<h4>The Wedding</h4>

I started on this entry many times, only to delete it all and start all over again from scratch. Me? loss for words?? Impossible?? Yeah I know but I really dunno what to write. I wish I can tell u all about my wedding in the minutest detail but I realised I hardly knew what was happening. For the most part of both days, I was in a daze, on cloud 9, had my head in the clouds etc, etc. As my cousins said it, I only had eyes for HIM. and him ME. Ok go puke now.

I'll tell u a lil' about the days leading up to the wedding though. The first instance of family camping over was my grandaunt and 2 teenage cousins from Pahang on the prior Sunday. Then my uncle and aunt with their 6 kids in tow on Tuesday morning. I was already on leave from work from Tuesday the 16th onwards (till 3rd Jan 05). On Wednesday the flood gates opened and all my relatives came one family by one family with luggage in tow. We had to designate the study room to be the Luggage room. The old folks in my mom's and the anak dara's in the bridal chamber. Thursday we had a berzanji reciting majlis cum doa selamat and tahlil. And friday was the "berinai" day. I dislike fancy smancy henna designs and so my aunt brought freshly plucked n pounded henna from Pahang. But seeing my niece, Yasmin armed with a henna tube she went all the way to Serangoon to get and an enthusiasm enough to fill a balloon, I let her decorate my palm and the back of my hands. After all, its as much my wedding as it is the family's.

Saturday was chaotic with last minute addition to the hantaran trays such as fresh fruits and cake. But everything went by in a breeze as soon as the Mak Andam arrived. By the time I was ready, the house was full of people and before long, HE arrived. I felt my heart jumped over the Great Wall of China. With one breath he uttered the words that forever change both our lives. And I heard all of it, every single word, as The Don made sure I did. He and Hafiz wired up the room with speakers so that I can hear the whole "lafaz". We were greatly honoured that Habib Hasan Al-Attas graced our nikah ceremony with his presence and even presided over the ceremony. In fact, if my cousins are to be believed, The Don looked visibly relaxed when Habib Hasan walked in.

The dinner we held that night was more fun than anything else. We were welcomed by 7 flower girls and a whole barage of papparazis. The cute flower girls looked so radiant in their cream princess dress and maroon head bands. And another great honour we were bestowed upon was Ustz Dahari's and wife's presence during our wedding dinner.

Sunday morning was another mad rush. The morning started with Maulud recited by my brother-in-law's group Qafilah, followed by the singing of Qasidah. According to my neighbour LizaNoor Arabic songs filled the atmosphere.

It was nerve-wrecking yet fun to see my husband being stopped so many times by my family members. It was an uproar when instead of the usual envelope, he produced his passport and a white card, as if entering Malaysia. (I am a Malaysian, in case u didn't know and so were most of the family members at my wedding) They made 2 checkpoints for him and his entourage, one with all my uncles and one with all my aunts. 10 envelopes later + 1 thick envelope to the Mak Andam, he finally got to sit beside me on the dias.

An eternity of photos later, we left for The Don's side. Instead of being driven, THE DON drove the wedding car himself and I sat next to him. As we got into the Mercedes Benz CLK convertible, my Mak Andam remarked, "Da banyak banyak pengantin I, tak pernah I tengok pengantin bawak kereta sendiri macam cik abang ni" Hehehhee. There was a crowd of guests around our wedding car but what I was not prepared for was the crowd of people (non-guests) who actually saw us from afar and came near to gawk at the car. The drive to THE DON's side accompanied by a few cars and 2 bus loads (one for his relatives, one for mine) was definitely the most memorable drive in my entire life.


Alhamdulillah everything went super well.... it didn't rain and the food was delicious. (according to my guests lah, I swallowed without tasting, hehe) And thanks to our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, the whole wedding was a huge success.

Next entry.... Honeymoon in Paris......