The Engagement Preparation (Part 1)

Assalamualaikum & hi!

About 2 weeks left before A.H & I get engaged, on 10/05/2014 to be specific. I pray may Allah ease our affairs & make things easy. Amin... In the meantime, please allow me to talk about the engagement preparation. Hehe!

I'm naturally an observer. I observe(d) things a lot & every time I went to any kenduri (be it engagements or weddings), I couldn't help but to admire the effort the teams had put to make things work & wonderful; the dais, the clothes, decoration, food, theme colour & all sorts of preparation

But when it comes to my own engagement, I'm almost clueless

I know what I want but the ideas are just superficial. I've been wanting to have a simple & intimate engagement, attended by family, relatives & close friends. Call me a cheapskate but I don't see any need or reason why I need to spend so much money on my engagement when wedding is the utmost & final event of all. Kalau boleh tak nak engage, kahwin terus boleh tak? Jimat & senang. Duit banyak lagi nak pakai & since I can't pluck money dari ranting pokok, every single sen is important. Hehe!

But both my Ma & Sister didn't seem amused with my idea of wanting everything to be simple because;

• It's once in a lifetime majlis, InsyaAllah
• A.H & I will be engaged for a few months. For 9 months actually, InsyaAllah
• I'm the youngest in the family & A.H is the first child in his family who's getting married
• And being a perfectionist my Ma is, the word 'simple' almost never existed in her diary. Hehe!

Anyway,  the preparation so far;

1. The rings
This is the most exciting part for me. Even before I pay a visit to the jewel shop, I already imagined  & had in my mind what kind & design of ring I want; it must be white gold with simple design

Anyway, I always admire late Princess Diana's famous blue sapphire & white diamond engagement ring (which also has become Kate's engagement ring). I love the colour & the shape. It looks absolutely perfect but of course I couldn't afford to have that, not even in a million years. Jual kidney mek sebelah pun masih tak mampu. Hehe! 

Late Lady Diana's famous engagement ring. Isn't it pretty? ♥

Being in a long distance relationship (LDR) we are, A.H & I didn't have many chances to do the ring hunts together. So, a day before the majlis merisik, we finally had a chance to go to a few jewel shops in K.Bharu to find our engagement rings. It wasn't that easy but since I already paid a few visit to Habib Jewels (thank Allah that it's just situated in front of the Kota Bharu court!), it made things a lot easier eventually

We found our rings both there but unfortunately, they didn't have my size. Booo! But A.H got the problem fixed by having it customized at Habib Jewels in Ampang Point. Well, as for A.H's, he just wanted a simple ring for himself due to his nature of job.

We are so lucky that Habib was having a massive sale at that moment, so we saved a lot. Alhamdulillah

2. The theme colour
A.H & I agreed that it's peach. I always like the colour & it surprised me when A.H suggested it even before I had the chance to tell mine, as if he could read my mind. Hehe!

3. The dress + shawl
After so many discussions & a few visits to the some boutiques/shops, we decided to just buy, instead of sewa it from any bridal boutique. The reason being is that sewa is costly & you get to wear the dress for a few hours only. Besides, Ma got a generous discount from her friend's boutique, so why not ayte?

Nope, my dress is nothing on par with this beautiful dress. Mine is just a plain modern kurung which I'll get to wear it again & again on another occasion. Hehe!

Meanwhile for the shawl, again I refused to spend so much money on it. Say, kalau boleh tak nak more than RM50 or RM100 pun. Luckily jumpa yang very affordable one & I'm quite happy with it. Nanti nak kena study or mintak anyone tolong style kan

So, baju tunang + shawl settled. Hand bouquet perlu ke?


4. Make-up
The initial plan was to get somebody from any bridal boutique to do my makeup but I don't think it's necessary. Being someone who's quite noob when it comes to makeup, I trust my Sister to do wonders to my face nanti, rather than someone who I don't know. Sebab nak simple makeup je, no falsies whatsoever. No no!


5. The hantarans
I wanted mine with a lot of fresh flowers!

Then reality hit me that fresh flowers are expensive & we're living in a country where the Sun loves to make its appearance all day long & fresh flowers aren't really content with it. So, we scratched fresh flowers from the list, artificial flowers will do

I've been stalking some bride-to-be's blogs, reading some wedding magazines, following wedding vendors' instagrams etc to get some ideas for my own hantaran & will occassionally share them with them ladies, friends & A.H. My favourite is from Flair Design & Events

We're still working on these anyway but look at theseeeeee! Pretty aren't they? ♥

Credits to Flair Design & Event

6. The dais
Again, my Ma & Sister insisted to have a mini dais for my engagement although I really don't see it as necessary. I mean, I'm a shy person (bahahaha! Oh please believe me on this!) & you want me to sit with all demure on the dais while everybody is watching & taking my pictures? Might as well ajak my 6 month-old nephew, Umar to teman me T_T

White, white & a lot of white please? ♥

Credits to Flair Design & Event

Anyway, we decided to do our own mini dais mainly because paying RM500 (that's the cheapest if I'm not mistaken) is too much for something we can totally DIY. We've most of the things needed for a mini dais including Ma's Cleopatra sofa & armed with a good team; Abah as Mr Handyman, Ma & the Sister as the Creative Directors, me as the Armchair Critic & Umar as the Entertainer on his walker :P

We started doing our mini dais immediately after majlis merisik. Dah nama DIY kan? So, buat sikit-sikit la. Luckily we have 2 living halls & tempat dais yakni at the main hall tu memang jarang guna. So, can sorok from any guest yang datang

The mini dais is 90% done so far

7. The door gifts
Door gifts sekarang macam-macam kan? But for engagement, simple-simple sudeyyy. Yang ni half way settled

8. The guest list
Looking at our recent majlis merisik, I don't think our engagement is going to be a very intimate, private & small event tapi tak de la a very grand one. It's almost impossible when your relatives live next to each other (in my case, my house is surrounded by 6 houses of my aunts, aunties & cousins) & we always love to invite people to come over & feast their tummies! Besides, my Ma loves to cook & she's definitely good at it

Our list of guest is mainly from my circles of black &white friends, kawan-kawan from Sains Pasir Puteh (actually yang work & stay in Kelantan ni berapa orang je pun. Tsk!), relatives, neighbours, officemates etc. Dah start inviting a few people sebab nak bajet berapa orang nanti


9. The Photographer
I don't think that I need an official photographer for the engagement but I've been stalking a few Fb pages of some photographers such as Rahim Ewalk (Kuala Kangsar) & Photoaura (Kota Bharu). Love their work

The solution; Kerahan tenaga kawan-kawan & relatives! Hehe! At least tak de la awkward sangat senyum depan camera nanti


10. Food & Such
Here is when the Mother comes to the rescue! Alhamdulillah

During our masjlis merisik, we served the guests laksa penang & laksam tapi this time, nasi & lauk pauk la pulak kan? We've agreed on the main menu where the masak-masak team will be led by Chef Ma i.e my Mother

Ma doesn't like the idea of using the food catering service, tak syok katanya tak boleh masak ramai-ramai

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I'll write separate posts on each of the things mentioned above after the engagement. Maybe bukan all 10 la. See la how nanti. Kalau rajin. InsyaAllah

What else eh? Did I miss to include something? Takut terlepas pandang. And I totally welcome any idea or suggestion from all of you! Please do so loves! Tqvm! ♥