Monday, March 18, 2013

Weddings: Maythu & Weiming, Kaijie & Geraldine, Jinlian & Daryl

As we embark on the new year, I've already received 5 wedding invitations thus far. Still recalled the times when we get invited to friends' birthday parties, now, we have upgrading to attending weddings & baby showers/parties. We attended a couple of my close friends' weddings last year and am glad that they are embarking a new chapter of life together with their other halves.
 Weddings are now the new reunion dinners, where we can catch up with old friends - eat, drink and be merry. 3 of my sisters (my bridesmaids) tied the knot last year and I'm glad to join in their celebrations :) This was also a year of wedding lunches, which is gaining popularity over the years. 
 
Held @ Conrad Hotel, this was the 1st wedding lunch I've ever attended. Leecher very kindly drove me to the wedding venue, for I was running late. 
My first time attending a wedding @ Conrad! I always remember Oscar's restaurant @ Conrad, where I had my ice-cream out of a fishing bowl years ago.
Maythu looked absolutely stunning in her gown, like a porcelain doll. 
 
Always a soft spot for white roses which expresses purity & innocence. 
 
Display table which show-cast their "lovey-dovey" moments.

with brides-to-be Wanling, SSL, Jinlian. Finally, I can claimed to be more "senior" than them after being the junior all these while, lol! 

Another bride-to-be, Jun.  
 
with Tingfeng, who came as a guest today, lol! He was my photographer for the actual day & thumbs up for their service. Drop me a note if you're interested to engage in their services :)
 
Seated in the ballroom, waiting for the event to commerce.   
  
The usual table-shot. It's nv too early for drinking, haha!  
 
Sat next to Wanling and we started talking about manicure. I did this set of nails specially for the occasion! 
 
Wedding flavours in terms of stamps! SSL even joked that we give her all the stamps so she can use it to send us her wedding invites.  

Cam-whoring in the washroom, where we had the whole place to ourselves when cleaning auntie came in halfway *paiseh*
 When you put all the girls together, we'll grab whatever chance we have for a group pic :)
Table representative of 204 pax! Top pic was courtesy of Peilu's husband using a DSLR, vivid colours as compared to dent dent. 
 
A pic with the beautiful bride and extremely humourous groom.  
 
Last March, Leecher & me were busy attending weddings in Sentosa almost every week, in different parts of the island ~ Capella, Amara Sanctuary & Marina Club.
 
Taking public on the NEL, thankfully the journey was smooth with no major hiccups. 
 
A convenient way to reach the is to take the complimentary shuttle bus service. 
 
Peacock roaming around the place! Ever so atas, lol! 
The wedding reception was held @ Marina Club, 1 degree 15.
 
All the yachts at the bay! I wanna go on a yacht ride *hint to Leecher*
The bride & groom, congrats! As both Kaijie & Geraldine were ex-BPians, I saw many BPians ~ some seniors, some juniors.
 
My councillor & girl guides Junior, Xiaobin. Time flies, she's now a teacher @ a local JC and her cousin-in-law is my Uni classmate. Small world!
 
The first wedding that I attended with a huge display of wedding flavours ~ the bears looked so cute in nautical colours.  
 
A Polaroid corner with pics taken during the event.   
 
A cute rendition of their zodiac.
 
Instead of a sit-down dinner, the couple opted for buffet style (good move as they save any trouble on table-planning!). Guests were left to mingle around with one another. 
 with bobo & his army gang.
  Our class chairman/Councillor president's wedding! How can we miss it in the world right? 
 
Held @ Mandarin Oriental, I was excited at trying out their lunch menu for I've heard raves about their food.
 
with Wenpin, been ages since our last meet up! Ever a smooth-talker and charming guy, lol!  
 
 Oriental theme for the wedding.
 
Let's drink to our hearts' content :) 
 
I actually remembered to take pics of the food this time round, lol! Everything was just so delicious then we all had to "fight" for second helpings. Kok Yew ever so kindly traded his chocolate cake with me cuz I was soooo obvious in eyeing that piece from his plate, lol! 
 
The lucky guy who sat with a table of pretty babes, lol! 
   
Kok Yew with his calendar girls of Year 2012, short of 2 girls to make it a full year. He's more fortunate than the groom, so he claimed.
 Our Disciplinary Master aka Tiger Tan (what we used to call him behind his back) was also invited for the event & he hasn't changed a bit over the years!

Group pic with all the girls :) 

Have to head off to bed now, will be back with some more weddings in another post! Nitey >.<

Friday, March 15, 2013

London 2012 Part One

Year 2012 was a year of travel for me for I was almost out of the country every month, be it for business or personal. No doubt, BKK & KL topped the list, haha! Traveled across the globe to LDN to attend a sales conference last March and it was an eye-opener for me :) I get to interact with colleagues from different offices and finally, putting a face to those names that I see so much in email but not in person.

Before the trip, each office will have to contribute a gift for one of the games during our gala dinner. So, I was tasked to buy the gift, not exceeding a certain amount.
Something that is symbolic to Singapore ... and considering the company's culture, it was a relatively easy choice. Headed to Raffles Hotel's Gift Shop & picked up the Singapore Sling. And I have to admit, I have yet to try Singapore Sling before!

Took the overnight flight to LDN and it was one of the rare times when Leecher came to the airport to send me off. *touched*
Leecher helping me with the big luggage that I brought along for the trip. Wearing my specs, since it was going to be a 14h flight. 
 
Merlion making its appearance in the airport.  
 
 After checking in my bags, we headed down to the basement of T3 for dinner @ Ramen Champion, where 4 Ramen chefts battle it out in Changi Airport T3 to be crowned the Ultimate Ramen Champion.
4 contesters hailing from Sapparo, Tokyo, Chiba & Hakata fighting for the title of Ramen Champion.
The beeper with your card number.
Once your order is ready, this beeper would light up and vibrate, telling you to collect your order from the counter.
Leecher had the Hakata Ajitama Ramen, prepared by Hakata Ikkousha. The ramen shop carefully selects its ingredients, especially on local produce pork bones. The soup base don't have a strong smell of pork bones, which made it very tasty.
I went for Spicy Kimchi miso ramen, prepared by Sapparo Gantestu. Gantestu means stubbornness in Japanese.
us with our big bowls of ramen, waiting to be tucked in!
 
Tea time @ Killiney.
Off to London, a week without Leecher, lol.
 
My first time onboard A380, but I couldn't get a seat on the upper deck, boohoo! 
 
The long queue waiting to board the flight. Overnight flights are mostly full, judging from my experience. 
 
The 2 bags that I always have on my trips ~ laptop bag & personal bag. 
 
My preferred window seat & it was drizzling outside. 
 
Snacks first before the meal. 
 
I think this was my breakfast before reaching LDN. 

After a good 14h, we landed @ Heathrow Airport at 6am. I took the same flight as Eric, so we had each other for company on the way to the hotel.
 
 Headed to Arrivals to clear immigration, where we experienced an extremely long queue. Took us almost 45 mins to clear the stage.
Long queue at the baggage collection area as well.
 
Taking Heathrow Express to central London, Paddington. A great way to get into the city. Tickets can be purchased online , at the ticket machines where it costs $20GBP for Adult, $10GBP for Child on a single ticket or on board, where it costs $25GBP for Adult & $12.50GBP for Child on a single ticket.
The train departs almost every 15 mins, and you can download the app "Heathrow Airport Guide" on your mobile to gain access to travel planning tools, terminal information, news etc - everything you need for an easy journey to and through Heathrow. 
 
Arrival @ Paddington station. Somehow, the name of this station always reminded me of the Paddington Bear, so I went to google if there is any link b/w the two. It turned out that Michael Bond named the bear after Paddington station ~ he noticed a lone teddy bear on the shelf in a London store near Paddington station on Xmas eve, which he bought as a present for his wife. In the first story, Paddington bear was found at Paddington station by the Brown family, sitting on his suitcase with a note attached to his coat which reads "Please look after this bear. Thank you". A status of the bear is also located on the station concourse, but I didn't get a chance to look for it.
  
Taking the (iconic) London cab to our hotel, one in summer colours :) These cabs are metered, a min charge of 2.40GBP. You can tip the driver as much as you like, while most people round up to the nearest pound. 
 
Leaving for the hotel, just when the sun was rising.
Related Posts with Thumbnails