11 days to go....

Guess I'm one of those people who'll never make a living out of blogging. (Considering that my last entry was more than 2 WEEKS ago!) Not that I have legions of loyal fans or anything like that....!

Well well what's happened since? Valentine's Day came and went. I had one of the lousiest ones as far as I can remember because I spent the day 1. Working 2. Aruging with the hotel 3. Get shabby prints of wedding pix 4. Crying over my useless lost cause of a wedding gown. JF was away in France so tht's how I spent my Val's Day this year!

Fortunately things HAVE got better since. Being a natural born shopaholic, I scoured the entire city for a replacement dress. And I found it in the most unlikely of places! ( A secret I will take with me to my grave...even JF doesn't know where). What's more, I found a gorgeous evening gown that's 10 times more glam than the one the bridal shop made!

I swear if I had to do it all over again, I WOULD NOT have taken a bridal package. Listen up all brides to be.....BUY OFF THE RACK. Cos your ACTUAL dress will NEVER turn out like what U had in mind even when U give them a PHOTO! (Again, I did a survey of recent brides and this is a FACT!!) It's one of those bridal conspiracy things.

We're into the final 11 days and the pressure is mounting to get things done! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Wish everyone would just read my T-shirt and shut up and make my life easier!

I'm a Bini, He's my Lucky!

I'm soon to be a Bini! Hahaha what a cute funny word! Just learnt it from Daddy.

Apparently in Baba patois...."bini" means wife and "lucky" means husband. Daddy says it's kind of a way to speak in code.....eg. "Is you bini coming to my daughter's wedding?"

Hehehe how funny! The hubby is called a lucky because apparently being MALE is lucky!

Had a brilliantly happy day today! Whooppeee...shiny happy Dawn...fa-la-la!
Brought Kong Kong out to lunch, then Chinatown to buy CNY goodies, and then went over to his place to jazz it up for CNY. I'm so happy with the result. Bought a new bunch of peonies and plum blossoms for him....very pretty!

Kong Kong is very witty for his age, even though he has the onset of Alzheimer's. Rita Ee had new glasses made for him at Nan Fang today. And being the ever-so-thrifty gentleman that he is, he said "My old glasses are good what, no need to waste money!" Rita Ee said he should get them, to look extra handsome for my wedding. And Kong Kong replied,"But I can already see Dawn's boyfriend well with my old glasses what!" Hehe, my dear old Kong Kong! Wish Mama was alive to see me get married. She would love JF too :')

I LOVE CNY as much as Christmas! Love preparing for it.....doing all those funny little traditions and being pantang once a year. It's funny how my Mum is not really into it, but I am. As far as I can remember, for YEARS now I'VE been the one preparing the sticky "nian gao" cake and huat kuay for the Kitchen God. Complete with red dates and dried longans....8 of each. Filling the rice bin, stocking up on sugar, salt, oil, oranges etc. We believe that passing the New Year with these essentials means that you will have ample food for your household for the rest of the year. Yes, yes, thanks to me, everyone in my house will be fat....the dog too!

Blossom wearing her army hat......so fitting since she was an army dog :)







Blossom & the late Beauty...I miss her so much...

SPANX saves the day!

Had our wedding photos taken yesterday......yes it was a long, tiring 8-hour shoot over 4 locations.

My non-Singaporean friends find it bizarre that people here take wedding photos BEFORE the day itself. Hahah...the vice of vanity.... ;) During Mum & Dad's time, the couple would head to the studio only AFTER church on the wedding day to have their wedding photos taken.

I now fully understand why models get paid so much to just POSE....it's not as easy as it looks! (That, and that they're genetically blessed....mark my words, the day will soon come when model DNA will be for sale, and made-to-measure babies are de riguer. Yes, who wouldn't want their spawn to be a perfect specimen of gorgeousness with lithe limbs and a concave belly? Intellect not included.)

As perfect as models and celebs are in their Size 00, 7 For All Mankind denims, they do have one little red carpet secret which makes them look EVEN MORE perfect than they already are........SPANX!!! And the good news is that we, mere female mortals can own a pair too!!

I must say SPANX saved my day yesterday.....what with my too-tight-dress woes and all. Slip on (or rather huff, puff and pull yourself) into pair of Higher Power SPANX, and VOILA, tummy begone! That tell-tale bump from too many macaroons simply vanishes into thin air. The dress now glides on and flutters delicately....oooooohhhh....*collective sigh*

What the makers of SPANX (and everyone else who owns a pair) DON'T TELL U is that U'll FEEL like you've been vaccumed packed! Squashed, squeezed and smoothened out. I kid U not....it's NOT comfortable!!!! Ah well.....it sure beats whale bone..... The cleverest thing about SPANX is that you can easily go wee wee without having to struggle out of it :) Genius.

I enjoyed the photoshoot A LOT MORE than expected! :) I was dreading it because I felt SO UNCOMFORTABLE at Mark's wedding photoshoot when we had a family portrait taken, cos the photographer was saying silly things in Mandarin like...."smile a bit sweeter" (!??!?!?)

But yesterday, JF & I had such a good time, mainly thanks to Robin our photographer. He made us laugh so much....addressing JF as "young man" and me as "girl". Robin also seems to have this instinctive ability to capture the most unusual angles. Apart from the studio, we also shot at The Raffles Hotel (where our wedding banquet will be held), the Botanic Gardens (one of our favourite weekend haunts, especially when there are free concerts - we pack a picnic :) and along a row of beautiful Peranakan houses in Blair Road. Can't wait to see the photos next week!!

I think of all my wedding outfits, I like my Peranakan kebaya best. It's the outfit that I feel most beautiful and comfortable in. (Surprisingly, I like my white wedding gown the least....it's lovely, but not what I wanted it to look like)

Wearing my Peranakan outfit means a lot to me, with all my intan jewellery given to me by female members of my family.......kerosang from Mama, jade and gold bracelet from Mummy's dowry when she got married, intan ring from Koko, necklace from Rita Ee, intan bracelet and earrings from Mummy.

Here are some pics from Leonard's wedding where we were all wearing kebayas.












Mum & Moi



Me, Rachel, Melissa & Melanie