Transforming Teratak Senyum Simpul - The Road, Driveway and House for Wedding

The selection of wedding date was made by the wedding couple, with parents' blessings of course, but there was only three months grace period. At such short notice most of the big halls in town and hotels have been fully booked, some up to one year in advance. We had no choice but to hold the wedding in the house. There are the pros. and cons. to holding the wedding in the house but there is no limit to the number of people we can invite. Halls will be limited. Ramlah and I come from a very big family, and our circle of friends have widened over the years, hence there are more advantages to hold the wedding in the house. We need however to do some transformation. The house has to be spruced up, permission to close the road had to be obtained from the local authority and the police, but most of all permission from the neighbours, especially the close ones, had to be sought since some of their driveways will be blocked during the function, indeed some were blocked for several days.

Plans to transform Teratak Senyum Simpul or 'Hut of Tantalizing Smiles' were put in place. Yup, we have named our house such to invite smiles from one and all who pass through our gate. Preparations for the wedding took several weeks. Tessa herself was the planner and roped in her close friends to help. Son, Shaffik took over a week before the date and that week, preparations were at a fast track but in a controlled pace because all at work were professionals in their own work area. Tents were put up on the road in front of our house and in the compound. Dressing up the house with various decors took several days. Preparing the bridal room and other wedding paraphernalia were similarly paced. Furnitures were moved and our immediate neighbour came to our rescue allowing us to store them in their house. Loose stuff in the halls and other areas in the house were boxed up and stored in the attic. It was hectic, it was busy but still there was proper control.

Here are some pictures of how the house was before and after transformation.

Before Transformation:
The Hall and Dining Area




The Library On Top


The Intended Bridal Room


Many Hands Make Work Easy!!


The Road In Front


The Patio


The Entrance Driveway


The Front Compound


The Road Outside The House




The Tents Coming Up In Stages



Tratak Senyum Simpul / The Hut Of Tantalizing Smiles


Before The Guests Arrive





Transformed Bridal Room




Under The Tent Within The House Compound


Honoured Guests - Amir's Family Members

The Long-awaited Event, Tessa's Wedding.....

Natesa Yuslina is her given name and Tessa or Tess or Kak Long are names she goes by amongst colleagues at work, amongst friends, relatives and immediate family. Whatever name she is known as they are beautiful names and to us, Ramlah and I, she is our beautiful first-borne. The day finally came for us to give her away and that was on the 12th of June 2010. The lucky guy to have won her had our full blessings. She has flown from the 'cuckoo's nest' a long time ago chasing a career that has taken her through the various facets of corporate management and also to many parts of the world and have taught her self-confidence, perseverance and independence but most of all she has learnt to often come back to the cuckoo's nest for renewed build-up of the good traits. She now has a chance to share these traits with someone that she love and adore and I hope the sharing will be in the atmosphere of physical and mental togetherness in the presence of emotional security. These are values Ram and I have adopted throughout our married life.

The build-up to the event had put in butterflies in Ram's and my tummy, which had increased in population as the days drew nearer although we knew at the outset that we had good people that we can depend on. The planning was initiated by Tessa herself and the execution was carried out by close friends and relatives with son Shaffik being the main coordinator. There was a good turnout for the event and I think by estimates it was more than 90% attendance. We were lucky that the food caterer had brought along raw materials that they cooked on the spot noticing that there was no let up of people coming for the event. There was more than enough food for everybody. The roads leading to our house, I was told, was jammed up with cars of guests who came. At the height, many had to double park making the traffic flow even worse.

The marriage solemnisation ceremony was scheduled to start at 11.00 am and was to be immediately followed by the reception. There was a slight delay though, but all turned out ok in the end.

Arrival of the Bridegroom and Entourage Accompanied by Orphans and "Hadrah" Group from Yayasan AlJenderami Following Closely Behind


The Bride Flanked by the Bridesmaids Waiting patiently


Some had become Restless?


Yayasan AlJenderami Orphans and Hadrah Group singing welcome and praises


Waiting for Ceremony to Start


The gifts in Seven Trays from The Bridegroom with the Traditional Return of Nine Trays from The Bride


The Two Spokesmen, Bride's cousin, a recently Retired General of the Army, on the left and Bridegroom's Uncle, a Practicing Architect, Representing Each Parent and Exchanging gifts





Checking Checking Checking ! ! !


Thank you for the Gifts!


These are our Gifts In Return!


I Think The Bridegroom is Getting Nervous! Lets Start With the Solemnisation!


The Solemnisation: Amir Mu'az bin Ahmad Zulkifli, Aku Nikahkan dikau.......... / Aku Terima Nikah Natesa Yuslina bt Mohd Kamil.......


The Declaration: I do solemnly declare that if............


Handing of Maskahwin


Rxchanging Wedding Rings


With Both Parents


Reception At Bridegrooms' on 13th June





The Wedding Cake and thats a model of Amir's car!!





Two days of celebrations and the many days of preparations went on very well. The settings for the wedding and for the reception were of non-standard features which were pleasant and left the guests very pleased. The butterflies in our tummy have now flown away. The newlyweds are now honeymooning on a far away island. Our prayers are for them to be happy and have a blissful life together for the rest of their lives. Amin YaRabbul Alamin.....

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya

A Chance Meeting A Friend Of Old....

We were out in the other side of KL today doing some ‘must do’ errands and stopped at a restaurant that we have not visited for a good ten years or more. The restaurant is still the same, the same operators and the same spread of food, mostly traditional southern malay cooking, and as crowded as it used to be during lunch time.

All of the tables were taken up but there was a four sitter table with a lone customer who, when seeing us looking for seats offered us to join his table and we gladly took the offer. It was very kind of him. He looked kind of familiar and apparently he too was sizing me up as someone familiar to him. The moment he started to speak I recognized the voice and his face immediately became familiar. A face I have been familiar with but add to it the ravage of time for more than thirty years, with wrinkles at the odd places, a set of teeth that have shown signs of overtime use, and receding white hair covered by a skull cap. I must have appeared the same to him, ha ha ha! Suddenly we had a lot of questions for each other and lunch? We forgot how the food tasted as we were busy concentrating on information exchange.

He lives nearby he said, his wife is always busy at her medical clinic in the city and all his children have their own things to do and so, lunch has been a lone affair most of the time. He married late, hence he is retired (a retired businessman) but his wife is not ready to retire yet; his eldest just married recently and he is hoping a grandchild will fill up the void in his daily activity. He did joke that he has no capacity to start another kitchen, ha ha ha! That was his usual self, always full of pun and jokes.

He asked about my family and closed relatives and was surprised that my mum is still alive while one or two others have passed away. Mum is a wonderful woman he said. Her busy activities in politics and other family connections must have been an inspiration to him. He asked where mum lives and when I told him where, he was immediately familiar with the area as he often pass mum’s house when visiting his own relatives nearby. If it’s the third house going up the slope, on the left and slightly elevated from the road level is familiar he said. The gate is always open during the day he said and noticed a lot of activity going on, and always thought that the house is cheerful and the owner must be ‘somebody’ respected, since there were many going ins and outs, perhaps visitors for the owner. He often wondered whose house it was but had never asked anybody. If only he had, then he would have been one of the regular visitors for mum and not be a stranger to us for more than thirty years!!

I told him of the impending wedding in my house, I did not have a wedding invitation card with me then, and invited him and family to the affair stressing that a personal invitation is more valuable than a mere card!! He promised that he will attend and I am looking forward to his presence. What a pleasant chance meeting that was…….

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya

In Melaka

There was a cousin's wedding in Melaka last weekend. Ram and I went down to JB a few days before the wedding to visit mum and other family members. Ram also had some personal errands to attend to in JB. We have been away in UK and thought we should go down to visit Mum.

While in JB and apart from attending to the necessary errands, we also took the opportunity to visit the grave of elders, Ram's family home, favourite food outlets and others.

On the way back to KL we stopped in Melaka to attend the wedding reception. Brother Abid lives in Melaka, so his house was our base when we attended the wedding. Mum was taken by brother Li to the wedding. Brother Joe came from KL and that made a rare occassion for the four brothers altogether in one place.

The Four Brothers

One sister and all our spouses were there in Abid's house after the wedding. We just had to take a picture together.

Four Brothers, A Sister And Spouses

Mum Had Just Arrived

Although we had our fill of food at the wedding reception we just cannot turn down the 'signature' fried noodles prepared by Abid's wife. It was a hot day. Cool iced juice and hot black coffee were both welcomed to wash the noodle down.

Fried Noodles High Tea

Sis-in-law Giving Instructions to Her Office Whilst Mum Takes A Nap

Mum Going Home

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya