A Family Wedding ~ Dira & Imran Part 2

We were at the wedding reception the other night.

 

 

 Welcome drinks were served before you are called into the ballroom for dinner. You get to mingle with a drink in your hand while listening to the quartet. Then take photos and sign the guest book. Very civilized, I must say..

  

We had the (beautifully decorated) table all to ourselves.

 

 

The food was unparalleled.. There was salmon for the entree, broccoli soup, lovely sea bass for main and ice cream teh tarik (!) for dessert.

The bride and groom looked gorgeous that night. I took a video that didnt happen (!) Hampeh.. (sebab berdiri tepi aisle punya lah lamanya konon ambik video tu) Seriously they looked lovely; I wish the video worked and you could see.

The wedding favors were adorable - decorated biscuits that taste as sweet as they look. They came in threes in charming pink and olive green oblong boxes (I cant get over how pretty these were).

My sister loves flowers. There were fresh hydrangeas, roses, orchids all over the room. We were asked to take all the flowers home later (although there were a lot more left at the hotel). So for a few days I suppose everybody's houses were like florists' shops.

And a thank you to all the guests.

It was a beauiful ocassion indeed.

*****

A Family Wedding ~ Dira & Imran

Dira, niece, got married. The aqad was beautiful. The bride had on pretty smiles throughout the ceremony. The penthouse was decorated in white with the wedding theme color peach. I love the pelamin that was simply done. The hantaran was beautiful too, adorned with fresh white orchids, roses and hygrangea.The food was delicious and the room, though small gave a warm cozy feeling amongst family.

 

 

 

 

 

Semoga dirahmati Allah sentiasa. Panjang umur dan murah rezeki. Maka nikmat Allah yang mana yang ingin kita dustakan lagi?

*****

Nikmat-nikmatNya

After the convo the other day I told the children, we must tangkap gambar family. Yang dah convo dulu kata, convo kami takde pun tangkap gambar family.. I said well, there must be progress (my sister has a "hall of fame" - that's what I call it. Semua anak2 yang convo ada gambar kat situ dengan family sekali. I thought it might give an inspiration to the younger kids and it look rather nice actually).

Anyway we went to Oscar Studio - kedai gambar dolu2 - nak tangkap gambar (ramai2 nih pergi..); and we were turned away (!) - there was like 3 or 4 families already waiting. All with a family member who has a scroll and the graduation gown / cap. Hmmph..

Tapi percayalah, kadang2 benda yang tak seronok tu menyebabkan benda2 yang lagi best jadi. Turned out that we decided to tangkap gambar di studio photgraphers yang tangkap gambar masa wedding Ilyas/Zuf. We spent an hour at the studio dan it turned out to be a great family get together that evening.

Their studio was gorgeous dan santai (sama sekali tidak seperti Oscar Studio, that is for sure). Dan semestinya gambar yang di tangkap di sini pun takkan sama di Oscar.

While the photographers siapkan studio (they call that the white room) kami tangkap gambar dan menceceh di waiting area yang amat cantik. And I have photos to share if you like to see.

These are taken in the waiting room or the living room as they call it at the studio.

And these are taken by the pros - while standing on a ladder, à la Harry Potter, magician etc (I keep the more sombre aka traditional ones to myself) .

 

Oh, and the studio is called the Shutter Place Studio.

You've got to make excuses to take your photos here!

*****

Tiada Tanpa RahmatNya

We left home very early. It was a special day after all.

The sunrise was gorgeous. We had some lovely morning photos.

The hall was packed but we did manage to get the front row seats sebelah carpet merah - so we scrutinised all the dif2 kehormat during their procession. At one moment I also wondered aloud if the keris tombak etc are necessary - saya hanya bertanya.

Kueh were served after the ceremony, with small mineral water under a big tent. Amat selesa. Alhamdulillah. In fact, I cant recall if other convos have this.

It was a good day. It has been a great journey till now. I could wish for a bigger house. More money.  But I think we are doing just fine. Alhamdulillah. Saya berdoa agar kami menjadi lebih beriman dengan segala rahmatNya.

Maka nikmat Allah yang mana lagi yang ingin kita dustakan? 

*****

Did You Know?

When young there was a riwayat Rasulullah saw yang diceritakan oleh sheikh mana saya tak ingat; tapi ada dalam buku Teachings of Islam (kalau tak silap). Ia kisah bagaimana Rasulullah telah pergi  berdakwah ke Taif. Di situ Nabi telah dibaling batu sehingga berdarah. Dan kasut Nabi telah melekat di kaki akibat dari darah yang mengalir dari perbuatan itu. Lalu Allah mengutus malaikat kepada Nabi - kalau Nabi mahu, malaikat akan menghempap gunung ke atas penduduk Taif. Sebaliknya Nabi berdoa untuk kaum yang mencederakan dan menghampakannya itu.

Lebih kurang begitu ceritanya (sila cari maklumat yang lebih lengkap. Kata ustaz sesiapa yang mengada2kan yang tiada ataupun men-deny apa2 yang ada terhadap Nabi maka tunggu lah. Kerana neraka saja yang disediakan untuk orang2 sebegini.)

Lalu kata ustaz, kalau ada kawan2 yang berasal dari Taif mereka akan agak2 malu untuk beritahu tempat asal mereka kerana peristiwa 1400 tahun dahulu itu. Taif sebenarnya terletak di tanah tinggi. Sejuk. Kata ustaz ada cable car.

Anyway. Tiba2 pulak saya ter-google Taif. Did you know Taif is actually terletak di tanah tinggi yang lebih tinggi dari Cameron Highlands kita? Cameron is 1,100 m (3,600 ft) to 1,600 m (5,200 ft) above sea level while Taif is 1,879 m (6,165 ft).

The Saudi government will move its office from the baking Riyadh to Taif every summer. The city is located in the centre of agricultural area known for grapes, roses and honey. In April the rose fields are filled with small fragrant pink roses. And Taif perfume has been used in Chanel and Guerlain products.

Ibnu Abbas diriwayatkan menetap di Taif hingga beliau wafat pd 68H semasa berumur 71 tahun.

I thought the place looks interesting. Maybe we should visit Jeddah - Mekah - Taif sometime. Has anybody been there? Do tell.

And I have pictures. 

 

 

 

 *****

Keep Calm And --

First I saw this. I think it was at M&S in Paradigm.

 Then this.

Then all kinds of keep calm posters pop up everywhere. Last weekend it was this. The 10 best nasi lemak in town all under one roof. When I was asked to purchase coupons for the event, I thought - nasi lemak? Taknak lah. Later on I thought, I should have.

And love this.

It doesnt seem like it is a good start for a Sun this morning. I've got to keep calm and carry on, it seem.. But Zana's post sort of put things into some appropriate perspective. She's in Istanbul! I am so green.

ps Zana, are you coming back after this or straight to London again?

***** 

Blessed

Alhamdulillah I am reading again (thank God nothing tempting happened on the iPad..)

There are maybe 5 books I am reading now (all for different objectives) - I think that is about the max I have read concurrently so far. But mostly they are thin ones; with one big book called The Sword of Allah (a history of Khalid al Waleed) - which I find very informative and like so far. 

I found something called Ashrat-ul-Mubashira which literally translates to "the ten who have been given the good news". Before the death of these men they were told by Rasulullah saw they would enter paradise. The writer had translated this to the Blessed Ten. I had written about this before; but this has always been an amazing list for me. So I put it here again ~

1. Ali
2. Abu Bakr
3. Uthman Affan
4. Zubair bin Al Awwam
5. Abdur-Rahman bin Auf
6. Sad ni Abi Waqqas
7. Talha bin Ubaidullah
8. Abu Ubaidah Al Jarrah
9. Saeed bin Zaid
10. Umar

*****

Interesting Stuff @ M***s oops, Uninspiring

Blogging stuff is something yang tak boleh disimpan. Idea / perasaan / feel tu tak akan datang balik kalau tak seize the moment when you feel strongly about some topic.

Dan, telah saya simpan banyak perkara sampai tak ada cerita yang inspiring yang nak dicerita. But I have photos that may make up for the loss of words if you want to see..

We got this "flyer" for a carboot sale. The sale happens every Sun, close to home. So we thought one of these fine Sundays we will do a boot sale! We've got lots of stuff. I am thinking of the Zara's, MNG's, Forever 21 and Marks and Spencer stuff that my sister gave us and gathering dust at home..

They said there is a "leng chai" (which means good-looking guy - I only learnt this yesterday) who is the chef at one of the eating place in Publika and shared his picture above. The girls said we must go!

 Alhamdulillah.

It was the 31st last week. Luqman whatsapp us to say this was what we were getting then. We said, Like!

 We thought someone we know had converted. I hope it is true. Alhamdulillah. But I dont feel right about sharing the photos, that might be something private.

 I got reading habits from mum, who is now in Bangi. The maid was amazed mum still reads at her age. I think everyone should read - it recharges your brain cells in a way (that is my theory). After all, there's not much else one can do when the bones are weary and tired. 

We were at PIIACUF in PUJ last weekend. It was rather interesting. And will run through till 10th Nov if you like to visit.

My sister sent us this. Entah mana dia dapat pun tak tahu - I suspect from mum's notes aka diary (the writing doesnt look like mum's though). But this is out dated. There is more in the (big) clan now.

Itu saja cerita saya buat kali ini.

*****