Travels – Turkey

Antalya (Mediterranean sea)

Hi all,

For our honeymoon, Ridzuan and I chose such a historic country – TURKEY. We had 17 days of bliss since Turkey is rich with history. Anyway, we were at Asian part and European part of Turkey. Why the European or Asian part? Istanbul is split into two, one part is on the European continent whereas the other half of Istanbul and the rest of Turkey states are on the Asian continent. It’s not economically different, the main difference is that Euro-part of Istanbul is like Raffles Place of Singapore – typically, a Central Business District while the Asian-part of Istanbul is more residential.

The states we went were:
-Istanbul
-Troy City
-Nevşehir, Kayseri, Cappadoccia
-Kuşadası
-Antalya
-Istanbul (last 5 days on our own)

We took a tour package with Fastbook Tourism – Turkish travel agency. 12 days of awesomeness! Everything was smooth and we were treated like royalty. Hassle free, airport transfers, domestic flight bookings, booked hotel rooms and many more. Today, I would like to post that it’s important if you want to take up any Turkish travel agency, you need consider the options – weighing the pros and cons. I will list down things that you should take note off (in the future post).

A teaser though – tip #1: Take initiatives to actually translate the documents sent by your Turkish agent since most official documents are done in Turkish language.

I will write more on this to provide some tips. Till then.

Cheers,
Serynna

Birthday Cards

Hi all,

I enjoy recreating DIY Birthday cards done by DIY ‘gurus’ on Pinterest or YouTube. So here is my take on the pop-up card:

Click here for the tutorial.

Cheers,
Serynna

Writing on…

Hi all,

After much consideration, I have decided to continue blogging but I will be updating on other stuff too such as DIY items, food reviews, wedding preparations etc. This platform will be renamed since it’s no longer be specifically for wedding preparations.

Why do I want to change the theme of this blog? I’ve taken up interest in writing but I am not experienced so this blog will allow me to practice writing – clear and simple writing.

But I will still maintain writing on wedding preparations and stay in the BTB community. BTB community in Singapore is pretty strong and helpful towards one another. So I urge the rest to keep on writing and keep on asking questions.

Also, I would like to ask any BTB or former BTB – anyone of you know where to get full length curtain at a good rate?

Cheers,
Serynna

Solemnisation Outfit

Hi all,

I’ve been on hiatus as I was on medical leave (leg region) and since today I have nothing to do, I shall update on the solemnisation outfit.

R and I discussed on the options of renting or tailoring the solemnisation outfit and after much thought, he and I decided on tailoring own outfit since renting cost was $300+ per set. The cost to tailor customised outfit was more than rental option however, he and I could keep the outfit.

R and I spoke to his cousin, Kak Iza and she suggested her trusted tailor, Rose Dafea. Kak Iza was right! Rose was amazing! The services was affordable and she understood what we wanted. Anyway, my material for the outfit was sponsored by Kak Iza. God bless her. R and I was gifted with bridal satin, kain samping, netting and cloth for the hijab. After which, he and I sent the material to Rose and in around 2 months, our outfit was ready!

My outfit was inspired by Princess Kate’s wedding dress with sewn in corset. Lace with beading the lower half of my dress and at the end of both sleeves. Netting with beads as my veil. Ridzuan’s outfit was inspired by traditional Malay men outfit with diamond-like buttons.

After the solemnisation ceremony, we had time to do a quick outdoor photoshoot near Yishun Stadium (lower Seletar reservoir). Slight change to outfit, using the turquoise cloth, it was sewn as a hijab and a tanjak. Turquoise-like netting was used to my veil.

The turquoise material was a great idea since you are able to spot us even among the entourage. Thank you Kak Iza for suggesting a bold colour for our solemnisation outfit.

By the way, my tailor is expecting and will be giving birth this year therefore, she stopped taking jobs for a while but you can still find her in Facebook. Check out her work!

To many more entries soon.

(Apologies, the photos look pixelated since the photos are in high resolution but after posting it here, the photos’ resolution are lowered.)

Cheers,
Serynna

Vendor Review: Make-up Artist and Personal Assistant

Hi all,

Clearly an important decision for any bride-to-be.

Ridzuan and I were blown away by the services provide by Shirdah and her husband, Pear (it’s a nickname, duh).  Shirdah is a freelance make-up artist (MUA) but if you are keen to take up her bridal services, she will suggest that you discuss bridal packages with Hana Bridal.

The package Ridzuan and I took included 3 sets of wedding outfit, bridal henna  (by Shirdah) and personal assistant, that was when Pear came into the picture. Two sets of the outfits were traditional and one set was modern. The outfits include the accessories such as Sanggul, Tanjak, Kris, necklaces, traditional hairnet and brooches (see below for more information on accessories).

Here are the photos of the wedding outfits and take note that had an extra outfit that Ridzuan and I sent for tailoring.

Customised for solemnisation ceremony and first half of Ridzuan’s reception

Traditional outfit for second half of Ridzuan’s reception

Traditional outfit for first half of Serynna’s reception

Modern outfit for second half of Serynna’s reception

I will elaborate on the outfits in another post since I would want to focus on my MUA and PA. Shirdah was very attentive and made sure I was enjoying the wedding reception. She was always around me till I had to remind her that she needs to eat and drink. Ridzuan’s PA, he was also attentive and he ensured that Ridzuan was always neat and ready for the photos. This duo is a force not to be reckon with! They did such a great job that Ridzuan and I started recommending couples who asked about MUA.

Review on my MUA’s make up technique, simply put, awesome! My face was in good hands and the make up styles were according to the outfit. She was accommodating since I asked her to slightly adjust my eyebrows and she did my bridal henna too!

Therefore, my overall review of my MUA and Ridzuan’s PA will be 5 stars!

Hope you find a good MUA and that your husband-to-be has a personal assistant or a reliable groomsman.

Cheers,
Serynna

Information on tanjak, sanggul, kris, Indonesian traditional hairnet

Downloadables

Hi all,

Since I have updated the blog, I’ve created a tab for downloadables! I will plonk my excel sheets or PDFs that will be publicly available for download.

For now, I have added the wedding itinerary and budget excel sheet. I will add more downloadable items such as Holiday itinerary and DIY instructions.

I will try my best to update this downloadable page regularly.

Muackz!

Cheers,
Serynna

DIY – Letters with Coins

Hi all,

Updated my wordpress template but I still have to update the pages on this website itself.

Anyway, I’m sure many brides/grooms-to-be would like to try their hands on Do-It-Yourself projects for their wedding. At first, I was not sure I was able to do any DIY since I was not a crafty person.

Surprisingly the moment I started a small DIY project, I was HOOKED!

It all started with my big Letter Deco, S & R! I know that I had posted on this DIY but I would want to rewrite it as I have more time to actually add detailed instructions therefore, I had deleted the previous post.

It was made using cereal boxes, Singapore 10-cent coins, spray paint and hot glue.

Here’s the website that includes the instructions to create the letters with cereal boxes however, I did not use yarn instead i stuff the letters with recycled paper so that the letter will not collapse as I glue the top half of the letters. This is to ensure that it will be sturdy enough when I glue down the coins.

For cereal boxes instructions, click here.

So here was what I did:
1) Cut out cereal boxes or cardboard to the letter of my choice – S, &, R. Cut two S, two & and two R so that it will be both sided.
2) Tape down the sides.
3) Stuff recycled paper.
4) Tape down the top half.
5) Tape down all the sides to ensure stability
6) Spray paint all sides of the letters!
7) Let it dry!
8) Prepare 10-cent coins or any coins of your choice and use hot glue/super glue to glue down the coins onto the letters.
9) Done!
10) Put the letters wherever you want!

So that’s it for the letters!

Cheers,
Serynna

Revamp

Hi all,

I am going to revamp this blog’s template. Will be back by this week!

I will post the DIYs! It includes my DIY solemnisation dais, flower bouquet, bride’s room! 🙂

Cheers,
Serynna

DIY talk and Vendor rant

Hi all,

I mentioned that I was VERY pissed off with my caterer. We paid her extra to accommodate the number of invitees and guess what?! By 1.30pm she told my aunt that there was insufficient food due to the number of guests. First of all, my event was 11.30am-5.30pm so I highly doubt that from 11.30pm-1.30pm, the entire 1100 guest came and finished the food. What the heck?!!! She didn’t even provide the 4 types of kuih-kuih (traditional Malay desserts) that she promised. So to cut this rant short, this caterer cheated us and for that, my family members had to apologise to many of my guests and had to order food from elsewhere. This annoying caterer stays in Western part of Singapore (near Pioneer Mrt station) and her name is Cik Salmiah. Oh well, karma will tap her on her shoulders and welcome her with open arms.

Anyway, I was an avid fan of DIY and I DIY-ed my wedding shoes. Bought it at Charles and Keith months back and two main reasons I chose this particular pair – (1) Champagne colour and (2) thick platform (super comfy)! And bling-bling it to its fullest potential!

Check it out!
Instructions:
-Buy diamond-like crystals, glue it and use clear nail polish to ensure that the bling-bling stays glued.
-for the sparkles, i used modpodge glue (sparkles included) and slowly “paint” the modpodge onto the shoe fabric using a sponge brush. Let it dry and repeat till desired outcome.

Tada!

I will update my other DIYs and the how-to-do it in the next post!

Cheers,
Serynna

Wedding Itinerary

Hi all,

As promised, here’s my wedding itinerary. It was pretty flawless except for natural causes like blackout (due to rain) and longer phototaking session at my side.

Before I begin, I shall give you a gist of the wedding flow:

Saturday:
-Solemnisation at my place
-Lunch and phototaking at my DIY dais (I will upload the photos)
-Outdoor photoshoot with friends, relatives and bestmen (at lower Seletar Reservoir Park)
-Wedding reception (sanding) at his place
-End of reception

Sunday:
-Wedding reception (sanding) at my place
-End of reception

So this was the itinerary for Saturday:

This was the itinerary for Sunday:

Do note that I added coloured font to differentiate bride’s and groom’s list of things to do; EXAMPLE, the itinerary was for Saturday (Reception/Sanding at his side), I used normal font colour for his list of things to do however, for me, I highlighted in Red (e.g. timings that I need to be ready or timing for arrival of my make-up artist). So both side were able to communicate with each other and it ensured the timing and movement was according to the itinerary. Please click on the photo to have a better understanding of it.

Also, do not forget to add in a table of important contacts such as the Kadi/Official, bestmen, sister, parents etc. This is to ensure that during the event, bestmen or bridemaids are able to call the important people if there are any urgent changes or to ensure punctuality. Can you imagine the chaos if they do not have the numbers of the important people?

Anyway, I need to go off soon. I have plans with my sister, cousins and their kids.

Next post, will be about the ANNOYING caterer who actually DID NOT deliver what she promised! Do drop me a message if you want to know who she is.

See you soon!

Cheers,
Serynna