Our Wedding: "And the Thank You Goes To..."

6 months already and we haven’t had the chance to write about the wedding. So here it goes…

The special THANK YOU definitely goes to our family and friends. Our facebook status would stay single if it wasn’t for you all.

1. Venue

Make sure it fits your invitees. Remember, too big or too small is never a good thing.

Some points you have to take into consideration before choosing the perfect venue:

a. outdoor venue is not a perfect choice for a wedding during the rainy season;

b. sufficient parking lot for your guests;c. have several make up rooms; and

d. strategic location and your guest wont be stuck in traffic jam for hours just to get there.

Our choice was Masjid Pondok Indah…highly recommended! Good price, well organize management, complete facilities, lots of parking lot and strategic (since we both stays in Bintaro)…perfect for a 300 guests wedding reception.

Guess what, it also has a good landscape and lighting so your photos would look great!!!

2. Caterer

The caterer would be the number 2 high priority after the venue. Book a caterer way before your wedding, if necessary a year before…their price will increase every end of year. By booking early, the new price may not apply to your wedding.You really have to underline bold and italic your budget to the caterer and be persistent in requesting compliments.Our choice was Resti Catering.

The main reason was the owner is a good friend of Mr.D’s family, so we got a really good price and lots of compliment.

One of my favorites was the old school bicycle accessorised with flowers and fruits (free fruits!! Yeaaayyy…).

Most of our guest’s testimony : THE FOODS WERE DELICIOUS…so we need to say no more.

And oh…the service was satisfying and their decoration was nice.

3. Decoration

With reference from several wedding magazines, I we decided to design the decoration ourselves. Luckily, we found a perfect man to do the job with a very very veryyyy low budget, namely Pak Parmin. He handled our flower decoration and added torches for the entrance doors (he also gave me a free hand bouquet with my favorite flower: Stargaze).

For the traditional decoration, we got a generous donation from a close friend of Mr.D’s family who owns a Makassar wedding pelaminan and she’s quite famous for that. Her name is Tante Aseng (her name is all over certain wedding magazines).

4. Souvenir

Our ‘do-it-yourself’ souvenir was complimented by most of our family and friends. We bought the candies and biscuits at the traditional market, bottles from chemical store at Pasar Mester and colorful ribb

ons at Pasar Majestik.

Its colorful and perfect most importantly: CHEAP, just the way we want it…

5. Make Up

Here’s my favorite, the make up stylist…her name is Chocky (don’t mind the name, she’s great), owner of a small beauty salon in Bintaro.
She managed to change my look from Sunda-look-a-like for akad to a Makassar bride for the reception. The make up was not too much but it still look great for the camera.

6. Photographer
Me and Mr.D loves candid pictures since we’re so not good for the ‘1..2..3..click’ pictures. That’s our basis to find our photographer. However, we would not highly recommend ours. You see, the owner is a great photographer. He captures the moment perfectly. His business is growing and now he doesn’t do wedding photography himself. He sent his assistant instead and his assistant obviously had no idea what we wanted. We didn’t like almost all the pictures…regrets..regrets ooohhhh…

Fortunately, my brother took the initiative to take our pictures and he did great!!! Good news is, he is now doing business in photography, including wedding photography. For any pictures reference, please visit his facebook page or here.

7. Invitation
With a very close negotiation, we successfully got a hard copy and self-design invitation with a price below Rp5,000. How bout that?Please do not hesitate to contact Mba Asri from Aneka Grafika, Pasar Tebet…

We also got a compliment of Thank You card and Souvenir card. In addition to that, we also got a Guest Card as a substitute of Guest Book for a very low price. Very happy!!!

8. The Bride’s Dress

For some reason, I made my bride’s kebaya 2 weeks before the big day. I only have a short list of tailors and I have no idea what the kebaya would look like with the time constraint. I have an issue with tailor, I don’t trust them…they always ruin my imagination on what kind of kebaya that I want.

tampak depan dan belakang

Based on a quick reference, I found Mba Teeas. She agreed to finish the kebaya 2 days before the big day and she did!!! *standing ovation*

It was a very pretty kebaya with lots of white beads and fits me perfectly.
Her boutique is located in Pondok Indah, her neighbor is Ahmad Dhani and Mulan lives across *info ga penting hehe*

9. Pre Wedding Pics

We're not a fan of pre wedding picture, but we surely are a fan of Gratisaaaannnn...^.^

Jadi wajar dong waktu ada temen nawarin foto buat portofolionya kita ga bakal mikir dua kali.

Untungnya teman kita si Ficky Reinanto ini, sangat memahami kelakuan kita yang ga suka diatur buat foto, gatau malu dan ga suka make up hehe...

Hasilnya: memuaskaaaannn...

So that’s our short review on the vendors, we could not mention all since we forgot the details already hehe…so, for query or contact no of the vendors, feel free to ask.
The forever newlyweds,

Me and Mr.D

We're back

Karena keterbatasan waktu, tenaga dan pikiran
Alhasil selama persiapan pernikahan, tak satupun tulisan berhasil diselesaikan
Kebetulan semua pekerjaan sudah diselesaikan dengan apiknya dan bos pun tersenyum gembira
Masih ada kurang lebih satu jam menjelang jam 5
Biar ga disangka makan gaji buta, lebih baik mulai terlihat sok sibuk

Tepat sebulan sebelum tanggal 2 Mei, dengan penuh keringat dingin sedang menyusun strategi buat ngajuin form cuti
Melihat gelagat bos yang ketawa ketiwi dari pagi, langsung selipin si form cuti sambil muji-muji baju barunya
Bos diam sebentar, membaca dengan teliti trus komat kamit sendiri sambil coba absen client apa aja yang sedang bangkit dari kubur dan bagaimana prospek penyelesaiannya sebelum cuti
Setelah bla bla bla yang cukup basi, akhirnya dengan berat hati ditandatangani juga
Beginilah rejeki orang yang jarang cuti, tapi sekalinya ngajuin cuti minta tiga minggu sekaligus hehehe

Dengan berbekal form cuti yang udah ditandatangani dan internet gratisan dari kantor
Mulailah browsing untuk cari akomodasi dan kegiatan honeymoon yang tepat
Destinasi sudah disepakati: Jakarta – Phuket – Bandung
Yup…3 kali honeymoon, biar puaaaassss hehehehe

1 Month Later

2 May 2010 and a month after
We still make those phone calls during the work hours and planning for the weekend agenda
We still try so hard sneaking out of the office early for a dinner someplace nice
We still say “I miss you” to each other
We still have those stupid fights

Nothing’s change…
Except for having a stranger in your bed every night
or waking up because someone pull the blanket or accidently kick you while sleeping

...and now we have something new to fight over: the TV remote!!!

Happy 1 monthversary to us Mr.D!!! *toss*

Updated Checklist

Our wedding countdown shows 4 months 1 week 4 days until the Day.

and here's our checklist:

1. Booking Masjid Raya Pondok Indah untuk akad
2. Booking aula Masjid Raya Pondok Indah untuk resepsi
3. Booking Resti Catering
4. Booking Lightbrush Photography
5. Booking pelaminan
6. Deal undangan dengan Aneka Grafica – insyAllah minggu ini naik cetak
7. Bahan seragam buat keluarga dan teman dekat
8. Booking Dr. Anwar Sanusi sebagai penasihat perkawinan
9. Urus dokumen pernikahan dan penghulu
10. Foto buat buku nikah (harus tunggu sampai muka mulus dulu nih)
11. Souvenir Resepsi - 50% done!!!
12. Soevenir pengajian sajadah kain
13. Finalise list undangan
14. Hunting barang-barang seserahan
15. Fitting pertama baju akad nikah dan resepsi
16. Finalise rundown acara akad dan resepsi
17. Susun lagu buat resepsi
18. Prewed
19. Urus Honeymoon
20. Beli cincin kawin dan mahar

Happy that most of the things in our checklist has been completed.

RAINBOW IN OUR WEDDING

Inspired by a wedding magazine, we decided to make our own wedding souvenir.
It’s a small transparent plastic jar and tied with a colorful ribbon.
The idea is to fill the jar with colorful candies and biscuits.

So far…

We successfully obtained 500 plastic jars in a chemistry supplies store at Mester, Jatinegara.

The ribbon can be found in many places, but we bought it at Pasar Mayestik.

Colorful traditional sour candies were bought at its origin in Makassar.

Colorful biscuits and candies will be bought at Pasar Modern BSD.

Here’s a sneak peak to our home made wedding souvenir (with no biscuits and candies yet)…

Dear Moms and Sistas

Since our wedding will be dominant with green and gold…and so me we decided that the Moms will wear green and my sisters in law will wear gold.

An aunt recommend us a store, named Megatex…located at Basement 2 Tanah Abang, not far from the escalator.

Just mention the name and they will show you the right way.

Without having to go through a long searching, I found the perfect fabric with the perfect green colour for the Mom. It looks really elegant and fancy, and I’m more than happy to say that it cost us way below than what its look like to worth.

So I bought two: one for Mr.D’s mom and one for my aunt substitute to my late mother

Then I found another perfect fabric with the perfect gold for the sisters in law.

It’s integrated with beautiful ‘payet’ so they won’t have to worry about putting more to the fabric. All they have to do is find the perfect design and tailor, of course.

Truth to be told, the fabric cost even cheaper than the Moms.


Notes:
This store has various fabrics and colours, cheap and expensive…and according to my review, its way cheaper than those in Pasar Mayestik.

Kata Orang Tua

Kata orang tua, orang bisa dapat pahala terus menerus selama barang yang diberikannya masih dipakai untuk kebaikan dan memberi manfaat bagi orang yang diberi….


Berhubung kita banyak dosa…


Berhubung masih suka bolong-bolong kalau shalat…


Berhubung masih suka alasan sakit buat batalin puasa…


Dan terutama berhubung tingkat keimanan kita belum sempurna…


Maka untuk acara pengajian nanti, kita akan memberikan souvenir berupa sajadah kain kepada para undangan ibu-ibu pengajian dan adik-adik yatim piatu…



Semoga apa yang dikatakan orang tua itu benar.

Catatan:
Sajadah dapat dibeli di toko Hambala (Tanah Abang) dalam hitungan kodi (1 kodi = 20 pcs) dengan harga yang lebih murah dibanding toko-toko sebelah…

WE'RE MOVING

1. Resepsi dengan konsep kombinasi indoor outdoor
2. Lilin-lilin sepanjang jalan masuk
3. Lampion cantik bergantungan antara pohon-pohon
4. Bangku taman buat duduk-duduk diluar
5. Penyanyi akustik di taman dengan lampu sorot
6. Lokasi yang strategis

BUBAR JALANNNNNNNN….

Karena kita BATAL KAWIN di Al Bina ;p ;p

Tepat di saat udah DP catering, DP foto, undangan siap naik cetak dan pelaminan udah ok…tiba-tiba pengelola Masjid Al Bina bilang mereka lagi renovasi. Jadi, sudah dipastikan akan ada kenaikan yang belum bisa ditentukan kapan dan berapa. Walaupun sudah DP harga saat ini tidak mengikat dan tetap akan dikenakan harga baru. Ampun deh, yang bener aja si bapaaakkk…gue kan udah sampai kebawa mimpi resepsi disitu dengan segala konsep ina itu huhuhuhu.

Berhubung kita pasangan yang suka play save, maka dengan berat hati kita mundur teratur. Bisa sakit jantung nanti kalau sampai harganya naik berkali-kali lipat hicks…
Jadi, dalam waktu seminggu kita harus cari tempat baru yang REKANAN sama catering, foto dan pelaminan…duh peer banget deh pokoknya!!! Bahkan ada suatu tempat yang nolak kita karena undangan kita cuma 250, sedangkan mereka kapasitasnya min 1000 huahuhuhuhuhuhuhu...cis kaya orang susah deh sempet emosi mau naikin jumlah undangan jadi 2000

Alhamdulillah kita dapat tempat yang tidak kalah bagus dengan harga yang jauh lebih murah, dan yang lebih penting lagi: rekanan sama kateringnya hehehe…

So dearest all, re-save the venue coz we’re moving to:

Masjid Raya Pondok Indah

“Not that big, not that far and most importantly NOT THAT EXPENSIVE…”

Friends in Need, Friends Indeed…

On our wedding entertainment outstanding list:

1. MC
Suatu hari yang indah di kantor
Me : rumours have it, Mas Dery sering jadi MC di kawinan?
Mas Dery : hmmm….yaaaa *menjawab dengan tampang curiga mau dimanfaatkan*
Me : mau jadi MC di kawinan aku gaaaa???? Hehehehe *wicked smile*
Mas Dery : hmm…boleh *sial, ternyata dugaannya bener*
Me : eehhh…FOR FREEEE???
Mas Dery : mmm…yaaaaa *I knew it!!!*

CV:
Dery A Boesly
Memiliki jam terbang tinggi di bidang MC kawinan, seminar, workshop, acara kantor de el el.

2. Wedding Singer 1
Di suatu hari indah lainnya
Me : eh eh eh…waktu itu loe pernah bilang mau nyanyi kalau gue kawin kan???
Mario : huh…kapan??? *pura-pura lupa*
Me : waktu ituuuuuuuuuu…gue inget kok, soalnya loe bilang GRATIS!!!
Mario : sungguh ga inget *mulai amnesia*
Me : ya udah…tapi loe mau kan jadi wedding singer di kawinan gueeee??? *puss in the boots look*
Mario : *merasa ga ngaruh pura-pura lupa* okayyyyy….
Tapi sama adek gue yah???
Me : EVEN BETTER!!!

CV
Mario A. Amrillah
Lead Vocal Music for Sale
Sering nyanyi di acara kantor dan selalu mendapat standing applause dari para penonton.
Karakter suara mirip banget sama John Mayer, pokoknya the best deh!!!

3. Wedding Singer 2
Di hari lainnya
Dian : Gue mau nyanyi dong di kawinan loeeeee???
Me : *menimbang-nimbang* OKAY
Dian : Assiikkk…*mulai bernyanyi-nyanyi riang*
Me : wow thats's fast

CV
Dian Lestari
Lead Vocal untuk band kantor yang dulu suka exist di kawinan-kawinan orang.
Obsesi: join 3 diva…biar jadi 4 diva…

4. Wedding Singer 3
Di suatu hari Jumat menjelang jam 5 sore
Me : hmmm…suara loe kan bagus tuuuhhh
Agah : truss??? *pasti ada maunya*
Me : mau nyumbang suara di kawinan gue dooonnnggg???
Agah : *sigh*
Me : TENKYUUUUUUUU ;p ;p
Agah : *pasrah*

CV
Agah Sujiwa Nugraha
Singer, writer, lawyer and a dedicated father.

Disclaimer:
Ada beberapa yang tentunya diberikan bumbu tambahan hehehe

A Princess's Dream and Reality...

Me in 10 years old

“I am going to have a wedding, held in the afternoon just before sunset and at a beautiful park filled with flowers and butterflies. I will be wearing this beautiful white princess dress with tiara and a pink hand bouquet. My groom will be the cutest prince charming in the whole world!!!”

Me in the next 15 years

I am going to have a wedding:

Not held in my dream venue…
Not held with the afternoon sunset backdrop…
Not wearing the princess dress, but ‘adat’ dress…
Not wearing shiny tiara, but so-called ‘sunting’…
Maybe I can still have the hand bouquet, but maybe not in pink…
But definitely with the cutest prince charming in the whole world (according to my point of view that is)…

Moral of the story:

Forget about the whole pictures of an ideal wedding, there is no such thing…
As long as you have great friends, wonderful families and best partner-in-life-to-be, then it’s a perfect wedding…*cheers*

Wedding Tips I

#1 Miss organize
On my wed-prep, I‘ve transformed into a ‘Miss organise-freak’.
But really…at the end that’s what it takes to prepare a wedding without the helpful yet costly wedding organizer. If you really can’t afford one, then be one.
Here’s a simple idea, what I did was preparing the two most important things:
a. A complete table of myour wedding schedule which contain the things-to-do-list for our wedding (i.e. January doing this, February doing that…etc); and
b. A list of vendor and their fees and do not forget…their details of address and phone number and name of person that you can feel free to terrorized every time panic decided to drop by.

#2 Less bossy least firm
No one likes a bossy bride and groom to be…not even the vendors! so careful there...
True, its your money and your big day…but still, people would feel more happy to offer you their open hands if you’re less bossy. Being bossy and being a bridezilla is waaaayyyy different
Buuutttt…you also have to be firm at the same time. If you already have this so-called-a-perfect-wedding-plan in your head , well don’t be too soft and nice…if you know what I mean…

#3 Don’t listen to people too much
Keep in mind that you want this to be YOUR once-in-a-life-time-perfect-wedding.
You have to welcome suggestion(s) and shared experience(s), especially from the elders. You really don’t wanna hurt their feelings (and its really a big NO)
However, you must know when and what to listen and when to ignore.

#4 Keep it together
Wedding preparation is the best moment for a family and friends gathering. You will feel a lot closer to them more than ever and at the end you might even feel really thankful for having them as a part of your life.

#5 Flirt with your vendors
Hihihi this is a skill that I just learnt and it worked perfectly with my caterer and photographer.
Speak highly of your vendors and don’t forget to say that you only have limited budget and that you can’t turn away to other vendors because you’re madly in love with their products (yerr rite!!!).
Either out of pity or they’re desperately competing for customer, they will eventually give you a good price hehehe…In summary, Lick some ass!!!!

From A to Z...The Checklist!!!

Every other married-to-be-couple that we know have their very own wedding checklist.

So we proudly present: ours, tadaaaaaaa....

Venue

Akad : Masjid Al Bina Senayan (booked)

Resepsi: Aula Masjid Al Bina Senayan (bookeed)

Pelaminan dan Dekor

Pelaminan : Cut Marlyn Wood (booked and its free ^.~)

Dekor (still a homework to be accomplished next month)

Wedding Costume and Make Up

Akad : Mr. D (done) and me (penjahit + model done, tapi masih harus hunting bahan, semangaatttt!!!!)

Resepsi : Cut Marlyn Wood (done for me and Mr.D, dan lagi-lagi IT'S FREE!!! hehehe)

Make Up : Tante Aseng dan Tante Nani

Catering

Masih diantara dua pilihan, Resti atau Alfabet. Any idea???

Undangan

Design : specially designed by a sweet friend of ours

Percetakan : masih harus menunggu design undangan

Daftar : whuaaaa...ini apa lagiiiiiiii, tar aja dehhhh...

Souvenir

we know what we want! tapi jadwal hunting ke Pasar Mester dan Mangga Dua sepertinya

harus menunggu bulan puasa berakhir...

Photographer

Wedding Day : Ligthbrush Photography (BOOKED with a very good deal!!!)

Pre-Wedding : We are not really a fan for this, but since a dear friend of ours would do it FOR FREE..well, why not??? ^.^

Seragam Keluarga dan Tata Rias

Akad : Hunting bahan setelah puasa

Resepsi : Beskap Laki-laki by Cut Marlyn Wood (lagi-lagi for FREE!!!)

Wanita by Pasar Mayestik

Bestfriend : Definitely by Pasar Mayestik hehehe

Tata Rias : masih mencariiii....

Cincin Kawin

Tempat beli : Kaliem

Jenis : Emas putih for me and Palladium for Mr.D

Kita belum beli karena sedang mengawasi perkembangan harga emas...tapi kata Didi nanti2 aja, soalnya dia takut nyimpennya hihihi

Mahar

Tadinya hanya berupa pundi-pundi emas dan seperangkat alat shalat.

One day, my friend that I could ask ANYTHING for the mahar...*matre mode on*

Lalu mulailah saya menjadi calon pengantin tak tau diri yang meminta kalung dengan customized design (design by me lhooo hehehe)

Lagi-lagi Didi takut nyimpennya...trus aku di kosan hehehe hopeless deh...jadinya baru akan dibeli H-sebulan.

Honeymoon

We've been to Bali, Lombok and Yogya...Now we're running out of ideas!!! helppp...

Seserahan

The idea is to buy an item for each person every month.

So far, we have a pretty cocktail dress for me, a cool shoe for Mr. D, a big multifunction bag for me, one cute navy T-Shirt for Mr. D and we bought this cute yellow towels package for he and she only for Rp199,900 (consist of 2 large towels, 2 gym towels and 2 face towels).

We have soooo many more items to go for, crossing our finger for another discount festive during Ramadhan, Christmas and New Year (and Valentine???).

***

Daftar yang pendek dengan banyak perintilan and we still have 8 long months to go *sigh*

C'mon Mr.D, semangattt menuju honeymoon kitaaa...ups, kawinan kitaaaa ^.^

Behind the dates

First scenario:

Our wedding date was planned to be held on 8-8-10, right on our 3 years (of dating) anniversary. Unfortunately, next year Ramadhan will commence on early of August. We can’t bear the risk to postpone our honeymoon. It’s the best part of all!!! ^.^

Second scenario:

We tried to look for alternatives and we found another perfect date, 2-5-10. Why is it perfect? Simply b’coz 2 times 5 equals to 10 (2 x 5 = 10) ^.~

The Coincidence:

Our lamaran day will be held on 25th July 2009 on my 25th birthday and the wedding day is (insyaAllah) 2-5-2010.
Notice any similarity? Our happiest moments are all around the 2 and the 5.

And we didn’t notice any of it until tonight, on our way home by train hehehe…

Important things to consider for an outdoor wedding venue (me and Mr.D version):

1. The location must be strategic;
2. Easily accessed;
3. Fits your invitees perfectly, you need a large area for 1000 invitations…but a large area for only 250 invitations like ours would look…empty.
   Better have an intimate wedding (but not too crowded) rather than a spacious wedding.
4. Lots of tree and plant so you’ll save a lot on the florist;
5. Includes an indoor so if it's raining on the day, you don’t have to rent tents which will definitely cost you a lot!;
6. Have a sufficient parking space for your designated invitees;
7. Most importantly, it must be at a reasonable price and within your budget.

Cheers...

Me and Mr.D

First thing first: the Venue!

Everyone keeps telling me, the first and most important thing to do is to book a venue for your big day. Favourite venues such as Balai Sudirman and Gedung Arsip Nasional are usually fully booked even a year before the day (gosh..)
So we’ve done our home work and, since we don’t like indoor wedding, we had our eyes and heart and mind on this one, our dream wedding venue…tadaaaaaa…..

The Roemah 7a Lebak Bulus

The backyard terrace

The main pendopo

The small but perfect for picture pendopo

"Bangunan yang berdiri diatas tanah seluas 3000 m² dan mengusung interior nuansa Jawa kuno ini memiliki keindahan tersendiri. Konsep indoor dan outdoor yang ditawarkan Roemah 7A yang berlokasi di Jl. Lebak Bulus I No.7A, Jakarta Selatan, menambah lagi nilai keistimewaan venue ini. Dari sekian banyak tempat yang di claim sebagai venue, yang notabene menawarkan atmosfer yang berbeda dari hanya sekedar sebuah gedung pertemuan, Roemah 7A mengusung sejumlah keunikan yang tak mudah ditemukan ditempat lainnya. Selain memiliki halaman rumput luas dilengkapi kolam renang apik, venue berkapasitas tamu 600 orang ini, selain sangat ideal untuk pesta resepsi pernikahan ini juga sangat nyaman bagi berbagai acara seperti gathering, arisan, ulang tahun dan lain sebagainya."
(taken from http://roemah7a.com/index.html, http://theroemah7a.multiply.com/)

It’s only (approximately) half an hour from our home at Bintaro
Its capacity is for 600 people (while we will only invite 250 people)
It’s an outdoor venue
It’s antique
It has Becak and Andong inside the garden area
It has large space for parking
It’s purrrfeecttt!!!

Buuuuuuttttt…..that’s why we called it our DREAM wedding venue coz it’s never gonna happen.
The price speaks otherwise…17 mill for 2 hours only and 1,5 mill for every additional hour? Naaaahhhh…we don’t like limitation (on time and especially on the budget hehehe)…we love freeedddoooommm!!! ;p ;p

So there goes our dream wedding venue…(hicks…bye bye becak and andong)

And after weeks of searching around kemang and lebak bulus, we thought of Senayan area…why not? It's strategic for everyone…you can reach it from everywhere…and we thought of Masjid Al Bina Senayan coz one of Mr.D’s friend once had a pretty nice wedding there.

(mind the pictures, I've tried to google better pictures for reference, but failed in the attempt cause it seems that Masjid Al Bina Senayan is mostly associated with BCL's wedding *sigh*)

It may not be exactly an outdoor wedding like we’ve planned to be, but yeah..we're sure that we can work it out.

After an adequate survey on the location, building, price and also after having an intense discussion, we finally decided to have our big day at Masjid Al Bina Senayan.

And yesterday…We have officially booked the venue and put our names on the list.

Happyyyyyy…happpyyyyy…yeayyyy!!!

One down and more to go on the list *sigh*

The attempts of Surprises

Me luuuvvvv surprises…and Mr.D knows it perfectly.

But what Mr.D didn’t know was, I prefer making one than having one…

Inspired by a birthday party bash that I set up for Mr.D on his 25^th birthday party this year, he made several attempts to set up episodes of surprise for me.

And this was how it turned out to be…

1^st episode – the event

On the 17^th day of May, Mr.D gathered all my brothers and sisters for asking permission to ‘take me’ as his partner in life.

On that occasion, he planned something evil (but very sweet indeed) for me…a surprise ‘lamaran’ ceremony on my birthday. (To date, I didn’t get the idea on how you can make a ‘lamaran’ ceremony into a surprise, especially for a girl. Girl needs preparation, lots of it…and we do love details).

Unfortunately for him, my auntie has a tight schedule on that day so it should be rescheduled the next week.

Buuutttt…on that rescheduled day, I already planned my annual getaway that could not be ‘diganggu gugat’ (maap lupa bahasa Inggrisnya ;p) for whatever reason there is. And as predicted, me..the stone head (baca: keras kepala) girl was too reluctant to change the date of my getaway.

So Mr.D went panic and blew up his episode 1 of the attempt for a surprise by begging me not to go on that day because it’s suppose to be our ‘lamaran’ day.

2^nd episode – the dress

For the purpose of preparing my dream wedding day (sekalian bahan buat ngayal di siang bolong…FYI: souvenir paling murah yang diusulkan di majalah Dewi adalah gantungan kunci Perlinis), I bought a Dewi magazine, the special edition of wedding inspiration (Rp75,000 and its really worth it!!! Tentunya buat dicontek…).

I found all my wedding dress design in that magazine and I ‘post-it’ it (no protest allowed, its just my unordinary way of saying things).

Mr.D and his mom and my sister planned this sweet surprise of preparing a ‘lamaran’ dress for me. So, his mom and my sister tried all efforts to borrow that magazine from me.

That one fine day, his mom text me and said that she need to borrow that magazine for Mr.D’s cousin. AT THE SAME TIME, my sister text me and said that she need to borrow that magazine because her friend was looking for a ‘kebaya’ design. Wadda coincidence!!!

At that instance, I suspected that something was going on under my nose.

And AHA!!!

I successfully made my sister confess that they are preparing the surprise ‘lamaran’ dress.

last episode – the auntie (and Mr D learnt his lessons)

According to the cultures of Aceh and Makassar, on the ‘lamaran’ day the bride-to-be will be given a symbol by the groom-to-be family, namely ‘tanda ikat’ (apa pulalah Bahasa Inggrisnya ini).

For days, I’ve been trying to find out what would Mr. D give me as ‘tanda ikat’ but everybody keep shutting their mouth. The attempt to seduce my sister-in-law who’s not really a secret keeper was a total failure. I finally gave up and ‘pasrah’ with anything that will be the ‘tanda ikat’ (I have a very high level of curiosity, so things like this can turn me into an insomniac at night!!!).

Once upon a day in the 28^th June of 2009, again..according to the cultures of Aceh and Makassar (I had no idea before that Aceh and Makassar have a lot in common), Mr.D and his mom, and his cousin and his dearest auntie came to my house to deliver the pre-proposal.

The idea was to confirm that my families will very much welcome Mr.D’s family and their proposal. His auntie was acting as the spoke-person…

The pre-proposal went well…and thennnnn…

His auntie suddenly, clearly, and even loudly…spilled out what the ‘tanda ikat’ would be (ups…sorry, I wont tell you what the ‘tanda ikat’ would be…it’s a surpriseeeee *wink wink*).

Mr. D and his mom and his cousin turned their face to his auntie. It turned that they have forgotten to tell auntie to not say anything about the ‘tanda ikat’.

Spontaneously, me and my brothers and sisters laugh out loud (especially me!!! huehehehehee).

After three episodes, Mr.D finally learnt his lessons:

1. He’s soooo not good in making surprises;
   
2. You need to make sure that those on your team are secret keepers and not over-anxiety persons; and
   
3. Tukang tipu ga gampang ditipuuuu…jadi bawaannya curigaaaannn terusss, well…either curigaan atau kegeeran sih kalo gue hihihihi…
   

Mr. D episodes of surprise may not have a happy ending…but I surely am happy for his attempts.

Maaciyyyy beib… ^.^ luph