Keeping wedding costs down takes commitment

Salam semua...

A littlle something I should've posted when it was first issued last May in The Brunei Times. An article to open one's mind towards planning his / her wedding..

Ying Chia
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Saturday, May 29, 2010

PLANNING for big occasions, such as weddings, is not always easy especially when more often than not, budget is limited.

Whether you are looking to create a lavish event or something more simple, good planning and flexibility can go a long way in helping to cut costs.

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT COUNT

Whether planning for a wedding or a birthday, the little details will usually be the ones that cost the most and catch you off guard, so having a clear idea of exactly what the event will be like can help keep costs down during the planning stage.

Anishaa Norali and her fiancé, Muhaiman Awang , are planning to get married in July and both say that they were unprepared on how much the wedding would cost.

"I'm actually paying for everything. Usually the mother or father will pay for the wedding expenses, but I'm paying for the majority of the expenses like the the dress, the hantaran (gifts), catering and miscellaneous expenses like tents for the reception, make-up and hair, and gifts for guests. "There are a lot of little expenses that I didn't take into consideration," Anishaa said.

She said that the most unnecessary expenses that she was spending the most money on, were make-up and hair, because she wanted to opt for convenience. "I don't want to be rushing around or making a mistake with my make-up."

Anishaa said those services could cost up to $180 to $220, noting that because clients are part of a wedding party, businesses tended to charge higher, taking into account they provide home service which is more convenient for clients.

It's really up to an individual, to decide what kind of things they were willing to spend money on and what their needs were, she added.

Her fiancé, Muhaiman, said that he actually hadn't been keeping an eye on where the money for the wedding was going to. "Looking back, I think I would actually keep track of where all the money is going," he said.

Muhaiman added that when he started out planning for the wedding, he originally thought that from the savings that he had made that it would be sufficient to cover everything.

"It's been more than I expected, about fifty per cent more, so I guess I didn't really know what went into a wedding."

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Although organising an extravagant wedding can be more fun, a little bit of creativity and flexibility can help to ensure that it is still tasteful, and most importantly, meaningful. Shelly, an event planner, said that although a lot of people tended to approach her with very extravagant ideas, she often advised clients on ways to achieve the desired effect without actually paying the price. "For example, for weddings, sometimes you get a 'bridezilla' effect where the client is not willing to be flexible. But being open to different options can be beneficial to your budget because it means you can explore different elements such as different and cheaper flower arrangements that are just as nice as the expensive ones, or even get a friend or family member with a catering business to help out and cut costs."

Muhaiman agreed saying that for the hantaran ceremony, a lot of people would buy the kain or cloth, for their hantaran entourage to be uniform. "As long as I stipulate the colour, it doesn't really matter whether it's the same exact tone (so they can wear their own clothes), and if someone doesn't have a baju melayu then I'll buy it for them.

"It really depends on your standards and what you place value on," he added, saying that most people would go to a wedding planning to design each hantaran tray. "But I've got my sisters to do that, and it's more meaningful that way."

Anishaa said that on her side, she cut back on costs for the invitations. "I could have gone overboard and printed out very nice, fancy invites, but I decided to cut down on that and give out mini-cards so that I'm not spending on cutting down trees for my wedding."

She added that a lot of the decoration that goes into the hantaran were made up of plastic and wrapping.

"So I'm trying to go for more natural, organic things to decorate my hantaran like leaves and flowers from my garden, and also using wooden baskets instead of plastic ones, so they don't take 1,000 years to degrade and you can always reuse them after wards instead of throwing them away like many people do," she said.

The Brunei Times

Taking environmental sustainability into action... Salute to this lady!

Ramadhan

Assalamualaikum...

Almost a week dah bulan Ramadhan and now, I finally got the chance to greet my fellow readers "Selamat Berpuasa" :D The internet at my place is not working AGAIN!! I'm guessing pasal terkana tamparik the other day~ Oh well!~ And GO! Broadband network isn't available in my area... so yeah, I can only access the Net when I'm at the In-Laws *heehee*

I've no plans to go to any Gerai(s) just yet because to date I have not started my fasting and also, before Ramadhan pun macam2 dah menu I tried for my iftar. Something to look forward to would be the end of this month. The siblings and I are planning for a family 'Sungkai Out'.. sis has scout a place and I do hoped that she booked us a table or two. I am also thinking of holding an iftar gathering with my bffs.. It has been awhile since we last hung out.

Will try to actually update this blog. After all, this is just a random entry.. away from wedding articles and such *hee*hee*

I pray and hope that all of us can get Allah's blessing in this holy month of Ramadhan. *Amiiiinnn*

Dania shares... ;)

Assalamualaikum to all,

Another story to share with all, I believe this has always been the anticipated one since it's first been introduced *lol* So to EVERYONE out there.. do keep it coming! Previous stories were mostly pasal photogs... here's a different twist with a good lesson too~

Salam..

It's Dania here.. Alhamdulillah Majlis dh selesai 4 mths ago but tanggungjawab dunia/akhirat sentiasa berterusan. Thanks to dear Bride , cos wif her blog byk reference dpt dibuat. Terutama part2 saving. Alhamdulillah. pjg dh jasa c Bride ani. hee. my fave part ofcos pasal penggunaan lining for this n that..heee.

Anyhoo, we were engaged last October & had 4 mths of preparation - wedding by March. I set my mind..by February mesti smua settle. March goyang kaki saja. hihi.

What I wanted to share is about my Jongsarat. Once tau sudah tarikh, we instantly menempah tenunan baru dari someone in Lambak. My sibs, contacts, cuzins ramai yg ambil tempahan dari ia. Direct frm rumah la ia menenun. So, went there bulan December to confirm the colour & bunga tenunan. We asked her utk siapkan by January..lagi awal kan lagi baik.

January menjelma..hihi, so we made a call asking siap dh kah balum. She said, hujung bulan Januari siap. Relax la masih i. Then, end of January i called lagi, she told me urg yg menenun nya alum sampai lagi, dun wori- 2 minggu boleh siap tu, katanya. i was so disappointed sudah wif dis lady. Bt i put trust skali lg arahnya. She said, bulan Februari siap.

Mid February, i called again. One month before my wedding ni. Amazingly *lol*, she asked 'bilakan kawinmu ani banarnya?'. Berderau rasa my blood bila ia bgtau ia alum buat. Hahaha. (tawa sarcastic). bakal saja she's an old lady. so respek sikit. Sabar. Dugaan perkahwinan. So, i gave her chance. Bt i prepare Plan B.

I survey ready made jongsarat. wif the exact color dat i want. Alhamdulillah, found it and in case nda siap jua yg arah BuAjah atu, yg ani ada dh dalam tgn.

n tadaa...masuk bulan 3, my jongsarat alum jua siap. ia baru kan buatnya. ish ish ish. kesal sangat la dgn ketidak profesionalisma nya. luckily i bought jongsarat yg ready made atu. Alhamdulillah. and dat Bu Ajah? i told her 'cancel tia..'. n she repeatedly txted me f im jadikah nda mengambil arahnya. sudah atu ah.. ish ish... awal2 atu f dtext, mmbalas pun nda.

moral of the story, back up plan! i didnt expect benda ani bleh jadi. reputasi sudah ada bt yalah, sapa sangka jua. unfortunately jua, i believe she has full control on what she's doing bt she didnt run it quite well. baik jua tkananya i found jongsarat yg ngam, f nda??! hehehe...

k, atu saja..harap-harap semua dpt jdkan ani sebagai satu err pengajarankah tu? N ohh..my advice to any bride to be- fI dpt, elakkan tah suruh urg beramai-ramai dlm bilik...lagi byk baiknya dri buruknya. Hehe...

Semoga rahmat Allah mengiringi kitani dalam membina masjid dunia/akhirat ani..Amin...

Love,
Dania

*Amin* Well, I am still curious with the thing about 'elakkan orang beramai2 dalam bilik' ? Would love dear Dania to explain why.. :) Pretty please~~~ As for the kind words, I'm glad that I could help everyone (although indirectly) whenever I can .. :) Last but not the least, to my gal, MissG2, and those yang bakal melansungkan hari Pernikahan tomorrow, best of luck yeah! Didoakan semoga semuanya berjalan dengan lancar... *AMIN*

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Rasulullah SAW dalam hadisnya bermaksud, "Bila isteri itu mengerjakan sembahyang lima waktu, berpuasa bulan Ramadan, memelihara kemaluannya dan mematuhi suruhan dan larangan suaminya, maka akan dimasukkan dia ke dalam syurga." (riwayat Abu Hurairah)

1st Yr

~ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ~

This date last year was a memorable one. No words can describe how much I feel about this life we share together except to thank His Almighty for His blessings, guidance and revelations. Insya-Allah berkekalan ke akhir hayat....

*Amin*

Love you always my cinta,
Mrs. A