We had originally planned to have the wedding early next year, but have brought it forward to December 10 so more of our friends here in Melbourne can attend, and because of the venue we will be using.

To be honest, the Stones of the Yarra Valley was the first venue we came across, and we loved it so much, we didn’t really bother looking anywhere else.

This is the sweet little chapel we would love to be wed:

And here’s a sneak peak inside “the barn” where the reception will follow (we’re planning on a luncheon):

As it turns out, settling the venue and paying the deposit was the easy part. But there’s plenty more yet to do as I’ve discovered. I followed Sam’s advice and made us of Martha Stewart’s online planning tools to help me get organised, and it is really good. So ladies, take note.

That’s all from me now, and I promise to post soon about my wedding dress shopping experience and other stressors.

xoxo

Both Heng Khuen and I have had a rather busy past month with work, friends visiting, and a birthday party, so we’ve done very little by way of wedding preps. But I do want to say a big thank you to all of you who have been sharing your experiences with us, giving us helpful tips and advice on where to look from venues to dresses to photographers and more.

Apart from feeling a little burnt out from work, my mind has also been distracted by other things. Musings about what the new season of life ahead would look like, the role of a woman in marriage, whether my career aspirations would (or be forced to) change when I eventually become a mum, and if I would be able to joyously embrace it.

I’m very blessed to have someone who has cheered me along as wholeheartedly as Heng Khuen has done, since I stepped out in a somewhat brash attempt last September to try and carve out a new frontier not just in new media, but in the international student industry here in Melbourne. I’m still trying to understand why exactly I’m so passionate about my work, and there are moments that I worry I will run out of time to see at least some fruit borne out of my labour of love.

But perhaps I worry about tomorrow too much, forgetting that each day has enough trouble of its own, and that God’s mercies are new every morning.

So on a lighter note… I wanted to share some photos of what we got up to last Saturday. We celebrated Heng Khuen’s “3+1″ birthday party at McDonalds, which was such a blast!

The theme was “too school for cool”, and our guests had to come dressed in something reminiscent of their schooling days. We had balloons, party hats and all, and  played good ole games like pass the parcel, sculptorade (like pictionary/charades, only you describe the mystery word by fashioning it with playdough) and a colouring competition. We finished the afternoon with an ice-cream birthday cake, and everyone got to bring home a party bag.

The funniest part I think was seeing the little children walk by the party room and stare wistfully at our balloons and party hats, and wondering why a bunch of grown ups had invaded their space.

On a completely side note, and since we were on the topic of motherhood – I did remark to a friend then that we should hold another dress up party when we are parents. And the theme would be “big kids and little grown-ups”.

But enough of my ramblings, here are the photos, enjoy!

Birthday boy waits for his guests to arrive.

Best friends.

Brothers.

Colleagues.

Friends.

Twins.

Must eat cake.

I have been looking around for a wedding checklist/planner to get us organised, and came across this one by Bride Online which I’ve found rather helpful. It’s a month-by-month countdown to the day with tick boxes to check off. They assume you are planning about a year in advance, by the way, including the engagement.

There’s a more comprehensive list available in Excel format, but you’ll have to join (free) their “Bride to Be Club” to be able to download that.

Does anyone have a better checklist/timeline that we can use?

Anyhoo, this is the 11 months checklist, and what we have or haven’t done so far.

• Arrange for both families to meet and celebrate if possible. OMG, this didn’t even cross my mind! We live in Melbourne, and our families are in Malaysia and Singapore, so this will have to wait.

• Purchase a wedding organiser and some magazines for some inspiration. Check, except the “purchasing” a wedding organiser bit – who needs one when you have awesome girlfriends and a great community you can rely on for help? Also, see Oh-so-cute wedding blogs.

• Plan the engagement party for no more than 3 months from your announcement. Set a date, choose a location and decide on a guest list. Create invitations and send to guests. Record cards and gifts received and send personalised thank you notes.
  

Stuff I will have to get going on:

• Decide on a wedding budget

• Start guest list

• Determine time frame for your wedding date. Choose a few dates that don’t conflict with other events taking into consideration that some guests may need to travel long distances.

• Choose a colour scheme. Collect ideas and create an inspiration board including colours, themes and styles.

• Shortlist your venues for the ceremony

• Shortlist your venues for the reception

• Book ceremony venue and record payment in your budget planner

• Book venue and record payment in your budget planner

The birthday book I made for the boy's 30th last year.

Was reading Cup of Jo about the birthday book she recently created for her dad’s 60th, and it reminded me of the one I created for Heng Khuen’s 30th last year.

I compiled stories he had written through the years on his personal blog, from childhood memories to teenage hangups, highschool crushes, medical school, and reflections on family, friendships and work-life.

I used blurb.com to put it together, on recommendation of a friend – and I thought the book layouts were great. It was also easy to use, and fairly intuitive for first-timers.

Your friends can preview and browse the book online, and order it if they wish. Pretty cool, huh?

Here are a couple of pages from my labour of love:

Which has gotten me thinking – some sort of a coffee-table book like this may be a great idea for compiling our engagement and wedding photos.

Whatcha reckon, hon?

XOXOXO, K

Big K and small k. Do we look alike or what? We've even got Facebook fooled!

I’m liking the direction she’s pointing me towards (i.e. away from all things over-the-top and super cheesy), and here are some of the blogs which I’ve seen and loved:

.

A Cup of Jo

Joanna Goddard is a magazine writer and blogger in New York, who has been wonderfully inspirational in her attitude towards preparing for her wedding. There was a beautiful sweetness about it all, and so personal, meaningful and pretty. I hope our wedding can have the same spirit about it.

Oh, and it’d also be worth mentioning that her wedding was in 2009, and she’s since had a baby boy… which has been the fuel for a lot of her current posts. So all you mummies reading this, you should check her out too!

Polka Dot Bride

Polka Dot Bride has also been a lot of fun. What I like most about it is that it’s an Australian wedding blog, so you can go further than oohing and aaahing about everything and actually look up stockists and services that are near you (though the blog does feature weddings from stateside and elsewhere from time to time as well).

Polka Dot Bride. Super love this one where the couple converted a barn into their reception venue. And how simple and unfussy was her dress?

Also like the fact that the brides and grooms featured aren’t the cookie cutter straight off the runway stick-thin and perfectly chiselled model type. They have so much personality, like this Queensland wedding where the bride drives down the aisle in a Vespa.

It’s a great reminder that the aisle’s not a runway and women don’t have to be obsessed about being perfect. As a friend once remarked some years back when she prepared for her wedding – you should wear the dress and not let the dress wear you.

There’s also a section for DIY wedding projects. Cute.

The Crafty DIY Bride

More DIY ideas from Mel, the Crafty DIY Bride. There are plenty of projects to try out… some projects even come with free printable templates.

Fun ones I’ve come across include save the date tags, wedding pinatas, recipes for baking your own wedding cake, and umm, even up-do’s for your hair.

The Crafty DIY Bride teaches you the art of homemade.

Design Sponge

Okay, so Design Sponge isn’t a wedding website strictly, but who says inspiration needs to come from a single source?

I was actually really blown away by this one post in particular – where the bride actually picked up her dress for $5 dollars (?!?!) at a recycling shop where you paid for your buys by weight.

Though not a wedding website strictly, there are plenty of cool design ideas from Design Sponge.

So there, this is as much “research” I’ve done since getting engaged. We haven’t set a date yet, but planning to hold it sometime early next year. I hope that’s enough time for us to sort everything out. Meanwhile, if there are websites or resources etc that you know, please send them my way, either by email, Facebook, Twitter, or simply in the comments section below!

With love, K

That’s right folks, this is my husband-to-be looking like an excited boy at Christmas breaking into his box of chocolates.

#reasonswhyilovehim

I know some girls dream about a fairytale wedding and begin collecting ideas and looking for inspiration long before they get hitched.

I suppose I’ve never really given much thought to it having grown up hearing stories about the realities of marriage, the pain of infidelity, people who feel they have chosen their partners poorly and end up co-existing in a loveless marriage. One of my greatest fears used to be the thought of waking up 10 years after being married and looking at the man lying next to me, and thinking, “What have I done?”

The past more than two years with Heng Khuen has been an exercise in confronting my fears – perceived or otherwise – and learning to trust in his character, words and action. It’s also been a delightful journey in discovering God’s sovereignty over my life. Time and time again, I have been surprised by joy, and He has certainly done exceedingly abundantly over and above what I could have asked for or imagined.

Who can say how our lives are going to turn out? For better or for worse, in sickness or in health, I can only trust that His grace shall be sufficient for me and that His strength will be made perfect in my weakness. I will be able to deal with whatever comes my way when it comes my way. No point worrying about the what-ifs now.

All this reflecting has also brought me back to thinking about how Heng Khuen and I first met, which was all rather funny. The post, A Letter in Love was titled after one of my favourite books of all times, Alain de Botton’s Essays in Love, which Heng Khuen bought me for my birthday in 2009.

I made this spur of the moment response video after the proposal. Shared it on Facebook and was thoroughly chuffed by the slew of comments we received. Among my favourites was a line from C who called it my “comeback video”. Hilarious.

Heng and I have been seeing each other for more than two years now, and marriage has been on the cards, but the proposal did come as a complete surprise.

I’m part of a closely-knit church community and every month, I lead a small group to present and share our journeys of faith with the rest of the congregation.

That's me right there, still blissfully unaware of what was to come.

After all had been said and done, I was preparing to return to my seat when our Sunday host told me to stay. There was a video they had prepared for me. It did cross my mind for a fleeting moment that it was a little bit early on in the year for a “leader appreciation” sort of thing, but there wasn’t much time to deliberate, because by then the lights had dimmed.

Still hadn't a clue at this point.

When it was just starting to dawn on me what was actually happening.

It really took me quite a while before it began to really sink in what was actually happening. And it couldn’t have been a better video – and an even better and more happy surprise – when I realised all our close friends were a part of this!

I was totally blown away.

Heng would later tell me he had considered popping the question when we went on a retreat to a Japanese ryokan in Hepburn Springs last Christmas but decided against it. He had thought about bringing me out to a romantic dinner but then thought it was too cheesy. He thought about hiring a jet to write the words “Will you marry me” in the sky, but then dismissed the idea.

And then he came upon this one.

This was an unconventional setting for a proposal, but it was befitting. I’ve grown up with this church community since I was 17, and many have journeyed with me through my adolescence and into my adulthood, through my numerous courtships, breakups and heartaches, and most significantly, seen me through the passing of my father when I was 21.

It was wonderful to share such a special moment with my community – and to witness the tears rolling down the faces of those who have held me so dear to their hearts –  till now, still overwhelms me and makes me choke up with emotion.

There were plenty of things to laugh about on the day too. Funny fact #1: People sitting in the congregation actually teared up more than I did. I was still reeling from the surprise that I didn’t have time to get all teary. Funny fact #2: Heng was so nervous he actually put the ring on my right hand instead of the traditional left.

The boy's all serious now.

And that was it! Thanks everyone for sharing this moment with us!

PS – Photos courtesy of Shing and Aun who were all armed and ready with their cameras to capture the moment… and an especially big shout out to Hsu En who patiently helped Heng Khuen put the video together. Love you all heaps!