Wedding of the century

When Prince William & Kate Middleton announced their engagement last November, I was telling myself that their wedding will be another history in the making. The wedding date was set to be on 29 April 2011. Only 5 months to prepare for the grand event.

Actually, I was more excited to see how Kate's wedding dress would look like. I'm sure it's every girl's dream to look the best on their big day. I was having a mental sketch on how the dress would be. Modesty & appropriateness are important elements in designing a dress for a royal wedding, therefore strapless gowns or anything which bears too much skin is out of the question. I was imagining her to probably don a simple, off-shouldered white satin gown with fine, intricate floral embroideries. Another option would be a princess-like long sleeve gown with moderate puffy shoulders, reminiscent of Princess Diana's dress. The veil would be made of soft silk with a tiara to complete the look. The train of her gown shouldn't be too long but just the right length for that elegance & grandeur.

The live telecast of the wedding concluded hours ago & I was watching the several highlights from YouTube. The most critical moment of all was when Kate stepped out from the car, revealing the dress designed by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen design house in which the media have been speculating for months.

Credit: Nick Edwards/Photoshot/IPHOTO

Below is an excerpt of an article by Kate Hogan from People magazine.

The dress was composed of French Chantilly lace and English Cluny lace throughout the bodice, skirt and underskirt. The skirt, made of ivory and white satin gazar, was designed to emulate an opening flower: padded at the hips, it flowed out to the floor. The back of the dress was finished with 58 gazar and organza covered buttons fastened by Rouleau loops. The ivory silk tulle veil trimmed with hand-embroidered flowers was held in place by a Cartier "Halo" tiara, loan from the Queen. Her diamond drop earrings by Robinson Pelham was a gift from Kate's parents.

I was staring at the dress in awe. The dress is simple yet so lovely - felt like straight off a fairy tale wedding. Despite Kate looking rather thin due to pre-wedding jitters, the dress was flattering. Who said ivory was too yellow for the royal bride? The colour is gonna be the top choice for modern brides who are looking for something new & fresh aside from the traditional white gown.

Seen here is the young couple exiting Westminster Abbey after the solemnisation, followed by the bridesmaids & pageboys.

Credit: Toby Melville/Reuters/Landov

The most romantic scene just like in the movies is probably this photo of William & Kate sharing their public kiss at the balcony at Buckingham Palace.

Credit: Matt Dunham/AP

To sum it up, the wedding was grand but not overly extravagant...and I still love it. It really does look like a fairy tale wedding coming alive from those storybooks that we have grown up with. Prince William & Kate now carry new titles - Duke & Duchess of Cambridge - in relation to tradition. Here's wishing the royal couple an abundance joy & happiness for their marriage & may their romance continue to blossom in years to come.

Visit the following sites for more new & pics about the royal wedding:

People Magazine

The Royal Wedding

Parking no more

The construction of our new office building will officially start next Monday after weeks of delays. Our parking cum warehouse will be demolished to give way for the 9-storey building, estimated to complete in 2 years time.

Our cars will be prohibited from parking within the office compound. In order to accommodate our needs, our company has (thankfully) rented an empty land to serve as parking lots. It's a pity that the road condition in the parking is abysmal cuz it's not properly tarred or cemented. Some spots were partially cemented & seem to be remnants of the previous building. Nevertheless, it's still not a good reason to continue wearing stilettos or wedges cuz the chances of twisting your ankle is high. What's more, it's a 5 minute walk to the office. :/

Harbouring strong hopes that the road condition wasn't as bad as described, I drove past the parking lot while heading home. To my horror, the parking lot was partially flooded with water level almost 2 inches deep. What's more the entrance has a steep slope leading downwards to the lot which can only house 134 cars at the moment.

Walking to & from the parking lot will be so much hassle as the rain is constantly pouring almost every morning & evening. The thought of rushing to collect the car from the lot before 6pm is killing or you risk getting your car locked up inside cuz security guards will only be there until 6pm. Apparently, there's no electricity supply & there's no point assigning a guard on duty when the lot is pitch black at night. All of us have to endure this for the next 2 years while waiting for the new building to be ready.

We don't have any choice, do we? *sighs* =(

Umbrella thief

You wouldn't believe what I'm about to tell you. For the 2nd time, my umbrella was stolen again. Yes, AGAIN. But strangely enough, this unidentified thief was kind enough to return it back to its original place where I had left it. However, that small little good deed doesn't make he/she more considerate than before.

Dear thief, the fact that you didn't even bother returning immediately after borrowing my umbrella will have me brand you as an asshole. Why? Cuz I had to walk under the rain to get my car. I'm thanking God that the evening was only a drizzle. Dear thief, to even dare take it back home & only quietly return it the following day is still unforgiveable. Why? Cuz due to your selfish act of not wanting to get drenched while walking to your car has caused great harm to me. And I'm irrevocably pissed!!

From now on, I'll only bring along WL's humble Tetra Pak giant umbrella to work cuz its size & weight is too cumbersome for any thief to handle. In addition, I'll no longer leave it at the vase but I'm hiding it under my workstation. Sure bet this will stop your inconsiderate actions against me. =) Yesh~

A cool place to gather

With only my 2nd month working, I was required to attend our next big event. This time, it was the Viera media launch & sales convention for dealers which was held at Genting International Convention Centre. Me & my colleague joined the coach which was originally hired for the media. I slept throughout the trip cuz my seat partner from the media agency was busy chattering away with one of her good friends from the media. What's more, the bus driver seemed to be inexperienced driving up Genting as the bus was struggling the climb the steep slopes. On 2nd thoughts, it was good to be slow & safe but made me wonder if the bus would fall backwards instead. :/

When we arrived, me & my colleague joined the group - other colleagues & agency - hanging out at Starbucks. I ordered a cup of hot chocolate to warm myself up while my colleague ordered some croissant (expenses on my agency guy, tee-hee! ^^). We chatted a while & not long after that, it was time to proceed to the convention hall as the media launch commenced.

The hall was indeed a sight to behold as stunning visual effects were projected on the giant white screens. Perhaps it was nothing new for most my colleagues but it was definitely an eye-opener for me.

I shall skip the details of the launch & the sales convention as there were too many things to recall. One notable thing worth mentioning is the guy who co-hosts a veteran song programmed on Astro AEC was invited to conduct the marketing presentation session. He appeared on stage with a pirate costume, impersonating Captain Jack Sparrow in his usual hilarious demeanour. His presentation skill was pretty superb but sadly, the slides were too lengthy so the session got rather dull after a while.

Apparently, we had some displays at the Universal Walkway at First World Plaza. The world's largest plasma display was set up there for both media & public viewing as well until the weekend. It was a pity that I missed the chance witness it myself. Time was just so limited... =(

Time passed by pretty quickly & it was time for our gala night (thank God for no special themed attires *phew*). Food was okay but what more can you expect from a halal banquet dinner. The night was eventful, of course. =) A special guest performance by Maria Codero from Hong Kong really brought heat to the night.

The gala night came to an end soon after Maria Codero concluded her last song for the night. My colleagues, agency guys & I gathered to take some really funny pictures as rememberance.

For those of us who'll be staying for the night, most of us headed for 2nd round of partying at a club. Little did I or we expect that there would be a raid! Thankfully, it was the Muslim authorities & not the police officers. Nevertheless, they were still party poopers - spoiling the mood of all the partygoers who mainly consist staffs & dealers from our company. All of us were stuck at the club for almost 30 minutes cuz the authorities didn't allow us to leave, even though they were only inspecting the possibility of any Malays drinking alcohol. By the time the inspection was complete, we left the club & walked back to our rooms. My roommate went for a late night supper while went to bed due to exhaustion.

Well, this was pretty eventful for me as a first-timer attending my company's main function. I bet there must be more to come...