engagement plans

last year, after Shark came over to my place for a Hari Raya Haji open house, my dad sat me down. you see, my dad Rarely sits me down. come to think of it, i can't recall the last time he was that serious. so, he asked me what is this relationship that I am having with Shark. i said that we were going out on dates. he asked if we were serious and that if we were, we have to get engaged.

fast forward a year later, i am at the last lap of my engagement preparations. this ceremony will be held on the 14th of December. ever since after Hari Raya in August, both of us have been slowly but steadily getting the things we need for this big (enough) day. we picked my ring, he bought me an outfit and both of us got each other items for our dulangs. our dulangs will be done by Love Createz. i am really excited on how the dulangs will turn out to be. for those of you who don't know, our favourite colour is Blue. since my outfit will be cream and gold, the dulangs from him to me, will be blue and gold. while the ones from me to him, will be silver and blue. below are the images i showed to Armelia of Love Createz to take inspiration from! 

i now cannot recall how i came across Michelle of Blu Bouquet Creatives. i was probably googling for wedding bouquets and miraculously stumbled upon her beautiful bouquets. her flowers are made of paper! yes, you read it right, paper! when i went to Sculpture Square to have a look and feel of the bouquets, i was sold. her hand made, paper bouquets are gorgeous and totally unique. i can have it as a keepsake, FOREVER! working with her, exchanging emails talking about how i want my navy blue bouquet to turn out to be, was pleasant. i know that the bouquet will be more than pretty. 

since we are still talking about the colour blue, you will have to know that the centre stone of my engagement ring is a.... yes, a sapphire. after months of arduous search in jewellery shops both literally and online, Shark and i set our eyes on a beautiful tear drop shaped one. initially, i wanted a simple emerald cut sapphire. during our appointment at the House of Hung, with Rajiv the 'sapphire expert', he said that he will Not recommend such a cut for a sapphire. it will not be as sparkly as an oval cut and it is prone to cracks. it took some time for both men to convince me that i should not have an emerald cut. Rajiv walked around the store to bring us more design samples and then i fell in love with this particular pear shaped one (note that tear drop and pear shaped can be used interchangeably). tried it on, and it looked pretty on my finger. Shark did mention to me earlier that day he liked a pear shaped cut but i brushed him off. LOL. that was it! in another post, i shall tell you how i was presented with my ring!! 

 for make up and hair, i did not want to spend too much money on hiring a professional MUA. i thought of getting my cousins or my sister's friend to do my make up and hair. in the end, Shark's mum suggested that we ask Shark's cousin who is the busy owner of a local cosmetic line and also a make up instructor! =)) she was in the midst of planning her business trip and just nice my engagement will be just after she is back from Europe! 

since i am being the scrooge that i am (HAHAH, come on, i still need to save money for the wedding, honeymoon, renovations, babies, LASIK, babies' studies.. you get the drift), i initially wanted my sister to be in charge of taking photographs. my mum then said that she would want my sister's to help her out in the kitchen and suggested that i hire someone else. i asked around for quotations and a photography package for an engagement ceremony is just way out of budget. my dear mother then suggested one of my best friends to be my photographer. she knows that Aloysius is some sort of the unofficial official photographer at work. i asked him nicely, and thank God he agreed! this will be his first engagement gig ever! since the past week, he has been doing his homework. i sent him a link of an engagement photo album i got from FB and he took it from there. he has been looking at other albums and even googled on the procedure of the engagement ceremony. i'm so proud of him! we have already discussed about what are the different parts i will definitely need him to capture and how he can maneuver himself around the house when it will be jam packed with guests. i bet you he is going to do a great job. 

my parents are in charge of catering and the guest list. it has been weeks of discussions, ideas and of course arguments. what i initially thought was an intimate ceremony is now quite a large scale, spilling over to the void deck! yes! i've gotten over that shock actually and agreed to the chairs, tables and the buffet line. 

i now realise, as much as i want to think that this is about me and Shark, this IS about our parents, families and friends. we are after all, Malays. i foresee that on that day, it will be very humid and sticky but everyone will be happy. there'll be smiles and laughter, loud and boisterous voices amongst the male relatives and the high pitched exchanges between my aunts and cousins.