The wedding planner
It's been 2 months since J said "yes" and what a surreal 2 months it has been planning for the wedding which, incidentally, is more than a year away! J's all psyched up and excited of coz (which is really great!), but methinks she's way ahead of the gorilla right now! For one, she seems to instinctively know so much about weddings that it's kinda scary. What, are women born with a "wedding" gene or something?! Geez, I feel like a complete retard! LOL! I guess weddings are just not something men spend a lot of time pondering about ... until it smacks us in the face of coz! :)
J's been doing loads of "research" too, surfing websites like singaporebrides.com, devouring heaps of bridal mags, and exchanging notes with her married/engaged girlfriends. I'm still, erm, getting used to the idea of, um, calling her "fiancee" actually. *sheepish look* Y'know, I felt so guilty one night while watching football on TV that I fired up my notebook during half-time, launched a web browser, typed in "www.singaporegrooms.com" and ... "The page cannot be displayed". It doesn't exist! That figures! LOL! Hokay, so much for that. Back to the game! Heh!
Yeah, you can tell J's really excited by the number of emails she sends me with all kinds of wedding planning trivia and nuggets of info. Then there's that smiley dream-like state she drifts into sometimes, not to mention those weird out-of-the-blue questions that she'll throw at ya ... like "Will you dip my biscuits in hot cocoa for me when I'm old and toothless, hon?". Hokay. Right. Just the other day, she suddenly turned to me while I was driving and asked: "Don't you just luuurve Vera Wang?". My brain kicked into hyper-drive immediately. Was this a trick question? No, I don't luuurve Vera Wang (geez, I don't even know the chick)! Oh wait, maybe it's a new shopping mall ... like Sungei Wang in KL? Or a new Ben & Jerry flavour perhaps?
Yup, life's been pretty interesting for the gorilla lately. :)
Y'know, the act of getting married itself is the easy part. Ya just have to say "I do!" and sign on the dotted line. That's 2 words with 3 letters between them ... can't get any simpler than that, I don't think so. But man, planning for the wedding is far more complex than a covert military op! There's just so much to consider, so many "blind spots" to watch out for! It's like being hit by a succession of curve balls I tell ya! *WHAM!*
Let's take the guest list for starters. I've always thought I had a small family tree (family bush if you like) ... but noooooo, the first-cut guest list mom has drawn up for our relatives is like a blooming forest (no pun intended)! Geez, where have all these phantom relatives been hiding? What, do they only surface at wedding receptions like werewolves during a full moon? And the family forest comes complete with deadly venus flytraps and other scary forest inhabitants I tell ya! For example, you've gotta be really mindful about who hates whose guts so that these relatives don't end up seated at the same table ... unless you want a blood-bath of coz. Man, I'll need a super computer to figure out the table-seating permutations! *bangs head against wall*
Y'know, I'm seriously considering inviting only the closest of relatives and friends. J and I really prefer a cosy and intimate wedding reception, ideally outdoors (gorilla mah! *heh*), where we get to mingle with the guests and share our moment with them. The last thing we wanna do is make cliched and rehearsed entrances/exits throughout the night or do silly parlour acts on stage. Nope, we ain't performing monkeys! Heh, I don't mind being the organ grinder though. Hahaha!
But in reality, wedding receptions are as much for the bride and groom as they are for their parents ... maybe more so! Heh, if we really have to settle for a Chinese wedding dinner, I'm contemplating packing the entire 10-course meal into take-away bento boxes for the guests. Yeah, J and I can then hop on stage, thank everyone for coming, propose a quick toast, and shoo them all away ... erm, so that we two can get down to the more, erm, pressing matters for the night mah. Kekeke!
Hokay, enough ranting for now. More wedding adventures will follow I'm sure. :) Don't get me wrong though ... I'm a happy and contented man who can't wait to marry J. I'm even finally getting into the groove of the whole wedding planner thingy and warming up to it. But y'know what? The thing that really makes everything worthwhile are those moments that simply take my breath away ... like every time I lay eyes on J in a bridal gown. Now who was it that said the measure of life isn't about how many breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away? I'll drink to that! ;)
You bet there'll be a lot of this on the big night! Heh! ;)
J's been doing loads of "research" too, surfing websites like singaporebrides.com, devouring heaps of bridal mags, and exchanging notes with her married/engaged girlfriends. I'm still, erm, getting used to the idea of, um, calling her "fiancee" actually. *sheepish look* Y'know, I felt so guilty one night while watching football on TV that I fired up my notebook during half-time, launched a web browser, typed in "www.singaporegrooms.com" and ... "The page cannot be displayed". It doesn't exist! That figures! LOL! Hokay, so much for that. Back to the game! Heh!
Yeah, you can tell J's really excited by the number of emails she sends me with all kinds of wedding planning trivia and nuggets of info. Then there's that smiley dream-like state she drifts into sometimes, not to mention those weird out-of-the-blue questions that she'll throw at ya ... like "Will you dip my biscuits in hot cocoa for me when I'm old and toothless, hon?". Hokay. Right. Just the other day, she suddenly turned to me while I was driving and asked: "Don't you just luuurve Vera Wang?". My brain kicked into hyper-drive immediately. Was this a trick question? No, I don't luuurve Vera Wang (geez, I don't even know the chick)! Oh wait, maybe it's a new shopping mall ... like Sungei Wang in KL? Or a new Ben & Jerry flavour perhaps?
Yup, life's been pretty interesting for the gorilla lately. :)
Y'know, the act of getting married itself is the easy part. Ya just have to say "I do!" and sign on the dotted line. That's 2 words with 3 letters between them ... can't get any simpler than that, I don't think so. But man, planning for the wedding is far more complex than a covert military op! There's just so much to consider, so many "blind spots" to watch out for! It's like being hit by a succession of curve balls I tell ya! *WHAM!*
Let's take the guest list for starters. I've always thought I had a small family tree (family bush if you like) ... but noooooo, the first-cut guest list mom has drawn up for our relatives is like a blooming forest (no pun intended)! Geez, where have all these phantom relatives been hiding? What, do they only surface at wedding receptions like werewolves during a full moon? And the family forest comes complete with deadly venus flytraps and other scary forest inhabitants I tell ya! For example, you've gotta be really mindful about who hates whose guts so that these relatives don't end up seated at the same table ... unless you want a blood-bath of coz. Man, I'll need a super computer to figure out the table-seating permutations! *bangs head against wall*
Y'know, I'm seriously considering inviting only the closest of relatives and friends. J and I really prefer a cosy and intimate wedding reception, ideally outdoors (gorilla mah! *heh*), where we get to mingle with the guests and share our moment with them. The last thing we wanna do is make cliched and rehearsed entrances/exits throughout the night or do silly parlour acts on stage. Nope, we ain't performing monkeys! Heh, I don't mind being the organ grinder though. Hahaha!
But in reality, wedding receptions are as much for the bride and groom as they are for their parents ... maybe more so! Heh, if we really have to settle for a Chinese wedding dinner, I'm contemplating packing the entire 10-course meal into take-away bento boxes for the guests. Yeah, J and I can then hop on stage, thank everyone for coming, propose a quick toast, and shoo them all away ... erm, so that we two can get down to the more, erm, pressing matters for the night mah. Kekeke!
Hokay, enough ranting for now. More wedding adventures will follow I'm sure. :) Don't get me wrong though ... I'm a happy and contented man who can't wait to marry J. I'm even finally getting into the groove of the whole wedding planner thingy and warming up to it. But y'know what? The thing that really makes everything worthwhile are those moments that simply take my breath away ... like every time I lay eyes on J in a bridal gown. Now who was it that said the measure of life isn't about how many breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away? I'll drink to that! ;)
You bet there'll be a lot of this on the big night! Heh! ;)