Had a pleasant surprise from my Daddy and Mummy yesterday evening.

Whilst shopping at JUSCO (Johor) on Friday, my parents saw 2 cute wedding bears and bought it for me and Wei Siang! Really touched by their thoughtful gesture!

Such an adorable pair of wedding bears! I really love it!

Both bears are beautifully decorated; the bride came dressed in full bridal gown, veil and pearl necklace, while the groom had a hat to match his suit! As the pair came unwrapped, my mother was worried that it would become dirty. She actually took the trouble to wrap them up with a pretty wrapper and ribbon strip!!

Always thought that my parents were 'lukewarm' in our wedding preparation, as I felt they were going to miss me after my wedding in May - being their precious princess for the past 26 years. That's why I was overwhelmed with happiness yet a tinge of sadness when I received the gift from them. It is a present that came along with great significance for me - their love all wrapped inside the wedding couple as a blessing for me and Wei Siang. Showed Wei Siang yesterday and he thought the wedding bears were simply adorable!

I will definitely treasure the wedding bears and keep them in my new home...

Haha,

Guess what, I have finally completed my own ang-pow box! Remembered posting an article a few months back on my aspiration, and I did just it last week! Here's my creation, with lotsa of help from Wei Siang! So sweet of him!

Here's a photoshoot with our beautiful ang-pow box:

Our Masterpiece!

Before I proceed to sharing with everyone my hard work, here's a breakdown of the cost used in making the ang-pow box:

1) Red wrapping paper - $9

2) Artificial Flowers - $5

3) Yellow ribbon strips - $4

4) Handicraft glue - $ 3

5) 4 metres ribbon - $6

6) Wedding bear couple (wedding favour from Aihua's wedding) - Free

7) Effort taken in making the ang-pow box - Priceless

Actually, Wei Siang was not totally agreeable to the idea of making our own ang-pow box, as we will be actually getting not 1, but 2 ang-pow boxes complimentary from the hotel! But I was adament against the idea of getting ready-to-make ones, as I thought it would be an easy task in decorating the box. In fact, the most difficult portion was to wrap the box, as we had to unassemble the box, wrap the box and reassemble it again. In fact, I actually smudged some glue on the box wrapper while assembling, so it looked a bit 'dirty' if you take a closer look at it (that's why I deliberately took a photo of it from far, heh heh). I guess the choice of wrapping paper was not appropriate as it could be crumpled easily during the midst of wrapping. 

Nonetheless, I must acknowledge that it's a neat piece of handicraft, as my mother and future MIL commented that the box was pretty! However, I am still toying with the idea of re-wrapping the box with another wrapping paper as I was still feeling bitter with the mess that I have created while reassembling the box. In fact, I was still thinking of selling the box for $$ after use, haha, guess I can forget all about this liao hee hee.

Close-up of our Ang-pow Box!

Somehow, I do have a feeling that I might not be using the ang-pow box afterall, probably because the free ang-pow boxes will look much nicer than what I have created? Keeping my fingers crossed. =P

My next project, making my own ring pillow??

After months of waiting....we finally took our studio and outdoor photoshoot on 23 Dec!

Was supposed to have been a happy and joyous occasion, but we were hit by a bad news on our way to the studio. Wei Siang's mum was holidaying in Penang when she accidentally slipped and fell into a large canal. I was worried about her condition, esp. when I overheard that she couldn't walk after her fall and was on her way back to Singapore for treatment at NUH. Wei Siang tried to console me by saying that we should display professionalism by completing the photoshoot first since there was nothing we could do at that point of time.

Back to the photoshoot, I was pretty impressed with my MUA, Sammi, and she did a perfect job by covering up my big pimple with her skilful makeup skills. Didn't regret engaging her services as she was one of the most popular makeup artist in Whitelink and she was real gentle during my hair styling (since I had to undergo image changes for 5 gowns).

Our Photographer, Leon, was also a fun-loving professional as he tried to inject fun and creativity during our phototaking. He would joke that Wei Siang's smile looked fake; reminding me that I have to hide my tummy and getting Wei Siang to cover my flabby arms, haha. His favourite take would be to get us to kiss each other on the cheek, and making sure it is not hard enough to flatten our noses from the posing.

Upon the advice of my MUA, we chose Japanese costume instead of the usual chinese KUA. Kinda regret my decision now as I felt fat wearing the Kimono. Hope the photoshoot will turn out to be much nicer than what I have expected.

The outdoor photoshoot was the most challenging aspect of the entire program.. we realized that Dec period was not a good period for the outdoor phototaking due to rainy season. True enough, Singapore was plagued with heavy rain and thunderstorm just when we were ready to emback on our phototaking, sigh.

Racing against time, we proceed towards Botanical Gardens for our first take, but it was not as successful as we expected. Due to the impending rain, we managed to snap a few shots at the location, and our poor photographer had to carry an umbrella and snap photos of us in the rain! As the rain became heavier, we decided to try our luck by moving towards the east - Changi Beachwalk as suggested by Leon. It was our first time there and we were impressed by the beauty and serenity of the beach. However, there was no time to lose as we could see that the storm was approaching from opposite (Pulau Ubin). We took many fun photoshoots and Wei Siang even tried to carry me (which of course failed cos I was too heavy for him liao!) Due to the mounting pressure to complete the photoshoot before the heavy rain, we were surprised that we managed to complete it within 15 min!

A snapshot of myself on my way back from outdoor photoshoot!

My coordinator, Jimmy was laughing when he took down my hair accessories after our return to the studio. He found leaves in my hair; evidences to show our battle with "Mother Nature" hee hee! Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to seeing the photos in 2 weeks time!

Still feeling nutty with the 'look far away' pose

That's us with our makeup on!

I guess the both of us suffered a huge shock yesterday evening over the $$$ issue when we actually spent close to $300 bucks on our hairdo!

With the intention of ensuring our hair are in tip-top condition for this Sunday's Photoshoot, we decided to splurge a little $$ this time round and pamper ourselves at decent beauty salon this week.

Apparently my MUA, Jimmy commented that I needed to dye my hair roots, as he was concerned that there may be black patches when styling my hair for the photoshoot. In the meantime, Wei Siang had just completed his reservist training so I suggested he get a professional stylist to re-shape his hair so he won't look like a NSMen.

After shopping for his wedding shoes at Takashimaya yesterday afternoon, I suggested we check out at a few hair salons in town, followed by a decent dinner at a nearby restaurant. We went to Shinjo Matsu at Isetan Wisma and Reds Taka and found that the salons were packed. Subsequently, we checked out Heeren's Ginrich and Wei Siang was not keen on that either (as all the stylists were male, and he thought they looked too beefy to be professional =P)

In the end, we decided to try our luck at the hair salons in Paragon and chose 'The Hair Shop' on the 4th level as the other 3 boutiques 'looked' expensive and classy. Never knew that our nightmare actually began.....

I was too complacent, thinking that the rates shouldn't be as far-fetched as Reds... so I went ahead w/o checking out their rates! Sheesh! Overall, their services were good as my stylist spent time selecting the right colour for blending and even layered my dyeing process.

The shocking bit was when we were making our payment and realizing that their rates were simply outrageous! Wei Siang's hair cut was a whooping 75 bucks whilst mine was 218 bucks ( for the fact that I didn't even cut or dye all my hair!!) GOSH!!! Can you imagine how much more we could have done with these money! And it's all gone within an hour! Funniest thing was, we simply lost all our mood after the haircut and ended up having dinner at **MOS Burger instead

** Wanted to check out the cheapest food in town but FOOD JUNCTION was packed.

Only consolation which I got from my colleagues was that my hair colour looked brighter and hair texture much softer than before. I wonder how much longer will this condition last. I think I shall not check out any salons for the next 3 months to make up for the damage that I have created.

Was supposed to post this right after her wedding... but had been swarmed with alot of work to prepare an article on her wedding.... here it goes!

My dear fren cum ex-NEA colleague Karen was hitched last Sat, 27 October, after a year long relationship with her darling HC.. I deem it as a good opportunity for me to be part of the celebration and learn about how an AD wedding is being conducted. And I must say, it's a real tiring event for the bride and groom! Though I only helped out as her 'sister' in the morning and evening, yet I fell sick on Monday! HAHAHA! And I wasn't even the one who was getting married!

Anyway, the day started off with a hectic morning at the bride's place, with the groom having to go through numerous obstacles - before he could actually 'collect' the bride. It was an unique combination among the sisters: 3 of us were Karen's NEA colleagues whilst the other 3 were her secondary school classmates. One of them was actually Mediacorp's artiste Ben Yeo's wife Claudia!

Poor Wei Siang had to assist me in being the driver for the sister, hee hee. And I must say it was mad run driving around from Bedok - Serangoon - Bedok! Below are some of the family and group photos captured at Karen's matrimony home in Serangoon.

Karen with their in-laws

Group Photo with the Brothers and Sisters

During the evening, I was also roped to help Karen out in the gown dressing and other preparatory works... and I must say I have gained a lot of knowledge in gown dressing for that! I had also the opportunity to check out the couple bridal suite at Hilton hee hee!  

Karen and I!!

Overall, it was a fun but tiring experience for me as the sister; I guess I will have more to write about in Chin's and Corby's wedding!