wkev #3: The Date, Venue & Photographer.

Let me just say one thing. Apart from compromising the family on how they want your wedding to be, planning an overseas wedding is a complete pain in the behind. Even with a wedding planner I'm struggling with so many things.

The Date

February the 14th and 15th 2015. Yes, it's Valentine's Day which is a pain. I'll explain why later. It's going to be only a morning-afternoon event on the 14th so all couples can still go out paktoh candlelight dinner that evening. See we so thoughtful right, you're very welcome wtf. 

The Venue

So there is going to be 2 events which obviously needed 2 venues. For the first venue, we were unable to secure it with a deposit early this year because they do not take deposit until mid year where they review the wedding packages. In other words, up the prices. Sigh. We will be receiving the reviewed package and fingers-crossed it won't be too much of a difference. 

We've managed to secure our second venue which is this Chinese restaurant back in Klang, this would be for our reception. I was talking to my dad a few days back and he said he went there for a family friend's wedding dinner recently and... wait for it... the food sucked real bad. Hohoho can things get anymore worse? Wtf. I guess the only thing to do now is to grill and pressure the manager kaokao during tasting making sure everything is good during the day. 

Since we haven't managed to officially secure Venue 1 I won't reveal where it is - never underestimate the power of The Jinx wtf. But second one ok :D

Source

It didn't take us long to decide as there's only a handful of restaurants in Klang that you can hold a wedding reception in. I've had dimsum in this place once and thought the food was pretty good, so was the way the interior looked. But of course serving dishes on a normal business hour and serving banquet for 500 people is completely different so it's no surprise if they only do better in one of it. Haih can only hope for the best.

The Photographer

With so many options out there obviously I didn't have a clue who to go for. Pictures alone don't describe how well the photographers work during the day. So the wedding planner asked me to send her a few  wedding pictures I like and from there she quickly concluded with the style of photography I like and suggested 4 that are good in that sort of photography. I have to say that it was extremely helpful because photographs are really the only memory of the day you can keep so it's best to go with one that are good at capturing moments the way you like. You don't want to look at your album 5-10 years later and cringe at it.

Wk and I really liked this one particular photographer but unfortunately, for 2 days his rate was out of our budget. So the plan was to get him to do a half day shoot on the 14th since the event is going to be only half the day anyway and I'll get someone cheaper to do the 15th which is going to be a full day event. The event on 14th is the only one which means the most to me so it only makes sense to go for my favourite.

Well guess what? Photographer got back to me saying because Valentine's Day is a "hot day", he doesn't do half day, only full day. Unless I take him to do full day on 15th, he won't agree to only do half day on the 14th.

I'm not a Valentine's Day person to start with. This only made me detest the day 3765249x more because it gives everyone the one and only fucking reason to add unnecessary charges to everything on a completely insignificant day where nothing historic happened, or nobody important died. It's just a stupid day where restaurant and florist owners (and photographers for this matter) are laughing heinously behind their cash counter because they can overcharge everything and everyone stupidly ignores the fact that everything is overpriced and pays for it anyway.

*takes a deep breath*

Ok. Sorry I digress. So after much consideration, even though it's not what we wanted, we decided to readjust our budget so that we can still afford him to do both days because the last thing I need, is to regret not going for the photographer I wanted right from the start. Again, we haven't secured him officially (getting my sister to do it for me) so I won't say who's this babai photographer. 

And apparently, I live in the stone age.

Sorry la when I left Malaysia 3 years ago there was no internet banking lor. Back in my time to do any transaction everyone still goes to the bank while clutching their bags tightly and look front back left right making sure no motorbikes around you wtf.

Thank goodness we're not doing any pre-wedding shoot anyway so that sort of allowed us to extend the budget for the photographer. I wasn't bothered to do it because I personally don't think they're nice. Why do we need to dress up in exaggerated gowns and suits and stand in the middle of a place which means nothing to us? Not forgetting posing awkwardly for it. I really don't get it. At the end of the day the album gets stashed somewhere and completely forgotten about. And this is quoting from a married woman who's been there done that - my mom.

I think the best wedding pictures are the ones you look genuinely happy in, like the ones taken on the actual day of the wedding? No need to think about posing and all that. And you get to share the moment with your family and friends and all these real emotions are captured which is so much more meaningful and memorable when you look back at it.

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Ok this post is getting way too long so had to leave The Dress to the next post. This wedding business is like money-making scheme. So much cost for just a day. 

The Premises

The Premises is this cafe situated about 10 minutes walk from where we live. I was looking through my collection of food pictures and to my surprise, I didn't even realize we've visited this place so many times! And this is not even counting the other many times I've been there and did not take any pictures of my food.

To be honest I don't even find this to be the best cafe anyway. Most of the times the coffee is good but at times it's forgettable, the menu doesn't change much and the variety is nothing to shout about except for some occasional specials. I guess because it's just too convenient when you want to have breakfast and not bothered to go too far away.

Some of these pictures were taken as long as a year ago and they're not on the menu anymore. Some were specials of the day. 

They would have a sweet dish and it's usually french toast. I can't remember what this one had. Looking at it it looks like pear, praline/crumble and some kind of flavoured mascarpone. They don't change much with this dish, usually it's a different fruit and maybe a different crunchy element.

Absolutely not a fan of this sort of dish - cold, cured fish. I don't know how people can eat this for breakfast/brunch. For me, give me toast, eggs, and something protein (smoked salmon, ham, bacon) and I'm a happy woman.

Can anyone guess what kind of coffee drinker we are already? Wk is a latte man, I'm a cappuccino girl.

Out of everything we've tried, this is my favourite. Premises Eggs Benedict with Newmarket smoked ham, free range poached eggs and pink peppercorn hollandaise. Sadly, this isn't in their menu, it was one of the specials of that day.

Corned beef and potato hash with sauerkraut, mustard aioli and a poached egg.

Another unappetizing looking cold dish. Uek. And of course, it's usually something Wk would order and ended up not liking it lol. Tsk tsk, man just never learn their lesson.



Will I go back? Yes, why not? I can't really complain if it's only a stone's throw away can I?

小白

So most people who are friends with me on FB or follow me on Instagram would have known this but...

WE GOT A CAR!

I'm not the kind of person who gives an asset a name (well in the past I used to but let's not remember that part of me shall we? Lol) but somehow this car screams the word 小白 Xiao Bai (little white) to me. The name makes me cringe because it sounds very cheesy but it is the perfect description of what the car is: a little white car.

We got a 1.3cc Toyota Yaris Hatchback with 5 doors - size and performance wise I would say it's quite similar to a Myvi? But take my word with a grain of salt, I'm a woman wtf. Now if you're like me and you find it silly that they actually count the boot as a door, high 5! Lol. 

Anyway, we picked this car because of its price and how low the finance interest rate (1%!) was. We were contemplating for a while whether to get a second hand or a brand new but with such a low interest rate, we'd be an idiot to not get a brand new car. You never know what sort of problems that come with second hand cars. At least with a new car you're assured with warranties and stuff.

We have been commuting with public transport for a while now (3 years for me and 7 years for Wk) and we have been pretty comfortable with it as we are currently leasing a property in a suburb 4 km from the city and it doesn't take too long for us to get to and fro our workplace. But obviously there are plenty of  "How nice if we had a car", or "if we had a car..." moments that made us seriously consider getting one.

Taking public transport is not an issue. It's mainly the wait - the gap in between each scheduled train. It basically wastes a lot of time because there is absolutely nothing you can do about it but to wait for your only form of transport to take you home/to work. 

For example, because there isn't a proper supermarket around my area, I had to take the train to the nearest supermarket. And to do that on a weekend, I will need at least 1.5-2 hours to get there, shop and be back. The journey takes 13 minutes tops, the shopping probably takes only half an hour. The rest of the time is spent walking to the station and waiting for the train. If there's a car I could have done everything in under an hour.

Another example is if I finish work at 9.30pm and when I get to the train station at 9.40pm, the train would have just left and I will have to wait for a 10pm train and only get home at 10.15pm. That's 45 minutes wasted in a day! If there's a car I could have been back at home even before 10pm.

But of course that wasn't the only reason. The other main reason was we are currently looking for a property to purchase. After paying for someone else's mortgage for years, we've finally decided, or rather, saved up enough to want to pay for our own mortgage. At first we were doing inspections by taking public transport and lots of walking of course.

Worst idea ever.

There is no way for us to expect our ideal property to be close to trains anymore if we're on a budget. So there was a lot of walking involved when we first looked at places. A WHOLE FREAKING LOT OF WALKING. 

By the end of the day, after doing so much walking only to end up with disappointment that the property isn't what we wanted, we were tired, frustrated and demotivated all at the same time. And at our pace, we could only do a maximum of 3 a day and that's the maximum we could do in a week as we only have Saturdays to do it. 

Ok lah cheong hei-ness aside, now that we have a car, problems solved! Things we have been doing A LOT with it are:

1. Inspect properties in other suburbs more efficiently.

With a car, on a Saturday we could inspect at least 5-6 properties. Not only that, we have the time to actually drive around the suburb and see what's there and get a feel of the neighborhood. 

2. Having breakfast before starting our day :D

Whether on a Saturday before heading out to inspect properties, or before I start work on a Sunday. We live pretty close to some nice cafes but sometimes to think about having to wake up extra early because need to catch the right train and walk etc, forget it la just have cereal or toast at home.

Pulled pork and chorizo bagels at Manchester Press

3. Picking each other up from work!

So it mainly started with mostly Wk sending me to and picking me from work. Such a nice feeling ok knowing I don't have to wait for and take a train home after a long exhausting day at work. The thing is I haven't had my licence converted so technically I'm not supposed to drive. So poor Wk had to do all the driving haha, not that I like to drive anyway. But I have since started to pick him up after work form a train station nearby just so that I can start practicing before I go for the test to convert my licence! 

Sibeh nervous lo the first time I drove by myself but I'm slowly getting used to the ever confusing and complicated Melbourne traffic. I have no problems driving in Malaysia even though I don't know where I'm going because the traffic is pretty straightforward. But over here especially in the city have to look at GPS and the unfamiliar signs and have to watch out for bike lanes la, pedestrians la, trams la. Omfg in future if I'm rich I will hire a driver wtf.

4. Buying groceries!

No need to lug home heavy shopping bags anymore, hooray! I hate it with a passion wtf. Before this we were doing online shopping and have them delivered but you can't shop online for everything! You need to pick your own fresh produce like fruits! What if they give you an apple that has dropped into a drain wtf. 

One of the things that we love eating but never really used to buy was watermelon - because it's so freaking heavy even if it's just a cut of it! Now with a car, one whole watermelon also no problem hahaha. One whole watermelon for only 2 people walao, eat until lao sai lo wtf.

Ughh my eyebrows were so horrible, see also tulan wtf. Didn't have time to wax them.

Ok la itu sahaja. Wedding planning is going really slow as we've been focusing more on looking for a property. 10 more months to go omfg.

wkev #2: Wedding Woes

Sigh. 

I don't know if planning a wedding is stressful or I am just putting stress upon myself.

We are pretty much set on the date. Initially it was going to be next February the 14th. Yes, it's Valentine's Day and no, I did not pick that date because it's Valentine's Day. I picked it because it was the Saturday before Chinese New Year and it just happens to be Valentine's Day. If anything, I would rather not do it on that day. I don't quite fancy sharing my wedding anniversary with few millions of people out there. That's one thing. Flowers are going to be triple the price from what they would normally cost, and this is not even  bridal/wedding flowers, which are already exorbitantly priced to begin with. 

So we sort of settled with the 15th. I say 'sort of' because we haven't booked/placed any deposit on the restaurant/venue that we want. We have decided what we wanted for one of the venues but it's not taking any bookings/deposits yet until June. As for the restaurants, we're still trying to figure out approximately for how many tables it's going to be.

Let me just explain what is stressing me out in the simplest way possible.

I want a simple, intimate wedding with approximately 200 people combined. My dad wants minimum 15 tables only for his side. I don't want Chinese banquet. My dad wants Chinese banquet. I want to do a blessing ceremony but there's no venue we've found that can hold more than 150 people. I want to enjoy the day especially with my closest friends and not sit down and be like a piece of ornament.

Does that pretty much summarizes it?

We've finally figured out that to do what I want (it's always what the bride wants, isn't it? Hahah), there will need to be 3 events. A morning tea ceremony done after the groom 'picks up' the bride, a blessing ceremony followed by lunch reception with a small group of people, and lastly Chinese banquet reception dinner. 

HOW TO FIT ALL OF THAT IN 1 DAY???

We can't. After brainstorming for 2 days, we finally worked out a flow we thought was perfect. Basically we had to split it between the Saturday and Sunday. We were so excited we couldn't stop praising ourselves for being such a genius for coming up with such a perfect plan wtf. When I mentioned this flow to my parents, first thing they said is "CANNOT LAH SUNDAY DO LIKE THAT TOO RUSH ALREADY DOWAN DO LIKE THAT LAH."

And we thought we had the perfect plan and almost went ahead to put a deposit already. Do you know how frustrating it is when someone just slams you and crashes your hopes like that?

Ok let's move on to wedding planner. Initially we said we're going to get a wedding planner. But after researching on the venues/restaurants ourselves, we realize it's actually not as difficult as we thought it's going to be. Maybe we don't need a wedding planner after all? But at the same time we're afraid that it's not going to be as simple as it looks further down the track. The main reason being we're after all not in Malaysia, there will definitely be restrictions in certain things that we need to do. Eg. custom making a wedding gown. But I can't see how having a wedding planner is going to help with that anyway.

Next, our honeymoon. We thought we had it planned out perfectly already even got so damn excited when we scored cheap Airasia return flights to Malaysia. Plus my leave was approved! Our plan was wedding, CNY, honeymoon in Western Europe. And then my French friend come telling me going to France in winter is a no-no. 

HAIH WHYYYYYY. I don't mind winter (I actually find it romantic hahah), I prefer it over 30 degrees to be honest. But she said it's much more beautiful in spring when flowers bloom, rather than facing the cold and wrap up like a dumpling. She's got a point too.

I dunno lah. I think I should stop taking opinions from people and do what makes me happy. It's MY money after all. Why should I let others decide what I should do with it.

BTW by "I" for the most part, I meant Wk and I. It's our wedding, but he usually goes with what I want anyway hehehe. 

French Crepes with Salted Caramel and Almonds

I was really craving some crepes the other night (salted caramel and almonds in particular - BEST coombination everrrr) and passed by Le Petit Creperie. There was a long queue there and that can only mean one thing: Long queue + stressed French girl trying to churn out crepes = lousy crepes. True story. To be honest, sometimes even if it's not busy, their crepes can taste pretty shitty. It really depends on the person making it/the batter that day.

Then I had a lightbulb moment. Why not make my own crepes at home? That way I can have as much as I want, and if it's not perfect at least I didn't pay for shitty crepes and I won't complain my ass off. Off we went to Coles to get some butter, cream and milk.

For the salted caramel, I used Browneyedbaker's. She's my go-to whenever I needed my sweet fix and I can't be bothered paying for shitty ones but I can be bothered making myself. Her recipes so far have never failed to impress.

For the crepe recipe, I used Allrecipe's. It was a random find, but a pretty good one I'd say. The recipe said to use a hand mixer. I wasn't bothered to take them out and plug them in, so I whisked it with a kitchen whisk. The mixture was lumpy as hell so I had to strain it once to get a smooth batter. I tried making this again with a hand mixer and wth, there were still lumps when I strained it. My French colleague Lisa made crepes and brought to work once and they were delicious. She suggested letting the batter rest, which I did the second time round but I don't know what difference it actually made. With the melted butter, I also used vegetable oil the second time round as a substitute and it worked the same. Which is great because then you can save the trouble of meting the butter.

I like my almonds slightly over toasted/browned.  

Bowl and spoonful of goodness mmm... I can eat this with ANYTHING.

We asked our European housemates how are crepes normally sold in Europe. And this was what they did! 

Before this I used to fold them into quarters (or one eights) like 'kueh kapit', but a very soft one haha. 

By the way crepe in Europe is pronounced like CRAP, not CRAY-P.

This is super easy to prepare and super delicious! Salted caramel + almond = Match made in heaven!

Next time I'll try wrapping ham, cheese and tomato in it. These thin pancakes are so versatile!

The pink hurr

So while I was back in Malaysia I decided to colour my hair. I didn't know what I wanted to do with it when I went there but I knew I HAD to do something cos I was getting really sick of it.

Actually when I saw this picture yesterday I suddenly miss my hair  HAHAHA.

So I was basically bored of the length and colour. Before I went back to Malaysia I kept telling Wk "The next time I dye my hair it's going to be black!"

Well I'm such a big fat lying bitch lol. Can't help it ok, I'm just a very normal woman who cannot make up her mind.

I have this tendency to not make decisions until the very last minute. Ok maybe not even minute, the very last second. If we're out eating and everyone has decided what they would order and I haven't, I'll say yes I'm ready and only decide right when the waitress asks me what I want lol. Terror leh.

So there I was in the chair with Hikky beside me at Number 76 Style in Mont Kiara. I knew I wanted to cut and colour, but I dunno what. While I was flipping the colour chart, I decided I wanted to highlight it. Not only that, I decided to highlight it PINK. Dunno where that came from. And to match the pink highlights, I went with a pinky brown base for the rest of the hair.

I didn't know how short I wanted it to be, I saw her hair and it's about up to her shoulders so I told her "Cut like your length lah". And then she looked at it, she asked me you want about here (*points) or shorter? I looked at it, didn't seem like there's any difference to me lol so I say "Just make it short lah".

After 3 gruelling hours of sitting down and reading the same magazine 271854 times....



(Picture taken at home not in the salon cos I shy hehe)

I LOVED IT!!!

Such a great change to what I'm used to! I've never walked out of a salon feeling so damn confident ok? To me my fringe is the ultimate most important part of my hair - it makes or breaks my confidence. This time I told her I want to grow my fringe so she didn't really touch it. And she didn't cut my hair too short either, it's the perfect length! It's shorter than what I expected but I actually liked it! And the colour... just wow hahaha.

I was actually expecting light, pastel pink because I was really concerned that I couldn't go to work with pink hair. I even ask her many many times, like maaaaaaaany times "Its not going to be bright right?" x 8387625 times. When the guy painted the pink (which was really bright) I panicked a little and asked "It's not going to be this bright right???" lol.

So yes it's not bright but it's definitely not light! You can so see the pink and I was thinking to myself, "Shit. How to go to work??" Pink hair in a 5 star hotel? Sure, if you're staying in there not working there wtf.

But at the same time I really liked it! Otherwise I wouldn't have taken a gazillion pictures of it LOL.

This was taken a day after.

Basically what they did was (in the exact order):

1. Cut. I took about 6-7 inches off.

2. Highlights. Using a rat tail comb, the hair is carefully sectioned into a few small, thin pieces and then bleached. They are then wrapped in foil and left on while they colour the rest of the hair. This is probably the most laborious step out of the entire process. And by the end of it you'll look extra fabulous with all the pieces of foil sticking out of your head.

3. Colour. The rest of the hair that's not bleached is then coloured with the base colour I chose, which was a pinky brown.

4. Rinse and coloured highlights. After all the dye is being washed out, the pink is then applied to the bleached sections of the hair. I believe a special dye is used as it only adheres to the bleached hair and not the unbleached ones.

5. Rinse, touch up and blowdry.


This was definitely not cheap, but it was worth it for me because I loved it. If you've had your hair done and EVERYONE can see it (and not forgetting that few compliments you managed to fish), that's thumbs up, job well done and you've gotten your money's worth already.

The only thing I regretted was not doing a treatment. My hair was quite dry from all that bleaching. But the thought of sitting through another half to an hour scares me already. At the end of it I was starving and couldn't wait to get the hell out of that chair lol.

Now. I did my hair on the 8th of January. Here's how it looked like on 31st of January:

You can still see a few strands of pink (there's more in the insides) but almost 80% is faded already especially those that are more exposed to the sun.

To me it's a relief because that means I was able to go to work without any problems. But no more pink hair liao :(

Here's how it looks like now, just brown with highlights which I still like.

If you're thinking of highlighting your hair with colour (not blonde highlights), you need to know one thing.

Anything on bleached hair will NEVER last. Ever.

You can probably get a way with 1-2 weeks max with whatever colour you put on top of your bleached hair. After that, it will fade into your original bleached colour which is blonde (with many variations depending on hair type). And this is even if you're using colour-protective shampoo/conditioner.

Eventhough it didn't last long, I loved it while it lasted.

Now... gotta grow out this hair cos Wk insisted I have longer and darker hair for our wedding wtf. Look who's the demanding one in a wedding now, it's not even him in a dress. Groomzilla wtf.

wkev #1: At Tiffany & Co.

Yesterday we went to Tiffany to get my ring resized. Sorry to sound a bit jakun since it's my first time there. Can I say how amazing the customer service at Tiffany is? Every sales person is so attentive, polite and professional. They are in no way intimidating or judgmental at all. I don't know if they bitch about customers behind their backs but to be able to make the customers feel absolutely at ease in store is job well done already. After providing their services there's a (very handsome ahem) butler who serves you drinks (water, coffee, tea or even champagne if they're extra nice). I couldn't stop checking him out LOL!

According to Wk, the people at Cartier couldn't compare at all. They were less approachable and helpful. The resizing policy is zero. Wtf? How can they expect everyone to know the precise finger size? These are not situations where you can just secretly steal a girl's cheap ring (usually in size S, M or L wtf) and use it to find out her size, you need something absolutely precise because 1. it's for life. 2. it's SO. MUCH. MONEY to be spending on a wrong size!

While we were there we looked at some possibilities for our wedding bands. Initially I wanted Cartier because their ring box super atas looking LOL. Yes I know damn ridiculous but it's my wedding so I can be as ridiculous as I want. But Genie (the lady from Tiffany who happens to be a Malaysian who also happens to be the one Maggie and Kai Mun dealt with!) was really nice and we really don't need shitty treatments from Cartier so we decided to just stick with Tiffany.

I decided on mine almost immediately because the Novo has a matching wedding band and it's really the perfect one to go with. All of the men's wedding bands look so boring hahahah. Anyway, it's still way too early for a wedding band, no need to decide yet.

So far nothing has been decided/concluded yet. Date, guest list, venue, theme, budget... It's really hard planning something to happen in Malaysia without being in Malaysia. We might consider getting a wedding planner.

Our initial intention was to have a small, intimate wedding of possibly 200 people at the most. I was skyping with my mom one day while my dad was away. I asked her how many people will he potentially invite excluding our family, so purely his friends. She said maybe 50. The next day when I got to speak to dad personally, guess what? Yup, it's not 50. It's 3 times more. And possibly more than that.

*faints

I was looking at venues which are supposed to only accommodate 200ish people. Now that's all just a waste of time because they can't be used at all. So many things to consider when it comes to venue. Parking, food, cost, service yadda yadda yadda. So many people to please.

So far, stress level is fortunately still at a healthy level. Hahahah. Let's hope it stays that way.