ROM Preparations

After such an awesome proposal, the happy clappy feeling lasted for a few days, in which I was (mostly) in an euphoric daze. But after awhile, the happy clappy feeling was joined by one of panicky uncertainty. Coz with the engagement came a lot of other things to decide upon, such as our registration, our wedding etc. With those things comes an assortment of other stuff to worry about, such as venues, dates, bridal studios, photography..... No wonder he postponed the proposal for so long! 

Anyways, after a short discussion (short coz we agreed on everything :P) we've finally decided on some things about our registration of marriage. As this happened when we're in Ipoh, we were able to put most plans into motion.

So here's basically what we decided upon:

Venue:
To get registered, there are several options. We can register in JPN, in a church or in a temple.

As both J and I are dormant Christians (in a sense that we both haven't been attending church for a while now) we do not qualify registering in a church. Which leads to a mild sense of disappointment, for I've always fantasised about a church wedding. But I've no one else to blame but myself. And I feel that if I were to join a church just to get married in that church, it'll be hypocritical to the max.

As we're totally not Buddhist/Taoist at all, I ruled out registering in a temple.

So that leaves us with registering in JPN. We chose JPN Ipoh coz
1. we'll be settling down in Ipoh in the end and
2. JPN Bentong is quite ugly. :P That is not to say that JPN Ipoh is as pretty as JPN Putrajaya, but for an official building it's pretty new and not too ugly.

The procedure was rather simple.

Firstly we took passport sized photos nearby (RM10 for 4 pieces) in which he ended looking very handsome but I ended up looking edematous and probably suffering from Cushing syndrome =.=

Then we went to the IC department to change the address to his Ipoh address onto my IC chip (RM2). This is because we're from different states. If I didn't want to change my address to a Perak one it's also doable. However, it is more ma fan coz I'll have to submit mine in Bentong, and confirm in person with them 21 days later in person that I want to get married in JPN Ipoh. Hence it's easier to just pretend to be a Perak lang.

Then we went to Jabatan Perkahwinan dan Penceraian, filled in the KC02 form, submitted it together with the passport sized photos, gave them a date in which we'd want to register, and voila! it's done. We just need to appear on the date we choose with our original IC and 2 witnesses.

The KC02 forms with our passport photos. Mine looked grotesque!

The upside of registering in JPN is that it's cheaper (RM30 compared to more than RM 100 if we were to do it on the outside).

The downside is that we may have to say our vows in Malay. :P And they did stipulate that the clothes we wear must be decent (govvy office ma).

Date:
Basically we want to get married as soon as possible. But also after Chinese New Year, so I can celebrate my last CNY as a singleton and collect as many ang pow as possible for the last time. In the end we decided on 31.3.13 which is a Sunday (extra bonus!).

After deciding on the venue and date, there're several other things to consider.

Wedding Bands
As there will be an exchange of rings, we've got to get wedding bands. Initially I'd thought of just using my engagement ring and to buy just one more ring for J, however J protested. He said that my engagement ring was too shiny and would court danger. I'd also be unable to do much work with it on, and if I were to keep taking it off, I'd lose it someday.

Taken in by his persuasive arguments, we went ring hunting all around Ipoh. What we have in mind were just simple white gold bands. Doesn't need to be glamorous, just comfortable, as we'd be wearing them for the rest of our lives. And preferably cheap too, so that I can knock into stuff with it one without suffering a heart attack. :P

We looked at various jewellery shops. Some shops had a depressive aura and ugly rings, so we ruled them out. After much deliberation, we decided to get the rings at SK Jewellery. They were plain bands but oh so comfortable. They were also just a fraction of the price of my engagement ring. :P They come with a free ring pillow. Unfortunately, I did not do enough research before that, so didn't haggle. Some jewellery stores do throw in a free bouquet as well. The rings have to be custom made in France. And since J's fingers are the same size as mine (size 10), the male ring costs the same as the female. Hehe. (Normally the male ring is more expensive). It was funny though, to see the reaction of the guys waiting on us when they found out that our ring sizes were the same. :P

We plan to engrave each other's name and our registration date into the ring. I don't like to engrave initials coz they could mean anything. J <3 F could be Jane and Francois for example. :P Unfortunately that also means that if I lose mine I can't steal J's and pretend that he lost his instead. Haha.

People to Invite
I plan to make it a small intimate ceremony with only family and close friends. I've already invited my close friends and will send a formal invitation in Jan (must remember!). J can't think of anyone to invite though. :P

Lunch after the Ceremony
After the ceremony I see it's customary to have a lunch/brunch somewhere. I plan to scour Ipoh MotorMouth's blog to find a nice restaurant for lunch. I guess it will be a chinese restaurant as Dad and future FIL look like they prefer chinese. However if I had my way, I'd prefer Western or Fusion at a lovely lil cafe.

Update:
Here're some restaurants to look at:
Canton Palace Restaurant & Lounge: ambience - quite nice, food - ok, price - less than RM20 per pax recommended: Canton Palace's Crispy Duck http://www.j2kfm.com/canton-palace-restaurant-and-lounge-ipoh-garden-east/

Mun Choong Restaurant: ambience - ok, food - quite nice, price - RM40 per pax. recommended: soy sauce prawns http://www.j2kfm.com/mun-choong-pasir-puteh-ipoh/




Other stuff that need to be settled include:
A Suit for J
Well, he never had a suit before. So it's the perfect time to get one for him. The only problem is we don't have any idea where to get a coat or a suit before and it's hard to get him off-the-rack stuff as most sizes do not fit him. Still need more research on this.

A Dress For Me
Well, I've been looking at pic of dresses and trawling blogs ever since we've decided on our ROM. The only stipulation given was that the dress has to be knee length. Reading blogs of those who registered in JPN Putrajaya showed pictures of brides in tube dresses, sleeveless dresses... So should be alright, right? However, I've also read on the Brides Malaysia forum that someone's sister-in-law was refused entry into the ceremony room because her dress was not formal enough. So she had to go down to purchase a baju kurung before she could get married. I guess it's all up to the officer in charge of the wedding, but I'm not taking any chances. Worse come to worse, bring scarf only lo.

Here is a pic of a dress that I've in mind:

A very nice and romantic one shoulder dress. One shoulder dresses were my first choice for the dress for the ROM. They're very feminine and pretty decent. So far I've never seen any bride wearing a one shoulder dress for their ROM too so it'll be unique. Some one shouldered dresses are particularly awful though, due to the position of the straps, the fact that some straps were garish flowers, some puffy skirts etc. But this is by far the nicest dress that I've seen. The colour is sweet, the strap is well positioned and the rope waist is charming.

Am not totally ruling out other dresses, coz I'll only know if it looks good when I try it on. So, keeping my options open here.

Edit: Chris helpfully bought me a nice white one shouldered dress for my birthday last year, so it's settled! :D She'll also be doing my hair for the day (with her hair straighteners/curlers). Yippee!