vintage bicycle for rental

meet our lovely bike, 一朵.

 

are you interested in renting it? total fees include transportation. contact me at esther_lin22@hotmail.com if you are interested :) subject to availability~

 

 

our photo story

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

here are the locations we went to :)

 

playground: mount emily park (this is a lovely place with old-school swings where we had lots of fun!)

 

beautiful field + bicycle road: portsdown - drive around the estate and you will see this HUGE patch of grass :) there is also an old-school cafe called colbar that's really nice too!

 

railway track: Jalan Hang Jebat - the other side of portsdown, near a mosque, but probably no more :(

 

lighthouse: upper seletar reservoir - a most beautiful place where we tried to catch the sunset, but unfortunately, our shots did not turn out very nice :/

 

p.s. can you see my teeny weeny hand bouquet of baby's breath? haha! i tried to put it together and it was a flop! Xiao-Hu (the photographer） described it as "草” hahaha! :)

 

this makes our story, which was made into an album. thank God for blessing the process, and PP and i were very pleasantly surprised that it turned out far better than what we expected. it was tough because the bridal studio totally did not understand our concept, but thank God it all worked out for good! our experiences are shared here (from my perspective) and here (from PP's perspective). as my sister commented, "so glad it turned out wonderful for you both, and even gladder that you have tasted and seen the goodness of God through this! :) and in future if you lose heart and feel discouraged, just look back and remember how God is good, and always will be good!"  wow. indeed, re-reading the sharing really encouraged my heart and reminded me (who is very forgetful), that indeed, God is good and will always be good.

angbao boxes

yet another person showed her love to us 01012011. *tammy* is another way through which God has blessed us :) she created our gorgeous "ang bao" boxes! 4 of them in all, all hand-made and one of a kind! it's a pity we do not have pictures of all of them.. but tammy dear, thank God for the talent He has given you because the boxes were really really pretty :)

 

photo credits: Bryan Jean Photography

 

this... was a typical box used to contain A4 paper, covered with cloth and embellished with materials like pvc leather, ribbons, flowers and scrapbooking materials. amazing!

 

as an alternative to a guestbook, PP and i printed our card image as a banner. it was fuss-free, and comparable to the price of 2 guestbooks too. now, we use the banners as picnic mats :) little weird, but handy enough!

photo credit for last picture: Bryan Jean Photography

 

here's the contact for our banner printer:

 

KK Art Decor

48 Toh Guan Road East #07-109 Enterprise Hub S608586

Tel: 6565 5653

 

we liased with Eadric, who was prompt and very efficient! you can receive your banner within a week, and with delivery too :)

flower girl dresses

for flower girl dresses that are less conventional, Bloom B is a good place to explore. the dresses and shoes (both from there) are rather affordable. many thanks to jie for suggesting this place! we decided on cotton dresses because we wanted something less frilly, alittle more down-to-earth, and at the same time, for the dresses to be something that the girls can wear more than once. though we scoured Tangs, Tom and Stephanie, and OG, it was to no avail. at last, we decided on these..

 

photo credits: Bryan Jean Photography

 

too sweet :)

morning programme - part two

the planning of the morning programme was left entirely to my sisters, and i truly thank God for how wonderfully it turned out. thank God indeed, for my dear sisters, who are ever so ready to give, to accommodate who i am.. and to take that effort to do their part in making 01012011 so memorable.

 

each "station" consisted of an activity and a meaning behind them.

quiz questions about me - which PP got some wrong haha! the answers were too tricky, mel! ;)

the boys were also asked to build a pyramid...

photo credits: Bryan Jean Photography

 

if u can't see clearly, the bottom left says "emerson" while the bottom right says "esther", and PP is right on top, holding a paper that says "God". purpose? see in the left corner of the frame :)

to remind us that our relationship must always be centred on Christ and all blessings come from Him

photo credit: Bryan Jean Photography

another activity can be found here.

 

this beautiful frame was presented to us in the end, being the handiwork of the brothers and sisters - the ones who mean so much to us. also, it reflects our theme, with our courtship pictures from (very long ago), and lessons about marriage that they want us to keep and remember. wow! lovely, and DEFINITELY putting it up in our new home :) we can't thank our sisters and brothers enough. thank God for blessing us with all of you!

 

zheqian.. seeing this picture with u makes us miss u alot!! :(

morning programme - part one

yes, it was called a "morning programme", and not a gate-crashing session, or a "tekan" session. it was our hope and prayer that the morning would be meaningful and memorable, and also a wonderful time for the 姐妹s and 兄弟s :)

 

also, the main reason why PP and i decided to get a videographer was because i would be cooped up in the room for a large part of the morning, missing out everything :/  thank God for leading us to Why Keen, who captured the morning so beautifully and touched me to tears. thank God also, for the brothers, who were such sports, and looked especially dashing in their ties and suspenders :) not forgetting of course, my dear sisters, who thoughtfully planned everything, allowing every activity to be meaningful and encouraging :)

 

one of the most memorable parts of the morning consisted of a "love contract", created by my girlfriends, amanda and siqi! see how gorgeous it is? what touched me most was how they embraced our theme, ATWOSLU! look at the conditions laid out! some of them are so meaningful and real, while others crack me up haha!!

 

photo credit: Bryan Jean Photography

me reading the contract...

 

the last part, is simply quirkily sweetly hilarious :) left pinky, ring, etc etc.... haha!

so glad that Why Keen captured a large part of this in the video. i will always remember PP's words.

 

"happily, i will sign this thing..."  =...)

 

wedding programme + thoughts

 

 

thank God for my super talented sister who came up with our wedding programme, on top of many other things :)

 

during the wedding preparation process, we were constantly telling ourselves to focus on the important matters. really, with all possibilities that a wedding can have, it is very easy to lose control! we indeed wanted alot of things, but we ended up putting them aside, simply because, a wedding is for a day, but marriage is for a lifetime. i thank God for leading us in this way. Pre-marital counselling we had each week was a really good time to set our priorities right.. and godly friends shared with us some great literature to prepare ourselves. and now that i look back, im especially thankful! i realised that alot of little touches were actually with love, from alot of people!

 

for example, we had zero intention for wedding favours, but PP's sister came along and offered. we considered having no flowers in the sanctuary, but we thought it would be nice to involve PP's aunty and she came up with such beautiful pieces! and here u see, the beautiful programme sheet done up by my sister! jie, i was only expecting a simple, plain programme leh.  you COMPLETELY exceeded my expectations! and the morning programme on our special day was so memorable and the brothers/sisters ended up putting together a beautiful masterpiece, which i hope to share about next time.

 

of course, we wanted our wedding very much to be a time to show how thankful we were and how much we loved the people around us, so we spared no effort and allocated as much as we could in budget for gifts and cards. no regrets, really!

 

hence, if i can give any advice as an "ex-bride" to a future bride-to-be, i would say, don't go heady with the "frills". those are not important. take time to focus on preparing to be the helpmeet for your future partner of a lifetime. if you are a Christian, take time to pray about this great commitment you are about to take on. for me, i was blessed to have a circle of godly Christian sisters and there were some occasions when we were able to share about our struggles and (my) fears and commit them to God...thank God for the love of all these people. i am unworthy, but im very very blessed!  thank God also for PP, who took on a huge chunk of the coordinating and planning so i would not be overwhelmed all these things. i think our coordinators must have thought i was rather aloof :p

 

also, make use of this wedding day to point others to Christ and show how much you appreciate your loved ones :) a big tendency is to be "self-obsessed" and to place the spotlight on yourself. but no, use it to point others to God. share about God's goodness and what God has done for the both of you. this way, people who have never have heard about God or the love of Christ can witness God's love to the both of you. a suggestion: instead of screening photos of yourself, screen photos of your loved ones and those who helped :)  we did during our thank you speech.... haha... and ended up being "scolded" for screening some unglam shots la! haha!

 

indeed, all the way our Saviour leads us. even till today, we are still learning to be husband and wife... but our comfort is that we have a God who provides for us and teaches us each day.

It's not an easy road, we are trav'ling to Heaven,

For many are the thorns on the way;

It's not an easy road but the Saviour is with us,

His presence gives us joy every day.

wedding favours

remember the pretty candy here?

since a reader asked me where i got them, i realised that this is another great contact i ought to share. Made in Candy is this awesome awesome candy shop in the basement of United Square at Novena. Every time you walk past, you will see crowds of people and children, observing them hard at work. While it can be considered expensive to splurge on this, we were thankful because PP's sister offered to sponsor them having seen how nice they were!

 

Since PP and I wanted to make it more meaningful, we designed the stickers and got them printed (from here too) and pasted on the little boxes (many thanks to the several helping hands, you know who you are!). the verse on the sticker says:

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Psa 34:8

 

 

hence, the candy reads "THE LORD IS GOOD." In this way, the candy can be a quirky, but sweet way of pointing others to the Lord and also showing our non-christian friends that God is indeed good to us!

 

 

many thanks to a friend who captured these photos so i can now share them with you all :)

 

Made in Candy was super easy to work with. All we had to do was to get a form, let them know our preferences, and draw out the pattern. Nothing seems too difficult for them! We could even choose the flavours and so, we chose peach which was really, really, fabulous. liked it alot :)

our wedding ride

our wedding car!

photo by Bryan Jean Photography

 

We knew we could not have any other  vehicle, we loved it, and we never regretted our choice :)

 

we spent a considerably amount of time traveling in the wedding car and it was a very very memorable time! (auntie, remember when it started raining!!??:)) not to mention, ah-hem, our dear ahjijan forgot that he was supposed to open the door for us and kept us waiting in the car -_-

 

available here :)

 

however, the owner did mention that he plans to send it for refurbishing and may not be available for booking for a certain period of time.

the nobbies

the nobbies - "offers spectacular coastal scenery, viewing of the offshore seal colony at Seal Rocks and the chance to walk among nesting seabird colonies". "Two kilometres offshore from the Nobbies, Seal Rocks is an important breeding ground and nursery for over 20,000 Australian Fur Seals.  This is the closest seal colony to a major city in Australia." -source

 

after seeing the penguins, PP and i headed over to the nobbies on phillip island, where entry is free. it was worth a sight and we truly enjoyed the billions of seagulls amidst the cerulean sky :) we were of course, not able to see much of the seals :/ they were soooo far away! perhaps with a telescopic lens or binoculars, you would be able to get a better view!

 

the interesting rock formation...

we were not sure what caused the white markings...but we figured..they should be bird poop! lots and lots of it!

our version of touristy shots...hehe....

yet another beautiful vintage car sighted!

PP took these bird shots while i was in the toilet :)

 

I Don't Know About Tomorrow

I don't know about tomorrow; I just live from day to day.

I don't borrow from its sunshine For its skies may turn to grey.

I don't worry o'er the future,For I know what Jesus said.

And today I'll walk beside Him, For He knows what lies ahead.

 

Many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand

But I know who holds tomorrow

And I know who holds my hand.

 

Every step is getting brighterAs the golden stairs I climb;

Every burden's getting lighter, Every cloud is silver-lined.

There the sun is always shining, There no tear will dim the eye;

At the ending of the rainbow Where the mountains touch the sky.

 

I don't know about tomorrow; It may bring me poverty.

But the one who feeds the sparrow,

Is the one who stands by me. And the path that is my portion

May be through the flame or flood; But His presence goes before me

And I'm covered with His blood.

 

 

Phillip Island

Phillip Island was a must-go for us because i loved penguins very very much!

Along the long drive, PP went for a little break and came back with this :)

 

when we arrived, we were captivated by the amount of vintage cars on the road!

we explored the seaside, basked in the sun and looked at the seagulls :)

 

the beach area had a long stretch of food options :) we were pretty much overwhelmed by the choices so we settled for this place. trust me - in australia, when you see people queuing up for the food, you can be sure it's good :)

the fries here are lovely!

 

off to the highlight of the trip :) PP and i chose to go for the "Ultimate Tour" option. trust me, it's very very worthwhile!

we got to witness a beautiful sunset :)

we also did not have to squeeze with the crowds and got the chance to listen to our guide's anecdotes. the place is simply filled with lots and lots of adorable little penguins! no photos of them though, it was not allowed :) a guide shared about how a little boy sneaked one of the adorable fairy penguins into his backpack and his mother was shocked to return home and find one swimming in the bathtub! haha! but they are seriously adorable! i can understand why the boy did that :)

 

we sat quietly by the shore, listening to the crashing of the waves and watching the gorgeous sunset. as the sun went down, the timid little dudes slowly inched their way onto the shore. a wallaby hopped across the shore, scaring them back into the waters again. then, they would slowly creep back on shore..you'll spot one, then more! it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

 

after that, we were required to trek our way back. it was a long walk, but along the way, you could see penguins burrowing their way and sometimes they would even stroll alongside with u!

 

it was truly an unforgettable experience :)

 

tip: bring a binoculars!

hint: churchhill island is not worth the visit.  we went to the nobbies the next day. it was quite lovely too :)