Thursday, September 4, 2008

One Day I Slowly Floated Away

"one day i slowly floated away" is the name and concept of room 211 at New Majestic Hotel designed by artist, Safaruddin Abdul Hamid.

"One Day I Slowly Floated Away is inspired by the carefree, languid nature of stray cats in the city area, the artist seeks to enthuse guests in the room to unwind and just take it easy."

In this "one day i slowly floated away" album, you will find images in room 211. This "Premium Garden" room was the room that we have booked and chosen to stay in. Though earlier on the day of our wedding solemnization, New Majestic Hotel was very kind to offer to us as a complimentary upgrade to "untitled", where had our day preparations done. However, we decided not to opt for the upgrade as we (or rather William) preferred "one day i slowly floated away". The reason why he loves this room is because firstly, it is Red in colour, secondly, it has Cats! Despite it being a much smaller room than the earlier, this room does have an interestingly unique feature: outdoor bathtub in the balcony. Nevertheless, we got a very good discount for this "Premium Garden" room. Note that New Majestic Hotel being a reputed design hotel, never gives discount, hence we were very pleased that we were given this 'very special gift' from the hotel (by large attributed to Fiona's excellent PR skills).

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In room 211, every tile and wall is in Red with Cats sprawled all over the walls. While four or five stars hotels do not pay emphasis and continue to provide guests with generic toiletries, New Majestic Hotel takes the extra step to pamper the guests with body soap, shampoo, conditioner and bath foam from "Kiehl's". On top of this, the hotel management welcomed and congratulated us with a complimentary bottle of white wine and greeting card. While most hotels have lousy in-room entertainment with bulky box TVs, rooms in New Majestic Hotel are equipped with LCD TVs and even iPod docks. Enjoying a whole range of chilled beverages from the bar, teas or a hot cuppa from the chic Nespresso, all on-the-house! These are what I call "value-added services"!


Schematic diagram of room 211 "one day I slowly floated away".

While all these are already making it worth it to stay in New Majestic Hotel, the unique feature of this "Premium Garden" puts most major hotels down. Nothing is more relaxing than enjoying a soak in a bathtub or shower, in the outdoor 'garden'! While the "
untitled" has a bathtub in a 'fishtank', this outdoor bathtub also adds sensuality along with a tinge of kinky for guests. All these unique touches to a hotel room are what it takes to put New Majestic Hotel in a prominent spot among a finer league of luxury hotels.


An undoubtedly acme of luxury in a nouveau hotel where two worlds of post-modernism and heritage meet!


Written by William


CONTACTS OF WiFi CAN CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE COLLECTION OF PICTURES OF ROOM 211 "one day i slowly floated away".
So far I was unable to find from the internet, any photo gallery of New Majestic Hotel rooms more comprehensive than this, hence it is our greatest pleasure to share this with our friends!
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The Day After 08.08.08



The Day After 08.08.08

On this day, 9th of August 2008, we check-out from New Majestic Hotel and remind ourselves that we will certainly be returning to this lovely designer hotel!


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Breakfast @ New Majestic Restaurant


By the swimming pool @ New Majestic Hotel, 2nd Level


The Iconic Trishaw @ New Majestic Hotel Lobby


FOR FRIENDS OF WiFi, CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE GALLERY.
In the gallery, there will be more pictures of food and WiFi at the hotel lobby, swimming pool and trishaw! :p
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Written by William

Monday, September 1, 2008

Of Waves & Flora


Outdoor Photo-Shoots
It is usually not common for couples to go for outdoor shoots with various locations, after a Wedding Solemnization. I have attended and even helped friends who had their wedding solemnizations at the Registry of Marriage. Their post-event photo-shoots were usually brief and at Fort Canning Park. However, we thought it would be fun to go out into sun (we were blessed with good weather on that day) and have some fun after the lunch. Hence we visited the outdoors and this time, I get to be the photography subject along with Fiona. It was a rare occasion since I was usually the photographer and Fiona hardly lets me shoot her.


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Location 1: Henderson Waves

The Henderson Waves is the highest sky bridge in Singapore that links Mount Faber and Telok Blangah Hill. The bridge hangs 36m over Henderson Road and constructed such that it resembles a wave, hence its name. We had been wanting to visit this trail as well as the Henderson Wave. Our only successful attempt is during this shoot.



Location 2: Labrador Park
Since Labrador Park got her 'face-lift' a few years back, we have only returned once. Reason being that it is very hard to visit Labrador Park without driving. Hence, what better way to get a sunset view and end the day's shoot at Labrador Park, where we got the sea and the greens.
So where are the flora? Check out posy in Fiona's hands!





Thanks to Benny for the photography.
Thanks to Michele & Puay Sim, Victor & Floria for driving.
Thanks to Agnes for joining and be the 'maid'.




Written by WIlliam



FOR FRIENDS OF WiFi, CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE OUTDOOR PHOTO-SHOOTS GALLERY.
In the gallery, make a guess at how many kisses WiFi made during the shoot.
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Next Up: The Day After

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Lunch @ New Majestic Restaurant


After our Wedding Solemnization,WiFi is delighted to invite all our guests to New Majestic Restaurant for lunch to feed our famished guests as well as to thank time for taking their precious time to attend our important day.

New Majestic Restaurant
The New Majestic Restaurant is an up-and-coming restaurant serving one of the Best Chinese food, taking on big names such as Tung Lok Group. The chef-owner of this restaurant inside the hotel is none other than the famous "Chef Yong Bing Ngen". If you have not heard of Chef Yong, his experience from highly-acclaimed restaurants such as "Jiang-Nan Chun" at The Four Seasons, "Jade" at The Fullerton, "Doc Cheng’s" and "Empress Room" at the Raffles Hotel and "Hai Tien Lo" at Pan Pacific Hotel. His art or "Modern Cantonese" cuisine is adored and respected.WiFi, being fans of good food, was definitely our greatest pleasure to share this gem and have our guests savour this culinary flair. reviews include: SoShiok.com
AsiaOne Wine & Dine
chef yong:blog Dear friends of WiFi,
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Friends and family rejoice over our joyous gathering and indulge in a
completely new dining experience at New Majestic Restaurant.
Thanks to Chef Yong for the marvellous menu and Grace for coordinating the the whole event.


Simply an Art of Dining!
The menu includes:
  • Salmon Tartar
  • Double-boiled abalone with shark's fin mallow, chinese wolfberries in shark's bone stock
  • Oyster deep-fried with spicy salt and accompanied with Crispy Roasted Pork
  • Pea sprouts with shrimps simmered with supreme stock
  • Fish noodles with pan-seared scallops
  • Chilled mango puree with sago and pomelo

We hope our guests enjoyed the lunch as much as we do. Thank you!


Written by William Tan




FOR FRIENDS OF WiFi, CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE LUNCH @ NEW MAJESTIC RESTAURANT GALLERY.

Gallery includes group photos of every guest.
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Next Up: Of Waves & Flora

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The 8.8.8 Solemnization



New Majestic Bar is a chic and cool bar located beside New Majestic Hotel. Hip people who loves chilling out in pubs and in style, will adore the New Majestic Bar. The bar is a cosy three-storey narrow building with a different theme at each level. The different themes follow an identical "fairy-tale" concept inspired by writer Enid Blyton. The three levels are accessible via the stair well by the main entrance, or via a lift in the building. The top level has a charming night sky setting where patrons can to climb up a short ladder to relax on a loft.

The Wedding Solemnization was held at the ground level of New Majestic Bar. The theme of the first level is "Trunks & Roots". You will not find trees and roots strewn all over the bar, but you find the interior design and objects that re-creates a scene of a mythical forest. An observant eye will notice the brown columns on the walls which represent the trunks and metallic artefacts made to look like insects of the forests. While the green sofa spanning across the bar represents the undergrowth along with boulder-like round bean-bags, the colourful panels of the ceiling lights gives an impression of light rays penetrating through the leaves in the canopy.

When we were still hunting for our venue, we considered a few places. I have an affinity with the Bukit Pasoh precint, and fell in love with New Majestic Hotel when I discovered this gem. Then when Fiona learnt about this place from the magazines, she told me about the New Majestic Hotel & Bar. It came as such coincidence that we independently discovered and fell in love with this place, hence we were certain that New Majestic Hotel would be our venue. Following that, everything simply fell in place.

We were delighted to be offered complimentary use of the New Majestic Bar for the Wedding Solemnization, since we were holding their lunch reception at New Majestic Restaurant. Thanks to Grace for facilitating to our requests.

I had intended to do up the basic decorations earlier, however, I was only able to enter the bar from 11:30 a.m. onwards. In the end, I came down at 12 noon and some guests were already at the bar. Nevertheless, it did not take me long to get the table set up.

Everything on the table (except the centre-piece) for the Solemnization was specially conceptualized and decorated by me to match the theme of the New Majestic Bar with our "Corpse Bride" theme. All materials are sourced locally and overseas to work with the lowest budget ever.
Though the traditional thinking will be to avoid anything that is possibly inauspicious, such as the "Corpse Bride", on such a day. We loved the "Corpse Bride" movie and long thought of unravelling my mint 12-inch "Victor and Emily" figurines and having them share our limelight on the 8th of August (It is probably an excuse to finally open up one my treasured collection piece).

Despite 08.08.08 is the eigth day of the Lunar Seventh Month, we have researched and concluded that the day of 08.08.08 is an auspicious day for wedding solemnization. Furthermore, the time we have chosen was the most auspicious time of that day. Though we were not at all particular and superstitious, it is good to know that we have got our timing right!
Most importantly, 08.08.08 is one day that occurs only once in our lifetime. Marking this date with three lucky numbers '8' as our wedding day, is our ultimate blessing.
Coincidently, 08.08.08 is also the opening day of the Beijing Olympics 2008. This way, we can never forget our anniversary date! :p

Let us now join our families and friends as we revisit the moments of our Wedding Solemnization.

Invited guests
(randomly arranged) are:
William's Dad & Mum
Fiona's Dad & Mum
Victor and wife Floria
Kelvin
Lester
Fiona's aunt Violet
William's aunt
Laurens
Benny
Mak
Elizabeth
Xiao Yun
Vivien
Michele and husband Puay Sim
Agnes
Angeline
Christie
Nicole and daughter Saphire
Anngie
Donny
Ahmed
Bernard and wife Sze Wai
Jason
Jane
Shufen
Cedric

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By 12:30 p.m., all our guests had already arrived at the bar. We sincerely apologize for any slack in hospitality. Others could also tell that I was very excited. Indeed I was.
Dr. Ang Beng Choo, our Solemnizer came shortly around 1 p.m.. We were very honored to have Dr. Ang to be our solemnizer. She is a well-learnt and wise lady who is a retired Professor in established foreign Universities. Till today, she still gives back to the society by supervising PhD students in Linguistics and Psychology. In Singapore, she is a respected person in the Ministry of Education. Despite all her great achievements, she is a very humble lady, attributed to her practise in Buddhism.
A big "Thanks" to my brother, Victor and wife Floria, for helping me fetch Dr. Ang to our venue.
Also a huge "Thanks" to Cedric, for helping me send Dr. Ang back after the event.



Without much delay, Dr. Ang began the solemnization. We were both made to take our standard solemnization oaths. Jokingly, Dr. Ang praised me for listening to her questions and answering them appropiately. Following that, we exchanged our rings. We did a little customization to this procedure by putting the rings and ring pillow into a small lamp. We will each then have to retrieve the ring from inside the lamp.

Starting with the groom then bride, we recited our customized vows before slipping the ring onto each other's ring finger. For those who didn't know what we were talking about, our vows came about from the movie "Corpse Bride". The last sentence was added in by us.

Our Vows
"With this hand, I will lift your sorrows.
Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine.
With this candle, I will light your way in darkness.
With this ring, I ask you to be mine.
Do you accept this ring and be my lawfully wedded wife/husband?"


A video clip from the movie "Corpse Bride"
where Victor Everglot recites his vows in a forest
and accidentally asked Emily, the Corpse Bride, to be his wife.


At the end of the solemnization, Dr. Ang tested us on a lesson that she had given us earlier on. This lesson was about the "Four Investments in a Marriage". Though our minds completely blanked out, Dr. Ang was very kind to remind us once again and also to share with everyone, this important lesson.
The "Four Investments in a Marriage" include:
(1) Invest in books to enrich our knowledge and upgrading of our skills.
(2) Invest in our parents and parents-in-laws, to show our appreciation and love for them, such as buying them the food that they love.
(3) Invest in our love by occasionally giving each other gifts, irregardless of monetary value, praising each other in both good and bad situations
(4) Invest for monetary benefits in event of any 'rainy' days.

Dr. Ang also reminded us that we should always say the three words to each other everyday. The three words, "I Love You", should be said to each other in the morning, afternoon and in the night.

Lastly, Dr. Ang advised us to be charitable and generous to the needy whenever we can.
We appreciate her wise words (some are adapted from the teachings of the Dharma) to us and we will keep them in mind.


And now we are Officially Man & Wife!


Written by William Tan



FOR FRIENDS OF WiFi, CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE SOLEMNIZATION GALLERY.
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Next Up: Lunch Reception @ New Majestic Restaurant

room 307 "untitled": Preparation for the Wedding Solemnization


Up early in the Friday morning of the 8th of August at 7:30 a.m., I told myself that "Today is my big day!". It was good weather for a morning jog, after a rain the night before. After my morning jog, at around 8 a.m., I took some time to enjoy a cup of kopi-o, before collecting my flowers from the florist. Laurens, my 'bro' rose as early to meet me at my place while we wait for Elizabeth to pick us up from my place. We then made our way to Fiona's and arrived at New Majestic Hotel around 9:30 a.m..
Getting ourselves prepared was a breeze if it wasn't with the help of Elizabeth and Laurens. Thanks to Benny, my photographer buddy for coming down earlier for some photo-taking.

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"untitled" is the name and theme of "Lifestyle Designer" Room 307 at New Majestic Hotel designed by Furniture Designer, Patrick Chia. Patrick creates space and beauty through white and emptiness. Since White has been the new "in", such a minimalist concept makes this room all the more attractive.
The simple furnishing and white wash is what gives "untitled" its style. A luxurious king-size bed with thick fluffy padded white quilt with white pillows, stands in-between the 'fish-tank' shower and TV console.

"Stylish & Serene, the cement-clad room styled by Patrick Chia is designed to be a space that an international traveler would wish to live in. With Patrick's Signature whimsy and detail, this is a room that pays tribute to modern Classic European design."


Schematic layout of "untitled" (not drawn to scale).

Interestingly, the toilet is inside a full-length glass panel but it is semi-frosted to strategically shield out the person inside. On the TV console, there is a mini-music player connected to an iPod dock. On the other end of the TV console, there is a wind-up music player like those found in musical boxes.

The above is a view from the main door. It looks through the shower "fish-tank" and into the living space.The shower area is a raised platform to accommodate the bath tub which is recessed into the platform. The sliding glass panels can then shield the shower area. The roller blinds can be drawn to cover the whole entrance into the shower area in case of any unexpected intrusion via the main door. However, the glass panel separating the shower area and the living area has got no blinds. Hence, I have given the name of "fish-tank". It is a nice kinky touch to this otherwise simple room. Though the bay window and balcony doors with glass panels seems to expose the room and the "fish-tank", but the glass actually appear shaded from the outside. To feel more secure, one can draw the blinds.
When I was preparing myself in the morning, I had thought of taking another shower in the hotel room prior the solemnization. But upon realising that the shower area is a "fish-tank", furthermore with Benny, Laurens and Elizabeth around in the room, I felt so exposed to strip, hence forgoing the shower.


Fiona has been trying to find the right posies to match her made-to-measure dress. She then decided to go for Calla Lilies. Calla lilies are very lasting flowers when cut, hence we need not worry about it wilting shortly after collection. We then sourced for various popular florists in town and were put off by the expensive price, when they realised that it was meant for wedding solemnization. Nevertheless, we realized that my neighbourhood florists makes beautiful bouquets at a huge fraction of the cost of those quoted earlier. The florist did not have an impressive photo-catalogue, but her sample convinced us that neighbourhood florists can just be as good as well-marketed florists. Most importantly, our posy was probably the cheapest among most florists (based on quotes and online references). We had initially wanted white calla lilies, but was advised that the flowers do not open up wide, and hence will only look suitable on tall ladies. We were then advised on choosing the pinkish-violet instead of the green and yellow ones. These pinkish-violet calla lilies open up wider and when matched cleverly with white freesia, makes the final posy an attractive and elegant piece.



In every series of wedding portfolios, there must be shots of the wedding bands. For those who did not get to catch a close-up look at our wedding bands, these are our bands from "Love & Co.". Each band is actually designed such that it represents a strip of ribbon that encircles the finger and ends with a tail hanging out. At the end of the tail, a Soo Kee diamond can be found embedded within. Since diamonds are "Forever" and "Eternity", having the diamond at the end of the ribbon symbolizes that this ribbon continues forever and for eternity. We started scouting for our wedding bands quite early and took our time to look through the collections in every popular jewellers. We wanted something non-conventional, and hence filtered out the uniformly-round bands. We then unanimously decided that this pair from "Love & Co.", is inexpensive and most beautiful. The male design of the pair had either an awkwardly huge diamond or no diamonds. I love the right portions of the crafting of the female design. Hence, I picked an identical piece from the female design but in a larger size. (Yes! I do have thin delicate fingers!)


We hired Sandy from "Making Faces & Dress Me Up" to doll Fiona up pretty.



Elizabeth did us a great favour by fetching me and Laurens from my place and the picking Fiona up from hers. During the preparation period, she was so hardworking that she brought her Marketing books to study. Elizabeth and Fiona flaunts their engagement diamond rings. Elizabeth had her diamond ring on top of her wedding band. Fiona had to wait before she got hers... ha-ha! Fiona's engagement ring was given to her a few years ago during an informal proposal. I would only allow her to put it on during important events. I had always admired a Brilliant Rose from Soo Kee Jewellery for its cutting (but of course one can only examine under a magnifying glass). When they marketed it with a slogan stating "The cut of Ultimate Brilliance", it really isn't a scam. A Brilliant Rose diamond glitters and sparkles even in a dark room as long as they is one ray of light! I was 'sold' by it when I saw it with my own eyes. Since I had only bought Fiona roses only once, I felt that the Brilliant Rose should be the "ultimate" rose from me.


Our greatest appreciation to Elizabeth for being there to accompany Fiona through her preparations.
Elizabeth is a very good friend of Fiona since their Secondary school. Both of them, with Vivien and Xiao Yun, belongs to the same click.
And you did not make me a cup of coffee from the Nespresso machine!



Finally, after getting ourselves dolled up. We had a few photos taken in the room before we proceed to the New Majestic Bar. My lovely bride looked fabulously stunning! I can only pale in comparison.



Putting the finishing touches to myself in my "budget" outfit. Many people were curious if I had my suit tailored but my answer was "No". I am not shy to say that my blazer was from a G2000 sale a few years ago, at less than S$100. Laurens even had a chance to loan it for his graduation ceremony. Hence, it is not new. My pink Van Heusen shirt is bought with vouchers at also less than S$100 from Robinsons. My black pants and white tie were from Bangkok and total less than S$30. My Renoma: Paris black leather shoes (not shown) were from a warehouse sale at S$69.
Friends of mine had probably noticed that I had done a 'slight' image-makeover: two ear-piercings, coloured-haired and funky new spectacles. Yes! I plucked my eyebrows as well and I am sure getting addicted to it! All thanks to my wife!



Fiona's closest friends, Agnes (left) and Michele (centre), joined her in the room while the rest were already at the bar. These three lovely trio has been close friends since Secondary school. Even till today, they would still meet up every week and I believe for one purpose: To Take Over GG<5!
Thanks to Agnes for helping us get the wines at cost price.
Thanks to Michele and husband Puay Sim who joined us in our post-solemnization photo-shoot outing.


I am personally very grateful to Michele and Agnes for being there for Fiona through 'thick-and-thin' over, taking care of her when she needed to.
I must also thank them for passing the 'baton' to me now and let me take care of her.
Since day one, as I have promised, I will take care of her in everyday that I can still breathe. Meanwhile, please continue to treasure this exceptional friendship and may you girls keep this bond till we all grow old. This is one friendship that I truly admire and envy.



Written by William Tan


CONTACTS OF WiFi CAN CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE COLLECTION OF PICTURES
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Next up: The Solemnization

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Glimpses of WiFi Launched!

Glimpses of WiFi...

Dear friends and family,
our exclusive Multiply website and photo album is launched!


"Glimpses of WiFi..."
wifitan.multiply.com

We will be progressively releasing pictures from our 08.08.08 Wedding Solemnization.
If you are friend of WiFi, add us now to view the exclusive picture galleries!

Meanwhile, this blog will continue to host some selected pictures for visitors and new friends who are interested in learning more about our Wedding Solemnization at New Majestic Hotel. Interestingly, there are no pre-existing information and pictures of weddings at New Majestic Hotel, in the popular local wedding forums. Hence, we are probably the first to have our wedding solemnization documented at this chic boutique/designer hotel.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tung Lok Snowskin Mooncakes as a gift

Thanks to Bernard and Sze Wai for attending my Wedding Solemnization and in particularly, Bernard for his fine videography work. Bernard has caught many precious moments surrounding us that Fiona and myself had missed while we were so involved in our solemnization process. The angles were fantastic and not to mention the many small details that even our photographers had missed, all in the best quality HD format.
This is our token of appreciation for them: Assorted Snowskin Mooncakes from "同樂" ("Tung Lok").

Snowskin Mooncakes
Tung Lok Restaurants


It isn't the usual fancy metal, wood or cardboard box, but instead came a paper box which covers a specially made styrofoam 'Keep Cool' box. I love the retro Oriental prints.

Flavours include:
'Loveletter' Chocolate Truffle
Chocolate Almond
Green Tea with Pumpkin Seeds
Pandan



Thanks Ber and Sze Wai!
Looking forward to the arrival of your Princess this Thursday!