My Nikah Attire

As some of you might already know, I bought my nikah attire online. Heck, I literally bought most of my wedding stuffs online. Haha! My nikah attire is actually a jubah and was tailored to measure, without any extra charges. Yeay! I should be thankful for that.

After 3-week upon ordering, I received the jubah as what I have expected. Simple and flowy. Pretty, nonetheless, considering how cheap it was when I paid the bill.

Then I sent it over to Zaza for beadings around the hemline and neckline after I realized the jubah needs some blings to spice it up. There were dramas actually. I am fussy, I admit that. The first time I collect it from her and paid the amount, I complained so much. And I sent it back to her for alterations and specifically told her I wanted more blings compared to what she previously sewn on.

When it was time for me to collect the jubah for the second time, I felt so devastated. Again. It's not like what I have imagined. With the amount of money I paid to her, I think I should get a lot more than what I have gotten for the jubah. There were extra charges, obviously, because of my certain demands. And I still haven't pay her the extra charges because I felt cheated. But my mom said the beadings are okay, I can go for more blings on the tudung later on.

Ok. I am obviously very fussy because I cannot relate to whatever my mom said.

The beadings on the jubah.

One week later, I  took out the jubah from the closet and have a look again. I felt like the jubah is missing something, but I finally come to my senses and think that what Zaza did for the beadings are not too bad after all. I should be thankful to her because she spent her time sewing and re-do the beads and coping with my ultimatum. Haha! Sure, I am not 100% satisfied with her work, but what can I do? Things have been done and there's nothing much I can do because I can't just think of any way to ammend it. So just let it be. I couldn't care much now because at the end of the day, what matters most is that the ceremony went well. Baju itu tidak penting. It's just a part of the event.

Why I Insist On Wearing White for Wedding

The title sounds a bit controversial. Ecehhhh... seeing that each bride has their own opinions regarding color, style and flow of her own wedding. The same goes to me. This is just merely my point of view. Hope it won't offend anyone out there.

I once have this vision of having my dream wedding in pink, where everyone wears pink. If possible, I want everything, EVERYTHING you know, from the scallop, dais, doorgift, deco and such to be in pink. And so it happens, I finally made my dream comes true by holding my engagement ceremony in yeah, you've guessed it, PINK. My whole family wears pink. Johan wears pink. My hantarans are in pink eventho they're for Johan. I even asked the caterer to prepare air bandung since it's in pink. Thank God he refused the idea seeing that it's not suitable for older people since they mix it with soda. Oh wells.

Anyway, I was happy, you know. Because finally, what I dreamed of has been realized. But not until I saw the photos from my OP. It's nice actually (ayat untuk sedapkan hati) but.... people often get confused when they look at my album. It was hard to acknowledge who's getting engaged because all of my family members were dressed in pink. To make matters worse, my older sister even wore her super sexy lace short pink kebaya with corset. Whilst me, the one who got engaged just wore a simple kurung pahang in songket with simple veil. So sekali pandang, macam my sister pulak yang bertunang dengan bajunya yang beriya-iya itu. Hahaha!

Mistake number one from my engagement ceremony. My lil sister, me & my older sister all in pink.

My boss' daughter during her wedding. See... everybody wore the same color combination. (but I do heart her dresses from Rizman Ruzaini though. Pretty!!!!)

Since then I make a pact of never want to wear my wedding dress in the same color as the family member does on my wedding. However, it's hard to please everybody. What's more with me having a combined wedding. My family would be okay since I knew them inside out, so a little persuading from a daughter should do the trick. But I know it's gonna be hard on Johan's family. He told me last week that his mom and aunt commented on our choice of color for nikah and reception. We're gonna wear ivory/off-white/cream color, whatever you calls it, for both event. I wanted white, but I know it's gonna make us both look fat so I opted for a bit yellowish color in it thus ivory comes to my mind. MIL said it makes no difference on Johan since he'll be wearing ivory baju melayu for both nikah and reception.

Okay, so this is what I suggested to Johan. For nikah, he should make baju melayu from ivory colored crepe (no satin please, I don't want him to look awful and shiny and bulging in the photos later on. It's for your own good, sayang...). To make things different, he can wear teal samping (or hints of blue) since my solemnization's theme color is teal.

This is just an example of baju melayu with blue samping. Of course Johan's would be just a simple baju melayu in ivory, minus the tanjak and overcoat.

A for reception, I advised him to make baju melayu from shantung or duchess in ivory. He can team it up with keris, tanjak, keris-shaped buttons (I saw one in Jedan at SACC Mall priced at RM55) and samping in the same shade or whichever suits best. There is a difference for your outfits dear eventho they are in the same color.

An example for complete outfit on reception. I hope Johan changed his mind and wears proper shoes rather than capal. Maybe I should wear super high heels just to intimidate him so he'd wear shoes to be at the same height with me. *evil grin*

I hope this clears you up, dear. I'm thinking about your outfits too okay.

White/off-white doesn't have to be boring. At least, people will immediately acknowledge who's the bride and groom because we are the only one who wears white. And it left me with no worries thinking that my sister and other people can wear french lace whichever way they want because for sure they aren't gonna be in the same color as us. I do think it's rude when you wear white/off-white while attending weddings because for once, let's just reserved the color to the bride and groom, yeah?

On the other hand, Johan and MIL have bought red colored materials for their whole family to be worn on our reception. It got me thinking to propose my family to wear black, you know, just to let people know the red team is Johan's and the black team is Elly's. Hahaha.

Vendors

I'm on leave today. So I spent most of my daytime googling for vendors and giving them a call. Let's start with videographer. I've contacted Avicenna Studio, Dina Wedding and Telaga Pictures. All of them have reasonable rate and package. I need to discuss further with my dad, buat muka kesian sikit for sponsor. Harap-harap berjaya.

Next, scouting for entertainment. You know I want a traditional performance for my reception. I wanted zapin. It'll be just awesome if I managed to get kids as dancers. I have this thing for kids who dance for zapin. My Johorian side would be proud. Hehehe. And yes, I finally got a very reasonable quotation for my request. As usual, mail me for more info.

Phewww! It's 8 months left. Times flew by so fast! But seeing that my checklist are half-completed, I felt so relieved. Boleh la rilek jap pasni. This coming 14th February would be the anniversary of our engagement. I'll post an entry for that, seeing that you ladies never saw my engagement pictures.

On the other hand, I'm jealous that Johan snatched Nik Erwan Roseli to do his entourage's attire. I nak jugak! Tu la Elly. Siapa suruh tempah baju awal sangat!

My fave from his collection! For nikah would be awesome added with some blings on waistline and hemline.


Nak menangis tahap gaban terasa seperti nak buat baju baru. Elly, please calm down. Don't simply waste your money.

Sneak Peek!

Okay kids, look at my ticker on your right hand side. It's 10 more months to my wedding day! *gulps*

I'm just glad I've sorted out almost 1/4 of the important part of the wedding. I've been pestering Johan to move his ass up. Most of the time, it resulted in me and him getting into a fight. Petty little things just gone haywire sometimes. He's been a slob regarding this wedding thingy. But I guess, any guy would be just like him right?

Honestly, I have to put up this picture because Johan looks just so cute over here. Okay, gediks. But I love to know how he has worked so hard to maintain the little house where we will be living few years after we get married. I love the old house but it just needs a lot of repairwork. The damage is beyond words. :(

Okay, let's move on.

Pardon the wrinkles. I was just too lazy to iron it up from packaging.

For the sneak peek: that's my jubah for the nikah ceremony. Remember the one I bought online all the way from UK at Al-Hijaab for only RM350 including delivery? So here's the one. Requested the color in ivory and custom made according to my measurements and likings with only extra 5 pounds. Cheapo! I've sent it over to Zaza to add some blings at the bottom of the dress and around the sleeves. The selendang (it comes free with the jubah as well!) will be touched up with some diamonds too, and it will be my veil. She promised it'll be done by end of February. Owh I can't wait! Will surely post pics on the completed jubah once it's in my hands.

Next task: to find mini tudung to match the dress and veil.

The Attire

It's almost confirmed I'm gonna wear jilbab during my nikah ceremony and lacey dress during my wedding reception. Why almost? Because I haven't paid anything yet before I received the final assessment from them. I've made a booking with Al-Hijaab regarding the jilbab. It is custom made. I've sent my measurements already together with my choice of color, which is in ivory. Currently, they stopped accepting tailoring orders during the whole month of Ramadhan, work will only be resumed after the fasting month ended. I have no problems with that because I am not rushing.

This is the jilbab, just imagine it in ivory and round neck. It comes with matching shawl. I might buy a lacey headcover to drape on top of the shawl. I know it's too plain but I'll accessorise with chunky blings. Let's just see how it goes.



I'll buy this dress probably in the middle of September, when I receive the bonus. Hehehe. I've took the measurements already, and the bustline shouldn't be too low. I don't want the guests keep staring at my boobs. Otherwise, I'll get a smack from Johan.

Owh, did I tell you that I've received the veil I ordered online? It's a 2-metre, floor length, gorgeous ivory mantilla veil and I might be wearing it with my lacey wedding reception dress. Hihi. All for RM37 plus shipping from HK. Cheap, right? Talk about budget wedding.

Vintage Dresses on Etsy

Etsy has an extensive option of vintage wedding dresses. I was on pure boredom just now and stumbled upon a few dresses that caught my attention. They are extremely cheap. But just beware, read over the descriptions first before buying because some dresses are so vintage they tend to appear torn, discoloured, have few yellowish stains and dirty spots.

Here are some of my favourites:

Victorian Gunne Sax Dress. Details here.






House Of Bianchi lace wedding dress. Details here.






Vintage Juliet Dress. Details here.







Vintage GUNNE SAX Victorian Prairie Romantic Lace Pink Dress. Details here.






1960s Floral Pearl Maxi Dress. Details here.

Upon seeing these dresses, I no longer wanted to buy the ones I posted this morning. Again, I'll shall make further discussion with Johan regarding these dresses. Which one will be in and which one will be out. Toodles!

Vintage Dresses

It suddenly struck me, the long dress from Artizara is a bit expensive. It is RM625 plus shipping. Some of you might think it's cheap, considering it's a brand new dress. But, you know how much fuss I make for this whole wedding-on-budget thingy, right? The thing is, I want to have my own wedding dresses (not rented) which are affordable so that I can keep and cherish them and who knows, pass them on to my daughter/grandchild/great grandchild/the list goes on, for their wedding... if the vintage trend is still around perhaps. Theehee..

So back to the story. I like Artizara dress so much but it's too simple and the RM600+ is not worth it for a simple dress like that. I decided to go blog-hopping for inspirations and why not I try vintage-style dress for my akad nikah ceremony. I know it's very ODD, people usually wear baju kurung/kurung moden for this ceremony but vintage dresses are pretty too! Plus, they are a bit cheaper and still look brand new eventho they are ageing. Elly, tolong make up your mind!

Here's the two choices that I think are cool..

This dress is from Vintage Bridallure. Total plus shipping is only RM352. It's in ivory lace over ivory chiffon and fully lined, except around the collarbone and sleeves. It's exactly in my size and it's in ivory!

This dress retails at RM297 plus shipping. The materials are chiffon and tafetta with ivory/soft cream and white colors. I like the semi-sheer renaissance pouf-style sleeves (that's in white chiffon) and the pearl beading + lace. It's pretty!

Okay, I'm totally spoilt with choice. The dresses are pretty. Do you think I'll look like a pregnant woman in these? The truth is, I fell in love with the first dress because it's lacey and in ivory but it's not fully lined in selected areas. :( Maybe I should opt for the second one but the design looks like a maternity dress. Hahaha. Please help me!