Kak Ana Kursus Kahwin, what a productive long weekend!





It's less than 7 months till my big day but the wajib stuff needs to be done earlier.
Kursus Kahwin!
So, if you guys don't know, without going to Kursus Kahwin, you can't get married,
because by attending Kursus Kahwin, you will be granted a certificate 
and that cert is needed for marriage approval from the Jabatan Agama Islam Negeri.

Panicking because most kursus kahwin in Melaka
are not as frequent, they will just have it on certain weekends.
Idk which kursus kahwin is the best one,
I do not have twitter so basically I know nothing about any kursus kahwin that has gone viral lol.

One day, I talked to my colleague,
asking her about Kursus Kahwin in general and she recommended me to go to
Kak Ana Kursus Kahwin
at Masjid Taqwa TTDI,
because she found the session knowledgeable,  not stressful and full of jokes!

I didn't do any research after, just asked Pan to register for that session.
It's RM120/pax for a two-day workshop, which is RM40 more expensive than other places.
I just didn't think of the price, because this place they have Kursus Kahwin almost every weekend.
No trouble on our side.
It's not as strict as other kursus kahwin as well,
you just need to wear modest attire
and to girls, it's not compulsory to wear baju kurung,
but I did it anyway.

They separated ladies and men into two sections,
in the same classroom and all the speakers were so funny!
And I met Jannah, a long lost friend that I haven't met for a long time!
It felt good to see familiar faces :)
The messages were delivered and ofc being Aliah,
I took notes on things that could be important or beneficial to me only :P

For example, there's a slot talking about husband and wife's responsibilities -
a husband needs to provide two meals per day for the family,
instead of two, I chose to write 5 meals per day in my notebook.
The husband needs to provide two new attire (head to toe) for the wife per year,
specifically for the two eids we're celebrating.
So, I wrote 12 attires - one for every month.
You got the message, right :P

There's a health talk, telling about pregnancy and stuff,
that talk scares me because I want to be a mother,
but I'm scared of what's coming.
Can I just remind myself about all the good things?
Like oh, motherhood is a beautiful journey
and beauty lies on the eyes of the beholder lol.

During stress and conflict slot, the speaker explained
about how stress could lead to conflicts in marriages and 
its effects to our mental, emotional and physical health.
He also asked an important question,
why do you wanna get married?

That question hit me hard, because as someone who has answers/excuses for everything,
I cannot answer that question and that worries me.
I think I didn't have the answer, 
because to me everything need to have just one specific answer.
In my head, "I have no answer to this. I think I just wanna be happy with Pan and have a family."

The speaker later quoted this ayat from the Quran, 
"And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that 
you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy.
 Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought."
Al-Quran (30:21)

In other words,
it's for us to find peace and happiness.
Despite all the responsibilities, 
the main aim is for the humans to be happy.
If a marriage doesn't give you happiness, 
then you fail to achieve your marriage goal.



So, technically,
I wasn't wrong, right?
I just wanna be happy!

Growing up, when I was super single,
I thought, I could be happy living alone forever.
But when I met Pan,
I realized, I am happier with him.
I am lucky to have a happy family, growing up,
but having Pan around makes me feel more content.
Ofc, there are disagreements and small fights along the way,
but the bottom line is, I'm happy.

After the stress and conflict talk,
there's a talk about divorce.
It's an eye-opening session,
because as women,
we need to know our rights in marriage.
When things go wrong, not the way we want it,
we have to know our right
and only with knowledge and education,
our right will be protected.

I realized that Islam protects women
and even though the authority to announce talaq
(one way 
to end a marriage) is given to men,
women are still protected above all that.
Not many people will notice that, because even I did the same mistakes,
of not knowing my right as a Muslim woman.
The news, the media, the society, our culture,
do not promote women's right as much.
I aim to learn more about this,
hopefully my marriage will be a happy one,
but the knowledge can be passed down/shared with others.


Now, I understand why people promote 
Kak Ana Kursus Kahwin because of its fruitful talks
and yet it's stress-free, not a typical ceramah, I would say.
The food prepared was great too.


Kak Ana, herself, is a friendly and helpful lady.
She's willing to help us throughout the documentation process -
oh forgot to mention, the marriage documents are damn complicated,
but they'll guide you along the way!




After the first day of Kursus Kahwin,
we made our way to Jalan TAR
to find clothes for our reception.

I found that there are a lot of places that sell 
way cheaper stuff than buying online 
but you gotta go through the parking hustle and all.
But one thing settled for the wedding, yeay!

Sorry Pan, this was the only shot I had

After the kursus kahwin ended on the second day,
we made our way to 1Utama for rock climbing.
It's been a long time since Megat and I planned for this trip,
at last we made it happen.




Pan couldn't climb because of his knee injury,
so it was just Megat, Trisyia and I.
It's so much fun! I love climbing, only topknot climbing though, not bouldering.
After climbing, Pan told me that we needed to head back to PD
because his family had a family dinner
and he asked his family and my parents the permission to take me with him.

I had zero time to freak out, 
rushed back to my place, showered, took all my stuff for the night and the day after, 
and drove to PD. Pan drove my car lol, not me.

It's fun to gather with Pan's family,
they're all so chatty and full of interesting stories,
we ate Kari Tulang that his dad cooked, met Dinah after she turned 2 months.



We played UNO after.
Ofc I didn't win, because UNO isn't my niche lol,
and I slept at the guest room with his youngest sister, Iqhlas.

Woke up for breakfast the next morning,
and went to Tanjung Tuan to hike.
But when we reached there, 
there were two fire brigades,
apparently some parts of the place were caught on fire.
So, we just walked by the beach, had some photo shoots
and made our way to a few more places around PD.
Btw, 6 of us (Pan's parents, Qib, Kak Iqa, Pan and I) could fit
inside a car!




We had late lunch that day because everyone was just too tired 
after the Tanjug Tuan trip and had a two-hour nap.
Made our way to KL after Asar prayer,
thank god the traffic was okay.
I reached my place at 8-ish,
did some grocery shopping,
did my laundry while waiting for Pan to reach PD back,
because he parked his car at my place.

I didn't expect my long weekend to be this packed,
but for the first time in my history of working life,
I felt like my weekend was super productive!


Till then.

xo


Finally, Pan's mom put the ring on me (literally :P)!



Engagement Day, 28 December 2019


Pan and I had never planned to get engaged. We planned to get married right away, and wanted to do a small merisik (pre-engagement involving two families only). But my parents insisted on engagement ceremony – because that’s a tradition of Melaka people and because I’m the first daughter and granddaughter.

So, my parents set the engagement date to be on Dec 28, 2019 and this date has been set like 5 months ago. Pan and I started to think of what to give each other for the hatarans (gifts) and we decided on 5-7 of dulangs – I’ll give him 7 gifts and he’ll give me 5. Women need to give more gifts because men’s gifts are known to be more expensive. Do you wanna know what were our hantarans? Keep reading.

Over the 5 months of planning, I didn’t plan for the event to be big. It should be like less than 50 family members from both sides, the hantarans, food and that’s all. It got escalated to be a three-tent ceremony, with 300 invitees, food caterers, multiple types of desserts, dress, mini dais, hand bouquet, photographer, makeup artist like omg. And there were so many surprises along the way too, bad and good. 

November 22, 2019
My family, who stays in Turkmenistan flew back to Malaysia on a short notice because my nenek (maternal grandmother) was hospitalized and her condition was 50-50. I had meeting in Melaka that day, but someone needed to pick up my family from the airport. Pan was not working that day, so he drove to Melaka with his sister, took my dad’s car and picked me up from TNB Jasin and we made our way to KLIA.
My family arrived at 1030pm. On that day, I was just feeling so blue, I was worried about my nenek and at the same time, preparing for the worse and praying to God, may Allah give my family one last chance to meet my nenek. Alhamdulillah, that prayer was granted. My dad speeded to Ampang Hospital, we all begged to see nenek and my mom decided to stay back at the hospital to take care of her. I had to go back to Subang because I had to be on standby tomorrow.

November 23, 2019 – 430am
I heard phone ringing. It’s my mom calling my dad. My dad woke us up – breaking the news, my nenek has passed away. It’s not a surprise, because of her condition. In a way, I am thankful that she didn’t have to suffer now, she’s been sick for a long time. Sad, indeed but it’s written. We made our way to the hospital and I am grateful that I got to recite yaasin for her, shower her for the last time and witness everything till the moment she’s buried. It’s definitely an experience that I will always remember. It’s sad to know that I have lost 3 out of 4 grandparents, but when I think about it again, Allah has lent them to me for the past 20-ish years, all the memories with them I shall cherish forever.

November 24, 2019 - YEDP
I couldn’t mourn for long, life has to go on. I had to attend YEDP (Young Executive Development Program) – going to the program, I knew a very few people. But I managed to make some friends, I am happy for that. 

Basically starting this date, all the engagement preparation was taken over by my parents.

December 14, 2019
Two weeks before the engagement day, Pan’s family came to my home to meet my parents for further discussion and stuff. I didn’t get to be there the whole time because they were discussing it at the dining room but there’s no enough chair so I had to stay at the kitchen sobs. But the outcome was positive, our families could get along and honestly, that day gave me more butterflies than the real engagement day.



December 24, 2019
Four days before engagement day, my dad surprised me with an engagement gift! It’s a freaking CAR! Okay when I say gift, it means he settled all the deposits and the process of getting the car, and on that Christmas Eve, he drove the whole family to Toyota Melaka and I saw a white car with red ribbon and the registration number was XXX 8872 – I knew it must be my car! Elaine, the sales lady, who has been helping out my family with buying Toyota car since ever, showed me my new car and all its specs. I’m impressed with my parents’ taste, sometimes I don’t know how can I keep up with that. I am so touched. Later, Elaine introduced me to the bank officer, to sign my loan. Oh yes, I am not that kid, whom parents would pay for everything lol. Monthly payment, will still be deducted from my bank account #ripmoney. All in all, I was still surprised because all this while, I thought my first car would be myvi, I had always wanted a myvi to be my first car, couldn’t believe it got upgraded to be Toyota Yaris. Blessed to have my parents. How could I repay their love and sacrifice :'(

my excited face before knowing i had to pay for the car monthly lol


December 25, 2019
I hadn’t been driving for three months and yet I needed to drive Yaris because it’s my car, lol. So, Pan was on leave that day (because it’s Christmas day), so he drove back from Johor to PD, made a pit-stop at Melaka to teach me how to drive back. I drove, he’s by my side, we made our way to the place where I custom-made my engagement dress – at @lumiereconcept boutique, a few minute drive from Mahkota Parade. I had my final fitting and tbh I was so impressed with how my dress looked like, I didn’t expect it to be that exclusive. They knew that I love @theduckgroup, so they re-created duckscarf chiffon lace so it will match the lace on my dress and added Swarovski to it, like omg. Pan was surprised too and thank god this is not a wedding dress lol, so he could see it before the big day.

We went back home before 2pm because our wedding planner, @og_crafx wanted to meet my parents officially before they left for Turkmenistan. The meeting lasted for 3 hours and Pan was stuck at my place till the end. The next day, @og_crafx came again to set up the event place.

We hired @og_crafx to do my hantaran for Pan, and requested for mini dais and tents as well but Kak Og and Abang Izam were generous and kind enough to transform the whole event looking like a wedding. We requested for 2 tents, but a day before the event, my dad requested for one more. Thank God for that bold decision, we didn’t have enough place for every guest!

December 27, 2019
There was a stranger's car parked at our garden, my mom asked me to move my car and check who's that person. As I about to drive the car, from the side mirror, I saw my younger sister who shouldn’t be back, because it’s such a short holiday and to fly all the way from where she is now could take her 24 hours to reach Malaysia! And everyone told me that she wouldn’t fly back, so it caught me by surprise! Indeed, this whole week was full of surprises!


Back to the main story.

I ordered brownies from @72cakes – founded by Haseira, a friend of mine and because she had to deliver the brownies to Melaka from Cheras, I hired her to be my MUA too. As for my photographer -my best friend, Mimi couldn’t come to the event because she had to work in Auckland, so she managed to convince his boyfriend, Ajijui to be my photographer. Fuhh.

For the doorgift, we ordered cookies in jar by @themoonsgallery and we also gave a piece of Turkmenistan-made handkerchief – everything was placed inside a paperbag.

For hantarans, I gave him
1. Fresh sirih junjung 
2. Macarons
3. Cake
4. Garrets popcorn
5. Pulut kuning and rendang
6. Baju melayu
7. Buah

Kak og helped me out even with the sirih junjung, I am so extra that I requested for orchids on sirih junjung. I also got super busy so I asked for kak og’s help to find buah as well.


I ordered macarons and cake from @byemanajwa and they are all the way from Perlis! Haseira did me a favor and picked the cake up from Kajang for me. 

As for what Pan gave me, we discussed the lists and for my hantarans, the whole family helped out with the deco.

He gave me
1. Sirih junjung 
2. Sweets
3. A box of duck
4. Ferrero Rocher tower
5. Two rings - merisik and tunang.    

i love each one of the hantarans <3

decorated by my Uda


All hantarans were overshadowed by the tower. When I asked for Ferrero Rocher tower, I expected a small mini cute tower, but Pan, a guy full of unexpected surprises, made a tower made of 210 Ferrero Rocher!!! So all eyes on the chocolates, not even the rings! 


On the day of the engagement, it was one of the most hectic days of my life. Three days before the event, I experienced major breakouts! On my forehead and it’s all bumpy! I never had acnes on foreheads before so I got extra worried! Usually it’s just the scarring but now the acnes were textured! There’s no way concealer could cover that 😭 

On that day, I did all the masking, prepping my skin well for the makeup and yettttt my makeup got all cakey and flaky! I was this 👌🏼 close to breaking down, but I had to stay cool, so I requested for the makeup to be removed and redid the makeup again!!

It was 1:35pm and Pan’s family would arrive at 3:00pm!! And I didn’t even start with the shawl!

literally 5 mins before I needed to walk out of the room


But Alhamdulillah with the help of my MUA and my cousin, I could walk out of my room for the ring ceremony looking decent. My hands were freezing; I was so nervous but I guess the ceremony went smooth. I didn’t know what happened before I was called out, but Pan was introduced to the guests after his mom put on the engagement and merisik rings on me.


the ring ceremony


It’s so funny because after his dad introduced him, he had to shake hands with the guests and made his way up till the dais, and he pretended like he wanted to sit next to me hahaha so everyone laughed! Because technically, he couldn’t do that yet :P

Pan's face after the gimmick he made - like he did nothing at all :P


The photo sessions took longer than I expected, there’re too many people wanting to take pictures with me – even I couldn’t take pictures with my family until all the guests left. I didn’t eat proper food and honestly, it’s an exhausting day but I feel so content and happy. Ajijui Mimi stayed till the end, such a dedicated photographer!

I got to meet my family and friends, everyone is happy because the food is great! I am happy with the amount of people who came, pretty event setup, hantarans, dais, tents and my dress! Most importantly, all family members reunited to make sure the ceremony went smoothly. Alhamdulillah.

After changing the status, from Pan’s girlfriend to Pan’s fiancée, it feels weird haha! Looking back, I never thought I would be engaged at this age. My 17-year-old wouldn’t expect myself to be engaged to Pan hahaha! I mean, because of whatever upside down issues we had to go through. Alhamdulillah for everything.


Sharing some more photos with you - for the memories hehe <3


mini dais by @og_crafx



with our parents :)



with the azmi :)

with the nazamusa :)
with tok mak - the only grandparent left :'(


with my sibs :)




with the extended fams :)


with my Seri Puteri girls <3


#AliahfoundherSong

Counting days to the big day! 215 days from today! Please pray for the smoothness of the event, amin!