The wedding day slipped by so fast that it was a total haze. Even the days before it are a blur right now. I am going to try and record what I do remember about it, so that it doesn’t slip away.
The last 3 days were nuts. I don’t think I slept more than 6h per night in the 3 days of leave leading up to the wedding. In retrospect, I should have taken more leave. There was so much to do. Had to settle the angbaos (eh wedding couples have shitloads of angpows to give), write cheques for vendors, deliver the wedding wines, give vendors the final deets, send the car down for decorating, do my nails, writing the two speeches (omg that was hard), memorising the vows, etcetcetc, the list goes on.
I was happy that I was able to spend some time with my girls at the hen’s in those last 3 days. I originally didn’t want a hen’s, because (a) I hate being the centre of attention, (b) I didn’t have the bandwidth to plan one and (c) I didn’t want to trouble any of my bridesmaids to plan something as unimportant as a hen’s. But my dear dear MOH, T, badgered me about it (in a nice way!) and offered to do all the planning and get all the logistics for the hen’s. An offer I couldn’t resist. Hahaha. In the end we had such great fun. We had a popiah party with penis shaped ice and a penis straw. Sex stories and advice were what I remember most, as well as receiving skanky lingerie. Which I have not used. Clearly all my friends think I’m skanky. HAHA. Can’t blame them. The most useful thing I received was advice, that is, to always pee after sex. I did not know this. LOL. We had a bit of a food cockup at the hen’s – T ordered a ton of popiah, but we only saw one small box of popiah stuff. We were looking sadly at the spread and rationing the popiah (we started eating first as the rest were late), and because it was a really small, sad amount of popiah veggies left after we were half full, I decided to foodpanda Crystal Jade. More than $100 worth. After I hit “Order” and paid, my mom cheerily informed us that the other two (huge) portions of popiah were kept in the kitchen.
Me and T’s faces: (O.O) (O.o)
ROFL.
We ended up with SO MUCH FOOD. Which was good. We all ate without reservation. Yumyum.
I also did nails with T – treated her to a session at Kiyone + Lim since she flew all the way down, without her husband and kiddie, just for me! So touched you know. She was the first to book her flights and came in FOUR days before my wedding so she could help me. I have such great friends *happy tears*
And help she did. The night before she helped me to do up the remainder of the shit I couldn’t finish for the reception table, like the shadowboxes. She’s the creative kind so she did it really well. Her presence was also very calming in the madhouse, where my parents were also working on overdrive to clean up the place and decorate. My mom had baby’s breath ALL ALONG THE BANISTER okay. From 1st to 3rd floor. Lolololol. Sibei effort. It looked very preets in the pictures! And the whole house smelt lovely. V also took leave to help us out with the wedding. She’s my cousin’s girlfriend, the super creative sort and a very hard worker. She was such a great help too. I am actually tearing right now as I think of all the effort everyone went through to help me. I am so grateful and so sorry to them at the same time that they had to do all this nonsense and be so stressed just for one showy day. When she gets married to my cousin I will definitely return the favour.
I recall sleeping at 1 or 2am the night before the wedding. My makeup artist arrived at 4.45am. Obviously I didn’t shower. HAHA. In my defence, I showered just before I slept at 1-2am, so technically, my last bath was only about 3h ago. T stayed overnight at my place so she wouldn’t have to wake up so early.
My makeup artist normally looks super glam, but even she looked a bit shagged out at 4.50am. Haha. She did a great job nonetheless, I actually looked like a chio female for once. :3 Was very happy with what she did. The way she stuck my eyelids up – wish I could do that every day. People will stop saying I look sick / tired when I don’t draw my eyes. Hahaha.
I actually lost track of time from the moment I woke up for the wedding morning. I trusted that everything would be done on time, that everyone would time keep for me, and indeed they did. I have no idea if my bridesmaids were early or late, but I do know that they all arrived in good time for the gate crash. The gate crash was hilarious! I laughed so much I thought my falsies were gonna drop out. My friends are truly quite sadistic. Mwahahaha. The most memorable line was when P yelled out “I FIND YOUR LEGS VERY SEXY!” and L went “EH people’s father downstairs hor!”. Laugh until cry.
After that was photo-taking, which was another blur. And then the church ceremony, which was a lot of the priests, J and the marriage partners whispering to us very loudly every time we looked like we were going to walk in the wrong direction hhahahaha. Eternally grateful for them.
I installed a red carpet in church (last minute decision) because I was afraid that I or my bridesmaids would slip and fall while walking down the aisle. My church slopes downward from entrance to altar, and apparently a few brides have indeed slipped. The carpet, however, presented challenges of its own to a bride in a gigantic poofy dress. I had only practised walking on a smooth floor where the front of the dress naturally slides forward. The carpet, however, provides enough friction that the dress no longer slides forward, but hangs back just enough to be stepped on by the bride. YAY ME. I am already how chorlor. I had to horse kick my way down the aisle and pray I didn’t fall over. My mom was whispering to me out of the corner of her mouth to KICK! KICK THE DRESS! LOL. The more I got stuck, the more I panicked, and the faster I walked, and at one point I stumbled a teeny bit. HAHA. On hindsight this was a bad idea, I should have just walked slower. But, yunno, me = introvert = hates people looking at her = cannot think clearly when walking down the aisle. Dad and Mom also kept stepping on my dress, but can’t blame them, the aisle was very small. So in addition to kicking the part I was stepping on out of the way, I also had to kick hard enough that the parts Mom and Dad were stepping on were also dislodged. Thinking back, it was really very funny, although all that was on my mind then was FAK FAK DON’T FALL!! Horsekicks ftw.
Our 2 witnesses, aka our moms, forgot to stay behind for a picture with our Cert. Fr T was like, uhh where are your witnesses? To which P and I were like heehee shrugs who knows? Lalalala. No harm done, we just took with the priests instead.
Lunch reception. Didn’t make it past the third row out of 10 of the bistro tables. My intention was to slowly glide (haha, as if) through the bistro tables so I could mingle with my guests. But nope, that didn’t happen, by the time I got to the third row, someone would accost me and go “hay can we take peekchure!” And back to the backdrop I would go so that we all had nice peekchure. Then I would attempt to make my way through the bistro tables again. Rinse, repeat. I finally got to the 5th row when it was nearly time for us to leave for the bridal party shoot.
Some awkward moments:
1. Relatives I could not remember staring at me through the glass panel whilst I was in a classroom waiting for makeup touchup. When I came out, they held out their arms for a hug and I was like ohhkayyyy hugging people I don’t know now! What if they’re not even guests? But it turned out they were my dad’s aunts whom I hadn’t seen in fifteen billion Chinese New Years. So okay at least I hugged flesh and blood.
2. Relatives on B’s side (whom I very obviously have not met) coming up to me and saying “Hi!!! Do you know who I am??” exuberantly. No, of course I don’t, because we’ve never been introduced; I’m gonna do that to you the next time I see you when I don’t have bridal makeup on. See you recognise me not. Ha!
3. Le Boss, whom I wasn’t sure wanted a hug or not. In the end we settled for a picture together. No hugs. She looked lovely though.
4. Changing my shoes in the middle of the canteen. Bride’s feet hurt. Sorry. Unglamness ensued. Not sorry actually. Hahahaha.
Bridal shoot at Pasir Ris Park after. Was fun! J took some pics as a prelude. Was so nice. Can’t wait to see the actual pics. On this note, I love my photog. She’s so friendly and easygoing and professional at the same time. She hasn’t even billed me lol. We paid on the standard contract, but not sure if there are any extra hours to be paid up.
After that was some blessed rest at the hotel. Pranced around nekkid in the suite with T and P. T came with us to the suite cause we thought it would just be more expedient that way. She was super helpful – laced me into the evening dress, found my MUA when she couldn’t get into our suite area, and her presence was just so settling and comforting. Would probably have panicked more without her around. I miss having her around in Singapore.
MUA did a great job, as usual, I received so many compliments on how the hair and makeup really suited me. Gotta thank Y for the recommendation. I powdered P’s face (Yay Chacott powder) so he wouldn’t be shiny.
Awkward Moment #5: MUA was obviously pissed when P’s mom asked for lipstick. A small favour really, but I can also see why she was pissed. I mean, I paid for her to do my makeup, not P’s mom… but then it’s just lipstick. Owell. I actually offered her my lipstick already (Suquu lipstick okay) but she was obviously more interested in my MUA’s, so I let her be…
Oh! I’ve forgotten to mention my bouquet! I love my florist (Joyce, Ji Mei Florist, or is it JM?! I’m a bit confused). My hand bouquet was so pretty!! We had a minor crisis in the morning, but luckily I was forewarned – I had gold leaves in my bouquet, and they were happily falling off the night before like drunks off a wagon. I texted her, and she, like a superhero, said DON’T WORRY! I spray more leaves now to bring tomorrow! We will fix it! And fix it she did. It looked even better than when we first got it. She also did such a great job with the my pew and altar flowers, the scalloping, the arch, the canteen decor, and the backdrop. My mom (aka the Flower Connoisseur and Floral Director of My Wedding) was suitably pleased.
My planner (Sharol, Eternal Emotion) was also SUCH a great help. She and her colleague ownselfly volunteered to move all the tables and chairs from the canteen so the caterers could set up, arranged for my carpet at short notice, and generally made sure the day ran smoothly. The fact that our marriage partners S and C didn’t come after us after the wedding is testament to the fact that she did a good job.
The dinner also ran very smoothly. Happily, there was no need for alcohol control, cause we over-budgeted the alcohol by 7 bottles. HAHA. We had 2 bottles per table, and after watching the wine disappear like water into dry earth at another friend’s wedding, P and I told Sharol to open another 5 housepours if necessary. Thankfully, that was not necessary. I got good feedback on the wine from the older folk, who said it was well paired with Chinese food. Not so good feedback from the younger folk. The reds were specially recommended and imported by my sommelier friend, who actually took the time to study the menu and recommend the wine pairing. I really didn’t want to serve shit wine at the wedding. The whites, hee, were my own decision, and were very sweet, and a little fizzy, because I LIKE SWEET FIZZY WHITES THANKS. Whee! Still have one more bottle left from the wedding. Shall drink it one of these days.
Dinner was another mash of memory, I remember only being able to sit down until the 3rd course, after which Sharol chivvied us around on our programme. I got to eat cake though! My lovely yummy wedding cake from Winifred Kriste. In defiance of the strict diet that I was on before the wedding, I ate ALL THE BUTTERCREAM WOOHOO! And it felt good.
But yes back to the dinner. My emcees, N and her hubs, were hilarious. N’s Chinese reading skills were not as good as she assured me they were, however, so some parts were shortened to, uhh, eat cake. I found it funny. Not sure if P’s mom was similarly amused. But it’s all water under the bridge. We talked to so many people, I can’t remember who was there. A lot of people said the food was great. Not sure if they’re being polite, but hey, I appreciate the social grace! :D I really liked the food at food tasting, so I hope it was the same standard.
<– didn’t get to eat.
I have no regrets hiring the planner Sharol – I was happy that all our friends could sit down and enjoy the dinner rather than have to rush around arranging stuff for us. A few people questioned why I needed a planner… I suppose my answer would be that, at that time, I needed a planner for my own sanity. I was the only one who had oversight of the whole day, and I didn’t really have anyone I could spare to fill that role. Introvert = not that many friends, and all of my good friends were either in my bridal party or already filling roles. Hahaha. Also, I’m quite paiseh to trouble people, unless they push their help in my face. P found that a bit annoying I think, that I was quite unwilling to trouble friends to help. I have, however, no qualms troubling someone I’m paying to trouble. :3 So yes, no regrets on the planner! Especially as she actually did her job, unlike the one at N’s wedding.
After dinner. 3 of my bridesmaids came up with me to poke around the suite and help me out of my dress + hairpins + fake hair. Again, so grateful for these people. Without them I might be half bald trying to remove the fake hair. Lololol. Y went on a humsup rampage and stripped the Fullerton teddy bear, and also took compromising pictures of my chest in a NuBra as well as LL’s chest… suffice to say, there was really no fight lah. NuBra or no, LL’s chest always wins :3
We were flat out tired man, and suddenly ravenous, after we were finally alone in our room… so we ordered room service. Yumyum lasagna. My dad had also thoughtfully asked the restaurant to pack our uneaten portions from dinner, but it was really cold by the time we got round to eating it.
Next morning! We were so tired we missed breakfast. Dad said the brekkie spread was really good. (They also had a room in the hotel.) A small amount of drama caused by P’s sister thinking she left something in our tea ceremony room.
Ermagad tea ceremony. I nearly forgot to mention this. Also not very memorable. I don’t actually see the point of serving tea to people. Does it produce a marriage cert? No. Does it bring people joy? Well okay I suppose it does. Okay it has a point if someone enjoyed it. didn’t really. All that kneeling was hard on my knees, and it’s particularly hard to get up from a kneeling position when you’re in heels and a tight skirt.
Okay almost at the end. We checked out and went home.
What was the happiest moment of my wedding? I generally remember feeling very very happy and grateful the whole day. I smiled a lot. My cheeks hurt. But we felt very loved. The best part was probably when, after the dinner, I took off my corset and skulked around the suite in my birthday suit. FREEDOM.
And now we’re in the best part of all – married life. The part I wish we didn’t need a wedding to get to. <3
the eternal childhood of the whimsical mind. 