Wedding Breeze

This will be the first of many interviews of beautiful brides on how they prepare or had prepared for their amazing weddings. I’m very honoured to have Rozanah for my first interview. Rozanah held two wedding ceremonies, one traditional Muslim ceremony and one contemporary Western ceremony. Let’s find out how she went about preparing for her wedding.

S: How long have you been with your husband before you decided to get married?
R: We were together for a good 7 years before we tied the knot. After being together for that long, we reckoned that it’s just natural that we take it a step further and decided to take the plunge - that we’ll end up together for good finally! *LOL*

S: That’s really long! So when did you start planning for your wedding?
R: Hmm.. let me see … we tied the knot in Aug 2005. Two years prior to that, I was already DREAMING about our wedding (HAHA!) but the actual planning & work did not get into gear till about a year later.
So yeps, technically it took me about a year of planning and executing for the whole affair.

Read on

Continued

S: You seemed to have both a traditional wedding ceremony and a Western one. What made you decide to do this?
R: There’s no getting round the traditional ceremony. The solemnisation (akad nikah) is what seals a marriage in my religion, so that has to be done the “traditional” way. And the parentals insist that there has to be a traditional reception for the relatives and older folks.

We had a separate Western style reception for colleagues and close friends, more laidback and certainly much smaller in scale. That’s where I get to put my fantasies and grandiose plans into play for what I hope was an intimate affair, done to our liking!

But we had fun both ways. I guess we had the best of both worlds in the end!

S: Certainly! East meets West is a great idea. How did you get started on your research and planning?
R: I think our 1st priority above everything else was the venue, well at least for our dinner reception. Everything else revolved round the venue. We wanted a small affair, and there weren’t that many places that would nicely accommodate a small group. We didn’t want a hotel, cos that was pretty run of the mill. So we scouted out all the museums in SIN - ACM, National Museum, Old Parliament House etc for a good 2mths. Ironically, SAM was our last stop as we couldn’t get the earlier choices. But at the end of the day, think we were very happy with our choice of venue.

Everything else just flows from there I guess. We booked our photographer and make-up artist at a Malay Wedding Fair about 6 months before our wedding. Everything under one roof - easier that way!

After the venue was settled, we registered ourselves with several shortlisted catering companies. Always a good idea, so you;ll get invited to their showcases/fairs etc so you can sample their food and see their decor etc for yourself. We settled on our caterer about 3mths before the wedding, and the showcase we attended was coincidentally held at SAM too!

There weren’t really that much to do thereafter. I had a pleasant time planning the wedding, and wasn’t the least bit stressed out, which was surprising considering I was pretty anal about details. I scouted out for personalised favours online. I designed my own wedding invites (and printed them ourselves too!). I also came up with the colour theme for the dinner reception and all the table setting for the reception was envisioned by me and executed with the help of my trusted friends In short, there was a lot of DIY that went on for the wedding!

S: The Singapore Art Museum was a great idea. I saw a couple hold their wedding there when I went to see the art exhibitions, and you really made a great choice. Were the logistics taken care by SAM or your caterer? Or do you have to make sure things run smoothly?
R: SAM was very accommodating to our requests, and assisted us in our basic logistics (tables, chairs, tech personnel, signages). The caterer only came in for the buffet set-up and a bit of decor. The rest of the logistics were taken care of by my friends who helped me to arrange the tables/chairs, do up the table settings (which included DIY table numbers, self-folded napkins, self-arranged table centrepieces, candles and self-plucked rose petals). Needless to say, my wedding minders (my friends) had their work cut out for them that day! But they were an amazing bunch, which certainly helped to make my experience much less stressful and all the more pleasant and worrie-less.

S: You have a great bunch of friends!
Did you have any beauty secrets to look your best for your wedding?
R: Not so much beauty secrets, I guess. But I was pretty obsessed with getting myself toned for the big day. Hahaha! So for a year, I religiously attended step-aerobics classes as well as Body Sulpting classes. Vain indeed, but hey, I was trying to ensure I look good for the big day *grin* And a good tan helps! I was in Phuket about a month before our wedding, came back with a tan - makes you look healthier (and supposedly slimmer)?? Haha!

S: I think the Phuket trip probably made you refreshed and relaxed before your big day. Speaking of that, where did you go for your honeymoon?
R: Phuket! Hahahaha!!! I was there for the 1st time before the wedding for work and liked the place, so we decided to go to Phuket for our honeymoon. Partly because by then we’re pretty broke too … so settled for somewhere near. Hehe … but hey, it’s the company that counts right?

S: Haha! If you like the place very much, why not! Yes, during the honeymoon period, you just want to enjoy each other’s company. Thanks for the great interview! You are certainly a beautiful bride.

To find out more about other beautiful brides, keep a lookout for other Beautiful Brides Series interviews.