My cousin will be going for her ROM (Registry of Marriage) later and I will be attending this very important function!!!

She has always been my adorable younger sister even though she is just my cousin.

She just personally called over the phone to invite us to her ROM although she had invited us earlier. Hmmm…this is called courtesy and respect as she explained she had to do it because she is more junior than us. 😀

I will be helping her to take photographs as she is going more for budget-wedding. So, as relatives, we are trying to help her in anyway we can, to help her reduce costs. >.< Okie....I got to prepare my camera, my batteries and my compact flash card. Will post some of her pretty photos later! >.<

Last year, I attended 8 weddings dinners in total excluding my own. This year, I had just attended one and I will be attending two more in the next few months till December 07.

(In fact, tomorrow I am attending my beloved cousin’s wedding ROM and I am her photographer. )

So far, not a single wedding favors I have collected impressed me or had even left a deep impression. Now, I got 16 wedding favors plus another 12 from Holiday Inn Park View. ( The hotel gave us the whole set as we were their customers.)

I am looking for really creative wedding favors that is really impressive and useful. Hmmm…I have high expectations.

I managed to see some that caught my eyes. Some are expensive though but they can give wedding couples more reasons to replace their wedding favors if their budget allows.

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??????????? Click here to see more…

During courtship, money is never a problem among dating couples.

One of my friends (in her teens) is dating too and her boy-friend splurged on her (just as if there is no tomorrow), satisfying every bit of her material needs’ desire…buying her the latest mobile phones and life-size soft toys (which need to pay for 1 person bus fare when the boy came to her house by bus).

For youngsters, they can afford to pay for their fast-food meals or at most some expensive toys they purchased during birthdays or Valentine’s day.

For older guys who are working, they can afford to spend more such as paying for a dinner in restaurants, paying for oversea trips’ expenses or even buying a car for their girl-friends (these are for those who are ultra-rich)

Once after marriage, things differ. THERE IS TOMORROW!!! Fiancial priorities shift enourmously. Money and savings have to be set aside for household maintenance, food, insurance policies, emergencies, child-rearing, child’s education, child’s holidays…

Debts have to be cut down or reduced to the minimal, couples have to sit together to discuss about investment in securities and bonds or even properties (if they can afford)…and achieving common dreams such as setting up a family business together and supporting each other’s dreams… and many many many more…

In addition, couples have to save for possible retrenchment (at least 6 months of saving) and retirement (assuming not working for 10 – 20 years of couple’s monthly expenditure of about $5000.)…that would amount to $1.2 million or more…

our goal is to hit at least $10 million for retirement. Any unused money will be donated to charity.

As for us, these are our plans…there are still many more things to be done…>.< There are always many more Tomorrows and tomorrows of our children...

Today was a shocking day to me. One of my colleagues fell and injured herself. She was hospitalised.

Just before she left the office, she was asking her what do we need to buy for tea-break. Curry-puff? Pao?

This made me reflect on how vunerable life was. One moment we were planning for the future. The other moment, we might not be able to execute our plan because of unforseen circumstances. By right, tomorrow we were planning to go out together just to have dinner.

Life was really fragile, isn’t it?

We were born, we grow up, we fall in love, may get married, have kids, grow old and become sick before we die.

Looking at my own life, I had just realised I had crossed the one-third mark (assuming I got to live up to 80 years which is the normal life expectancy of human nowadays.)

Another two more one-third to go. I want to spend these limited amount of time with my wife and my children in time to come.

I once read a story. There was this husband who calculated the total number of Sundays he get to spend with her wife till he dies. He folded the exact number of stars and put them in a glass cylinder.

As every Sunday passed by, he took out one star. As years passed, the number of the stars dwindled and the height dropped. There was a sudden sense of urgency and it became a form of wake-up call that actually he didn’t have many more Sundays to spend with his wife till he dies.

So, from then onwards, he made sure he spent quality Sundays with his wife…just enjoying time with her…

So how more Sundays do I have left? I’m not sure…all I know that I only have NOW to spend with her…as for the future…how many of us can predict how more Sundays we have left? >.<

I got the following links from a member of singaporebrides.com’s forum. She mentioned that there will be many upcoming wedding shows by hotels and restaurants.

Feel free to browse through…>.< Traders Hotel

The Legends

Millenium & Copthorne

Tung Lok Group & more…

Intercontinental Singapore & more…