Review: Catering

My caterer was Mutiara Catering. I always heard good reviews on them from their previous clients and thought I made the right choice by hiring them as my caterer. But boy... I was quite disappointed with them during my wedding day. Maybe I was just the unfortunate ones. How unlucky we were. Hehe.

Our previous meeting went well with Kimin. He jotted down every details that I requested. In between months to the wedding, I made some adjustments here and there and dealt with his wife, Amy. Eveything went well and every e-mails were replied promptly and very accurate and informative.

We took the custom package. Glass setting, custom-design cake from MAC, covers in our theme colors, alterations in menu, practically they prepared everything. The night before the wedding, we went to the hall to monitor them setting up the table according to the plan. Everything was perfect. I couldn't complained much.

And during the actual event, we have a flood of guests coming most probably during the same time at peak hours. They kinda short of staffs maybe, and halfway during the event, maybe around 2pm, I heard that we ran out of food. Horror! Our relatives rushed to the nearest mamak to buy extra food and later I learnt that they didn't fry the chickens until it was too late, took very long time to clear the tables and very slow to refill food at the buffet station. I know we have extra guests at that time but they should at least prepare the food, monitor the buffet station and don't wait until the queue becomes long. It was quite frustrating because we have paid full amount the morning of the event. Up until now, I still feel bad for our guests who didn't have proper food on my wedding day. I was too tired to complain to them afterwards so I just let it pass.

What I learnt from this incident are:

• please appoint someone who you can trust to deal with the caterer during your wedding day
• do have back-ups just in case your food is running out
• make sure the tables are cleared as soon as possible to give way to other guests
• ask the caterer how many staff will they allocate at your wedding and estimate whether it's enough or not
• monitor the buffet station and food/drinks/utensils are replenished appropriately

I think, that's the only mishap during my wedding day. Many guests told me the food and table setting were excellent but the downside was the service. I couldn't agree more. I always know they have this good reputation, that's why I hired them. But as I said, maybe I was just unlucky. That's all. I still think Mutiara Catering is not too bad. :)

Review: Wedding Dancers

Since the first day I planned my own wedding, I knew I always wanted a group of dancers to perform traditional dance, preferably kids. So as usual, I went online and found this group called Pesona Tari, and the best part is they are kids and located in Selangor. Yeay!

They're actually a bunch of primary school kids from SK Pandan Indah. One year before my wedding date I e-mailed En. Yahya, their teacher and so-called manager to book the date. Haha! I know I was a way too early to do booking but I was so eager and happy to finally know there will be kids dancing during my wedding so I immediately hired them. I know I can trust my instinct so there we go.

During the one year time, we exchanged e-mails a few times just to keep track of everything. One month before the actual event, we finalized everything. They will dance to four songs during the ceremony and I asked En. Yahya if they can accompany us too during the parade and yes, they can!

Here are pictures of the kids performing during the wedding:

The group consists of 6 kids. 3 girls and 3 boys. At first I wanted them to perform zapin, but they can't so we settled to etnik, joget and arab. I was so happy watching them dancing from the dais and I think they're kinda cute with the costume, make-up and all the fuss. They even changed costume during the second set of performance. The rate is affordable too, inclusive of transportation charges, 4 dances, costume and props. They are colorful. That's what I like! Pesona Tari can be contacted at 012-5568905 for booking and enquiries. 

Review: Wedding Dress

My wedding dress is actually a very cheap version from an infamous international bridal house, Pronovias. Here's the actual design...

Mermaid tube dress with 3/4 sleeve bolero. Lace patches, sequins and beads. 

The actual dress costs thousands of dollars and of course I cannot afford such price. I don't really like the usual Malay wedding dress ala long kebaya and yes, I don't really like lace and heavy beadworks. It's just not me. The simpler the better without all the fuss but still stunning and stands out on its own. So I browsed online and found cheaper option for the dress in Ebay. I bought my wedding dress at Ebay ok! It was custom-made. I gave them my exact measurements, my choice of color and just pray that everything turns out ok.

3 weeks after that I received the parcel for my wedding dress. It's not exactly made based on the picture that I requested but similar. And I cannot complained much given the fact that I paid so very little for it. Everything was completely ok and I was satisfied. The beads are not too heavy but still adequate. The length is just like what I've imagined. Long and flowy and yes, the dress is heavy. Most importantly, it fits me well. But I did send it to Nik for a little alteration on the bolero and the hips area because I seemed to lost weight prior to the wedding. Hehe. And here's the actual dress that I wore during my wedding day...

Full view of the dress.

The close-up picture on lace patches for the bolero.

Veil is cheap too. RM30 only from Ebay. A total bargain! It's quite long sehingga menyapu lantai and Lova fold it into two for the tier which I heart so much!

Krabi: Shopping Review

You will get bored reading my blog for the next whole month because I'll be updating about Krabi, where almost everybody went there already. Hehe.

The next thing I loved most about Krabi is shopping, apart from massage (will review about it later). Eventho the scene is practically nothing compared to Bangkok and people knew that Thailand is actually the cheapest and most affordable option for shopping, I still think Krabi is great. Maybe because of its ambience or you really have nowhere else to shop, so the only option that you have here is quite a bargain.

As mentioned, both hotels that we stayed in are situated in the heart of Ao Nang shopping strip so spending your money everyday is easy. Because Ao Nang is a beach area, so most of the shop sells almost the same thing and clothes are very beach-friendly, if you know what I mean. Singlets, bikinis, t-shirts, dresses, all those skimpy outfits are aplenty here. They are pretty and absolutely cheap. If you're good at bargaining, then you'll be happy here.

Just a quick example. A t-shirt should be around THB1500 or RM15 only. Please bargain until you can get that price. For dresses, the average price should be around THB2000-3500 or RM20-30 only. If they cannot lower their price tag to that extent, please pretend to walk out of their shop and they will eventually agreed to your price. Haha. Just bear in mind, bargain rightfully and sensible. A piece of clothes should not exceed RM50. Okay darlings?

I bought block magnets for colleagues at office, stuffs for my bridesmaids, t-shirts for family members and pashmina for female relatives. I bought a lot and totally forgot the total damage but I knew they are cheap. A pashmina only costs RM15 per piece. So does the t-shirt. Cheap aite?

Krabi is a small town. The biggest malls here are just Tesco Lotus and Big C which is practically nothing and shouldn't be bothered. By big I meant just as big as Tesco outlets here in Malaysia. That's all. They have a factory outlet too, about 6km from the airport. But the stuffs there are still expensive, and you can give it a pass. Nothing can beat those factory outlets in Bandung. The town is a little crowded tho, not my type. So it's best to stay put in Ao Nang for all the hype and scene.

My Doily Wedding Wishes

For my wedding, we decided to have a wedding tree. We wanted something unique and to save time and energy, we just bought 2 packets of doily paper at SSF where guests can write on them. Each packet contains 100pcs of doily. So we only have 200pcs of it because I thought nobody bother to write for us. But I was wrong! The wedding tree was a hit and guests wrote wishes and thoughts in colorful magic pens. Very memorable and cute.

Ok. I don't have proper picture for the wedding tree from our own camera because everybody's like... too busy during the ceremony.

After the wedding, we made proper inspection on each doily. We kept everything nice in a sticky album for our keepsake. The sticky album is one of the wedding gift. Very useful. Yeay!

Thank you so much to those who wrote the wishes and compliments. We laughed our heart out while reading all your quirky and beautiful words. Some of you didn't leave your name with it so I couldn't recognize who wrote what. But after all, thanks for every wish. It's a beautiful memory and will be treasured. :)

Krabi: Hotel Review

Hi there. So sorry for lack of updates. I promised posts on my wedding and honeymoon after I got back from Krabi but yeah, I couldn't find the time until now. Phewwwww!

Now back to the story.

We spend 6D5N in Krabi. Initially we planned to stay for 4D3N in Ao Nang and 3D2N in Phi Phi Island. But we were too lazy to go to the island (because we like Ao Nang so much!) and we soon realized we're tired of beaches so we forgo the idea and spent the whole 6 days in Krabi alone.

We stayed in 2 different hotels in Krabi, just to get the feeling of staying in a proper hotel and cheap inns. The first hotel was Ao Nang Princeville. We got the offer during MATTA fair in March, priced at RM600 for the whole 4D3N stay in a deluxe room. A total grab because Princeville is a great hotel in its own. There's nothing that I dislike about this hotel. I love everything about them. The breakfast, the staff, the room, the ambience and especially, the location! It is conveniently located in the smack of Ao Nang shopping area, in front of the beach strip and foods are very easy to find. Superb!

During our stay, the weather was perfectly fine. Not too hot and humid nor raining heavily, so it's perfect when you want to walk along the Ao Nang strip until the end or simply lay down on the beach. But only for the first day when we arrived and the last day when we want to go back home, it rained.

After we checked out from Ao Nang Princeville, we went to a cheaper hotel considering our budget for leisure (massage!) and food. It's still within Ao Nang strip and is actually next to our previous hotel so yeah, convenience is within reach. It's La Venice in the Ao Nang Walking Street. We chose different type of room during our 3D2N stay. For the first night, we stayed at their superior room. Priced at RM60 per night, it caters to all your basic needs. At such price, what more could you ask for? The room is spotlessly clean and welcoming. The only downside is the view from the window and their tap water tastes weird too. Haha!

The second night was the Halloween celebration and we changed to deluxe room, with balcony and view of the whole Ao Nang Walking Street, where we watched the Halloween party from our balcony. Yeay! It's slightly bigger than the superior room, with balcony and the best of all, it's only RM90 per night. To die for! Yes people. Everything in Krabi is cheap. Seriously cheap!

My honest opinion? Most hotels in Krabi are beautiful! Seriously. So choose your accomodation wisely. I strongly suggest hotels within Ao Nang, because of its lively atmosphere and shopping is easy. Haha! We ventured further up to Thup Aek beach and its surrounding areas, and thus the hotels here are amazing, they're quite isolated. If you wanted privacy and prefer to be away from the hustle and bustle of Ao Nang, these hotels are right for you. But we don't think we can survive in this area because everything is too far and not within walking distance. You must have a transport to get out from this place. Just my humble opinion.

Well... that's a long visual entry of Krabi hotel review. I hope this can help you in deciding your accomodation in Krabi soon. :)