11 years on...

First dates are always memorable, particularly so for sentimentalists. One can forget the first time you lied to your parents, the very first expletive you used on a nemesis. But we never ever forget our first date - whether positively or otherwise.

The feelings of anxiety the night before, the innate fear of running out of topics, awkward moments of silences... Endless (and often unconfounded) worries that the ultimate cock-up will happen...

Exactly 11 years ago, I summoned the courage to invite a gal to watch a potential ultimate cock-up occur. I still remember it was a HCJC band concert. Now, I've never been a big fan of school bands, but then again, it didn't matter whether it was a band performance or a Hollywood movie - one wouldn't pay attention anyway. Not on a first date. =p

Thankfully, the ultimate cock-up didn't happen... and Qi Qi and I still hold that special evening close to our hearts. What makes today special would be that this would be our last "first date anniversary" together as singles (That's the thing with sentimentalists... anniversaries for everything! =p). By the time the next May 19 comes around, that would be our first "first date anniversary" together as a married couple!

I have only ever run 3 marathons in my life, all of which are memorable for unique reasons. There was the one in 2006, my inaugural attempt at completing the 42 km run. Then there was the one the following year when Qi Qi was there beside me throughout the run, with the excruciating pain in my knees afterwards forcing me into an early "retirement" from long distance running.

And of course there is the one which I have been running for 11 years now (how about that for stamina? =p) Shoulder to shoulder, stride for stride, with the one who has stood by me especially when the going was tough.

Come September, we would have reached another significant milestone along this journey.

But for sure, we will always be fully committed to finishing this lifelong race together.

Time waits for no one...

Ever since Jeff proposed, I got myself a new "hobby". That is reading up Singapore Brides and Style Weddings forums. Really useful sites to get ideas and advice for a wedding. Handy tips and experiences shared by BTBs. :)

I was reading the forums as usual yesterday... and realised how slow we were in terms of our solemnisation preparation. Many BTBs having Sept solemnisations this year have already sourced and booked their venues, Justice of Peace and some, even chosen and gotten their ROM dresses and photographers. I started to get worried, reason being that the date we have chosen is a popular one, 20/09/2009. Not to mention that the numeric term of the date and mth represents exactly the year, it is also a "ji re" and there is a public holiday on the next day. Some BTBs have also expressed difficulty in getting their JPs. Sigh.

Just how did things come to this stage? We had 1 year and 8 mths to prepare (since the proposal)! Other than visiting a shifu to decide on auspicious dates, booking a bridal shop which was practically done on the spur of moment last year, and receeing some venues this year, we did nothing else. Ok, I'm not totally right to say that. Jeff did collect some wedding package brochures, while I had been into my new hobby. Perhaps more accurate to say that there wasn't much concrete actions from these. We always assume there's tons of time, not knowing that time pass by so quickly.

And so, both of us started getting panicky yesterday. And decided that something must be done SOON in order to have our ideal ROM. We did spend the whole sat evening completing our pretty comprehensive solemnisation table and shortlisted 7 more venues that we would want to recce. But the venue needs to be confirmed asap so that we will get our first choice and to allow us to proceed to book the JP's time. And so we split the tasks on hand, Jeff took charge of planning our next recce trip in the shortest time possible and I in charge of consolidating a list of solemnisers with good reviews. For both of us, this sat shall be a hectic but excited excursion to 7 different garden places where we have never been to before. Sounds fun!

Btw, we also made our first call to Jazz Bridal (who moved!!) to book an appointment to look at the ROM dresses and suits. I'm certainly looking forward to that!

Recce Trip to Mandai Orchid Garden and Gardenasia

Finally some updates on our second recce trip on Vesak Day, 9th May 2009. We spent the Saturday afternoon recceing MOG and Gardenasia. On our way there, Jeff told me: “Dear, don’t expect that we will reach MOG very fast ok? The journey will take a while.” Well, the reason why he said this is because I often complain that the roads he chooses are often the longest. And my reply to him? “Yes, I know, Dear. Thanks for managing my expectations.:p”

About 10 mins into the ride, Jeff exclaimed “The road sign! See, Mandai Orchid Garden!” We were both too surprised as we didn’t expect the car ride to be a short one.

As we stepped into MOG, we were greeted with beautiful orchids. The feeling about the place was good.



We tried to find Gazebo and the water garden based on the photos we saw on the website. Here’s some photos of the solemnization venues:

We were in favor of both Gazebo and the water garden, both bearing their own merits.
Gazebo has a beautiful setting, surrounded by colourful orchids. Nice background for photography. The water garden gives an exclusive feel and can accommodate a bigger capacity.

We approached the Vanilla Pod restaurant next. The restaurant owner, Mr Wilson Yew, was helpful and answered some of our enquiries. The owner gave us assurance of the high quality western food his chef provides and it seems to us, at reasonable prices too. Accommodating 60 pax in the restaurant would be a tad too crowded, as we were told. Hence, difficult to include a screen as well. Other than this, we think this place will suit our garden theme wedding perfectly. Too bad.

We moved on to our next destination, Gardenasia, which is near Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Dear wasn’t sure of the direction, after all we seldom wander to the northern part of Singapore. In the car ride, Dear asked me if we would be so lucky to again see the road sign “SBWR” in no time. “Got so near meh?” was my reply. You know what? Within the next few minutes, tada, we saw the SBWR sign. We couldn’t believe our eyes, we got the direction right! Today indeed was our lucky day.

The drive after seeing the sign, was deep in though. Inaccessible. Subconsciously, we started giving Gardenasia a low rating even before we reached there.

In a word, Gardenasia was disappointing. The frangipani venue, which looked so good in the website photos, has a huge tree entrenched in the middle where the guests sit. Quite out of place, isn’t it? Jeff felt that the place would be almost ideal had the tree not been there. I second that. And so, this venue for our solemnization is definitely out.