How It All Began...

A love story since 1996,
calm dragon meets the fiery horse.
A match made in heaven,
or a potential case of remorse?

In the class of DF9603,
back of the room, there he was.
While she sits close to the board,
blocking his view, making him cross.

Amazingly that created sparks,
almost like a catalyst formed by ASCII.
Little emails she started to receive,
of cute toons as well as of Mickey.

11 years have since flown by
since the very first kiss at Cerakah.
From start, her hand he holds firmly
her heart remained with him even from far.

Though her love he now conquers,
never once, he lessens his affection.
She may be skinny, or bloat like a balloon,
"You're beautiful", he says with devotion.

Racing Against Time

TW and I have decided not to proceed with Cyberview Lodge in the end. Connie had not been too helpful on helping us achieve our requests and on top of that, her response time was also not up to our expectations.

To make things worse, several hotels which were available before plus some new ones already have been taken up e.g. Prince, JW Marriot, Westin, Concorde, Putrajaya Marriot. We have the following under considerations now:

1. Renaissance (yet to visit their ballroom)
2. Ritz Carlton (service is good, however ballroom is not pillarless)
3. Berjaya Times Square (yet to visit their ballroom)

Whatever it is, we have to decide quick! Allez... vite!

Little Known Facts About...

The Groom

1. Born in the Year of Dragon to the family of Mr. Wong Ming
2. Second youngest in the family, has an evil twin (he is one himself)
3. Used to be stick-thin but has joined the ranks of Doraemon
4. Cravings for McDonalds and rice (this probably explains no. 3)
5. Recently addicted to the game of gin rummy
6. Watches/Clocks Shopaholic
7. Has a temper of the Buddha

The Bride

1. Born in the Year of Horse to the family of Dr. Leong
2. Eldest in the family, has 2 younger evil twin sisters
3. Used to be stick-thin but can now apply as a Michelin model
4. Cravings for hot & spicy, salty & sour food (does not explain no. 3)
5. Addicted to sleeping (Warning: not to be disturbed during Zzz time)
6. Books Shopaholic
7. Known to family members as a live volcano (can erupt anytime)

Wedding Day Photography

I was torn between using an external photographer or my family member to capture the events of this special day. My brother Mike is keen on photography and is more than willing to help me take photos on that day. However, I did not want to overload him on the job and then miss out in participating with the rest of the family members.

I decided to look for an external photographer, and Mike could help out as a backup. Glenn recommended Grant Corban, but he was really pricey, which means that he is out. I kinda like his collection of albums though; it was compiled into either a magazine or a hardcover coffee table book. Then I saw that Louis Pang had the same thing, unfortunately he was based in Sabah, which means that I'll have to also cover his travel and accommodation charges. Jenny recommended Covershots, while Sandra recommended Michael Sin & Kevin Han.

Personally I like Kevin's good control of lighting in his work. Will arrange to meet up with him to discuss further.

Pre-Wedding Photography

My first bridal house-hopping was done with Hong Teng, Sean San and Carmen several weeks back. Within one afternoon, we went to 4 different bridal houses at Jln Ipoh:

1. France Taipei
2. San Diego
3. Superstar
4. GTC

GTC was super-expensive, but when being questioned about what made them worthy of the price they are charging, the consultant couldn't provide us with a really concrete answer. All she mentioned was that they have better photographers (for me it wasn't really that outstanding based on the sample albums that she showed us). No doubt, their special PVC sheets used for the album was thinner than the others that we have seen, possibly longer lasting as well, but I definitely would not pay a fortune for something that may end up under the bed later.

San Diego on the other hand, had some of the most economical packages, with lots of freebies thrown in. Surprisingly the place was not too big, and it was crowded with people when we were there. It gave me the impression of a pasar malam, and I was not too comfortable with that. We found out later that they had an advertisement recently in the China Press, and that was the reason why so many couples flocked in to take advantage of their new offer.

France Taipei was generally quite alright with their pricing and choice of gowns. I was also quite comfortable talking to the consultant, and the reception area was really wide and not crowded at all (probably because we were the first to visit them that morning). However, I did not quite like the quality of their photos printed in the album. Some of them were quite grainy, while some of the touch-ups were not up to my standard requirements. The photography style was also not really to my taste.

Superstar was competitive too in their packages, I do quite like some of the sample albums that were shown to us. They were relatively new, therefore also quite readily to throw in additional albums and framed photos for me at no additional charges to the package that was presented to us. However, the consultant became rather pushy and insisted that I put in a deposit to secure this promotion when I told her that I wanted to go home and discuss with my hubby-to-be before paying for anything. She added that we can have our deposit back if TW didn't like them. Then what's the point of paying a deposit???

Anyway, that was just a research day, to gather some info as a guideline. Will be visiting more bridal fairs where better promotion packages can be found.

Location Search

Last Sunday, I went to Cyberview Lodge with TW to speak to Connie and to see their facilities for holding a wedding reception. I have been procrastinating over choosing a place to hold the reception. TW had sent out many inquiries, and based on our budget, I have shortlisted 3 hotels:
1. Berjaya Times Square Hotel & Convention Center, KL
2. Renaissance Hotel, KL
3. Cyberview Lodge Resort & Spa, Cyberjaya

Of course, there were others, but most of them require a minimum pax to use their ballroom, or a fix rental charge would apply. For example, Hilton KL requires 700 pax for their grand ballroom, and JW Marriot 550 pax. We definitely do not have such a grand entourage to fill this requirement.

My priority was of course Cyberview, but I had my doubts as it is really far from the town center. I was also worried that our guests would have problem looking for the place. But I fell in love with it the moment I stepped into their garden. After the trip to Cyberjaya, I was no longer interested in visiting the others (especially when the other 2 choices remind me of impossible KL traffic jams). During the meeting, we have made some requests for amendments in their quotation e.g. waiver of corkage charges, better room rates for our guests, etc. Hopefully I'd be able to finalize this by next week!

Choosing The Big Day

After countless attempts to choose the most convenient date for both of us, taking consideration of the following as well:

1) Not falling in the month of "Ghost Festival" of the Chinese Calendar (future mom-in-law's request)
2) Not falling in the month of Ramadhan (my own request)
3) Not falling in the month of exams (twin sisters' request)

We have finally decided on the date for the wedding reception: 20th OCT 2007.

The Beginning of a New Story

I thought that it would be nice to keep a this blog separated from my main one, considering that there will be quite a list of items to be included later. Originally thought of using WeddingChannel to host the wedding website; kinda liked their guestlist feature but there were some other limitations. Seriously, my mom would not have approved the colour scheme for this page, neither would his mom. I can picture my mom saying, "Black is meant for funerals.....NOT weddings...." :P

I have been quite a lazy blogger, especially recently, but I am getting my 2 weeks off soon. Hooray! More time to get my stuff organized. ;) Hopefully more stuff will be updated soon *grin* (with the help of my darling of course...he he he)