seriously, if i don't finish this now i'll forget everything by the time i get down to it.
so! it's finally the time for 'the longest post filled with pictures'... at least until my own wedding.
if you find some pictures familiar, then yes i pilfered them off your facebook album. thanks in advance. heheh. :D
the rehearsal on thursday went well, and it was a lot faster than i had imagined. after we practiced the march in and march out and where the couple should stand etc, WE WERE DONE.
i'd gone down to finish up with decorations on friday, while alvin was on a whirlwind errand shopping for the bridegroom. i myself was also pretty much going a little insane with setting up for the next day as i had to prepare the church for alvin to takeover in the morning; he's the church IC.
and then we found out alvin forgot to bring his program and his contact list (GASP, CHOKE) home and he wasn't heading home but to chiwern's simei bacheor pad (then) so he couldn't print anything. thank God that i had my full set with me, for zhixiong's car, and that they came down to help out for decorations and were heading to chiwern's place as well.
i passed everything to them and they drove me home after which i printed myself a set and bathed PRONTO (it was getting so late) and slept. or rather, rolled around for about an hour in fits of stress and then finally settled into uneasy rest.
once my alarm rang at 430am (this was the 2nd consecutive saturday i was getting up at 430am. my cousin's wedding was just one week before.) i leapt out of bed and did my morning stuffs. ok dude, i need to call the photographer the videographer and the makeup artist.
videographer didn't pick up.
makeup artist didn't pick up, and i eventually realized i'd gotten the wrong number (omg i am so sorryyyy)
junliang was... crabby. hahahahaha.
but it was alright, the videog and makeup artist were already there by the time i'd arrived. i was all dressed up but my face was bare (it wouldn't be the last time) so once i made sure everything was in order, i bounded up to xiangjun's room to do ma thang.
15min later, i heard aileen's evil laughter from the kitchen. woah ok she's really into the 'i will make sure the guys sufferrrrrr'.
soon after all the jie meis arrive and were involved in one of these few things:
1. ooh-aahing over chinling who was drop dead gorgeous. srsly. if i had time i would just sit at her lap and go 'ooh' every few seconds.
2. camwhoring ('omg i love your dress!' 'i love yours too!' 'wow great shoes!!' *click*click*)
3. joining in aileen's evil laughter and plan
man, i was so enjoying myself i almost forgot to check with alvin what time the guys were arriving. almost, but didn't! called zhixiong... ok they're on their way! on time too. yay!
caught mid-picture, 'OH CRAP THE GUYS ARE HERE, LOCK EVERYTHING DOWNNNNN!'
aileen's evil plan was still forming (with the trays of water and scrabble tiles and cups of pure evil ahahahaha) so the girls rushed around to help. just as we were to start our offensive, we were called for a group shot:
here're the men:
'eh sister, let me in la.'
'where's the red packet?'
'yeah i prepared one already. here you go!!'
'10, 000 won??!?!?!?! it's what, $9???? NOOOOOOOOO'
'eh go home la, go home la.' alvin and hsern wei, chiwern's cousin.
'eh brothers help me leh.'
pleesh?
we had no idea, but chiwern had a devious plan... with the help of a certain father-in-law. -_-"'
uncle!! how can you just let him in??? i shall punish you! you cannot come into your own house!! muaahahahahaha.
after the father-in-law passed chiwern the key (i don't even know how) the guys bashed their way through!! it's okay. we have our 2nd offensive.
'hey guys listen up. TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES.'
aileen is having a serious load of fun, hahahaha.
they then had to put toothpaste on their feet!
and use their feet to pick out scrabble tiles for chiwern to put a nice message together! go on, stick your feet into ice cold waterrrr muahahahahahaha.
here's what chiwern had: i think on one side it was qualities that chin already had, and on the other was what chi was gonna help chin with. anyway, aileen saw it and relented...
they're in! take your cups gentlemen! alvin, very unfortunately and bravely took the cup full of tabasco (he retched almost immediately) and a cup full of celery.
meanwhile, the blushing bride is getting anxious.
having finished the cups of doom, chiwern goes in search of his princess!
crossing mountains and valleys! highs and lows!!
and bribing a dragon.
before he caught a whiff of chin's love... in the maid's room!! haha she was totally hiding in there. :)
*glee*
haha you can see me discussing fervently with xiangjun before we move on to the next part of the day, solemnization.
off we go!
next stop was chiwern's place, where we all took a short break, and i got to know chiwern's posse from malaysia. his family was already there, and they were such warm people! ah, both chi and chin's family were absolutely wonderful to work with. didn't stress me at all one bit. :D
sorry, no pictures! everything's in junliang's camera which he's editing like crazy right now.
we headed down to solemnization where joe, lennel, kelvin and daniel were waiting with my coffee of the day (i hadn't had my single cup of coffee yet and it was making me dullll). upon arrival there was slight mayhem as i had to dash off to get a new bouquet for chin (her current one was already wilting) while alvin had to switch cars and hop over to joe's to head down to Living Hope Methodist where the church ceremony was being held to prep the place and get everyone ready.
which meant that there was nobody around to organize the parents who were coming. but somehow, in the midst of all the confusion, the direct families all roped in (i am SO GLAD they're all understanding people who are also warm and friendly) and helped get everyone up to the solemnization room, while zhixiong handled the parking and alvin went off to withdraw money for chiwern and shifted all the church items from one car to another while i dashed off to the florist.
once there i sat down because my feet were KILLING me. i also failed to impress upon the lady that the bouquet was for the bride (the lady assisting was from china and i apparently didn't manage to get her to understand that it was the BRIDE'S bouquet with my mediocre mandarin) so she had to redo after i explained to the boss in english.
once it was done, i rushed out and it was just in time for me to hop into zhixiong's car (he was helping me keep tabs on when the solemnization was over) and together with the videog and photog we left for chinling's place...
WHICH WAS THE WRONG PLACE TO GO. chinling wasn't changing into her tea ceremony dress at her place, it was at chiwern's place!!! (GASP, CHOKE)
i didn't know because it was a last minute change and i'd told zhixiong to go down to chin's which was the original plan... darn it. so very unfortunately, junliang was unable to get some pictures of chinling getting all made-up for her tea ceremony. :(
I AM SO SORRY!!! :(
but he forgave me, and didn't make me feel bad, and i guess it was good because we rested for abit at chin's place before the bridal car came back with her in her garb. :)
so the tea ceremony began.
chin's grandma, a sprightly old lady that kept insisting i should sit down, eat more. :D
chin's parents, lovely people:
during the tea ceremony, judging by the number of times alvin called me i knew things weren't running too smoothly there. but alvin kept my head from exploding into a bloody mess in the kitchen by reassuring me with a 'i'll figure something out.' and i trusted him!
check out michelle's decorations. superbly and tastefully done.
yes, she did all that. HANDMADE TOO. *applaudes*
by the time we left for church it was drizzling and within minutes of driving it started to pour. but alls well, we managed to keep chin's gown dry with the sheltered carpark at the church. phew.
and alvin did get everything done in one piece. by the time we arrived, no one was rushing around, and all the helpers were having their lunch in small happy groups. :D
check out the ring box.
sigh, i pass alvin the ring box for caretaking and this is what he does. *shakes head*
OMG WHERE ARE THE RINGS?????
chin's family were one of the first few there.
haha there's jolene's dress! the topshop one in BLACK. *phweeet!*
the band, front row.
after running around somemore to make sure there're enough guests and that we could start, the wedding procession line up and prepared themselves behind the closed church doors.
here they come! :D
awww... I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU CHIN!!!
the handover. just look at that bliss on chi's face. :DDD
signing the church blessing:
some daddy love! i teared up at this point while hiding away at the last row. haha. it was just such a sweet moment. :)
faith!
the pioneer JC bunch
the bros
dawn! (eh jolene where's that picture of me and you?)
the delighted bride at rest. really, chin is a super relaxed and peaceful bride. you can just feel her enjoying every single moment without any panic buttons being pushed. :)
oh? bouquet toss?
alvin shoots me a 'please go grab it for me, you know i would for you.'
'OKOKOKOKALREADY!' -_-
here's some evidence.
just look at me, waving my arms in wild abandon! and shifting around like a space invader!
melvin suddenly shouted, 'WAIT SARA IS NOT THERE WAIT FOR SARA!!!'
sara gets roped in too...
1...
2...
3!!
see?? see?? i didn't run away like the last time ok! *pats my own back* anyway, i bought that bouquet, so it'd be weird for me to bring it home, haha!
their ang bao box
uncle steve and kian seng who helped us SO MUCH to prepare the church. amazing people. really amazing.
and of course... someday. :)
after taking this picture alvin and i had to rush down to meet dannis the banquet coordinator at swissotel, so we quickly left some instructions for jacqueline to help clear the place (she is super efficient and reliable, thanks jac! :D) and left the church to flag a cab...
which never happened. we had to call a cab eventually, where i changed into my flat gold shoes (ahhhh my feet) and napped (it wasn't enough!!) while mr cabbie sped through all the highways. he tried to start up a conversation about the mumbai killings but dude, we are pooped man. no talking please! so we let the conversation dwindle down and
ZZZZZZZZZZ
too soon, we arrived at swissotel. this was also where everything began to unravel.
1. my phone's battery gave up on me; i had to go to junliang's room STAT.
2. the makeup artist was already there but couldn't find chi nor chin because they hadn't arrived (though they left earlier than us)
3. we grabbed lennel from the lobby and went in search of the ballroom... and promptly got lost because...
4. it was already 530 and the ballroom was not set up yet.
5. the ballroom was just finishing up a company function
6. dannis was nowhere in sight
after wasting a very precious 30min, we gave up. i left a message on dannis' voicemail and we went up to jun's room (where he was pretty much going INSANE cramming a few hundred photos over a span of 7 hours into a 5 minute collage for the banquet later). he was very accommodating though, and let the 3 of us crash for all of...
20 minutes. where i took an impromptu shower and then rushed down for the meeting because they finally contacted us... actually chin's brother was the one who contacted us. he was pretty peeved that the ballroom wasn't set up yet. thank goodness for him demanding to talk to the person in charge. good.
also by then the wedding couple had arrived (their rooms were a few floors below) and i managed to get xiangjun to contact the makeup artist. by this time, we had to push back the tea ceremony from 6pm to 630pm, and neither me nor alvin could help out because i forced alvin to stay in the hotel room and take a bath and rest AND help junliang while i went downstairs to meet chin's brother and whoever the new banquet coordinator was. i just felt that alvin should get some rest before the banquet proper you know?
*hug* he did a wonderful job at the church!
so off i went with wet hair, my green lantern dress (which is my most expensive dress yet... and i have to repeat, i did not get it at the topshop sale! this is not the petite design which is on sale EVERYWHERE. grah. i'm still angst-y about finding rack fulls of the dress after i bought my supposed 'last piece'... but ok la, the rest was 'petite' so at least i have that. BUT STILL! GRAHHH.) ratty gold flats and a bare face.
i looked like crap, walking through the hotel lobby to the ballroom... why is it so far awayyyyy omgggg. *drags feet* and yes, people were staring. i looked totally out of sorts: pretty dress in desperate need of some makeup, and good shoes. i bet i looked weirdly out of place.
but! the wedding must go on! thank goodness for my thick skin. woot!
so we went through the wedding program, and seriously, i was lost most of the time.
'how many bottles of wine? how many bottles of beer? you want to serve stout?'
'whaaaaaaaat?'
thank goodness chin's brother was there to confirm all that with the coordinator... for all of 5 minutes before he had to run off from the impromptu meet because he and his siblings had to clear out of the tea reception area.
and then xiangjun came, already dressed up AND made up (wah super fast; and she's really gorgeous too) to continue on with ironing out the details with the coordinator. after we were done, i quickly called lennel to come down to test and run through the multimedia (of which we were pretty confused because the program was changed the night before and i wasn't sure which slide show was which anymore) and then i had to sit at the reception table (still bare faced and pretty dressed) to wait for all the reception girls to come... but thing was THE GUESTS WERE ALREADY ARRIVING!!! CRAP!!!!!!!!
just when my head was about to explode from OMG IS EVERYTHING GOING TO GO WRONG CRAP CRAP CRAP, alvin appeared!! and saved the day by jumping straight into action and helping lennel to arrange his slides, and dear dear uncle mike and chin's brother took over at the reception table. i didn't want to leave because i had to brief the reception girls (5 of them... including me??? i have to do reception??? cannot la, dude!) but mike forced me to go, and said he'd man the fort. alrighty then. it's now or never.
i ran off in a flouncy flash of green and sped back to jun's room. he looked worse than ever, both of us staring at each other with slightly panicked faces. he was almost finishing and i rearranged the items in my clutch, pulled out my black patent heels, and did super quick makeup... almost jabbing my eyeballs TWICE. oh, oh! where's my hairband it'll totally make the whole thing work. *find*find*find*
by the time i pulled on my shoes and grabbed my clutch, jun was running through his slides to make sure there was no error. then he turned to see how i was doing and exclaimed, 'WAH. U ACTUALLY LOOK CHIO.'
alright, i take it as a compliment. woohoo!
we packed like fiends, and i tried to help jun on with his suit (i did a tie for him but it was too long oops... but the shape was there!!) and one button on his sleeve. wah, bonding in times of crisis man. hahaha.
by then chiwern was calling every few minutes and so was alvin:
'where are you?'
'hey where're the complimentary parking tickets?'
'hey where's your program list, do you have it?'
'reception is doing okay!'
could. hardly. BREATHE!
jun and i ran downstairs and good grief, the cocktail reception was already packed! once i got to the reception i quickly checked that my duty was covered (trina was doing the JC friends list! thank God!) and then ran into the banquet hall (closed to the guests) to confirm that soundcheck was all done and the program was set and clear to lennel and the emcees (aileen and colin). we did still have a few concerns and stuff to iron out but alvin took control of the situation and did everything! he's my man!! XD
and then...
OH MY GOODNESS IT'S ALREADY 8PM WHAT THE!!! I NEED TO GO AND GIVE THE CUE FOR THE FIRST DISH AND THE DOORS OPENING AH CRAP!
yes, ladies and gentlemen... i am the reason why we started so late... I'M SORRY!!! :(
by the time the doors opened it was 830pm, and the banquet only started at 845pm. i had to quickly get the reception to pack up with all the hongbaos and gifts passed to jingjing (chin's sister) before the bride's march in.
only after everything was packed and ready to go did i realize that i have no idea where i was sitting. i checked one of the guestlists left behind at the reception for latecomers... hmm. ok table 10. alrighty.
i went into the hall... hey my cell group's there! but it's not my table. hmm. ok... maybe it's the jc table where mel, xinwei and angel are. but the table's full! EH WHERE IS MY TABLE AND WHO AM I SITTING WITH???
omg, it was right at the back, away from all my friends and cell group. i was bewildered, really. so at my table were 2 JC acquaintances, paul and mabel who are church acquaintances, daniel, junliang who wasn't there 90% of the time (he just ran to his food, gobbled some of it down and then ran off to follow the couple), and candice (absent) and teck horng (only came at the 3rd last dish). and of course, alvin.
...
i was waaaaaayyy too tired to socialize with everyone at the table. even aileen was like, giving me the 'why the heck are you sitting there???' look from two table away. :(
oh well, i always have alvin. see see! :D
the rest of the banquet was a blur. i just sat at my table stoning out, if not running off to check with the coordinator things were going smoothly. i honestly cannot give you more info about the band nor the food (which was really good) nor the performances and wedding slides. i can only say that everything went... well!
haha, i was really stoning.
i found some pictures of the tan family, and everyone's favorite toddler. dellia and emmanuel are SO FUNNY. hehe.
here's a picture of chinling's siblings' performance (it was REALLY heartwarming to hear khoon seng sing):
and the live band got the couple to dance!
photos after the banquet was done:
aileen and colin (they're next in line!)
i love this shot :D
pastor william and the boys:
pastor william and his wife (and background gargoyles)
me looking abit stuffed after all the abalone, sharks fin and sushi??!?!
wow finally a flattering shot of my dress. this is elaine whom i worked with at robinsons YEARS ago and is now chinling's colleague! :D
my cell group :D (and the return of the gargoyles)
my girlies and grace (who looked awesome!!!)
jon, you have no idea how long i was skulking around facebook, waiting for you to upload this. haha!
and that concludes the entire wedding! :D
ok in need of serious rest now kplsthx.
if you find some pictures familiar, then yes i pilfered them off your facebook album. thanks in advance. heheh. :D
the rehearsal on thursday went well, and it was a lot faster than i had imagined. after we practiced the march in and march out and where the couple should stand etc, WE WERE DONE.
i'd gone down to finish up with decorations on friday, while alvin was on a whirlwind errand shopping for the bridegroom. i myself was also pretty much going a little insane with setting up for the next day as i had to prepare the church for alvin to takeover in the morning; he's the church IC.
and then we found out alvin forgot to bring his program and his contact list (GASP, CHOKE) home and he wasn't heading home but to chiwern's simei bacheor pad (then) so he couldn't print anything. thank God that i had my full set with me, for zhixiong's car, and that they came down to help out for decorations and were heading to chiwern's place as well.
i passed everything to them and they drove me home after which i printed myself a set and bathed PRONTO (it was getting so late) and slept. or rather, rolled around for about an hour in fits of stress and then finally settled into uneasy rest.
once my alarm rang at 430am (this was the 2nd consecutive saturday i was getting up at 430am. my cousin's wedding was just one week before.) i leapt out of bed and did my morning stuffs. ok dude, i need to call the photographer the videographer and the makeup artist.
videographer didn't pick up.
makeup artist didn't pick up, and i eventually realized i'd gotten the wrong number (omg i am so sorryyyy)
junliang was... crabby. hahahahaha.
but it was alright, the videog and makeup artist were already there by the time i'd arrived. i was all dressed up but my face was bare (it wouldn't be the last time) so once i made sure everything was in order, i bounded up to xiangjun's room to do ma thang.
15min later, i heard aileen's evil laughter from the kitchen. woah ok she's really into the 'i will make sure the guys sufferrrrrr'.
soon after all the jie meis arrive and were involved in one of these few things:
1. ooh-aahing over chinling who was drop dead gorgeous. srsly. if i had time i would just sit at her lap and go 'ooh' every few seconds.
2. camwhoring ('omg i love your dress!' 'i love yours too!' 'wow great shoes!!' *click*click*)
3. joining in aileen's evil laughter and plan
man, i was so enjoying myself i almost forgot to check with alvin what time the guys were arriving. almost, but didn't! called zhixiong... ok they're on their way! on time too. yay!
caught mid-picture, 'OH CRAP THE GUYS ARE HERE, LOCK EVERYTHING DOWNNNNN!'
aileen's evil plan was still forming (with the trays of water and scrabble tiles and cups of pure evil ahahahaha) so the girls rushed around to help. just as we were to start our offensive, we were called for a group shot:
here're the men:
'eh sister, let me in la.'
'where's the red packet?'
'yeah i prepared one already. here you go!!'
'10, 000 won??!?!?!?! it's what, $9???? NOOOOOOOOO'
'eh go home la, go home la.' alvin and hsern wei, chiwern's cousin.
'eh brothers help me leh.'
pleesh?
we had no idea, but chiwern had a devious plan... with the help of a certain father-in-law. -_-"'
uncle!! how can you just let him in??? i shall punish you! you cannot come into your own house!! muaahahahahaha.
after the father-in-law passed chiwern the key (i don't even know how) the guys bashed their way through!! it's okay. we have our 2nd offensive.
'hey guys listen up. TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES.'
aileen is having a serious load of fun, hahahaha.
they then had to put toothpaste on their feet!
and use their feet to pick out scrabble tiles for chiwern to put a nice message together! go on, stick your feet into ice cold waterrrr muahahahahahaha.
here's what chiwern had: i think on one side it was qualities that chin already had, and on the other was what chi was gonna help chin with. anyway, aileen saw it and relented...
they're in! take your cups gentlemen! alvin, very unfortunately and bravely took the cup full of tabasco (he retched almost immediately) and a cup full of celery.
meanwhile, the blushing bride is getting anxious.
having finished the cups of doom, chiwern goes in search of his princess!
crossing mountains and valleys! highs and lows!!
and bribing a dragon.
before he caught a whiff of chin's love... in the maid's room!! haha she was totally hiding in there. :)
*glee*
haha you can see me discussing fervently with xiangjun before we move on to the next part of the day, solemnization.
off we go!
next stop was chiwern's place, where we all took a short break, and i got to know chiwern's posse from malaysia. his family was already there, and they were such warm people! ah, both chi and chin's family were absolutely wonderful to work with. didn't stress me at all one bit. :D
sorry, no pictures! everything's in junliang's camera which he's editing like crazy right now.
we headed down to solemnization where joe, lennel, kelvin and daniel were waiting with my coffee of the day (i hadn't had my single cup of coffee yet and it was making me dullll). upon arrival there was slight mayhem as i had to dash off to get a new bouquet for chin (her current one was already wilting) while alvin had to switch cars and hop over to joe's to head down to Living Hope Methodist where the church ceremony was being held to prep the place and get everyone ready.
which meant that there was nobody around to organize the parents who were coming. but somehow, in the midst of all the confusion, the direct families all roped in (i am SO GLAD they're all understanding people who are also warm and friendly) and helped get everyone up to the solemnization room, while zhixiong handled the parking and alvin went off to withdraw money for chiwern and shifted all the church items from one car to another while i dashed off to the florist.
once there i sat down because my feet were KILLING me. i also failed to impress upon the lady that the bouquet was for the bride (the lady assisting was from china and i apparently didn't manage to get her to understand that it was the BRIDE'S bouquet with my mediocre mandarin) so she had to redo after i explained to the boss in english.
once it was done, i rushed out and it was just in time for me to hop into zhixiong's car (he was helping me keep tabs on when the solemnization was over) and together with the videog and photog we left for chinling's place...
WHICH WAS THE WRONG PLACE TO GO. chinling wasn't changing into her tea ceremony dress at her place, it was at chiwern's place!!! (GASP, CHOKE)
i didn't know because it was a last minute change and i'd told zhixiong to go down to chin's which was the original plan... darn it. so very unfortunately, junliang was unable to get some pictures of chinling getting all made-up for her tea ceremony. :(
I AM SO SORRY!!! :(
but he forgave me, and didn't make me feel bad, and i guess it was good because we rested for abit at chin's place before the bridal car came back with her in her garb. :)
so the tea ceremony began.
chin's grandma, a sprightly old lady that kept insisting i should sit down, eat more. :D
chin's parents, lovely people:
during the tea ceremony, judging by the number of times alvin called me i knew things weren't running too smoothly there. but alvin kept my head from exploding into a bloody mess in the kitchen by reassuring me with a 'i'll figure something out.' and i trusted him!
check out michelle's decorations. superbly and tastefully done.
yes, she did all that. HANDMADE TOO. *applaudes*
by the time we left for church it was drizzling and within minutes of driving it started to pour. but alls well, we managed to keep chin's gown dry with the sheltered carpark at the church. phew.
and alvin did get everything done in one piece. by the time we arrived, no one was rushing around, and all the helpers were having their lunch in small happy groups. :D
check out the ring box.
sigh, i pass alvin the ring box for caretaking and this is what he does. *shakes head*
OMG WHERE ARE THE RINGS?????
chin's family were one of the first few there.
haha there's jolene's dress! the topshop one in BLACK. *phweeet!*
the band, front row.
after running around somemore to make sure there're enough guests and that we could start, the wedding procession line up and prepared themselves behind the closed church doors.
here they come! :D
awww... I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU CHIN!!!
the handover. just look at that bliss on chi's face. :DDD
signing the church blessing:
some daddy love! i teared up at this point while hiding away at the last row. haha. it was just such a sweet moment. :)
faith!
the pioneer JC bunch
the bros
dawn! (eh jolene where's that picture of me and you?)
the delighted bride at rest. really, chin is a super relaxed and peaceful bride. you can just feel her enjoying every single moment without any panic buttons being pushed. :)
oh? bouquet toss?
alvin shoots me a 'please go grab it for me, you know i would for you.'
'OKOKOKOKALREADY!' -_-
here's some evidence.
just look at me, waving my arms in wild abandon! and shifting around like a space invader!
melvin suddenly shouted, 'WAIT SARA IS NOT THERE WAIT FOR SARA!!!'
sara gets roped in too...
1...
2...
3!!
see?? see?? i didn't run away like the last time ok! *pats my own back* anyway, i bought that bouquet, so it'd be weird for me to bring it home, haha!
their ang bao box
uncle steve and kian seng who helped us SO MUCH to prepare the church. amazing people. really amazing.
and of course... someday. :)
after taking this picture alvin and i had to rush down to meet dannis the banquet coordinator at swissotel, so we quickly left some instructions for jacqueline to help clear the place (she is super efficient and reliable, thanks jac! :D) and left the church to flag a cab...
which never happened. we had to call a cab eventually, where i changed into my flat gold shoes (ahhhh my feet) and napped (it wasn't enough!!) while mr cabbie sped through all the highways. he tried to start up a conversation about the mumbai killings but dude, we are pooped man. no talking please! so we let the conversation dwindle down and
ZZZZZZZZZZ
too soon, we arrived at swissotel. this was also where everything began to unravel.
1. my phone's battery gave up on me; i had to go to junliang's room STAT.
2. the makeup artist was already there but couldn't find chi nor chin because they hadn't arrived (though they left earlier than us)
3. we grabbed lennel from the lobby and went in search of the ballroom... and promptly got lost because...
4. it was already 530 and the ballroom was not set up yet.
5. the ballroom was just finishing up a company function
6. dannis was nowhere in sight
after wasting a very precious 30min, we gave up. i left a message on dannis' voicemail and we went up to jun's room (where he was pretty much going INSANE cramming a few hundred photos over a span of 7 hours into a 5 minute collage for the banquet later). he was very accommodating though, and let the 3 of us crash for all of...
20 minutes. where i took an impromptu shower and then rushed down for the meeting because they finally contacted us... actually chin's brother was the one who contacted us. he was pretty peeved that the ballroom wasn't set up yet. thank goodness for him demanding to talk to the person in charge. good.
also by then the wedding couple had arrived (their rooms were a few floors below) and i managed to get xiangjun to contact the makeup artist. by this time, we had to push back the tea ceremony from 6pm to 630pm, and neither me nor alvin could help out because i forced alvin to stay in the hotel room and take a bath and rest AND help junliang while i went downstairs to meet chin's brother and whoever the new banquet coordinator was. i just felt that alvin should get some rest before the banquet proper you know?
*hug* he did a wonderful job at the church!
so off i went with wet hair, my green lantern dress (which is my most expensive dress yet... and i have to repeat, i did not get it at the topshop sale! this is not the petite design which is on sale EVERYWHERE. grah. i'm still angst-y about finding rack fulls of the dress after i bought my supposed 'last piece'... but ok la, the rest was 'petite' so at least i have that. BUT STILL! GRAHHH.) ratty gold flats and a bare face.
i looked like crap, walking through the hotel lobby to the ballroom... why is it so far awayyyyy omgggg. *drags feet* and yes, people were staring. i looked totally out of sorts: pretty dress in desperate need of some makeup, and good shoes. i bet i looked weirdly out of place.
but! the wedding must go on! thank goodness for my thick skin. woot!
so we went through the wedding program, and seriously, i was lost most of the time.
'how many bottles of wine? how many bottles of beer? you want to serve stout?'
'whaaaaaaaat?'
thank goodness chin's brother was there to confirm all that with the coordinator... for all of 5 minutes before he had to run off from the impromptu meet because he and his siblings had to clear out of the tea reception area.
and then xiangjun came, already dressed up AND made up (wah super fast; and she's really gorgeous too) to continue on with ironing out the details with the coordinator. after we were done, i quickly called lennel to come down to test and run through the multimedia (of which we were pretty confused because the program was changed the night before and i wasn't sure which slide show was which anymore) and then i had to sit at the reception table (still bare faced and pretty dressed) to wait for all the reception girls to come... but thing was THE GUESTS WERE ALREADY ARRIVING!!! CRAP!!!!!!!!
just when my head was about to explode from OMG IS EVERYTHING GOING TO GO WRONG CRAP CRAP CRAP, alvin appeared!! and saved the day by jumping straight into action and helping lennel to arrange his slides, and dear dear uncle mike and chin's brother took over at the reception table. i didn't want to leave because i had to brief the reception girls (5 of them... including me??? i have to do reception??? cannot la, dude!) but mike forced me to go, and said he'd man the fort. alrighty then. it's now or never.
i ran off in a flouncy flash of green and sped back to jun's room. he looked worse than ever, both of us staring at each other with slightly panicked faces. he was almost finishing and i rearranged the items in my clutch, pulled out my black patent heels, and did super quick makeup... almost jabbing my eyeballs TWICE. oh, oh! where's my hairband it'll totally make the whole thing work. *find*find*find*
by the time i pulled on my shoes and grabbed my clutch, jun was running through his slides to make sure there was no error. then he turned to see how i was doing and exclaimed, 'WAH. U ACTUALLY LOOK CHIO.'
alright, i take it as a compliment. woohoo!
we packed like fiends, and i tried to help jun on with his suit (i did a tie for him but it was too long oops... but the shape was there!!) and one button on his sleeve. wah, bonding in times of crisis man. hahaha.
by then chiwern was calling every few minutes and so was alvin:
'where are you?'
'hey where're the complimentary parking tickets?'
'hey where's your program list, do you have it?'
'reception is doing okay!'
could. hardly. BREATHE!
jun and i ran downstairs and good grief, the cocktail reception was already packed! once i got to the reception i quickly checked that my duty was covered (trina was doing the JC friends list! thank God!) and then ran into the banquet hall (closed to the guests) to confirm that soundcheck was all done and the program was set and clear to lennel and the emcees (aileen and colin). we did still have a few concerns and stuff to iron out but alvin took control of the situation and did everything! he's my man!! XD
and then...
OH MY GOODNESS IT'S ALREADY 8PM WHAT THE!!! I NEED TO GO AND GIVE THE CUE FOR THE FIRST DISH AND THE DOORS OPENING AH CRAP!
yes, ladies and gentlemen... i am the reason why we started so late... I'M SORRY!!! :(
by the time the doors opened it was 830pm, and the banquet only started at 845pm. i had to quickly get the reception to pack up with all the hongbaos and gifts passed to jingjing (chin's sister) before the bride's march in.
only after everything was packed and ready to go did i realize that i have no idea where i was sitting. i checked one of the guestlists left behind at the reception for latecomers... hmm. ok table 10. alrighty.
i went into the hall... hey my cell group's there! but it's not my table. hmm. ok... maybe it's the jc table where mel, xinwei and angel are. but the table's full! EH WHERE IS MY TABLE AND WHO AM I SITTING WITH???
omg, it was right at the back, away from all my friends and cell group. i was bewildered, really. so at my table were 2 JC acquaintances, paul and mabel who are church acquaintances, daniel, junliang who wasn't there 90% of the time (he just ran to his food, gobbled some of it down and then ran off to follow the couple), and candice (absent) and teck horng (only came at the 3rd last dish). and of course, alvin.
...
i was waaaaaayyy too tired to socialize with everyone at the table. even aileen was like, giving me the 'why the heck are you sitting there???' look from two table away. :(
oh well, i always have alvin. see see! :D
the rest of the banquet was a blur. i just sat at my table stoning out, if not running off to check with the coordinator things were going smoothly. i honestly cannot give you more info about the band nor the food (which was really good) nor the performances and wedding slides. i can only say that everything went... well!
haha, i was really stoning.
i found some pictures of the tan family, and everyone's favorite toddler. dellia and emmanuel are SO FUNNY. hehe.
here's a picture of chinling's siblings' performance (it was REALLY heartwarming to hear khoon seng sing):
and the live band got the couple to dance!
photos after the banquet was done:
aileen and colin (they're next in line!)
i love this shot :D
pastor william and the boys:
pastor william and his wife (and background gargoyles)
me looking abit stuffed after all the abalone, sharks fin and sushi??!?!
wow finally a flattering shot of my dress. this is elaine whom i worked with at robinsons YEARS ago and is now chinling's colleague! :D
my cell group :D (and the return of the gargoyles)
my girlies and grace (who looked awesome!!!)
jon, you have no idea how long i was skulking around facebook, waiting for you to upload this. haha!
and that concludes the entire wedding! :D
ok in need of serious rest now kplsthx.
posted by feline @ 11:00 PM
