#1 Wedding Blog

Posted by the Groom

Wow, it’s the big day today, finally! Fione and I are now in Mandarin Oriental, KL, preparing for this special event. As usual, being “last-min dot-com”, we did most of the things last minute, due to our extremely hectic schedule. But we expect this event to turn out to be unique, fun-filled, and memorable!

I just changed to a white suit, whereas Fione is still doing her make-up, but guests are coming in already! We will post more updates when we have an opportunity. We take this opportunity to thank all our guests who kindly help to make our event exciting and memorable!

Regards,
Harrace

I realised it was not so easy to find bridal videography in Malaysia because everyone seemed to be scattered. Anyway, i’ve compiled a list of the wedding themed video production companies you can consider.

I found 1 company that was advertising in lots of the bridal magazines locally but i actually had several prior dealings with this person and he was not handing in the videos on time for our corporate events. Therefore, although he used a different company name here, i still figured it out because i remembered the address. Needless to say i didn’t list him here.

1. Kid Chan Studios / Portrait One
- they are the most well known photo studio in this region, and i was delighted to see Kid Chan personally contacting me when i left a message in their blog.
- main focus in on photography. I had my Malaysia wedding shoot done with their team 2 weeks ago at popular wedding photography spots like the KL Train Station and of course the KLCC / Twin Towers area.
- Benny was the camera man assigned to handle our outdoor shoot & he was amazing. The photos turned out awesome & more lively than those typical bridal pose & shoot photos.
- the KL pre-wedding montage will be shown in my Malaysia wedding event in a musical video format and i’ve booked the wedding photo album (20 images per album) at the additional cost of RM1,800

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A few weeks back, Malaysia’s New Straits Times featured our Hong Kong wedding news in a 3/4 page article. The article as published on 23 April 2007, entitled “With this Ring, I thee Web”, and we have placed this article copy on our press room section at http://eonenet.com/press/2007nst_wedding.htm

The wedding news coverage started with this paragraph:-
eOneNet.com’s chief executive officer Fione Tan and company co-founder Harrace Lau not only preach information and communication technology (ICT), but also live it.

The couple, who tied the knot in Hong Kong last month, held what they claimed was the first internet themed wedding reception in Asia. And they are planning to hold a similar reception for family and friends in Kuala Lumpur in June.

Read more about the newspaper coverage online in the url above. We’re looking forward to more media coverage on our wedding event in June, from not only newspaper, but bridal magazines and other media too.

I’ve just collected my Malaysia Marriage Registration Certificate today from WanChai, Hong Kong. I had my wedding in Hong Kong on March 4th, 2007 and this was registered in Hong Kong, and my HK marriage certificate was all i had so far.

Malaysia marriage registration certificates comes in 2 versions, one copy for the Male (blue), and another for the Female (pink). Earlier on, my husband asked me what language was stated on the certificate and I cheerfully said English. However on second checking i realised that the items were in Malay, but the details of my Hong Kong address at The Arch was in English (so Harrace was holding on to the certificates and didn’t understand anything beyond our names, and address).

Since i was Malaysian, i also needed to register my overseas marriage with the Malaysian government as well. Normally, when a couple gets married in Malaysia, they will visit the “Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara” / National Registration Department of Malaysia to register their marriage.
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Have you choosen your wedding gown? In total, i bought 3 wedding gowns, yes, “crazy” at times. My first wedding dress was a deep v plunging neckline wedding gown from Malaysia’s Eric Choong. I wore this for my Hong Kong wedding reception in Hong Kong. For my Malaysia wedding in Mandarin Oriental in June, we decided to get another custom made wedding gown from Margaret McCallum in KL Plaza.

I have been researching for different designers in KL a few months ago and managed to check out some of them. I’ve compiled a summary of the information i found, so that new brides deciding to custom make their own gown would be able to get some ideas on how to decide.

Here are some tips on how to choose your wedding dress designer:-
1. Browse magazines, and show the designer what you would like to wear

2. Consider your budget for this custom wedding gown
Here is a price list of some famous wedding gown designers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in alphabetical listing.

a) Beatrice Looi - showroom in StarHill Gallery & Bangsar Shopping Village (new wing)
- have various packages from RM5,000 onwards to up to RM20,000
- wedding packages will include shoes, wedding gown, an evening dress plus even the men’s suit so your Groom would also get a designer suit)
- my last purchase from Beatrice was 9 dresses so i decided that i probably should try something else for my KL wedding
- i wore a gold halter neck gown for my Hong Kong wedding as the evening dress. I’ll be wearing another lacy Beatrice Looi gown for my Malaysia wedding as my “salsa” dancing dress.
- evening gowns prices are quite affordable, with basic ones starting about RM300, and couture gowns about RM5,000
- you can get ready designed gowns at about RM2,500
- i only met her once when i was browsing the Bangsar outlet (not during my shopping spree earlier)

b) Carven Ong - showroom in Lot 10 (top floor)
- price ranges from RM3,500 onwards for custom made gown
- ready made gowns are about RM2,500
- i met him once when i was trying on a wedding gown that was on SALE but it looked nicer on the rack

c) Eric Choong - showroom in Bangsar (just above Madam Kwan restaurant)
- price ranges from RM4,000 onwards for custom made wedding gowns
- ready made gowns are about RM3,000 onwards
- with over 16 years of experience in wedding gown designing, he’s one of the top designers in Malaysia.
- my first wedding gown was purchased off the rack from Eric Choong so i wanted something different for my other wedding dress. The selling price for that first gown was RM6,600 but i got a special price for that (the gown just seemed to fit me so well so i had to buy it)
- the team here is very friendly & it’s a cosy environment so you’ll be amazed how fast time passes by.

d) Margaret McCallum - showroom at KL Plaza ground floor
- designer’s name is Shamsu Yusoff, and he’s a funny man plus extremely friendly
- price ranges from RM3,500 for custom made wedding dresses
- ready made gowns are about RM2,500 onwards
- you’ll get to see sketches of previous gowns designed and price on the sketches
- the first time i visited this boutique, we spent over 2 hours chatting so finally i decided that he would be the one designing my wedding gown
- p/s: He’ll not ask brides to starve till you turn into sticks, and he’s the type that will try to bring out the good features of your body shape!

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We were thinking of what “skills” we could show off to our guests during our wedding, and we decided to entertain them with a dance. Through recommendation from our friend, Colbert, we found out about Salsa. Jeamie, the instructor from SalsaJay.com had a blog and was termed the Hottest Salsa Community in Malaysia.

Immediately after checking out their blog, Harrace booked us up for private training sessions with the instructors. We had our first salsa class in mid May for a 1 hour session. I was sick with flu that day, but the thought of being able to lose some weight drove me to attend the class no matter what.

Well, i had no prior training in dancing (i’ve got not much skills except being able to talk fast, haha) so it was rather intimidating. However, Jeamie was patient and actually a very fun salsa teacher, who was swaying, and swinging me like a “passionate lover”. I was blushing fast, (maybe i was just feeling hot from wearing too much clothes?) and wished that i too could be performing with so much confidence.

So, what is actually salsa? I did a search online and found some useful background about salsa on wikipedia. There were even instructions on the basic steps, and the turns. It seems that salsa was “spicy” in Spanish, and therefore there should be fast movements and each partner should be moving near to each other. Initially i would spin away (far far away) from my partner and then had to make BIG steps to walk back to my initial positions. I looked more like a robot and cannot seem to sway nor move my body to look as sensual or confident as the instructor.

I preferred the 1 to 1 sesssion compared to the huge class sessions as i had difficulties in catching the steps. Even in normal aerobics classes or other workout classes in the gym, i’m one of those that couldn’t seem to control both my hands & feet simultaneously. In total i only had time for 2 private one hour sessions so far, and i was fortunate that i can still remember the steps from day 1. Next week when i’m back in KL, i’ll be signing on for 2 more hours of private training which i hope after these 4 hours of intensive training, we’ll be able to graduate with flying colours.

The 2nd session had more fast moves and poses so i’m hoping that our wedding guests will be mesmerised with our salsa dance on June 9. As for losing weight from salsa, maybe i’m moving too slowly but i don’t seem to sweat during the workout so don’t expect that you will burn lots of calories off too.

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I’ve constantly been on “diets” for the past 7 or 8 years. There’s always a new diet, or weight loss program. As the wedding date draws nearer, i realised that i’m at least 10 pounds overweight than my ideal weight.

I was watching a tv program yesterday and they said 2.5 piece of white bread is equivalent to the calories of half bowl of rice. I’m such a bread lover, but i didn’t realise that it’s so fattening.

What are the diet plans you have used? I’ve treid most of them, ranging from Atkins (protein diet), up to fruit juices only diet.

Since i knew i had to lose weight fast, i was tempted to have 1 last round of Buffet before i start my diet. Therefore, a few days earlier, i headed to the Marco Polo Hong Kong hotel @ Tsim Sha Tsui for their crabs buffet. This was supposed to be my 1 last fling before i start my diet program, but looks like i have not been able to keep up to my promise.

Now, seafood was supposed to be protein so i was thinkig as long as i try to eat more white meat and avoid the carbohydrates like rice and noodles, i would be safe.

Even my wedding dress designers told me that brides tend to lose weight just before their wedding days (miraculously it didn’t happen to me in my earlier HK wedding reception) so i’m going to go through a bootcamp of solid training and rigid diet program, starting next week.

I’ve just gotten back to Malaysia and contacted my wedding venue - Mandarin Oriental Hotel KLCC to check on the wedding arrangements.

Have you got a theme for your wedding? Some of the popular wedding themes are beach themes, “colour” theme such as pink, gold, blue, garden themes, and more. I think it’s best to choose a wedding theme that matters to the bride & groom, rather than just following the wedding planners’ advice.

Therefore, you should be checking on the wedding venues beforehand, about what you need? If you want a Pool barbeque theme, but the hotel has a miserable or small swimming pool then you might consider another hotel venue.

For my wedding, we have the MAIN theme as the Internet Theme, so there would be High Tech gadgets and fun games. The other theme we liked was from the 183 Club movie “Prince turns into a Frog”, so we had cute frogs with crowns placed in different venues of the event too. For guests that attended the Hong Kong wedding earlier in March, can remember the Frog Prince banners, Frog with Computer eCards, and even our Banner Storyboard with our wedding photos, that can along with the frog images too.

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I realised that my Malaysia wedding is going to be held in just less than 2 months now, and guess what, i still have not confirmed my wedding make up artist. How do brides normally choose their wedding make up consultant?

The first thing that i did was to search online in Google, and Yahoo using keywords like “malaysia make up artist” , malaysia bridal make up artist, and also malaysia wedding make up artist. To my dismay, i was not able to get much choices of related results.

In the wedding forums, and some wedding blogs, i saw this abbreviated MUA term, and yes, you guessed it right, Make Up Artist.

There were many freelance make up artists such as Lee Kuen, and i saw a nice website of Monica Lee. Surprisingly, i’ve met Lee Kuen in person a few months back when i was attending a wedding fair in Prince Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. As we started chatting, i was surprised that she could actually recognise me as the Internet Marketing coach, from eOneNet. She has read some of our interviews in the local media.

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Ever since i knew wedding bells were on the way, i couldn’t resist buying up bridal magazines. Let’s take a look at what i’ve bought so far in the last 8 months.

Here’s a breakdown of some wedding magazines i’ve purchased and how useful i thought it was for me.
In Malaysia and Singapore, i’ve bought the following English wedding magazines:-
a) Malaysia Her World Brides - RM16.50
- I enjoyed reading the Wedding album section that featured the various real couple’s story of their wedding plans
- The directory at the back section of this magazine has a list of local bridal vendors ranging from wedding flower bouquets, to bridal studios with their address, and contact telephones too
- they do not have an official website and they currently only have the subsection of a few webpages at HerWorld.com.my for the issues preview

b) Singapore Female Brides magazine
- they have a nicely designed official wedding portal at FemaleBridesOnline.com
- professionally taken photographs

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