February 26, 2015

Kita nak awak

KITA NAK / WE WANT ASPIRING or PROFESSIONAL

2-3 Make-Up Artists (MUA)
2 Photographers 

to collaborate for an outdoor photoshoot for 7 girls on 26th July (after all the lontongs and rendangs ok). This is for an upcoming fashion line that will be having her soft launch on 1st July. Send in your interest and some of your best works that will represent you to klothesbykatt@gmail.com All emails have to be in by 31/03/2015. 

Only people with humour, stubborn, lots of crazy ideas and of course, crazy by nature may apply. You don't have to be a professional/popular on social media to apply. This is a chance especially for aspiring MUAs/photographers who want to be known on social media. If you are single and think this is the best way to find a wife, can also lah! There will be free food and clothes.

Oh, you don't have to be Malay tau. You can be orang putih (Eurasian), Indian or Chinese. The more mixed you are, the crazier it will get. 

The first meeting will be somewhere in late June (22-26). Please only apply if you're comfortable with the dates as she will not accommodate to you.

Klothes by Katt
February 24, 2015

What it means to have a wedding and be married

I am not expert in marriage or weddings, but I do know something;
You will be surprised who is left standing on your big day or the days after.

It was about this time last year, we started putting our first deposit with our respective vendors. And believe it or not, planning a wedding with only less than a year to your wedding day IS possible. So BTBs who still have 1.5 years and more to go, CHILL YOUR TITS. They will be like "In my defence, all the good vendors will be taken up very quickly." IMO, tak mati ok? The saying that goes "If it meant to be yours, never in a million years it would be for someone else." TBH, I don't read a lot of BTBs' blogs because some over giler, and uols know I very menyampah about these kind of things. Sorry nyah, no time for that.

Up til now, some people (I don't want to say who but I think you know the person really well hahaha) still don't get why I am "kutuk-ing" about other people's lavish wedding. I am happy for people who can AFFORD lavish wedding. Bless these people who have that kind of money and want to spend on one day. For me, I'd rather spend it on something else that benefits me and my husband because, well you know, it is our hard earned money. I diss at those who menyusahkan orang/diri sendiri/ tunang-who-is-your-future-husband and berhutang. Spend money you don't have to save face? Alahai sayang, people will talk about it for just one day. But 10 years down the road, people won't say "Eh ingat decor kau yang 5 ribu tu, lawa sey" The thing about people is they have the audacity to judge but they don't come out a single cent yet you spend thousands of dollars to please these people? Please. See, you spend so much yet people talk about it which will cause you to sakit hati. You spend just enough, people still talk which will cause you to sakit hati. Moral of the story? Spend just enough, let people talk but you are debt-free. And wait, why the hell are you inviting these kind of people anyway? Well for us, some "family" are unavoidable.

And a tip: Never, ever tell the bride you know how she feels.
Guess what my friend? You don't. Until you have planned your very own wedding and trying very hard to keep everything together, you don't understand what the bride feels. And oh, same goes with money. Unless every single thing is paid with your own money, don't ever say you understand how it feels like to pay for your own wedding. For us, we finally understand the value of our wedding that we have saved over the year for it and we earned bragging rights, well for the rest of our lives.

Anyway here's a wrap to #Rsyhrl3115Rnny. No more entries about hantaran, BTBs, bridals, food, venue, etc. This chapter is over and I am so happy for every single thing that had happened along the way/to me/us. I am truly blessed to have a husband who is super kind and loving. Now I know what's the fuss about getting married quickly. Apart from sex, you will be surprised how amazing marriage is. So cepat cepat kahwin okay? All the best to future BTBs and those who have not found the one, keep the chin up high ok. We are made in pairs.

Goodbye Kahwin Series, you have been amazing.

Percaya pada satu hari nanti -RR
(and yes, that is MY mantra, MY saying. Don't use it and wanna be friends with me. Pls.)
February 18, 2015

Stained by an awesome certified art teacher

I have always loved the thought of being stained on my wedding day because that's the only time I can do a full blown one (kalau boleh satu badan haha) without being "perasan" haha. So malam berinai was something I was looking forward to.

Nadya was really cute okay because she gave me a mini heart attack. She what'sapp me half an hour before the supposedly time for her to come over and said, "Babe, I have bad news." In my heart I was "Shit, where can I find someone so last minute to do my inai for me." But turns out this makcik has already reached my place because she underestimated the public transport. HAHAHA, please don't scare your BTBs like that okay?

So anyway, Nadya came from 3.30pm all the way until 11pm? Apart from me, she also did a couple of my bridesmaids as well as Kak Moi and Ibu-Baobei. She was practically on the roll, doing one after another.






After everyone left, I kept on putting minyak kapak because I really, truly wanted very dark stains. So I actually stayed up until 2am-ish, watching movies and finishing up 2 small bottles of minyak kapak. 

Fresh after wearing it for almost 10 hours.


Then I went to bed, putting vicks (because I read somewhere that it causes our skin to be warm/heat up thus helps to darken it) on both my hands and feet, and covered them with socks. Hahaha, yes I wore socks on my hand because I don't want to accidentally rub my eyes with vicks in the middle of the night.

I woke up to this stain:


Overnight stain.

Since Nadya left 2 mini cones for me to touch up, I thought I use them to make an even darker stain. Heh. So gatal, I know.







The best friend came over the next day to finalize the itinerary and who does what, and I send him down to buy for me minyak kapak. He asked what size and I told him to get the biggest. 2 bottles some more leh, which he did.


Not sure if he nak bahasakan me or want me to mandi with it.
HAHAHAHAHA.

So I spend the eve of the wedding, bathing my feet and hands with minyak kapak so that I can get this on the day of the wedding (and after 48 hours):







If you have been reading about my wedding journey, you know how impressed I was when Nadya did a trial of the design I requested (thank you again Kak Riri) on her own hands and send it to me for approval before actually doing on me. I am truly impressed by her skills as an art teacher (coming from someone who can only draw stick figures).

The whole henna lasted about 1.5-2 weeks while the ones on my fingernails and toenails are still going strong, almost 2 months in (yup, I still have my henna). I love the smell of fresh henna and Nadya didn't use some fancy ones, if you need to know. Just some mehndi cones. Although I didn't like how the henna fades off, which at some point of time it felt like I have some skin disorder haha!

But all in all, I loved how the design I wanted turned out on my hands. I realized you just need someone who knows her art skills and you're good to go. You don't need anyone fancy because if the person can control the cone and got skills, the person can henna. Oh wells.

So if you want someone to stain you, Nadya Danis or you can search #nd_henna on IG. A MOE certified art teacher from NAFA? You can't get any better than this.
February 13, 2015

That cake by The Domestic Goddess

If you have been following me on IG/ reading me for awhile, you know that all my baked goodies come from The Domestic Goddess. Fa/Hana, the baker, was a fellow Cedarian and who doesn't love supporting friends?

It started with The Domestic Goddess charity bake sale in which I ordered 6 RVC for my CTs and colleagues during my Teacher Practicum. Then Baobei's 23rd birthday cake to our engagement cakes (yes, with an 's') to friends/families' birthdays to our wedding cake. It was easy to decide who and what cake we wanted for our wedding cake. Or at least Baobei's words made it easy, "From now on, we will order all from Hana."

Yup, so Hana it is.

We only started planning our wedding cake after Hana came back from her honeymoon in late December 2014. We requested 2 things: 3 tiers and red velvet nutella. The rest is entirely up to her on how she wants to do it. Just no fancy decor with minimal flowers because you know why lah.

TA DAHHH!




When Hana arrived, I was told she was busy, on the side, putting edible glitter all over the cake. And, from a video, it took 6 groomsmen to carry the cake to the table. Watch here:



And, from the pictures, it took 5 bridesmaids to cut the cake.

Oh + Shiq's #no1boyfriend, oh I am thankful to be at our wedding!


For us, the cake is for everyone to eat. The plan was to never tapau any of it home. That's why after we changed out of our nikah outfit, the first thing we did after the walk down was to cut the cake. So that, guests can have a slice as a dessert.


:D

We, of course, told our Bestman/Maid of Honour, that they need to keep a slice for us. But we only got the slice just before we left the reception to the hotel. We were literally gobbling down the cake as we walked to the car. No time to be glam. Baobei was torn between finishing his slice and getting into the car to go back hotel, so he threw it and said, "We are ordering one more cake from Hana." HAHAHA, my husband.

So anyway, while it seems like it is common to spend $300++ and above for a wedding cake (not sure about macaroon tower), which may be part real and part fake, we were surprised at Hana's prices.
Affordable for all 3 tiers + delivery + sedap giler.
Remember if you are spending so much on the cake, at least eat it and let your guests have a slice too. So pick the best timing to cut the cake for it not to go to waste.

Initially we didn't want a cake for the wedding but we are so glad we decided anyway. Thank you The Domestic Goddess for your cakes all these years and for being part of our wedding. We couldn't pick a better person to do our cake. You can also find Hana on her IG here where she posts up random bakes of hers.
February 10, 2015

Rings made by a Fairy

Well, technically two fairies; Sandra and Evelyn.

Before we met /heard of Fairy's Inc, we narrowed our ring choices with 2 well-known brands; Bvlgari and Tiffany & Co. We knew what we wanted though. A thick, platinum band for Baobei because his not-very-small hand will look weird with a pathetic, thin band. As for me, a white gold with a small diamond in the ring (yes, not popping out/ not sure how to describe it).

Then, I found Fairy's Inc

So what do these fairies do? Sandra and Evelyn actually will have a chit chat session to get to know you. At this point of time, you need to have a budget in mind. If you come in to look see, I am sorry to disappoint you but they don't make 2 rings the same. You must also come in with a vision of what you want your rings to look like but if you don't, at least know what you like and don't fancy. Round or princess cut diamonds? Matte or polish finishing? Braiding or straight brand?

You can read how my/our journey with Fairy's Inc started here.

So long story short, be honest with how much you're willing to pay. Doesn't mean low budget means it can't be done. Maybe the bigger diamond you imagined will not fit the budget but she will offer you a range of diamonds that fits your budget. That's why the key is to be honest. And like my take about GIA certified diamonds, unless you're planning to sell your diamonds or carry the cert with you wherever you go, no one will care if it is GIA certified or not. At least I don't.

Okay, so this post is more of the outcome right?



Give me chance leh to still put up our wedding photos.

Well, when we made our trip down to Fairy's Inc to make the final payment and collect the rings, I actually screamed! Sandra and Evelyn had clients, so Sandra asked us to find our rings at the collection counter. Yup, when you enter the Fairy Paradise, the counter on the right are rings waiting to be collected while the left counter (where you do your chit-chat and planning, etc) are rings that they have done as showcase (not for sale) and ideas you can pick from here and there. So I was definitely pleased to see our babies sitting nicely



Super, duper pleased with our rings and Sandra's service/honesty, really.





Special thanks to Gold Coast's sand for making this happen HAHA.



So let's go into details about our rings:

Matte finishing
Braided
Hammered matte finish
All chosen by Baobei himself. 

Braided sides
Assher cut diamond in the center (not certified)
3 natural pink diamonds
Smaller diamonds around the tails suggested by Sandra

These babies costs us close to 6k in total, with initial budget was 5k. But we were happy to pay for something that we designed and is ours. In Sandra's words, "I will not see them until you come back to send them for polishing."

Well, my ring is obviously cheaper, though with diamonds because platinum is expensive. It is cheaper at the jewelry shops you see at shopping malls because they are mass made. Fairy's Inc bend and twist them okay? So with a harder material to work with, costs more. 

Sandra did mention that some of her Muslim clients have consulted ustaz about this particular material where it has a very, very small percentage of gold in it but mainly made of some other metal (sorry I can't remember much) who said that it is okay. However, we are not taking chances and I promised Baobei platinum. So do your own research okay? A cheaper alternative is silver. Depends on your future husband lor. For Baobei, wedding ring was the first kind of ring he wore/commit to and abang bomba kalau fight fire, ring tak melt hahaha. So I allowed him to decide in the end.

Also, we came back a month before collecting our rings because we found out that as muslims, it is haram to wear your wedding bands on left finger because orang khafir wears them on left. And you eat with your right hand and what with your left? Yup. This was clarified with an ustaz and you can read them online.

My ring was fully paid by Baobei as it was my mas kahwin, while his ring is a gift from me! Hey! He can get an expensive ring if he wants to, I'll pay. After all the hantaran $, which is his hard earned $, paid for our honeymoon flight & accommodation, and I am very thankful for that.

So if you're planning to hint to your boyfriends or want really cool wedding bands designed by the both of you, you know who to find right? Tell Sandra, Renny says she is awesome. You will never know if you get free little diamonds like I did.


//I am left with 4 entries with The Kahwin Series with the last to wrap up about how I feel about wedding and money we spend on it, and most importantly what you will never wish to find out on your wedding day before we move on to Honeymoon and ....
February 4, 2015

You're a Gurame bride when seaside wedding is your thing

Picking Gurame Indonesian Restaurant as our wedding venue didn't struck to me one day when I woke up from my sleep. The reason I knew of its existence and that weddings do happen there, is because a childhood friend of mine got married there. What made me remember about Estee's wedding that happened 2 years back until now was the ambience. A seaside wedding? You got me. Call me lucky to have found someone who loved the place as much as I do which you can read the process of picking all here.

Why Gurame? You won't believe me when I say it is so easy to just deal with one vendor who is in charge of your venue, decor, food and little miscellaneous things like ensuring your wedding runs smoothly from A to Z. It is a bonus that the Keith (the manager) and his team are amazeballs. I am not saying that because I did my wedding there but you will be amazed how far these people who are strangers to you, will go all out for our wedding.

When I was doing my final fitting at TWB, I what'sapp Keith to ask if it was okay for someone to come by Friday to store some stuffs there as we will be coming from the hotel. He replied (jokingly), "Can but need to charge you." Baobei who was holding on to my phone when I was changing, read the what'sapp and closed it. Keith called 3 minutes later, telling me that he was just joking and thought I got offended that we had to pay to store items which is why I didn't reply him. Hahaha. I was "No, no. I am actually at my bridal doing final fitting so I didn't manage to read." Hilarious.

So, the plus point was Keith giving us a free hour so we could do the nikah and catch the sunset. If you're doing a wedding there, you will be given 4 hours. Either 11am to 3pm slot OR 6pm to 10pm slot. Since we were the first wedding of the year and Keith love us (I am just kidding but out of the kindness of his heart), we started our event at 5pm and still ended at 10pm. I said this before and I am going to say it again, please don't expect free hour because this is all subject to availability/approval.

For those brides who are crazy over chivalry chairs, you will love that Gurame includes such chairs for their outdoor seating for free. Now scream!






This seating is considered outdoor but sheltered. So if *touch wood* it decides to rain, you have the indoor and these outdoor seats. Oh, for the indoor, outdoor but sheltered and outdoor by the seaside, there is a total of 320 seats. So it was perfect for our wedding since we only have 300 guests so no one had to leave/stand to give way to other guests.

And yes, the chivalry chairs are gold. We opted out the flower center piece on every table because I hate flowers. So I am sure all my guests could deal with no flowers for one day because the bride says so.

You all know we chose Gurame's in house decor/dais. You can pick external vendors to do your wedding decor/dais, just deduct the prices for the decor/dais in the price list and replace it with something else (like food).



The dais looked very pretty in the day (you will understand at a later part of the entry why I specifically mentioned just day), and we had no issues whatsoever with the decor.
I actually like the white cloth draped over the hugeass cabana.
Oh, plus point is the seat for us are together. Not separated.


The best backdrop you don't get anywhere else.
This is why we picked a dinner reception over lunch.
This and of course, Baobei sweats very easily and we don't want the groom to sweat more because we all know how nerve wrecking nikah can be for the groom right?

And tak kan want to do sun rise. Tebiat nanti orang cakap.




These photos are taken from the extreme right of the outdoor but covered seating area. As you can see our pelamin area is glowing likka sun. Hahaha, but it turned out not so great.

DAY

VS

NIGHT

Okay the only thing you have to consider when taking Gurame's dais and dinner reception is this. The lighting is not placed right so people who took pictures with us on their camera phones, turned out crappy. Okay let's not talk about camera phones lah, even D was having a hard time. If we were to pull the lighting to the front, it might be tad too glaring for us. Unfortunately, this is a known problem to Gurame yet nothing is still done. (As I am typing, please keep in mind I am talking about Gurame itself and not Keith in particular because he runs the show with whatever is given to him)

The lights at Gurame can be a little romantic but it will be better if it could be brighter?


And also, we decided last minute to have a cake so we needed a cake table. The cost of a cake table set-up is $50.


This is $50.
Not sure if I should embrace simplicity but I think Gurame can do a lil better.


This is us, just out from the changing room which on normal days is a room for the staff to rest. I don't really mind the dressing room though can be small when we need more people inside and no aircon which I am okay lah. But... we wanted to do a "walking down then aisle" and the aisle is from the restaurant to the pelmain. I mean, we could do from entrance of Gurame BUT they have no back door. So Gurame if you're reading this, can you also drill a hole and put a backdoor from your changing room so we can still surprise our guests with our outfits and still walk down a proper aisle?

Oh, last but not least. Their sound system is old. I am talking really old skool kind of old. The microphone can be louder especially when planes fly. We had quite a hard time during the nikah when it became too soft. And if you plan to not take a band and play CDs like us, they don't even have mp4 or plug in from your phone/laptop okay? Plain old skool CDs.

Overall, Gurame you did good or rather Keith and his team. Major love for them! You all were very attentive and did whatever is required like topping up food/drinks without having to ask. My family members and close friends were very impressed with/by everything. If Syahrul and I were to do things any differently, there is nothing we would change. Even the horrible lighting at night, we will do it all over again.

Before this, Mama asked us to consider some restaurants in the East that have all-in-one but I thought it was a bit tacky and maybe because we have already set our mind with Gurame. Sorry, but I don't like cramped restaurants.

For those who emailed/PM/Facebook message me, don't quote me but if I am not mistaken Gurame has to renew their lease yearly or every a few years. That is why when we asked them in December 2013, they asked to call them (and can only book then) in February 2014 when they have confirmation of their 2015 lease. So can give the restaurant a call and just find for Keith. Please go down, and see the place for yourself. Keith will also give you a list of what is included in the packages, including food list. So trust me when I say it is better than asking me okay?

Also, to those busok hati people who said "Why must Izzatie buat kerja kahwin kat tempat mahal," can suck my balls because we tak hutang/pinjam duit from people to do our wedding here at Gurame. You asked how much one person costs, so my parents answered. Then ada hati want to say such stuff on our wedding day? On the day of our wedding, everything was FULLY paid for. If you tak nak bagi banyak duit (or tak nak bagi terus) pasal "tempat mahal" also okay makcik because kita tak mengharapkan duit dari sesiapa pun. Semua da bayar lah. Kita tak perlukan duit makcik untuk bayar yang belen lah.

Okay, since the last post to this, I have turned 25 years old and Baobei & I have turned one month. With many more surprises in 2015 awaits us. I am trying to finish up the wedding series (cake, rings, berkat, henna) soonest possible so expect more updates these nect few days before I share with you all more exciting things like houses and honeymoon and ...


Thank you Keith and team!