My Dog Sokchea

My Dog Sokchea RIP 31st January 2020

I haven't had the heart to post something about Sokchea since she died in January this year. But now I have the strength to.

Rest in Peace little Sokchea, my best friend. She passed away while being hospitalised for Kidney disease and on the third night she suddenly got a blood clot to the brain and she just left this earth. I had just visited an hour earlier and she seemed to just hang on long enough to say goodbye to me.

I realise now as I walk around the house how empty it is without her following me around. She used to greet me at the door with a treat in her mouth every night. She was super friendly and full of character.

I now sleep alone in the bed when hubby works night shift and watch TV without her in my lap. It's been really hard and now I'm in the process of packing away her belongings and it brings me to tears. She was a big part of my life for at least seven years. She really was family.

I know Sokchea is up in doggy heaven continuing to be a good doggy. I love you 💕

Thank you for the condolences and for people who have reached out to me, you've been amazing and I feel the love.

Forever Young

I'm sorry I said we were tainted. We are not. If anything we have been faithful only to each other. You and I are still the most stable thing I've ever had since I can remember. 

Just know that no one in this world could ever love you like I have loved you. You have my heart. 

I'm just... I'm sorry I couldn't be that girl that you could only keep from sunset to sunrise.
If only.. you believed in forever. 

Our Level Up Dice Story

35mm D20 Level Up Dice from Level Up Dice
Photos taken by myself and Hai with our Canon D70 DSLR

Hai was gifted this beautiful 35mm D20 from Level Up Dice after revealing our wedding stories for the #MyDiceStory competition. Just before we walked down the aisle Hai and I gifted each other a set of Level Up Dice (7 piece of course), surprising us both for our similar ideas. Mine were a beautiful wood set whilst Hai's were a semi precious stone set. To accommodate Hai's present I also bought a Wyrmwood Dice Box, and Hai had painted my very own Silverdawn miniature complete with his interpenetration of a Water Whip spell.

We've been playing Dungeons & Dragons for more then a year now. I have played a Halfling monk and now Aasimar Mystic; and Hai a Tiefling Rouge moving onto our Dungeon master. We love it so much, often playing once a week and once in a while we do a 3 day bender - Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. The Mondays following are always hard when we finally have to face reality.

We are also huge fans of Critical Role so we were excited to find out that the Critical Role cast were most likely "in the presence of this D20 dice" when they were at GenCon 2018, as this exact dice was displayed there. I practically squealed at this piece of information.

I'm actually listening to both campaigns at once. I listen to Vox Machina via podcast to and from work, and I'm up to episode 43; and I am up to date with Mighty Nien at episode 38. And I have watched most of the one shot episodes as well!

Anyways. That's a small glimpse into the life me and Hai have these days. Hai now possesses the dice and he uses it to roll behind his DM Screen. Deep down as players we hope it does more critical fails rather then critical hits. But we are always grateful for this amazing gift (we have learnt that critical fails are always great for laughs). Thank you Level Up Dice for this amazing (and hopefully Talisan blessed) dice... we hope to create many more memories with our D&D family.

Our Wedding Reception at Silver Pearl Restaurant

Reception at: Silver Pearl Seafood Restaurant, Cabramatta
Photos by: Clarzzique Photography & Videography
Make up & Hair: Style Me Wedding & Events
Wedding Cake by: NC Sweet Zone
Wedding Corset by: Tran (Wedding Dress Maker - 0411456125; Fairfield NSW area)
Wedding Skirt by: Jurgita Bridal (Melanie Skirt) and Asos Bridal (lining customized by me)
Floral Crown(s) by: Made with Love Designz
Floral Wrist Corsage by: Curious Floral 

After a year and a half of wedding stress, Hai and I had finally made it to the Ultimate Party - our wedding reception!
It was held at Silver Pearl Seafood Restaurant on 5th May 2018. We chose this place for a number of reasons - we grew up in the area, many friends of ours have had their weddings in the Cabramatta region, and we love the fact that we get a ten course meal and an option to supply our own alcohol.
It was a wonderful night, and bloody oath, me and Hai worked so hard towards this.

So, below is a brief  breakdown of how we planned our special night. I hope it can serve as a brief guide to newly engaged couples out there.

Booking the Restaurant
A year before our day, we approached the restaurant owner, who we called 'Auntie Ping'. We had simply walked into the restaurant during the day as they were busiest at night. She was a very fiery, passionate and efficient lady and we quickly paid our non-refundable $1000 deposit to hold the venue for the night.
We went through the wedding package, which works around how many guests/tables we wish to invite. Each table holds 10 people. Auntie Ping mentioned that a good amount is 20 tables (200 people) and can accomodate upwards of 40 tables (400 people or more).
There was wedding packages for 25-29 tables or 30+ tables. We had opted for the 30 table package.

The Wedding Package
Silver Pearl was really flexible. We settled and paid the bill on our wedding night.
The total amount was based on the wedding menu, multiplied by how many tables we had, as opposed to per head.
And because we picked the 30+ tables option, Silver Pearl provided the following:

- Orange juice and soft drink
- Printed wedding invitations (unlimited)
- Wedding Cake*
- Wedding car and chauffeur *
- Wedding Singer*
- Wedding MC*
- Live Wedding Band*
- One Security guard
- One "free trial table" where up to 10 people can come in and taste test the Wedding Menu (this is negotiated with Auntie Ping)

*An amount was refunded to you if you didn't go with Silverpearl's options/or provided your own

The 25-29 Tables options provided all that I listed above, except the MC and Wedding Band were not provided, and possibly no free trial table.

Menu
Silverpearl had four menus to choose from, all with different price ranges. I don't want to disclose too much because prices change every year, so the price ranged from around  $890 to $1180 per table at the time we had booked. We also had the option to swap out dishes as we saw fit. We chose the below menu:

1. BBQ Suckling Pig and Jelly Fish Platter
2. Steamed Baby Scallops
3. Chiu Chow Spring Rolls
4. Live Lobster with XO Sauce (with complimentary noodles)
5. Fish Maw Seafood Soup
6.Seafood in Bird's Nest
7. Steamed Live Silver Perch
8. Silver Pearl's Chef's special fried rice
9. Sweet Red Bean and Lotus Seed Soup (can't swap out)
10. Fresh Fruit Platter (can't swap out)

We had made a special request to get the Suckling Pig and that bought the price up because Auntie Ping had to book one pig per table and the price can vary from each butcher.
Our Vegetarian menu were 5 course and they cost $30 per head. Non-seafood dishes were $20 per head, and that was Crispy Chicken and Rice. This was added to the Bill.

Alcohol/Donut Wall
I loved the fact that Silver Pearl allowed us to provide our own alcohol (but served by RSA trained barstaff and waiters of course). Hai and I had our dear friends provide a contact that provided a good deal for us.
We had 31 tables in total so we bought 30 bottles of Hennessy VSOP; 31 bottles of Red Wine; 31 bottles of White Wine (we put down one of each per table) and 15 cases of 24pk Asahi Beer . This proved to be enough for our 310+ guests and we had quite a few left over (around 6 bottles of Hennessy, 8 bottles of Wine and 3 cases of beer).

Hai made our Donut Wall! He is so talented. He spent around $200 for the wood, spokes, spray paint, and Donut signage (this we bought from Ebay). I had then gone to Donut King to buy 130 ice donuts and 70 mini donuts. They were a huge hit with our guests!

Wedding Cake
Hai and I wanted to keep our cake order simple. We didn't go with the complimentary cake from Silver Pearl because we wanted to have more choice for flavours. We opted for a 2-tier Red Velvet semi-naked cake from NC Sweetzone. Ngo was so easy to work with and such a talented baker! She was able to buy and prepare native Australian flowers and decorate it to our liking. We left our Cake toppers (a One Punch Man and Avatar Korra nendoroid bought from Japan Toys) at the venue and Ngo placed them on top before we arrived.

Decor
Our lightbox that displayed our hashtag #HiHaiAndNatNat, we had bought from Kmart and displayed it where the guests signed their names.

For the light up letters, we had a good friend of ours from Vegas Night Productions provide us ones that displayed "H<3N" and they stood perfectly at perfect height in front of the Bridal Table. Vegas Night Productions had installed it the night before and picked up the letters the next night.

MC - David La
We hired David La, a humble MC that was recommended to us by Auntie Ping. He spoke English, Chinese and Vietnamese and was very organised. He went through our itinerary with us and memorized it all. One of the best things he did was gather our family and friends that were to be announced and put them in a area ready to walk out when ready. It saved alot of time and avoided awkward moments of pausing and waiting for family members to fumble from their chairs.
And to hire him was very affordable. I won't disclose the exact cost because David may change his rates in the near future but I can say it was under $400 for his services.

Brief Itinerary

6pm - Guests Arrive; sign the Guest Book and find seats
6.30pm - Photos with the Guests
7.30pm - MC announcements and guests are seated (Our MC waited for about 90% guests to arrive, and also asked for our permission to start - so this start time can vary)
7.45pm - First course served (the Kitchen is on standby to start serving food as soon the MC starts)
Family Acknowledgements, Bridal Party Entrance, Wedding Toast
8pm - Wedding Band Starts
8.15pm - First Dance
8.30pm - Hai's Sister Speech; Maid of Honour and Best Woman Speech
8.45pm - Wedding Band Plays
9pm - Wedding Games hosted by Friend (Dice Drinking Game + Lip Sync Battle)
9.30pm - Maid of Honour and Best Man speech
9.40pm - Cake Cutting, cake is then served at Dessert Table, Donut Wall is open
10pm - Groom & Bride Speech
10.20pm - Bouquet Toss & Garter Toss
10.30pm - DJ starts, Dance Floor lights dim
11.30pm - Wedding Reception finishes

While this all happened, we had close friends counting the Red Pockets in a secure room (they were finished by 7.30pm!); Hai and I toasted every table with a drink; and our Photobooth was open.
We designated one of our groomsmen to be our "Runner" - someone that was in charge of keeping everyone on schedule and could make decisions on our behalf. This really helped as he coordinated with the MC and Auntie Ping to ensure the night ran smoothly without stressing us out too much.

Other Details
Auntie Ping did not tell us about this at all, but there was a Champagne Glass Tower available to us. It was complimentary, so it was a nice touch. After the family was announced and we had the toast, our MC ushered us over and Hai got to pop the champagne bottle and pour into the top glass making a nice waterfall effect and created an opportunity for people to cheer.

I chose the chair ribbon and napkin colour scheme. Auntie Ping had a great variety of colours to choose from - such as blue, pinks reds and gold. I decided to go for a more sophisticated look and opted for silver chair ribbons and grey and white napkins. Auntie Ping said it was very elegant.

One great service that Silver Pearl provided was lending us items for our Vietnamese tea ceremony. I was freaking out because tea ceremony stuff is a hassle to get and it cost money. Luckily we just asked Auntie Ping and she was enthusiastic to show us the Bridal Room. And in that room, behind the massive curtain were mountains of Red Trays (for the food offerings) and their lids, tea pots, candle holders, table clothes and other nick nacks. We borrowed 8 trays, a tea pot with cups, table cloth and candle holders. We then went to Eastland Supermarkets to buy the right sized "Phoenix" candles with crazy gold designs.

For my garter - I ordered a custom Star Wars garter with black lace and white ribbon from Fluer Rogue Designs. It was so beautiful and Cristina is so lovely and talented.

Thank you Silver Pearl for an amazing Reception. Together with the Civil Ceremony, it was indeed the best day of our lives.

Any questions? Or you want to talk about any wedding stress?
Email me - lucyandtherunaways@gmail.com :)