Disclaimer: The English language in this post is tailored to suit the Malaysian writer, and readers!
Ok, so yesterday I announced my engagement date; 8 Nov 2014!
I've just got to know that dulang-dulang hantaran are to be sent during bertunang (engagement). I thought they are to be sent during bernikah (solemnisation).
So what is a dulang hantaran?
Dulang literally mean "tray" and hantaran is "gifts".
So the couple will buy gifts for each other and the gifts are presented in trays.
The gifts are usually personal accessories eg watch, ring, belt, wallet, handbag, purse, Quran etc.
The girl should send 2 dulang more than the man. So in my case, since Akmal will be sending 9 dulangs, I need to give him 11!
But worry not, not all 11 dulangs have to be personal gifts. It can be fruit baskets, cakes, chocolates and any other food I deem interesting.
My main problem is......decorating the dulang!
I am very very bad in arts, like really really bad.
I can't even draw a straight line.
How can I decorate my own dulang?
But hey, we can always buy ready made dulang!!
So mama and I went to the nearby kedai barang aksesori pengantin.
And these are our catch ♥
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| RM 338 for five dulangs! That means I need to buy 2 sets of this, plus one more. So it will cost me at least RM700 *gasping for air* |
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| This is even simpler, but is the same price with the previous one. |
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| This is in one of the shops in Nilai 3. I will still need to spend at least RM700 for the 11 dulangs *cry cry* |
So after seeing the prices, I felt so sad and depressed.
Money is almost always the problem, isn't it?
So.....
I have decided.....
To decorate my own dulang!
I am going to take this challenge and decorate them myself!
But of course, I need to drag my sister into this project haha.
Akmal and I bought most of the items for the hantaran in UK last year.
We grabbed the boxing day opportunity and managed to buy quite a lot of items for a cheaper price.
So what I need to do now is to have a proper look at the items I bought and look for ideas to decorate the trays.
I have decided to copy the design I find most interesting.
Since my theme colour is blue, my trays must be in blue as well.
Hmm...light blue and white is a good combination right?
Or light blue and pink.
I googled around, and these images below are the results when I searched for "design hantaran jam tangan":
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| This is beautiful. But the bicycle is quite pricey |
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| Simple and elegant eh? I may do something like this |
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| The flower is heavy, but I like the concept. |
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| More examples |
I have been to a few kedai barang-barang pengantin to survey the prices and the decorations they have.
These shops usually have some ready made dulang for customers so that gave me the chance to have a proper look at the dulang, how did they stick the flowers together, how did they arrange the flowers etc.
One tip, if you want to go and survey a few shops, a camera is very handy.
I used my phone camera to snap the picture of the items, and a closer shot at the price tag.
This way, I will be able to compare prices from different shops.
Did you know that is cost RM14.90?! My God...
Well, there were many hantaran and wedding dress designs in the magazine. But the dress design bit is not so practical for me.
How could they suggest sleeveless wedding dress to Malay readers?!
Well, we can say majority of the magazine readers will be Malay.
Anyway, that is a completely different topic.
You know, the Akmar that I know two months ago will not know where to find barang-barang perkahwinan.
I can only think of Nilai 3, since their advertisement as "Kedai Pengantin Terbesar di Malaysia" is so big along PLUS highway.
I can never imagine trusting myself to decorate my own dulang hantaran.
But now, since I have actually started to open my eyes to these things; it all became clearer.
I have just realised that there are 2 very big kedai barang pengantin within 10km of my house.
I have never paid attention to them before. I didn't have to.
That means, if you open your eyes enough, you will see it.
That's one life lesson for us.
I actually wrote this post on October 8th 2014.
But I have scheduled it in such a way that it will only become public on 17th May 2015.
So that means....today is my little brother, Kean Chye's birthday!
Happy Birthday KC!
Tomorrow you will read more about my engagement dress *weewiitt* and how I surveyed for the dulang hantaran.
InsyaAllah.
-Because life is a test-
-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
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