(Sorry for not being around yesterday =( I had a bad headache and went to bed at 8:30 last night.)The 101-Post! In our 101 post, we have a piece of appreciation towards all who helped us to make our engagement party and the wedding ceremony a total success! THANK YOU EVERYONE from far and near!
The GRABERS
We are very thankful and blessed to be part of the family who always there to share their experience and always being supportive!
Thank you so much for lending us your beautiful home with breathtaking view as our wedding ceremony venue. The house is so beautiful and we do not even need much decorations to beautify the place for our ceremony. (Sonya, you really did a good job in decorations. I am sure everyone who been to their house would agree with me!)
Honestly, it was the very first formal event that we have ever handled all by ourselves. We were unsure what to expect and what is the norm for hosting a big party at home. Luckily, our host parents were there to guide us through the entire process of planning the event, from the ceremony, decor, to food. They are very helpful and that took off most of the pressure from us.
For decor, my host mom understands what her host daughter looked for (a wedding with earthy tone and a lot of candles!). Hence, she purposely borrowed some very nice crystal candlesticks from her friend and pulled out each and every decor item from her own collections that suit our wedding theme.
Dustin, thanks for introducing me to deer meat with cheese and crackers! It was the first time I ever had deer meat but it won't be the last for sure! The combination of deer meat with cheese and cracker is delicious!
Throughout the process, they shared their ideas with us (about: what happened on their own wedding day and what they have seen at the weddings of their relatives and friends). At the same time, they tried their very best for not being over bossy or opinionated =p They want us to have a wedding that is uniquely planned for just the two of us and no others. (D&S: Follow your heart.)
Crew from Lincoln, Nebraska (Christi, Phaik Lyn, & Adeline) They were my surprise guests. Randy only "allowed" me to meet them during his proposal, therefore, they did not arrive in Des Moines until we both left for movie and dinner on 12.30.2009. Guys, thank you so much for driving all the way from Lincoln! (It is a daunting drive on the icy road, but you guys did it. Good job!)
Christi, our dear college mate (Inti College) and also our professional photographer of the day! Thank you for helping us to documenting the important moment of our life (and you did the live streaming so that our family and friends could witness our marriage on the other side of the world too!). You just have the capability of making us feel comfortable in front of the lens and thanks for "fighting the cold" just to snap some winter shots for us! With your photographing experience, passion, skills, and artsy eyes; we can't wait to see the beautiful pictures end of January (hopefully ^.*).
Phaik Lyn, thanks for being there to comfort me when I am nervous and cannot make good decision on things like decorations. You were like a magazine editor who has a pair of good eyes on what would look nice and what is not. I am glad you were able to come and join us despite the fact that you had an assignment that is due on the following Monday after our wedding ceremony. Hope you did a fantastic job on the grant proposal!
Adeline, another college mate of us. Her signature quote would be "What You Want? (in friendly frustration mood)" from now on =p Yes, boss. Could you please make my face looks thinner? Yupe, she was my bridal make-up artist for the day. We tried on two to three different make-ups the day before and we found the one that we all love! I just want to say she did an outstanding job and she was able to transform the girl-next-door look into a mature-looking bride. With her simplest make-up set from M.A.C., she skillfully and artfully turned an ordinary face into an elegant look (where I don't even recognized myself...LOL...). Adeline, thanks for shortening your vacation in Washington D.C. and came all the way from Lincoln to attend our wedding ceremony. Hope to see our Lincoln crew on Chinese New Year! Let's meet up for reunion dinner!
Crew from Des Moines
(Wei Hao, Sheryl, Freddy, Jenn Ho, Corrinne, Tony, & Chia Wen)
A great thanks to all our friends from Drake!
Wei Hao, my dear host brother. Brother, thank you so much for running the errands on new year eve and also the special five-star hotel treatment specially planned for our engagement party! My brother is someone who would spend his time working, watching cartoon, and sleeping. Never ever initiated to do the shopping and needless to say about decorating a room; but he just did that for his sister! Randy and I love the zen table setting with rose petals, votive candles, river rocks, a glass of roses, and the champagne (it could be better by replacing some other flowers but I could understand it is probably hard to get it in Des Moines =p demanding sis, huh?). Thank you! I did not know my brother has so many romantic ideas in mind. Hui Yi, you are so lucky!
Sheryl, I always like her soft curly hair, it looks like those permanent curls done by professional hairstylist in the salon. However, her 30-minute hair curling session in the morning proved me that I am wrong. She actually did her curly hair all by herself! It seems like her hobby in hair styling paid off when she did my hairdo on my wedding day. We tested out five different hairdos the night before and we found the one that all the girls, including myself, love the most. Thanks, sweetie!
Freddy, another host brother of mine. He is a fun-loving and easy-going person. Brother, thanks for coming back all the way from Chicago to give your host sister a great surprise for our engagement party and wedding ceremony. It means a lot to both Randy and I. Also, we would like to thank you for being part of the video-graphing team to documenting the whole process of our wedding ceremony which will be shared with our family and friends in Malaysia later on. I hope to see you soon. Let's come over to our apartment for movie and we will share the lovely snuggie blanket with you ^.*
Jenn Ho & Corrinne
Here come my little brother and his girlfriend. Thank you both of you for being part of the engagement and wedding party! It made both the events merrier with your attendance and help. You guys are the perfect pair who helped to capture one of our important moments in life (the nervous faces of walking down the aisle and the blissful faces after being announced as husband and wife). Thanks for sharing the happy moment with us!
Tony & Chia Wen
Both of them are the great artists among our friends from Drake. They did an amazing job on the painting of "Will You Marry Me?" banner. They spent about sixteen to eighteen hours to get the banner done on time for the surprise proposal. Their time and efforts can be seen on each and every detail on the banner; from the birds, flowers, other embellishments, to the writing. Everything was drawn so perfectly. In fact, there was no room for error at all as the paint is permanent-type (need to be extra careful) and they need to get it done within a strictly tight schedule.
~ The Priceless Proposal Banner ~
On top of that, Chia Wen also helped us to decorate the blank cutting board as our special guest book. She spent two hours to transform an ordinary cutting board to a customized guest book for us.
~ The Cutting-Board-Guest-Book ~
Thank you guys!
To ALL our invited guests on 1.1.2010:
A BIG HUG & THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING OUR WEDDING CEREMONY YOUR ATTENDANCE MEANS A LOT TO THE NEWLY-WED! WE LOVE YOU!
The Grabers
Wei Hao
Sheryl
Freddy
Christi
Phaik Lyn
Adeline
Jenn Ho
Corrinne
Tony
Chia Wen
Huey Jer
Kok Lim
Yin San
Kok Weng
Ling Ling
Jeret & Family
Matt & Family
Amie, Randy & Family
Last but not least, thank you everyone for the wedding gifts. We appreciate your time and efforts in getting us the lovely gifts.
Love,
P/S: Our last posting of the week would be continued on Saturday. I will be out tomorrow for a gathering with friends in New York City whom I have not met for weeks!
Happy New Year to all my dearest blog readers and followers!
I hope everyone had a quality time with family and friends during the holiday season.
To kick start the brand new 2010, I have decided to postpone my regular weekday postings (of fashion, decoration, food, photographs, and real weddings) till next week, and instead, replace them with my personal announcement, appreciation, and things I learned during my year-end vacation in Des Moines, IA.
As mentioned in my last posting about an exciting news for you . . . that is - - - I am ENGAGED to my longtime friend and partner, Randy! I am so excited and can't wait to share the happy news with all of you!
After almost five years of courtship, we are finally getting ready to settle down and decided to spend the rest of our lives together as a family. Randy is my college mate who I met in Malaysia six years ago. He is a caring and understanding family guy who never failed to support me, cheer me up when I am down, enlighten me when I am in doubt, be the beacon of my life when I am lost, and always be there to share my sorrow and happiness. He is definitely someone who I would love to spend the rest of my time together with.
Here's Randy's proposal ^.*
On 12.30.09, he brought me out for a movie (It's Complicated!) and dinner for two at Romano's Macaroni Grill Italian Restaurant in West Des Moines. I can feel the uneasiness of him even the day before...he was tension and nervous (that is so unlike the usual him but I can totally understand when someone is about to give a surprise to his loved one).
After the movie, we went for dinner as scheduled. As soon as I sat down, I realized something unusual at our table (there was an additional vase of flowers and the table was under the spotlight!). Hmm...(in my mind) let's see what's going to happen =)
Right after our dessert (chocolate cake) was served, Randy went to the restroom and "awaiting his crew to come and join him!" After 10 minutes of waiting, he finally here...not just himself but with a big group of our host family and friends (they are Dustin, Sonya, Olivia, Sophia, Lydia, Fred, Freddy, Jenn Ho, Corrinne, Tony, Chia Wen, Huey Jer, Christi, Phaik Lyn, and Adeline), plus a nicely painted banner reads "Will You Marry Me?" held by our host parents. As soon as everyone gathered around, our host sister, Sophia brought out the engagement ring and Randy got down on his knee! Here come the successful proposal with the ring on!
~ My Engagement Ring ~
That's not the ending...the proposal came with a surprise engagement party at home! Fred and his sister, Sheryl prepared some refreshment for everyone plus a 5-star honeymoon hotel treatment for Randy and I in our room (a table topped with rose petals, river rocks, candles, a bottle of champagne, two flutes, and rose-petals-filled heart on our bed!). While everyone else enjoyed the bruschetta, fruits, and juices, both Randy and I were showered with some gifts from our friends. There are a customized set of cake cutter and server, champagne flutes, a big heart-shaped pendant, and a photo album from Jenn Ho, Corrinne, Tony, Chia Wen, Seth & Wen Ni, and another champagne flutes and ang pau (red packet) from Chia Yiaw & Cai Xuan.
Thank you everyone for joining us on the proposal. We love you!
Next...Preparation for our Wedding Ceremony/Registration of Marriage (ROM) on 1.1.10
Stay tune,
