Meet the in-laws.

I've promised to blog about the dowry day. After procrastinating for weeks, here it goes!

According to Mama Alvin's superstitious belief, having 6 or 18 people to send the dowry will bring good luck and prospect to our marriage. So she wanted the whole family to drive back to my hometown to meet my whole family O_o!!! Can you imagine the horror?! I already had cold feet worrying about his parents meeting my father, now the whole clan! Ain't gonna spill about my dad's condition, but he is definitely not a friendly and approachable person. Imagine dinosaur or lion.

Had a smooth journey back and reached Ipoh in just 1.5 hour. Upon reaching my house, I was shocked to see my father walked out to greet us. Then something SUPER FUNNY happened! Alvin's family parked their car further away so there were only me and Alvin at the front gate. Coincidentally there were also an elderly couple walking towards our direction, my father misunderstood that they were Alvin's parents and walked up to them! Shaking hands, patting shoulder and asked "How are you Mr Soi? Welcome to our house!" Me, mom and Alvin was like...

Ya, this is exactly how we looked like.

The uncle shook my father's hand back and said "Oh I'm fine, I'm just here looking for my friend *pointing at my neighbour's house and walked away*" ..........

I cannot describe the gravity of my embarrassment at that moment.

During the dowry exchange, I was so nervous I kept scratching my hand and couldn't stand still but walked up and down like a lost puppy. My father even suggested to go out for lunch together! That was like the first time ever! I could see the nervousness in my mom's face during lunch. But thank God my father behaved himself and all well ends well =)

The must have for dowry, roasted pig. I felt bad for
the poor pig =(

Even pigs have blackheads, tsk tsk tsk.

Oink! Oink!

My aunt and uncle came to cheer up the atmosphere,
just in case anything happens ~_~

Now you know where my camwhore genes came from.

 Notice that everyone wore red? I got sounded for wearing black T__T Didn't know I need to be "ong" during dowry day too!

Like any other wedding tradition, the groom will send boxes of wedding biscuits as one of the dowry and the bride's family will distribute them to relatives and friends. My wedding biscuits are a bit special because they came with a mini card! ^^ Mom wanted me to do a card to inform the relatives about our wedding dates since we won't be having wedding banquet. Everyone said the card is sho cute!

The biscuits are super yummy! BOO to those people who didn't want the biscuits! One in lotus paste (yellow) and another one in red bean (pink). The crust is so thin and the filling is so thick! SUPER YUMMY!

Wedding biscuit with the notice card!

All packed and ready to be shipped out to friends
and relatives! 200 boxes in total!

The leaves represents good things come in layers and layers according to Mama Alvin's superstitious belief.

Mom packing the boxes into plastic bags and drove out straight to send
them to relatives. So bersemangat!

Forced by me to help out with the packing.

Instead of the normal "fatt gou", my mom
custom make one for the wedding dowry.

Me with the giant size custom made wedding biscuit,
for Mama Alvin's praying offering to the ancestors.

That's all for the dowry process. It was certainly a nerve wrecking and gan jeong boosting event. Trust me, planning the wedding might be enjoyable, discounting the in-laws meeting =_=

FREEDOM!

I've waited 2 years to post this very post! So allow me to express my satisfaction of announcing that...

I HAVE FINALLY RESIGNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*fireworks blasting BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
 

You have no idea how happy am I to be free! No more tollerating screaming and shouting, no more enduring banging and throwing things, no more phone call after I went home at night to ask me to go back to office again (wtf right?), no more SMS in the middle of the night to ask me to go to work earlier the next morning, no more SMS or phone call during the weekend to ask me to go back to the office urgently. NO MORE!!! NADA!!! ELEK!!!

It does sound like where I worked at is a torture house (kind of actually), but nonetheless my portfolio expanded so much during my 2 years of working there. And I had fun working with the crazy people there too. It's torturous, but it's an experience. As the famous saying goes, I survived there, I can survive anywhere now!

Just in case you have no idea what I worked as, I was a Senior Graphic Designer in an interactive agency. As you all are very well aware, life in agency is....scary. Think of late nights, skipping meals, rushing deadlines and many more (which I fear to name).

The decision to leave came after Alvin proposed to me. Getting married is NOT just about getting married. Getting married is a progress but marriage is hard work. There will be responsibility, commitment, team work and balance. This is the one thing that I won't get if I continue to work there. My life now is not just about me, but the 2 of us. Anything that I do, I can't only think of myself anymore, I need to think about my other half too. Let alone when I have kids in the future *yikes!* The company expect the people to put their job above and beyond everything. Note: 90% of the staff are single and 98% are male, I think I shall rest my case =_= Balance of work and life is very important. If you have no time for yourself, you can never be able to perform well. Too bad this is not the culture practiced.

I sent farewell emails to all my clients and this particular reply made me LMAO!

Cool client is cool.

So now that I'm married, balance is something that I'm looking for =D I'm not going to stay at home and become a full time housewife, though I wish I can T_T I already have plans in my agenda, will keep it confidential for now.

But life has been GREAT since I gained my freedom on Wednesday! XD

Wednesday
1. Went for massage right after farewell lunch with the colleagues  (will blog about the massage because it was something very "unforgettable")
2. Enjoyed some me time after the massage and had dessert alone while paying attention to the surrounding, enjoying life without any stress and noise =)
3. Late night movie with hubby zai later on.

Thursday
1. Ran some errands
2. Tea time with Fuankee
3. Sat in front of the aquarium observing the fishes. Sounds weird, but trust me, it feels zen and serene.

Friday
1. Facial
2. Hmm....I have so much time left, what else can I do?

Farewell lunch having my favorite Ayam Percik!

My armors and weapons that fought along with me during the
2 years battle. Now they can rest =)

I counted the days everyday, like prisoners!

 To be honest, I have only been jobless for 2.5 days and I've never been so carefree. Waking up in the morning without bothering to check the clock if I can sleep in for another 10 more minutes. No need to check my phone for missed calls or messages. I have an OCD to check my phone regularly because I always kinda hear my phone ring (sign of stress and anxiety! FML!). Don't get me wrong and go quit your job without any plans =_= I feel good because I quitted my job for a good reason and I have plans.

Yes, I will blog about the dowry day after this! But for now, I shall take deep breaths and sniff the air of freedom! I'm so happy beyond words I feel like dancing like a hippo in ballerina tutu!

Behind the scene.

My pre wedding photoshoot was finally done! It was tiring and hot but nonetheless it was FUN! The photographer was quite experimental and he was very funny too, he kept cheering up our spirit since we were quite worn out after parading our OTT outfit under the sun for hours.

Here are some of the behind the scene photos.

The make up artist doing her magic.

I told her to emphasize on my eyes.

The make up artist did such a great job, I love love love the make up she did for me! She was doing my hair while chatting with me, seemed like she wasn't putting much effort. But when she was done and I looked into the mirror, I gasped! I didn't know my hair can be so beautiful!!!!!

She made it seemed so effortless!

WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!!!!!!!

We had 2 locations for our photoshooting, our first stop was Lake Garden. It's a huge landscape in the middle of the city centre, nearby the Dataran Merdeka. It's a very beautiful garden with many breathtaking photo stops, and most of all the entrance fee is free! Hence many couple opt that place for their pre wedding photoshoot. On that day itself, we saw nearly 10 couples having their wedding photos captured there. It was like "Rombongan Hari Gambar Kahwin" wtf.

My first style for the photoshoot!

I felt so touched looking at myself in the mirror after the make up and hair. She made me looking like a Hong Kong beauty pageant T_T so pretty!!!! *perasan mode on*

Photo taken by the make up artist with her iPhone at Lake Garden.
Look at Alvin's leong pose! LMAO! The photographer said
his stiff poses looked like Robert zai! ROFL!

After this outfit, we changed to our casual wear, the cartoon t-shirt for the fun theme. Didn't manage to take any pictures with my phone =(

4 hours of photoshooting under the sun, we finally moved to our 2nd location, Sekeping Tenggiri! I was so looking forward to it! The place is beautiful! Especially the glass room that we booked. It's located upstairs and has an open air balcony =)

Sekeping Tenggiri house number,
it's so unique you won't miss it!

Our glass room!

We lied on that metal grill for photos, damn pain!

For the 3rd style, I wore the Princess Barbie pink gown, so I requested for a tiara. I wanted a bigger tiara with white flowers on it but Alvin gave me that urgh face =_= So I chose a medium size one. The make up artist curled my hair to give me a more feminine and princessy look.

Everyone said I looked like a doll, me like!

This photo looked like an album cover, so I added a title for it =P

Finally the last outfit, my favourite mermaid gown! The make up artist braided my hair and paired with a fascinator for a vintage look.

I love this style the most. Classy and vintage!

Trolling around between shooting.

I was lying on the edge of the pool.

By 8pm, it was finally a wrap! We were officially exhausted!!!! After fetching the photographer and make up artist back to My Dream Wedding, we finally had our first proper meal. We sustained the whole day with just bread T_T Since we already booked the glass room in Sekeping Tenggiri, we spent a night there. It's quite an open place so any noise outside it can be heard clearly inside. Being me, a person who can't sleep with noise, I had a restless night despite having a tiring day before that. FML.

Was so reluctant to undo the hair,
camwhore gao gao first!

Side.

Back. Amazing! How she did it?! 

Front.

Some photos of the beautiful Sekeping Tenggiri.

Please ignore the messy bed.

Open air shower room, kinky!

In the morning I had to stick to the wall to shower,
worrying people from elsewhere could see me!

The lazy guardian dog.

The front porch of the house.

That's all for the making of my pre wedding photoshoot! To my friends who will be taking theirs in the future, here are some tips for you:

1. Must bring slipper! You can wear heels for the photos but when you walk to other location, wear slipper! Wearing the gown is tiring enough, you don't want to sore your feet with heels!

2. Drink lots of water to keep yourself hydrated.

3. Face towels because you'll be sweating a bucket!

4. Hand fan or electronic hand fan, you'll need it =_= trust me.

5. Candies and snacks. Just in case you get hungry and the candies are to keep your sugar level well balanced.

6. Mosquito repellent.

7. Umbrella for shade, you can use it as one of the prop too.

8. Sleep well the night before the photoshoot.

9. Have some references ready for your photographer and make up artist. So they know what kind of style you like.

10. Just enjoy the process!

The photoshoot was on Friday and dowry day was on Sunday. We drove back to Ipoh with Alvin's family to send the dowry over. It was the most anxious event in my entire wedding preparation so far. Will blog about it soon.