Kad Kahwin Cheni

From the first time I laid my hands on photoshop, I was very sure that I wanted to design my own wedding card. And I told myself that at the end of the day, a wedding invitation is just for formality's sake and the invitation is kept for reference on the event details. So there was no need to go all fancy shmancy on the cards.

I've mentioned it before here that I wanted to DIY my cards. And DIY I did. Ok la, when I say DIY, is not like the kind where I need to tie ribbons for every card or paste stickers or doily papers. It's just the design is DIY. You crazy ah want to tie ribbon for 500-700 cards? Where got time siooooooooollllllll.......

But anyway, I am finally happy with my card design after like 10 times of changing this and that and this and that and eventually, go back to my original idea.

So it's true when they say, if you already know what you want, stop looking. 

I am also helping the tunang design his cards because he also want DIY but I am doing the DIY lor. So practically, it's not his DIY. You get what I mean kan? Men.

Well anyway, after I have completed the design for the cards, another headache comes on. The printing.

I don't own maha besar gila laser printer at home. I ade Epson nye printer je uolls. Itu pon print 50 kali, ink dah abis. So of course la I had to source for a printer. In SG, I've did some surveying when I was helping my babygurl with her card printing and generally, it's quite expensive. Well, I mean yah, one piece is $0.50 to $0.80 but when you have to print at least 500 cards... you do the maths k.

So my tunang so pandai gave an idea to find a card printer across the causeway. At first, I'm like, errr... like same only if we find a card designer and printer there. And some more, I don't know how to trust their quality. But my friends, after a few research here and there, I have found the chosen one. It took just one person more to tell me that they've engaged their printing services and I know I had to contact them.

My fellow BTBs, I will introduce you to Kad Kahwin Cheni.

First and foremost, when I saw Building Our Love's Nest post about wedding cards, I had to ask her for the contact. So when I got it, I browsed through their Facebook page and website. Not bad. Not bad at all.

And then I saw a friend's IG posting a picture of a wedding card she helped her friend design. And when I asked her which printer her friend engaged, it was the same one. So, I was damn sure I wanted them to print my cards. Confident eh.

So I enquired them via Facebook. No doubt la, it took them a little while to reply me, which kinda pissed me a little because I hate when service providers don't have the efficiency of replying their potential customers' queries. So me and the tunang decided to take some time off to go JB and pay them a visit. But because the light has shine the path for me and the tunang, I receive a reply from them mentioning that they have a booth at the Wedding Bliss & Lifestyle Asia 2013. Awesome gila u olls! Alhamdulillah!

So we took some time after my family event over the long weekends and made a trip down to their booth at Expo last Sunday. When we came, we saw many samples of their work. Their hardcover cards are really pretty (I was tempted to just order one of their ready made templates). Me and the tunang were quite excited because we completed the transaction within, hmmm.. half hour? Heh.

We were damn happy when we heard the price and it was on promo price as they are starting to open up their business to customers in Singapore. I was doing cartwheels in my head when I receive the quotation from them and straight away we placed a deposit and confirmed plus chop that we want them to print our cards.

You want to know how awesome the price is?

Card size = 150mm x 150mm
Folded card with all 4 pages printed
White Art Card
Total pcs to print: 1500 pcs
2 different designs
Inclusive of envelope
1 pc = $0.30

Did you hear someone fell? Coz I just fainted. HAHAHA!

This was their opening promo price at expo and I is a happy goober. 'Nuff said. We have already signed.. soon to be sealed and delivered.

Even their ready made template cards are really pretty.

So if any of you are interested, you can take a look at their facebook page or their website. If you wish to pay them a visit, they are located at Danga City Mall in JB.

DIY la konon (Kad Kahwin)

I will beam up whenever I come across DIY craft stuff like photobooths, cards, labels, center pieces, trays and whathaveyous. If I had all the time, energy and resources to do all that, I would want to do everything on my own. Even wedding deco.

I am obsessed with DIY.

But frankly, I am not very artsy fartsy. I don't come up with fresh original ideas. I research for inspiration and work from there. I won't say I have excellent taste either. Taste I pon kadang-kadang kokarp jugak. But to each its own la kan.

Well anyway, having alot of free time on my hands (pun intended) at the moment, I had to make do with the time I had to do something worthwhile for the wedding. It's now less than 6 months away so it's crunch time.

I am doing some things on my own with help of family and friends.

The DIY stuff I'm getting done are:
- Cards (Design & Print)
- Photobooth (Backdrop, props, photos, guestbook)
- Candy corner (With the help of my aunt. Thanks aunty ku!)
- Wedding trays (With the help of my grandaunt)

Takde lah banyak sangat. It's small-small stuff and of course with family members rendering their help.

First and foremost of the list, cards.

Truth be told, when I google wedding cards, many of the search results return results from negeri mat salleh. I also watch alot of wedding reality tv shows (David Tutera, Say Yes to the Dress, Fabulous Cakes, Astro Ria etc etc you name it). It's TV. Of course semuanya cantik and of course it comes with a hefty price tag. On top of that, western weddings and malay weddings are totally like comparing nasi minyak and steak. Totally different.

So when I came across cards like...

Source: Uploaded by user via Caitlin on Pinterest

Source: bforbel.com via Morgan on Pinterest

No doubt these ideas are totally out of the box, creative. But I mean kamon la u olls. Pakcik-pakcik and makcik-makcik out there will go like...

"Apa ni kad kahwin macam gini?"
"Apesal huruf kecik ni?"
"Kasi kad tapi takda map. Macam mana nak pegi ni?"
"Kasi kad tapi tak tulis nama"

Seriously u olls, as much as people's opinion ain't gonna matter to me, I still gotta be realistic. Our people may be known to hoard stuff but things like wedding cards, they will be thrown away once they have a taste of your nasi minyak. And to do these for 500 or more cards is outrageous. Mat salleh weddings only have, 100 something guests, max I heard is 300. So they olls semua boleh la invest alot more on things like these.

Lagipon, kat SG ni, benda macam gini tak murah. (Unless you kaya gila or nak kahwin anak dato' or you sendiri anak dato')

Well anyway, you get the drift la. I'm still in the midst of designing the card, with the help of the sissy. I need to get this done and out of the way by end of the month at least, or next month so I can concentrate on other things.

I'm still scouting for good printers for my cards. I'm not very well versed with graphic terms (e.g. 300 dpi, 72 resolution...). All I care about is that my wedding card doesn't look like a photograph or postcard, unless I wanted it to.

If you olls have printing shops that you may know of, do let me know! If I have printer contacts, I'll let you oll know too. Win-win for everyone.