The day I almost lost my wedding ring

A month back, I was lunching with the computer guru and john lemon and we were on the topic of "what would you do if you lose your wedding band". I was saying that I would be sad, but then... I can always get a replacement at Soo Kee. CG was saying that a replacement ring will no longer be the same, the feeling is different cos it would have lost its sentimental value. I know what he was talking about, but it didn't really register fully in my thick skull until 2 days back when I lost mine. Well, nearly.

I was shopping with LYY at the Esprit outlet at Jurong Point on Tuesday evening. The tees were selling at $29.90 (very cheap!) and I was happily grabbing some to try. Either I have slimmed down considerably (lol), or I was too excited at my potential buys, so much so that I did not realise that my wedding band had slipped off my 4th finger.

It was not until I was about to make payment then I wondered "how come I can wriggle my fingers so smoothly huh???" I looked down at my left hand and realised with horror that my wedding band was missing! A million and one thoughts went through my mind. Could I have left it in the office? Can't be leh, it was with me when I went to the toilet mah. Could it be in the changing room? Maybe? I immediately called my boss who was still in the office and asked her to help me check if the ring was on my desk. It was not!

I was lucky LYY was around. She immediately went to search the changing room while I was on the line. The ring was not there. Strangely, even though I was upset, I was still relatively calm, reasoning to myself that a similar ring can be bought at Soo Kee. Should I just let it be? I wasn't sure if I had dropped it at Esprit anyway. But... the old cat will be disappointed. Thankfully, LYY was rather persistent and insisted that I search around the area where the tee-shirt display was. Just then, the sales assistant spotted something on the floor, picked it up and asked, "Miss, is this the ring you are looking for?" I was like "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Wahhahahhahhahaha!

I was so freaking lucky!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So freaking grateful too!! I am really, really lucky!!!!! And then I realise that after this incident, I finally understand fully the meaning "a replacement ring will never be the same".

I am sooooooooooooooooooooo happie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Red is Auspicious

This is a long overdue post, but I finally found the time to take some pics of some of the items used during our customary wedding, haha.

Tea set and matching bowl set Mdm Yik bought for the tea ceremony. We decided to get this as it looks really nice on photos unlike the traditional sets with dragons and phoenixes. Pricey, but definitely photo worthy!

A close up view of the tea set



A close up view of the matching bowl set. The shop assistant even tied a red ribbon on each of the spoon. The pretty ribbon she tied became crumpled after washing though, lol.

Red and white, just like our Singapore flag, haha.

We didn't like the traditional wedding lamps.... find them kinda ugly in fact...

We saw this set of wedding lamps at the same shop, cool! Even Mdm Yik agreed it's really nice and got it for us as well!

The best thing is, there are 3 levels of brightness. There are no switches. You have to touch the base of the frame to turn it on. Tap it 3 times to get the brightest shine. Cool! I love it cos although the frames are black, they are accompanied with pink glass plates on top. When the light is tapped on (lol), the whole thing lights up really nicely! Very modern! Plus, you can put dried flowers on the glass plates too, haha!

According to tradition and customs, the bride's father has to shelter the bride with a red umbrella when the couple makes their way to the bridal car. As we only have a small foldable red umbrella (from Guardian, haha), last minute we decided to get one of those fancy umbrellas used for Chinese weddings. Waste of money, but definitely photo worthy!

- Phebe

The Making of our Wedding Guestbook

Creating the cover page of our Wedding Guestbook:

Completed cover page of our Wedding Guestbook:

The 4 pages of our guestbook where our guests are supposed to sign:

After the wedding, all 5 pages will be displayed in our Wedding Memory Book!

The Day Before The Big Day - Melvin

10 Nov 08 - This was my day before the big day. Some years back, I spied my brother staying up in bed to memorise his speech during his day-before-the-big-day. My brother usually puts on an impassive countenance, but that night, there was an almost tangible air of nervous energy around him. I didn't have to ask him to know for a fact that butterflies must be churning in his belly.

I finally understood why he felt that way. It's the feeling of being on the verge of making one of the most (if not the most) important decisions in your life. That night was the last night that the world would recognise him as being a single individual. From the next day onwards, his entire world will be shared and melded with that of another person's. Also, relatives and friends will now mention this other person's name in the same breath whenever they enquire about his well-being.

I thought that I would not feel as anxious since Her Royal Majesty and I had already been living together for more than a year since our wedding solemnisation at Mandai Orchid Garden. Yet somehow, it still felt every bit just as momentous.

I had taken leave for the day so as to take care of any remaining tasks for the wedding. The day started feeling like any other. I even woke up at the same time so that I could escort Her Royal Majesty to the MRT station in the morning. Later in the afternoon, I would be left stranded outside her office for 45 min when I went to pick her up from work.

We went home and continued packing the items needed for tomorrow. Initially, we had wanted to start packing for our honeymoon too, but there just wasn't enough time to do so. In the evening, Her Royal Majesty left for her manicure session while I took my stuff over to my mum's place. Since we were already living together, this was the self-imposed day of separation when both of us returned to our parents' homes, in accordance with customs that mandated the fetching of the bride.

I then went to collect the bridal car, a Mercedes SLK. In preparation for this moment, I had gone on several refresher driving lessons, and rented a car on numerous occasions to familiarise myself with the routes. I'm now reasonably confident that I should be able to make it through the day in one piece, even though that may mean driving the supercharged sports car at 50km/h.

The bridal car was rented through Weddingcars.sg, a car rental company specialising in bridal car rentals. We had originally selected the TD 2000, a replica of a vintage car:



Unfortunately, the TD 2000 broke down a week before the wedding, and we had to quickly pick another vehicle from the company's stable. We were not left with many options since we wanted a 2-seater convertible for our wedding. In the end, we picked the Mercedes SLK as it seemed the most stylish among the rest.

Like most sports cars, the car was built much lower to the ground, and packed full of electronic gadgetry. Even the rear view mirror was designed to automatically dim the glare from passing headlights. It was with some trepidation that I clambered into the driver's seat and slowly maneuvered the $200,000 mechanical beast out of the multi-storey carpark.

The machine was built for speed, but with me at the helm, it bounced at the slightest bump and watched helplessly as uncles in Toyota Corollas zoomed past it. Throughout the drive home, I kept reassuring myself that, at the very least, I was a safe driver.

Back home, I busied myself checking the stuff for the wedding and shifting some of it into the car. I'm still not very sure what it was that I was busy with, but I managed to keep myself engaged until about 1.30am. As I forced myself to shut the lights, I remember thinking that I should really get some sleep since I had to wake up at about 5am the next day. Perhaps my brother had gone to bed with the same thoughts during his time. And just perhaps, he also had the image of his wife firmly etched on his mind before he finally fell asleep.

The Day Before the Big Day - Phebe

The day (10th Nov 2008) was a flurry of activities. Thinking back, I can't help but feel amused of how the day before the wedding went. In order to save my precious leave, I only took half a day off instead of a full day. I spent the morning finishing up my work stuff and left at 1.30pm. The Cat (aka Meowvin) had been waiting at the lobby for 45 mins as I came out late, lol.

We went home and finished packing up all the wedding required items, then in the evening, he went to pick up the wedding car and I went for my mani-pedi session at Fingerworks. Note: I still have not finished packing my stuff even then!

It was 8pm by the time I finished my mani-pedi session and I hurriedly took a cab to my mum's place. Didn't want to take the risk of having some blur bloke stepping on my toes by taking the train.

9pm. I reached mum's place, pick up the car and went back to my house (it was only a stone's throw away, about 5 mins walk?) to finish packing up my stuff. I didn't even have time for dinner!

11pm. I left my house and sped to Meanie's house at Toh Guan. She was supposed to stay overnight at my mum's place and we were to finish up preparing the "torture the cat" gate crash items. Liew, it was so difficult to get to her block and by the time I reached, it was 11.25pm!!!

I then realised that Kitty had forgotten to bring with him his precious nose spray, and thus had to drop by one of his bros' house to get him pass the spray to Kitty the next morning before he comes up to be tortured. Liew... almost midnight by the time Meanie and I got to my mum's place! Liew.. people always say that a bride should sleep before 11pm so as to look pretty the next day, me leh??

I had to finish up preparing the "Agreement Letter" and other stuff... by the time we went to bed it was 2.45am!!!! My make-up artiste and photographer were supposed to report at 5.15am.... there goes my beauty sleep...

I woke up late the next morning, lol... I will blog about that in our website soon under "Our Customary Wedding". Stay tuned!

2 Doors and 4 Wheels

I have never been fond of driving. Unlike most other males, the thought of speeding down the highways in a petrol propelled, steel and glass encased machine does not send me into dizzying heights of ecstasy.

Nevertheless, it has always been one of Her Royal Majesty's wishes to arrive at her wedding, chauffered by her groom, in a carriage that makes onlookers go wow. Perhaps she is trying to fulfill the fairytale equivalent of prince charming entering on a white stallion to sweep her off her feet. Although I'm not sure of her exact motivations, I do know that I will try my best to grant her wishes whenever possible.

With that in mind, we did some research and found WeddingCars.sg, a company specialising in car rentals for weddings. Although our package with the bridal studio already includes the usual chauffered-driven Mercedes Benz, we were willing to trade that for a more exclusive and personal ride. Though WeddingCars.sg, we booked a quaint vehicle called the TD2000, which is essentially a replica of an automobile as it appeared in the Industrial Age. Underneath the hood, however, the manufacturers had placed an entirely modern engine with automatic gear transmission for newbies like me.

Next, it was necessary for me to sharpen whatever driving skills I possessed. At a cost of $45 per lesson, I booked and went for about 5 refresher lessons with a private driving instructor. It was nerve-wrecking to get behind the wheel after such a long period of abstinence, and thankfully, I managed to avoid killing myself and my instructor.

Just as I was all set to be the appointed driver for the day, I received an email from WeddingCars.sg to say that the TD2000 was under repair. This was only a week away from the wedding, and without any hesitation, I picked up the phone and gave the company an earful for pulling such a nasty surprise. They were sent scrambling to look for other TD2000s, even if they had to get replacements from other rental companies.

Unfortunately, nothing else came up, and the few other providers either had the car in the wrong colour or had already rented it out. We had no choice but to settle for a silver Mercedes SLK, a 2-door convertible sports car.

Having only driven Toyota and the like, I was pleasantly surprised at the wealth of features in the SLK, from headlights that turned themselves on, to the Transformers-like movements of the roof when it was sliding down. Driving the machine was not entirely positive though - the ride was hard and seat too low for my liking. For everyday driving, I'll stick to Toyotas, thank you very much.

During the big day, the car, surprisingly, was not the subject of much attention from me. While it provided a good photo opportunity, and grunts of approval from my "brothers", it was merely a means of transportation to me. I could have been driving a SBS bus and I probably won't be able to tell the difference. After all, I had more pressing matters to attend to, such as getting married to the most beautiful bride whom I have ever known.

- Melvin

Goodbye, my Beloved TD2000

3 Nov 2008 - It was one week, one freaking week to our actual day and the company we booked our bridal car from informed us that the car we booked kana repair and won't be available on our wedding day!!! Liew!!! Kitty was more pissed than I was, I suppose, as it was one of the rare times he called up the other party to give them a good dressing down without me asking him to.

Liew, to think that we had actually cancelled the Mercedes (the usual 4 door series with the 2 big headlights) that was included in our bridal package and paid a lot more just to book the vintage TD2000 and now this had to happen!!! And 1 week to our wedding day somemore!!! They think we are very free to go car hunting or what??

Kitty managed to get the company, WeddingCars.sg to compensate our loss by paying for any extra cost (if any) if we book another car from another car rental company. Over the next 3 days, we made countless calls to other car rental companies to search for the TD2000 but luck was not on our side. Of the whole of Singapore, there were only 2 other companies that rent out the car.

1) J&J Auto

2) Funcar Auto

J&J Auto only had the TD2000 in GREEN as they had sent all the white ones for scraping. Of all times to scrape the cars!!!!! The green is UGLY. So thats out of the question.

Funcar Auto had the exact model but we came across a rather negative comment on the forum about the vendor who was said to be quite unreliable. We decided not to take the risk of ending up with no car on our wedding day.

We then decided to book the BMW Z4 series, but WeddingCars.sg only managed to find a Z3 in grey colour.... sianz.

Bye bye. my beloved...

In the end, we booked one of the very few choices left available - the Mercedes SLK. Still feeling bummed about not getting my beloved TD2000, I asked Kitty to demand compensation. As we didn't really like the bridal car decor (from photos that we have seen) that was included in our bridal package, I asked him to get the company to provide free decor for the SLK. Haha, after much debating over the phone, he managed to get WeddingCars.sg to do the car decor at no additional cost! We thus cancelled the car decor service from our bridal package and got them to provide us with 7 sets of following car ribbons instead, haha!

Every cloud has a silver lining. At the very least, we won't be car-less on our wedding day afterall.

- Phebe