As the wedding was scheduled at 10am (photographer at 9.30am)
i got up at 7.30am and husband was to arrive at 10.30am
i thought i still had time and enjoyed a slow breakfast
till my sister arrived at about 815am
Then is a mad rush, i should have wake up earlier!
End up my sister had to iron my dress
i had to do my makeup when the photographer arrived
and my sister did my hair while guests are here
that i had no time to miggle around
and delayed the guys to arrive at 1045 instead
i heard the moment the guys heard theres a delay, they went kopitiam to have coffee..haha
Frankly, everything seemed to happened so fast
that i cant really remember what happened
I guess I will wait for the photos to refresh my memories
Compared to our france wedding photographer, we are definitely more happy with kenny!
Husband came to fetch me then we prayed to my father
then was the tea ceremony,
after we ate the sweet noodles and eggs, which husband loved
under the instructions of my 2nd paternal aunt,
we left home for a round in carpark to pretend we are hui niang jia
then was the tea ceremony with the kids.
where husband officially becomes Ah teon and no longer uncle cyril
and always reminded the kids to call him that through the trip
He claimed that uncle cyril means he can be the taxi driver
since we call any older man as uncle, haha
we then miggled around with friends and family
I was expecting the wedding to end at 2-3pm
but luckily it ended at 1pm
Since i didnt had time to eat, we tabao the buffet food back to hotel
where i had my own buffet!
after a little nap,
we went to Sentosa hardrock hotel for dinner buffet
and husband bought his favorite popcorns!
Aven came by our hotel with beer at about 11+ for a drink
as he accidently brought the hotel card home and we need it to check out the next day
and the very tired-maybe jetlag-newly wedded couple finally went to sleep...
Maybe because it was a day flight
husband and I only slept 1hr on flight
and finally we arrived sg at 6am
since we need catch up with lost time
we took a cab back to sis place
and was glad of the cheap fare as it was a sat
and not peak hours
We were welcomed by the excited kids
left with my mum and isaac to bro home
after a good shower
then was breakfast at clementi
I settled my teh and fishball noodles craving
and husband had his first lo-mee
Aven came joined us and we went my bro home
after we dropped the wedding stuff
we went to furama riverside hotel
initially we wanted to take a cab
but bro new place is so ulu
that we only reach the hotel at 330pm by bus
husband was too tired by then
so he napped in hotel
aven and I went plaza sg for wedding shopping
The shopping took longer than Expected
and we tabao the great cny mac for dinner
it was already 930pm when we left hotel
and took a cab to sis hm
lucky sis lend us their car
and we went to bro home to set up
Everything was way past schedule
and took longer than expecting
after preparing the guests gifts,
set up the home
and decorate the car
it was near 4am!
Aven then sent husband back to hotel
and sent the car back
wouldnt know how we will complete all this
if aven didnt help!
After 30+ hours of not sleeping,
I finally had 3hours of sleep
but I have not iron my dress or wash my hair!
oh well...
I cant believe that I will be in sunny singapore in 3 days!
I was really looking forward to it in January
and finally is here!
However, as the date comes closer
my excitement died down and stress took over
Main stress will be the wedding
where i tried to organize as much as possible online
with the help of my family and friends
preparing a wedding is stress
preparing a wedding being 6000km away is WTF
especially when we only have 1 day to make sure everything goes well
The perfectionist in me is so naggy now
worried about all the tiny details
added with CNY, money is a big concern too...
As much as i want a perfect wedding,
to match what we had in France,
the airtickets already burnt a big hole in our pockets..
I guess i need to lower my expectations
and convince myself that if anything goes wrong, is fine...
It will be actually 1 year ago that we got married
I cant believe we need to go through the stress again..
oh well, at least for the last time..
Strangely, my insomnia is starting by stress or excitement
reminds me of the time when i was leaving singapore a year ago
Then, i was affected by the memories and excitement to start a life anew..
Now, im just hoping im not becoming too touristy...
With less than 3 months to our sg wedding,
the difficulty of long-distance planning
and a forever-cant-decide mum,
i really need to start work my ass off to start the preparations
Im glad that i managed to create the invitation card
and sent it to my friends
i was giving myself a little too much pressure
to create a nice wedding invite
since i hand-drew the one for france
and didnt want to short-change sg wedding
despite all the hair-pulling moments
im glad that the final result was great!
I have recruited my siblings to help deal with my mum
but as expected, progress is slow
i have an estimated number of relatives to be invited
and no news about the food for the lunch...
anyway family is in Taiwan now
i shall pester them when they are back..
and im very thankful that my friend's husband
who is a professional photographer
is helping us with photography
at a nominal rate or i should say friendship price
i guess i will try to do free advertising for him
and try "lure" my friends to get him for their future shoots
haha
some stuff on my to-do list..
- book hotel for eve of wedding and actual day
I think we will end up in a budget hotel
that is near my brother's place
a bit strange for newly weds
but i rather save the money
- flowers
again, we will need to buy the flowers
on valentine's day
arghhhh expensive flowers again
- home decorations
I have not been to my brother's new place
all i know is that it is bigger but older
since it is in a home
i do wish to make the decorations more interesting
so i need crack my little head for ideas
and maybe diy stuff to bring over
yet do-able within a day decorations
yes, we only have 1 day to prepare and complete the decorations
- finalised the actual day planning
although we are not doing gate-crash
there are still all the minor details to be planned out
by the control freak in me
- wedding photos and videos
i want to share with the guests on our france wedding
so i shall create a video summary of photos and videos
on what happened
another diy project...
- wedding car decorations
to be done on the eve of the wedding
Lastly, to hope that my mum dont get strange ideas
to add in at last moment....
2 weeks after the wedding
my tourist visa is due
and i am to return to Singapore
to apply for my spouse visa
but immediately after venice
husband and i fell sick
down with flu and fever
the poor husband has to go to work daily
while i basically was lying around at home
hence; nothing much was done during the last 2 weeks
we did had drinks with his friends
and a family lunch
As we are unsure how long the spouse visa application will take
internet shows scary stories that visa can take up to 6months!
since i was going hongkong with my sister and family
i was sure i should be in singapore for minimum a month
initially we thought of me styaing in singapore
till husband can join me for our sg wedding
however, husband doesnt have much leaves to come in june
it will be crazy for me to stay for a long period in singapore
without a job and be away from husband
So, we decided that i will stay in singapore
till the spouse visa approve or
after 3 months on another tourist visa for 90 days
definitely it will be better to return on spouse visa
else ill need buy an airticket to return singapore again in october
Unlike previous trip
it was really hard for me to leave this time
partly because we are newly wedded,
i have stayed for 3 months,
i dont have a job to return to in singapore,
is nice to be at home rather than my siblings homes,
and i dread the 13hours flights..argh
I do miss my family
and cant wait to return to see them..
After stocking food at home,
cleaning up,
I was finally on my flight back to singapore..
i always dream of visiting venice
it seems to be a romantic place
last year, husband went there with his 2 male friends
and tried to explored venice in 3hours
(Venice was a stopover)
Due to limited leaves
husband and i decided to go venice for our mini honeymoon!
We were there for 4 days 3nights
i heard that you will need to take a boat to go anywhere in venice
and after my bad experience in the hk-macau boat
i was sure that i may not handle the boat journey well
So, i was well prepared with seasick pills!
As it was the day after our wedding
we were very tired for the flight
i dont usually sleep in flight
but i was knocked out the moment i saw in the flight
we arrived venice airport at about 7pm
and thereafter we need to take the bus (which is a boat)
to go to our hotel
As usual the moment i take seasick pills
i fell asleep immediately
its strange that husband read and noticed caffeine in the pills
but i always fell asleep when i take the pills
before the trip
his grandparents told us that there was a flood in venice
so we were very worried
however, it was a minor floor and plenty of plank bridges to walk on
by day 2 there was no flood!
As we arrived about 10pm
after we settled into our beautiful room
and being a sunday evening
Most resturants were closed
we only grab a quick dinner nearby
and rest for the day
Husband's plan for venice was simple:
1) eat pizza
2) eat ice cream (gelato)
3) Eat mozarella cheese
4) Eat pasta
5) enjoy our first couple trip
The next day we were greeted with a beautiful sun and view
we realised that you can pay euro6 more
to have breakfast in room
so we did that for all the days
except for the last day
it was nice to enjoy breakfast in privacy of our room
and to chill
Behaving like typical relaxing tourists
we didnt have much plans what to do
but to eat, relax and explore venice slowly
and of course, complete husband's plan for venice
we did managed to complete all of his plan
but i think only the gelato made him happy
and spending time with me
hehe
We took time to explore venice by foot
i wasnt too interested to take the gondolas
because it was so expensive
about euro80 for 30mins
and it must be not funny if i fell asleep
while on gondola due to the seasick pills
Venice is really beautiful
and not too cold
i was telling husband that i finally felt i was away from paris
previously in barcelona, it looked too similar to paris
haha
venice is not really a big place
but with the rivers going through
and many small streets and lanes
it was easy to be lost
even with a map!
Things are not cheap in venice
probably more expensive than paris
but i guess its because its a tourist area
the restuarant we went even had a tourist menu!
But it also menat that most people can speak in English..
Despite being expensive
we did engaged in some tourist shopping
not at all the branded shop
but buying gifts for our family
and a nice watch for me!
Annually there is a big carnival in venice
but we were there a week earlier
and i heard that airfares and hotels will be 2x more
during the carnival
but we did saw people dressing up
Tourists can buy all the masks and costumes from shops
we bought some masks too
but for the professionals, i think they are paid by the government
to dress up during carnival
The seafood were really fresh and cheap
compared to paris
and we spent many meals eating seafood!
And on the last evening, we wrote a card to ourselves
to remember this wonderful trip..
Oh on the last evening
we saw a beautiful cat with a clock in a shop
but it was closed
it has no price on it
but both of us loved it
and intend to return the next day before our flight
to check it out
the big one that we loved was too expensive
i think euro300
but we still bought the smaller version
at euro 100
yes, not really small and still expensive
but its the first tile we found a clock we loved
husband never liked to have a clocked at home
so is the first time we have a clock at home
as we were taking budget airline
we were worried that we need to pay extra for the cat
luckily all was fine and the cat made it home.
Our return flight was 4pm
so we had to be at the aiport at about 1.30pm
husband and i thought it will be a good idea for us to take a walk
across to another bus-stop
closer to the airport
rather than being stuck in a 50min bus
we managed to find the bus stop in time
and it was located in front of a hospital
unlike the tourist area
it was more a residential area
1 bus stop for internal buses and airport buses
we waited and was happy when the bus arrived
however, unknown to us
the driver asked the first few persons in the queue
who are waiting for internal buses
whether they are waiting for the airport bus
which they were not
so the driver just drove away!
husband and i were in shock
that the driver didnt even asked others
but i guess it is because the bus stop is normally for residents
and not tourists
since we had time to wait for the next bus
we decided to walk to the next bus stop
lucky for us,
it was a tourist area
and they had separate bus-stops for internal and airport buses
so we managed to make it onto the bus this time
The flight journey was rough
but i fell asleep again
and we made it home safely..
There were islands around venice that can be visited
but due to my fear of seasick pill sleeping
we decided to give it a missed
But i think we will return again!
The husband and I made a last minute last decision
to change the programme schedule
we are supposed to do our couple dance after dessert
but since evryone was watching us cuttingthe cake
and some were leaving
we did it after cutting the cake
despite practising and trying to make something fun
we were not the best dancers
the husband claimed that he was not drunk
but the shoes were slippery when he almost fell
hmm..
Thank god my in-laws dazzled the crowd after us
it was great to see them enjoying themselves
Thereafter was a lot of drinks, dancing and fun
through the night
intially we booked the room to 4am
but husband extended it to 5am
because he was having too much fun
and we finally left for the hotel
and had a short rest
because check out time was 12pm!
Thank god that cousin was going to paris
so we hitched a ride home
quickly packed our bags
have a quick lunch with friends
and off to the airport
for our mini honeymoon in Venice!
After the dinner started,
the best men gave their speech.
So cousin-in-law went first
and made everyone laughed when he started his speech with
"Thank you my mum..for writing the speech.."
anyway cousin-in-law mentioned about childhood memories
with the husband
and i think husband was very happy with the speech
thereafter, it was aven turn
and he surprised me with a video of my family!
actually there was a night where the husband was texting in the middle of the night
i was suspicious that he was planning a surprise for me
but never expected that he was texting my sister to send a video of family for the wedding
the video was to be shown in the friend's video
but due to format difference
it was only shown during aven's speech
when the video was shown, i cried..
the only moment that i cried during the wedding
i guess then it felt that my family was near
and happy for me..
all the guests and family mentioned that they were waiting for me to cry!
haha..so evil..
nevertheless it was really nice to have the gift from my family..
and it recorded in a video..haha
Shortly after, we had the bridesmaid speech by the sisters
it was really nice that they did the speech in english and french
they didnt focused too much in saying how their brother bullied them (haha)
but shared how happy they are for us
and welcomed me to the family
The next programme was the couple quiz
where we agreed to ask questions about each other and our countries
the husband was nice to ask me questions that i will know
while aven and i really focused on questions about singapore
eg area of singapore
where we googled for answers the night before
and sure enough, my team won!
partly because we gave them difficult questions
and also, because i had a few french in my team..
im the bride, so i should win!hehe..
husband and friends were open to accept the drinks punishments..
It was getting late
and the 2kids at the wedding was tired
so the parents prepared the beds
and let them sleep!
all of us were amazed that the kids slept on
despite the noise!
cant imagine if the kids from my home can do this..
last part coming up..
