all. Instead, it was very anti-climatic. The cork fell to the ground with no sound at all. Cheap champagne no doubt! Hahah no lah. I have no idea. They were complimentary from the hotel. =)



This is our MC for the night. William Tong. He's really good. English and Mandarin no prob, and he sings too! :D

After that, the MC invited both sets of parents up on stage. Actually, we planned for both sides of the family to come up onstage, but it seems like we forgot to mention this to the MC or the hotel staff. Oh well. Its okay. If anything, I think my brother and sister prefer it this way..





Yamm seeengggg!!

After the toasts, I start drinking (slowly). Up on stage, I asked my mum how much had my dad had to drink already? Hahaa its obvious he had quite a lot already. Poor daddy - his friends kept refilling his glasses, and insisting he join them in for drinks.



He is drinking Macallan - the red bottle 12 years one. Dad bought three boxes of whiskey for the night itself. Heh. Inherited, I tell you. I don't remember how many bottles are there in a box. 12? 24?



Dad and I are secretly exchanging glasses here. Hehehe..caught on camera! Everyone else were busy shouting YAM SENG, when dad suddenly pushed his glass into my hand and took my glass away. His friends were kept asking him to down one glass after another. Some more the whiskey was so thick, quite impossible to drink.

When dad exchanged his glass for mine, that means I was stuck with dad's glass. It was so thick, it looked like chinese tea. -___- I had to finish it.



Cs' dad is also busy entertaining friends and drinking quite a lot that night. Both dads busy working it and busy drinking. :)


Candid shot of mum and Winnie. Mum looks hot!

After the toasts, Cs and I start making rounds to certain tables. I say certain tables, because there is no way we could finish circulating each and every table. Not only do we not know everyone present, but if we spend a minute on one table, it would take us an hour at least to make the entire round.

Not to mention, we would end up drunk as skunks by the 10th table, if they had forced us. Haha.

Winnie's table! :D

The heng dai and chi mui's table, also one of the happiest table that night! Hahahha..





Second group of heng dai and chi mui's. It was really too bad that they left so early that night. T__T Should have spent more time with everyone..

For some reason, everyone wants to yam sengggg again! And every table wants to be the loudest! :) I'm not complaining. Its all good fun.



Somewhere throughout the night, we played the video montage from the morning session at my house, and from the church session (exchanging of vows). Our friends also created a video for us. It is a compilation of short clips they made..



Please finish watching!! I particularly liked the video by Alvin and Wee Lee (very funny), and the last video. How much time and effort did they take to do this man?! Awesome! Very very touched (even though technically its for Cs) /in tears T________T

Since I'm sharing, this is the pre wedding video made by Jerrick. He directed and shot all the photos below, and then created this slideshow for us. Touched too. T______T



I loved the photos taken at the beach mostly..it was more natural, more relaxed, more us.

We played the pre wedding photos by Jerrick sometime during dinner, when the band was taking a break. They need to rest too. :)



The night passed by so fast. Stopped by our friends' tables to chat, take photos, and yamm seng, and before you know it, it was time for dessert. We chose apple tart for dessert. Seemed like the right choice because we received a lot of compliments for this one. But I can't seem to find a photo for now.



The cousins..


They made us kiss..so we did!

Too soon, it was time to say goodbye to the guests. Thank you all for coming. Thank you for sharing our special day with us. :D





So now, most of the guest have left. There are about 5 or 6 tables left in the hall. I was taking photos with some other friends when all of a sudden, I hear a birthday song playing.

I knew this would happen. Rita had told me and Winnie in advance that she planned to do this and asked us if this would be all right. Of course we agreed. Its mum's birthday on Sep 4th. My wedding was on Sep 3rd.



After party starting now!!

I looked over to see my group of (very tipsy) friends consisting of Alvin, ah Ping, and ah ong (in the lead hahaha) and group running/jumping/whooping towards my mum and her friends. Like we're in the club. And not at a five star hotel. This is a rare sight.



The waiters brought out a cake lighted with candles, and we all gathered around mum to sing her a birthday song.

All of us had quite a lot to drink already at this point, so when Rita asked Cs to feed my mum the birthday cake, he did so (smiling hugely and shouting: Mama, Happy Birthday!!). HAHAHA!!

I believe that is the first time he called my mum as Mama. :)



Obviously, dad had too much to drink. Nobody asked him to do this. He just leaned over to kiss mum lingering on her cheeks for a few seconds so the video and photographers could catch it.



Train dancing with mum in the lead..



Cs drinking with his badminton buddies. By this time, Cs was just walking around with a JUG (not a glass) of beer drinking with everyone..





Cs being thrown into the air..looks fun! :D



Linny and Hieu ajak-ed Cs to drink Macallan on the rocks. As in pouring the Macallan from the ice carved swan. It seemed like a good idea then. Hehe..



For the after party, I asked Winnie to burn a CD for me, consisting of all the dance songs that we can dance to. I knew that we would all have a lot to drink by then (and I was right!), so Drop it Low by Kat de Luna was very apt then.

It was exactly what we needed! It was what brought all of us out onto the dance floor.



Err..there is no dance floor. So here we are. Right in front of the stage.



Even dad joined in. If I remember correctly, Alvin and group pulled my dad to the dance floor. Daddy had a lot to drink already, and he went along willingly. :)





Most of the people who were present went along to dance as well..



I have something to add. I always wanted to have a slow dance with the one I love. For our wedding night, I thought that cs and I could dance to a song I love. I planned for Careless whisper - George Michael (ya, I know its a sad song - I don't care), but I knew that we wouldn't in the end because we would both be too nervous. Turns out I was right.

William (the MC) did sing that song for me because I requested it before hand, but it was quite a different scenario from what I had in mind.

By the end of the night, all I thought of was drinking and dancing the night away. No thoughts left for slow, romantic songs and dances. Heh.

Quite different from how I imagined it, when I was much younger. :)



And so we are married!