Gloomy

Jacket bought at Cineleisure SG, Zara tanktop, Massicot necklace, Onlyi pants, Staccato sandals

Just visited Bandung last week with husband and my bestie (couple too), we had a really fun short trip. This is what i'm wearing during the gloomy yet romantic day at Bandung day 1. To find out the recommended spots, you can check my Instagram @griciaeffendi or search the #griciatrip hashtag.

Btw today is my first day at the new office. Am working as Asst. Brand Manager for Kanebo Cosmetic, so i assure you that my feeds especially in social media some of them will be about Kanebo product infos and you can ask me anything about Kanebo products. I'll try to help as much as i can =))

Get ready for the downs

Few months ago I had a big test in my relationship. We had a big fight and all i can think (during that time) is do i still want to do this (wedding)? Is he? I read, heard and saw friends, relatives said that during the wedding preparation there must be stuffs that will test our relationship, we both might argue a lot. He want it this way, I want it that way. And the worst thing is break up could be the decision. I already told myself since the day he proposed me. Ok gricia you have to ready because not only sweets but bitter experience is upon you and you got to ready to handle them because this is happens to all relationship. You can do this! But (not so) surprisingly i almost forgot the reminder i gave to myself.

At first we (bride to be) had butterflies in our stomach, can't stop smiling thinking about we're going to build a family with the man of our life. But sometimes we didn't prepared ourself to the obstacles that will come and go and come again during the journey to the big day. I just want to tell you all bride to be out there, when you had a big fight that might or almost "kill" your relationship, of course feel free to yelling, crying and pour your heart content to him but then take some time to really really think.. Why you said "i do" at the first? Think about reasons why you love him so much, think about why you want to spend the rest of your life with him, think about why you want him to be the father for your children. Those reasons will bring back your conscious and eventually you both will back to each other. That is true love. Hey so many things needs to be settled for the wedding right. So stand up and lets do this!!

I DO then what?

Can’t believe that time is running so fast.. Feels like yesterday he proposed me (which actually around last mid year) and next month is already our wedding reception!! All of our preparation to the Big Day finished around 90% I might say.. And I can say proudly that we did it quite smooth because we know what we want, we set budget properly =) Yes.. what else is the most important thing to prepare besides budget right? (well of course love, mentality include but lets just talk the reality) Budget will be the most often topic to discuss with our “husband to be” during the day after he proposed us (woman) until the Big Day.. =D

This blog post is specially dedicated for those who are going to get married ;) Let me share 3 most important items that you should put on your top list when you & your “husband to be” preparing the wedding reception.

1. Venue: Both of you have to make an agreement to each other before you discuss to your parents about how you both want this reception will be and how far you both willing to adjust to the parents requests. Because from stories I heard (happened to me as well) sometimes the parents want stuffs that one of you might won’t agree. So how many invitees is the first thing to decide. After that you can browse on website like bridestory.com to find what kind of venue you both want (hotel ballroom / function room / restaurants / indoor or outdoor), you’ll find it helpful because the photos in the website are very updated from each venue based on the wedding projects they had. Bridestory.com has “save” button for you to save several photos you like and then you can compare those venues because you want to see them back and forth right?! After decided let say your top 5 venues, next thing is you can go to the “email” button to request pricelist for wedding package (to check if the package match your budget), after that you can visit the venues you both agreed to check.

 2. Bridal: Men can wear a fine suit or tux then voila they looked handsome. But women! So many options of gown shapes we have to pick that’s why choosing the right bridal or designer is on my number 2 list. It’s a long path to walk dear :’) If you have extra budget you can have a custom made wedding gown because it will designed based on your body shape, you can discuss every detail about it. Perfect for the perfectionist one. Hehe.. In my case, I choose to rent the wedding gown.. I have visited lots of bridals.. And it’s a good thing to do because you can compare prices & try the styles at each bridal had.. When you click to bridestory.com and choose bridal you can filter the options by click the budget button. It will take you directly to bridals / designers that match your budget (if you have to googling and sort one by one it’s too tiring and when you find out the one you like is off the budget that’s quite pathetic right so just click the filter that’s already provided). 

3. Make up artist: It’s not easy to find the right make up artist (MUA), their hand job is very personal. The result for one to another can be different.. They called it cocok-cocokan in bahasa =P great thing that I found at bridestory.com is (again) the updated photos.. We can check the latest project of each make up artist. My suggestion is if you already choose several make up artists, try them one by one when you have special occasion. So that you’ll know if you feel click or not.. Yes you can get free trial when you booked a MUA but if you don’t like the free trial you will hesitate and feel not sure with how you’ll look during the Big Day but cannot do anything because you already put DP to the MUA unless it’s ok for you to cancel the booking which mean the DP cannot be refund. Best thing is read the reviews, check the latest creation of the MUA is it consistently good or not, compare the before and after result. After that, have a trial. That’s why I put MUA as the top 3 because you need to have enough time to try several MUAs. 

So that’s all for now. Hopefully this blog post will be helpful. I’m planning to have another one about (not so) small things on wedding. Just stay tune guys! 

Ps: save your time to find the right vendors & get your wedding dream by visiting bridestory.com. Quick and easy access!

Hi 2014

Chlorine top&skirt, Mango sling bag, Jeffrey Campbell transparent heels, Julie Rochili skull breacelet

Hi.. I'm back. First of all i would like to say HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014! Last December I'm lack of post because its a freaking busy month.. Big event at work, Engagement & Christmas... But if you follow my instagram you might already know what happened last month. Usually instagram will sum up my life report. Haha.. For this post i'm wearing matchy matchy cropped top and skirt from Chlorine. I suggest you to have at least 1 color of their signature Sally Skirt. Besides this one, i also have red and black sally skirt with different length. Great things about it is you can custom the color / pattern, waist size & skirt length. Very personal =) I bet you already saw several famous bloggers wearing Chlorine such as Anastasia Siantar, Cindy Karmoko and Veren Lee ;)

So talking about this new year, i haven't write down my resolution yet but already had several in my head. Excited! 2014 is going to be one of the most precious year in my life. Yes yes there will be a wedding on September. Wish me luck with all those preparation and of course like people said when you are going to have a wedding you will have lots of fights with your partner... O ow... But i'm too happy and really enjoying the process. Pray for me will ya? =))

Going pastel

Onlyi tee, Somerville shorts, Headband bought at Brightspot

Punish me for not having any blog post for a month! T_T i don't have time to take photos because on weekdays i have to go to office when i reached home the sun is already set, cannot find good spot in my house, while on weekend the next difficulty is taking photo with tripod. I can ask my brothers to help, but they rarely at home on weekend and then i cannot ask my boyfriend because if we only go to somewhere casual then i only wearing casual outfits *sob

But finally i had these (not bad) photos to post, playing with my new camera..Yay!! I bought Olympus pen mini =)) For this post i'm using the soft effect.. Do you like it? Bout the outfit, i'm wearing syiera tee from Onlyi made by this cool woman named Cindy <3 font=""> I bought it twice coz when my maid washing another clothes, the color fading and sticking to my shirt. Since i like it a lot. I buy it again. Btw i'm going to start my hip hop class after years.. I'm quite into dance you know, when i still in kindergarten dancing performance is my favorite, on junior hi i joined school's cheerleader team, on senior hi me and my friends form a dance group and earn some money by having several gigs at birthday parties, companies events and weddings.. But it stops when we graduated from college.. Ahh those years.. me and my flat abs.. haha... Now? don't you dare mention it in front of me. Hahaha.. Just kidding... Till next time! *kiss

Girly

Fashion page in Vivi Magazine

Miia Dress, Melissa Shoes

My current addiction - Baby Max (my sister's son). Auntie love Max sooo muchhhhh

Yos, Me, Mum, Dad and Didi

Angpaos

When my sister and her hubby are going to Japan she asked me what kind of fashion items i would like to have. I'm immediately grab my ViVi magazine and show her the MIIA dress that Lena (the model) wore.. On her 2nd day at Japan she PING me and said that she's looking at the dress that i showed her before but it's only available in cream and pink color.. So i chose the cream one. Yay!

I wore these lovely dress during the 1st day of Chinese New Year ^__^ oh for those who celebrate CNY, Gong Xi Fa Cai =D I will use the angpaos I got to buy a new camera. I've been saving but still not enough. Hehe..  I know I'm kind of too old to receive Angpao but hey I'm not married yet ;P CNY was really FUN! I spent 3 days with visiting relatives and friends.. Snacking a lot!!!

Genting Trip Part 3

Last day at Genting.. We start our day by having breakfast at Coffee Terrace where we can eat lots of different type of foods, Sushi, Laksa, Pancake, name it! After enjoying our last breakfast at Genting, time for free time, I decided to visit some stores especially Vincci, it’s a local footwear brand from Malaysia. Got a pair of sandals =)

Before leaving Maxims Hotel, we had a quick lunch at Bakery (again).. Happy that we can have our lunch here, there are still lots of their menu I want to taste.. This time I chose the sandwich.. Nom Nom.. Seriously its very delicious guys! Christine, our host surprise us by putting several pretty yet yummy macaroon :9 So that’s how we spend our last day at Genting. Sadly we have to ended this fun trip experience.. Special thanks to Resorts World Genting and Indonesia Blog Network for having me in this trip. Already miss my new friends and Genting.. For you guys who have plan to go to Kuala Lumpur, don’t forget to visit Genting as well, you can use Sky Way for the transportation btw.. If you don’t have much time I recommend you to try Sky Venture and Flying Coaster at Genting, for the culinary experience well all of the restaurants I have visited is a must try =)