A L V I N O L O G Y II

Rachel and I are the first couple in Singapore to have our solemnisation ceremony on board an airplane – how cool is that?

It happened at 5.50am on 2 February, 2010, on board Jetstar’s plane, 3K 823 at Changi Airport, Terminal 1.

The two witnesses who signed on the certificate were my mom and Rachel’s mom. The wedding solemniser is Justice of Peace, Mr Lim Huan Chiang.

The ceremony was short, it was over in around ten minutes. The plane took off on time after that with no delay.

All photos courtesy of Eunice Chan, Rachel’s sister.

Rachel and I were overwhelmed by the media interviews and well-wishes from the other passengers, friends and family members, on board the plane.

As mentioned in my previous post, it was not easy making this happen due to all the logistics, scheduling and technical details involved.

Rachel and I would like to thank all the following people for making this possible – our family members, especially our moms for being our witnesses, my mom again for making Rachel’s beautiful cheong sam which she wore on the day, Rachel’s sister, Eunice for the wonderful photos, my uncle for rushing down the airport with the rings at 5am in the morning, my sister, Xinyi who searched for the ring at 4.40am in the morning; the Jetstar team, especially Ms Chong Phit Lian, for giving the go ahead, Chiat Ying, Simone and Peter for their assistance through the ceremony; our wedding solemniser, Mr Lim Huan Chiang; my omy colleagues, Han Joo and Ming Cai for waking up so early in the morning to cover the event, my bosses, Mr Chua Chim Kang and Ms Lee Kuan Fung for their support; all our media friends present on the day or who covered the ceremony, Nicholas, Jin Xiang, the RazorTV team; the entire Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan contingent who were on the plane with us, including the Chairman, Mr  Goh Nam Siang and Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC, Madam Cynthia Phua; the Meritus team, Elaine and Chitty, as well as Rita from Wotif Group for the hotel arrangement; all our other wonderful friends, family members, strangers at the airport, readers of this blog, everyone else who sent your well-wishes to us in one way or another.

A big THANK YOU from both of Rachel and I.

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The exact time of my solemnisation is at 5.50am, 2 Feb, 2010. Venue – on board Jetstar’s plane, 3K 823 at Changi Airport, Terminal 1.

I have to leave my home at 3am. I am still wide awake now at almost 1am. Doubt I will get to sleep already. I hope I don’t look like a panda later.

Anyway, the focus will be on  the lady, Rachel, not me. She took leave from work to spend the whole day pampering herself at spa, hair salon, etc. She slept early too. Hence she have no excuse to look shabby. :p

Rachel and I will be staying in Shantou will our family till 6 Feb (this Sat). I wanted to clear some back log blog entries and schedule them to publish during the few days I am away. Don’t think I have time for that now, sorry.

I will update again once I am back in Singapore. If I can get hold of Internet access in Shantou, will definitely post something online.

Back to packing.

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It’s official!

Some of our close friends and relatives would have known already – Rachel and I are going to have our wedding solemnisation done on board an airplane (this will be reflected in our marriage certificate)!

We finally managed to tie up all the odds and ends. I managed to defer my pesky 3-weeks reservist; both Rachel and I managed to convince our family to be part of this unconventional event; the gown and suit are ready; the ROM office are duly convinced that the marriage can be recognised by Singapore laws; everyone managed to get their leaves approved; etc, etc…

We went all out to make this happen because both of us love to travel and find it most fitting to wed on board an airplane. Moreover, we are very inspired by the old couple, Ellie and Carl, in the Pixar movie, UP and their “spirit of adventure”. To our best of knowledge, we should be the first couple in Singapore doing this.

The ceremony will be on board Jetstar’s inaugural service direct from Singapore to Shantou (3K 823), which takes off on 2nd February 2010 (this Tues).

We will be flying there together with a few of our family members and a large contingent from Singapore’s Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan (新加坡潮州八邑会馆).

This explains why I have not up blogging much lately as I was busy preparing for this and a small engagement party (which itself was a little adventure if you read my blog post) at my place last Saturday evening for a few close friends and relatives.

I will update more in the next few days. Depending on how hectic the travel itinerary might be and also on the availability of Internet connection, I may also post updates either on my facebook, twitter or this blog when we are on the plane and after we reached Shantou. Stay tuned!

Rachel and I would like to sincerely thank the following for making this plane solemnisation possible:

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Thinking about this still makes my blood boils.

Rachel and I held a small engagement party tonight at my place (30 Jan, Sat). The gathering was for around 30+ of our closest friends and relatives.

The guests were to arrive from 6.30pm onwards. The service agreed (booked 11 days ago) with the caterer , Angeli Catering, was for them to come set up at 6.30pm and have the food ready for the guests by 7pm latest. They were also to provide for tables and chairs as we are moving out of our current residence and had already removed all our furniture.

At 6.30pm, we were moderately disturbed that no one from Angeli contacted us. Repeated call to the office number they provided in their order form and company website went unanswered… I kept trying to call them till 6.50pm – still no answer.

We were beginning to panic as our guests started streaming in. We served them with some tidbits, fruits and drinks. Unable to contact the caterer – we didn’t know if they had forgotten our order or were just late.

Then, it strike me to try searching for their mobile number online. Finally, I managed to contact one of their manager called Mr Ten via his mobile number listed on the Singapore Bride forum.

Mr Ten reassured me that his driver was just slightly late and “will arrive in ten minutes”. With his reassurance, we went about apologising to our guests and waited for the food to arrive.

7.10pm. Still no sight of the catering van.

I called up Mr Ten again. This time he said he will call the driver to check – does this mean he did not do anything the first time I called him? After hearing my frustration, Mr Ten told me he will get his driver to call me back with an explanation.

The driver, a polite chap called Peter called back and apologised, claiming he was stuck in a traffic jam and that he should arrive in “ten minutes”. With Peter’s assurance that they will only be “slightly late” – 7..20pm at most, we went about apologising profusely to our guests again, assuring them the food will be here soon.

7.30pm. Still no sight of the catering van.

I called up both Peter and Mr Ten again to give them a piece of my mind. Again, they said they will arrive in “ten minutes”. This time, Rachel and I decided not to trust them and ordered pizzas as a contingency plan cos we feel really bad about starving our friends and relatives. I told Peter I wanted to speak to his boss and he asked me to call his office number again. I did – and again, no one pick up the phone.

7.40pm. Still no sight of the catering van. More than an hour late already.

I called up Peter again. This time, he admit that he is stuck at Serangoon Road because there’s a massive jam. He also told me they had another event in the aread before that and were caught up with the Thaipusam traffic. I told him the excuse cuts no ice for me and that the catering service had made Rachel and I look like idiots in front of all our friends and relatives. Peter then told me he will get his manager to call me.

7.50pm. Still no sight of the catering van.

Peter’s manager, A Miss Xiu Li called me back. She apologise for the late delivery and kept blaming it on the “unexpected” Thaipusam traffic. I retorted that as a catering business, they should plan their routes better and be aware of major festive occasions. In any case, I don’t care whether it’s Christmas, New Year or whatever festival – the delivery order stated the buffet was to be set up by 6.30pm and the food ready by 7pm. Neither was fulfilled. No attempt was made to contact us at all about being late. Repeated calls to the office were unanswered and we had to go online to “CSI” out the manger’s contact number. Miss Xiu Li kept trying to give me the same crap reason over and over again. She then tried to pacify us by saying she will waive the delivery charges. I told her I don’t care about the money. Even if she billed me double or triple to have the food delivered on time now, I will pay it because it’s a matter of destroying everyone’s mood over a joyous occasion and wasting over 30 people’s time.

When I told Miss Xiu Li that I want to speak to her boss, she told me that her boss has no mobile number and is uncontactable on weekend. High and mighty. Well done.

I told her I am not going to pay for the food till I get to speak to the boss. I am still willing to pay the full sum (as I said, it’s not about the money), but the principle and how they ruined my engagement party. Miss Xiu Li then insisted that I at least sign the invoice upon delivery – the payment can be settled on Monday after she get her boss to call me.

Oh, and the pizza guy actually arrived at around 7.50pm – faster than the damn caterer!

Rachel and I felt so bad when we saw her over 70-year-old grandmother eating pizza when we know she do not like western food.

Some of our guests were also about to take their leave – with an empty stomach.

Rachel and I felt really bad about everything. The late catering wasted all of our time trying to contact the curse Angeli staff and getting a truthful answer from them on their exact location.

8pm. Still no sight of the catering van.

I called Peter and insisted to know where he was exactly. He claim he was at Potong Pasir MRT station – a five minute walk to my house. Sick of their crappy excuses, my dad actually cycled out to the location to check if the van was really there – it was not.

The catering van finally arrived at 8.10pm. A full 1 hour and 40 minutes late.

They took another ten minutes to set up. With Rachel and I as well as some friends and family members helping to unload and unpack to speed things up. Yes, this was how desperate and shameful the whole affair was.

The guests finally got to eat at 8.20pm.

Rachel and I are lucky to have kind and understanding friends and relatives who were able to bear with all the catering trouble. For this, we are deeply ingratitude. Some of them have specially came from Malaysia and even Australia to spend an evening with us.

Rachel and I felt terrible.

We promised everyone that we will try to arrange and meet on separate occasions to give them another treat.

A lot of our guests brought wine – which we didn’t get to enjoy because the food came so late that we didn’t have time for anything else.

There were many friends we did not get to catch up with because we were too caught up trying to solve the food problem.

There were the flowers, balloons, DVDs and photo albums that we prepared which were never utilised.

A evening that should have ended at 10pm latest, ended at close to midnight.

Well done Angeli Catering. You have proven to be a most unreliable caterer. The saving grace was that the food was good (as expressed by the guests who got to eat) but the same cannot be said of the service. A freaking 1 hour and 4o minutes late???!!!!???

Did I mentioned that there was a CNA camera crew waiting also? They were here to interview Rachel and I about my unconventional proposal for a TV show and wanted to get some shots of the party. If all went smoothly, there might have even been some positively publicity for the caterer. Alas.

Rachel and I refused to sign the invoice in the end. Let’s wait and see what the high and mighty boss of Angeli Catering – whatever his or her name is has to say about all this.

Actually, there’s nothing that can be done.

An engagement party is once-in-a-lifetime. The magic moment has been ruined, our guests’ time have been wasted. No amount of monetary compensation can do anything.

A simple phone call from the boss to explain the situation there and then might have resolved everything. Honesty and integrity there and then might have helped too – if they had at least fore-warned us that they will be so freaking late, we could have ordered more alternative food for our guests and made other arrangement.

For now, Rachel and I just want to say a big SORRY to everyone who came to give us their well-wishes. We appreciate all your patience and understanding and feel blessed by your love.

Thank you.

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Behold the mighty pig Doraemon that got Singaporeans so worked up

Via McDonald Singapore website:

We could never have anticipated how passionate Singapore is about our Doraemon lucky charms. A happy community is important to us, and it was never our intention to offend anyone.

Therefore we are grateful for your feedback. This, we believe, is the backbone of McDonald’s™ relationship with you. You tell us, we listen.

We are doing our best to make things right. And as you have requested, we will bring in the Doraemon ‘pig’ lucky charm to complete your collection in mid-April owing to production schedule.

Just a small favour: Please indicate* below your interest to purchase Doraemon ‘pig’ lucky charm at $2 each (all nett proceeds will go to the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charity™). We really want to make sure there are enough stocks to meet your needs.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support of McDonald’s™.

There’s finally a conclusion to this quirky little episode of the missing pig in the latest series of McDonald toy offering.

McDonald first claimed in a reply published in the Straits Times that the Doaraemon toys were not meant to be a Chinese Zodiac set in the first place and were instead, “lucky charms”. Hence the pig was replaced with a “Cupid” since the launch date coincides with Valentine’s Day.

It’s a lame excuse – eleven out of the other twelve toys coincide with eleven animals in the Chinese Zodiac, sans the pig. Not Chinese Zodiac indeed…

From the start, McDonald could have avoided this problem altogether by offering BOTH the pig and the Cupid Doraemon. In this way, both Muslims and Chinese customers’ “sensitivities” would have been taken into account.

Nonetheless, I do applaud the McDonald Singapore management for churning out this pig offer in such a short lead time. It shows that McDonald do listen and response to their customers.

Now that everyone can get their pig or Cupid Doraemon, let’s move on. There are more pressing national issues.

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