Bridal Make Up

Rasanya antara banyak² halangan dan rintangan yang aku hadapi dalam hal wedding planning tuk our wedding; my make up artist was the only one yang takde masalah. Cos the moment we decided that the wedding was going to be in JB, ada satu je nama make up artist dalam kepala aku: Gie Ismail.

Gie Ismail was my college mate back in 2000-2002. Orangnya sangat² gifted dalam bidang melukis dan photo manipulation. Of course lepas college tu kita lost contact tapi alhamdulillah a couple of years back kitorang terserempak and exchanged numbers. Borak² ngan dia dapat tahu that rupanya dia ni buat bridal make up, photography as well as wedding planning. I also follow his work on his Facebook page "G.I.A". Gie has got amazing make up, photography and photo manipulation skills. His work is daring and very high fashion to me. Check out his work and you'll know why.

Make Up For The Nikah

Gie did an awesome job for my bridal make up, I couldn't have asked for anything more. Dan yang paling best, dia dengar cakap. I told him, "Gie.. Please eh.. Aku tak nak make up terlampau colourful. Aku nak make up yang lembut; so that I look like myself but better!". Of course I also showed him my scrapbook and some samples of make up and hair that I liked which made everything a lot easier for the both of us.

Pada hari Nikah, Gie sampai lewat skit sebab dia sesat. Lagipun sebelum Maghrib hari tu hujan lebat sangat². Tapi bila dia dah sampai, dia terus unpack all his wonder tools. Pejam, kelip, pejam, kelip: dalam masa 45minit gitu aku dah siap. Buka mata pandang cermin terus terasa macam..." Awwwwww.. Gie! I look awesome! Thanks darling!!"

Make Up For The Reception

Pada hari sanding plak, kesian Gie. Dia sampai, mata aku tengah lebam. Tak cukup tidur cos aku dan husband tidur kul 6pagi. Pengantin sibuk gi pacak signage tuk reception sampai kul 5pagi. Boleh gitu?! Dan chaos kat rumah pada pagi itu yang menyebabkan aku mengangis macam baby langsung tak membantu situasi mataku yang lebam. But with Gie's magic fingers, he managed to make me look good. I loved my make up for the reception. Light pink for the upper half of the eyelids and black for the lower half. And with the fake lashes, I got that dramatic goth-ish look that I adore so much. Rambut plak, dia sumbat roller yang sebesar tidak. Aku tengok binatang roller yang besar tu cam pelik je hehe.. But once he took them out and started styling my hair, it all made sense. For my lipstick, Gie used my favourite shade of M.A.C. Creemsheen Glass - "Petite Indulgence". Macam tau² je kau ni Gie hehe..

For those of you who are interested, Gie Ismail charges RM450 per session. Outstation pun dia boleh buat tapi harga naik sikit la cos nak cover transportation dia dan sebagainya. Kalau nak contact dia, you can PM him directly on his Facebook page "G.I.A".

My Bridal Shoes

The story of my bridal shoes is a long and brutal one; because I simply could not find the perfect pair of shoes. No, I wasn't fussy. No, I wasn't picky. I think what I wanted was a very innocent request: a pair of silver shoes with some bling on it. I needed them to be silver because I wore 2 outfits during our reception: My Javanese inspired dress and my Lengha. I didn't wanna waste money buying 2 different pair of shoes sebab satu dress kaler pink and yang satu lagi kaler biru. That's why the best option was to look for silver. Lagipun kalau dapat plain silver ngan bling skit tu boleh pakai sampai bila²..

Months before the wedding I dah ada a few options as to where I'd like to buy my shoes. Di antaranya; Aldo, Lewré or Charles & Keith. Tapi bila pergi scouting aku sedar bahawa kasut Aldo semuanya tinggi nak mampos. Kang ada gak aku tersungkur masa menghala ke pelamin so Aldo was out of the picture. Kat Lewré plak takde silver, silver. Yang ada, macam greyish with bling so Lewré pun out of the picture. Which left me with Charles & Keith. Diorang memang ada banyak kasut satin with bling yang sangat sesuai dijadikan bridal shoes TAPI semuanya in colour! So if you guys want affordable bridal shoes, I'd definitely recommened Charles & Keith! Kalau nak save lagi, tunggulah diorang buat end-of-season ataupun clearance sale.

After my first 3 choices hampeh, we pretty much ended up at every single shoe store you can think of: Isetan, Metrojaya, Parksons, Midvalley, Gardens, Pavillion and bla bla bla.. Semua kedai aku masuk: Vincci, Nose, Summit, Mixit and bla bla bla.. Tapi semuanya hampeh. Sedih. Lagi 2 minggu nak kahwin tapi bridal shoes still tak dapat.

Sampailah 1 week before the wedding when we went to Holiday Plaza Johor Bahru untuk beli handphone hantaran aku. Kalau sesiapa yang tak pernah pergi Holiday Plaza tu aku bagi contoh skit; dia macam Sungei Wang juga. Penuh dengan kedai² Cina yang jual baju murah². Aku dah memang putus asa masa tu. Rasa macam nak kaki ayam je time wedding. Kalau Joss Stone bleh buat, takkan aku takleh buat kan? But then when we were about to head home, aku saje je singgah satu kedai ni. Kedai tu sangat random. Then tengok² diorang ada banyak plak kasut² silver with bling on it. Hmmmm.. Aku pun try la a few. Then when I tried this particular one, Winder said, "Sayang.. These shoes look very pretty on your feet. You should get these!". Aku pun pandang sales girl tu and said, "Saya amik yang ni la kak!". Harga? RM89.90. Haha.. Much, much, much lower than my initial budget of RM350.00 hehe.. Memang in the end I didn't get my Aldo, my Lewré or my Charles & Keith shoes but at least I got what I really wanted in the design.. ♥

A More Colourful Bridal Supernova

Ok, ok.. I know that a new layout is nothing special. Nak² memandangkan yang aku baru je tukar layout like what.. err.. 3months ago? Tapi layout kali ni special skit. Because it kinda symbolizes what Bridal Supernova is all about. I still kept my colour scheme: white, blue & green. But I've added in a background of stars in a blue sky (kononnya la hehe..) to symbolize a Supernova and I've changed the header. FYI the caricature on the old header was actually the caricature of us that we had used for our wedding invites. I would have loved to share a screen shot of the old layout out but diri aku yang pandai ni ter-overwrite the old layout after I downloaded it. Typical. Sheesh!

So now about Bridal Supernova: You see, I started this blog just like many other brides. To document our wedding journey. And when I sat down to think of a name for the blog I thought to myself, "What's a classy name that will withstand the test of time even after we're married?". Macam² nama la terlintas kat fikiran. Nak sebut sekarang pun dah tak ingat lagi dah. Then I remembered one of my favourite songs from my teenage years: "Champagne Supernova" by OASIS. Hmmmm.. Yes! Why not?! Why not "Bridal Supernova"? Check URL punya availability; Alhamdulillah! Still available! Wooohooohooooo!

Ok, but why "Bridal Supernova"? And what does it mean?


I'm sure that everyone knows the meaning of "Bridal" but just for the sake of it, here's it's meaning in the dictionary:

BRIDAL
brid·al [brahyd-l]
adjective - Of, for, or pertaining to a bride or a wedding: a bridal gown.


Bridal. Understood la kan? But what about Supernova? Apakah itu?

SUPERNOVA
su·per·no·va [soo-per-noh-vuh]
The cataclysmic explosion of a massive star. A Supernova may, for a short time, out shine an entire galaxy of a hundred billion ordinary stars.


So you see? Like mentioned in the dictionary: "A Supernova (bride) may, for a short time, out shine an entire galaxy of a hundred billion ordinary stars (the hundred billion ordinary women who are not brides on that day)". Bermakna, for that one day in your life, a bride is more than any other woman in the world.

But now as I near the end of my documentation of our wedding (FYI I've only got about 5 entries left to blog about our wedding) the emptiness is starting to set in. So here's a question for you guys:

Should I keep updating this blog when I'm done blogging about our wedding?

The Doorgift For Our Reception

I haven't blogged in a week. I know, I'm sorry. But I have an excuse, "I've been busy!". As a matter of fact, I still am. But I'm writing this entry because somebody complained that I haven't been blogging. So, Hazlynda; this one's for you.. ;)

It's a short entry cos like I said, I don't have much time. So I chose to blog about our reception doorgifts. As everything else for the wedding, our doorgifts too were a DIY effort. Mula² nak bagi those kipas tangan kayu tu but then, OBJECTION besar dari ibu bapa:

Abah kata, "Nanti majlis Sarah nak beli berkat apa?"

Sarah kata, "Sarah ingat nak beli kipas tangan kayu bah.. Lawa tau.!Tu ari Sarah ngan Winder nampak kat Nilai 3. Harga pun murah.."

Abah kata, "Kipas tangan? Hmmm.. Ok lah.. Suka hati kau lah.."


Dua hari kemudian..

Mama kata, "Sarah.. Your father was asking how much the fans cost."

Sarah kata, "Bout RM1.20 a piece. Why?"

Mama kata, "Err.. He doesn't really like the idea of the fans."

Sarah kata, "But why?!"

Mama kata, "Err.. He just doesn't think that hand fans are appropriate gifts for men.."

Sarah kata, "But mummy.. We picked the hand fans cos it'll be a garden wedding. It'll be hot. I'm sure people will love it! And besides, we already calculated the budget."

Mama kata, "Yes, I know. I like the idea too. But you know your dad. He says if you can find something more suitable and it exceeds your budget, he'll give you some money to top it up.."

Sarah kata, "Hmpfff.. Ok.."

ps. Ye, saya tahu. Saya sangat gedik masa mama kata Abah tak minat ngan kipas tangan tu. But what to do, saya sorang sahaja anak perempuan yang chomel dalam keluarga saya hehe.. Yang lagi dua tu jantan.. And my Abah plak memang species yang macam tu. If he doesn't like something I'm doing/buying/etc he'll say "Ok.." to me. But once I'm gone, he'll tell my mum to tell me that he doesn't agree. Sooo chomel la you Abah. But that's why I love you.. *hugs*


So yes, Plan A: rejected. Back to square one. For us, square one meant Nilai 3. Itulah dia doorgift heaven for brides & grooms to-be. Hais.. Kenalah cari doorgift yang 'sesuai' untuk both lelaki dan perempuan. Hais lagi.. Cos I know, Abah memang dalam diam nak bagi telur. So, to make Abah happy, kita pun cari la bekas telur. Mula² jumpa kotak yang disalut kain songket. Sangat suka those boxes ok but sadly, banyak sangat colour plak bercampur dalam satu set. Kita just nak beige.. Or green.. So Plan B: pun rejected. Next we started looking at those cutesie straw boxes. And when I found them; "Ting!": the lightbulb in my head berbunyi lagi. I told Winder that we could really make this work even though it looks all plain and simple on its own. But with ribbons, the cutesie little boxes would look awesome!

And to me; they did look awesome..

For the doorgift I used:

1. Straw boxes
2. Off-white ribbons
3. Green ribbons

First, I cut the off-white ribbons into 15cm strips (2 for each box). Then I used a glue gun to fix the white ribbons onto the box lids; one horizontally and one vertically. Then I cut the green ribbons into 25cm strips. Once cut, I'd take the green ribbon and slip it under the white ribbons (that I had already glued on the box lids) and tie it into a bow. As easy as 1-2-3.. Try it!

Good luck! *winks*