 |
Preamble
Perhaps a little bit of an introduction is required...
Afterall, preparations for this wedding started long before this logbook,
indeed before this website, was created. We have been occupied planning
(and dreaming?) about making this most important event the greatest
moment of our lives. *silly grin* But seriously, we did the Singaporean
thing and started on things well in advance. To the uninitiated, we
applied for our flat in 1996, which incidentally required us
to declare that we were engaged to be married. In some ways, we are
even more kiasu than most Singaporeans. For example, we bought
the wedding rings (from Soo Kee Jewellery | Site)
in October 2000, even before I managed to give her a diamond engagement
ring (Lee Hwa Diamond Gallery | Site)!
We also booked the hotel on 20 Sept 2000, after an extensive pre-qualification
exercise conducted by us. *smirk*
Yes yes, we are known to be perfectionists
and anal-retentive (..."soooo compatible!") people and we
made the decision early on to go the DIY route. We will do almost all
the prep stuff ourselves. Why not? Afterall, we've seen and actively
assisted in more weddings of our friends and relatives than most people.
Good experience towards handling our own eh? - Tim
Friday, 12 Jan 2001
It's the early hours of 12 Jan and I'm rushing
to put up the first draft of this webpage. Shouldn't procrastinate any
longer, since it's only 10 months to go! Yi Peng booked the makeup artist
(Jacquelyn Law,"Image Artist", mobile:
9635 3568) a day or two ago. Whew! We nearly forgot, and Jac
is apparently quite popular. Yi Peng is also finalising the design of
her gowns (yes, she's designing them herself), while we agreed that
tomorrow, I'll go see about getting my suit done. Still lots of logistics
to handle of course, but we should be alright... - Tim
Saturday, 13 Jan 2001
Shopped till we dropped. Started the day at Arab
Street, one of the best places for fabrics (the other being Little India).
Yi Peng bought sufficient material for a gown she had sketched out this
morning. Maroon-coloured duchess satin and matching organza was purchased
from her favourite shop (Asher Fabrics, 119 Arab
Street, tel: 293 6892 Mr Avtar). Cost S$32, parking fine S$6.
Also found gold trimming at S$7 for 25 metres (C.Rashiwala
Bros, 97 Arab Street). We then went to People's Park in Chinatown
to get Chinese loop "buttons" (hint: The gown has Cheongsam
overtones). Last stop, Justmen's Shop at Tanglin
Shopping Centre, which came highly recommended by our friends.
Yi Peng was in shock... I took just minutes to pick the fabrics, style
and cut for a simple lounge suit and shirt... compared to the ongoing
drama surrounding the choice of fabrics and upteen design changes to
her gowns! - Tim
Saturday, 13 Jan 2001
Ongoing drama alright! We spent the last
few weeks modifying and re-modifying the designs of my gowns. We wanted
gowns that would make me look taller and slimmer! "Tall" order. All
of you who know me know I love my food. It's gonna be a task to get
me to go on a diet. So the more realistic way is to be "clever" with
the design of the gowns. We managed to finalise the design of 2 gowns
yesterday and went down to my tailor, May (May
May Bridal Boutique, 170 Upper Bukit Timah Road, #03-03, Bukit Timah
Shopping Centre, Singapore 588179. Tel: 468 6863 [Note: May has moved.
See log entry dated 25 March 2001]) last Saturday afternoon to
brief her on my designs and to have my measurements taken. I had literally
stumbled upon her shop last September when I was desperately looking
for a good tailor who could do a bride's maid gown for a reasonable
price. Since then, I've had her tailor 3 gowns for me! May promised
to give my gowns top priority and have them ready by the end of March.
Then, over the last week, I started thinking that I should have a tea
dress for the tea ceremony. I woke up this morning and decided to "go
for it". I sketched out the design for the tea dress (the one with Cheong
Sam overtones) and dragged (ok, I didn't really have to drag him, he
has been pretty co-operative, extremely helpful, really, in this whole,
I-wanna-design-my-own-gown-and-do-everything-myself wedding plan. Not
at all like the reluctant groom we read so much about in those bridal
magazines) Tim to Arab Street to look for fabrics. - Yi Peng
Saturday, 20 Jan 2001
Phew! It was a good thing I finalised the details of my 2 gowns in early
January. Last week was a hectic week and I can tell that it would continue
to be so for the next 2 months! Reason being that despite the weak market
conditions, my clients are still prepared to go ahead with their initial
public offerings. It's gonna be a lot of late nights at work again.
However, work notwithstanding, I found the time to go down to May's
today to brief her on the design of my tea dress. - Yi Peng
Saturday, 17 February 2001
Fortunately remembered that today was the day I had to go for my fitting.
Went down to Justmen's and took about 10 minutes. The shirt was soooo
comfortable! Maybe I should tailor all my shirts from now on. The suit
looked all funny, with bits hanging off and all kinds of chalk marks
and visible stitching. Patrick and the rest of them were confidently
making new chalk marks and commented that I had a "perfect figure".
HAH! Wierd thing to say about a guy right? The other thing they mentioned
was that all their wedding groom customers had, as their first-born,
a boy... How's THAT for a recommendation for anyone looking for a wedding
suit? - Tim
Saturday, 24 February 2001
It's been a terribly hectic month. A lot of late nights at the office
or at the printer's finalising a client's prospectus for its initial
public offering. I could not find the time to visit the photographer,
Ray Ong (Photo.Language, 522 East Coast Road,
Ocean Park, Blk Nasus, #02-01, Singapore 458966. Tel: 588 2790, http://www.photolanguage.net/,
email: ray@photolanguage.net)
who we wanted to do our wedding photography. Tim had to go down with
Eileen, our friend who recommended him. The night they went down, I
was at the printer's. Tim had to call me to confer with me as to whether
to "book" him for the actual wedding day photography as he was already
almost fully booked for October this year! Fortunately for us, he was
still free for 20th October. We also wanted Ray to go with us to Perth
to do our wedding portraits. We had planned to go to Perth in the first
week of April to do our photoshoot. Unfortunately, Ray already had a
prior booking to do a photoshoot in Phuket during the same time. Fortunately
for us, he agreed to do ours in the third week of April. Subsequently,
we found out that he turned down an offer to go to Paris to do another
couple's wedding photoshoot at the end of April! - Yi Peng
Tuesday, 27 February 2001
We had finally decided on the dates we were going to do the photoshoot
with Ray and Jacqueline - It'll be over the Easter holidays. On Sunday,
Tim & I sat down to sort out the accommodation for the Perth trip. Much
to our dismay, almost all the possible range of accommodation in Margaret
River was already fully booked for the Easter weekend. We discovered
that not only was it a holiday weekend, the week of our photoshoot was
also the school holidays in Perth! Not only was it difficult to find
accommodation then, it was also double the price! We spent the most
of Sunday and the better part of Monday morning calling up various places
in the Margaret River and surrounding areas. We were lucky. We managed
to book the last holiday villa available (the agent received 3 calls
about the house the same day I confirmed my booking!) and it is in Augusta,
about a half-hour's drive from Margaret River. After the "scare", we
decided to pre-book our accommodation for the whole trip (which was
a good thing 'cos we discovered that even the accommodation in Perth
and Fremantle were getting to be quite fully booked for that period).
- Yi Peng
Saturday, 3 March 2001
Popped down to pick up my suit. Great fit and very comfortable. Had
that "new economy" look to it. *grin* - Tim
Saturday, 3 March 2001
Today's the day I was trying on my gowns for the first time. I was really
excited. But, of all days, I had to go into work in the morning. May
had 2 of the gowns ready - my white gown and my evening gown. We were
really pleased with the evening gown. However, we didn't like the back
of my white gown. May had followed my design to the T. Due to a flaw
in my design, my back looked broad and fat. After discussion, we decided
it wouldn't look so bad after the lace had been sewn on. - Yi
Peng
Sunday, 4 March 2001
We went shopping today. Tim wanted to look for ties and cuff-links to
go with his suit. We went to Robinson's at Centrepoint. I was still
mulling over the fact that my white gown did not turn out as well as
I had expected. After Tim had selected and paid for his tie and cuff-links,
I decided to go down to May's to see if she could redo the whole back
of my white gown for me. Fortunately, I had bought plenty of material
and she was able to redo the back of my gown. Phew! - Yi Peng
Saturday, 10 March 2001
Another fitting session today. May had redone the back of my white gown.
This time, Tim & I were both happy with it. She had also altered my
evening gown and I tried it on again. It still needed a wee bit more
of alteration. I also tried on the tea dress though it was not quite
complete. We were pleased with the results. For the white gown, the
next step was to sew on the blue lace I had bought. May told us that
she was not sure whether the lace I had bought would be enough. Also,
she suggested I look for a different type of lace that was easier to
sew onto the gown. I told her I would try but that if I couldn't find
a suitable replacement, we would have to use what I had bought. I was
quite sure it would be more than enough. - Yi Peng
Monday, 12 March 2001
I took the afternoon off work and went down to Arab Street to look for
my lace. I was unsuccessful. However, I did manage to find what I thought
would be the right colour of organza to be made into a wrap for my evening
gown. It was a hot day and it was no fun tramping about in the heat
in a suit. I was relieved when Tim called to say he was able to pick
me up! I then called May and told her that we had to make do with the
lace I had bought earlier. We decided that May would have the lace pinned
in place by the next fitting to see if we were happy with the arrangement.
- Yi Peng
Saturday, 17 March 2001
You can tell by now that we've been going for a fitting session every
Saturday. We spent quite some time today at May's fiddling with the
lace, trying to decide how to place them and how much of the lace to
use. Today, the evening gown was completed and I was able to bring it
home with me. However, May didn't think that the organza I bought was
the right colour. Sigh…looks like I have to go down to Arab Street yet
again! - Yi Peng
Saturday, 24 March 2001
Had to call Jacqueline today to postpone my trial make-up session next
week. I have to lodge a prospectus on the Saturday morning I had originally
scheduled for my trial make-up session. Fortunately, she was free in
the afternoon. I would have had great difficulty trying to arrange for
any other day and it's getting close to our photoshoot. Tim had spent
the last 2 weeks in reservist and he is finally out today. We went down
to Arab Street after I had finished work to look for a suitable colour
of organza for my wrap. We went straight to Asher Fabrics where Mr Avtar
recommended a colour that Tim thought was suitable. I was doubtful and
so we went to all the other shops to look around. In the end, we returned
to Asher Fabrics. I showed Mr Asher the organza I had previously bought
and he actually said that he thought it was more suitable than the colour
he recommended! However, I bought the organza from him anyway, since
Tim seemed to like it (I've always thought he has a better colour sense
than I have!). We then went down to May's. The white gown was completed.
Tim & I both love it. She still had some more work to do on the tea
dress and we arranged to collect it tomorrow. As for the organza, May
like the one we bought today. I was still not convinced and decided
to put it to the vote of my family and friends. I modelled my gowns
twice today, after bringing them home! Once for my mum and sis who preferred
the organza we bought today. That night, our good friends, Eileen and
Jin Chiew came over and I modelled my gowns once again. They shared
my view that the colour of the organza I had bought earlier was more
suitable. Finally! - Yi Peng
Sunday, 25 March 2001
Jeannie and Kah Leng came to my place today. We had planned a "fashion
parade" after which we would have tea at Ragtime Café. They too preferred
the colour of the organza I had bought earlier. That settled it for
me! Late this evening, Tim and I went down to May's to pick up my tea
dress. May informed us that she would be moving out of her shop and
would temporarily be working from home as she was yet to find a suitable
shop space (Current contact number: 762 7276).
So, for all of you out there who are interested, get her new contact
numbers from me! - Yi Peng
Wednesday, 11 April 2001
We fly off today for Perth. We will recce for
locations for our photoshoot throughout the Southwest Corner of Western
Australia, which is the area around Margaret River. Then, Ray and Jac
will fly to Perth this Easter Sunday 15th April and our shoot will be
on the 16th and 17th.-
Tim
Tim, Yi Peng, Jac and Ray
|
|
Friday, 20 April 2001
Returned from Perth. Spent the last 3 days of
our trip shopping, shopping and then shopped some more. Ray and Jac
are such fun people to have a trip with, and it was overall, a very
good holiday. Fortunately, we had requested for additional baggage allowance
in advance and got onboard with a total of 65kg of luggage between the
2 of us (we went to Perth with 31kg).
- Tim
Monday, 23 April 2001
Collected our photos today from our usual lab
(35mm Colour Lab, 733 Bukit Timah Road, #01-06,
2nd Ave Junction, Tel: 467 5535, http://www.fotohub.com).
We took a total of 15 rolls between us! They look great. Click
here to have a look at a selection. - Tim
Tuesday, 01 May 2001
Collected the prints from the photoshoot from Ray
yesterday. Big pile of photos and a word of warning that selecting the
final 36 from the stack that will go into the album will be a difficult
task.
Having seen the photos, and both of us being so self-concious... it might
actually be difficult to find enough photos where we don't think we look
idiotic/fat/ugly etc! Not Ray's fault, just our own paranoia. Perhaps
it might be easier for us to "vote off" the photos we don't like and see
which are the lucky 36 "Survivors"! *grin* - Tim
Friday, 11 May 2001
Went to see Ray last night, to finalise the selection
of photos that will go into our album. We had chosen the requisite 36
shots after more than a week of deliberation. We had roughly 600 photos
to chose from, and it was tough! We had, at first pass, selected 87
photos. Narrowed it to 50+ shots, and after a lot of hand-wringing,
chose the 36. We knew that there would probably be further changes as
we wanted Ray's input, and true enough, it took us a further 2 hours
at Ray's studio to finalise the selection!
In the course of discussion with Ray, we developed some ideas for the
"concept" of the album and with Ray's "eye" for such things, pointed
out a whole bunch of other photos that we had not considered before.
Many of these we actually liked, and together with the original "first
draft selection", made the choice of 36 too difficult!
Obviously we had to increase the number of pages in the album. But that
sounded like a relatively expensive proposition, looking at his regular
charges. However, Ray was kind enough to renegotiate a very good package
for us, increasing the number of pages in the album (one page = one
8x10 inch print or several smaller prints) to fifty, and putting them
into 2 albums of 25 pages each, for a very reasonable extra fee! Great!!
We finally got his new studio address (he's moving next week). The new
Photo.Language Studio, 668A Geylang Road (Near
the Junction with Lorong 42, Geylang), new Tel: 844 8575. His website
is finally up as well. - Tim
Monday, 14 May 2001
Been developing some ideas for our invitation
card (Yes, we are doing that ourselves as well!) with Yi Peng. Breakthrough
came when we went to visit our good friends Eileen and Jin Chiew the
previous weekend. As always, they were a good source of ideas and the
basic artwork concept for the card was developed after some brainstorming.
I've created a couple of draft mockup cards now, and we've hit the usual
art material shops (eg. Bras Basah Complex) to shop for suitable card
stock. Getting the right colour is difficult.... made harder by the
fact that we don't know/cannot agree on what colour to make it in the
first place!
Anyway, the design will remain a secret. *grin*. Tonight, I'll pass
a copy of the draft text and a couple examples from our archived collection
of invitation cards from weddings past, to my father and get him (and
maybe my auntie) to figure out the Mandarin text. - Tim
Wednesday, 06 Jun 2001
Having exhausted the usual haunts for art materials,
we decided to hit the paper suppliers and distributors to find the paper
we want to use for our invitation card. The paper needs to be slightly
bigger than A4, and that is what makes it so hard to find the right
kind... Basically, we need to have custom-cut paper. We had made sure
that we could find cheap off-the-shelf envelopes in the size we wanted
BEFORE deciding on the size of the invitation card. This is important:
Custom-made envelopes are VERY expensive.
Anyway, having tried a couple of small distributors, I nearly gave up
on this idea since they were neither cooperative, nor knowledgeable
at all. That was before today... We went to RJ
Paper Pte Ltd (115 Defu Lane 10, S(539228), Tel: 383-0880, http://www.rjpaper.com).
WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! Jeanette Lim from RJ Paper was absolutely fabulous.
She identified the EXACT type of paper sample we had brought along just
by looking at it, and was full of suggestions and helpful comments once
we told her what we were trying to do.
In the end, we left with a stack of specific paper samples for test
printing, a complete set of paper swatches (which comes in a classy
metal box, "for future reference"), and a sense of joy and complete
satisfaction..... All free!
Imagine that... we aren't even buying large quantities of paper, yet
we were treated as if we were. Not something very common nowadays!
- Tim
Friday, 15 Jun 2001
Just got back from Food Tasting session at the
Pan Pacific Hotel. Food was generally okay, but of course, everything
was assessed with a critical palate and appropriate comments were noted
on the provided sheet. Aside from our families, we had asked our friend
Margaret along as an independant judge as well.
The last couple of days were also spent rushing out the mockups of our
invitation card, wedding favours (The "Thank You for Coming" token gift
for all our guests) and related bits and pieces. Came up with several
minor variations of the same design and got everyone's (especially our
parents!!) opinion and comments. Some minor changes but the basic concept,
colour scheme and so on were, thankfully, approved without too many
gripes!
Since the hotel's wedding coordinator for our wedding is on leave, we
will only discuss the decor theme and other such details at a later
date... - Tim
Friday, 22 Jun 2001
Just received a letter from Pan Pacific. Disappointing
news! Eng Yan, the Senior Catering Sales Manager at the hotel with whom
we have been dealing with, informed us that she is leaving the hotel
wef 23 June! Yi Peng is rather upset, since Eng Yan has been great to
work with and has been so very accomodating to our "demands"! *grin*
But seriously, we have been very pleased with Pan Pac so far, mainly
because of her cheerful and professional manner.
I suppose it isn't any great shock to us... We both had the (unspoken)
thought that she might leave after she gave birth, and so she has...
Oh well... - Tim
Wednesday, 11 Jul 2001
100 Days to go.... Yikes!
Yet again, a good contact has been lost. Emily from Chan Brothers Travel
resigned recently, we were disappointed to learn when we tried to call
to book tickets for our honeymoon. To add to our chagrin, the other
staff members who took our calls were snippy and MUCH LESS HELPFUL.
Rats! In the end, we did book the tickets and we went down to CBT yesterday
to pay for them. Fortunately, the guy who served us was very pleasant
and accomodating. However, I think I will reconsider recommending Chan
Brothers to others so readily in future...
Incidentally, we were very fortunate that tickets to Australia are going
cheap at the moment, and we are now booked on SIA for the honeymoon.
The design of the invitation card is almost finalised, and we have started
to get various portions of the card test-printed. Should be ordering
the paper in the next few days. - Tim
Wednesday, 18 Jul 2001
Collected our photo albums from Ray today! They
are fabulous! We are very happy with them and glad that it has all been
worthwhile. We now have 2 thick albums with lots of photos in them.
Aside from about 50 large images (8R size) in all, there are numerous
smaller photos of various sizes that add that typical Photo Language
style. Not to mention capturing the flavour of Australia in those extra
photos. Ray obviously put a lot of effort into them... Thanks!!!
I'll be sending the negatives for professional scanning onto CDROM and
soon enough, we will have the photos online here. - Tim
Click photos to view
our Online Wedding Album
Wednesday, 25 Jul 2001
This is going to be a LONG
entry. Bear with us.
It's less than 3 months to go, so we finally get to make the "Notice
of Marriage" application with the Registry of Marriages (ROM). I called
ROM this afternoon to clarify some points pertaining to the procedure,
especially those regarding the new "e-Filing" service at the ROM website
(http://www.rom.gov.sg). (There ISN'T any help information regarding
the e-filing procedure on the website).
Confident that I got the necessary documents and data ready, I jumped
in and logged on earlier tonight. The e-filing starts out by saying
that you will view and fill-in 7 pages to complete the procedure....
In the end, it took MORE THAN AN HOUR of our
time to finish it! It was ridiculous. The linear form-filling
process was absolutely arcane, and reminiscent of database programming
from the 1980's! You had to fill in data one page at a time. Your choices
on page one affect all subsequent pages, and you CANNOT
correct any previously entered data. The only way is to return to the
beginning (or last page with the error) and start all over again. You
have to enter ALL the data from scratch! For example, Yi Peng
has a hanyu pinyin name "as per NRIC", and I tried to enter it
in parathesis, EXACTLY as in the NRIC in the Name field. It refused
to accept not alphabet characters, so I just put it in without the brackets
like "ONG YI PENG WANG YIPING". It is only at page 3 that you discover
that there is a specific field for your hanyu pinyin name. Why
does the first page demand your name "as per NRIC" if they only want
part of it on page 3? To correct the mistake, we had to start all over
again. In the end, we went through the first few pages about 4 or 5
times! (see below) In addition, it is only at the end of the process
that you find out that you need a credit card number OR a Cash Card
that is inserted into one of those smartcard reader gizmos connected
to your computer (how many people HAVE that?). What if you don't have
a credit card? Or are unwilling to use one online?
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AT IT'S BEST.... NOT!
In that annoying 70 minutes or so of our time, there was much cursing
and swearing at the computer screen. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED.
Because we have had similarly frustrating and data-entry-for-the-insane
experiences with another government agency (the ever flexible Housing
and Development Board, HDB), I have learned to keep detailed records
(case notes?) of each and every step, phone conversation and basically
ANY dealings with such agencies. So, as a record of our time spent registering
our NOTICE of Marriage (mind you, this isn't even the actual thing),
here is the "path" we took through the e-filing online system:
The numbers refer to the "page number"
of the e-filing procedure. Note that there are ACTUALLY 8 or 9 PAGES,
and not the 7 stated. The extra pages pertain to the payment debiting
process.
1 (cannot
enter brackets in Name field), 2, 3 (discovered hanyu pinyin
name field), 1, 2, 3 (discover that our solemniser is NOT listed
as a "Justice of Peace". Back to beginning to try "Grassroot Leader"(sic)),
1, 2, 3 (Browser crashed after attempting printing), 1, 2, 3
(Browser crashed again), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ("Operation Timed
Out", and page didn't load properly. Clicked Refresh page), 5, 6,
Payment Page, Payment data code page (which disappeared after several
seconds), 7.
Page 7 is the final page, which you should actually print out as a receipt,
but this is not explicitly stated that you MUST print out the page!
It only says something like "bring along this receipt".
It is a debatable point whether we actually saved
any time by using the e-filing system instead of going down to ROM itself
and applying in person. However, we do know it was a very annoying and
stressful thing to do! Granted it is a "new" system, but it is not very
user-friendly at all, lacks any help features and even the wording on
the site pages can be improved. If an online merchant had such an e-commerce
system, nobody would be able to buy anything!
Okay, enought ranting for tonight. - Tim
Saturday, 28 Jul 2001
Finalised the design of our Invitation Card a
moment ago.... After about a million (give or take 20 or so) tweaks
and design re-thinks. Whatzit look like? Well, those who will receive
it in a couple of months will know. Perhaps one day eventually, we will
release the design on the site. *grin*
Yi Peng also bought the envelopes today. We had originally sourced for
the envelopes from a shop near her office, but the quality was pretty
low (although it only cost 8 cents each when bought in bulk). Since
the size of the envelope is a CRITICAL parameter for designing the card,
we had settled on that envelope since custom-made envelopes cost a bomb
(we checked, and bombs nowadays cost quite a bit!).
Anyway, she went on various errands today and finally found that envelope
company at Bras Basah Complex open (they always seem to be closed?).
Hooray! They had envelopes in the size we needed (170mm x 170mm, to
fit our card which is 160mm x 160mm), AND it was of pretty decent quality,
AND it worked out to 6.5 cents each when purchased in a box of 500.
We only need about 250, but since it was "cheap and good", she bought
the whole box ($33.48). For those of you interested, here are the details:
Min Hwa Envelope Mfrs. (Pte) Ltd, #01-75 Bras Basah
Complex, Tel: 336 0416. Anchor Brand Envelopes.
What's more, it turns out they can custom-make envelopes for the relatively
budget-bomb price of $250 to $300 for a minimum order of 1000 envelopes.
- Tim
Continued....
Click to go on and read Page 2 of our LogBook
|
|
