2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

January 27, 2010

We’re now open for 2010/2011 wedding bookings. For those who are particular about dates, do ensure that you’ve locked down your top three most important vendors (VENUE, Photographer, Wedding Consultant) for popular for auspicious dates that fall on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

February 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

13 Feb

26 Feb

March 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

*no suitable weekend dates*

April 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

4 Apr

17 Apr

25 Apr

May 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

2 May

15 May

June 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

4 Jun

July 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

3 Jul

16 Jul

25 Jul

August 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

21 Aug

September 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

12 Sep

25 Sep

October 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

10 Oct

20 Oct *doesn’t fall on a weekend but popular nonetheless

23 Oct

November 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

26 Nov

December 2010 Auspicious Wedding Dates

11 Dec

17 Dec

24 Dec

Posted by Admin | Filed Under Customs & Etiquette | Leave a Comment

Registration of Marriages Malaysia - Important Contact Details

August 3, 2009

Here’s a list of NRD contact details for your registration of marriage in Malaysia.

National Registration Department Malaysia
Ministry of Home Affairs
Lot 2G5, Precinct 2
Federal Government Administrative Centre
62100 Federal Territory of Putrajaya

Tel: 03-8880 7000

National Registration Department
State of Selangor
7 th Floor, Plaza Masalam
No. 2, Jalan Tengku Ampuan Zabedah E9/E
Section 9, 40100 Shah Alam , Selangor

Tel : 03-5510 4964

National Registration Department
Petaling Jaya
1 st Floor, Bangunan Persekutuan
Persiaran Barat, Jalan Sultan
46551 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Tel : 03-7956 2634, 03-7954 9392, 03-7956 2593

National Registration Department
FT of Kuala Lumpur
6th & 7th Floor, Maju Junction Mall
Jalan Sultan Ismail
50551 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2692 5044, 03-2692 5018, 03-2692 5029

National Registration Department
District of Langkawi
Level 1, Kompleks Lada, Kuah,
07000 Langkawi

Tel : 04-9666 330

National Registration Department
State of Penang
3 rd Floor, Bangunan Persekutuan
Jalan Anson, 10400 Pulau Pinang

Tel: 04-2265 161, 04-2262 558, 04-2271 161

National Registration Department
District of Port Dickson
No.70 (Ground Floor)
Jalan Dato’ K.Patmanaban
71000 Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan

Tel: 06-6471 077

National Registration Department
State of Sabah
Aras 1-5, Blok B
Kompleks Pentadbiran Kerajaan
Jalan UMS,Likas
88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Tel: 088-488 300, 088-488 301

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A Bride’s Worst Nightmare

May 13, 2009

I feel really sorry for this bride. It just goes to show that something can always go wrong regardless of all the countless rehearsals and stressful hours put into planning that almost perfect wedding.

“Perfection is a setup for a potential fall,” quote from Colin Cowie’s Extraordinary Wedding book, “the musicians might arrive late, the specially ordered vintage of wine doesn’t arrive at all, the cognac roses look suspiciously like apricot roses, the bride has a skirmish with her mother, the wedding cake falls over ….”

Or in this case, the bride may just fall into the pool.

Posted by Admin | Filed Under Customs & Etiquette | 2 Comments

Meet the Parents

November 11, 2008

Last Friday, I had a great time meeting Nicholas’ parents and his wedding emcee. We often talk about bridal personality but hardly do we ever read about the personalities of parents when it comes to handling the wedding of their children.

I know most couples often go through the jitters of meeting their ‘difficult’ parent in-laws and more importantly, the discussion between parents and in-laws on wedding matters. Elizabeth once asked me, “what is the biggest challenge you’ve encountered as a wedding planner?”

My answer is “managing expectations of and communication between family members”.

So maybe not all in-laws are as exaggerated as the Byrnes and not all grooms are that big of a klutz like Ben Stiller in his character as Gaylord Focker.

In reality, the communication among parents, in-laws and bridal couple is perhaps, less of a laughing matter. Some strong headed parents have the capability to gang up on the wedding couple and simply take over their entire wedding plan. Some parents are easily affected by advice from their brothers and sisters, neighbours and coffee shop friends. Some parents are strictly traditional and insist on doing the whole traditional ritual while their children want a modern, westernised dream wedding. Some parents, like Nicholas’ parents, are liberal and allow their children to make their decision because it’s their moment, their big day.

Often, the problem comes in if religious matter is involved, inter-cultural arrangements are required and the root of all evil, where money is concerned.

Throughout the next few weeks, I’ll be writing separate posts on the five different personalities that are most common. Stay tuned! *smile*

I’d like to finish off with a joke shared by a friend, Samuel.

The Wedding Test

I was a very happy man. My wonderful girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year, and so we decided to get married. There was only one little thing bothering me. It was her beautiful younger sister.

My prospective sister-in-law was twenty-two, wore very tight miniskirts and generally was bra-less. She would regularly bend down when she was near me, and I always got more than a nice view. It had to be deliberate, because she never did it when she was near anyone else.

One day, she called and asked me to come over to check the wedding invitations. She was alone when I arrived, and she whispered to me that she had feelings and desires for me that she couldn’t overcome. She told me that she wanted me just once before I got married and committed my life to her sister.

Well, I was in total shock and couldn’t say a word. She said, “I’m going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you want one last wild fling, just come up and get me.”

I was stunned and frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs. I stood there for a moment, then turned and made a beeline straight to the front door. I opened the door, and headed straight towards my car.

Lo and behold, my entire future family was standing outside, all clapping!

With tears in his eyes, my father in law hugged me and said, “We are very happy that you have passed our little test. We couldn’t ask for a better man for our daughter. Welcome to the family.”

The moral of the story is: Always keep the condoms in your car!!

Jokes aside, what are your parents and parent in-laws personalities? Do you think managing parents/in-laws is the most difficult part of planning your wedding?

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Church Ceremony: Offering of Flowers

September 20, 2008

Three days ago, a reader sent me an interesting question via e-mail but has asked for her identity to be kept private. I thought that perhaps some other readers might benefit from this so here’s the question:

Hello Natasha. I like your blog. since you are a wedding planner, can I ask you a question? me and my fiance are planning for our wedding and our ceremony will be at our church. we are now over budget. a few of my church friends who got married gave flowers to the church. is it compulsory to give flowers as offering at the altar to the church? because I plan to reuse the flowers we offer at the church and bring it to our wedding dinner. I don’t think people will notice it because we will bring back again the next day to church on sunday early morning before members arrive. we are shy to ask our pastor about this. do you think you can offer me advice? can you please don’t publish my e-mail and reply me? thank you.

My reply: Offering of flowers to the church is not a written rule or compulsory act of giving, but rather a matter of personal choice. It is the sincerity that counts regardless of whether any guests notice the disappearance of the flowers. I would suggest to have a separate basket of floral arrangement if you’d like to present it as an offering to the church. You can then inform the church administrator of this matter.

The other flowers from the church ceremony can be re-used for your dinner reception. If you’d like to offer the same bouquet of arrangements to minimise cost, then best if you do not transport it out of the church and ’sneak’ it back the following morning. It would seem like ‘recycling’ rather than a sincere offering.

If budget does not permit, flowers for the bridal party and altar is all you need. If you have a tall candelabra for your unity candle lighting ceremony, it can be decorated with more garlands of greens with minimal flowers tucked in. To cut costs, the end of pews can be easily decorated with satin or organza ribbons, or simply keep it plain. To help with your decision and budget planning, it is best to list out all your floral needs and prioritise accordingly. Hope this helps.

Posted by Admin | Filed Under Customs & Etiquette, Flowers & Blooms | 1 Comment

The Customary Bridal Door Games

July 30, 2008

A time to make fun of the groom while his entourage of ‘brothers’ and groomsmen take on the challenges posed by the bridesmaids and friends.

Ever wondered how such custom came about?

A tradition passed on for generations, the door games are meant to test the sincerity of the groom before the bride’s family ‘hand over’ the bride to the groom. The groom with the assistance of his groomsmen are required to endure all the tests by the bride’s family before he can be allowed to step into the house.

As it’s so cleverly indicated, this is just the beginning of torture!

In Chinese saying, the door games should always include something sweet, something bitter, something sour and something spicy - metaphorically representing the 4 emotions that married couple will experience in their new life together, and the groom must be able to take on both sweet and bitterness of marriage. In short, it simply means in sickness and in health, for better or worse.

Some suggested games:

1) The Killer Wasabi

Everything goes with wasabi, at least for such occassion. Wasabi bread, wasabi biscuit, wasabi ice-cream, wasabi yogurt and even wasabi banana!

2) Fear Factor-inspired concoction

Actually, I think Asians are the ones who inspired Fear Factor since we’ve been known for eating just about anything that has legs and can fly except aeroplanes, tables and chairs *smile* (another common saying in Chinese). Anyway, for the benefit of this topic and the groom’s stomach, no creepy crawl-ies are allowed. For the impatient entourage, just mix anything sweet, bitter, sour and spicy into one signature concoction and bottoms up! There’s really no proper recipe to this. lol.

But pity the groom, I think the drink should limit to just 3 ingredients to represent something sweet and sour.

3) Display of Strength or Endurance

For the benefit of the ladies, I think this segment of game should always be included. It’s also a chance for the gym buffs to show off what they’ve got, or an indirect message to the groom that it’s time to hit the gym!

4) Expression of Undying Love

…which usually requires super embarassing actions by the groom, with the help of his entourage, nonetheless. Games can include spelling out the bride’s name by wearing disposable panties scribbled in letters, disposable panties as shower caps, donning on bright-coloured undies and doing funny actions to express groom’s love, shouting on top of his lungs, read out love poems, solve difficult quizzes about the bride and so forth.

Photography by Star East Bridal, Penang.

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2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

June 27, 2008

A repost from the old blog:-

Here’s a list of auspicious wedding dates for 2009 to help you get started. For those who are planning to wed in 2009, now would be the right time to nail down your wedding date, as beautiful or popular venues will be booked 1 to 1 1/2 year in advance for ‘hot’ dates.

January 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

3 Jan

9 Jan

15 Jan

21 Jan

25 jan

28 Jan

February 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

6 Feb

15 Feb

18 Feb

21 Feb

27 Feb

March 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

2 Mar

16 mar

18 Mar

April 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

6 Apr

9 Apr

22 Apr

May 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

8 May

16 May

20 May

June 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

14 Jun

19 Jun

25 Jun

26 Jun

July 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

8 Jul

20 Jul

26 Jul

August 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

1 Aug

2 Aug

8 Aug

11 Aug

14 Aug

September 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

9 Sept

20 Sept

21 Sept

30 Sept

October 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

2 Oct

12 Oct

25 Oct

28 Oct

November 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

15 Nov

19 Nov

21 Nov

December 2009 Auspicious Wedding Dates

25 Dec

26 Dec

28 Dec

29 Dec

Posted by Admin | Filed Under Customs & Etiquette | 3 Comments

Greetings!

June 27, 2008

Hello! Welcome to my first post in our new blog. I said new because we previously maintained a blog which was hosted on Wordpress. In line with our revamped branding and website, we have also started a new blog on our own domain. Most people share the end results of their work, but I hope this blog would be a wonderful place for my team and me to share selected snapshots of experiences in our journey as planners, designers, producers and coordinators. The pain, challenges, successes, implementation and inspirations that come with not just producing successful events or beautiful weddings, but also the growing path of building a business, meeting new friends, travel discovery and more. From time to time, we’ll also use this channel to update you on our latest xperiential escapades, promotions, bridal fairs and more.

Our presence in the blogsphere is to complement our existing services and I want it to be entertaining, informative and interactive. So, yes, I’d like to hear from you too! After all, being a planner, these are the most relevant topics I could share. I know there isn’t much to read at the moment as the structure of this blog will slowly evolve and take on a personality of its own, just as weddings and events eventually do. So bookmark this site, stay tuned and come back for more.

xoxo