We completed Centacare's Marriage Preparation course at the end of last month after three one half hour "one-on-one" weekly sessions with our counsellor. How the sessions were conducted was circled around the results from the preliminary questionnaire Lee and I completed separately before the new year. There weren't any right or wrong answers, but we were measured up against each other's answers to see if we had any differing opinions about statements which may be cause for conflict in the relationship.

Interestingly, we were explained to that there are four levels of a couple's state based on the results. By order of ideals, there was the Vitalized Couple, Harmonious Couple, Traditional Couple and Conflicting Couple.

So our wedding preparations are trucking along slowly, but surely. We finally sat down and drew up our guest list of 20-25 people... Then at our next meeting with Fr. Joe, whom we'd been seeing fortnightly, we would have prepared a draft of the ceremony booklet. And I have begun talking to one of the two restaurants we want to have our lunch reception at here in Balmain. I guess what's next up would be the invitations, which we have already discussed what we wanted and are going to be designing it ourselves.

A detail which Lee brought up which he'd like to do for our wedding is to request an ang pau (hong bao) from our guests instead of gifts. That this would help us pay for some of the wedding expenses as well as help us begin our new life together. I thought this was a bit challenging seeing as 2/3rd of our guests aren't Chinese, so I've been trying to think of a way to execute this without offending our guests. One idea would be to mail it along with the wedding invitations, and insert a little note with the red packet explaining the cultural meaning and request of the gesture. The other would be to explain to them in person that they will be provided little red packets at the reception and what the gesture meant.

I'm rather leaning towards the first idea, but am currently in a dilemma about getting these ang pau envelopes here in Sydney. I had two packs of really pretty gold wedding ang paus back in KL, but obviously forgot to pack them! I might just need to get a girlfriend to help buy them for me, or see if I'm lucky enough to find them at Haymarket or Cabramatta.

It's been a rather busy week for me, with the wedding plans overshadowing my birthday, while getting into the swing of part time work. The good news is, there are definitely more things getting sorted out for the wedding preparations.

Last Saturday (on my birthday), MiL and I went up to Cabramatta to hunt for fabrics for my wedding gown. The suburb out in Sydney's west, is known for its Chinese and Vietnamese traders. Slightly alarmed that we had chosen to be out there during the third day of Chinese New Year, that the shops might not be opened, we were instead greeted by that all too familiar loud drumbeats and fire crackling noise. I got excited. A lion dance!!! *^_^* I told MiL I definitely had to take pictures to prove to everyone back home that Sydney isn't as pathetically quiet as they think it is during CNY. tsk.

Anyway, the shops were definitely open and I also managed to find some ang pau packets! Although, I was too taken in by these adorable small-sized packets and bought three of them. Only to be showing a displeased Lee who thought they were too small! Might as well give our guests the impression that we only wanted spare change in our little red packets! Har-har... This is my kwai-lo fiancé telling me this, mind you! =P I guess I'll just need to find another use for them with the favours then. ^_~

Mulling over decisions for all these wedding preparations, going out browsing and shopping for things all in such a short time frame, especially in a city I barely know inside out, is all very stressful. It became very evident to me why people take at least a year to make wedding preparations.

We've only got less than two months to go now. My visa doesn't give me the luxury most people would have. What more, given our small A$3000 budget to fit every thing in. How and where do you find bargains and ask favours for so many things? I know if I'm doing all this back in KL, it would've been so different. But it's a challenge I think I'm managing well armed with honesty.

I was out today late night shopping at Westfield Chatswood, doing a browse around for shoes. I wasn't expecting to find one today, I just wanted to know what I needed to set aside for something nice. I half imagined I'd find anything below A$100 because every wedding or evening wear shoe had so much bling or was a gorgeous handmade silk or satin. I was hoping for a laced shoe, one like what I had years ago from Tangs.

I almost felt like Cinderella, looking for all kinds of 'glass slippers' literally. And then, I found myself these gorgeous bridal shoes for A$15 that was originally sold at A$128! I had to pinch myself when I saw the price tag! Even asked the sales girl to be sure. Talk about a bargain. *^_^* It even looked good in the jeans I was wearing. Hehe...

Most of the invitations were finally sent out in these last couple of days. Lee and I spent most of last weekend shopping for stationery, printing, cutting and pasting them out until we ran out of ink and saliva. Heh. No, we didn't lick them all in place of adhesive.

One of my girlfriends sent me a few packets of the pretty gold wedding ang pow (seen on the left of photo) I needed, and I had a little note attached to them to send off along with the invites. To make it tasteful, I found a wedding site which had poetry verses I could choose from to politely word the gift of cash request.

"If you were thinking of giving a gift, to help us on our way.
A gift of cash towards our new life, would really make our day.
However, if you prefer to purchase a gift,
feel free to surprise us in your own way."
***
If you do choose to present us a gift of cash, the Chinese traditional way to do so is with this little red-gold envelope called the 'hong bao' or 'ang pow'.

I could've written the verse more tailored for us, but I was so caught up and stressed about trying to get all the invites done and sent out before the month was over. Especially for the ones heading to Malaysia. While that was written on one side, the other side had a brief cultural explanation of what an ang pow was.

The other wedding preparations now would be to get the wedding booklet designed and printed, deciding and selecting our bridal party, contemplating a violinist for our wedding ceremony, the reception DIY decorations, the little DIY wedding favours (which I've handmade two samples already) and I think a whole lot more!

*takes a deep breath*

For our lunch reception, we chose Our Place on Darling, which just a two minute walk from the church where we'll be having our ceremony. Their upstairs courtyard just spells cozy for our 25 guests, for which we're likely to have canapés and drinks rather than the 3-course sit-down menu. Lee liked how the courtyard felt more like someone's backyard rather than a fancy restaurant.

Although, I'm trying to think up ways of dressing the place up without breaking the bank and considering the short time frame I would have amidst all the other preparations. I'm also still unsure about the "army" of friends I might be able to get on hand to help with things, but generally I do have a vague simple idea on what I'd like to do with the place.

It's not as small as the photo makes it out to be, but God willing, the weather would be great for that typical outdoor-sy Australian atmosphere on an early autumn day.

A little bit of white netting and trailing red and silver ribbons maybe? Hmm...