Wedding celebration ceremony. Both Kyan and I are not 100% into the idea of wedding celebration. If given the choice, Kyan said he will not have a wedding dinner. While for me it's 50/50 because when you are in your 30s, you do wonder is it necessary. My mum is okay if we go travel as wedding celebration (结婚旅行) but Kyan's parents want to have wedding dinner for us which I do feel grateful for.
Throughout the years, I have attended many friends and colleagues wedding dinner. Of course, I do wonder will I have my own wedding dinner someday or how it will look like. Will my dream wedding come true?
So, after having sifu calculated wedding auspicious date for us (4 dates for us to choose), in the end we choose 25 June 2023. Which means we have only 4 months for preparation. It is quite stressful for both of us. Do expect a lot of conflicts and argument between your partner this time. During this time, I do have a lot of mixed emotion.
For our actual day, we will get married in his hometown at Sungai Besar, Selangor. Therefore, we have to arrange accommodation for my family and friends side.
There's a lot of struggle and I am having hard time as well as the ceremony will be at Sungai Besar, Selangor which is consider as outstation. Because there's a lot of services that doesn't cover that area, I have to spend more time on research and asking around.
But I am happy that we can go through this tough period and begin this new chapter of life together.
Anyways, let me share some of the wedding preparations from my experience. I do a lot of research because there is a lot of things that I have no knowledge of especially those wedding culture stuff.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ♡ ♡ ♡ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Chinese Betrothal (Guo Da Li)
Due to the fact that Kyan's hometown is 2 hours away from KL (even though it is in Selangor), our chinese betrothal pretty simple and minimal. His parents and sister came to visit my mum during April to talk about our guo da li. Then during our guo da li on 21 May, the parents didn't come and Kyan is the one who bring the dowry money (+ angpao containing money for us to buy stuff for guo da li) and a basket of oranges.
• Wedding Biscuit : 惠芳饼家 Fai Fong Bakery
For the wedding biscuit, I ordered from Fai Fong Bakery (RM10.80 for 2 pcs) shop in Kepong. I added some personal touch to it by changing the packaging lol. The wedding biscuit is recommended as it is not sweet, taste just nice.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ♡ ♡ ♡ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Bedsetting (安床 An Chuang)
For bedsetting, it is the day before our wedding. Kyan's parents brought a bedroom set (queen-sized bed frame (+ bed), a wardrobe, a small bedside table and a dressing table) and also red bedsheet set for his hometown bedroom. So I only need to buy some stuff and deco for the room. I brought all the items mostly from taobao.• Couple pyjamas (We both wear it during our first night after the wedding. After that it is just collecting dust inside the closet as Kyan said he doesn't wear this type of pyjamas. So my advice is if your other half doesn't wear this type of pyjamas, but buy a ordinary t-shirt and pants that you wear normally)
• Wedding bedside lamp - 1 set
• Wedding potty (Descendant potty 子孙桶)
• Bedroom / door deco 囍
• Wedding towel - 1 set
• Wedding bedroom slippers - 1 set
• Wedding floor mat (*optional as I just want to make the room look nicer)
• Wedding 囍 cushion - 1 set (*optional as I just want to make the room look nicer)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ♡ ♡ ♡ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony
I brought most of the stuff from taobao too. It is cheaper, just that the shipping fees has increase recently.• Bridal robe (so the bride can look nice while make-up before changing into qun kua / gown)
• Chinese teapot set (I have to buy this as we didn't have any teapot set to bring to the homestay)
• Bridesmaid and groomsmen clothes (*optional but we decide to prepare the outfit for our ji mui and heng dai)
• Groomsmen props (chinese fan & retro sunglasses)
• Flower boy clothes (prepare this for my youngest nephew so he can looks handsome when opening the groom car door)
• Red umbrella
• Qun kua (traditional chinese wedding costume) (rent from About Hue Studio)
• Wedding hanger - 1 set (for bride and groom qun kua) (*optional)
• Chinese traditional hand fan
• Wedding ang pao
• Door game props (refer my post on chinese wedding door games for more details)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ♡ ♡ ♡ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Wedding Dinner Reception
• Venue (Kyan's parents decide and book the venue which is at 好想吃Hao Xiang Chi Sekinchan)• Invitation card (free invitation card from the restaurant - I have think of design my own invitation card to distribute but in the end we just use the free invitation card, together with e-invitation that I design myself)
• Alcohol (as the restaurant doesn't provide alcohol, need to outsource)
• Emcee (we didn't hire any live band, the restaurant will play background song but we have hire an emcee based on recommendation. The emcee actually want to sing at our wedding but the restaurant can't provide music for her, therefore she can't sing)
• Pre-wedding photo and slideshow (we have to provide two photos for the restaurant for them to put on the LED backdrop as well as the video slideshow - which I do it myself in the end which you can read more about it here)
• Wedding gown & suits (1 set from Enya Mareine, 1 set from About Hue Studio)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ♡ ♡ ♡ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Actual Day
Photographer & videographer : JC ProductionFirstly, if you ever see this studio in Facebook or IG, please search for a better one. Maybe they have improve, but I don't know. I won't recommend them to anyone. I think they lack of professionalism and communication. The day before our actual day, we have to ask them what time they will come tomorrow only they reply. We did list out our schedule before this. But they said they will reach around 6.30am and on the actual day two guys (one photographer and one videographer) reach around 7am. So not much time for photoshoot because the groom will reach at 8am.
Secondly after our big day, when we asked them when can we get the copy of photo and video, they said 30 days. So we waited for one month. The day after one month (Wed), I asked inside the Whatsapp group any updates on the photo/video in the morning. Not even one person reply me that day. Then next day (Thurs) in the evening, one guy reply me saying they will deliver by this week. So we wait until next Mon, there's still no update from them. Then the guy reply that he will deliver tomorrow. Kyan was pissed off and scolded inside the group.
So we got the softcopy on Tues morning but missing a lot of photos. And the editing of the photos are really bad. It is super dark and high contrast. A bit like rushing job outcome? That's when Kyan asked him to uploaded all of the raw file to us. The guy said he will upload the video after lunch. But he didn't. Later he said the video will be uploaded by that night but he didn't upload again. In the end I have to re-edit all the photos before we can share it to our family and friends in late August.
Then the next morning, Kyan asked where is the video. The guy said he is exporting now and uploading soon. So we finally got the video on Wed. But the video, same as the photo is not what we expect. Not much emotion and feel, the outcome is just like to complete an assignment like that. Total disappointment. We found out that the guy is the designer, having too much jobs on hand and can't complete the jobs. We really dislike the fact that they simply promise but can't complete the job. Truly unprofessional.
As for the photographer and videographer, they did do the job and follow our instruction well. But I think they still lack in experience, as the photos and video is not that great, missing a lot of moment and the angles are not right too. Especially during the tea ceremony, instead of having everyone inside the picture, they will either take the back view of the seniors /elderly with us serving the tea to them. Which doesn't really make sense as there's no other picture showing the seniors/ elderly faces.
Make up artist : About Hue Studio
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have hire the MUA from the second bridal studio as I prefer Korean make up style and the package include groom hairstyle as well. Samantha, together with her assistant Hazel are the one who will be in charge of our make up and hair styling. One thing I do regret is sharing the same MUA with my mum and sister as they are late to the wedding venue because they were a bit too slow (even though they said they can handle it without adding another MUA). Therefore, when I completed my look and wearing the dress, Kyan is already outside greeting the guests. I am actually not really happy with my first look as my hair is a bit too voluminous for my liking but there's not much time already. I should have fix it even though it is already late. So one advice here, girls is to have the MUA all by yourself.
Backdrop : @elly_event_decor
I have tough times finding wedding backdrop that cover Sekinchan area, in the end I found this event deco company from XiaoHongShu. Actually I found another one that I would like to go for but because they are quite unresponsive and reply late, therefore I choose this Elly Event Decor. I choose their gold package which consists of backdrop, welcome board, reception table & album area plus RM300 transportation fee. I show them sample of what I want and they said they will work on it. The actual backdrop is pretty nice, just the color of the flowers are a bit dull than what I want (I want it to be more vibrant pink) and also our name on the backdrop is a bit too high.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ♡ ♡ ♡ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Nails : @Maniqure Nail Salon
This time I did my nails at this high-rating nail salon in Sri Petaling. I read a lot of good reviews from google. Went together with my mum and it was quite comfortable as we can actually watch movie from the iPad provided while doing our nails. The staff are friendly and nice. But like always, they said my nails has some design limitation because it is a bit small. 
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ♡ ♡ ♡ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Shoes : @momentshoes
Previously I brought bridal shoes from Momentshoes in PJ during my pre-wedding photoshoot. Lydia, the owner is very patient and nice while choosing the right shoes for you. This time I finally have enough time to get my bridal shoes custom made. The shoes from Momentshoes is really comfortable and with reasonable price. I like the shoes because it is flexible, you can change the straps to match with your outfit (two straps will be provided as well). Truly recommended if you are looking for custom made bridal shoes.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ♡ ♡ ♡ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Accommodation : Christina Homestay Sungai Besar
We rented this homestay for my family and friends (bridesmaid) for 2 days. It is a bungalow that can fit more than 20 pax. It is very spacious but the interior is quite dark. Which make my morning ceremony photos a bit dark which is not my style. Kyan did mention it doesn't worth the price for the facilities. 4- star for entertainment (karaoke, snooker, etc) but 1-star for facilities (equipped with cheap home appliances, no water dispenser). Even though the rooms are spacious and have many beds, there’s no wardrobe, with very small table inside bedroom & uncontrollable bathroom water heater. We even found two cockroaches running around in the bedroom. There 's a lot of mosquitoes inside the bedrooms and
bathrooms. Got one private bathroom at the top floor couldn’t be use, there's a paper stick on the door saying temporary broken but it cause inconvenience to us who stay on top because four of us have to share one bathroom outside the bedroom.
Normally I won't complain this much about an accommodation. But because we rented this just for my wedding day and for my family and friends for them to stay comfortably, surely we want it to match with the price. So not recommended.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ♡ ♡ ♡ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––