Xin Er

February 06, 2018

New Zealand Solemnisation

And so I got legally married last month. Before I forget what happened then, I better record it somewhere.

Date: 21 Nov 2017
Venue: Wanaka, New Zealand

I woke up from a nightmare of my teeth dropping and crumbling in my mouth. Well, I always get this dream whenever I'm going through something major in my life like first day of uni, opening of the centre, after R proposed etc.

R had a really late night so he slept in. I had to do the hair for my mom, sis and MIL so I couldn't sleep in.

I was literally the busiest bride ever. After that, I had to go set up the gazebo. Lucky for me, R's cousins came to join us for the wedding because their holiday in NZ coincided with the wedding. They were such a great help while those whom I expected to come help slept in. Tsk. Well, my bad, shouldn't have expected anything from anyone. Should keep this in mind for my banquet coming up in 23 Dec too.

My MUA came at 1pm to do my makeup before my PG came at 2pm to take getting ready photos.

Almost all the photos here were taken by my sis. So happy to have her with me. That's what siblings are for right? She walked around with us, following very closely behind our PG so that she can get some BTS shots.

The weather in NZ is nice. It is sunny but the wind is cooling and it is dry so you wouldn't perspire even for me! Yay! I hope I don't sweat like a pig 🐽 on 23 Dec.

So happy that my #taobao dress looks quite legit. 👏 👏

I'm not one who is very particular about clothing so when this dress came in the mail and it fits so well, I was so happy. Plus! It only costs me $70 and I got it when ezbuy had free shipping! 🎊 🎉

My prewed ball gown was only $30 but I needed to alter it so total it was also around $70 including shipping. It got so dirty after the shoot, I think I'm just going to throw it away.

After taking some photos around the compound, we rest for awhile before the helicopter came.

Ohh, before I forget, I think ang mo MUA really doesn't know how to draw asian face that well. Like they can't get the brows right for me. I couldn't take it so I asked her for the eyebrow pencil and filled it in myself cos she was taking too long and didn't know what I wanted.

I had those really thin brows and super strong arch like my mom's when she got married 30 years ago. Lol.

But of course, I explained to her nicely that we asians prefer thicker brows as it makes you look younger.

She knew I was a freelance MUA so it wasn't that bad when I took over the pencil. Ohh ohh ohh😥 my hair. Haiz. If only I could see my head and hair from all angles, I would have done it myself. So no choice.

But after we came down from the heli shoot, I changed the hairstyle myself and made my sister stand with a mirror behind me. Thank god for a sister.

More photos before the heli shoot.

I really love this photo a lot. I hope the PG got a better version of this in his super pro dslr.

Hello! Taobao bride here. Lol. Other than the dress, some other decorations are also from taobao. My hand bouquet and these flowers on the chairs. @sugarushh lent me the bride and groom sign.

My 100m fairy lights on the gazebo was also from taobao. I gifted it to the owners of the lodge since I don't need it anymore. I hope other brides can have an equally beautiful gazebo when they get married there
😄

First time on a helicopter and it was so fun. You have to wear this headphones and everyone communicated through it because it's just too noisy to talk normally.

I fb/insta live it, can't remember which one but the view was breathtaking.

We couldn't go up to the highest peak because it was booked for another wedding. You know they charge a $500 landing fee just to go to the top because the freaking mountain is privately owned? Wts

We initially wanted to go up there. I mean we already spent so much, why not just go all the way right? But since it was booked before us so we saved $500.

As you can see, the mua did not adjust my eyes properly and I didn't have time to redo it so well... Suck thumb.

Sg one will be better!

#dayrebrides

The view from this peak was also very nice.

It was really hard walking on mountain. I was already wearing Nike but the long dress didn't make it better. To top it all off, the PG kept asking me if I could run.

Hello 👋

I'm trying to stay alive for the wedding by walking slowly before I thought I might trip and fall, you still want to ask me to run. What?!

Well, I guess that's how you get those run halfway kinda poses.

We took these photos for each other because if we were to fly my sis up, that's an additional $200. #moneysuckers

Really love how my taobao bouquet stands out here. The contrast made the photo look very nice.

I hope my real flower bouquet in sg that I spent 10 times more on will be 10 times better looking. Lol

R in his dapper suit that can get me maybe 15 to 20 tao bao gowns. Lol.

He can rewear it so it's kind of justifying the price? No? Haha

The view from the helicopter as we returned for the ceremony.

I couldn't take the ugly hair no more so I changed it to a half up half down hairdo.

Here I am, waiting to walk to the gazebo.

Our march in song was How Long Will I Love You by Ellie Goulding.

When my sister signaled to the Celebrant that I was ready for the march in, my mind went into robot mode. Lol. During the rehearsal, I was walking too fast so I had to keep reminding myself to walk slowly. This stopped the emotions from flooding so by the time I reached the gazebo, R was alr tearing up.

Haha, I was shocked because the ceremony hasn't even started yet and he's already tearing up. Rofl. It made me look like a heartless bitch.

#myheartisrayxin #ryzerweds

R's brother opened the ceremony by saying a few words of love that we prepared for him. Then, the Celebrant talked, a lot. Can't remember what she said exactly but it's along the lines of how we met and stuff. Then it was R's turn. Tbh, I can't remember most part of his Vows except for the funny parts like his farts and all. Lol

He continued to tear like a baby when he was reading his Vows which made me cry. Hahaha. How can a guy be so emotional?

Then, it was my turn. Nothing super special.

But we made sure that the length of our Vows are similar.

My sis then said a few words of love and we ended the ceremony.

We catered food from Raspberry creek and the canapés were so good. Everyone also started drinking. We got out wines from duty free and the supermarket. The owners did not charge us for corkage so yay! Not so money minded like the restaurant in sg where we are gg to hold the banquet.

We rest for a bit before taking more photos with the PG before the dinner started. It was a really intimate event and I liked it though I thought some of them could've shown a little more initiative to help out or some enthusiasm.

You know R's bro and SIL actually asked if they could go for a vineyard tour on the actual day before the ceremony starts? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Not like they helped with anything but we booked the MUA for the SIL already and we were paying for it. So we said no.

One photo with the lovely owners who were so helpful and lovely.

Pauline actually took out her personal tea pot set gifted to her by her grandma for me to use for the tea ceremony. Touched ttm.

My sister, hiding from the PG, trying to snap a nice photo of us posing for the camera. Hahaha

Our wedding hashtag board that I did for the wedding. Going to hang this up somewhere during the sg banquet too.

One photo with my mom who got so emotional during the tea ceremony and my super sis who really stepped up and took so many gorgeous photos of us!

After chasing some sheep before the dinner, we were finally seated at the table waiting for dinner to be served.

Think we ordered too much because almost everyone couldn't finish their meal.

Hate it that dayre can't let me crop the photo is other ways. So sorry to those at the corners. Lol

The gazebo at night is gorgeous! We took some photos under it but there were so many flies it got a little disgusting.

So happy that it was over and we can enjoy the trip that my eyes were so small. Haha kidding, I think the mua didn't out the fake eyelashes properly so it was irritating my eyes.

This is how it looks like from afar. 😍

So sad that we had to tear everything down. Why can't sg weather be like nz then everyone can have outdoor wedding without fearing that their makeup will melt or they will be sticky?

Well, now that this is over, the bigger banquet is coming and some guests are really demanding. Kaoz. Is it you get married or I get married? Tsk tsk tsk. Wedding planning sucks.

Just when I posted on dayre using my diy photos, my PG sent me these. Lol. Fml. So here goes, some sneak pics for my friends on dayre.

Almost missed this out. Look at how gorgeous my faux floral bouquet from #taobao looks. I was actually contemplating to throw it away cos it was too troublesome trying to bring a bouquet back without crushing it. R told me to bring it back. It's sitting in my room now. 😍