Up To Date

So I've had the meeting with Ara Photography to make me a pre-wedding video. We're gonna start shooting on Feb 26 the latest. The concept is still on process. The videos gonna last about one whole song. Our option is "Running" by No Doubt or "Happy Together" by Tahiti 80. But Mbak Fitri from Ara said that the song from No Doubt is more representable. Just like what the fiance had chosen. So let's see how it goes.

I've already got the invitation dummy. There's some things to change just yet. So I come directly to meet the designer and I've requested for him to change while I'm there. He surprised on how detail I am. He said that I'm unique and this is the first time for him to handle a client like me. Well, I think it's the polite way of him to say I'm controlling. Either way, I just don't care as long as the final result fulfill my satisfaction. Here's a little sneak peek of the cover of my invitation which is very much inspired by "500 Days of Summer". Actually, "Away We Go" and the layout of Frankie Magazine are also my references. I will upload the whole invitation later once it's all done.

Last night Kak Dewi asked me to check on the wordings of the marriage manual books. She asked if I want to add any personal wordings from me to my parents. Looking to the past, there's sure lot of things I should be asking apologize of to both of my parents. But I'm not sure if I want it to be written down on the book and let everyone to read it. But I will try to put up my personal words and make it nicer so I won't be so embarrassed then.

Ah, and yesterday I finally visited Flora Lines. This bridegila is still craving for pink peonies to hold on her wedding. Hah. So I went there and met Mbak Nini. She said that it's quite impossible to have peonies in March because they have it imported in June - July. I feel quite disappointed. But I give another alternative, fuchsia roses for my bouquet just like in this picture below. I don't want to add any other type of flowers or colors and not even baby breath. Maybe just some green leaves underneath it and pink ribbons to sweeten it up. The thing is, there's some risk I got to willing to take. There's a slight chances my roses bouquet might be broken or some leaves might be faded. Let's just hope it won't be happening. And I've ordered pink peonies for my second receptions in Jakarta. Hopefully she can provide it in May. In the mean time, I also check on other florist if they have pink peony in March. Crossing fingers!

Mad Bride

The invitation thingy is driving me crazy!

It would've been a piece of cake if only my skill in photoshop is in the advance level. Considering I'm the type of bride-to-be with high expectations and also not easy to satisfy, then it 's best for me to just do it all by myself. So I'm willing to cut off my sleeping hours just to learn how to get it done through some photoshop tutorials on the internet. I didn't have much time to sleep nor eat. I just can't rely on anybody no more. The only thing that is going on my mind is how to get it all done by myself on time.

The homework now is to design the calendar and maps for my invitation. I'll post the result soon. In the meantime, here are my references:

Shake It Out

I always have a thing for silhouettes. Especially those wedding invitation with the silhouettes photo of the bride and groom in it.
I think silhouette is everlasting and classic too. Like this:

I'm not using any silhouettes in my invitations, though. Typical Aquarian of me. I just want my invitations to be different from any others. Beside, my photography vendor who handle the photos for my invitation also said so. I will post photos I'm using later.

In these few days, I've been so attached with my laptop and experimenting with photoshop. The result is lack of sleep and some edited images and logos too. I even created some logos for my upcoming project, insha Allah. So I tried to make my own silhouettes for the sake of my personal satisfaction. Since I'm still an amateur, you can tell that my work is not that neat. But I'll try to fix on that later.

My New Hobby: Creating Inspiration Board!

Ah, Well..

The fiance keeps reminding me to not get stressed over this wedding preparations thingy. And I wish I can have control of it. I can't stand of this trouble breathing too. The lack of sleep is starting to drive me nuts. I even think it could make me die slowly. Such a drama queen, I know!

The wedding is getting closer. These are list of things that shall be done soon. It's better be prepared before I go back to Aceh in early March so I could just sit back and relax until the due date. So here it goes:

1. Design of the invitations
This is what I'm worried most. I'm really fussy for this part. Well, actually I'm fussy at almost everything but most of it are already finished. Just because me and mom wanted to put some photos so we decided to make the invitations to be useful for the guests. Already gave the photos to the vendors but I'm not satisfied about the design yet. So I gave them some references of how I want it to be. Up until now, I still haven't got any emails from them except the one that letting me know they will try to make it as I wanted. What I got in mind is the kind of notebook which is sold on the bookstore that is eye refreshing, automatically draw the attentions and urged you to pull out some money out of your purse just to purchased it. Tough calls.

2. Thank you note
This one is still related with point number 1. I want my thank you note that is hanging in the souvenirs to be different as usual. Already gave the photos to them and I'm still waiting for their responses regarding the date lines. This thank you note is needed soon so that I could give it to the vendor that is handling our souvenirs.

3. Wedding gown
The first fitting didn't go so well because I feel fat in that dress. Not because it's not very good, but I ate like a pig and should do a diet. And so I did. Lost a few kilograms, thank you to Acai Berry. The second fitting the dress looked great on me. But I still think that I should lose another 2-3kgs around the arms, hips and thighs. The down side of having pear type of body, I guess. The fiance also have problems with his suit. The first fitting went well because it's in Ramadhan. But on second fitting, Mas Sapto said that he should up sizing the suit around 6cm. But he did give an options, to lose weight or up size. Our last fitting will be in the end of the month. Let's see how it goes.

4. Other Wedding Gown
Because of there will be many rituals and traditions that I should do, so I made another few dresses at Ferry Sunarto and Yasra. My first fitting at Ferry was okay. But the fiance didn't think so. He thinks his suit is not so comfortable to wear so there will be some changes to do. I don't know what's going on with my dresses at Yasra. We haven't been in touch yet. I just wait for mom to come to Jakarta so I can go directly to her place. And last is my reception gown (Aceh traditional) at Bang Imran. Never did the fitting yet because I was just measured like 3 weeks ago. I gave all my trust to him because I know he's the best in this thingy.

5. Hijab Style
Bang Imran is responsible my hijab style from day 1 until the end. He said that I should do hijab test days before the wedding just to find which one I like the most. Sapto is the one who made my head pieces along with the dress for akad nikah. Since the picture I gave him was a lady without hijab, I still don't know what am I going to be like in hijab and that head pieces. Hopefully Bang Imran will do me good or otherwise I could burst in to tears for ages. And for the reception, I still can't decide whether to use hijab before sunting or just let the sunting directly stick into my head without it. Mom said that it would be weird for me to use hijab over the sunting. But I still want to try it just to fulfill the satisfactions. I'm a fussy, remember?

6. Decorations
I am really into Suryo's decorations. Years before planning the wedding, I said to mom that I really want him to decorate my wedding. But since I'm having the wedding in Aceh, it's impossible for me to bring him back because it would cost me a fortune and I couldn't afford it. So we decided to use Bang Edy, local decorator, who also did the decorations for my brother's wedding last year. His work was divine. And so I hope it could do the same for mine. Gave him pictures of decorations as references for Akad Nikah. But for Wedding Receptions, I really can't think any designs of pelaminan do I want. At first, he offered to do me a Morrocans style. But I refused it because I want something new that is not common. Typical Aquarians of me. He then came up with ideas, which I believe will turn out great, but to be honest, I can't imagine of it at all. I gave it all up to him. I'm sure he won't disappoint me at any level. As for Akad Nikah, I wanted floral decorations instead of Jepara like he suggested for the background. So I might gonna make the DIY floral backgrounds *crossing fingers*.

7. Khatam Al-Quran and fasting!
These are the most important things to be done by March. Hap, hap!

... to be continued

We're Only A Click Away

Technology makes us closer even though we rarely meet in real life, no?

It's still 77 days until our wedding and I have just finished creating the wedding invitation blog. Yeap, another blog has just born. But this one is only to announce the good news to our dear friends and relatives. I decided to announce the address later. Maybe around 2-3 weeks before the wedding date. I've only showed it to the fiance. And my oh my, he's really not into the internet thingy. He doesn't even know that there's sections to be clicked on the blog. And now I'm worried what if our invitees will experience the same thing. Got to find another way to make it easier to understand then.

I have to admit, planning a wedding makes my creativity sense blew up. It urged me to think creatively what goes to where and which is more eye candy. It's fun, though. I enjoyed it so far. Even those things that's actually driving me crazy and makes me trouble breathing. Preparing the wedding also make me found new hobbies. One of it is, getting attached to Photoshop. I'm such a daring amateur. I've tried to design my own e-wedding invitations. It's actually not as hard as I thought before. Maybe at first, I was like "what the heck is this?". But once I got the rhythm, I can not go back. I've successfully designed 3 e-invitations. Will post the pictures later because it's way too early to publish it now. I'm planning to send it by email or maybe tag it on facebook.

If it's not for technology, then I can not imagine how to reach old friends that haven't met since ages. Or people who I haven't saved their addresses nor phone numbers. That's why I never feel offended by wedding invitations through emails or facebook or even text messages. Some people may think the invitation through facebook is not personal, etc, etc.. But as for me, just by receiving the invitations, it means they remember and appreciate us. When they send the emails or tagging on facebook or send text messages, they individually type our name, isn't it? Besides, it saved more time and money too. Don't you think?

You Are (Not) Invited!

I remember when I was a child, my granny went hajj and gave each of us, the grand children, a viewmaster as a gift from Arab. It shows the greatest view of Mecca, Medina, and also some historic places that makes us wish to be able to visit there someday.

Nowadays, people got more creative in making things. They dare to think out of the box and make some new innovations. Preparing a wedding also force us to let out our creative side to the highest level. What if you got stuck? Then surfing on the internet is one of the solutions. Seeing many things, get inspired by people, and make new innovations out of something.

Like these couple here. They made one of the coolest wedding invitations I ever see. This memorable invitation requires you to put some extras on the budget. Imagine, $3,450 or Rp 32,775,000 for 100 quantities. The good news is, these might as well be a souvenir. But can you imagine how much you have to spend for the invitations only if you are going to held a traditional wedding where you are required to invite all the people, not only you know, but the parents and friends of relatives too? This may cover the whole wedding expenses. Don't you think?