Behind The Scenes (Long Post!)

All stories have a beginning. I'm not sure when the beginning started for me, though. Maybe I was 5 or 6 and I was getting married to my cousins. It was just play acting but I must've gotten married a hundred times because I was the only girl. Funny, it always ends with us jumping on our aunt's queen-sized bed. Innocent children indeed!  Anyway, just like Mr Darcy:

 "It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun planning my wedding" (italics mine)

Although not in the same situation, (Mr Darcy was hard-pressed in trying to express when he fell in love with Liz) I think like all girls, we started planning our weddings when we first set eyes on Brad Pitt (for my Twilight-less generation) or Devon Sawa (I was once engaged to him). In this post, I won't be telling you the details of the entire wedding planning but just "behind-the-scenes" pictures of the unsung heroes in the form of family & friends who made this happen. This is a much-delayed tribute to you guys! Cheers!

The Proposal

It HAS to start from this right? I remember the conversation with my ex-colleagues, Ivan & Kuan (do you guys remember this?). Ivan had just proposed and we were discussing HIS planning. I remember saying, I'm ready and the ball is ready to roll BUT he has to propose first! So anw, here are some pictures:

Some of you already know how Samuel proposed, so I won't go through that. There were many other times I thought he would propose and he really surprised me on this. After the excitement tapered, I was asked to take it all off quick because he has to put back the things inside his dashboard :P 

 The MMS that I sent to my mum. (Mum, do you remember this? :D) And the first thing she asked was, "How come Samuel didn't ask us first?!". 








The Family Meet-up

Our families have met up before Sam proposed, but it was something "non-official" like our graduation day. So, we decided to have a double-family meet-up to officially announce the engagement and talk about the wedding. I guess since it's happened so long ago and the wedding's taken place, it's okay to come right out with a little secret! :D We didn't know how it was going to go (we should've had more faith!) so we decided to invite them for a Japanese buffet so as to avoid awkward silences that may happen if we were having a round-table Chinese dinner instead! We got a private room with a beautiful view and it turned out really great! Here are some pictures of the day:

The Planning

What are we without friends? With Samuel being away in Bangkok in the 6 months leading to the wedding, we faced an uphill task of actually planning a wedding together. But for the help of these friends, the planning would be rife with frustration & confusion. Samuel is a systematic and Big Picture kinda guy but I am task-oriented, so it naturally fell on Samuel to actually lead the Wedding Committee (yes, we actually had a committee!). We met twice before the wedding and I can safely say they worked their butts off all the way to D-DAY. Here are some pics:

As you can see, all our meetings centered around food. Despite it being a planning session, which is supposed to be serious and all, it was absolute fun. I guess it reflects on the company you keep and I believe it can also be reflected in the wedding itself! Affryll, I hope you have been taking notes! :D






The In-Betweens

Here are the in-betweens, the category of "Others" leading up to the wedding. 

Buying furniture for our bridal room! Thanks to FIL and MIL for sponsoring them! :)

Asher trying out his cute ring bearer's suit which I found in Bangkok. These were the best pics I could get what with him constantly moving despite just having woken up! We decided to ditch the coat because it looked too big on him!  But he really does look handsome here! 

The bridesmaids (Joanne is at the side, not seen in the pics above) helping out with the wedding favors. Did you know that Rainee single-handedly did the flowergirls' hairband and the ribbons on the candles? Girls, you're the bestest!

The Rehearsal

We had a full rehearsal the Thursday before the wedding. It's so heartening to see friends and family coming on a work day, some having to travel just to get to the rehearsal. As always, my nerves were all over during the rehearsal but it went on just fine under the instruction of experienced people! The children were just great and so willing to listen. I think they just had fun just running around the massive hall. Some pics to remember:

The children who were simply marvelous! Aunty Melissa also promised them some goodies if they listened to what she said so that could be the secret! :) As you can see, the girls have started wearing the hairbands Rainee made. 

The rest of the guys who were there. A lot of them were helping out with the decorations outside so they're not here on the pics. Special thanks to Maria, Sube & Mels for making the place look loverly! :)

Going through the whole process with Rev Johnson and the parents. Was already quite nervous here! Suddenly it seemed so real!

And lastly, our favourite pianist and sax player. They were practicing the processional music together before this and I think they sound really well together. Here they must be discussing what to play to suit the bridal entrance. I like the reflection on the baby grand! 

Just getting all the pictures and stories together proved that there was a lot of effort put into this whole wedding. To all of you who have played a part, any part, in our wedding, THANK YOU! You have certainly made this day special for the both of us. Look at the bride, nearly 2 months and she's still talking about it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!