My Once-in-a-lifetime - Page 4
Through Lian, she recommends that I go for some pampering and slimming so that I will present myself as a beautiful bride to my new husband. What a nice lady! She gave me a list of beauty salons for me to go and visit.
The key to the entire facial is that I have to do no later than 2 weeks before the wedding in case of outbreak especially since I don’t have the habit of going to facials but I can’t do any earlier than that otherwise there will not be any effect. In fact, the last facial I been to is 4 years ago dragged by one of my friends because she has a discount voucher.
I called all the 5 beauty salon Lian recommended and chose to go with Japanese Slim Beauty House because of the price they quoted me was very reasonable and they asked me to purchase the slimming package with complimentary facial and body scrub.
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This is the place, not too hard to find, just off the main street and turn right.
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When I first arrive I was 15 mins early and they usher me to the common sitting area.
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They even provide the latest magazines while I wait. How thoughtful!
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5 mins later, my therapist introduce herself and led the way to a long corridor to one of the rooms.
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Already on the bed was the gown I am going to change into.
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Without leaving the room, they have their own attached bathroom. Nice!
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The bed I am suppose to lie in for the next 4 hours.
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This is the machine that are going to use for my slimming.. Here goes!
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After the treatment, I was treated with a cup of warm red tea. I went home to weight myself and I saw that I lost only a little however, my clothes felt significantly looser and my face is definitely glowing. I think I shall visit them more for my slimming needs before the wedding.
Overall, It was a great experience!
As the wedding date draw closer, my attention grew more anxious. The stress level is much higher than before and I kept snapping at Wei for all the little things he have done wrong. Even when he accidentally broke one of my favourite mugs, I flew into a rage when usually I couldn’t cut less and care more about whether he had hurt himself.
What’s wrong with me? There can be only one answer. I am overly stressed out.
So I decided to do something I really enjoy which is to pamper my nails. I want my nails to look extraordinary pretty during my wedding and below are the designs I have found.
 "Wedding nail design")
Very bridal and classy but it is also very common. I want something little unique less traditional.
 "Wedding nail design")
This one is really sweet. I love how one of the fingernail is only with sparkles.
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Another classy design, very common for brides to take this up. In fact, my manicurist suggest it as well.
 "Wedding nail design")
This is another one since I like sparkles and it is easy to grow it out too, given the nude shades at the bottom.
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This is a design I chosen at last because of the sweet color and how well it blended the soft pink with the light green, just like my theme.
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Now for my toenails, I want to go really bright and cheery after all no one can see my toes. Wiggle wiggle!
 "Wedding nail design")
This is another design I really like due to the flower motifs but the color is a bit dull, don't you think so?
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This one is more common among the bridal choices either this or the French pedicure.
 "Wedding nail design")
In the end, I prefer this. Very suitable to be my colour theme and it just looks so summery! Bright and cheery!
Planning a wedding is not simply task. In fact, my vendor couldn’t come up with a timetable and I have to do so, together with the help of another ex-colleague of mine who has been married before, we came up with a rough guide of the wedding planning timetable.
8am – Arrival of the make up artist and hair stylist
8.30am – Arrival of the photographer
9am – Arrival of Bridesmaid
9.30am – Arrival of the Groom and his best man
10am – Tea ceremony at Bride’s home and fetching of the bride
10.45am – Team Ceremony at the Groom’s home
11am – Arrival of the flower girls
11.30am – Making our way to the wedding venue
12noon – Start of our ceremony
12.30pm – Exchange of vows
1pm – Lunch Starts
1.30pm – Cake cutting
2pm – Champagne popping
3pm – Thank you speech and bouquet toss
3.30pm – End of Lunch
They say the crucial thing to scoring a fabulous wedding celebration knows what's supposed to happen when. But I don’t want to be flustered on my wedding day so I have gotten the vendor to coordinate everything for me that happens on the venue itself and before the venue, my bridesmaid will be in charge of coordinating together with Kong on the groom’s side.
I just hoped that the planning of timetable is enough and I keep my fingers cross to make sure nothing bad happens!!
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After pampering myself on the beauty salon, I figure I might as well pamper my hair. Wei has been commenting that my hair feels brittle ever since last winter and I should get it looked at. I wanted to look for Shanie and go to her salon for treatment since she is going to be my hair stylist on my wedding day but alas, her salon is fully booked for the whole week, she don’t think she can squeeze me in.
I just had to asked around to see whereas could accommodate my last minute booking. I found one pretty near Wei’s workplace and I have made an appointment for us to go to the salon for a hair treatment and a quick trim.
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The place is empty when we first arrive maybe because it is located near industrial area hence it is not that accessible. But it is good for me because I like quietness.
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We are allow to choose books to read or sample coloring book or hair style books.
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That's Wei sitting beside me. Hehe! He is camera shy!
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The whole place feels warm and cozy. Only after 7pm, some of the customers started streaming in.
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Tea and sweet for us to munch on while we sit quietly and get pampered.
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That's me and my hairstylist! See how he meticulously blow-dry my hair parts by parts? So caring right?
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Poor husband, his hair cut for done in 10 mins but my hair treatment takes around 1 hour and he has to sit there patiently and not to mention hungrily until my hair is complete. He is a saint!
I have been going to Japanese Slim Beauty House for regular slimming session and my husband has commented that I looked more toned than ever. However, I have not really picked up their facial package because frankly, even the slimming package cost us quite a bit and I don’t want to have to strain our cost because of that.
Thankfully, I still able to do my own in house facial on my own and below I shall share how actually I managed it.
First of all, is to purchase different facial packs.Depending on your skin needs, you choose different kind of mask you should do. I choose this because in addition to hyaluronic acid ingredients, mixing two kinds of jelly ingredients, anti-aging, moisturizing, restores skin plump and smooth.
The effect is suppose to increase skin elasticity , to resist external damage and also detoxification, the skin against external damage and making my face bright and delicate.
Before I used the mask, I cleansed my face thoroughly using my usual facial cleanser after which I use another facial scrub to remove all the dead skill cell, last but not least, then the mark.
To make me relaxed, I did it when I know no one is going to be home for at least 2 hours, I put on relaxing music, turned down the lights in my room and lighted up a few aromatherapy scented candles.
Ta-dah!
My very own little facial beauty spa! The benefit of this is that I don’t need to dress up and go out for this and after my facial, I can continue with my afternoon nap. Hehe!
Cheap and good!
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According to traditions, we need to prepare a lot of things; actually it is Wei who needs to prepare a lot of things for me but I know he is overwhelmed with work and with the coordination with the wedding vendor. Instead, I went with his mother, my future mother-in-law to purchase and order some of the items on the list.
One of the items I need is roasted piglet. The suckling pig was a symbol of ‘virginity’, referring to the purity of the bride who before the wedding night has never courted anyone; and from that night on she is the ‘woman’ of the groom. This made me blush as I ordered the piglet with my mother-in-law. Wei is supposed to deliver this to my house.
Next we need to order is 50 boxes of wedding double happiness cakes. The wedding cakes are usually presented to the bride's family by the groom's family as part of the proposal gift. Bride's family will then present some of the cakes to worship their ancestors and send the rest of cakes to friends and relatives along with wedding invitations.
We also need new bed sheets in red and gold embroidery with dragon and phoenix as well as red paper cutouts and banner to decorate the house of both sides. Red banners used for wedding is called "happiness banners", which is an essential part of the wedding decorations. It's decorated on both sides of the doors of the newlywed's home and the reception site.
The Chinese writing on the banners are rhythmic poem praising the adorable couple and the perfect marriage. We also bought a package of lotus seed to spread around the bedroom and the bed to signify the wishes of wanting many children.
In additional to that, my mother-in-law bought me chinese red long candles which they called the Dragon and Phoenix candles and a set of comb. This is to be used on the day of our wedding to comb my hair by an old married women.
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The biggest day of my life is finally here!! I woke up at 4am to invite the old married woman to comb my hair in front of the mirror and the chinese red long candles while she murmured blessings with each comb. My mother prepared a bowl of tang yuan soup, which signify family harmony. The combing of hair ritual must be completed before sunrises and that why I woke up at 4am. After which, I had to take a flower bath to get rid of any bad luck and dressed in my new pajamas, waiting for my make up artist and hair stylist to arrive.
At this point, I can’t leave the bedroom anymore and I have two hours to reflect upon my single life. When the professionals arrive, the day shall begin, my parents already hard at work prepping light snacks for everyone and make sure that all the decorations are in place.
When Wei came to the house, I could hear commotion outside my window because it is bad luck to see the groom before he officially collect me, I dare not even take a tiny peek out. Haha!
After much haggling from the bridesmaid and some of my female friends, Wei is allowed into the house and he had to sing my favorite Chinese love song before he is let into the room. I could see pride and love shone in his eyes as he bow down towards my face to give me a chaste peck on the forehead.
Then the tea ceremony on my side started without any hitch. We arrive at his house about half an hour earlier hence we need to hang around the apartment vicinity for the auspicious hour to cross over his threshold.
After the tea ceremony at his place, we walked around to the park where our wedding is going to be held, much to the amusement to the motorists.
The day was initially gloomy and we are afraid that it will rain on us but towards the noon, the heavy clouds cleared and the sun shine on just like my love for my new husband.
Wish us happily forever!
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