Sneak peek into our PWS, styled by the super artistic team at Joie Styling.
I basically gave them my vision of what I was hoping to achieve, the mood and atmosphere I wanted to create, and left the rest in their hands.
My favourite photo from our styled photoshoot last month. Their team of stylists are so incredibly hardworking and really put in a lot of effort to help me achieve the modern Cinderella look we were going for!
I really wanted a customized PWS but didn't have the resources to DIY my own because my art really quite fail. Paige helped me to source and paint an entire pumpkin (yesss it's real!) , complete with the gorgeous draped arch, fairylights, Disney lights and accompanied by a glass slipper and carriage! Really a lot of effort hor I'm a happy #dayrebride
Saw that their dessert table rates for styling + 60 pax of assorted desserts is going for $1,100. For busy moms who don't really have time to organise your baby shower, this might be a good choice?
Did this to my fiance 😂 quite handsome scholar leh I like!
N: "wah lau why you make me so gay!"
N: "Ok this one more man, I like".
Lol but I prefer the first one leh.
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"Among patients, we usually see parents being willing to spend any amount of money to get their child cured, but seldom do we see the children willing to spend on their parents".
(quote from k drama Emergency Couple)
D is FINALLY discharged from the hospital! Omg how long has it been? Now I'm worried for the size of his hospital bill.
I remember a conversation I had with a Dayrean at my third readers meet-up / finance crash course session.
She shared about how her parents are in huge debt, and how she might have to help them pay it off. In her case, how would I advise her towards building wealth? she asked.
It'll be delayed, I told her. You'll take a much longer time to achieve it than most people, because you have a bigger liability than most others.
I revealed a little more about my own situation as well.
"why are you so determined to build wealth?" many people have asked me this before. "why not just YOLO and enjoy life?"
The truth is, I've never gotten a chance to really enjoy life. While growing up, I watched my classmates get to go on holidays while I never got to sit on a plane.
"How many of you have sat on an aeroplane before?" my secondary school teacher asked. She was using it as a prelude to explain a mathematical concept.
All hands around me went up in the air…except mine. Then all eyes in the classroom started turning towards me.
My teacher then realised she had thoughtlessly asked a question without realising that not everyone's families are made equal (nor have enough disposable income to travel).
How could she have known? She didn't know about how the Asian Financial Crisis left my mother retrenched and her struggling to put food on the table. She didn't know about the early days of my childhood where I spent most of my time in the hospital and racked up hefty medical bills for my parents to pay off. She couldn't have known about all the fights my parents had over money.
They couldn't even afford to send me to university. How could we afford the luxury of travel?
But that day, that question opened my eyes as I realised for the first time that my family situation wasn't normal. Why did everyone get to sit on an airplane except me?
Money was so scarce that I had to fight for my own right to go to university, instead of coming out to work after my A levels to support the household, and my sister.
"Meimei can jolly well support herself! Why should I pay for her university fees instead of for my own?!" I protested when my mom insisted.
"Because you're older".
"So?!? I refuse!" I fought and I stood my ground. And I eventually made my own way to university, fully funding my studies without a single cent from my parents.
My first airplane ride finally happened when I was 19 and took a trip to China with my then-boyfriend and his family. I was so proud of myself for finally achieving this "feat", and all using my own money that I had saved up by teaching tuition in university.
Travel wasn't the only thing we lacked. My parents never had the money to buy me branded food. We seldom ate out in restaurants.
So my habits today are really cultivated from young. I don't know why my sister turned out to be due exact opposite though.
With money being such a touchy topic for us while growing up, I promised myself that I would never want to have problems with money, or a lack of money, ever again.
And that's why I work so hard to become financially free. I am a product of my circumstances.
But, as I shared with that reader, I don't know frankly if I'll reach my goals either. Because I chose to marry a man who happens to be the only son. I'll have to soon shoulder a huge financial responsibility in taking care of 3.5 parents together with him.
0.5 is my mother, who will also be taken care of by my sister, or so I assume.
If we have kids, that'll be extra mouths to feed. We will have to earn enough to put food on the table for 7 to 8 people, including a domestic helper whom we surely have to hire at a later stage because we can't possibly work and take care of our parents at home at the same time.
So how?
Our plans for financial freedom by age 45 may be derailed because of the huge financial responsibility we have sitting on our shoulders. And as children, we can't possibly leave our parents behind in the lurch while pursuing financial freedom for ourselves.
So we'll just have to plough on. Work multiple jobs, take each day as it comes, and pray. Lots of praying that everything will be fine, that everyone will be in good health.
So to anyone out there who has a ton of financial responsibilities sitting on your shoulder,
To anyone who thinks you can't be financially free cos you're tied down,
You're not alone.
Omg this is very bad but I FOUND THE LIGHT BLUE version restocked and bought it =x
The material is super good! $15 okay right haha.
I would have set my targeted age to be financially free at 40 if I only had my spouse and children to worry about, with other siblings to help shoulder our parents burden, but I don't.
To make things worse, I have a sister who is estranged from her father and has not given him a single cent since she started working, so the entire duty of looking after him will surely fall on me.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Free kokopanda thanks to my bridesmaid YAY
