Billy & Cynthia POST 11: Wedding Updates + Long birthday weekend!

This has been a really eventful week. From Shingles to food tasting to planning for the HTB's birthday. It's been a busy weekend! Shingles has kept me home for the entire week and I had to take my medication every 5 hours. Seriously, waking up in the middle of the night can really be a pain in the butt butt! By God's grace, I'm recovering well! Thank you for the prayers and well wishes! (:

I bought a new baking tin on Friday evening when we were out for dinner and running wedding errands. This new ceramic baking muffin pan sure looks fun! (: This will come in really handy for the baking class I'm conducting for the zone! It's definitely my honour and my privilege to serve God in his ministry by conducting baking classes for fellowship to take place! I'm truly excited! (: 

On Friday, I took on the task of baking the HTB a birthday cake. This was something he asked for 2 years ago but I'm always busy during his birthday and have never gotten down to baking him any cakes. I suppose the Shingles has gotten me to slow down. After all, the doctor said that I'm facing too much stress. I'm truly proud of my production for the HTB's birthday this year. Here's a NEKO BUS cake that he's been requesting for. I'm really thankful that he loves the cake! (: It also surprised him as he wasn't expecting any cakes. 

I like how scary NEKO BUS looks here. This is so him! 

On Saturday, we had our food tasting with both families. Am pretty glad that things are slowly falling into place. Am glad that the food portion has been settled and we can focus on the other components of the wedding! With the gathering of all loved ones, I took the chance to celebrate the HTB's birthday too! (: 

Having attended service this morning, I am truly excited and looking forward to Arise and Build 2013/2014 even though we're in the midst of preparing for our big day and home! (: Can't wait to build God His house! (: Anyway, Walter, Billy and I headed to Carnivore at MBS after service this morning. The food was awesome and I'm glad the birthday boy loved his birthday treat! We then did some shopping at MBS and Billy even got a pair of nice Hush Puppies shoes for the wedding at half price! (: [I love cheap thrills from shopping bargains!]

We then headed to A Pinch Of Salt (no pun intended! the food was rather salty!) to celebrate the birthdays of the November babies in the cell group! It was such a merry affair! (:  

I also received my belated birthday presents which I adore! A card filled with loads of blessings and a Macaron book! (: I can't wait to play with more macarons! (:

We went to Nex after dinner in hope of running more wedding errands. Having gotten our bed and bed frame which will be delivered in December after we paint the house (excited!!), we needed to get new bedsheets for the bed for the wedding. After a really long hunt and loads of market research, we were blessed to be able to get these beauties (fitted sheet, quilt cover, 4 pillow cases and 2 bolster cases) for a great price of $98! We also got a new quilt for our bedroom! I really love this bright beautiful red! (: All these preparation for our wedding, and in particular, our marriage is making me really excited. 

There's so much more to do but I'm glad that we've got a few more things settled for the wedding:

1) Church Invites (I'll share more details on the awesome company we used from JB!)

2) Banquet Invites (waiting to collect!)

3) Caterer (Rasa Catering, highly recommended by friends and loved ones! We even had a free dessert thrown in!)

4) Guo Da Li (Michelle of The Chinese Wedding Shop has really been of so much help to us! All the Chinese traditions have been a chore and loads of confusion!)

5) Helper's list! (To refine but it's awesome!)

6) Florist + Mummy's bouquets (Grateful for help from my planner Charlotte from Mirage Flowers in planning! She's got really cool ideas for my pew flowers that I'm totally insane about!)

7) MUA for my mummy and sis! 

8) Candy Bar layout (Time to bring out all my pretty serving trays to accompany the lovely jars I'm getting!)

Excited much! Gosh! It's just 2 more months to go! We're truly blessed with help from all our friends, loved ones and cell group members. Gosh! (: EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

A weekend in Johor Bahru

So we were in JB this weekend to settle our invites for the Holy Matrimony. I will share more details on the price for printing in the shop that we chose. 

One thing I love about Malaysia is that due to the exchange rate, things are cheaper for us. This is especially so for food. It's just such a delight to dine in JB!

We took the opportunity to do a short getaway in Grand Bluewave Hotel, a hotel I used to visit as a kid. My family and I visited it so very often for short getaways. It's my first visit after 14 years. Things are still the same as much as things have changed. The old stuff we used to be so familiar with have gone with time. It did revoke a lot of memories, some too painful to bear. 

In any case, the buffet from the hotel that we had intended to have was mediocre that we decided to head out to eat instead. We headed to KSL City to have our dinner. 

We love dining at Seasons, Malaysia's version of Swenson's. The exchange rate once again makes it very favourable for us to dine. The baked fish rice was divine. I shall attempt to recreate a similar dish! Oh yes, we paid merely SGD$24 for all these dishes as well as a drink. 

I managed to get another 2 books for myself and one for my mum. I bought a total of 4 books! I could have gotten them at a cheaper price should I have brought my Popular Card! But it's alright, I shall remember to bring it in two week's time when we head back to collect our wedding invites (: 

The breakfast in hotels is one of the favourite things I love. However, the one served in the hotel this morning was blah. Well, at least it has inspired me to do up a good recipe for Omelettes! 

We checked out and headed for City Square for more food and shopping. 

Lunch was at Canton-i and it was good. I loved almost everything we had. This meal only set us back RM70+. We even applied for their membership card and can earn points in their participating outlets. 

Billy then went to have a massage at our favourite massage place while I went for some pampering at the new branch of my favourite nail place. My fingers and feet are finally free from dead skin and junk! I just love having my cuticles trimmed. I paid only sgd$34 for both classic mani and pedi with express quickdry for my manicure. Loving the new OPI colour range by the way! 

We then had Baskin Robbins and Delifrance's fruit tart for tea! I know, we eat a lot! That's only the case when we travel. Speaking of which, I wonder if its possible to whip up some home-made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice-cream.. I simply love this flavour! Anyway, I'm such a fan of fruit tarts that I think I should just whip some up real soon! 

We did more shopping and I purchased two tops and a dress for a really cheap price. 

There was this shop that was closing down and all their stuff was One for One! I paid $13+ each for these beauties! 

We then had dinner at Dragon-i. It was decent, just that my noodle was way too spicy for me. I just realised that my tolerance for spicy food is really bad since Billy is allergic to chilli and we don't usually have it in our diet. But it was generally good. 

We were caught in the bad congestion on our way back (what's new!). The queue was packed for the customs but we managed to speed through it in 5 minutes. However, the way for the bus was gruelling and it took us a total of 1.5 hours to get out of it. Nevertheless, it was a good trip. 

Now, it's back to work tomorrow. It's the Mother Tongue PSLE paper and I'm invigilating. It's a pretty odd feeling judging the fact that 13 years ago, I took my PSLE. Nevertheless, it's a good experience being an invigilator. 

Do you like going to JB too? What are some of your favourite haunts? Do share them with me! (: 

Off to Johor Bahru

Here I am in the hotel room while Billy is getting some sleep. Poor boy has been unwell since last night but we stuck to our plans to head into JB to get our wedding invites for the Holy Matrimony printed. 

I'm pretty relieved that the wedding invites have been settled and they'll be ready for collection in 2 weeks' time. That's one more item off the list. Next week, we're gonna get our Banquet Invites settled too. 

I quite fancy coming into JB reason being that our exchange rates make it very favourable for Singaporeans to spend money here. The food here is cheap. The shopping here is marginally cheaper. And so are the cookbooks. I've just added two more cookbooks to my extensive collection. They're some what cheaper than what we'd pay in Singapore. They'd actually be cheaper if I brought my Popular Card! However, being the lazy me, I really hate carrying tons of cards that I hardly use most of the time. After all, in Singapore Popular Stores, I can simply use my IC for verification purposes. Nevertheless, new cookbooks on top of the other two that Billy got me from Hong Kong earlier this week makes me a really happy girl! 

In fact, he's even gotten snacks for my family, Kinder Surprise (one of my absolute favourite!), toner and even a bottle of Baileys for me! I'm truly blessed.

I shall go grab some rest before we head out for dinner later tonight. So here's a picture of us before we took bus 950 into JB! 

Weekend of whirlwind emotions

This weekend has really been one of whirlwind emotions. That kinda explains why I look really pale this weekend. In fact, the entire week has been a whole mess for me. 2 deaths and the hospitalisation of a loved one. I'm drained. It has really gotten me thinking... ): Not a good thing since I have a rather fertile imagination and the tendency for it to go wild is pretty high. 

I have since learnt this weekend that family is more important than anything. 

Despite all the sad stuff, I got to see my wedding band on Friday. We picked a nice band of diamonds to complement my engagement ring (: 

I cooked dinner on Saturday night as I was too tired to head out. I just needed time to do things that I liked to get things off my head. I prepared Mango Salsa, Baked Tuna Pasta and Mushroom Soup. 

I also baked some Ombre Stacks on Sunday morning after a failed attempt to get out of bed. I guess I just need rest. Loads and loads of rest.

Mummy and I then headed out for late lunch/early dinner and we had Claypot Rice in this coffeeshop at Serangoon Avenue 2. Most hawkers do not bother cooking Claypot Rice from scratch but this owner does. The 15 minutes we spent waiting was well worth the time waiting. 

We then headed to Nex whereby there was a Gundam Expo. The fav boy would love it.. it's a pity he's in Hong Kong and will only be back on Tuesday. There's a typhoon that's happening in Hong Kong right now.. If you're reading, please help me pray for Billy and his parents as they're in Hong Kong right now. I really can't express how much is going through my mind worrying when it's been running faster than it's usual speed this week. I'm hoping too that there will not be any delays to their flight on Tuesday and that they will have a safe journey. If you're praying for us/with us, THANK YOU. 

Amyway, Billy's such a fan of Gundams and it's made me love them too. I love those with wings, the more 'separated' they are, the more I like them. 

It's time to head back to school tomorrow. I feel like I have yet to recharge but I can only look forward to next Saturday when Billy and I head to JB to have our wedding invites printed. PSLE English and Mathematics paper on Thursday and Friday... less teaching periods. That makes me fear that I cannot get my syllabus completed in time! Gosh... just 9 more weeks to the end of semester with more interruptions coming up! Oh dear!

Billy & Cynthia Post 9: Things to bring for photoshoot

So, we did our photoshoot on the 4th of March. We got to select our photographs on the 23rd. We were blessed to have our great friends TYE and SSS to select the photographs with us. Of course, the best part and the funniest part was our silly little wedding planner, Shayna. 

"This one not nice, don't want."

"This one not nice because you sit on the floor" and proceeds to fling the photograph across the table. 

She made the photo selection such a breeze!

We have only 35 photographs in the package that we signed up for but there were 200+ photographs that we took throughout the photoshoot. Most of them were generally pretty with some exception of unflattering angles/weird facial expressions. Some locations that I really liked were edited with horribly weird contrasts RUINING the images. I was pretty upset but then again, the photos for those images weren't too amazing so giving them up were not so much of a waste. What I cannot understand was their motive behind editing the photographs so heavily to get a specific effect like 'nostalgia'. Why not show me the raw images? Odd indeed. 

In any case, this blog post is to help those who are planning to or are going to do their pre-wedding photoshoot. Here's a list of stuff to bring and or prepare. (:

Billy & Cynthia POST 8: Pre-wedding Photoshoot

So, we did our pre-wedding photoshoot on the 4th of March. It was raining the week before and was predicted to rain the week following the photoshoot. We were indeed blessed with the awesome non-humid weather. We started off really early in the morning at 9am. We were really blessed to have my MOH, Esther come along for the photoshoot to give us a helping hand! 

Click on to read more as.......

Billy & Cynthia POST 7: Selected Photoshoot Gowns

Here are my selected gowns for the photoshoot. I'm totally in love with the corseted bustier type of gown as it flatters my body the most. For the indoor photoshoot, I'm using my AD WG, my AD EG. For the outdoor photoshoot, I'm using these two gowns: the PS WG and the PS EG. (: 

Click here for the NAYS of my gown fitting session! Click on for the gowns that I've selected plus photos of my trial makeup with Helen (:

Billy & Cynthia POST 6: Prewedding photoshoot preparation II

So as the photoshoot day draws nearer, we're filled excitement! I've just submitted the last assignment today before my recess week and boy do I feel great!

I'm having my final bridal fitting prior to the photoshoot and also my trial makeup with Helen. Excited much! Just too excited for our photoshoot on Monday. In this blog entry, I'm gonna share some of the preparation we've done for the photoshoot.

Billy & Cynthia POST 6: The Gown Fitting, The Nays

Before we start, here are some acronyms I'll be using: 

AD = Actual Day

PS = Photo Shoot

WG = Wedding Gown

EG = Evening Gown

So I did my gown fitting in Seletar Broadway in the last week of December. I took about 3h+ to pick my AD WG, AD EG, PS WG & PS EG as well as for the fav boy to pick out 2 suits. 

Selecting the AD WG was relatively easy as I've already had my eyes set on a particular gown before we signed our package. In this entry, I'll be sharing the NAYS of my gown fitting.

Billy & Cynthia POST 4: Charis Methodist Church

About 2 weeks ago, our payment for Charis Methodist Church was made after Charis confirmed our application. Even though we're from City Harvest Church, we're unable to have our church wedding in the main auditorium at our preferred time as Children's Church will be on then. We would have to settle for Chinese Church or Children's Church, something which I didn't want. Forgive me but who wouldn't want a dreamy location to have their wedding ceremony? Even CHC's main auditorium was a lil' off my dreamy expectation of a venue for and the fav boy even promised me balloons to do up CHC's main auditorium if we were to have it in CHC. 

However, since the timings and venue didn't match, we sourced for more options. 

We're truly blessed to have found Charis Methodist Church which coincidentally is where Cam & Pris tied the knot earlier this year. The images I found online had me mesmerised as the Sanctuary was just so wedding-ish. So as they're open to rental for Baptised Christians, I was thrilled.

We sent in our email with questions etc. and about a year before our wedding, we had our application submitted. By God's grace, we have gotten it and placed our deposit. 

As non-methodist baptised christians, we're paying $1240 as we have about 300-400 guests. We placed a 50% deposit to secure the venue for our big day. 

In addition, we are allowed to have our pastor wed us. So, by faith, it'll be Pastor Zhuang who'd be marrying us! So, if you're looking for a church wedding venue like we did, you may consider Charis Methodist Church. More details of the applications here and the rules & regulations here.

Billy & Cynthia: Overview

For easy access, here's a consolidation of all the blog posts related to our wedding preparation! 

Billy & Cynthia POST 1: The beginning

Billy & Cynthia POST 2: The Proposal

Billy & Cynthia POST 3: Our Bridal Package

Billy & Cynthia POST 4: Charis Methodist Church

Billy & Cynthia POST 3: Our bridal package

Here's a sneek peek at the evening gown for my Actual Day banquet! 

As we all know, what's a wedding without beautiful wedding gowns? It's said to be the only white dress that would make every girl the prettiest girl that very day of their wedding. So, of course for Our Big Day, I want to don a beautiful white wedding gown and walk down the aisle to the favourite boy who would be eager to marry me! (:

Image taken from this website.

So, we needed a bridal studio that could provide us with the rental of gowns, make-up as well as photography for our pre-weddding shoot as well as actual day. We visited close to 15 bridal studios both locally and in JB to hunt for the right one. Trust me, bridal visiting is a very tiring process. I'll be blogging more about what some of the local studios as well as JB studios offered us. 

As the entry is relatively long, please click on the link below to read more! (: 

Billy & Cynthia POST 2: The Proposal

So, it's been 2+ months since we've been engaged. 27 October 2012. The favourite boy sure knows how to catch me off guard. As our anniversary is on the 3rd of October, I didn't want him to 'recycle' date.. So, even though we purchased our rings in late September (Yes I picked my own ring!), I was waiting for THE PROPOSAL! One thing great bout' purchasing my ring with him, even though it wasn't much of a surprise was that I get to pick what I like. Many men that I know of, including Mr Chu would just walk into the shop, see the rings available, pick the first one and just make payment. I'm just glad that I picked out my ring from Lee Hwa with a great price. Totally digging my solitaire of 0.4 carat with a great colour and cut! We got it at half price as well. (: Talk about great bargains! 

Anyway, as this blog post is image intensive, please click on the link below to get to the whole story (: 

Billy & Cynthia POST 1: The beginning

So as some of you may already know, I'm tying the knot soon with the favourite boy! The man who has been supportive of me through my good and bad times. It's been on my mind for a bit to do up a wedding blog but frankly speaking, it is already tough as it is to manage this blog.. So I guess I'm gonna do a lumped up blog with my personal life injected here too! This is also cos' the favourite boy has hardly any time to blog unlike in his younger days due to his work commitments so if I'm gonna be the only one blogging, it might as well be here! (: Maybe I can get him to guest-write here!

Anyway, we got engaged on 27 October 2012 (more details to follow in another blog post!), just a day after my birthday. It was something I've been waiting for (: However, as I was still busy with my school assignments and exams, I wasn't allowed to do any wedding planning till' my school semester ended. By the time my school semester ended, I was out full force! I started getting bridal magazines and emailed many hotels for quotations for our banquet, photographers, bridal studios etc etc! We even visited bridal studios in Johor Bahru in hope that we could get better deals. We do not drive so imagine how 'gung ho' we were to travel in and intended to travel in for our bridal!

Anyway, with our planning came meetings after meetings, emails after emails, visits after visits! We were really ALL OVER THE PLACE in search of the perfect bridal studio, photographer, church, hotel/restaurant. Indeed, by God's grace, we've managed to secure some of these stuff! I'll share more about our search and bridal packages etc in time to come for interested brides/grooms to be as reference!

I'll be sharing more about our flat application for our first home in Tampines too! (: 

Anyway, after a long search, we finally settled down on Seletar Bridal. Here's a sneak peek at my actual day evening gown:

The colour for this gown is just totally me. Electric blue is one of my favourite colours. In fact, I love my OPI coloured electric blue nail polish that it's a shade I often have on my nails! I'm just totally in love with all 4 gowns that I've selected for my wedding. Even though my wedding is still technically a year away, I've already selected my photoshoot gowns for our photoshoot in March as well as my actual day gown. Indeed, God is awesome and He provides for our every need! (:

So, I'll stop just about here for now. I've got so much to share but let me do it in instalments so that you can follow our wedding preparation if you're keen. Till then, tata! (: