Bali Travels : Part 2 – Debs Joins In The Fun in Kuta and A Pre-Wedding Dinner at Jimbaran Bay

9th October 2010


After all the face-stuffing last night, I woke up early for a swim at the lap pool. Of course, Kris said he’ll join me and I woke him up half an hour earlier than the agreed time – 6.30am! I rang his doorbell “incessantly” as he puts it, and he grumpily shouted “Who’s that?!” and I cheerily replied “It’s me! Time for morning swim!!” to which he grunted a grumpy “I’ll join you later!!” Laughing at the mischief that I had caused, I skipped to the pool. I was surprised that the water wasn’t as cold as I thought it’d be. After my 50th lap, Kris finally came and joined me and I completed 2.5km before breakfast. I do not know how may laps he did :P After breakfast, I completed another 1.5km to make it a total of 4km for the day – and damn proud of it!

Before you knew it, it was time to check-out from Maya Ubud. Both of us did something really funny at our villas – seeing as we haven’t utilized our private plunge pool during our stay, we all undressed and skinny-dipped in the pool – even if for just a couple of minutes. Oh – Kris did that in his own villa and we did ours in our own villa in case anyone has any funny thoughts.

We skipped lunch and our transport took us straight to the airport to pick Aunty Debra. We arrived 30-minutes earlier and ok, we got bored with the waiting. We had even prepared a placard with welcome details for Aunty Debs. After half-an-hour, I was basically asking every Tom, Dick and Harry who came out of the arrival hall if they were Debra. “Are you Debra? Are you Debra?” – including a gwai lo. Out of boredom, the three of us had conjured up lots of theories as to why our dear Aunty Debs was taking soooo long! But finally, she arrived – grinning merrily as usual.

And it was away to check-in to Villa Diana at Legian which was pre-arranged for the wedding entourage. Most of the wedding entourage stayed here – including the couple themselves before they checked into the wedding venue. This was a really nice little resort hotel and MOH and I got upgraded to the Deluxe Villa!

As usual, we were starving by the time we settled in and our transport took us to the Double Six Beach for lunch. It was close to 4pm by the time we had lunch – but eat we did at Tekor Bali. And then, we took to the beach! Kris and I went into the water and really had damn a lot of fun with the rolling waves! MOH joined us later and Aunty Debra kindly looked after all our belongings. We resumed some of our “Bali’s Next Top Model” shoot here before heading back to get ready for the dinner at Jimbaran Bay.

We were a little bitchy with the timing and our rides – but we did get to the dinner venue – Teba Cafe right on time. However, being early doesn’t have much advantages if everyone else were hell-bent on keeping to Malaysian times :P We waited a good hour plus before dinner. Alas! Dinner was not great for me – the main was ….. fish! But the company was great (not sure about the other tables, but we had great people at our table!). Cindy and Connie finally joined us here and lots of catching up and sharing stories and tales – since Cindy & Connie both had been out with the bride & groom the whole day for their wedding portraits session.

After dinner, we all (all, meaning the younger crowd) went over to Ku De Ta for drinks. Jolly, jolly me – alcohol it will be since not training for the week! Kris, Debs, MOH and myself didn’t stay long at Ku De Ta. After lots of photos, we decided to call it a night.

10th October 2010

With Debra around to keep him company, Kris had automatically moved breakfast hour to 8.30am. Fine, MOH and myself adjusted to that too and after breakfast, we had a quick tanning session to get some glow for the night’s festivities before we headed out to Murano Spa.

Since the Boreh was highly recommended, MOH & I went with the Boreh as well. Now, I’m not a spa person because sitting still for a long period of time gets me restless and fidgety. Hardly relaxing at all for me. Well, the couple’s room at Murano wasn’t smelling fantastic – especially as soon as I placed my face into the hole. Oh dear. How am I going to endure 1.5 hours of this? That wasn’t the worse – the stuff they used for the Boreh was also not smelling fantastic – it was like minyak cap kapak to me – which I absolutely detest. OMG factor two. I tried to close my eyes and think good thoughts but the smell kept playing havoc with me. Needless to say, I was wishing for time to fly! Of course, whilst I was squirming in my hot wrap, MOH was snoring away and I also learnt later that Kris and Debs had enjoyed their session as well. They are all spa kakis!!

After the highly un-enjoyable spa session (for me), we hit the extremely ‘macet’ Kuta/Legian stretch for shopping and lunch. We bought Crumpler bags and stopped at Oey for lunch. After lunch, it was a rush back to Villa Diana to get ready for D-Day!!!

AWP Turns 1

Today was the 1st year anniversary bash for the Association of Wedding Professionals Malaysia (AWP) and being stuck here in Cambodia, I just had to be a part of it, considering the organizing committee had worked really hard at putting this together. (and honestly, I hate being left out!!)

Well, my partners in crime (special thanks to Carolyn!!) were more than happy to skype me into the whole affair and watch the proceedings. So I got my mic and headphones ready - only the second time ever that I am using this device - for that matter - my webcam as well.

Oh to be at the mercy of technology!!! When we tested the video call half hour before the party started, the only thing working was the webcam!! I could see them and they could see me. But I couldn't hear s***. Ok, don't panic. We figured perhaps I was using an older version of MSN. So I downloaded the latest version - which, by the way, was a miracle that it took faster than normal considering the 256k speed in Cambodia.

All set - testing Round 2. Still no sound. Which we finally agreed, better than nothing. So I watched the proceedings in "mute mode".... with Carolyn feeding me the updates over the chat box. I have to say, it was pretty interesting and as always, a simple yet fun event which everyone worked hard on has come to life and that is always a joy to see. Of course, a heartfelt thanks goes out to all who have supported our endeavours throughout and believed in us.

I think at the end of the day, it just goes to show that even though we come from different walks of life, different types of businesses, different personalities, (not to mention, some of us are in different geographical location altogether! :P) but when we put our heads and our hearts together, we can create big things.

This is the quality that I admire from my co-workers. We set aside our differences and we work towards one goal. Sure, there are lots of bitching and tears and frustrations, but in the end, we have a laugh, we talk about each other's "longkangs" (private joke - ask Carolyn & Leticia) and we treat ourselves to good food (whilst they went ahead to have a good lunch, I had myself a glass of wine to celebrate too!)

Even in the emails - which we probably receive and send over a hundred to each other in a day (no wonder I am accused of having an online affair with Leticia!) - we banter, we instruct, we brainstorm, we shout, we scream (yes,... all in the emails)... we even SLAP each other (nowadays, used a lot more widely and frequently - thanks to Kris)... BUT, we get the job done.

As in the end, we believe that a little madness helps keep us sane. And we are really the "crazy wedding GANG" - yes a gang. I hope this friendship and partnership will only continue to flourish - if not for the good of the business, at least for the good of our own sanity.

Congratulations AWP - and CONGRATULATIONS to all those people behind AWP. We soldier on.

My Wedding

When you mention a wedding planner getting married, it is an immediate response to conjure up images of Vogue-inspired gowns, perfectly manicured decor and settings, picture-perfect ambience and a prim and proper guest list.
Having been in the wedding business for seven years plus now, I did not want any of those. I wanted a fuss-free wedding. But I think more than that, both the groom and I wanted something that reflected us – our love, our personalities, including the fact that we were not perfect.

Being a great advocator of destination weddings, we decided to have the wedding in Bali. Bali was something that came naturally to the both of us – simply because this was where we first fell in love, so it felt like we had come full circle. We were both “beach bums” and an island/beach wedding suited us perfectly – no frills, no fuss – come in your bikinis and sarongs, hula shirts and all. This was us!

Throughout the wedding planning months before the wedding, I was particularly worried about being a “bridezilla” myself, having handled a fair few. I realised that my want for simplicity was clashing tremendously with the excitement of my friends from the same business! I didn’t want hair and make-up, I didn’t want flowers, I didn’t even want a wedding gown.... I was driving all of them nuts. I was becoming a “bridezilla”!

Even the team at Kayumanis was a little baffled when I said I didn’t want flowers. Whilst I would usually be very aware of how the cake looks and taste for my clients, for my own wedding, I told the pastry chef to “surprise me” – which he did indeed. Pleasantly, though. You see, it really was different when you’re handling someone else’s once-in-a-lifetime compared to when you’re handling yours.

For my own wedding, I didn’t care so much about it being perfect. I wanted it more to reflect our personalities, and our love. We didn’t care about flowers because throughout the years we’ve been together, my other half had never bought flowers for me because I am not a flower person! But we did care about the song we chose for our walk-in and walk-out, we cared about using some of the paraphernalia from our courtship in the wedding and we did care about our wedding favours helping a poor Cambodian family survive better.

However, being in the wedding industry and with so many good friends in the industry, my dream of walking down the aisle with just a white bikini and sarong was just me being dreamy and idealistic. I remembered my gown designer saying “I’ll slap you!” when I requested for a simple sarong wrap. I also remembered my hair & make-up artist who also wanted to “slap” me because I went and cut my hair short a few months before the wedding (this was the point where I was called “bridezilla”, I think!) and of course, I remembered my Mom fretting at the fact that I was walking in with “two bunches of bananas” (empty handed).

But in the end, with enough emotional blackmail from my beloved Mom & Dad (and I mean this sincerely), and the numerous “Ho sim la! You are a wedding planner la! You don’t jaga your reputation, we also must jaga ours!” propagandas, I had my hair done, I had very light make-up on (which surprised everyone when I sat like a meek angel and let them do my hair and face) and I even walked down the aisle with a few stalks of maroon calla lilies. I felt every inch like a bride.

But I really think my other half had to be saluted. He took the reigns of planning the wedding because he didn’t want me to feel as if it was ‘work’ – to plan my own wedding. He made most of the decisions (only most, not all.J) whilst I was busy with my other businesses. Having the both of us based in Cambodia meant a lot of co-ordination between Cambodia, Bali and KL. When people ask me who was my wedding planner, without hesitation I would answer that it would be my other half. Having said that, we are very thankful for the help we got from our friends in the industry. Honestly, here is where I would recommend wedding planners to anybody – including wedding planners themselves.

The other thing we both were particular about was the wedding photography because those lasted a lifetime. We requested for the photographers to take casual shots of us in our “pak toh” mode along the streets of Kuta. The fun part was that – they were to behave like the paparazzi! Believe me, a lot of people thought we were some sort of celebrity when we started our photo session. It was fun and it was all part of the wedding experience we wanted.

When the moment for the wedding came – I was anxious. I did not want to make the same mistakes that I had seen a million of my clients do – they forget to bask in the moment. I was particularly conscious of reminding myself that I want to remember the moment when I walked down the aisle with my Dad and the feeling I was in. I didn’t want the feeling of just getting it over and done with. And this was the highlight of my wedding.

I remembered walking in to the chorus of “High” by Lighthouse Family, our chosen song. For me, the chorus was perfection. It was a message we told ourselves in our relationship – as long as we are together, we will overcome any obstacles there are in our path. I made it a point to pay attention to the vows which we wrote ourselves (which we later got tattooed on each other by our personal Bali tattooist) and I had butterflies in my tummy! I’ve always had butterflies in my tummy when my clients walked down the aisle as I hold my breath and pray everything goes smoothly for them in their once-in-a-lifetime moment and I didn’t think I would get them for my own wedding. But there they were! I was blinking back tears as my husband-to-be read his very long vows (which made some of our guests cry).

We had a small reception of sixty close friends and family. Even with the small number, we felt it was difficult to spend enough time with all of our guests. Whilst some of them travelled from Cambodia, a whole lot more were guests whom we had not met for over a year since we were both based out of the country. Time spent with each one of them was too short. But their presence and blessings at our wedding made it a perfect memory.

All in all, as a wedding planner, this was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever witnessed – not just because I was the bride, but because the one thing that really stood out from it was that there was a lot, a lot, a lot of laughter. From the surprise video presentation (courtesy of the “gang” from the wedding industry) to the lap dance from the groom to the funny anecdotes in our vows and all the speeches and to me, this was how a wedding should be. There were two power trips (I counted and noted because I could not help it – I notice these things!!) but hey, that small bit of imperfection could not overshadow what I really, really felt was a perfect wedding – at least to the both of us.
Love in fish-eye view...

With this wedding, I’ve come away believing that whilst grandeur, beauty and perfect planning accentuates a wedding celebration, it cannot replace the love and support from your close friends and family, the feel-good vibe that they sincerely vibrate at your wedding – including shedding a tear or two for you, and the fun and laughter that they provide to make your wedding a truly memorable one. For that, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank each and every one of our friends and family who travelled all the way to Bali and making it such a wonderfully memorable wedding for the both of us.