October 9th 2007 by Wife in Feelings, Preparations
We finally received the letter of notification to go down to HDB hub to choose our flat. We were given a date and time, which if we were to change, we’d have to suffer the consequences of being pushed back in the queue of flat choosing, i.e. risk getting the flat of your choice being snapped up by somebody else. Fortunately, I do not have major experiments on the given date, so I can afford to go down at the given time slot (which is pretty early in the morning).
It isn’t easy at all, choosing a flat. We don’t even get to see the actual house, just the layout maps! At least we went down personally to look at views from the corridors (which should translate to the views from some of the windows in the flat), and the direction of the afternoon sun. Quite interesting, but not exactly the most fulfilling. Feeling down lately (I’ve been having many of these mood doses over the past month – major part due to lab), and I find it difficult to feel too excited about the new flat. BUT I do so want to get it soon. Would love to have a nest to call our own. 
For now, it’s *cross fingers* that we get our first choice of flats, and that it’d be a good one.
September 28th 2007 by Wife in Feelings
I feel blissful to be married.
I feel so happy to be so pampered and doted upon by hubby.
I am glad that everyone in my life who are closest to me are healthy.
I am super duper happy it’s a Friday! (Yes, even if I have to come back to lab tomorrow at 7am)
I am looking forward to a good dinner later.
I miss many people and many places suddenly.
Cramps do not feel comfy.
I want to get our new home soon!
I want to go for a holiday!
As mentioned in the title, just some random thoughts from my heart…
September 26th 2007 by Wife in Announcements, Preparations
Yup, the title of this entry says it all – we are getting our new flat in Jurong West extension! Yipee! A 5-room flat, we are now having a headache of which unit to choose, since we are not allowed to go into the units to take a look for ourselves. Nonetheless, it’s getting exciting! With all the thinking about how we want to do up our new home, how I can design a Pooh corner (my dream!) and where to get our furniture from. Hee.. But excitement aside, there’s also the reality to face – money money money! Not only do we have to fork out money to pay the downpayment (which varies from 20-28k depending on which unit we get), we now have to budget for our renovation/ furniture shopping too. Not to mention we will have to pay for our numerous bills once we get our key. Man, living on our own is no mean feat! Growing up means greater responsibilities… 
September 17th 2007 by Wife in Feelings, Preparations
Went bridal studio shopping with my cousin on Saturday, and it was such an eye-opener! The variety of cuts, shapes and designs of the wedding gowns available on the racks of the bridal studios are simply stunning and makes one feel really spoilt for choice, as they all look so beautiful!
And to my surprise, the service of the 2 bridal studios we visited were friendly and not at all pushy. One had such young staff that I felt they could truly understand and relate to what the young bride-to-be needs!
It was really so much fun, and I hope I can be included in more of the excitement of her plans.. Hee..
Just some learning points obtained from the visits:
1) The gowns look entirely different when viewed on the racks compared to when they are taken down and out of their bags, or when worn on the bride-to-be’s body
2) Pre-conceived notions of particular designs of gowns that would look bad on the bride-to-be should be thrown out of the window until that particular design has been tried on personally
3) Be frank with the staff of the bridal studio as to what you need and want, so that you can obtain as much useful information as possible
4) Package prices are considered commercial secrets, so no bridal studio would pass you a quote of their packages with details. Remember as much of the details as possible, you can always write them down after you leave the studio!
5) Freebies thrown into the packages may seem attractive, but do consider what you truly need and whether the bridal studio can satisfy your requirements. An important factor might be the attitude of the staff. Imagine that you have to deal with these people amidst your busy wedding plans. You surely wouldn’t want to have to expend more energy than neccessary on arguing with them or losing the cheer of the whole process by getting annoyed by their negative attitudes, right?
When would it be my turn?
September 4th 2007 by Wife in Feelings
Time sure flies. It has been almost a month since Hubby & I officially became man and wife. I’ve been through quite a couple of emotional upheavals during this period of time, and I am glad hubby was by my side the whole time.
So far, it’s been great to be married.
September 1st 2007 by Wife in Others
After waiting for about 5 working days, the photos we ordered from Snapfish (an online photo album that allows for ordering of prints as well) have finally arrived! It is the first time I’m trying out printing photos from online instead of going to a photo lab (so far, out of the major players – Kodak, Fujiflim and Konica, Kodak has given the best prints, though Konica offers the best rates).
I must say that the photos are majority quite well developed, but some of the photos which I opted for a digital size (4″ x 5.3″ instead of the normal 4″ x 6″ 4R size) came out pretty white-washed. I believe they used different printers, and as such resulted in a varying quality of the print-out, which is quite disappointing. The package came as a registered package though, and for the cost of postage we paid, I am very satisfied with Snapfish’s service (S$1.90 for 1st 50 prints, and S$1 for every subsequent 50 prints or part thereof). However, I believe it will still take some deliberation on my part before deciding whether I will continue using this online service for print-outs in the future, as it does take considerable time to develop (3-5 days compared to one day for normal photo labs). Plus, we have to upload the photos, which may take considerable time, before getting to choose what we want to print. Nonetheless, it is less hassle-free as we do not have to go out of the way to get the photos printed and collect them again when it’s done.
I’ve finally stuck the photos into our wedding album (but still incomplete due to a lack of some photos and I’ve not had time to do any captions), and added on some stuff to the design of the album cover. HAPPY! 
Here’s a peek at how the album looks like on the outside:
A golden album – signifiying the precious moments…
August 27th 2007 by Husband in Feelings, Others
My wife and I were featured on today’s Zaobao Fukan front page along with another 2 couples. It was a feature story on couples who married soon after graduation. There were a couple of mistakes in the article though, the most obvious one being my wife’s stipend being $1,500 to $2,000 weekly instead of monthly. I think it’s probably an honest mistake on the part of the reporter because it probably would have made no sense to anyone if the stipend is given weekly. Anyway, here’s the report:
Click on picture to enlarge
Reading about the other 2 couples, I suppose that young couples really have it tough. Money aside, people often wonder why the choice to get married so early. Some people might even think that it’s a shotgun marriage rather than a planned one. I suppose this are the consequences to face when you do things that are out of the norm.
I think the other two couples made two very good points which myself and Peiying agrees to wholeheartedly as well. The first is that life is unpredictable, and if we wait, we might never get the chance (touch wood but you never know). Secondly, family before career is something that we feel is important because the warmth of a family helps to provide a strong emotional support to ride through the rough waves of establishing a career.
I suppose not everyone agrees with such lines of thought but well, I think marrying early is really important because marrying late means that you will rush to have kids due to the biological clock ticking away. I think it’s better to enjoy a few years as husband and wife, understanding each other before the kids come because kids will definitely place additional stress on the family. It is important to have an emotionally strong bond between husband and wife before the kids come along, and for the strong emotional bond to happen, you need time to nurture it. So, if you are thinking about marriage, don’t wait! 
August 25th 2007 by Wife in Announcements
August 25th 2007 by Wife in Announcements, Feelings
After almost 3 weeks, we have our hands now on the soft copies of the photos from our ROM! Thanks to Adrian our photographer, we now have lovely shots as memories of that important day.
It’s now time to make prints! I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time. Hee.. And special thanks to Adrian also for eventually acceding to my every request, I sincerely appreciate it, a whole whole lot. I guess I was kind of a difficult customer 
Cheers to photos!
August 18th 2007 by Wife in Preparations
Now that the wedding solemnisation event is over, I can showcase our planning process! Have stopped myself from doing so earlier so as not to spoil any surprises.. Haha At least in terms of what we have designed and customized ourselves so as to bring a more personal touch to the whole event for our guests, here is what we had in store for everyone:
The whole process of choosing the right materials, design, fonts and wording for the invitation card & envelopes (clockwise from top left: a first draft of the wording and choice of font; font for our envelopes; multiple print-outs to see the effects of different designs; invitation design 1; invitation design 2; our final decision on the outlook of the invitation)
(clockwise from top left: our photo standing on an easel for the reception table; the envelope designs for our invitations; corsages for my cousins helping out; party poppers for the march-in/ end of ROM ceremony)
A close-up shot of the bride & groom accessory attached to the photo frame (left), and the decorated sign for the Photo Booth along with a pair of wedding bears!
And lastly, a personal favourite as part of the whole wedding reception – the photo guest book (after months of preparation in decorating and designing it!)! Here’s a glimpse of what it looks like:
Before the photo gets slotted in…
…and after!
There! Our efforts after the few (about three?) months of preparation, though tough, came out beautifully! I’m unable to showcase everything here, but the above are snapshots of the planning process… I can’t stop wondering now about how to make our customary wedding/ banquet more unique… Looks like this is what we call “once you start, you cannot stop” (thinking about it that is)! Haha…
Wonder when will I get back to reality?
