Sharing our experience - pre-wedding potrait

Since there were good feedbacks on the photos that I have shared from my pre-wedding portrait - I am happy to impart a few tips. First of all,you will have to do research - I have been googling photos, wedding gowns, hairstyles that I prefer on the web. By the time I am actually scouting for bridal studios and make up artistes I would already have an idea what I am looking for. The most important is still "Listen to your heart" coz you would know better what style you would like - it is only logical as you and your hubby would most likely be the ones who will look at the pictures most.

We started off by visiting the bridal fair held in 1 Utama. We saw a few bridal studios there and paid our bookings for one of them - coz it was almost impossible for us to get away without doing just that. The next step was to pay the said bridal studio a visit, we went unannounced i.e. the sales person who sold us the package were caught unawares. I didn't have a good experience - the gowns weren't really to my specifications i.e. simple, elegant and nice (and I do know I am no longer petite - there were just not enough cloth on the gowns to fit snugly). The package also includes 5-6 gowns(wedding gowns, evening gowns, QunKua etc. ) but the designs just do not meet my only requirement which is simple and nice. Sigh, so it was a total disaster and me and hubby started looking for others - basically I have in mind two others but was at first afraid to show hubby coz the cost and items included weren't as many as the conventional ones. We went to one (the link posted somewhere in this blog) and I fell in love instantly with the gowns and the photography style - simple, nice, elegant and I was just so happy.

There were occasions where we hear comments as to why we chose that particular one without much i.e. no multiple gowns, no costumes etc. but me being my natural self - I have listed down my reasons and shared with hubby so both of us is on the same page.

Then came the phase where we have to choose wedding gown for the pre-wedding photo shoot and meet up with the photographer - Nic. I shared with him my requirements - natural, candid, artistic and buildings as backgrounds, black and white/sephia tones - where would the suitable places to take in KL etc. We were considering Lake gardens, somewhere in TTDI, SJI building (my choice- sigh I am more patriotic to the school that I went for form 6, it may be spooky and the school is still on etc. thus not a suitable venue unless I want young boys to be in the background) - the photographer sort of got the gist of my requirements and explored with us going down to Port Dickson. I agreed almost immediately as I have always dreamed of walking along the beach in a wedding gown - picture perfect in my opinion. But of course last year, year 2006 - it just rains and rains all the time and if we were so unfortunate to be caught in rain - PD do not provide many alternatives. Nic then suggested Malacca coz if it does rain, we can take photos in buildings etc. Wow - eagerly agreed and made the necessary arrangements i.e. hotel, transport etc. The day of our photo shoot soon arrived, lady luck is on our side - we had a bright day and not too hot for a fully dressed and dolled up couple to be walking around Malacca. I also had the most wonderful make up artist - again my requirement was natural youthful make up and she did just that. I came prepared with photos of hairstyle that I particularly like and she recreated them with aplomb - thanks Remy.

To summarise - number 1. do go with your heart's desire, number 2. do not be discouraged my other's remarks/opinions, number 3. do research beforehand and let the photographer/make up artist know what you have in mind. Hubby and I had great fun during the photo shoot, photographer makes us laugh a lot coz Nic showed us some shots taken on and off - I look best when he makes us laugh uninhibited. To this day, I will still look at the photos now and then and am still as satisfied as ever. Let me share with you another unconventional choice of mine i.e. the large portrait that you get from wedding potrait packages - mine's showing not one but 8 pictures all in all (7 smaller pictures layered onto a large one). Those of you who were at my wedding banquet would know ;-).

June 8th is Best Friends Day!

I tried posting the e-card link as part of the space for the blog but was unsuccessful. Thus posted it as part of the page element, had to remove it as today is already June 9th.

As part and parcel of growing up comes life's responsibilities - work, family and whatever time we have left to be divided between self, friends & colleagues. I resort sometimes to send mass sms-es with the same content or e-mails in which the contents I find useful or meaningful.

Pals and chums - know that I think of you often even when I seem to disappear for long bouts.

A coincidence

Let me share with you a coincidence - 3 of my colleagues and 1 ex-colleague are fellow BBGSians but of course much much older than me (that makes 10% of us in the department) but company wide there's a lot more. Way to go BBGSians!!!

Practise makes perfect - part 1

Today, I conducted training again - as training is not my forte, I had a fretful day yesterday going through the materials over and over again. Alas, today I have discovered that I should have tried out all equipments and lights switches - which one's to dim the lights etc and as I was not familiar with the switches etc. in the said training room and as a result had a little mishap or two. Other than that, I am quite satisfied as I had remained calm when thrown questions by participants and my diction and volume were consistent throughout.

And today, I have finally managed to single out the lipstick's that giving me puffy slightly swollen red lips as it caused some form of "allergy reactions" (XXX plushglass) - I had a couple of lipsticks in the office and seldom uses them except when occasions requires stained lips; I would usually use only lip balm. Practise makes perfect no 2. where my make up skill's concerned - I have improved tremendously after attending a session with Clarins' international make up artist. He gave me a few tips on how to accentuate my slightly small oriental eyes and colours that suits me that I would not have dreamed to try out - green. Now every other day, I'll be going green ... and quite happily too.

Count down to Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

I have been counting down to the day when I can collect my Harry Potter book on 21st July 2007. The last two books - I have been pre-ordering from MPH and Borders respectively and will pick up the books at the earliest time possible i.e. when the doors to these bookstores open. My poor darling hubby had to send me there, accompany me while I wait for the stores to open and send me back to my parents' home where I can read in comfort - and I will sit and read the book from cover to cover (usually takes me 5 hours or so to finish HP books). Then I will read and re-read the book a couple of times. Thank goodness 21st July is a Saturday and I won't have to apply annual leave :-) . Let us guess what will happen shall we? There are a few questions lingering in my mind since the last book, they're listed below in no particular order: -
a) Is Dumbledore really dead? The greatest wizard of all that even Lord Voldermort fears?
b) Is Snape good or bad? Is he a spy for Dumbledore at Voldermort's or a spy for the Dark Lord at Hogwarts?
c) Will Hermione fall in love with Ron or will she be swept away by Viktor Krum?
d) Harry and Voldermort will both die in the grand fight as the finale?
e) Who will be the next headmaster at Hogwarts?
I will re-visit my blog on Harry Potter when the time draws nearer ... or when I next get bitten by the Potter bug. My love for Harry Potter books and movies is akin to those of my hubby's for his Stephen Chau/Chow movies - he knows the lines and scenes almost by heart.
I may write on my take on Chow's movie later on - one of my hubby's quirks. "Ni sie jui hau te - ni jie tau ma"or translated as “do you know that you are the greatest" (please pardon my hanyu pinyin - may not be using the right ones; luckily my mandarin teacher do not know of my blog *phew*)

The past two day's a Takuya Kimura craze

Hubby and I were supposed to hang out at the Curve - catch a movie and visit my favourite store IKEA. Unfortunately hubby didn't feel too well and we had to stay home and we watched a couple of VCD's i.e. Jack Neo's movie Just Follow Law starring Gurmit Singh aka Phua Chu Kang and Fann Wong. It is hilarious - but most of the jokes you have to be SG or MY citizen to understand. We had a laughing fit coz a lot of the scenes reminded us of encounters in our lives though not as drastic. For me, it's the scene where Gurmit Singh crosses the road while the pedestrian light is still red whereas his daughter refuses to and insists on waiting for it to turn green. Just keep thinking along that line of thought and you will know what I am getting at - what do we do if it is after a bout of heavy rain ... tsk tsk ... will you be Gurmit or the daughter?
Later in the evening, out of boredom - we turned on the TV and kept it on as we were interested to watch and see what's the Japanese serial Engine all about. At first we were thinking what kind of Japanese drama goes by that title? We were hooked after half an hour and spent the rest of the Saturday as well as Sunday - watching the rest of the show. And me being a romantic and sensitive being - cried a bucketful (in exaggeration). We managed to watch the last episode in the wee hours on Monday morning, was a bit let down by the ending though - maybe we were expecting an ending with more pizzazz i.e. Takuya continue to race for Team Ichinose and marries Tomomi sensei plus adopts Shunta-kun. It is better than watching it on the TV channel where we have to endure the countless adverts etc.