A Mind of My Own

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I am utterly bored by Chinese wedding dinner styles but won’t have a say in mine although it is mine. Because of face. Just that one word. I don’t think there is a need to show off the wealth since I can jolly well put all that money into better use such as good renovations and a further honeymoon place to have fun.

Unfortunately, the elders won’t be that easily convinced especially when the son is the eldest in the family. ARGH! Another reason why I dislike Chinese wedding dinners is because they always start late. As in 1.5 hours after the stated time on the wedding card.

Last night was the first time I saw people arriving only at 7pm. The card stated dinner would be starting at 7pm. DD and I arrived at the place only to see his tired friends resting at the sofas just outside the Grand Ballroom of Orchid Country Club.

They had been helping the groom in the morning and were busted for the rest of the day. The dinner eventually started at around 8.30pm. For my wedding, I will not care about late comers if I am forced to hold the traditional wedding dinner style. You jolly arrive on time.

The wedding album was another thing altogether. I liked the outdoor shoots as they were taken in China. I like the forest-like shots and the stream shots. Unfortunately, Singapore doesn’t have that kind of nature except for that Bukit Timah hill stream that is too tiny. I don’t want lalang shots for sure. I don’t want fake backgrounds of forests and stream shots either.

I don’t even know when I’m getting married either.

Time to officially announce my new project, Lovely Momentos. It’s about weddings, hotels, bridal studios and love. I try to compile articles related to wedding, hotels and most important, reviews of bridal studios whenever possible.

Getting married in Singapore or anywhere is no mean feat when there is so much to plan for, guest lists, wedding gowns, dinners, hotel selection and photographers. So, I hope this would help anyone who is looking for wedding ideas.

I hope that Lovely Momentos will help in your search to keep lovely memories from your wedding.

[via Flickr]

Chinese New Year is coming. So are the frequently asked questions by the relatives who are very concerned about my marital status. Since they don’t see me every time throughout the year (that is in case they get sick from looking at me and won’t give me the ang bao so generously), they will ask me “So, when are you getting married?”

A colleague of mine would answer this way, every year, “Yesterday.” That was that. Good, I should start using from now until I get married. The next question to field is “When are you going to have a baby?” Maybe I should use the same answer, no?

As mentioned before, it’s expensive to get married in Singapore especially when most of the elders want you to hold an 8-course dinner. I want to say “SILENCE! I KEEL YOU!” Achmed style. Cool, right? Of course I can’t just tell them that. They will kill me before I have even ended the sentence.

Sometimes I wonder if life is just all about marriage, kids and work. Have we made our lives so utterly routine that the questions are always about marriage, girlfriend, boyfriend, kids, flat, money and many more? I want many things but they aren’t achievable at this stage but I will get there.

Another question they will ask you after your first child, “Second one coming?” Besides money being the problem of feeding the first one plus all the money going to the flat, I seriously wonder where the heck do the parents cough out the money for all those stuff.

What I’m hoping for is that they won’t be asking me about my mundane life and just focus on my kids about their studies and height. Or I should just go adopt one and let them ask the kid.

My question is “How come must hold an 8-course wedding dinner one?“

Attended a wedding at Furama Riverfront Hotel last night. I late but in time for the 1st march in. My first impression of the ballroom, Venus at level 3 was, cramped. I think there were more than 40 tables being squeezed into the ballroom.

The tables were just enough for 10 average sized people. Seems pretty small to me. While the greeter at the lobby was polite, I wasn’t really impressed with the toilet either. The 1st level toilet had the flush button missing. It won’t flush at all. So, I left it like that. Not my fault, right?

Come to think of it, I didn’t manage to look at the wedding album in the end. The food arrived at odd paces. It didn’t feel timely. Each course was served but the plates were never replaced immediately. The drinks were not refilled fast enough either.

The servers weren’t that polite except for a few which is rare but I don’t have high expectations of servers except they should refill the glasses in a timely manner. The decoration of the ballroom was rather simple.

Overall, I wasn’t impressed with the place. Not that I had a terrible time but I felt that the service wasn’t up to par with a hotel whose name is supposed to be synonymous with quality service since it’s a 4-star hotel. Oh, it was formerly known as Novotel Apollo Singapore. Apparently, the name change did little difference.

Now, the slide show was done in animation format which is a difference from those photo montage I’ve seen. A nice change. I like the 3 projection screens though. The lighting wasn’t too dim. I guess the saving grace were the screens.

You can say that again. Couples planning to tie the knots are having trouble trying to book their preferred hotels due to the steep and rising prices of the banquet tables. Even the red packets (ang baos) have to be bigger too. That way, the couple will not be able to cover their wedding celebrations, let alone honeymoon.

The price list for 2007 is available and I can’t imagine what it’ll be like for 2008 onwards. All these are just the tip of the iceberg, when the housing loans and renovation bills come, you’ll start to think how to get married with all these huge debts.

What bride would be without a bridal set? I’m in love with this bracelet from this bridal set by Goldheart.

[via Flickr]

And no, don’t ask me when either. I don’t know. But my friends, do take note. You can give me this set when I send you my invitation card.

It’s no longer safe to wait at the bus interchange. I was on my way home from the wedding dinner when this drunk, yet another dark skin, stared at me. I walked away from his line of stare. Not happy, he mumbled loudly and attempted to walk in front of me as close as possible, twice. I was contemplating to walk home when he tried to make his advances on me. Seriously, the police should patrol the dark places and even bus interchanges at night.

I didn’t take a taxi because there was a jam forming at Orchard Road and I doubt that they would magically appear unless upon booking. It used to be safe when I got home late at night in my area. Now? It’s no longer safe. I have to worry about drunks, perverts and lord knows what else. Oh, and disappearing taxi drivers.

My muse is playing hide and seek with me these days. Or has it been weeks? Perhaps. I haven’t been exactly blogging about quality posts. Just ranting or rambling on abut things that doesn’t concern me. Well, weddings do concern me except that I’m only the supporting role and why the heck do I even get blue when all I have to do is to delay the groom?

Perhaps I feel restricted that I may not be able to even play some games because it’s actually a pity to have a fallout with the bride when it’s just some game that shouldn’t even hurt anyone. Having known the bride for years, the morning pranks or activities is obviously simple. Ask for a huge red packet / ang bao and get it done with. No torturing the groom to go through the process of sour, sweet, bitter or spicy.

No asking the groom to sing diabetic sweet songs to serenade the bride. No asking the groom to shout from that basketball court more than 200 metres away to declare loudly “I LOVE <insert bride’s name>!” 3 times. Basically, no asking the groom to do anything because the bride has already made it so easy for him by telling us not to be too exaggerating which I don’t know how to define exaggeration in her terms.

So, this would be the most boring simple event that doesn’t tire everyone out.

Ok, this is truly a rant or some venting on my part. I just want the morning highlights to be fun for the guests who won’t be in it. I guess I’ll follow her rules. It ain’t worth losing a friendship over with anyway.

I’ve been attending a few weddings lately. Besides getting wider in my girth, I’ve also gained some information and knowledge of how weddings are being planned. It’s a huge process. From the caterers to the venue of the wedding itself. The couple is kept pretty much busy during the planning stage.

What you see at the dinner with the bride smiling brightly and dressed in her fabulous wedding gown does not truly reflect what went behind the scenes before the big day. There’s the date to be set, the food and drinks to be served, what the bridesmaid are going to do and what sort of flowers to be put up.

[via Fifty Flowers]

ES requested fresh rose petals to be used on her wedding day. The guests were to scatter the petals as the couple did their walk in. Roses are thought to be romantic and often stood for love. Hence, petals are often used during the wedding march in.

I think mine will have the touch of pink like in the photo insert instead of just pink like hers.

You never know what you’ll get in life. Even when you have planned for it. Life can be so fragile. One minute, you are there and the next, you might not be there. While I was really excited to be one of sisters for my friend’s wedding, the whole event was tiring as we had to wake up early. It was after the event was over then I started to feel a sense of lost.

It was a lost of youth and time. It felt like yesterday when we were in school teasing each other and skipping classes. Just the Chinese lessons. We would often complain about how she would tell us proudly that some elite school would do so much better. We were in a neighbourhood school, what else did she expect?

Growing and moving on in our lives have impact, both major and minor. We start dating or flying to countries for business or start our own business. We meet up in a group during a major event such as funeral or wedding or babies one month celebration. Other than that, it’s via pitiable emails and they are always forwarded.

I have never asked my friends to my place during Chinese New Year after that one time, that was eons ago when most of us could still make it. Now, I have 3 who are officially married and have to attend their partners’ family events. The rest have their own activities like traveling for free or busy with their work.

I don’t know if we’ll be able to just get together and just chat instead of catching up during major events. Sad to say, I have failed miserably for my own family gatherings.