the lastsplash

It was six months ago when we had our pre-wedding shoot. Now, a sneak peek at some behind-the-scene photos... Dear wife putting on make-up... The difficult part, sticking on the eyelashes! Our fantastic make-up artist, Candy, from La belle Couture . Our photographer, Kenny, giving dear wife some tips during the indoor shoot... I had make-up too. ;-) Had failed many times to create this hairdo... The mature look... Princess look... My sweetie pie! And the groom all ready too... Hah . One of the outdoor location we had chosen was our Alma Mater, NTU. With the help of our former lecturer, Prof Yeow, we obtained the kind permission of the university to shoot in the school grounds. Some of the places we went included the laboratory, lecture theatre, library and the green roof of the School of Art, Design and Media . Dashing through the famous "fingers" of the university spines. The staffs at the various facilities were informed and welcomed us. In fact, School of Computer Engineer...

For the benefit of my readers who don't Facebook, here are the photos of my Pre-Wedding Shoot , Chinese Customary Wedding and Evening Banquet . If you are preparing for your wedding and like what you see, feel free to drop me a mail with your questions. I am more than happy to share my joy assist you! :-)

My deepest heartfelt gratitude to everyone who attended our wedding banquet! It was my pleasure to have you celebrating this special moment with us! :-) Apologies to those who have missed the photo montage and wedding day highlights due to odd angles or obstructions from your seats. No choice, the restaurant has only one screen. But I hope the food made up for it, FOOD... was the reason why we had chosen a restaurant over hotel ballroom. Below is the photo montage which I did: And here is the link to the wedding day highlights. It is password protected, so drop me a mail so that I can send you the password. ;-) Finally, a very very very big Thank You to everyone who helped us in our wedding, especially the brothers and sisters - you know who you are! It couldn't have been so smooth without your coordination and help!

At the moment, it feels similar to that of the day before an exam paper. The preparation is almost completed. I don't feel like doing anything else other than sleeping...

One of the last traditional custom before the actual day customary wedding is the Bridal Bed Installation Ceremony ( 按床 ). A good fortune woman will install the bridal bed in the bridal room before the wedding day. There is a specific definition for "good fortune woman" - spouses are well and living, sons married and daughter-in-laws bore them grand children. In our case, we got 大姑 to help us. She's really good fortune indeed! :-) I can now countdown to my wedding day using a single hand! The feeling of being drained is slowly replaced by "butterflies"... Woah . Please please please come early for our wedding banquet so that we can start on-time! I hope everyone will enjoy the food (which we decided to prioritise when choosing the venue for the banquet) and have a jolly good time! See You! ;-)

The delivery of dowry ( 送嫁妆 ) is another important custom. It represents parent's effort for her daughter to have a good life after marriage and prepare her with the necessities for being a good wife. I am amazed by some of the things included in the dowry. Of course, in our modern living, we will not be using some of those things... Nevertheless, I think it is all good to have them, as each item carries a good meaning for our blissful marriage. :-)

Most people are surprised that we took the trouble to pick the auspicious dates and went through all the traditional ceremonies. We thought that these Chinese customs are part of our culture. If we do not practice it, they will soon be lost with our generation. Therefore, we tried to understand the significance of each procedure and stick closely to them. At the same time, we were flexible to replace the items or simplify some procedures whenever it was impossible to do so. ;-p One of the most important event was the Betrothal Ceremony ( 过大礼/纳彩 ), where the groom presents gifts to the bride's family. Our parents had helped us to prepare the various items for the ceremony. I won't be explaining the steps, you can read them here . But I will show you some interesting photos of the gifts! All kinds of traditional candies... Oranges with the double-happiness stickers... Different types of tea (green tea, black tea, wu long, etc.)... The dragon and phoenix candles... Pig trotters.....

It took my dear wife five hours to choose the wedding gowns for our photo-shoot and the actual wedding day. While it was really tired for us, at least I sat and waited in between. She had to stand for the full five hours! But it was worth it! Seeing her, satisfied with what she had chosen, is priceless! Moreover, I also did my part to participate actively. In the end, three of the wedding gowns were the ones which I had chosen for her! I'm not sure what other grooms normally will do, but I am proud of myself. Ha ha. [I will up up the photos of the gown fitting after our actual wedding day] :-p And twenty minutes later, I finished trying my suits.....

Today is our One-month Solemnization/Wedding ( at least in the eyes of Law ) Anniversary. Wah ! Some might say, " One month also celebrate ar ?". But I think, if you don't even celebrate the first month, when is the next to celebrate? I guess probably its little things like this that can keep a relationship alive and exciting, and I am gonna continue to do that in our marriage. ;Op Tonight, there was flowers, and a simple and delicious dinner at the Ambush (you must be wondering where's that right? ha ha ). But I am not gonna elaborate much. Instead, I'll show you some of the other photos which you'll not see in our " almost-perfect " slide show. Enjoy! One month ago... "A new beginning..." "Should I wear a tie??? Okay lah okay lah. Since I already brought it, I shall wear it. Straight or not?" "Hot hot hot. Kan jiong lah.." "Nevermind I fan for you!" "But first let me catch my forty winks.... zzzzzz"...

Amid the 65-hr working week in the past month, I managed to sneak some time out for one of the great moments in my life! 7 September 2008, our Solemnization Ceremony. But before that, I did quite abit of thinking. Besides filling "Married" for marital status in forms, what are the other changes? Well, no thinking could quite prepare for the moment when I said my wedding vows. It felt surreal. Something changed, but I could not spell it out clearly. It was a mixed feeling of happiness and new found responsibilities. Part of me felt more mature as my relatives told me that "I am an adult now". I would say the most notable change is the wedding band on my finger and I am proud to be wearing it. Other than that, we'll be living together only after our customary marriage next year and life will be the same till then. And my head was stuck deep into work again the very next day... Let me share with you some of the beautiful moments from that day, capture in photograph...

With just a lil' over a month to the big day (no, not the Beijing Olympics or the Nat'l Day!), we decided to check out the venue again to visualize how we would decorate the place. But before we started to work, a mini-feast! Some pictures of food for my photographer to get familiar with my camera... heh heh. And when the lunch was done, it was off to work! We took several shots from different angles and thought about how we would arrange the tables. And finally, my hardworking models of the day posed at a possible spot for the group photo. Don't you think they have poise or what! So cool looking eh? P-O-T-E-N-T-I-A-L models lorh ... :D Btw, the photos of food you see isn't what that will be served on the actual day. I promise it'll be something even better! Hee hee . Yum yum!