Showing posts with label preparation. Show all posts

Pre-pernikahan (Tips)

Kali ini, aku pengen cerita-cerita sedikit tentang persiapan pernikahanku kemarin, supaya blog-nya nggak wasted begitu saja setelah pernikahan terlaksana. Aku sebenarnya nggak terlalu expert dalam hal merencanakan event sebesar ini, khususnya di bagian "keuangan".. my bank account isn't improved much after the wedding, hehe.., but we're trying to save as much as we can.. for the future sake.

Kalo ngomongin pernikahan, emang banyak banget faktor A-Z yang nggak mungkin bisa disama-ratakan antar pasangan. Tapi, pada dasarnya, sebelum cari-cari vendor, hal yang paling utama dan musti di-set dari awal adalah: menentukan "besar"-nya pesta pernikahan yang akan diadakan. Sangat mungkin sekali ada perbedaan persepsi antara calon pengantin dan orangtua calon pengantin (nah loh!). Kalau hal yang paling awal sudah ditentukan, pasti selanjutnya akan jauh lebih mudah.. soalnya akan menentukan besarnya budget, venue yang masuk budget, vendor yang bisa dipilih, dan lain-lain.
(sumber gambar: Events by Natasha)
Aku coba jabarkan ya satu-satu, mungkin ada lebih kurangnya.. boleh loh ditambahin dan dikoreksi kalo ada yang nggak sesuai dengan pengalaman kalian..

1. Menentukan besar kecilnya acara

Hal ini perlu rembukan antara calon pengantin dan orangtua calon pengantin, soalnya biasanya acaranya akan melibatkan "reputasi" dan kepentingan banyak pihak. Kalau semua pihak punya kepentingan undangan yang banyak, maka pestanya nanti tentu akan jadi besar. 

Kebetulan pestaku kemarin dipisah jadi dua acara, yang mana orangtuaku lebih banyak undangan di pesta adat, sedangkan orangtua Yos dan Yos+aku lebih banyak undangan di pesta nasional. Jadi, cukup leluasa menentukan jumlah undangan dan jadinya nggak terlalu maksain jadi pesta gede-gedean - walaupun ujung-ujungnya jadi dobel repotnya karena dua kali naik pelaminan, hehehe.

Lalu, penting juga untuk tahu darimana "sumber dana" berasal..

2. Sumber dana

Nah kalau "besar"nya pesta sudah terbayang, pasti langsung tau dong siapa yang punya peranan besar dalam sumbangsih jumlah undangan. Kalau misalnya ternyata calon pengantin lebih vokal dalam menentukan jumlah undangan (yang misalnya ternyata jumlah undangannya 3/4 dari jumlah keseluruhan), ya lebih baik tahu diri untuk mengeluarkan uang dari kantong sendiri :D

Masalah dana dan sumbernya memang masalah yang agak sensitif untuk dibahas secara blak-blakan, apalagi statusnya semua masih 'calon' (calon suami, calon istri, calon mertua, calon besan, dll). Namun, keterbukaan seyogyanya dimulai sedari awal, daripada di tengah-tengah persiapan nanti saling todong sana-sini untuk membayar vendor yang entah siapa yang memutuskan dan memesan di awal; suasananya pasti nanti jadi tidak enak dan awkward..

3. Menentukan target dan menabung

Ini termasuk hal yang sulit buat aku, karena aku tidak pandai menabung dari sejak dulu (haha.. jujur..). Uang pasti abis entah kemana.. makanya aku perlu menentukan target menabung tiap bulan, untuk tahu berapa jumlah uang yang bisa aku tabung hingga hari pernikahan. Dari nominal target tabungan itu, aku jadi tahu "kemampuan"-ku saat memilih vendor.

Aku bikin tabel di Ms. Excel (dengan pengetahuan basic formula, untung masih inget dikit-dikit dari belajar komputer saat SMP), dan langsung ketauan nominal di akhir masa menabung.. Lalu aku bikin list vendor secara lengkap, harga-harganya, dan aku update setiap kali tanda tangan kontrak dengan vendor baru.. Nah, pastinya bisa keliatan apakah tabunganku cukup atau enggak untuk membayar semua pengeluaran pernikahan. Kalau misalnya ternyata minus, ya mau nggak mau musti kompromi dengan cari vendor yang lebih murah.. atau kompromi dengan menambah jumlah menabung tiap bulannya. It's my choice! Puji Tuhan sih, nominalnya nggak pernah minus (malah surplus dan bisa dipake buat honeymoon).. hehe.. membuktikan sebenernya kalo aku mau, aku bisa menabung dengan disiplin :)

4. Pilih-pilih vendor

Jangan ragu untuk sebar email ke berbagai macam vendor! Awalnya sih aku orangnya nggak enakan gitu, jarang follow up, dan membiarkan email-emailku tak berbalas. Tapi seiring berjalannya waktu, dan semakin mepet karena belum banyak vendor yang konfirm, aku akhirnya sedikit-sedikit mereduksi rasa "nggak enakan" dan mulai melancarkan jurus untuk terus-terusan nanyain progress atau balasan email dari vendor.

Jangan ragu juga untuk memutuskan untuk nggak memakai vendor tertentu, walaupun mereka sudah menyodorkan kontrak dan meminta konfirmasi kita. Yos dan aku termasuk orang-orang yang suka salah tingkah kalau menolak orang, makanya kami agak kerepotan di masalah tolak-menolak. Intinya sih, kuatkan hati dan tebalkan muka.. paling maksimal ya menolak lewat whatsapp atau email.. toh mereka juga usaha mencari klien dan kita sebagai klien punya hak untuk memilih-milih :)

5. List plus-minus

Masih melanjutkan tentang vendor.. sebaiknya kita punya list plus-minus yang bisa dipakai untuk merefleksikan kelebihan dan kekurangan dari vendor-vendor yang sudah kita hubungi. 

Entah kenapa, sepanjang persiapan pernikahan kemarin, aku maniak banget bikin list.. semuanya aku tulis di excel dan aku bikin tabel biar keliatan apple to apple; dan terus terang itu sangat membantu. Soalnya kalo nggak ditulis, dan cuma diinget-inget, kadang-kadang banyak poin yang missed. Coba deh, kamu sediakan waktu untuk membuat list perbandingan setiap vendor, bisa di kertas atau di laptop atau di ipad, your eyes will be wide open, dan rasanya lega banget langsung keliatan mana yang lebih oke.. Oh ya, dan kalau kita punya list yang tercatat (bisa diprint atau minimal bisa dilihat secara jelas di layar laptop), hal ini akan lebih mudah dijadikan bahan diskusi dengan pasangan atau orangtua.. :)

6. Siapkan folder khusus print out / dokumen

Aku meniru Monica Geller yang sangat particular masalah organizing things, walaupun aku nggak segitunya amat sih, hehe.

Aku punya satu folder khusus yang isinya print out macam-macam dokumen. Awalnya sih cuma menyimpan gambar-gambar referensi yang kami suka dan juga print out wedding budget kami. Tapi lama-lama jadi keisi macam-macam dokumen penting, seperti dummy undangan, dummy souvenir, surat penawaran, price list, dan bahkan surat kontrak dengan vendor.

Dengan adanya folder ini, kami jadi kebantu banget untuk mencari dokumen-dokumen yang kadang-kadang suka secara nggak sadar aku selipkan di antara buku-buku. Pokoknya setiap terima sesuatu yang berhubungan dengan acara pernikahan, aku selalu masukkan di dalam folder ini, jadi nantinya nggak kalang kabut nyari kalau sedang butuh.

7. Bikin barchart

Persiapan pernikahan itu biasanya rentangnya "bulan", sehingga terkesan punya banyak waktu. Padahal kalau di-rundown --- catatan: kalau kamu bekerja Senin hingga Jumat --- satu bulan itu kita cuma punya 4 kesempatan mikirin pernikahan (yakni: weekend); dan itu terhitung nggak banyak waktu. Kalau untukku, lebih repot lagi, aku nggak bisa tiap weekend ngurusin pernikahan dikarenakan lokasi yang jauh, jadi musti bergantung pada email.

Nah, kemarin aku bikin barchart; sampai tanggal segini, harus udah konfirm apa aja.. sampai bulan segini harus udah bayar apa aja.. dst. Jadi, semuanya aku kontrol supaya nggak kebablasan kelupaan; dan kalaupun minta tolong sama Mama yang di Jakarta, sebisa mungkin aku ingetin tentang apa saja yang harus dilakukan sampai batas waktu tertentu.

8. Rajin blogwalking atau browsing

Baca-baca review dari pengalaman orang tentang persiapan pernikahan mereka, amat sangat membuka mata. Awalnya sih aku cuma baca dari blognya Melur, tapi kemudian setiap aku nemu nama vendor baru, aku langsung googling dan buka blog lain yang punya review pribadi tentang vendor tersebut. Sebisa mungkin sih aku selalu maksimalkan penggunaan google, baik itu nyari alamat, nomer telepon, atau email.

Selain blogwalking, aku juga rajin baca-baca weddingku.com, walaupun aku nggak aktif-aktif banget, tapi aku lumayan jadi silent reader semua review yang relevan dengan persiapan pernikahanku. Ada beberapa vendor yang sukses aku temukan berkat weddingku.com, antara lain vendor undangan, MUA adat, MUA martumpol (acara pertunangan), dan dekorasi adat. Di forum WK juga banyak orang-orang yang bakal menjawab kalau kita mengajukan pertanyaan, pokoknya sangat aku rekomendasikan sign up di weddingku.com, bahkan sampe sekarang aja aku masih seneng baca-baca forumnya.. Hehe.

9. Follow your heart..

Last but not least, semua kembali lagi ke hati masing-masing. Walaupun review udah ciamik, tapi kalau hati berkata lain, saranku sih ikutin kata hati saja.

Aku sempet hampir kemakan review-review dan iming-iming harga lebih murah, tapi pada akhirnya aku ngikutin hati.. dan terbukti, aku nggak menyesal dengan keputusanku :)


---

Segitu aja tips-tips-nya, semoga berguna dan nggak semakin panik dalam persiapannya ya girls! Kalau menghadapi masalah, diselesaikan dengan sabar dan kepala dingin, supaya nggak jadi heboh dan merembet kemana-mana. If I can do it, you can do it as well! :)

xoxo,
n/y

September.

Hello!

Sudah bulan September nih :) Sedikit demi sedikit kalender dibalik dan bulan semakin mendekati ke  hari H.. beuh tidak terasa yaaa.

Sedikit hore-hore dulu ya, soalnya banyak progres persiapan.. kemarin habis pulang ke Jakarta untuk mengurusi perintilan-perintilan, dan puji Tuhan semua lancar carrr carrrr. Thankfully, Jakarta was quite friendly last Saturday <3

Two major things from last Saturday:
1. Wedding ring
Were collected from Toko Mas Suki. We love love love the wedding rings! Saya suka banget sama cincinnya, hehe.. pengen langsung pake! Komen dari mamaku dan mamanya Yos juga ternyata positif-positif aja. Saya nunjukkin ke temen saya sneak preview desain cincinnya, komennya, "Hah? Cincin kalian kaya gini??". That's exactly the comment I expected! :))
Wedding ring box.
2. Kebaya
Kebaya martumpol dan pemberkatan saya sudah mau selesai! Mungkin  bisa dibilang  95% selesai.. tinggal dirapihin di sana sini aja. Kemarin fitting lagi, dan tampilannya udah cakep, bustiernya juga muat (fyi, my first fitting months ago, bustier-nya nggak muat karena saya menggendut nampaknya - well, atau Mas Agus bikinnya sengaja diperkecil sambil ngarep saya bakal diet sebelum hari H, hehe.)
Sneak preview kebaya saya :D
Selain dua hal di atas, dua hal lain yang berhasil dicicil:

3. Undangan Marhusip
Udah kelar print undangan marhusip yang berjumlah 70 undangan. Saya pilih print di sini karena sambil nostalgia jaman kuliah yang saban bulan menyambangi Benhil buat printing di A1 dan A3 buat bahan presentasi. Hehe..
Harga print di HQ Printing service: per lembarnya IDR 1500, BW bolak-balik (kertasnya saya bawa sendiri). Sebenarnya kalau mau lebih menghemat, bisa print satu kali, lalu fotokopi perbanyak.. sayangnya saya nggak bisa melakukan itu, karena kertas saya bukan kertas HVS. Well, that's okay though, kami puas dengan tampilan undangan marhusipnya :)
A pile of invitation.
4. Jas Yos
Yos fitting jas pertama kali.. belum keliatan jelas sih gimana-gimananya, tapi udah keliatan pas di Yos walaupun jasnya masih penuh jarum pentul di sana-sini. Yos juga nggak keliatan buncit atau ndut, hahaha. Tiga minggu lagi, jasnya udah siap dijemput ;)
Fitting jas.
Will be back again to Jakarta within one month time (or more), and meanwhile harus segera instruksi untuk mencetak undangan resepsi dan souvenir resepsi, sembari mempersiapkan desain untuk undangan martumpol dan tata ibadah pemberkatan. Hap! Hap! To do list-nya masih lumayan panjang ternyata..

Updates so far:
Kebaya: BROSS by Agus
Wedding Ring: Toko Mas Suki
Jas Yos: Sunita Tailor, Pasar Baru
Print undangan marhusip: HQ Printing Service, Benhil
Fotografer martumpol: Color of Ro

(Update yang lebih lengkapnya ada di sini)
xoxo,
n/y

hundreds-something days

Yes, it is getting closer.

And I am feeling okay. no bridezilla mood-swing.

Instead, I want it to come faster, so that I could move forward and plan other things, perhaps a long trip, or a house-hunting and house decoration, or a baby. This wedding preparation thingy has gone too damn long.. .. .. and I'm still attached on every single detail in it - though I don't deny that I love it too.

It's been said for several times, I think, I'm not a big party girl, and if I had an opportunity to choose my wedding-style, I would choose a tiny ceremony up in the hill.
~ For me, it is true, that it's almost never about the wedding, but the marriage itself. We can't hardly wait to spend days together, in all the sweets and bitterness along the way. It's days with him that matter.
photo by: Max Wanger
Is this some kind of pre-wedding blues?

Well, so far, these are the updates for vendors we've engaged:

Engagement:
MUA : Ita Tambunan (Tamio Make Up Artistry)
Bride's dress : Mas Agus
Bride's shoes : Pedro
Catering : Siva Catering
Photographer : Calosa Kadim
Videographer : Sean Kurnia
Invitation : Our own design and will be self-printed

Traditional party:
Venue : Bagas Raya
Catering : Siva Catering
Music : Laspados
Decoration : Romora Decor
MUA & Hand bouquet : Sofia Make Up
Wedding Car : Sewa Classic
Souvenir : My Mom's choice
Photographer & Videographer : Liza Photography
Wedding Dress : Mas Agus

Wedding Reception:
Wedding Organizer : Purusatama
Venue : Balai Sudirman
Catering : Alphabet
Decoration & Hand bouquet : Janur Kuning
MUA : Sanggar Liza
Wedding Dress : Sanggar Liza 
Souvenir : Kuchiwalang Art
Invitation : Amadea Art
Guest Book : Handmade by Yos & me
Photographer & Videographer : Liza Photography
Photo Booth : Liza Photography
Prewed photos : Personal documentation
Groom's shoes : ALDO

Almost done? I guess.

We're now moving forward to the next thing: searching for honeymoon's destination! ;)

xoxo,
n/y

sweat the small things (part I)

There are hundreds of small things that we might miss during the wedding preparation; and only being realized when it comes closer to the D-day. I'd prefer not to and sweat all the small things in the earlier stages.

One of the small things is a wedding guest book.

Since day 1, I've decided to buy several small things from Etsy.  It's been a trusted site for unique items that we rarely find from other places; and I've listed down several items from there (from some different sellers). Well, you know, too many pretty things makes me indecisive.

Shop: Bella Puzzles 




What do you think?

xoxo,
n/y

talking about woven..

----- I deleted a few lines I just typed, and I have no idea why I am telling you this! -----

Being a Bataknese means wearing a songket in most of the traditional events - not a fan of songket, though. I know that it's important for the parents to wear songket in this big occasion (their children's wedding day), so it's un-debatable to choose one and wear it on the D-day. I am no expert in choosing songket, since for me it feels more "old people" textile.. so I will let them choose for me (finger-crossed, they would choose less gold thread for me - which I already doubt it from the first second I said it).

I proposed to wear non-songket for the engagement ceremony (martumpol - in Bataknese) and for the reception. My mother agreed for the engagement, but still disagree for me not wearing songket in reception. I will give my best reason for not wearing a songket in reception.. let's see how it goes. And yes, I'm that stubborn.

Furthermore, Yos' mom has given me a songket (limasan from Palembang) and a troso woven silk (from Jepara)  for the engagement.

 Songket (Limasan)

Troso woven

Surprisingly, I kinda like the songket limasan. Like I said before.. I don't like a lot of gold thread in a songket --- limasan has much less of gold thread which exposed the beauty of the textile's pattern itself.

And the troso woven is just so pretty! Grey silvery color, with the simplicity of the appearance. Yos said he likes the troso (--- well, you know.. we're fans of dark colors), and I do so. It's not so busy being the center of attention, it has the beauty of humble pattern and character. Sorry, I'm not so good in describing these.

I will look at these two pretty things more closely, while considering the color of my kebaya later. :)

One more thing is almost settle.. and the third month of the year 2014 is coming soon. Oh, time flies!

xoxo,
n/y

font(zilla)

Rather than worrying about the wedding dress or whatsoever, I am combating with my head in choosing the right font for the invitation. Irrelevant, you think, perhaps. But this font thingy is kinda interesting to involved with.

(We're such a lucky couple, by living far for home, all the necessary things for the wedding was being held by the parents of ours (i.e.: wedding venues and catering). We handle small things which are less urgent, including the wedding invitation design.)

After some discussions, we agreed for several options for the theme, styles, and color scheme. And with references we found in the internet, more or less we know what we want. Simple design, for sure. Yos got his part, sketching. I got my part, searching for suitable fonts. And as usual, looking for a font is not a difficult task, but also not as easy as it sounds. In the beginning of searching, usually, I feel interested with the free fonts available in the internet; but after 10 or 15 minutes I start to get sick of it. Haha, sorry for that.

Below are several fonts I've successfully downloaded, some are just a trial because its good preview, and some are might be included in our list of options. Happy downloading!




xoxo,
n/y

invitration

Both of us are architects, but none of us is experienced enough in designing cards --- although, I'm one of those human on earth who takes cards-giving-moments seriously. I, myself, fond of typography, although not confidence enough to call myself a pro. I'm an observer and a follower of some blogs who often post and do some workshops in typography and/or graphic designing.

Now that we're in a stage of collecting ideas to do our invitation, we can use our own expertise (a little bit) in designing stuff like this --- though it's two different kinds of design, both in method and approach. I was thinking to match ulos pattern and batik pattern in the invitation. But, let's see how it goes.. I'm still developing on how to match both patterns in one canvas. Personally, it's a good approach to create new pattern and will give a nice little touch to the invitation.

Here are some ideas we like, including the modern fonts for inspiration. We're thinking not to put curved fonts that are oftenly used in wedding invitations, and prefer to use the simpler-fonts instead.





xoxo,

first thing first

I'd almost lost in deciding what to do first. Randomly thinking about the souvenirs at first --- and Yos' mom even brought us to Jogja to choose cheap and unique souvenirs to order in advance. I was thinking that it's better to buy whatever I can buy in the earlier days, so in the end, when I'm too busy doing more important things, the small stuffs is already done and don't have to be taken care of. Then later after that, I realized that I haven't even choose the date and book the building.

First thing first --- not to mention that Jogja's souvenir has been included in the shopping cart --- describing the main picture of the wedding itself:

a. How big will it be
This will affect the invitation, the catering, the building's capacity, and etc. We're not the right persons to decide the amount of people who will be invited, since Indonesian's wedding culture in general is about inviting parents' friends and relatives. So, it's between parents, whether they want it big or small.

b. Date!
We don't know yet the exact date, so we're just estimating the possible months, not even trying to favorite any of the dates or months, the best we can do is roughly know when is the most convenient time for all parties, and then the availability of venues will be the next key point.

c. Looking for venues
Basically, by summarizing what the parents have talked about, I know that there'll be four different events for the wedding: Martumpol (it's Bataknese-Christian ceremony, the event usually takes place in a church), Holy Matrimony, Traditional Wedding Party, and Wedding Reception. The most difficult parties we need to find places for are the Traditional Party and Wedding Reception. I am not really concern about the Traditional Party's venues, since all venues are almost similar, what differ them are the sizes and location. So, as long as the date is confirmed and the price is affordable, we're okay about that.
I'm more concern about the Wedding Reception venue, since it'll be the most money-sucking item. We're now looking for a simple place with lovely traditional touch, need not to be too grand or luxurious, as long as it's big enough for the people and decent enough to decor.





Frankly, in my mind, I'd always want a simple outdoor party with several guests only. I envy the Westerns, since they're more flexible in celebrating their wedding days. I even imagining elopement wedding.. and, still want it though.

d. Color theme
By having four different events, it's more headaches to choose the colors. I'm not gonna choose pink, for sure.. maybe light grey, gold-brown, or ruby green. Since black has already eliminated since day one, so there's no way I can go that direction --- we maybe prefer earthy look for the themes. Have to dig a little bit more to look for more options in colors, and to match with Yos' color skin as well :D

e. Photo
Not gonna have pre-wedding session, that's one thing. I'm more concern for the Actual Day' photoshooting. The most important is holy-matrimony, then after that.. wedding reception, since I believe traditional party has already its own listed-photographers I can choose from.

Five items I can list down for the very first steps, and I know it'll take most of our (everybody's) time to decide what's the best. After the first three items, days will be easier, I guess.


xoxo,
n/y