What A Beautiful Day for A Wedding

by Errolyn

On 10 Nov 08, my mother called me to tell me that The Man had calculated that the best date for our wedding was 7 March 2009. And that is how the whirlwind started.

This is my diary, my diary of how it all began. Needless to say that prior to Nov 08, we had joked about marriage to one another, even talked about it. You see our first date was on 5 Jan 08 and, like I always believed, somewhere around the 6 month period of any relationship is when the girl starts entertaining fantasies of marrying the man she is seeing. Being quite a bit older than the average girl thinking of marriage (I am 32 this year!!!) my thoughts turned to marriage somewhat later - around July 08 (well, I'm not THAT much older!).

So, we started to joke about it and started to think about when it would be a good idea to seal our fates together, as it were. We figured 8 Aug 08 being out of our reach already, that we'd probably do it in 2009. Then my birthday rolled around and we went for a lovely trip up to Genting Highlands. We had a wonderful time and grew closer. In Oct 08, we went for a family trip to Hong Kong and Macau and that really sealed the deal. It really takes spending all that time non-stop with one another to tell you if you can tolerate the man you think you want to spend the rest of your life with!

In Hong Kong, Ju Han showed me the immense amounts of tolerance and love he had for me - since being the 'organiser' of the tour, there were SOME stressful times. Now, people may not know this from looking at him but Ju Han has a temper. Oh yeah, he can blow up as well as the best of us! So seeing how he kept his cool when I ranted and nagged, it was admirable!

He even treated my family as his own, getting along with them so well and being himself - well mannered, considerate, accomodating and of course, showing amply to my dad and mum that he could take care of me.

Now it just so happened that my cousin was getting married at about the same time and me being the anal planner that I am, asked mum to check with Aunt about the Calculation of Good Wedding Date. You know, these men (hmmm, how come there aren't any women calculators that I know of!) - anyway, these men, they take both our birthdates and check for the most suitable wedding date and sometimes, even on to more - like checking the 'pat jee' or destiny to ensure there are no clashes and no untoward events with the union of two people.

Nowadays, there are lots out there who do not subscribe to this superstition or tradition -the old folks may get the young'uns to do it but there isn't any real belief in it anymore. I, on the hand, am superstitious to the end. What to say, if I can check the good or bad about buying my house and taking on a job, geez, the least I could do is try as much as possible to ensure my marriage starts off on a good footing and bodes well for the both of us. (Ok, the Chinese customs are another post altogether!).

So, The Man said that 7 March 2009 was the best date for us! Apparently 2009 has a 'double month' (loon guek) in June and July which is bad for marriage and then followed by August which is the Seventh Month - Hungry Ghost Month and the rest of the year wasn't too good for us to get married in - leaving……ta da! MARCH! And, I lament, not even 29 March or 20 March but SEVENTH MARCH!!!!

At the point of beginning to look around for quotations, we had just about 4 months to plan!!!!!!! I was in a panic! Ju Han had told me before, when we were joking about marriage not to stress out as 2009 was full of dates….Me in my infinite wisdom said, it doesn't mean a year has 365 days that our 'Good Date' will be 200 to choose from or that it will fall in Sept or Dec. It could very well be the first quarter and guess what! I wasn't too far wrong it seems. I tell you I have a very good sixth sense - so good that I myself cannot recognise it sometimes….hhahahahahhaa…

So, 4 months. I went home and talked to Ju Han about it and since we were going to get married anyway, we thought ok, well, we'll do it. We can't possibly wait until 2010! So the very next day, I started checking out Bride Forums and Google-ing venues, hotels, blah blah blah. We got quite a few quotations for venues first because my experienced friends - namely Szup and Sookie, said - "Settle the venue first, then the rest you can take your time….."

The first quotation we got was from the Royale Bintang Hotel….Mmmm….eeeh…..There were a few that I really liked the idea of like an intimate Garden Wedding at Carcosa Seri Negara, and outdoor, lake-facing do at The Saujana or even an elegant night at The Imperial Hotel (which by the way costs a bomb!!!).

Thank goodness, Szup, all the way from the UK, god bless her heart, worked with me in calling the various hotels to ask for availability and price quotes. I had started sending out email queries of course, people who know me, know I always prefer email over the phone, but the hotels didn't seem to respond so well to email queries and took their time about it. Szup made me feel less alone in the whole process - Ju Han being swamped with work and a man……hahahhahaa…..to his credit, he did say he wanted to participate, this being OUR wedding but the poor man just couldn't find the time. It's ok Sweetheart - you concentrate on bringing the bacon home!

So, Szup and I called the hotels and traded fast and furious emails about who was in and who was out. Hotel Istana was out - requiring a minimum of 80 tables!!!! (I'm not going to say anything about that!), Eastin Hotel was already booked! Shangri-la Hotel wanted a minimum of 45 tables!!! The Mines Outdoor Venue was already booked. But a few others were still available so that was good going.

Actually I spent a good portion of a day trying to contact several Bungalow Restaurants like Ciao (which is closed down!!!!!), Tamarind Hill/Springs, Top Hat, etc….as I had always wanted a cosy, intimate wedding party with close family and friends. I never liked the idea of saying thank you at the end of the night and having to lean across to my mum to ask the name and relationship of the person coming up! This was OUR wedding and we wanted to spend it with those closest and dearest to us - I even thought it would be a great idea to not even have a dinner just spend the same amount of money, taking our family on a Wedding Cruise……ahhhhhhh!!! Heaven!

Ju Han said that he wanted to walk down the aisle with me though - have a proper wedding so here we are….planning a proper wedding.

The Bungalow Restaurant idea went out the window soon after I realised I'd have relatives coming down from Penang who needed a place to stay though and therefore, having the night at a hotel, would make the most practical sense….So, one fine Saturday, we decided we had to go look around the different hotels. We had shortlisted a few in the City Centre so off we went, and at the very first one we saw, we hit the JACKPOT!!!!!!!!! Bingo, it looked gorgeous and for someone who had never visualised her wedding nor dreamed colour themes or flower themes….I could see myself gliding in and the potential of the whole place. Ju Han and I were sold. Being the careful people we were though, we went around and checked out the other hotels we shortlisted but still our wonderment kept coming back to the very first place. We were so excited and happy that it seemed so easy.

We even talked to the person in charge and found out that the prices were within our range! Double Happiness!

We went back the next day with Ju Han's parents to try the food - AAAahahhhh, Sublime - Triple Happiness!

So, venue - SET!