image from Anand & Sherril's wedding.
Wedding preparation for Malaysians are totally different from wedding preparations overseas. First of all, we have different cultures and religions to account for. Then, we also have those uncle and aunties who will meddle with your affairs and judge your wedding. Thus in order to make things easier for you, we have decided to compile a simple checklist if you are looking into being prepared for your wedding.
First of all, there's the planning. 12 to 8 months before your wedding.
1. Get your mother and her superstitious friend to get someone to select a date. However, in order to choose the date, you have to give them your birth day and time as well as your partner's. Then you might also need to give every immediate families' birth day and time. This is to ensure that the date you choose doesn't clash with any of your immediate family. The religious council or person will give you a plethora of dates and you can choose the select dates. By this time, there'll only be a few weekends and usually the dates you have in mind are not inside this list. Choose a date that you feel is convenient.
2. Call all the hotels and restaurants in the viccinity to book your date. Chances are the big hotels are already booked for the convenient dates. Thus you're left with either inconvenient dates like a Wednesday or smaller hotels. Make a pick and stick with it. Pay them the deposit because once you pay the deposit, you won't have a choice anymore and there'll be less trouble for you. Trust me, a lot of people will try to question your choice and date. Just tell them you already paid the deposit. The end.
3. Work out your budget. Make sure the hotels are within your budgets. If not, just find more money or don't get married. But definitely work out a budget. Once you have a budget, increase it by 5,000 for incidentals.
4. Pick your wedding party. Get some of your best mates and friends into the wedding party. Some will growl and ask why they're not in the party, just say you are having a small one. Be prepared to extend your invitation to the same circle of friends even though you plan not to ask them. Chances are they will know about it and ask you whether they're invited. Since all of your mutual friends are invited, guess what? You'll have a hard time not inviting that shameless idiot who inquired.
5. Hire a planner. If it's within your budget, hire a planner. If it's not, be prepared to be hands on. Just make sure you delegate tasks and assign certain tasks to people you can trust.
6. Research your photographer, band, florist and maybe caterer. For a photographer, just hire yours truly. If you don't have a budget for a band, be prepared for countless karaoke sessions singing whatever they desire. Depending on your crowd, it could be a Chinese Medley or English Ballad.
7. Finally, check out your wedding attire. If you are fashion savvy or if you already have something in mind, get them ready early just in case you want to take pre-wedding pictures or do minor alterations. You can also rent a dress from the boutiques if you want to. However, just remember that if you start early, you get the best bargain and you're not rushed into making decisions you might regret.
Then, there's the finalization a couple of months before your wedding.
Finally, a few weeks before the wedding.
Please remember to prepare your speech, reconfirm with your vendors on the arrangements on the wedding day, assign seating arrangements for every table, set aside payment for your vendor and then watch as everything that might go wrong will go wrong, but remember it doesn't matter anyway. Just be happy and reflect that in your pictures and your memories. Small little problems will arise but if you don't let it get to you, it will solve itself (or someone will help you to solve it).
image from Sara & Masiha's wedding.
image from Prashant & Evelyn's wedding.
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