The 50th Golden Anniversary ~ The Day

After months of preparation and sleepless nights, the day that I have been waiting for finally came. I started the day early, met Fazu at JDR at around 8.30pm. We went to Petaling Street to get some flowers and bouquets, had a quick breakfast and began the work. We prepared the centre piece for all the twenty tables and later decorated the guest book table. BJ and Nordin dropped by around 10am to say hello and was impressed with the place. That gave me a lot of comfort. They later left to get the mannequin which they borrowed from a friend’s boutique for the wedding dress.

The story of how we manage to get the wedding dress is also interesting. Shasha was task to get the dress from my Mum. I know that she still keeps the dress but I couldn’t simply take it from the house. So, one night Shasha took her Chinese friend, a lecture from Taylor’s College to the house and told them that he was doing a research on Malay culture which includes weddings. They bought their story and Daddy even told them how he met Mummy and the interview was recorded. I was at TLG when Shasha text me to say that “mission is accomplished, managed to get the wedding dress and recorded the interview on how they met”. Well, did they really buy the story? I later found out after the ceremony that they totally bought the stories. Amazing job Shasha.

When I met Bj for coffee and told her about the preparation, she came up with the idea of dressing up the mannequin with the wedding dress and some accessories to make it look real and the result was just awesome although we had difficulties trying to get the wedding dress fit into the mannequin. My Mum’s waist was smaller by 2 inches than the standard size of a mannequin! Wow…..that’s how slim she was on her wedding day 50 years ago! Truly remarkable…

Later Ida and Angah arrived to lend their expertise and assistance. They are my close relatives and are wedding planners. They helped us did the setting up of the dessert table and the main buffet tables and the décor outside. By then, I was already very exhausted.

Abah later arrived with the kids after fetching Dini from the PLKN Camp in Benum Hill Raub. I was worried that Dini might miss the ceremony and was against the idea of sending her for PLKN. We sent her off on the 3 January 2012 and I doubt they would release her just after a week she reported to the camp. But I never give up hope and I prepared a letter seeking the Commander’s consideration to allow her to come back for the occasion. So, Dini very much eager and excited to join the celebration made a brave move to see the Commander with the letter and to her surprised, he let her come back. I was jumping with joy when she called on Friday asking us to fetch her from the camp. So, Abah has no choice but left after subuh prayer on Saturday to fetch her. Alhamdulillah.

At around 7pm, the whole place was set and ready. Everyone started to freshen up themselves in the rooms that we have reserved. We booked 7 rooms for our family and TLG crew and were given one complimentary suite by JDR for the golden couple. In fact, we booked the other honeymoon suite for us (there were only two suites at JDR). When the first guests arrived, I started to get panic…I have not changed and freshen up. So, I rushed to the room before other guests arrived. Since I was doing the invites, I couldn’t rely on my brothers to accept the guests. To my surprise, my luggage was missing. I frantically searched for it in all the room but couldn’t find it. Called Abah to check if he left my bag at home and he was confident that he brought my bag when he came earlier with the kids. At that time, my parents were already in the car on the way to JDR. So we could not talk over the phone and had to rely on text messages. Gosh, what should I do, all my stuff were in there! Luckily the blouse that I am supposed to wear was there because it was hanged and Adik brought it along earlier. Later Abah called to say that he indeed left the bag at home unintentionally. Too late, the guests are all here and I have to get ready. I was lucky to be wearing a black pants and Aunty brought extra tudung that I could used! I was so relief. Well, it was not that bad after all, still managed to remain within the gold and black theme.










Intan and Liz were assigned at the Guest Book Table, welcoming the guests, making them sign the guest book and handing over the door gift. I was busy receiving the guests, most of them I did not recognize. Some of them were shocked to see me since they last saw me when I was in the primary, cute and slim little girl. I did not realize that the band has not arrived and it was almost 8pm. Abah told me that he will be arriving in 10 minutes time. Gosh, I started to get panic, called them and they said they would be arriving soon. So, I text Abah asking him to slow down a bit until I get everything organized. Aunty Mie was busy lining up their friend who would be doing the “Sword Arch” on their arrivals. The army tradition of saluting newly wed couples where they would walk under it. But this time, instead of using swords (since it is against the rule for retired army officer!!), we used the golf clubs. Six of Daddy’s golfers’ colleagues already stand by at the gate with their so called sword ready to receive them.