Accomodation Possibilities in KL City Centre

by Errolyn

We have people coming from Penang on both sides of the family and the UK!!! (yes, I'm speaking to you Szup) and China (yes, I'm speaking to you Melin!!!) and I would just like to post a blog that shows the various choices for accomodation from the no frills to the ahem, ahem….

First off we have Tune Hotels which is Asia's 1st No Frills Budget Hotel with "add-on chargeable" aircon and toiletries. 2 nights stay at a double room here on my wedding weekend costs RM97.30 - sounds good and it's extremely easy to get transportation down the straight road to our wedding venue - the Crowne Plaza Mutiara Hotel. Or if taxis get caught in the traffic jam, just walk 5 mins down the straight road to the Monorail, hop on and hop off again 2 stops down!!! EASY PEASY!!!

There is also of course the Crowne Plaza itself which will cost RM378 per night meaning it's RM756 for 2 nights. This is an Advance Online Purchase price for those who want to pay for the convenience of just taking the elevator downstairs to dinner.

Which reminds me, we need to get a room there ourselves….

Next door to our hotel is The Equatorial where Best Available Rates online are RM570 for 2 nights stay. If you're looking for EVEN BETTER, of course nearby, there is the Shangril-La and Concorde Hotel (RM588). Yup, we're holding our wedding in Hotel Central! Hahahhhaha so our guests are spoiled for choice!

A giant tip - using online room finders may yield better room rates than the hotel sites themselves for example, among thousands of others…

www.pyotravel.com
www.asiarooms.com
www.RatesToGo.com
www.asiatravel.com
www.travellerspoint.com
http://malaysiabudgethotel.com
www.trav.com

Choosing Our Pictures

by Errolyn

WOW - 300 over pictures. Shortlisted by the extremely able photographer to 270, shortlisted by the bride and groom to 123. And th.e.e.n….we're stuck. 123!!! And our package only gives us 50 poses! Howlah? The answer we told ourselves, was just to be ruthless with a capital R. So we cut and slash and chop and mutilate leaving us with 90.

We have so far taken several breaks and after 4 hours of this, Andrew takes pity on us and offers to sell us all the pictures….for the price of Ju Han's leg…..and he is a TALL guy mind you. We politely and quickly decline. He offers us another package, this time for the price of my two legs….again we politely and quickly decline lest he even fancies that we might be interested. We most definitely cannot afford to spend more on buying additional pictures than on the original package itself!!!

We try to cut some more, this time with less attention to the different series of stories we can build with the remaining pictures. Finally at 5.30pm after 5.5 hrs of whittling down the pics, we have 70 and the Able Photographer Ah Dee comes down to give us an offer we have to take. Why? We have to take it cos we can't cut it anymore, and we don't want to cut it anymore and it was a good price.

So here we are, 10 days after shooting with 70 poses and we should be able to see the layout of the albums on 7 Feb 09. Sigh….this is hard work! We also chose the pic we wanted to use for our enlargement picture, our ji mui pictures and the photos for our guest signature books as well as on the cover of our albums. We think we will let our parents choose their own pics to keep - 2 pieces of 10R that one.

I said I wasn't going to spend more money at the bridal shop but I failed….BWA….WA…Wa…..

Eat, Drink and Be Merry

by Errolyn

Ju Han went and made our first payment for our dinner! A rather big chunk - heheheheheeh - money flows out like WINE man!!!!!

Wedding Invitations

by Errolyn (do I even need to say this actually????!!!)

We finally finalised our Invitation Cards!!!!!!!!!! We are getting them printed at Sunflower Paper Products in Ikano Power Centre (why DO they call themselves that????!). Anyway, yup. We went to look again at their stock. The first time around, there was a guy there who wasn't very vocal but then when we went on 10 Jan, Kartini was there and she told us which ones were good value etc. She showed us all the different kinds of inserts and envelopes - she is a true believer in 'seeing is believing' which is great for Ju Han and I. So we found a nice non-traditional but not completely out of being Chinese card, personalised it, wrote our text out and waited for proofs to be emailed to us.

Here is where it gets dicey. Several things needed to be changed, for example - missing text, wrong spacing, misspellings….it took us 4 tries to get everything right and it still isn't perfect - not for these two anal people at least. The work seems to be done by someone who just does not coordinate his brain with his hands. I am not saying the designer is dumb. I am just saying that when you put 2 exactly the same items on 2 separate pieces of paper - the items should still look the same - but….well, apparently for some people that's quite difficult. At one point, I wondered if 2 people were doing our cards because there seemed to be no continuity!

Sigh! They are fast though…..and we are hoping the cards will get done before Chinese New Year so we can distribute them back in Penang already!

So ratings for Sunflower are thumbs up for speed but need more work on proactively anticipating what the customer would like - for example, centralising a graphic on the card and ensuring that it LOOKS centralised! Aiya!

Pre-Wedding Shoot

by Errolyn

The day of 8 Jan 09 dawns bright and cheery. I get up off the bed, having had no real sleep the night before. My heart is pounding and pretty soon I am going to feel nauseous! The skin is not much better after the facial, but I go ahead and take someone's advice to apply a hydrating mask. It's supposed to facilitate the adherence of makeup to my face. Then after washing it off, I still think my skin is too dry, so I slap on some Lancome serum.

I put on a peasant blouse and corduroy skirt and tell Ju Han I can't understand why I am so nervous. I confess that I feel that if I don't do today perfectly, that it would be a great disaster. Ju Han carries the big black duffel bag I had stuffed the night before with Awie Awana and Senor Amore - the soft toys we are going to use in our photoshoot and all my shoes to match my gowns as well as my FreeBra (adhesive laden so I can look glamorous in my backless gowns), biscuits, bottles of water and god only knows what else…..Sorry - 2 bags actually.

I wait for Ju Han to ready himself. He takes 1 hour. I am discomfited and fidgety downstairs with Uncle and Auntie Tan, trying to look sane while Uncle Tan tells me about buying car tires and batteries for good prices.

Finally, we head out to SS2 and I want to have nasi lemak. After finishing one packet, I chastise myself for having finished the whole thing. Ju Han is 3 times my size and I eat the same amount he does….hmmmmm….he promises me he will still love me even if I were 200kg big. He may not WANT me though but that's another matter altogether - so he says.....

We reach Bridal Concept at 10am where the make up artiste - Jess is waiting for us. No cheery smiles or greetings, just up the stairs and in the chair. She does my eyebrows and cleans my face. She doesn't speak until I ask her if she's worked there long. That's the last thing I need eh, an unfriendly face? She warms up after a while but this is what I remember. But she does do a great face and hair.

I had 2 wedding gowns, 2 evening gowns and 1 traditional kwa to shoot and the good thing is that we were the only couple that day. Half way through make up Ah Dee the photographer walks in and makes some noise in the room…..she seems fun. She keeps up this demeanour until almost near the end the day…..I guess, where almost everyone is tired and grumpy.

After I'm done, Ju Han gets his turn in the chair and is very excited to report that Jess shaped his rather lion-like eyebrows. He comes out in his first suit and I am shaky in the knees. At our fitting the weekend before I had seen him in the suits but damn! does he look good!

I go to the next room and have a word with Ah Dee about the kinds of pics we like. We tell her we HATE the juvenile overly dramatic poses where I catch an invisible butterfly or punch my man……instead loving the candid shots capturing our love and silhouette shots too. Ah Dee starts with me alone - there will be loads of this to come I realise and then introduces Ju Han into the shots. She asks me to pull Ju Han's ear and I immediately realise she didn't understand our instructions? Or, more likely, she doesn't think they are overly dramatic and juvenile. We do a few of these throughout the whole photoshoot until near the end where we both drew the line at Ju Han conducting music….hahahahhahaha……

We actually went through our photoshots very fast. We probably started shooting around 11am and finished 3 costume and hair changes by 1pm. We treated everyone to Domino's pizza and left for our outdoor shots in Putrajaya at almost 2pm. Ah Dee said that we had to get there early because recently there had been a lot of rain everyday in the area in the afternoon. I was concerned that if she usually left for Putrajaya at 4pm, that we actually had less morning shots (leaving 2 hours earlier!!!!) but she said she had already taken 100over shots. Hmmmm…..I was unconvinced.

Thankfully, we had Bright.Hot.Sunny weather in Putrajaya and a blast at going around - there was a lot of walking and a little posing. I hope we get enough good pictures of nature and architecture that I wanted. We originally wanted to go to the Heritage Station Hotel but decided that Putrajaya was more versatile. Come to think of it, we could have gone to the Hotel if not for the feeling of being very rushed to get back to the shop and wrap up shooting. This is one thing I didn't understand. I guess the photographer could have been very tired and bored with Putrajaya already, having been there so many times but I expected different.

Well, as Ju Han consoles me - she works on commission too and would be all the better off if we wanted to buy more pictures off her, so it's not the quantity that counts, it's the quality and it would be in her best interest to do the most she could to entice us to buy…..All in all, we apparently took 200-300 shots - we should be able to find 55 that we like for the albums. I just hope our pictures don't look too generic. And Ju Han looked so good that I wanna buy everything with him in it!

The darling was such a trooper too - driving and trudging around in the hot hot sun and picking off love grass from his pant legs….. which an observant photographer would have caught on camera.

He brought along a jacket and some new shirts - a great decision cos they looked fantastic. I only hope the camera was able to capture it all.

For myself, I only hope I don't look fat.

All in all, we finished off at 6.30pm. We didn't get to take our sunset pictures because we weren't in Putrajaya that long. Oh ya, it POURED the moment we finished taking our last shot! Someone had a four leaf clover in their shoe!

It was really nice but still I am left with the distinct unease that we were rushed through our shooting and I am very worried that we won't have enough nice shots to choose from. Pity! We were having such a good time with Bridal Concept……

Now I just wanna see my pics, get the album done and MOVE ON!!!!! I hope they're fast and do quality work! This is the real test isn't it?!

PINK NAILS???

by Errolyn

For my mani pedi, I bought a package for RM48 at the recent Bridal Fair at Mid Valley Convention Centre. It seemed ok - I made my appointment for the day before my photoshoot and it went off ok. The lady boss (from Singapore) and the girl who did my pedi were nice and helpful and fun but the lady, Serena, who did my manicure was rather ummmm…..stubborn. She kept offering me colours I didn't like and not listening to what my 'wish list' was.

Anyway, in the end, it came out ok but I was rather stupid…..I took their offer to buy a foot scrub and whitening mask for my legs at RM25 and realised that in total I paid RM73 which is more than any normal pedi out there which, yes, does not include a mask, but would have only cost RM35. So I'm out of pocket a little bit for the mani pedi but overall it was ok. They had a nice massage chair. Business-wise I guess it was a good move. Price something so cheaply that I think it's no big deal but since I am now in the customer's chair....I'm sorry to say I got suckered. Good on ya guys - I bow to your strategy.

The experience at Citibella, 1 Utama Old Wing (near Pizza Hut) was average. They also do facials and body wraps etc. I would have visited again but remembering Serena, I probably wouldn't.

I came off with pink fingernails with a touch of glitter at the top and red toes (quite normallah for me). Pink is so NOT my colour but I figured I had to look the innocent blushing bride…..

Facial Disasters!

by Errolyn

Gosh - so many things have happened!!!!
A quick list to organise my mind :
Facial
Manicure & pedicure
Pre Wedding photoshoot
Invitation cards
PAYMENTS

So, first things first going by the list, let's talk about Ju Han and my facial at Beaubelle 10, Jalan Semantan. (You know! That place opposite CIMB with the car crashing out of the multi-level car park and the recent landslide….). My face was pimpled beyond recognition so Ju Han managed to persuade me to go get a facial before the pre-wedding photoshoot on 8 Jan. I think the skin condition - dry and combination as it is was exacerbated by the stress of the photoshoot and wedding etcs. But I gave in, when my face went on a strike and just refused to look presentable.

We booked a Chocolate Facial each at Beaubelle for Sat. We've been there 3 times prior - having bought a package. The first and second times were god-awful hard-selling, in-your-face marketing spiels which we both hate and we actually staved off Visit no.3 for a good 3 months.

Finally, we thought, what the heck - we have to just suck it up and finish off the package then we'll be free of them for good. To our surprise, the pushy, aggressive girl (don't know her namelah) wasn't there and we had a wonderfully relaxed time there. She actually finished off the visit with "Thanks for coming. If there is anything you need, please just give me a call". PERFECT! Ju Han and I actually talked about being able to come back to this particular branch with Ms Pushy gone.

Lo and behold, when we walked in, who should greet us with a catalogue but……MS PUSHY!!!! ARRRGHHGHGHHHhh - MOTHER OF……..!!!!! We knew we were in for a bad time. She completely focused her efforts on me and talked my ear off about the most perfect new Stem Cell Rejuvenation Blah Blah treatment for Half Price now! WOWOWWOWOWO!!!! I was like - no I don't want. I want my Chocolate Facial.

When my actual facial girl - apa dia punya name ..Gigi? was prepping me, MS PUSHY called her out and I had a sinking feeling. Without fail, Gigi walked in and immediately started in on me for the Stem Cell Treatment. She talked and talked and talked, buy this ampoule, buy this mask, buy my ass…, in a LOUD voice!!!!! and I just couldn't take it anymore. I said, "You know. You guys keep pushing me to buy this and that and I am really not comfortable with that".

She shut up after that. She left me for a while and came back proffering a free hydrating treatment with my mask. Of course I accepted it and she even complimented me on my skin barring the fact that it was dry. My momma didn't bring up no fool, fool! You think I'm going to fall for your sweet act now???!

At the end of the facial, they sat us down AGAIN with the catalogue and I looked at Gigi squarely in the eye and said, "No." She repeated her sales act, I repeated my refusal.
Now, what is the most GALLING is that at the point of payment at the front counter, BOTH MS PUSHY and GIGI made a last ditch attempt to sell us another Chocolate Facial. I wanted to slap their heads together!

THAT WAS THE LAST TIME I AM EVER GOING TO BEAUBELLE.

If they do not know how to train their sales staff or if their targets are so unrealistic that their employees need to give up their first born children to achieve it, it ain't my kind of establishment! I've been for facials with Clarins and Estee Lauder and SKII and nobody needs to push this hard.

BEAUBELLE and MODERN BEAUTY (Damansara Utama) - you are on my BARRED list!

Registration of Marriage!!!

by Errolyn

On 3 Jan 09, Ju Han and I started the journey. To Putrajaya - the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (Registration Department) to be exact. In Precinct 2 - to be precise.

Which I knew but forgot til I drove past the Precinct 2 turnoff and got a funny feeling. Anyway, we drove on to the area with the Jabatan - jabatan Kerajaan which is Precinct 1 I think and had ourselves a merry go round - you know that place which is actually a giant roundabout that also has turnoffs to the Jabatan Perdana Menteri and Alamanda. We drove into an Informasi booth which was supposed to be open from 8.30am on Saturdays but....nope, they were not open and the ladies restrooms left much to be desired.

We asked a guard who gave us directions in a very confident manner and told us the Jabatans were closed this Sat. Too bad he was wrong on both accounts. This is me we are talking about here - of course I called up to check if they were open ahead of time!!!!!

We asked another guard at Alamanda finally and arrived at the correct place at ummmm 10.10am - a good 1 hour 30 mins after we started. I was afraid we'd have to wait a long long while but miracle of miracles, we got all done in a half hour.

I had to go to the 2nd floor to change the address on my MyKad chip to a PJ address so I could submit to register my marriage in Putrajaya. I can understand why it's not effective or efficient or a plain ole good idea to merge the whole database of Malaysia so that all citizens are trackable and records are accessible anywhere in the country - it's a question of personal freedom right? We wouldn't want Big Brother to be watching us all the time. God forbid that I can get anything done officially in KL if my official records state I am a Penangite! ....!!!! .....!!!!!

So we paid RM2 to get that done - I didn't have to wait. Then we traisped down to the 1st floor to submit our application for registration. Ananthi was very nice, very efficient, very smiley and VERYVERY helpful! Y'see, we wanted to register on 30.01.09 as all the family will be here - parents and sis.....But horrors, they had already closed the day with like 15-20 couples. But she pushed us in - yes!!! she pushed us in. So that was just fantastic. Cos we wanted to choose an auspicious date.

Hehehehe, that's another thing off the checklist - Registration Date 30 Jan 2009! I have almost decided what I want to wear and paired Ju Han off. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope I Didn't Get Fatter

by Errolyn

This past week has just been a gourmet fest and I am really hoping I haven't put on so much weight that I can't get into my gowns for the Photography Session on 8 Jan 09. I've already gotten my hair cut at Bianco in Damansara Uptown by the wonderful Jeffrey who is seriously amazing - just a few snips here and there and I was turned into a vamp - damn should have taken some pictures!

It was seriously the shortest time a haircut ever took but it turned out the best - then he blew me.....with a hairdryer and it was exactly what I wanted! AH - I feel as if I don't ever have to worry with him - he will be able to give me what I want hair-wise just because he gets me.

I also pampered the head with a Schwarkorf Bonacure Vita treatment - it made my hair lovely and silky and soft....mmmm....feels the way hair should.

I am making a promise to myself that I will take better care of my hair and better care of my skin from now on. So far I've been lucky with the skin front - people think I've got pretty nice skin though I've not ever done much about it. I've had a facial less than 10 times in my life before 2008. But in 2008 itself I had about 3 and recently, had another one cos I had an OUTBREAK of 3 pimples on my face - right there - front n centre!!!! Terrifyingly ungorgeous.

I think I should make more of an effort with my appearance lah. I have gotten so used to not doing much - just being myself and having that be enough (for god knows who) but now I think as I get older, more effort just shows better results.

I have not been sleeping very well lately. For the past 3-4-5 nights in a row I have woken up in the middle of the night just because my brain is working overtime about the table centrepieces, the wedding favours, the Registration of Marriage (ROM) dress.....sigh. I've also started getting a lot of wind and my cycle is all out of whack. Ju Han was all a titter but no worries - I am fine......and typing this post at 3.48am!

It's only logical then that I was a tad worried that I wouldn't be able to fit into my gowns cos of all the eating and the wind in the stomach. But today, well...yesterday, we had a fitting at 4pm and it was all a-ok. So I am ..O-K.

Ju Han had 2 suits to try on - both were rather short in the trouser legs for him bu they will let that out. 1 Black and 1 Grey and I thought he looked dapper in them. He didn't like them too much though - I am memorialising this sentiment cos I want him to look back and see this when he loves the pics! Hahahahahah!

Sigh, this insomnia is going to give me bad skin.