The Last 4 Days

I know I said I'll write everyday for the last ten days of the countdown to the wedding, but the last 4 days before the date was REALLY hectic that I just could not find the time to rest, let alone write. I think the last 4 days were probably the MOST stressful part of the wedding planning....I know during the last couple of days, most brides-to-be would be pampering themselves and rest plenty, but NOT me, the control-freak-bridezilla. Yes, I am going to have to admit to that. This was how the last 4 days went down:

4 Days - Monday

I was still working. My wedding-leave unofficially starts Tuesday. Officially, it starts on Thursday. Why? Long story...And to think that I stuck here so long because it's easy to get long leave. The best timing. Anyway, yeah, so my wedding leave will not be that long. Anyway, my mind was already no longer in the office. But I managed to stay and finish a couple of work and left sharp at 5pm. Back home, I started preparing the set up for nikah pelamin with the help of Kak Huriah.

3 Days - Tuesday

Woke up really early. I think I started to wake up 6.30am since Monday. Automatically. I think it's the nerves. At about 10.30am, I picked up my MOH, adik and Jihan to Floristika to order flowers. Yes, my "international" guests have arrived! Nell arrived from Australia on Sunday and Jihan arrived from UK on Monday. Reached Floristika at about 11am. I went a little crazy with the flowers. I ordered mostly red flowers for the pelamin and the centrepieces. I also ordered pastel colored flowers for the room. The flowers will be picked up in 2 batches - Nell and Adik will pick up the chrysantemums, orchids, roses, hydrangeas on Wednesday and the rest will be picked up by Syida on Thursday. Reason; the carnations, lilies and eustomas (which I will be using for the room) will only arrive on Thursday. We needed to make the centrepieces by Wednesday because it will be too rushing if we only start on Thursday - and the flowers I bought (red chrysantemums, orchids) can last a few days before drying, so those will be picked up on Wednesday morning.

at Floristika

After flower shopping, we went to Empire Subang for a late lunch at La Bodega. Then we sent Jihan home. What else did I do on Tuesday....oh we went to Jakel in Shah Alam to get material for Kakmira and Lulu for Aliff's reception the week after, VERY last minute, yes. Nell also needed to get some satin material for her MOH dress for my reception on Saturday - the dress is already ready, she wanted to add a ribbon in the middle which her tailor asked her to get some extra material. Then we went to look for MOH's kaftan for the nikah and also a few large vases. We went to Alam Sentral in Shah Alam. There's this shop which sells almost everything. Got 2 tall vases for a bargain! Really cheap. We saw a few kaftans that were quite nice in one of the many boutiques, but Nell still wanted to try other places. So, we only ended up getting my vase.

I had 2 appointments that night; Que, my pelamin and hall decorator for the reception and XYZ, my bridal attires designer (will review on both in a seperate post). Que came to the house first. Met with my parents, who wanted to ask him about the whole concept and what he will be doing. He showed us the sketch, and overall the parents were happy. Bapak asked him to add some stuff for the main table. He was also giving me ideas on the home pelamin and also a very useful tip on blossoming carnations! Que's the best!!!! serious! Chatted for quite a bit. Asked him to stay until XYZ came so he can see the dresses, but XYZ was quite late so Que left before he arrived. Close to 11pm, XYZ came with only my nikah kurung, he said he'll bring the reception dress the next day. Saw the nikah kurung for the first time and got quite a shock...Let me leave it at that. He said he'll bring it again the next day. Ok...3 more days to the wedding. Panicking? A bit. Didn't sleep really well that night.

2 Days - Wednesday

Woke up early, and made last check on the guestlist and seating arrangements. Cleared the house a bit, to make room for the first batch of the flowers. By this time, the house was pretty cluttered with wedding stuff all over. At about 11am, Nell brought home the red flowers and I started getting to work. I did the flowers for the pelamin first. That took quite some time because I wanted to make a big ball of flowers.

a mix of chrysantemums, roses and one more flower the name of which I'm not quite sure :)

Then I started arranging two vases (the ones I bought at Alam Sentral) of pastel flowers  for where the bride (which is me!) would sit during the akad nikah. This lasted until the evening. I left some space for the hydrangeas, because it was still too early to put them in the vase...hydrangeas need a lot of water and dries easily, so it's better that the hydrangeas enjoyed their own water before they have to share from the oasis with the other flowers :) I think I put the hydrangeas in the vase on the morning of the wedding.

a mix of white chrysantemums, casablanca lilies, pink daisies, white and pink orchids, white roses, pink hydrangeas

There were no man in the house to do the heavy lifting, so we had to outsource. My mum called one of the grass cutter who usually cuts our grass at home and one of his friend to help move the furniture to make room for the akad nikah. They were so helpful! Tipped them for their help.

Didn't get to go with Nell to look for her kaftan because I needed to finish the flowers. She went with adik and mamaina, and she got one of the kaftans we saw the day before. I broke 2 vases, while doing the floral arrangements (darah manis kan?) and they bought me 2 vases from the shop that sold everything. Thank god they went there again...I got a scream of lecture from everyone to slow down and delegate to others...heheh...I'm so used to doing everything, and being a control freak, I wanted to do everything...but I realised I can't do that...so, asked Syida to bring reinforcements for that night.

XYZ came by at about 8pm (I think). He brought my reception dress only. Nikah kurung not yet ready. No problem with the fit for the dress, because we did the fitting about a week ago. Beading still not full-only half way. He said he will bring it again on Thursday night after my Berinai together with the nikah kurung. Breathe in  breathe out. Telan air liur. 1day left.

We continued with the floral arrangements for the centrepieces later that night. Some aunts and uncles dropped by to help out on things. Syida brought reinforcements in the form of her two bestfriends; Aishah and Wani. Very helpful girls! Thank u ladiessss :) It was the 6 fo us; me, Aishah, Wani, Syida, Nell and Adik. We managed to finish 16 vases of centrepieces that night!

 

red orchids, roses, chrysantemums and the other flower I dont know the name of



Fuhhhh. I was already aching...planned to go to a relaxing Spa on Thursday and do nothing the whole day  other than pampering myself... (emphasis on "planned" - read Thursday).

1 Day - Thursday

Wow, woke up and I remembered feeling in disbelief that that day was the last day of the countdown. Brushed my teeth while holding myself from vomiting. Tonight is the Malam Berinai. XYZ was supposed to come today with my bridal attires...that kept me really nervous. Distracted myself by cleaning the house and preparing for the second batch of the flowers to come. As I have written above, today I was supposed to be pampering myself with Spa, Mani Padi and the likes...but being the bridezilla that I was (yes, past tense...married now...boo) I wanted to stay home and finish up decorating and cleaning. In my mind, there's still tomorrow, the nikah will be at night, I'll still have time in the morning.

Chenta Weddings arrived to set up the tents and also the platform for the pelamin. Carpets arrived. Then Syida came home with the carnations, lilies, eustoma and more hydrangeas and also my hantaran cake! The cake was from Madaboutcake and it was pretty! That drew a smile on my face.

almost similar to the picture I gave them:

Started blossoming the carnations (thank god Que gave the tips, if not the carnations would be closed up) with the help of Syida, Aishah, Nell and was later joined by adik.

red carnations

Aliff dropped by for a while, hanged out quite a bit while we were cleaning up, sat at one corner and read his book...betul2 preparing for his part as "Raja Sehari" dia ni.

Started arranging flowers for the room. It was really pleasant because the colors of the flowers were so joyful and the smell of casablanca lilies were so soothing that it lifted my mood quite a bit. Kak Huriah started putting on the new curtains and bedsheet for my room. She is such a trooper and McGuyver!! Don't know how I would have managed without her.


a mix of white chrysantemums, white and pink eustomas, white, yellow and pink carnations, blue hydrangeas, casablanca lilies, white and pink orchids and a sprinkle of baby breaths



a mix of white chrysantemums, pink and yellow carnations and pink eustomas

After we were done with the flowers, we started laying down the carpets downstairs. Kakmira was the chief for this.

 

Then we did the final touch ups for the pelamin. It was close to 5pm.

Kak Huriah and Kak Su testing out the pelamin :)

We moved to the bride's room and started cleaning and decorating. Mamaina bought me cute white side lamps for my room :) She also helped tidy up the bed. Nell and Aishah helped assemble the wooden stools I bought from Ikea which Aliff and Kakmira failed and cursed. I bought the stools for people to sit while I was getting ready..because there's no where else to sit except for the bed...we can't have everyone sitting on the bed can we :)



 

By 6pm, the house was finally ready for the wedding :))))  By this time my baby brother arrived home from his matrics in Perak :)

I bathed and got ready for the Malam Berinai.Will write a seperate post on the Malam Berinai later.

After the guests left at about 11.30pm, XYZ came with the nikah kurung only...now it looks right, but it was tooooo tight I could not breathe. Just a disclaimer, I did not get fat, the measurement was wrong....... He said he'll loosen it and bring it back the next morning, the day of the nikah. My reception dress he'll bring after the nikah.

Talked on the phone with Aliff ... he tried to talk me into NOT panicking and freaking out about the dress. Put some sense into me to enjoy my most anticipated day.

Slept at about 2am, because of the anxiety. I slept thinking that the next day I will be a married woman. To the love of my life.

To be continued ....