Every Detail Matters!
Category: Wedding Dress & Gown
Sexy touch of lace x-cross the back, 
Halter back with low back 
Embroidery with love and care,
Dangerously low 🙂
Peranakan Wedding Theme: Your Sister, Your Wedding Planner
It is an unsaid obligation that you will be your sister’s wedding planner or her little wedding helper. Well, the differences between a wedding planner and yourself are:
- You are not getting paid. Yup, she won’t be paying you.
- You won’t be getting as much respect as the wedding planner (she’s your SISTER!)
- You will be working from morning to past midnight because both of you are living under one roof
- You will be under a lot of stress and chances are both of you would fight and call the wedding off (just verbally but never actually doing it).
I conducted an interview with Lynda, the younger sister to Kaycee (the bride) who is based in Australia. So, Lynette (the other sister) and Lynda were the two superheroes in making this wedding work. If you are your sister’s wedding planner, read below to find out more on their experience.
What is the ultimate challenge in the whole wedding planning process?
To kick start this interview, I need to point out the fact that I was based in Kuala Lumpur while my family and my sister are located in Penang and Australia. I had to remotely plan her dream wedding. I believe the sourcing of the wedding venue was the biggest challenge of all time and getting the right caterer. My sister is the first person and the first granddaughter in the family to hold a wedding dinner. Everyone wanted a say in how the wedding should be done, but we all agreed on the same theme “When Western Meets Oriental”.
With the theme decided, shouldn’t it be easier to kick start the venue sourcing?
My sister wanted a small and intimate wedding with approximately 15 tables (150pax) and that was the first problem. For hotel wedding dinner, you are required to have a minimum of 30 tables. We went to Rasa Sayang Hotel, G Hotel, Traders Hotel, Evergreen Hotel and many more, but none of them would accommodate us. So we started looking at mansions and ended up at this place called the Peranakan Museum. My grandmother who passed away many years ago was a nyonya. Technically, it is a museum and we spoke to the management and see if they would lease the place out to us for a small wedding. With loads of discussion and luck as well, they agreed. Now, the next problem we noticed was the museum had no tables, chair and limited air conditioning. So, we went around sourcing of marquees, tables, chairs and air cooler, table cloth and decorations. That doubled up the standard workload of a wedding planner! Another thing was that we had to purchase an insurance package to insure the precious goods in the museum. Plus, the museum was operating as usual during the day which meant we were only allowed to set up after operating hours.
That is a unique place and theme to work with. What about the wedding gown to match the theme and venue?
You see, the bride always has an idea of their dream wedding, but putting it into words and paper can prove to be quite a challenge. My sister kept rejecting our ideas, proposals and samples. For example, we had decided to tailor the cheongsam for the dinner and because the bride was in Australia, the fittings could only be conducted a week before the wedding. During fitting, she hated the cheongsam and we went hunting desperately for another tailor to sew another cheongsam with only a week left! My mum and my aunties wore kebayas to the wedding and stood out among the rest of us in cheongsam.
Was there ever a point of time, where you wanted to call off the wedding or quit being the planner?
Well, we fought numerous times throughout the planning process. It was barely six months to plan and prepare the wedding. I enjoyed the whole process, but there were times when I was annoyed and frustrated with amount of work and there was so little time to finish it. But, no, there wasn’t anything serious enough for us to give it up.
After those 5 gruelling months of planning and planning, would you ever be the wedding planner for your family again?
Yes, definitely. I love the experience. Even all those said above, it was a rewarding experience seeing a loved family member going through the process of getting hitched. It was a special moment when it hit me there that my sister would now be officially a member of another family.
French and Vintage Themed Wedding at Renaissance Hotel
Attended a wedding in December whereby the newlyweds actually took part in a flash mob!
- What was the theme of your wedding?
I had 3 separate weddings because I am from KL and my husband is from Butterworth. The first reception was on the 3rd of November last year at the Renaissance Hotel in KL for the bride’s side so our family members and relatives could gather today to share this moment with us. I wanted a unique wedding reception and finalized on a theme called French Vintage. So, the main colour used was lavender. The second wedding was on the 11th November which comprises of the whole “jip san leong “(bride pick-up) processes. It was hilarious with all the games that were played on the best men. My entire bridesmaid wore a lovely shade of pink customized dress. The last reception was on the 12th November at the Sunway Carnival Convention Center in Seberang Perai with the Shanghai Night theme.
2. How long did it take for you to prepare your wedding? Was it difficult?
It took a year to prepare everything for my wedding as 2012 was a dragon year and almost every ballroom was fully reserved for weddings and conferences. Fortunately, there were availability for the Renaissance’s ballroom and that’s when everything felt perfect. Boy, I was wrong! The massive amount of preparation required months in advance and had to be finalized. Weeks prior to the wedding night, everything felt wrong and I felt suffocated with no time for anything else. I was close to giving up.
The whole preparation turned difficult because I had 3 wedding in separate venues. Initially, my mother wanted the jip san leong to be in Penang. Standing firmly on my feet, I made it clear and firm that I wanted my friends and family members to be around for this special moment with me. Fortunate enough, my in laws were considerate enough to allow me to do it my way. It is important for a bride to have both families trying to accommodate the bride’s need. It helped minimize the stress and tension during the discussion.
3. Who helped you in the planning?
My husband and I were fortunately enough to be sponsored by The Peak Xperience. Back in 2011, my sister, Vicky, encouraged me to participate in a contest which was organized by the The Peak Xperience, TrulyScrumptious! and La Flaire. We won RM10,000 worth of wedding products and services which includes a Wedding Planning Package (The Peak Xperience), couture VIP table top design and décor (La Flaire), 100 pieces of custom-made wedding cupcakes (TrulyScrumptious!), and 200 sets of Bespoked Wedding Cards (The Peak Experience).
We also engaged The Peak Xperience to assist us in the wedding day and I must admit that a wedding planner does help reduce the stress a lot. It was an excellent service by Natasha Khoo, who was on standby the whole time to assist me and to supply me with creative ideas.
Putting that aside, the biggest credit goes to my family members who had gone beyond their means to work things out for me. Each of my family members took up a set of responsibilities to lessen my burden. For example, my sisters and sister in law worked hard for the wedding reception in Penang. We had no wedding planner and my siblings and sister in laws handled most of the task while I coordinated with the hotel’s wedding coordinator on the decor for that night.
4. What was the biggest challenge in this?
There were bound to be challenges throughout the whole process from day one till the last day. First, it was the Renaissance ballroom itself. A week before the wedding reception, Natasha informed me that the hotel had just received a booking for a conference meeting on the afternoon of the wedding night and the meeting would end at 5 or 6 in the evening. Natasha was worried that there won’t be enough time for the decoration. The ideal time to start decorating should be at 3pm because the cocktail session was scheduled to start at 5pm. My heart fell but fortunately, the conference was called off! The second challenge was being so frustrated when calls were coming in for some cancellations. I broke down on my way to the hotel and went to my sister. She calmed me down and just told me to be the happy bride. So, I did as I was told….. until my dad came to me asking for the wines. It was 6.45pm and the wines were not in the hotel. Apparently, there was a massive traffic within KL and my biggest fear was the white wines would not have enough time to be chilled. I was very close to passing out and fortunately, it arrived at 7pm and I was glad that there was alcohol to be served after all.
The last challenge was the wedding cake. My sister, Candy, who personally dealt with the baking to the decoration of my wedding cakes, feared that there was insufficient time to bake two cakes for two separate themes and venues. Plus, the decorations were made from sugar paste and would melt on the way to Penang. So, she started the cake décor at the convention center in Penang on the day itself. It was tedious and it took her 5 hours to finish it. I appreciate her professionalism and thanked her with all of my heart for making it happen.
5. I remembered something about a flashmob during the wedding reception. Where did you get this idea from?
I actually participated and recruited the dancers for the flashmob! But the person in charge behind the scene was my sister, Kitty, who randomly threw out the idea for a flashmob over dinner. Everyone is doing flashmobs now, and we should do it. And that was it! It was kept hush hush between the dancers and was a beautiful surprise on that night.
Initially, I wanted the song from Grease because I loved the movie. But, Gangnam Style was trending at the point of time. So, we decided on using the hitz.fm’s version of Gangnam Style. Believe it or not, Kitty actually choreographed the dance routine. I was amazed by her efficiency because she made it all possible with only 2 weeks in her pocket.
6. Do you have any advice for the brides to be out there?
Always, always stay calm. There were quite a number of arguments on the decors, themes, and even on the beverages selection. The key to be calm is to listen, especially on what your parents have to say. They would want nothing but the best for you, so try to listen and you might be in for a surprise! In certain circumstances, they would provide you with the point of view of an outside to allow you to see a bigger picture. So, please try to put your ego away and accept people’s opinion.
I am a firm believer that early preparation is crucial for the perfect wedding. But do trust me on this, nothing is perfect, or will ever be. So, sit back and enjoy the planning process. I actually missed the adrenaline rush and the planning process more than the wedding night. It is acceptable to be a bridezilla but, hey, don’t overuse that power!
Additional information as below:
Wedding Planner: The Peak Xperience (Natasha Khoo)
Couture Decor: La Flaire
Cupcakes & Wedding Favors: Truly Scrumptious & GC Passionate
Makeup: Makeup Miracle by Kenny Yee
Photography: K.E.Z Cinematography
Wedding Gowns: That Special Occasion
Emcee: William Lee
We don’t need no Jimmy Choos!
You can opt for a long or a short wedding gown, but you can’t do much with your wedding shoes! Shoe hunting can be a delicate and painful process. Entering and exiting one shoe store after another with an empty hand could be quite frustrating. We all have our own idea of our dream shoes. Some like it high and some like low for fear of tripping over their own wedding gown! There are so many types of designs and colours to choose from, even white has a few tones to it!
Here are some simple ideas on how you could “fix” or “beautify” a pair of simple pair of heels.
Add Glitters to Your Shoes
What you need is a roll of masking tape, LOADS of glitters, glue and a paint brush
- Tape the base of your heels. You wouldnt want your base to be messed up, do you?
- Pour the glue into a plastic cup and add in all the gliter. Mix it thoroughly.
- Now, paint your entire heels with the glitter glue.
- Let it dry in front of a fan for 2-3 hours.
- Paint over with a layer of clear glue. This would seal the glitter to the shoes.
- Voila, and we are done!
Add a Touch of Ribbon
Imagine walking down the aisle in your long wedding gown, with a pair of wedding heels with cute ribbons on it. It adds a touch of simplicity and yet, sensuality to the design. It is easy to do and will save you the time and money from hunting for the specific design you have in mind! Just DIY at home, as many pairs as you could wish for!
Wearing a Pearl Anklet
Weddings are synonyms to white, classy and of course, pearls! Brides would usualy pair their wedding gown with a touch of solitaire diamond neckalce or a strand of pearls. What about wearing a pearl anklet too? Not only would it act as an accessory the gown, but also makes your footwear sexier!Find yourself three strands of pearl anklet and wear them all together!
Add Some Crystal Rhinestones to the Heel
How about adding some sparkly little stones on the heels? It’s bound to make head turns! If you are a shoe fanatic, this is a must have. It is difficult to find the perfect wedding heels and gemstones heels are just not common enough in Malaysia. Just invest in a glue gun, some glue sticks and crystal rhinestones! A bejewelled pair of wedding heels!
These little ideas are easy to do and the materials can be easily bought in any art stores. Feel free to email me if you have any ideas to share at [email protected]
Happy shoe making!