Late April 2016 – Unbeknownst to me, Ahmad arranged to meet up with my parents face-to-face in order to make clear his intention of proposing to me for marriage. His objective was to earn the blessings and consent from my parents in order for him to go forth and propose to me, and eventually to arrange for the engagement to happen.
Early May 2016 – Ahmad surprised me by bringing me to Mount Faber Loop, one of the memorable places where we used to sit and gaze at the view of Telok Blangah Rise and the port. He brought out a diamond ring and proposed to me. It was everything I wished for and more. Simple, quiet, and private. Of course I said yes. 🙂
After the proposal, I told my parents about it, and informed them that I said yes. I also reconfirmed with them that he had had asked for their blessings, and they said that they accept him as a son-in-law, and have confidence in him to be a good husband to me. Alhamdulillah.
From this point on, my parents requested that Ahmad’s side and mine to have a simple merisik + bertunang occasion. Just like my sister and brother’s simple engagement, we opted to have it at a nice restaurant, where my parents can talk privately and directly to his parents in order to have a clear understanding of expectations and requests.
Such things like – hantaran amount, maskahwin, type of majlis, and an official yes/no from the bride’s side – would be discussed there and then between the 2 sets of parents. Of course, these things were already discussed and negotiated between Ahmad & me, and communicated with our respective parents. The tunang would just be the official meet up of parents to state and agree in the presence of immediate families, so as to avoid any confusion or miscommunication.
We booked a private function room at Makan Bagus @ Home Team Sembawang, and met up on 29 May. It was an extremely simple ceremony with no trays, no Malay poems/pantuns, no photography, no video, no makeup artist, no nothing. It was plain and simple, and it met our objectives and requirements. 🙂 We even enjoyed a nice Chinese seafood lunch after that.
I wore my Poplook Aleida Lace dress, and paired it with an Anna & Rose Sofea beaded shawl. I wore dark mauve eyeshadow and kept my lips neutral and my base clean and matte. I did not wear any henna. I prefer to keep these things to my wedding, so that there will be an actual difference and ‘wow’ factor on my big day, insyaAllah. Ahmad’s mum put the ring on me, or in Malay, sarung cincin at the end of the discussion, officiating the promise between both families.
AT X II 