The Road to October

Wedding Childhood Montage

Montage played before our first march in. The final picture is the point where the emcees announce our entrance into the ballroom.

Childhood montage is almost completed. The last step is for me to convince myself that it is perfect enough for the occasion.

From last week, Jon has been watching it every night and driving me crazy. He said I did a really good job on it, but my pursuit for perfection will probably never cease till the day before the wedding.

Showed it to 2 of my bridesmaids today, and they commented that the transitions were too fast. Photos flash past too quickly. When I started out this project, Jon had made it very clear that he wants to keep the montage short (below 2 min). He would lament how dullit is to attend other weddings and watch a full 5 min montage of people’s childhood. He says that people only look forward to the first course presentation, and that the montage is a barrier to that. 

Working within that target did not leave me much room for photos to stay long on the screeen. Overall I’m quite satisfied with the montage, just needs some final tweaks and we are good to go!

Floorplan for our Ballroom

Will be having a very long march-in on the big day. Linda (our coordinator at Pan Pac) told us they’ve recently installed 2 LCD projectors/screens at one breadth of the ballroom (the parts in green are the projectors). When we first went to see the ballroom and make the booking last year, it was just the stage at the front and a LCD projector/screen at the back. I think it will greatly enhance the guest experience.

Of course, the pillarless ballroom makes it all the better. None of my guests will have their view blocked, hurray for Pan Pac! There must be a reason why Jacelyn Tay picked Pan Pac (c’mon, she wouldn’t mess around with $80,000).

Left work earlier than usual to rush home and welcome the Rasel catering team (later I found out it was just 1 man). We are using them for the church wedding reception, as well as a home buffet for my side for tea ceremony. They had generously offered a food tasting session - 6 dishes out of our church reception menu – without us asking for it.

The staff (Andy) arrived at about 6.00 PM and started to set up everything. We had initially thought that they will just bring over some packed food for food tasting. Boy, were we wrong, they gave us the full package. Mom was so shocked at the amount of food they brought over, haha.

Food tasting for 6 - Buffet setup

Top to bottom: Prawn Fritters with Orange Dip, Chicken Karaage with Wasabi Dip, Char Siew Pastry

Top to bottom: Shepherd Pie with Chicken Filling, Laksa Noode, Laksa Soup

The spread: Meant for 6, but I think it can feed 10The ingredients for nonya laksa: Fish cake, Cucumber Slices and BeansproutsSelection of Cakes and Pastries

The food tastes pretty good, and the service of the staff Andy was great as well. After setting everything up, Andy said he will hang around downstairs and come back in 2 hours’ time. We called him up 1 hour later, and told him there were some unfinished food. He brought up takeaway boxes for us to store the food, nice guy!

Anyway, food tasting for Rasel can only be done Mon-Fri, from 10.00 AM to 7.00 PM. They will come and set up about 30-45 min before the stated meal time (which explains why I had to leave work early). My parents were commenting that it was the first time they’ve encountered food tasting for a buffet order. Good service, good food, highly recommend!

Rasel is located at 155 Pandan Loop Singapore 128353. http://www.rasel.com.sg/contactus/contactus.htm

5 years together, 1 year of engagement and 22 days to THE big day…

Celebrated the occasion at an Italian called Basilico at Regent Hotel. I had previously gone there with my ex-colleagues for a Christmas dinner last year, and my memory of that place is that they serve good food and wine.

Jon fetched me from office at about 5.50 PM and we drove to Regent. Regent hotel looks kinda tattered on the outside, and could certainly do with some good scrubbing. However, the interior looks magnificent and beautiful, and cosy. While we were waiting to get into the restaurant, we happen to see a couple(bride and groom) taking their wedding photos. Their brothers and sisters were standing around, looking like they are preparing for a great march-in. Our conclusion is that the couple will have their banquet later, and is taking some candid shots in the meantime.

We were brought to a table that has a rather good view of the pool. And… I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Basilico

The long bread with a dipping

Some food from antipasta buffet

More food from antipasta spread, but parma ham wins hands down

A mouse's heaven: All sorts of cheeses

And the very BIG cheese!!!

Hearty Italian bread

My main course: Beef Tenderloin

His main course: Veal

Time for dessert!!

A dessert that looks like a block of cheese, no one dares to touch it

The bill came up to $150, but we felt it was worth it. Ambience was really great - Groups of friends catching up, families dining together, couples drinking in the sight of each other…

Basilico is located at 1 Cuscaden Road, The Regent Singapore, Level 2.

Met Linda in the evening to pay the deposit, as well as to confirm some things

1. Menu: She went through the menu with us, noting the changes. At the end of it, she said she will send us the updated menu
2. Wedding cake: A wedding cake will be delivered to our room upon check-in. We have to decide between chocolate flavor or mixed fruit flavor. We went for chocolate (decadent indulgence)
3. Music: Linda passed us a list of their available music, of which we do not need an original CD for. If we want to use other music, we must have the original CD on hand.
4. Wedding favors: She brought the latest favors to show us (measuring spoons, luggage tag, keychain and a ruler). She mentioned they still can cater to the older favors if we want to, but we picked the luggage tag and keychain. Jon seemed really keen on the luggage tag, for some reason…
5. Themes:
   - She confirmed our choice of theme (Divine Elegance) and we had to choose the color of the table cloth for VIP tables and guest tables. We went with red tablecloths for VIP table and silver sash for the chairs, and grey (that looks pinkish) tablecloths for guest tables and the chair covers will be white.
   - Flowers: There will be some candle holder thingee along the aisle as part of the theme. We had to choose the color of the flowers that will go together with the candle holder. Also, the color of the flowers decorating guest tables had to be decided too.
6. Deposit: Used 3 credit cards to carry this off

At the end of it, Linda said she will send us a list of what we have discussed tonight, and draw up a floor plan based on our number of tables. We must let her know the confirmed tables latest by 24 Oct 2010.

Lastly, Jon requested to see the bridal suite, but she told us it’s taken. Found out from Linda that the bridal suite will be either on the 18th, 19th or 20th floor, depending on the day itself. Can’t wait!

Will be meeting our hotel coordinator Linda tomorrow to pay a 50% deposit that amounts to 15k. Still a couple of things to check with her. For one, we haven’t chose our wedding favors. I’m hoping to also take a tour of the bridal suite.

More updates tomorrow!

Had plenty of rest this weekend. My Saturdays usually include a gym session in the late morning, and it will drain me so much that an afternoon nap after the session will kill the entire day. I decided not to go for gym this weekend to have a good rest at home.

Saturday was spent touching up our childhood montage, and planning the big day’s itinerary. In the evening, we attended my grandma’s brithday celebration and my parents gave out the wedding invites to my relatives (dad’s side). Jon commented how weird that side of my family was, in that no one came over to congrat us and ask us how the wedding prep is going. That’s just the way they are, like my mom put it: “不闻不问”. Not that I feel like answering their questions anyway… The conversation would probably go like that:

Relative: How’s your wedding prep?

Us: Ok

-End of conversation-

I find myself engaging in such conversations a lot lately. In actual fact, the whole process of wedding planning is so complicated, and it’s impossible to explain unless the conversation continues for hours.

My parents went to give out wedding invitations to my mom’s side relatives today. Heard from my mom that they went to 4-5 locations around the country. Snail mail should work better, but they insist that this has to be done for the elders (my grandmother’s siblings). The good thing is that I did not have to tag along.

The process of inviting distant/extended relatives caused a huge quarrel with my mom some 3 days back. My intention was just to invite the immediate family, but she had very different ideas. I think the hardest part in planning a wedding is to manage people’s expectations, and yes, losing sleep is part of the process.

I attended my colleague Deborah’s wedding yesterday. It was held at Grand Hyatt, Magnolia/Vanda room.

Black Theme Table Setting

The view of the ballroom

Cutlery Setting, black and gold matches very well

The cold dish - Grand Hyatt Delights

It was unlike most of the weddings I’ve been to, somewhat unique:

• It’s the first wedding I attended that featured a black theme.
• The couple did not have a childhood montage. Rather, they played a wedding photo montage
• They did not get a videographer. Hence, the usual morning highlights was replaced with a picture slideshow of the morning events
• There were no table to table photographs. The couple pretty much roamed around on their own and interacted with the guests.
• The bridegroom had his cousin put up a wonderful saxaphone performance while the couple went up for a change of clothes

Overall, the wedding was very beautiful. I think the only thing that spoiled the experience a bit were the pillars in the ballroom. From our table, we could only see one quarter of the stage, not very exciting.

My thoughts on the food? Full marks!! Gosh, I think it tasted even better than my own food tasting menu. On the menu are the following:

• Grand Hyatt Delights (picture above)
• Shark’s Fin Soup with Shredded Seafood
• Canton Roasted Chicken with Walnut Topping
• Steamed Live Garoupa with Superior Soya Sauce
• Braised Sliced Abalone with Shiitake Mushroom
• Sauteed Scallop with Asparagus served in Cheese Basket
• Wok-fired Prawn with Green Mango in Spicy Bean Sauce
• Wok-fried Korean Glass Noodle with Rice Vermicelli
• Sweet Yam Paste with Gingko Nut in Coconut Pumpkin Sauce

The most memorable ones are the prawn, scallop and sweet yam paste. There can be no mistake in picking Grand Hyatt for the food quality. Many of us left the banquet totally stuffed but absolutely satisfied.

Wishing Deborah and her husband Gordon a wonderful and blissful marriage!

Attended 11.30 AM mass today, and passed Father Stephen our mass booklet and Jon’s baptismal cert when mass ended. He said he will review it and text Jon if any amendment is required.

Picked up his mom and Marilyn (his younger sister) from church, and we went to J8. His mom had previously asked me to find some time so that she could get some jewellery for me (I’m not very good with the customary stuff, but I think it’s called 四点金). So paiseh, but everyone around me said it’s a must, so there we go…

Quick lunch at Subway, and headed straight to Soo Kee. I tried on about 7-8 bracelets, and the final shortlist was one that had diamonds all round, and one that had 5 diamond within hearts. Jon’s mom preferred the former, while Jon preferred the latter. In the end, I decided on the latter. No photos of it, as the bracelet is still with his mom, but it looks really nice and sweet.

After fetching his mom and sis home, we made our way to my ex-colleague’s house. His wife has recently gave birth to a baby girl called Sarah, and I’m really excited to see her. Sarah is a Eurasian, with Australian father and Singaporean mother. She was asleep when we got there, but the first thing I noticed was her eyelashes, so loooooooong! When she woke up, saw that her eyes were really big. At this point in time, she doesn’t bear any significant resemblance to either parent, but I gather she will be really adorable when she gets older.

Mom told me that my uncle’s wife has also just given birth to a baby girl early this week. We haven’t seen her yet, but we should be able to see her soon. A 24-yrs-younger-than-me cousin, welcome to earth! We share the same zodiac, yeah!