Sunday, October 26, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Honeymoon: Aegean Airlines
Guess what? Just when we thought we have settled everything for our honeymoon, Aegean Airlines sent an email notification that our flight from Santorini to Athens will be delayed!!!! We were due to fly from Santorini to Athens on 1 Dec before taking a connecting flight on Emirates back to Singapore.
The departure time for our Emirates flight is at 15:50, and according to the revised flight schedule for Aegean Airlines, we will only arrive at Athens at 15:35!!!! It is impossible to catch our flight back to Singapore lor! Arrrgh...
Anyway, Aegean Airlines proposed that they give us a refund, but thats beside the point!
1) The only other airline that flies from Santorini to Athens is Olympic Airlines, and the departure time is at 07:00. What an unearthly hour!!! We have to rot for 7.5 hrs before the Emirates flight!
2) Air ticket prices have soared over the past few months. We are lucky we booked our flight early. Our round-trip flight on Aegean Airlines costed only EUR 152.78 for 2 pax but now, it costs EUR 228.96! This price increase applies to Olympic Airlines as well, and the fare for a one-way flight from Santorini to Athens cost EUR 101 PER PAX!!!! So even if Aegean Airlines were to cancel and refund us our fare for one-way flight, the refund of EUR 76 is not enough to cover the cost of the Olympic Airlines ticket which amounts to EUR 202 and we have to fork out the additional EUR 126 from our own pockets!!!!!
3) It is highly possible we may NOT be able to claim back the additional EUR 126 from our insurance agency.
4) We have to check out super early in order to catch the Olympic Airlines flight! Super early as in at 5.15am!!! So early also don't know got cab or not??
Kitty (aka Meowvin) emailed Aegeans Airlines to request for a refund PLUS compensation for the additional EUR 126 but they refused to pay us the compensation amount. Undeterred, the old cat called them up personally and hounded the other party for a good 30 mins over the phone. No choice, since we have to settle this quickly and book our Olympic Airlines flight. According to him, it was hard to converse with them as their foreign accent was pretty strong. He had to speak very, very slowly. Boy I am so glad I didn't have to do the dirty job. I think I would have given up after 15 mins at most, lol. Anyway, the other party was stubborn and refused to budge, but so was the old cat.
The old cat managed to speak with a higher level staff and guess what? Aegean Airlines agreed to refund us EUR 76 (for one-way) plus compensate us the additional EUR 126 we had to pay for the Olympic Airlines tickets!! Wahahahahaha we won!! Yay!! I bet Aegean Airlines must be feeling rather peeved, since the total amount (EUR 202) they have to pay us is even more than our round trip ticket (EUR 152.78)!
3) It is highly possible we may NOT be able to claim back the additional EUR 126 from our insurance agency.
4) We have to check out super early in order to catch the Olympic Airlines flight! Super early as in at 5.15am!!! So early also don't know got cab or not??
Kitty (aka Meowvin) emailed Aegeans Airlines to request for a refund PLUS compensation for the additional EUR 126 but they refused to pay us the compensation amount. Undeterred, the old cat called them up personally and hounded the other party for a good 30 mins over the phone. No choice, since we have to settle this quickly and book our Olympic Airlines flight. According to him, it was hard to converse with them as their foreign accent was pretty strong. He had to speak very, very slowly. Boy I am so glad I didn't have to do the dirty job. I think I would have given up after 15 mins at most, lol. Anyway, the other party was stubborn and refused to budge, but so was the old cat.
The old cat managed to speak with a higher level staff and guess what? Aegean Airlines agreed to refund us EUR 76 (for one-way) plus compensate us the additional EUR 126 we had to pay for the Olympic Airlines tickets!! Wahahahahaha we won!! Yay!! I bet Aegean Airlines must be feeling rather peeved, since the total amount (EUR 202) they have to pay us is even more than our round trip ticket (EUR 152.78)!
Anyway, we have booked our Olympic Airlines flight... hopefully there will be no more flight schedule changes!
-Phebe
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Wedding Prep - 14 Oct 2008
Its about 1 month until our AD and now we are trying to settle all the nitty gritty details of our wedding prep.
The one we eyed has a black wooden rectangle frame with the word "喜", which is part of the black frame. It has a pink curvy small plate at the top of the black frame (it is removeable) which you can put little dried flowers, haha. Very nice piece of oriental yet modern display ornament! You have to connect it to power and it lights up when you touch the black frame. 1st touch, small brightness. 2nd touch, medium brightness. 3rd touch, brightest, and the 4th touch switches it off. Cool right?? It costed more than $40 compared to the red ugly ones above which costs about $8. Sounds silly, but Mdm Yik also said that instead of buying the ugly old fashioned lamp only to keep and collect dust after the wedding, might as well get something that looks modern and can be used after that. True, cos the black "喜" isn't obvious since it is part of the wooden black frame, whahahahhahaa! And we have found the perfect place to place it, on our dresser table, since its got the "woody" look as well and is dark brown, wahahhhaa!
- Phebe
Wedding invitations: Meowvin and I stayed up till 2am almost everyday during the past week printing out wedding invitations. I thought it was an easy task, until Mdm Poh showed us her list...and told us we have to use the Chinese formal way of addressing the relatives! e.g. To invite Meowvin's aunt who is his father's elder sister, we have to write it as so-and-so 胞姐阖府统请台升instead of a simple so-and-so 夫妇! Biang... we had a hard time figuring out how to write and worse... we didn't have their names and had to waste more time sourcing. Then Mdm Yik (my mum), who initially wanted to write in the "normal and simple" way, decided to "standardise" and wanted to do it the same way! *faint* The funny thing was... she also didn't know how and ended up I had to edit some of them for her, wahahhahahaa! Imagine... elder brother became 胞哥 instead of 胞兄 wahahahhahaa! Luckily Regent provided us with more cards than we needed, cos there was a lot of wastage and we had to reprint many times! Thankfully, our poor printer was good... it dutifully completed its task of printing out the names and addresses even though the black ink cartridge was near empty! Heng ar! We finally managed to mail out our cards last Friday.
Surprisingly, some of my friends received their cards on Saturday, so fast! Pleasantly surprised when they told me the card was very nice (haha, free one somemore) and unique. And... they noticed the customised stamp, wahahahha! Maybe this design is more eye catching? Last year for our ROM invitation we used a slightly darker photo for the stamps, so maybe that's why not as many people feedback about it? Regent supplied us with one whole stack of "How to get to Regent Hotel" maps to include with our invitations but we ended up re-designing the map by adding in more details and surrounding landmarks as the existing one was not as detailed, lol.
Items for AD: We went shopping with Mdm Yik last Saturday. Finally got around to buying those "traditional items". We went to Far East Plaza and I showed her the set of BLACK bedside lamps that we liked. Luckily she also agreed it is very modern, unlike those typical red colour plastic battery operated lamps like the one below.
The one we eyed has a black wooden rectangle frame with the word "喜", which is part of the black frame. It has a pink curvy small plate at the top of the black frame (it is removeable) which you can put little dried flowers, haha. Very nice piece of oriental yet modern display ornament! You have to connect it to power and it lights up when you touch the black frame. 1st touch, small brightness. 2nd touch, medium brightness. 3rd touch, brightest, and the 4th touch switches it off. Cool right?? It costed more than $40 compared to the red ugly ones above which costs about $8. Sounds silly, but Mdm Yik also said that instead of buying the ugly old fashioned lamp only to keep and collect dust after the wedding, might as well get something that looks modern and can be used after that. True, cos the black "喜" isn't obvious since it is part of the wooden black frame, whahahahhahaa! And we have found the perfect place to place it, on our dresser table, since its got the "woody" look as well and is dark brown, wahahhhaa!
Saw a very cute tea set where the shape of the tea pot is those curvy kind instead of the usual straight standing pots. The tea pot and the 4 cups that came along are red, without those traditional dragon and phoenix image on them, with the "喜" on each in black, very modern. Unfortunately, the cover of the tea pot is quite loose and prone to drop out. Mdm Yik was afraid that Meowvin's family (can be quite pandang) may say it is bad luck if sweh sweh it really drops out and so we had to choose another design.
Thankfully there was another design that looked traditional yet quite modern (looks good in photos too haha). it is white and red without the dragon and phoenix images as well, haha! Hard to explain and I don't have a pic. Quite cute cos the shape of the tea pot is quite fat, haha. So she got us that set, and the matching bowl set too! I really like the bowl set, very cute sia! The matching soup spoon has a hole at the top, and the shop assistant helped us to hook a red ribbon through it and created a flower-like design with it instead of the typical ribbon knot. Really beautifully done!
Bought some "喜" stickers as well and that settled our "AD to-buy" items! Went shopping with Mdm Yik for her accessories to match her outfit for that night. Sad to say, till now I still can't guess how her dress looks like, so mysterious, die die don't want to tell us. Even my dad also don't know! The only information I managed to squeeze out of her - 1) more than $400, branded 2) a lil bit of sleeve and quite possibly... korean style???? I don't know, but she did mention she doesn't want the MUA to doll her up until very red, she prefer korean style... so who knows perhaps her dress is also korean style?? Liew... she sure is good at keeping us in suspense!
Haiz sianz... this weekend we got to tag along with Mdm Poh to hand deliver the cards to their relatives... cannot post... :(
- Phebe
Friday, October 3, 2008
Our Ang Pow Box Completed!!!!!!!!!!
After months of toiling over the weekends, our AP box is finally completed!!!!
This is what you should see:
Use double-sided tape to secure the "flaps" to the underside of the box.
2) Bought lace, a mini top hat and small rose buds and together with the soft toys, we passed them to Mdm Yik - this kind of sewing is too chim for me, haha!
Before:
After: Version 1
I thought the mini rat should wear a similar necklace like the original one, so we bought beads and I chained them together to form a necklace!
Despite saying a year ago "aiya AP box simple one can liao lah just anyhow buy one will do", we sang a different tune a few months ago when we chanced upon the mini version of our cat plushie - "lets get someone to customise our AP box with the cat and rat plushies!". Haha our idea was to create an AP box with the mini versions of the cat and rat plushies we used for our ring pillow.
So the massive hunt for the rat began. We wanted to get the mini version of our rat plushie but unfortunately, TY replied our email saying they don't produce mini Cheezers (that's the name of our white rat). We tried finding toy manufacturers to produce a mini replica of our rat but the cost was too high, so we dropped the idea. Not willing to give up our idea "just like that", I started searching online, and after a week, hola! I managed to find a rat finger puppet that looked almost alike to our original Cheezer!! To make sure it is the one and only one, I browsed through another 78 pages of soft toys on the same website. Yes, it is the only one!!!! Wahahahahahhaa so we had it shipped over from the States!
We started finding suppliers to customise an AP box with our mini soft toys but the cost was simply not worth it. Imagine charging more than $30 just to dress up our soft toys?? In the end, we decided to DIY, adding on yet another DIY item on our to-do list!
For those who are interested to DIY your own AP boxes, here is a brief account of each step of the process. It ain't that difficult, just tedious. LOL
Materials: Soft toys, A4 copier box, wrapping paper, name cushions, lace, chain of crystals, beads, rose buds, white glue, scissors, pen knife/cutter...etc
Materials: Soft toys, A4 copier box, wrapping paper, name cushions, lace, chain of crystals, beads, rose buds, white glue, scissors, pen knife/cutter...etc
Vendors: theweddingthoughts.com, Mdm Yik aka Mrs Low my mum, Melvin & Phebe
1) Wrap up the ugly A4 copier paper box with 3 sheets of silvery-white wrapping paper. Take note that double-sided tape should secure the edges fully without any gaps in between so as to minimise possible tearing. Decide on the size of the hole on the cover, measure equal dimensions from the sides, make markings and cut out the shape with a cutter.
Wrap the cover of the box with the wrapping paper. Draw a divider line where the hole is.
Make a slit and fold it upwards so that it wraps up the ugly edges of the hole.
This is what you should see:
Use double-sided tape to secure the "flaps" to the underside of the box.
Tada!
Wrap up done!
2) Bought lace, a mini top hat and small rose buds and together with the soft toys, we passed them to Mdm Yik - this kind of sewing is too chim for me, haha!
Before:
After: Version 1
A bit plain, so asked Mdm Yik to add flowers with leaves for the rat to hold, and to sew the cat's left hand, errm, I mean PAW, onto the rat, just like the original pair. :) Oh, and asked her to sew tiny rose buds onto the rat's tail as well, haha!
After: Version 2
I thought the mini rat should wear a similar necklace like the original one, so we bought beads and I chained them together to form a necklace!
After: Version 3
To view the original plushies, read "A Special Ring Pillow" under June 2008.
Wrap the lace around the border of the cover.
3) We wanted to have our names sewn onto mini heart cushions but as both of us are not good at sewing, we outsoured the job to theweddingthoughts.com. Mdm Yik then helped us to sew the cushions onto the box.
4) Finally the time to decor the rest of the box!
Here are the materials used:
Wrap the lace around the border of the cover.
Paste flower buds around the border on top of the lace.
Finally, paste the chain of crystals all around the border of the box just below the cover as well as around the hole on the cover. Stick 3 white rosettes on the top right corner.
Tada! COMPLETED!!!
Total cost: About $100
Monday, September 22, 2008
1st Wedding Anniversary - 9th Sep 2008
Unknowingly, a year has passed since the day we walked down the aisle at Mandai Orchid Garden amidst cheers and claps from family, friends and relatives. Perhaps both of us have been busy with work plus preparing for our customary wedding this coming November, so much so that I exclaimed to him sometime during mid August, “wah! 3 more weeks and it would be our very first wedding anniversary!”
It’s been at least 2 weeks since 9 Sep and to date, I am still not done with the blogging, lol. So be prepared. It’s gonna be a long post, haha.
We had agreed to take half day leave on 9 Sep to celebrate the occasion, but who knows Old Cat (aka Melvin) took a whole day off without my knowledge! Feeling pretty bummed that he can go back to sleep after preparing breakfast while I had to go to work, I got him to accompany me to the MRT station, haha~!
Perhaps he knew that I would expect a bouquet of flowers to be sent to the office (that was what he always did), so well, there was nothing for me, lol. He smsed me at 12.50pm saying he was waiting for me downstairs. By the time I went down, it was already 1.30pm. The grumpy Old Cat grumbled about how he waited under the hot sun for 40 mins until I shot him with “Didn’t you see there are sofas at the lobby?” Wahahhahhaa~! He has only himself to blame for being so short-sighted.
Anyway, he had the day’s plan mapped out already. We went to Bugis for a really quick lunch at NYDC and then watched the movie Wall-E. Pretty silly movie though it was kinda funny. It felt pretty weird to be watching a movie on a weekday afternoon. The cinema was near empty and so was the shopping mall. What a big difference from weekends! After the movie, we shopped for a while before heading to Clarke Quay – he had planned for us to take the river cruise to “reminisce the proposal day”, haha!
It’s been at least 2 weeks since 9 Sep and to date, I am still not done with the blogging, lol. So be prepared. It’s gonna be a long post, haha.
We had agreed to take half day leave on 9 Sep to celebrate the occasion, but who knows Old Cat (aka Melvin) took a whole day off without my knowledge! Feeling pretty bummed that he can go back to sleep after preparing breakfast while I had to go to work, I got him to accompany me to the MRT station, haha~!
Perhaps he knew that I would expect a bouquet of flowers to be sent to the office (that was what he always did), so well, there was nothing for me, lol. He smsed me at 12.50pm saying he was waiting for me downstairs. By the time I went down, it was already 1.30pm. The grumpy Old Cat grumbled about how he waited under the hot sun for 40 mins until I shot him with “Didn’t you see there are sofas at the lobby?” Wahahhahhaa~! He has only himself to blame for being so short-sighted.
Anyway, he had the day’s plan mapped out already. We went to Bugis for a really quick lunch at NYDC and then watched the movie Wall-E. Pretty silly movie though it was kinda funny. It felt pretty weird to be watching a movie on a weekday afternoon. The cinema was near empty and so was the shopping mall. What a big difference from weekends! After the movie, we shopped for a while before heading to Clarke Quay – he had planned for us to take the river cruise to “reminisce the proposal day”, haha!
while waiting to board...
We were the only ones on the boat again, and after 5-10 mins of trying to introduce us the Singapore River, the host decided to stop yakking and instead, helped us to take photos, haha~! Its amazing how much has changed since 20 Sep 2006. That night, when the boat stopped in front of the Esplanade and The Oriental, the opposite side was the open waters. The construction works for the integrated resorts have not started. The surrounding area was calm, peaceful and quiet, perfect for a romantic night out. Now, almost 2 years down the road, the very same area is very different, with all the construction work going on and the noise. We stopped the boat at the same location as it was 2 years back and stood with our backs to the Esplanade just like before though this time, the photographer was a young man in his mid 20s while 2 years back, it was an old man, haha.
stopped the boat at the same location as 2 years ago haha~
We were the only ones on the boat again, and after 5-10 mins of trying to introduce us the Singapore River, the host decided to stop yakking and instead, helped us to take photos, haha~! Its amazing how much has changed since 20 Sep 2006. That night, when the boat stopped in front of the Esplanade and The Oriental, the opposite side was the open waters. The construction works for the integrated resorts have not started. The surrounding area was calm, peaceful and quiet, perfect for a romantic night out. Now, almost 2 years down the road, the very same area is very different, with all the construction work going on and the noise. We stopped the boat at the same location as it was 2 years back and stood with our backs to the Esplanade just like before though this time, the photographer was a young man in his mid 20s while 2 years back, it was an old man, haha.
stopped the boat at the same location as 2 years ago haha~
After the entertaining river cruise, we made our way to Mandai Orchid Garden, the very place we got wedded a year back. Nothing much has changed. Couldn’t see much of the Mokara Hall where we held our solemnization since it was quite dark. We made a beeline for the Vanilla Pod restaurant. There were few diners on a weekday night, but it was ok, we enjoyed the privacy. Although the Vanilla Pod restaurant was very small, the ambience was good. Very wedding-like in a way, and elegant. Very cosy setting with music playing in the background. The last time we were here was during our solemnization rehearsal with Bro Eddy, Bro Ullas and The Low Clan. The service provided by the waiter was excellent.
at the Vanilla Pod restaurant
Cheers~!
The Old Cat made some lame excuse of going to the gents and returned with a large bouquet of flowers. There were 99 stalks of pink and white roses. It was very heavy, luckily I didn’t have to carry it around Bugis had it been delivered to my office! This time, he was smarter. Instead of ordering flowers from Bloomdale or other florists, he opted for Far East Flora. More expensive, but at least the delivery didn’t cock up unlike the previous 2 times from Bloomdale! For those who do not know, he actually had flowers delivered to my office twice this year and both times, the deliveries cocked up, lol. It was a good thing we sort of have the whole restaurant to ourselves, at least we didn’t have to bother about curious stares from other diners, haha. Another couple came in shortly after that, but we were already done with the photo taking by then.
Us~
Heavy bunch of flowers
Me, myself, and flowers~
My present for him: A set of cufflinks from Hugo Boss and a card I bought earlier in the day (and hid in the washroom to write. SHHH!!!).
His present for me: A DKNY watch.
At home~
Us~
Heavy bunch of flowers
Me, myself, and flowers~
My present for him: A set of cufflinks from Hugo Boss and a card I bought earlier in the day (and hid in the washroom to write. SHHH!!!).
His present for me: A DKNY watch.
At home~
Top-down view
99 stalks of roses in a tiny vase haha
Look at how squashed they are~!
Its amazing how quickly time flies. Throughout the one year as husband and wife, I have learned to close my eye (sometimes both eyes, lol) on many things. As both of us were brought up differently, there are certain things we both don’t see eye to eye. I guess I am the fussier of the two and I cannot stand untidiness. I like things to be organised and I am very detailed oriented. Now, one year down the road, I don’t bother to make noise anymore whenever he mops each part of the house once instead of twice (cleaner mah)…. I don’t care anymore… why bother getting pissed when I am not the one doing it anyway, lol. I didn’t think I would get married until 27, but God has other plans for me.
Indeed, being married means that I lose my freedom in certain aspects, like how we both have to make time to visit the folks once in a while. It doesn’t help that my in-laws live so freaking far away and I hate the especially hot weather in the East. Being married also means that we forsake the comfort and advantages of living with the folks (e.g. no need to pay bills, mother to do the chores.. etc), which makes me wonder sometimes… get married for what huh???? LOL.
But having said all that, marriage is not THAT bad too. It has its own set of pros. In a nutshell, getting married has its pros and cons, and marriage is not a bed of roses. There is a lot of getting used to in terms of living habits and more often than not, I find myself feeling very frustrated during the first 2 months when things are not done the way I am used to. I have to remind myself that not everyone is like Wonder Woman like my mum, haha!
Couples often plan for their wedding thinking that they will live happily ever after with the one they love. More often than not, they enter into marriage with unrealistic expectations, only to struggle after that when things go wrong. By then, they will be too caught up with fighting than remember the vows they made, hard work they have spent in setting up their home…etc. Marriage is a lifelong commitment. Rome was not built overnight. Likewise, it takes time to build a happy and fulfilling marriage.
This is only our 1st wedding anniversary. God willing, I hope we’ll be able to celebrate our golden anniversary one day.
“…………What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” Matt 19:6
Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary to you OLD CAT!
Indeed, being married means that I lose my freedom in certain aspects, like how we both have to make time to visit the folks once in a while. It doesn’t help that my in-laws live so freaking far away and I hate the especially hot weather in the East. Being married also means that we forsake the comfort and advantages of living with the folks (e.g. no need to pay bills, mother to do the chores.. etc), which makes me wonder sometimes… get married for what huh???? LOL.
But having said all that, marriage is not THAT bad too. It has its own set of pros. In a nutshell, getting married has its pros and cons, and marriage is not a bed of roses. There is a lot of getting used to in terms of living habits and more often than not, I find myself feeling very frustrated during the first 2 months when things are not done the way I am used to. I have to remind myself that not everyone is like Wonder Woman like my mum, haha!
Couples often plan for their wedding thinking that they will live happily ever after with the one they love. More often than not, they enter into marriage with unrealistic expectations, only to struggle after that when things go wrong. By then, they will be too caught up with fighting than remember the vows they made, hard work they have spent in setting up their home…etc. Marriage is a lifelong commitment. Rome was not built overnight. Likewise, it takes time to build a happy and fulfilling marriage.
This is only our 1st wedding anniversary. God willing, I hope we’ll be able to celebrate our golden anniversary one day.
“…………What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” Matt 19:6
Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary to you OLD CAT!
- Phebe
Our First Wedding Anniversary
9 Sept 08 - It's been a year since Her Royal Majesty and I were married, or to put it more accurately, it's been a year since our wedding solemnisation. In Singapore, some couples don't really consider themselves as being "officially" wedded until they complete the customary rites. In our case, we threw caution (along with a whole load of well-meaning advice) to the wind, and just latched on to our government-awarded licence to set up home together.
They say that the first time is always the best. I say it really depends on first time for what, how you measure "best", and who are "they" anyway?? Mindless comments aside, Her Royal Majesty and I both took special pains to ensure that our first wedding anniversary was a memorable one. Both of us had taken leave so that we could slowly savour the significance of the occasion, and schedule appropriately dim-lit activities.
The "celebrations" opened with a surprisingly quick lunch at the NYDC outlet at Bugis Junction. We had planned to watch WALL.E, but there was a slight delay getting to Bugis Junction, so we ended up wolfing down our pasta in record time. We probably took about 20min from the time we entered the restaurant to the time we left.
The movie was funny, smart and, I hate to admit this, touching at times. It was also the only movie that I know where the main characters only have 1 line each which they repeat again and again.
WALL.E: Eeeee....vaaaa!
EVE: Walll...eeee!
WALL.E: Eeeee....vaaaa!
EVE: Walll...eeee!
WALL.E: Eeeee....vaaaa!
EVE: Walll...eeee!
After the movie, we had originally planned to take a ride on the DHL balloon, but it was shut down for maintenance. Instead, we headed over to Clarke Quay, where we did a partial restaging of the events on the day of our proposal! Haha, yes, very tacky, but also very sweet. We went for a river cruise, but this time, the ferry was one of those modern types, not the original bumboat that we took on that fateful evening. Amazingly, we were, once again, the only people on board except for the crew. At first, the host started his usual touristy spiel, but gave up about 10min later when he saw that we were not interested in what he was saying at all. Instead, he volunteered himself to be our photographer and came over to chat with us.
Next, we took a cab down to Mandai Orchid Gardens, where we had held our wedding solemnisation ceremony last year. Unfortunately, we were caught in rush hour traffic, and the cab ride ended up costing a hefty $30!
Mandai Orchid Gardens was quiet and still. Except for the restaurant, Vanilla Pod, the rest of the place was pitch black. The smell of pollen was omnipresent and compensated for the fact that we could not see much of the flowers. There was only one other party in the small restaurant, and we were quickly seated by the attentive waiters. The restaurant looked rather much like a glass house, and with the lush greenery all around us, seemed to be situated in the middle of a forest.
Both of us had the cream of mushroom, while for the main course, Her Royal Majesty had the rack of lamb and I had the seafood platter. The food was passable, but we didn't really mind since that wasn't the main reason why we were dining at Mandai Orchid Gardens.
Halfway through dinner, I hastily excused myself and went out of the restaurant. Just outside the door, my accomplice, the head waiter, was waiting for me with the bunch of flowers that I had sent to the restaurant earlier today. Her Royal Majesty was all smiles as I handed her the 99 stalks of roses and wished her "happy first anniversary". We had also prepared gifts for each other. I received a pair of stylish cufflinks from Hugo Boss, and I gave Her Royal Majesty a silver DKNY watch.
This was our first wedding anniversary. There were no grand fireworks or marching bands, just a special day out for the both of us. In essence, the day was time for us to reminisce about the events on 9 Sept 07, to enjoy each other's company, and most importantly, to be grateful for having each other as we explore further adventures in our lives ahead.
They say that the first time is always the best. I say it really depends on first time for what, how you measure "best", and who are "they" anyway?? Mindless comments aside, Her Royal Majesty and I both took special pains to ensure that our first wedding anniversary was a memorable one. Both of us had taken leave so that we could slowly savour the significance of the occasion, and schedule appropriately dim-lit activities.
The "celebrations" opened with a surprisingly quick lunch at the NYDC outlet at Bugis Junction. We had planned to watch WALL.E, but there was a slight delay getting to Bugis Junction, so we ended up wolfing down our pasta in record time. We probably took about 20min from the time we entered the restaurant to the time we left.
The movie was funny, smart and, I hate to admit this, touching at times. It was also the only movie that I know where the main characters only have 1 line each which they repeat again and again.
WALL.E: Eeeee....vaaaa!
EVE: Walll...eeee!
WALL.E: Eeeee....vaaaa!
EVE: Walll...eeee!
WALL.E: Eeeee....vaaaa!
EVE: Walll...eeee!
After the movie, we had originally planned to take a ride on the DHL balloon, but it was shut down for maintenance. Instead, we headed over to Clarke Quay, where we did a partial restaging of the events on the day of our proposal! Haha, yes, very tacky, but also very sweet. We went for a river cruise, but this time, the ferry was one of those modern types, not the original bumboat that we took on that fateful evening. Amazingly, we were, once again, the only people on board except for the crew. At first, the host started his usual touristy spiel, but gave up about 10min later when he saw that we were not interested in what he was saying at all. Instead, he volunteered himself to be our photographer and came over to chat with us.
Next, we took a cab down to Mandai Orchid Gardens, where we had held our wedding solemnisation ceremony last year. Unfortunately, we were caught in rush hour traffic, and the cab ride ended up costing a hefty $30!
Mandai Orchid Gardens was quiet and still. Except for the restaurant, Vanilla Pod, the rest of the place was pitch black. The smell of pollen was omnipresent and compensated for the fact that we could not see much of the flowers. There was only one other party in the small restaurant, and we were quickly seated by the attentive waiters. The restaurant looked rather much like a glass house, and with the lush greenery all around us, seemed to be situated in the middle of a forest.
Both of us had the cream of mushroom, while for the main course, Her Royal Majesty had the rack of lamb and I had the seafood platter. The food was passable, but we didn't really mind since that wasn't the main reason why we were dining at Mandai Orchid Gardens.
Halfway through dinner, I hastily excused myself and went out of the restaurant. Just outside the door, my accomplice, the head waiter, was waiting for me with the bunch of flowers that I had sent to the restaurant earlier today. Her Royal Majesty was all smiles as I handed her the 99 stalks of roses and wished her "happy first anniversary". We had also prepared gifts for each other. I received a pair of stylish cufflinks from Hugo Boss, and I gave Her Royal Majesty a silver DKNY watch.
This was our first wedding anniversary. There were no grand fireworks or marching bands, just a special day out for the both of us. In essence, the day was time for us to reminisce about the events on 9 Sept 07, to enjoy each other's company, and most importantly, to be grateful for having each other as we explore further adventures in our lives ahead.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Wedding Prep Updates - 4 September 2008
THE WONDERS OF ARAB STREET
I always knew that Arab Street has lots of shops selling cloth, beads... nothing special, until the need for BEADS surfaced.
I always knew that Arab Street has lots of shops selling cloth, beads... nothing special, until the need for BEADS surfaced.
Guestbook & AP Box: We have been trying to find materials to decorate our guestbook, but sad to say, they always amount to quite a lot when we get them from Spotlight or Made with Love. Finally, I decided to give Arab Street a go; no desire to spend more than $20 just on beads, lol. So on Saturday, we went from shop to shop to check out the prices and designs. So happy, managed to find packets of shiny decor bits for only $3 each! We bought 2 for testing first, if nice then go back and buy more. Haha, will go there again this Saturday! Also thought of an alternative idea to decorate the mouth of the AP box. Too pricey to stick flowers around it, they will cost more than $20! So, we decided to use crystals, haha, 1m only $8! Looks so nice! Can't wait for Mrs Low (aka my mum) to finish with the toys, cos we can only start the decor once the toys are attached onto the box. Sianz... till now we still have no idea how to attach the toys on. Reckon we better leave that task to Mrs Low... mums always have a way with everything, anything!
We managed to find a shop selling loose petals too, and ended up buying 7 packets. I hope they are enough... Can't stand the man at the shop. Kept following us at very very close distance, like right behind! We take one step, he also takes one step. Liew, really bueh tahan. Told Meowvin to faster get it over and done with, I feel very uncomfortable and irritated!
Jazz: Went to Jazz Bridal to view our album layout. Thankfully, it was much, much better than Focus Bridal! I still remember the first time Meowvin and I went to view our album layout at Focus... we rejected the whole thing...the design was simply too "cheena" and kiddish. You tell me, what's the point of taking outdoor shoots if they replace the original, natural backgrounds with artificial ones? Might we well take indoor shoots lor! Anyway, I'm glad Jazz is better, perhaps its because we did tell them we prefer the design to be simple and original. Sianz. Ended up topping up yet another $400 for seamless binding. Liew they really know how to squeeze money out of wedding couples!
Honeymoon: Haiz. We seem to have little bits and pieces here and there not settled. Always got things we need to buy just when we thought we are finally through with all the purchases, lol. Went to the Winter Time at Suntec on Saturday after the Arab Street "tour" and got myself a wool cap. Supposedly to keep your ears from the wind and prevent you from getting headaches easily since it keeps the head warm. On Sunday, went to Suntec again and bought a cute travel kettle (more like a jug). Very cute manz, so compact, the capacity is only 0.5L, haha! Side track - went to Comex with the intention not to buy my much wanted Canon Ixus 85 IS. Nearly succeeded until Meowvin said,"Dear! Pay by UOB and get one more extra 4GB SD card leh! Got 3 altogether leh!" LOL, so I got a new toy. :) We then made our way to Taka to shop for thermal bottle/flask aka water bottle, haha~! Taka has a larger variety of such things, and we bought a La Gourmet one. Haiz, haven't fly already spent more than $1K buying travel stuff. Worse.. still got at least 6 more items to shop for! Heartpain manz.
Yay! We got our Eurail partial refund yesterday (Monday)! Wahahahhaha luckily got check through the tickets manz, we got a refund of $196 cos of the promotional rates for the tickets!! :D
- Phebe
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