The making of A Fairytale Love

Behind every success, there is always unseen hard work. This is very true for my wedding too. In the below, I just wanted to write up and reminisce some of the hard work we did which went into making our special day so special.

We decided to design our own wedding bands so that they will be truly one of a kind. They may be rather simple but I really do treasure them lots. So what if there's no carat or big ruby, my ring is the only one that I want to wear and the one I'll love most.

This is the main design on the wedding bands which is placed in the front centre. It is shaped like an anchor since we have a deep relation with the ocean (my hubby is a naval officer). It also means that we have anchored our love and it's here to stay. The anchor is made up of our initials, 'J' and 'S' symmetrically. I will always be protected by my hubby and will be in his heart no matter what happens. Or so I like to think. =) We also pledge to stand side by side through our love journey, two hearts tied as one.

This is the back design which takes the shape of a wave. It is again made of the small alphabets 'j' and 's'. It is to symbolise that no matter how rough the seas may get, we will tide over it as hubby and wifey.

This was the inside of our wedding invite. I personalized the text and also added in the drawing on the left since the Eiffel Tower holds such a special meaning to us. It was where we got engaged!

With the help of my mum, we tied the ribbons onto near 450 invites. Most of them were in black while the rest were cream and red. Just so that our relatives wouldn't faint when they saw black invitations.

I also did the ballroom setup. As mentioned, we themed our wedding "A Fairytale Love" and I named each of the 43 tables after a fairytale character. My VIP table was Cinderella and my hubby's was Prince Charming. =) Nope, it wasn't a coincidence.

To make the table names more apparent and easy-to-spot, I made tentcards for all. This was an example of the design and it could be folded to make a nice little tentcard.

I loved my guestbook, but to make it even more unique, I added in pictures from our photoshoots and also fairytale backgrounds. Each of our picture had a love quote and each fairytale picture had a romantic line from its theme song. Yeah I said it, I'm a hopeless romantic!

One thing that made me very proud was that I made all my wedding videos myself (except for the actual day morning express highlights which would be impossible for me). I did a fairytale video as an introduction, a childhood video which also comprised of how our love story began and memorable moments from our ROM, and lastly I did a 13min behind-the-scene video which showcased fun moments that went into preparing for our wedding and our photoshoot.

Our wedding featured a live SMS event where guests could use instant messaging to write in their wishes for us and they would be shown on the huge projector screens in the ballroom. Well, no one would participate unless they knew how to do it eg. what number to SMS to. Thus, we had to do instructional cards which would be placed on the table of every single guest. Going by my style of doing things, I wanted to design the cards myself so that they would be in line with my theme. And boy I did, designed, printed, cut over 400 cards by myself. Well, actually it was quite easy once you got the hang of it.

As for the wedding favours, I didn't use what the hotel supplied. Not that they weren't good, they were nice, but just too common and nothing extraordinary. So again, I did my own favours. I decided to burn all my videos onto a VCD. I designed 10 different covers and these graphics were printed directly onto the cds themselves. I really want my guests to feel the extra touch and the efforts we had put in. Though I bet many of the CDs would be lost or misplaced eventually after the guests brought them home. It's the thought that counts, right?

Voila! Each guest had a CD placed nicely there. I did 10 designs so that every table could showcase 10 different designs. Though I took one day and one night to place the CDs into the casings and then to sort them out into different stacks for every table, I felt really accomplished and satisfied with the end results. I remembered my dad was chiding me that night for doing so making things and making myself so tired. He even asked me if it was worth it. Well, it was, daddy, very much. Given a choice, I would probably do it all over again.

 

The best part I loved about the wedding was when we sang our own song "Our Fairytale" for the second march in. It felt nice to be able to compose and record our own song, something that we would remember for a lifetime. I had lots of fun recording it in the studio too, it was my first experience! Well, even if I went off key, it was still very enjoyable and made me lol. Which made me go off key even more. Haha.

Thanks to publicity efforts from friends who attended my wedding, the event was given press coverage in Female Brides. I was proud to be able to share my Happily Ever After story with many readers out there.

To conclude, I must say planning for a wedding is no easy task and kudos to all brides, grooms and wedding planners out there who put in so much sweat, and tears, or even blood, to making that special day work. My wedding was, in my eyes, a huge success and a very memorable day indeed. No doubt I was the happiest bride married to the happiest man on that happiest day. Cheers!