Wedding Tips

Salam all. I hope anyone (if any) reads this blog are fine and healthy. So much had happened in our country that could taking toll to our health. Haze are so bad lately. I never really got affected by haze before this, but for this time around, I'm feeling dizzy, cough and having a sore throat. I even was on MC the other day due to dizziness. Long exposure to the haze I guess. Alhamdulillah, it rained these few days and haze is slowly gone.

Ok, back to business. As a budget bride like me, of course I have to start early and carefully planning my financial. So, here goes some of tips I could provide. Hope it will help you a bit. Hey, if it's different from your tips you've read somewhere, just bear in mind that I ain't no wedding expert, I just based on my personal experience only :)

1) Start Early
Always, always start early in everything. Surveying all the possible options available. Start early is the key of everything.

2) Go to any Wedding Convention/Expo
I could say that Malaysia is very actively organize this such of events. Pameran Pengantin, Wedding Exhibition bla bla bla. For a Malay bride out there (because I'm a Malay, therefore, my experience is based on Malay wedding, that's why), it's advisable to go to Pameran Pengantin which sometimes organized by Karangkraf if I'm not mistaken. I've been to Wedding Expo once in Midvalley and they only cater for Chinese wedding which the photography charges were like ridiculous! Really beyond my budget. Pameran Pengantin is better for Malay because they will offer you cheap prices for services and interesting payment plan.

3) Payment Plan
There are many services now that offers payment plan which could aid you to to save money and plan your budget. Usually they just ask for deposit, some before the products/service given and some afterwards. So, you can avoid any mini heart attack to pay large sum of cash to the service provider.

4) Use your social media
Nowadays, many service/product providers using social media to promote their stuff. You could browse your Instagram to check on the hashtag and like every related pages in Facebook. They always updating any good offers there. Well, I got most of my wedding stuffs in Facebook, like my tailor, photobooth props, make up artist yada yada.

5) Look out for underdogs/newbies in the industry
There are a lot lot lot of new service providers in this wedding industry. Those who already has names would charged like incredibly expensive for the same items. Name it designers, make up artist, dais decorator etc. These people usually don't have a chance to taking part in any wedding exhibition because they're not famous..yet. But they offer equally good services too with much lower prices. Give them a shot, you'll be blown away with the result! Examples for my dowry decorator. I only been charged for RM50 per tray for fresh flowers! Can you believe it?

6) Borrow stuffs from your relatives/friends
Some of the stuffs are not worth buying. Well, especially if there is no wedding in your family after this. Examples are like bunga pahar. Alhamdulillah, I have an auntie lend me hers Bunga Pahar. So, I don't have to buy it for the purpose of one time usage. As for the henna, I don't hire any henna decorator because I don't like to wear henna. So, my cousin bought me a henna powder to use and it only cost about RM5!

7) Wedding Hall
I guess, this is the first and most important thing to look at. Some people would set the date first then only to book the hall. But I did it in different ways. Wedding halls are really really difficult to book, they usually full even the wedding is one year ahead. Oh, yes, the advise is to book one year earlier. I have listed out the venue into 3: Subang Jaya, Petaling Jaya (Kelana Jaya the farther) and Shah Alam. These areas are accessible by most of my relatives. Not in KL ever! The traffic could be madness. There are a lot lot lot of new places opened for wedding hall rental. Some rental are ridiculously high. Can you imagine that we only rent the space and uses its electricity for 5 hours the most but they could charge us like at least RM7000! This price is increasing yearly. Alhamdulillah, I've got my dewan in Shah Alam. When I went there, they just started operating for 2 months so, there's not so many people know about it yet. We fell in love immediately with the hall! After the hall is booked and date is confirmed, everything else can be planned smoothly.

8) Save save save money!
Well, this step should be done like years ahead. If your parents can support your financially, it shouldn't be a problem. Like myself, Alhamdulillah my parents are willing to support on the caterer for reception. And that's it. Other items like tents, goodie bags, photographers yada yada, all are from my pocket money waaaaa. Yeah, they did chipped in some aid for goodie bags items and tents. Alhamdulillah, working with the company now, I entitled to get bonus once, so I saved my money from there. And I allocated some of my monthly salary to be saved into ASB. ASB is very good yall because they give you high dividend yearly, and again, when the dividend is declared early of year I saved from there too. You can lock your money into Fixed Deposit as well. So, it could prevent you from using them! Credit card also is a major help in my case. Well, you wouldn't want to bring large sum of money to pay for your wedding ring yada yada right? Credit Card is use for emergency and I could say, this is an emergency! But, with condition, don't spend overlimit and please please please discipline yourself to pay at least minimum amount monthly. Or else, you'll be trapped in a very dangerous debt.

9) D.I.Y
If you're creative to do your own dowry or if you find out that you have hidden talent in decorating, it is your time to shine! D.I.Y can save a lot lot lot of money like seriously. Well, I didn't decorate my own dowry of course because lack of time and I'm not that creative..lalala. What I did myself was for my table centrepiece. I bought a cheap fake flowers from IKEA and for the vase, I use used tins! Tie a ribbon around them and voila, it looks vintage and pretty! (Well, at least to my eye). I got this idea from Wondermilk cafe and on the internet :) Of course, I asked my aunties and grandma to supply me those tins Hihihi.

10) Buy the dowry stuffs as early as possible
Well, I bought my gifts like 1 stuff per month. Because, if you wanna buy them all at the same time, that is gonna cost you a bomb! After you bought it, keep/hide it somewhere so you can restraint yourself from using it. Hihih.  Examples, my husband bought a handphone and he uses it since. But, he kept the box to put onto the dowry tray. Well, no one gonna ask when do buy it right? LOL. But, as for the perishable items like chocolate, it's better to buy it close to the wedding.

That are all I could think about right now. There are many other tips as well. And they are also so many things I supposed to do as a bride but I did not because lack of time. Did I tell you that I didn't even have a chance to do facial or spa?! Grrr. Luckily my make-up artists did wonders on my face during my big day! Haha. I shall listed out my vendors and service providers for my wedding soon. Till then, bye!