JP Banquet - The preparation starts HERE!

Dear loyal readers of our blog,

We are very sorry to have kept you all eagerly waiting; we know it has been quite some time without any updates. If you have a facebook account, then you might have seen our recent statuses through Carol's updates. But just in case you haven't, let us summarise what had done.

2nd Sept: Carol came to Japan. Carol had successfully arrived with her spouse status visa for long term stay in Japan.
19th Sept: Carol went back to Hong Kong to take care of errands.
30th Sept: Carol and Jin met in Taiwan. Our Taiwan trip!!!!! Yey!!
7th Oct: Jin went back to Japan alone.
8th Oct: Carol went back to Hong Kong to take care of more errands.
11th Oct: Carol came back to Japan and our long term living had started.

We have bought lots of items to refurbish our home sweet home. Carol also bout lots of items to prepare for Japanese winter. At the same time much items were bought, lots of old items were thrown out. We still have just a bit more re-organization and cleanup, but overall, living is comfortable and smooth.

Coming back to the topic. JP Banquet.

Since some of you loyal readers want to attend, please open 29th of March. We are currently working hard to prepare for our big day.

The preparation is much smooth. We have an organizer booklet which contains all information about the wedding preparation, and our designated banquet planner gives us requests to prepare from time to time. We can just reactively prepare one by one (although for some preparation items, we have already become proactive, hehehe...).

So today is our first meeting. The agenda is about general items:
1. Decision of Wedding gift and snack.
2. Master list creation for invitation.
3. Top level discussion about MC (survey).
4. Top level discussion about overall wedding banquet style.
5. Top level discussion of speeches.

There is still lots of items we need to discuss and decide to prepare. Please look forward of our big day!!! (^-'v

Countdown! The time has come!!!

Time flies fast.

It was only several months ago where Carol and Jin both were saying "oh geesh, how long more do we have to stay apart?!" We had long waited for this moment. However, when the it is only ten more days, we really feel that the time really flew fast.

In this post, we would like to share with you, our friends, our upcoming travel plan, so that you can plan your reunion with Carol either in Hong Kong, Japan, or elsewhere (^-'b

2nd Sept: Carol comes to Japan
16th Sept: Carol goes back to Hong Kong (Tentative)
30th Sept: Carol and Jin meet in Taiwan
7th Oct: Jin goes back to Japan
7th Oct: Carol goes back to Hong Kong (Tentative)
11th Oct: Carol comes back to Japan (Tentative)

For Carol, I understand this is not a simple trip. It is more than a happy happy travel. There may be obstacles and worries in the future. However, as much as we had overcome the hurdles in the past, I am ready to be besides her at all times and be her most reliable and closest partner of life. We are looking forward for our happy happy married life!

After the above is over, we are planning to come back to Hong Kong for a CNY visit in late Jan 2009. Friends, hope to see you there!! If not, earlier ♪

Action! from Carol

Being the sponsor of my spouse visa, Jin had to take care of almost all application procedures. Finally, it's time for my action!

Having the Certificate of Eligibility obtained (Thanks to Jin’s huge efforts), it was then my turn to visit the General Consulate of Japan in Hong Kong, for issurance of the final legal paper - spouse visa label for my one-way trip to Japan.

As always, we were well-prepared for that important visit at the Consulate. We checked our friend who went through the same procedure, and decided to present in a couple for an “interview” by the officer. We were able take advantage of Jin’s business trip to HK by end of July for the visit – goodo!

Let me side track a little bit…it was only by that time I took a serious look at the Certificate of Eligibility and my cert shared the same category of Refugees!!! hahaha…it must be the collective efforts (Jin’s parents and us) that moved the officers…my application was approved in the least required time.

We made our visit on Jul 25. It was so smooth that we couldn’t even believe it. Everything was done in 10 mins (or even less!). A happy couple was told to get the passport back in 2 working days, with the following receipt presented.

On Jul 29, I successfully get my spouse visa. I am good to go now. Happy? For sure. Worries? For sure. Leaving my beloved parents and friends to start a new life. It’s gonna be some challenges, I will need a lot of courage. Haha…maybe I am really a refugee, I need Jin’s shelter!

The next step.

As written in the previous post, the most difficult step in preparing for Carol's immigration has past. Now, we can really get ready to move forward.

As for the next step, we foresee the following:
1. 25th July: Go to JP Consulate to apply for spouse visa.
2. In 5 days: Visa is ready and given.
3. Carol packs and prepares for her move.
4. Latest October: Carol moves to Japan.
5. Upon arrival, if Carol passes the passport control, she has entered Japan for good.

From this point on is just my note, but a review of what we need to do after Carol arrives Japan.
1. Within 90days after arrival: Go get alien resident card (外国人登録証明書): Gov't office (市区役所)
2. Before next departure: Go get re-entry permit (再入国許可書): Immigration Bureau (入国管理局): Expires one time single permit or 3yrs multiple permit.
3. Already done: Go to post office and apply for change of registrant: Post office
4. Whenever possible: Apply for social insurance and security (社保・年金): Through Jin's company

Other items to prepare:
- Before Arrival: Stamp (印鑑): Get in HK.
- After arrival: Mobile phone: Get in JP
- After arrival: Bank account: Get in JP.
- Credit Card - Jin's family card: Should be alright with Jin's.
- SUICA/EDY - Already has it: 無問題.

After the arrival, in order to sustain status, below needs to be considered:
・Renewal of Certificate of Eligibility: 在留資格認定証明書更新 （2009 March)
- current certificate has 1 year expiry.
- need at least three year, so need to renew once in order to apply for permanent alien.
・Permanent Alienship: 永住権
- after three years of marriage, and more than one year of residing in Japan
- this proves permanent eligibility to stay in Japan and thus does not need to be renewed.
・Re-entry Permit: 再入国許可
- expiry has two scheme: one time or three year multiple entry.
- the re-entry permit must be in line with the certificate of eligibility.
・Foreigner's Registration ID: 外国人登録証明書
- there isn't an expiry of the registration card, but there is an expiry date on the card (need to check).
- need to go to city hall government office (市区役所) for application.
・Naturalisation: 帰化申請（http://kekkon.homn.net/kika.html）
- over 20 years of age.
- has good status.
- has a way to live with his/her own work, or by his/her spouse or other family member.
- doesn't mind giving up his/her old nationality.
- has not performed terroristic operations to Japanese government.
- has married to a Japanese and lived more than three years in Japan.
- has married to a Japanese for over three years, and has lived in Japan for more than one year.
- has no problem living in Japan, both linguistically and understanding of culture.

That's it for now. It really the final countdown for Carol to move to Japan. やっとだね（＾＾ｂ

Certificate of Eligibility arrived!!!!!

Today marks a significant event of our project!!!!!

As I had written on the previous post, we have been long waiting for this certificate to be issued. If we look back, this certificate was the certificate we had been working so hard to apply for it without any flaw, errors, or mistakes. The 100 page application had resulted in an expedited issuance of this certificate.

Now, Carol can apply for the spouse visa which will only take several days, and then she is good to stay in Japan as my spouse!!!!!

I will be visiting Hong Kong once again later this month, so I will be taking this certificate and together, go to the Japan Consulate in Hong Kong to apply for the visa.

Finally, it is again good to be a junior applicant.

Discussing with a senior friend (not the age, just that she had done the transition from HK → JP recently), we found out that there are several actions we need to take:

1. Apply for Re-entry permit (再入国許可) from Immigration Bureau.

2. Alien resident ID (外国人登録証明書) from Government office 横浜中区役所.

3. Apply for resident registration at post office, so that post sent to my address under her name can come without any errors.

4. Register for social insurance (社会保険 or 国民保険) to be done through Jin's company.

Still, a long long process goes. And even on top of this, our senior had explained that the Certificate of Eligibility is only valid for one time use. The re-entry permit is the one which is required when coming back to Japan after coming with spouse visa. Essentially, below is the status:

1. First time to Japan: Certificate of Eligibility & Spouse Visa

2. x times after coming to Japan: Re-entry permit & Spouse Visa

**Note: Spouse Visa is valid for 3 year. After then, Carol may have the choice of:

a. Renewing the Spouse Visa (in which case she needs me to renew the Certificate of Eligibiilty)

b. Applying for Permanent Alien 永住権 (in which case she needs me to apply for the 永住権)

c. Naturalise to a Japanese [In fact, she should be able to apply for that even now... still haven't checked the detail yet.....]

In any case, our union will be coming shortly!!!!! Yey!!!!! Another step towards the start day of our happy happy union!!!!!

One month past...

1st of July marked the full 4 weeks since I had went to the Immigration Bureau. Indeed, the application takes much time. However, as time passes by, we are sure that the day the certificate will be issued is coming closer day by day.

During these worrying days, Carol had come to Japan for a visit. We feel more that we both are in dependence of each others' existence and closeness. We both feel extremely comfortable and safe when we are together. However, when we have any time where we cannot get a hold of each other, we feel soooo insecure.

We feel this is a very natural and healthy feeling. It is partially true since we are far away now. However, the real challenge comes in when Carol comes to Japan and we can ALWAYS be together. As long as we don't forget this feeling, we should be fine.


So, still another some time to go for the certificate to be issued, but we will just pray for it to be issued earlier!!!

JP photo-shooting: 1st draft ready!

It's such a long process...

• Apr 8: photo-shooting in Nara, Japan - around 400 photos taken
• Apr 28, 30: photo selection - we chose the best 100
• May 20: softcopy of all "raw" kimono photos received
• Jun 8: 1st draft ready - a layout putting 100 pictures into 35 pages

It's been sooo long that we almost forgot images other than those in Kimono...so happy to view the wedding dress & evening dress photos, as if they were new...very fresh and excited us!!!

So, it's homework time. We need to look into detail every page and feedback if we want any adjustment. Hopefully that can be done smoothly and our target date to collect final products in July can be held.

hehe, an enjoyable task...looking at the photos = replaying the day in Nara, all the fun fun and sweet moments we had, our hard work of how to make perfect photos & the always "look forward" sentiment...^0^

Hope xx and other "about to get married" friends will enjoy their photo shooting experience, too! Yeah yeah!

Visit to the Immigration Bureau - The first step for Carol's achieving of Japanese residence.

Today marks another significant milestone.

In the previous post, we have explained that we have taken quite an effort in putting the documents together to submit them to the Immigration Bureau of Japan for application for Carol's Certificate of Eligibility (在留資格認定証明書). This certificate is required for Carol to get her spouse visa and to stay long term in Japan.

So Jin went out today to the Immigration office. Since the office only opens during weekdays office hours, we all have to take leaves from office to go there. Hence, Jin cannot make any mistakes which makes any possibility to have him make an extra return trip. That is the reason why we had been soooooooooo meticulous in researching the necessary documents and filing them perfectly so that there are no doubts what so ever.

So here Jin is, in a pouring rain, at the Immigration Bureau of Japan, Yokohama District Office, holding the pack of hundred-page-document tightly and trying not to make any of the documents wet.

Immigration Bureau Yokohama District Office
(on a clear day, randomly picked from the web)

The selection of the day to visit the office was good. There was only 10 people waiting before him!!!!! (Not to mention that I had to go to another office - 横浜中区役所 - in order to fetch other necessary documents in order to complete the hundred-page-document pack) So, here Jin is, nervously waiting in line with all sorts of foreigners (外人 as they are called in Japanese) ....

• Chinese middle aged lady (おばさん) talking on phone with her friends, apologizing that she couldn't attend yesterday's function. She's now at the Immigration Bureau for...???
• Korean businessman with a wet helmet (for bike), but not wet at all, with a plastic bag (i.e. from department store like Sogo) with documents, not wet (how was he able to keep his body and bag dry?!!!), asking to renew his Certificate of Eligibility.
• A Japanese lady carrying a pile of forms to submit for Certificate of Eligibility (for many people, i.e. for labors from Middle East or South America...).
• Hispanic family (elderly father and middle aged son) asking for some certificate.
• Single middle aged Chinese man waiting by the counter, staring at the lady at the counter, wanting to handle his registration form.
• A Japanese businessman carrying 5-6 sheets of printed paper of pictures of him and his wife, assuming he is also registering for Certificate of Eligibility for his wife, but I just cannot believe how many few sheets of paper he has.
• Chinese family (group of about 5-7) aggressively coming from the lift lobby directly to the counter, talking loudly among themselves, not taking the queue slip (the sheet of paper that contains the number which will be called when its his turn), but chatting chatting chatting, and after a while returning to the elevator hall (why were they coming here in the first place?)

Very interesting. This is indeed, a mini immigration hall in the country.

So it's Jin's turn after a looooooong wait of investigating the snapshots of the various foreigners (i.e. above). Jin went to the counter, queue slip in my hand, a big pack of documents in another. The lady seems to be used to the amount of documents, and she asked if this was for the Certificate of Eligibility for Jin's wife. When Jin answered "yes", she quickly looked through what was in the batch, and explained to Jin that she will check the documents for any missing ones.

So here is Jin once again, waiting for another 3-5min eagerly, yet nervously waiting to hear the good news that the batch includes all necessary documents.....

When Jin was called, he quickly moved back to the counter. The lady smiled at him and explained that there are no missing documents, and passed him the slip of acceptance, which includes the identification number which can be referred at a later time.

So, the accomplishment of the day.....


The countdown starts from here. We both pray for the reply to come at the earliest time possible （－人－）

JP banquet confirmed - 2009.03.29

...............friends asked: "How about Japan?"

ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)メ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)メ Yey! JP banquet confirmed as:

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Date: March 29, 2009 (Sunday)

Ceremony starts: 10:30 AM

Banquet starts: 11:30 AM

Venue: Bayside Garden Club

日本国神奈川県横浜市西区みなとみらい 5-1-5

----------------------------------------------------------

In fact...this has been confirmed long ago...in April during our photo-shooting trip.

As briefed by Jin in his previous notes, there are a few styles of JP banquet, depending the ceremony type.

After balancing all pros and cons, we decided to go with GUEST HOUSE with western style chapel wedding.

(To be correct, instead of "decide", we were fallen into the super fantasy...and perfection of GUEST HOUSE)

A few snapshots of Bayside Garden Club:

Imagine...

In a sunny new spring morning, you walk with birds' songs and showered by sakura peddles brought by the mild wind...gradually you arrive at the entrance of Bayside Garden Club...

Two very polite "housekeepers" come to open the gate for you and you enter the main building, which is actually in front of a pool. The blue color of the pool matches with the sky, making the main building shiny white..so warm and glory.

More and more guests arrive and some of them are standing along the pool side, chat over drinks.

Oh! It's almost time! guests move to the Chapel and inside this purely white peaceful place, Carol's father handed over her to Jin after march-in, for their eternal vows (Oops, although after 1 year) of confirmation and blessed by the guests...

A short break after emotional fulfillment (from the ceremony), it's time to fulfill our stomach! It's banquet time!

Chef is serving French cuisine today. Guests take their time eating slowly, enjoying some performances...

Oops! wake up!

It's still too early to tell the whole story!

What we had done is to book this perfect scene to prepare for everybody's enjoyment, and you need to experience it in person!

Or if you wish to continue the dream...http://www.kekkon-taiken.jp/ click "enter site". haha..

One happy side note - our wedding banquet place is just next to Anpanman Museum!!!!! Happi~

HK banquet confirmed - 2009.05.17

Yo! Hong Kong banquet confirmed, as :

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: May 17, 2009 (Sunday)

Time: 12 pm to 3 pm

Venue: Grand Marquee, Gold Coast Hotel, Tuen Mun

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This is an easy conclusion against our well-defined criteria, including:

1) "Good days" (吉日) for us: Mar 29 (chosen for JP banquet), Apr 19, May 17, June 20.

Overseas friends' schedules was sought and May 17 is of convenience to the majority.

2) Time: lunch is preferred as i) all "good time" (吉時) picked are in the morning; ii) respect Japanese guests as Japanese style is more for lunch; iii) start early & finish early, avoid making it a tiring day for all; iv) a bright day in spring, with plenty of sunshine. AND!!! v) my super good friend xx is having her wedding on May 17 as well - we can rush to her dinner banquet after ours!

3) Venue: We want to make our banquet a cozy get-together, with natural light to add to the warmth & green + flowers to add energy and new hopes. A pure white marquee inside a garden is the best option!

A quick research of available marquees in HK:

i) Repulse Bay (out - renovation in Q2 2009);

ii) Harbour Plaza Metropolis (Marquee+harbour view= city feel and a gorgeous night view, better for night event);

iii) Aberdeen Marine Club (looks nice but could not manage to make a visit after several attempts..give up)

iv) Gold Coast Hotel: (Marquee in a garden!) in terms of "concept", Gold Coast stands out immediately! We made a visit there on May 1 (as an outing activity during Jin's stay in Apr for registration) and had a wonderful experience:

The whole Gold Coast area is a resort! Pace slow down once your enter the area. Less populated and most of the people there are in relax (tourist)/ casual (residents) mode. Going to Gold Coast itself can make a day trip - bring additional value to our guests especially when we can finish early. The outlook of the hotel is just so-so, but the marquee itself is super - surrounded by the garden and a cruise area. In terms of environment it is almost perfect!

The sales manager we talked to was a nice guy, too. Easy going and helpful. He even advised us to keep shopping around and confirm during wedding expo in order to get more discount....haha...

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Here comes the day - May 31.

I went with XX and her fiance for the Wedding Expo to confirm the package with Gold Coast Hotel. XX also confirmed a few packages for her wedding preparation as well. Tired but very fruitful day.

OK. The defined banquet date also serve as a kick-off for the project. A series of logistics need to be prepared and booked shortly. The first thing I did was confirmed Helen, my make-up stylist of her assistance again for next year's party! yeah yeah!

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p.s. Both Jin and myself love traveling a lot. Today he made a new section at the bottom of this blog - "Cities we have visited together".

Preparing document for Certificate of Eligibility: All systems are GO!!!

In the past post, I have reported that Carol has been added into my 戸籍. While the legal office had done its procedure to register us as family, we have been preparing the paperwork which we will submit to apply for the Certifiicate of Eligibility (在留資格認定証明書）. There are quite some items, which we slowly but surely prepared in a joint project:

Required formats
1. 在留資格認定証明書交付申請書 (Application form for Certificate of Eligibility) 3pages
2. 身元保証書 (Letter of Guarantee) 1page
3. 質問書 (Questionnaire) 8pages
4. Additional information for the questionnaire (An essay which we provide detailed information from the time we met until we decided to get marry) 4pages
5. B5 size envelope with return address (of Jin) written and 430JPY stamp attached
6. 課税証明書 (Taxation Certificate) 1page
7. 納税証明書 (Tax payment Certificate) 1page
8. 結婚証明書 (Marriage Certificate) - Original (to show), Copy (to submit), 2page translation, a total of 4 pages
9. 在籍証明書 (Certificate of Employment) - Original (to show), Copy (to submit), 2page translation, a total of 4 pages

Additional information
10. Namecard of Carol and Jin (to prove that we are of the same company) 2pcs
11. 上申書 (Letter of Petition) - A letter from a Jin's father and mother to address expedition of registration procedure (handwritten on a specific form and then stamp chopped) a total of 2pages
12. Copy of Carol's passport 1page
13. Call history of international calls which Jin and Carol had called to each other 61pages
14. Album of 40 pictures each with handmade captions attached to it.



Still need to fetch from legal office:
15. 戸籍謄本 (Family Register) 1page
16. 住民票 (Certificate of Residence) 1page

Whoa!!! It is a total of 92 pages of information!!!!! There's lots of information that the country of Japan requires me to submit in order to approve Carol's eligibility to stay in Japan with me.

Once this is submitted, the long long wait time will start. The date I'm planning to submit is just around the corner!!! あと少しだ!!!

It's 1 month old - Jin & Carol's marriage!

Dear Friends,

Today marks the first month celebration of our marriage!! *\(^o^)(^o^)/*

After our registration on Apr 27, we made visits to Macau, Shanghai & Suzhou. After a brief bye-bye, I headed Paris and then Belgium and met Jin again at HK airport for another week in HK...now that we are both back to our "normal mode" working hard in Tokyo and Hong Kong respectively. phew... The lucky thing was - we were able to stay together for almost half the month! yey yey!

It was a very colorful and busy busy month for us...yet, there is a call inside us keep reminding us to send this thank-you note to all of you!

Friends, we did not expect our day to be so marvellous until we had your presence. Your warm words of blessings, your true smile, big laughs, strengthful hand-shakes....your caring and support meant a lot to us. We could not thank you more but we promise to treat you a proper celebration next year either in Japan or Hong Kong.

In the meantime, let us share as much joy as we have with you:

• Photo album of the registration day: Our memories with you to last and treasure -
  http://picasaweb.google.com/jctakamura/OurWeddingPart1HKRegistration
• Preview version of our pre-wedding photos: (http://picasaweb.google.com/jctakamura/ZRuDzH)
  We took our pre-wedding pictures in Nara, Japan on April 8, 2008. (Exactly 2 months after Jin proposed!) Besides standard wedding dress and colorful evening dress, we also prepared "Kimono"/ "和服" (in Chinese) - it's the one and only "振袖" I wore in my life!! (Note: 振袖 is the type of kimono only for unmarried female, with long long sleeves.)
• Our wedding blog (http://jincarol.blogspot.com/):
  Many of you have asked the same question: "how's life after married?" "how do you feel being a husband/wife?" We are trying to address these questions via our blog - keep you eyes on it! You will also find detailed steps how we put together the wedding registration and other wedding arrangement - hope it will be helpful to the next brides/grooms!

ENJOY & STAY TUNED!

Warmest regards,
Carol & Jin

We are family!!!

Ever since I had gone back to Japan *sob*sob*, I had been calling the government office ever day to check whether they have registered our marriage registration in my 戸籍. Please refer to the previous post if you are not aware of what this is.

It was on the 14th of May that I received an extremely gooooooooooooooooooooodo news!!!!! Carol is now in my 戸籍, which means that we are ready to submit the registration form for the Certificate of Eligibility (在留資格認定証明書, the permit for Carol to request for her spouse visa).

I just am sooooo happy as these steps move along one by one!!! However, I am going to Hong Kong from Sunday for a business trip, so it'll have to be next week, or the final week of May which I can submit the forms..... I just cannot wait to get the process started and going!!!!!

きゃろちゃん、あと少しだからね。もう少し、我慢してね。いつまでも離れ離れで寂しい思いをさせてごめんね。

*0* ... our wedding shopping in Shanghai!

If you are sober enough, you will ask – how about Jin? Anything for him from Shanghai/ Suzhou?

Shopping for Jin happened in Shanghai. Again, advice/ prototype from Clara’s…Clara’s husband got his tuxedo in Shanghai’s Fabric Market last year at CNY 600. How’s Jin’s?

It was a shopping mall with 3 stories. We checked 2 stories but found most designs were just similar, if not identical. THE WAR BEGAN. Shops offered from CNY 1,100 to CNY 1,300. We started from CNY 500 and finally got a deal at CNY 700, inclusive of the jacket, bow tie, waist band and trousers. We requested some modifications to make it a unique one but this remained an uncertainty that I am not fully confident…anyway, we will see.

(trial fit in 2 days)

I also bought a tailor-made business suit in the Fabric Market, too. CNY 480 for suit jacket plus two pairs of trousers. Very good deal.

The real crazy shopping happened the other day when we return again for trial fit. We found a lot of ties and thought it might be good to get Jin a few. (I am gradually changing things inside Jin’s wardrobe…haha)

Initial offer – CNY 25 each. I dug out from the mountain of ties and got the best 8. We also got two pairs of cuffs. My mind was not very sharp that time and needed to re-negotiate…final deal at CNY 260 for all. I feel we could have get a better deal, but again, it’s good enough for HK & JP standards.

番外篇: I also had a "negative purchase" in Shanghai - paid to remove my pretty nails (>< .

I noticed one change in me after getting married – I am becoming money conscious! I never have bargained that hard before…but I felt it at ease and… indeed necessary!!

*0* ... our wedding shopping in Suzhou!

Jin felt a great pity not being able to accompany me throughout the wedding preparation (esp. costume arrangement) in Hong Kong. Here comes the chance! In his return trip to Japan after HK registration, Jin stopped in Shanghai for our brief shopping in the city and in the outskirt city of Suzhou (蘇州).

It is always good to be a “junior” bride, with experienced wife to guide and advice me =). The important persons for this Suzhou mission are Clara and Ann. This was in fact not the first Suzhou trip for us 3 (Welcome Jin!). Clara went through the same process last year and I was her bride’s maid. Ann is always the professional to advise us in terms of design, quality and price!

Ann also offered us to stay at her cozy home. With her super warm hospitality, we quickly restored our energy from all travels and became “genki genki” throughout the trip. (A big THANK YOU to Ann!)

Pre-trip preparation:

• Confirm schedule with my important “local” guides and better the train tickets. Yeah, thanks again to Clara & Ann for making their time.
• Basic research on Suzhou’s “wedding dress village”, Tiger Hill (虎丘)– Yes, the whole district is full of wedding dress shops. We cannot afford the time to check every single shop, therefore, needed to know the grading, style, price range & general customer comments in order to highlight just a few. Thanks Kate for getting me the “Shopping strategy guide of Suzhou wedding dress”. It was indeed very helpful.
• Get to know my “dream dress”. It is crucial that we know what kind of dress that we want because we will see hundreds of them…too much uncertainty is time-consuming and side-track our decision-making process. I am lucky that I have already gone through the “look-see-and-match” process in HK. I have already formed an idea of what dress suits me. Besides, Jin bought me some wedding dress magazines from Japan (wao, they are mostly high-end super dress). My idea of a “dream dress” was formed accordingly.
• Budget – not too much a worry. Making one in Suzhou is always cheaper than renting one in Hong Kong…But we really need to spend the time to select and check the details. And, most tiring of all – bargain, bargain and…bargain.

On the way to Suzhou

With all the experience and preparation, we believed a one-day trip will do. We departed early for a 9:15 train from Shanghai to Suzhou. Well…we barely… missed it. This marked the beginning of our “run & rush” day…haha. I cannot recall when was the last time I ran like crazy in a city! We explored a lot different means (which is in fact a good learning experience re: transportation in Shanghai!) and finally arrived Suzhou via private car around noon time.

"Yuk"…I guess this was the first word we said about Suzhou…traffic there was still (compare to last year) messy, demolition and construction, dust here and there; no proper traffic signals, drivers squeeze in and turn whichever way…really aggressive and DANGEROUS! We were dropped at a very unhygienic place…bad smell made us headache (>< The mess stopped when super Ann was able to get us return tickets to Shanghai at a favorable time. (official ticket booth said earliest available ticket was at 11:30 PM!) We took a lunch break and our happy money-washing trip began.....


1st stop – Chinese dress making at 石路
Making a Chinese Cheongsam is a must-do item on my list. I wished to make a gorgeous one for the wedding banquet and a few elegant ones for special social occasions.

Thanks to Clara’s experience, we immediately rush into our target, 瑞富祥, a department store that specializes in silk product.

Wao… silk cloth with all sorts of patterns and design. We checked rolls after rolls of cloth, quickly located some really good ones.

And, the WAR BEGAN! Room for bargain was really limited for this department store. Thanks to Ann’s soft strategy, we were able to get really good deals from both the cloth and the tailor handcraft fee!!!

Time flies when we were in crazy shopping mode. It was already close to 4pm when everything was done. (p.s.: what did Jin do during the crazy hours of ladies? He kept taking greedy happy photos of us…and kept giving amazing faces of “I can’t believe it! It’s soo cheap!!”)

2nd stop – Wedding dress making at 虎丘
Time was running out and I prepared everybody that Jin and I might need to come again the other day to continue the shopping. I never expected “Love at first sight” would happen!

Again, we did our “focus shopping” – quickly rush into the shop that Clara got her wedding dress last year.

While we were disappointed at the limited availability of the dresses and about to leave…the salesperson held us and presented us a dress of treasure, hid at the roof top of hte store which was wrapped in an ugly plastic bag…the salesperson started the story: they are so proud of their refinery of dresses that they made and transformed to the exporting business. By serving European and Japanese customers, they were earning a good fortune now. That was why they stopped from making fair dresses (for local needs).

My eyes…blink blink when I saw THE dress!!! It was a gorgeous one full of detail, handmade for sure. The long tail also fits perfectly for my march-in at the chapel of our wedding banquet in Japan. I quickly tried that on and fell into it. Offer at CNY 2,800. (Salesperson said they usually ask for CNY 4,500, but offer a great discount to us as old customers, blablabla). Jin didn’t say a word until that point as he could feel that I was getting emotional…he didn’t want to make it an impulsive purchase. He said “in order not to regret, let’s check other shops and come back afterwards”. We left the shop with the lady chased after us “what is your budget? We can try to match….” We said max. CNY 1,800 and she agreed. “hmm…too easy as if it’s not a good bargain…”

Anyway, since we agreed to keep looking, we then followed the “strategic guide” and checked isle by isle, however, nothing comparable. In 15 mins, we know we should return. Our strategy advisor, Ann, said it’s a signal of failure if we just rushed back so shortly. We therefore kept wandering around, checked also evening dresses, and planned our WAR, or in order words, DRAMA.

We wanted to set up a scene as:

I liked the dress so so much (to justify our return) but Jin doesn’t like it (not so perfect that it doesn’t deserve the price). We made our faces really bad and Ann as a mediator brought us back to stop our “quarrel”.

Although Jin acted so well that I even thought he really did’t like the dress, this stupid drama couldn’t get us any further discount (><. We finally made the deal at CNY 1,800...with some modification requested.

We must say all were super good deals in terms of both HK & JP standards – HURRAY~~ our successful shopping trip!!!

P.S.: the amazement didn’t stop. The cheongsam tailor wanted me to go back for a fit with the draft dresses, in merely 48 hours. Jin and I went to Suzhou again the other day and couldn’t help clapping our hands at the marvelous art did by the tailor. The handmade cheongsams were 80% done!!! The match of color, the detailness, everything were done so nicely. While I tried them on, other customers also amazed and ordered the same design as mine…Look forward to the final products (>w<

P.S. 2: This time we were able to take the train...which was 99% similar to JP's 新幹線 @_@

Price paid for the service.....

28th April was our first day of team work to battle against our common enemy. They were once our trustworthy agent, but it turned out that their service was nothing but ridiculously nonsensical. 'Twas really an experience for Jin to see how a "service of non-Japanese standard" would be, but in general, it was even below it... We were not treated as a customer even though we paid a fortune for their "worthless service".

***Note well: The following explains the content of the battle we fought with our Photo Shooting agent - Romantic Life - for their mistreatment they served us with, and the accomplishment we achieved from the battle. This post is NOT to put down on Romantic Life of their service, nor is it to provide our readers with how they can things be negotiated. This post is only to share with you what we had to go through for what they have done and we had to go through.

The mistreatment they had on us.....

1. Treated customers as if they were friends - called Jin with a nickname in Cantonese knowing that Jin cannot understand it.

2. Called Carol with a comment which was not appreciated at all. Such comment was not at all a fit since Carol had put sooooo much an effort to get into such result, and the treatment she received was just too cruel.

3. None of the arrangements and communications were intuitively made, and resulted in stress, burden, extra work, and also a mistreatment from the photo shooting staff (located in Taiwan, met for the first time when we were in Nara).

As a result, the first promise / explanation we received from the customer representative "We are here, a one stop service to make the communication with the staff as much as possible and transparent, to make the stress on the bride (since in this market, such miscommunication happens and puts burden and stress onto the bride, which yields to increase of stress level to the couple...) as little as possible" was not executed. Instead, the customer representative's activities were so junior and irresponsible, that we became the victim of their miscommunication. This was extremely stressful.

However much the arrangements were horrible, the end result of photo shooting was still satsifactory. The photo shooting crews and we were focused in making a one-and-only superb album. Our focus was very intense, that we want to give complements to the photo shooting staff.

So, the battle was against the Hong Kong arrangement crew. We met with the Shop Owner and explained the above. In the beginning, the Shop Owner thought we were complaining about the photo shooting crews. However, as our explanation elaborated, they started to feel the guilt. Fortunately (and indeed, this is a good thing), the Shop Owner is responsible of the customer operations and customer satisfaction, and since she was from Taiwan, she has the Taiwan customer oriented focus which resulted in a sympathy and feel of apology from all of the explanation we had elaborated.

This was a good thing, and the communication from here went smoother.

As a result, we were able to receive quite a number of accomplishment, which really is priceless.

1. ALL soft copies of the pictures we had taken in Kimono. This is because as I elaborated in the earlier post, the Kimono which Carol wore - furisode 振袖 - can only be worn by an unmarried lady. Hence, by practice, this was the one and only chance Carol could wear this type of Kimono in her whole life. It was very important that we have as evidence as possible of this period of time.

***It turns out that the number of photos taken were over 100 which resulted in quite an amount of bonus we were able to receive.

2. Discount in the creation of album. Since the number of photos we chose were a total of 100 (the package only included 30, hence we needed to pay for the extra 70 pictures to be included in the album). This discount also was quite some amount.

All in all, we felt that this battle was well thought, and we both did a good job. On top of this, the Shop Owner was really rational, understanding, reasonable, and fair. Her mind was sharp at all times, and was thinking in realtime of what went on, and what needed to be done in order to "keep the customer satisfaction, yet keep their store stance." We feel it was fortunate that we fought with her and no one else.

Currently, the album is in production, and the Shop Owner (since she insisted in taking over the production operation, because she has a 12years of experience in this operation, and she wants to do this for us to "gain the trust"), and she understands our trust in their service is down to the pits. It is on their hands to prove to us that they are "not as bad as what they had done to us up until now", and to make us satisfied.

Let's see the end result (^-'b

The Marriage Registration Day - 2008.04.27

On 27th of April, Carol and Jin made our eternal vow to be bonded for the rest of our lives. This is the day we start our married labu labu life!!!!! yey!!! yey!!! yeeeey!!!!!

It was supposed to be a humble & simple registration process but with all your presence, my dear friends, it became such a shiny memory for us. Thanks for coming, thanks for your blessings - we are so glad that you were there!

Friends, let us replay this very precious memory to you. Especially for friends who we did not managed to invite to come...(><

6:00 Wakeup
J: Today is a big day. I need to be fresh and healthy, ... but, .... my cold, ....... please let me sleep a bit more..... zzz

C: Wow, a straight-through deep sleep (although just 5 hours) without nightmare/ stupid dream! Mind sober, heart peaceful, Ok...let me start ticking my checklist...no conditioner for hair wash, dry hair to 100%, open button clothes..."to-bring" items ready.


7:00 Stylist (Helen) arrives to turn Carol to a princess
J: OK, gotta wake up!!! Rise and Shine!!! From this point on, the real and serious day starts!

C: I saw Helen from my window at 6:45 am. She arrived early and waited downstair...pressed my door bell at 7 am sharp. Helen knew my character & request (she remembered it so well!)from the trial make-up, thus, quickly started her art. The whole process was just relaxing and fun, especially with my cat, Ken Ken who welcomed Helen and sat still looking how Helen played the magic. I really like Helen, she is more than a stylist, she just wants to help. She also helped me to dress up, escorted & brought our stuff all the way to the car park....Thanks a lot, Helen!! I will defintely go back to Helen for my make up next year (make sure I book her well in advance to secure her timeslot!! ><).

9:00 Fiona (Carol's old friend) arrives to pick us up with her car

J: Whoa!!! The car soooo pretty pretty!!! Thank you soooo much to the sisters!!!!! Carol really does have very caring and gooodo goooodo friends around her!!!

C: Wow!!!! I did not expect my 'house members' to prepare the car decoration! When Helen pointed at the pretty car, I said I was not sure it's for us...coz my friend told me her car is just a not-so-good one...hey, Captain, it was GREAT, OK?! We were all very excited...and Captain said she washed the car the day before...hahaha...yey! Thanks 'house members'! It was a big present and a pleasant surprise!


9:30 Pick up kaachan (Jin's mom) at hotel
J: As kaachan (母ちゃん) and I had briefed before flying to HK, the outcome was as expected. Nicely done, as usual.

C: Wao! Kaachan looked so nice in Kimono. It was a humble one yet very elegant! Many of my friends are coming purposely for Kaachan's Kimono...(?_?) They won't be disappointed!


10:00 Meet at Cotton Tree Marriage Registration Office
J: A bit nervous, but more than that, my cold...... (>___<; But, I have a strong will, so I should be fine. Keep my integrity and I will be fine. But, since the guests are all of Carol's, I felt both envious and sad. I wouldn't have this much of a crowd on my side, ... and at the same time, but then, Carol has such closely bonded friends... iinaa...

C: My Papa arrived really early, he dragged my uncle all the way from Canada back to HK and escorted my grandma. I could feel the intense love they have for me and their welcome to Jin as a new family member. For every small move they take, especially my papa, was full of caring and love...(n_n. I guess my Papa was the No.1 nervous person for the day... Friends started coming, one after the other, some were long-time-no-see friends, some are super good friends, colleagues...I was so hyper to see all their faces! In fact it wasn't the full list yet...I still have many good friends that I wished to invite while either couldn't come or ran out of time to invite...(sorry!) in 2009...!!


10:30 Marriage Registration Starts

J: Nervousness had gone away, and I was fine all the way. I think Carol's father took all of our nervousness into him..... The feeling I had was more, ..... of a fulfillment of "finally, we have come to this stage". Throughout the registration ceremony, I was thinking of the happy image of our married life and thus, I couldn't even shift my eye focus to the guests (sorry all...!!)

C: Happy, hyper! But maybe too hyper that I didn't check/know what I was supposed to do...hahaha. It is indeed lucky to be a "junior" of marriage to enjoy the advices & help from my experienced married friend - Erica! I did some stupid things (e.g. pop in the marriage hall before guests were seated, wondered whether guests could see me from the veil....) (><

The other day a photographer told me that 9 out of 10 girls could not finish their vow smoothly becuase of the tears... I didn't feel anything at all. Probably same to Jin, I was filled with positive energy to anticipate our new life.

My papa looked really "heavy", as if a dark cloud is ahead of him....Papa, we will be alright, we are commited to be faithful partners to each other, we promised, together, we will make better lives. Papa...I know you really love us, I know you were surprised how fast time flied and worried how far we will be apart...we assure, our bond is always there, no matter the distance/ frequency that we could meet.

Photo shooting with everyone:

• scene 1: In the office

J: Still daydreaming. Really thank Daisy for the initiative in started to lead in taking the photos.

C: THANKS DAISY and FIONA as back-up cameraman!!! BIG THANKS TO ERICA on her help with my dress and all 'Dos & Don'ts'! (><

• scene 2: Outside the office

J: This is the first moment when we are out in public as a married couple. I want to scream out of happiness and accomplishment!!! But, ... can't still yet! Pictures pictures pictures. Take all as much as you wish!!! But more than that, Carol is sooooooooo wonderfully beautiful!!!!!

C: hmm...how can I treat my dear friends? offer our photo-shooting buffet...take photos photos and photos...we really wanted to make sure we entertained our guests and thanks every of them to come to withness our big moments. (hmm..but always keep my friends waiting..sorry ><) But it was a bit too dark and we moved quickly to another location.

• scene 3: By the small deck with white pillars

J: Better location la. Gooodo goooodo!!! Get them flashes and shutters sing a song to us!!

C: quick...I need to make sure everybody was taken into the photos. Friends, come come...

• scene 4: By the big stage of Beijing Olympic front sign; a group photo

J: Stairs for group photo la!!! C'mon everybody!!!!! :-D

C: ....this was the area with Beijing Olympic 2008....very patriotic. The stairs served as a platform for group photos. Yey!

• scene 5: By the waterfall in the back

J: Ooops, our crowd is sooo huge we're blocking the way... Sorry!!! It is then, kaachan elaborated her current situation, that her feet hurts, and thus she wants to change from the Japanese kimono to something easier. I quickly relayed the message to Carol and was able to pass the message to Fiona to snatch her items from the car. Thank you to Fiona for her kind and spontaneous act, and Stephanie's kind help in assisting kaachan change.

C: It was a great day for photo shooting, not too bright and no rain. It was probably a nice day for a walk in the park, too. Crowded crowded and we were blocking the way ><. We probably took quite some time for photos and the parents and elderlies get tired. Also thanks Eva, Shirley & Mavis to check availability and get them settled in the teahouse.

J: (to add to Carol) ... [thanks to Eva, Shirley & Mavis] also for passing the gift photo for those early leavers!!!


Photo shooting with some close friends and us two alone:

• scene 1: By the pond

J: yey yey yey!!! More pictures la!!! Getting hyper both from the medicine and the feeling. Carol's beautiful, her bouquet and hair flowers match so well with her, .... She is an angel!!!!!

C: Mic seems to be in his mood...started taking artistic photos of us...like the photo-shooting we did in Japan! hahaha...

• scene 2: By the barrack (I was learnt the other day that my colleague passed by us in HK Park, the couple was wondering "is this Carol???")

J: Kind of a silly picture, but was interesting. Still hyper hyper!!!

C: hehe...I always enjoy silly photos with Jin, and my secondary school friends...hahaha..we all couldn't help but laughing so hard...oops... I need to be elegant...(><


Family lunch at Lock Cha Tea House

J: More and more guests have left by then, and we only had the really close close friends and the family members share the lunch. The vegetarian dim sum was simple but nice enough for everyone to enjoy. Give gifts and received gifts. Gooooooooddo nya!!!!!

C: The first funny thing was...getting ourselves changed. There was no elegant place but a privacy place...W.C. (><) It was just simple food...everything was just simple enough to make a cozy environment with slow slow pace. We had the quality time chatting with family and family-alike friends. Thank-you all for today! We will treat you a better meal in our wedding parties!!! We finished at around 2:30pm and Mr & Mrs Takamura rode on Fiona's pretty car again and went back home.

Overall comment:
J: I think all went well with the limited briefing. I really feel that Carol does have very close mutual friends who can make a very close teamwork just on the spot. I think this is a treasure. Moreover, Carol was, ....... just toooooooooooo beautiful!!!!! Her efforts in making this event the one and only best one did indeed come true. Her body fit and slimmed down, her face so bright and smooth like a baby's face, everything was just perfect. On the other hand, how about me? I kind of was a bit shamed since I haven't done much; not as much effort in keeping myself fit or taking the steps to make the event one and only. Is this ok or not? I just cannot stop wondering and thinking.....

C: haha..Jin, please don't say that. You did of course, put efforts and did something revolutionary - shaved! Everyone said you look so refreshed in your new look =P hoho, handsome handsome yo~

Meeting Jin is a very beautiful thing in my life. Our path was indeed short and our passion has made it even shorter… (time flies all the time)! It was probably too short for me to portrait the details of our wedding and on THAT DAY, I was totally blank and in an inexperienced + curious + looking forward mode all day long…

With that psychological state, my sensor to the external world was so much more sensitive then to the inner self. I could only feel my darling Jin’s soft eyesight, mild words and heated heart, I could only see my dear family members’ and friends’ happy and touched faces…All these turned my smile and made me the “1/10” girl who did not cry while making the vow of love…

Apr 27 was in fact a rehearsal and a kick-off - we needed to register early to merge our lives together via the legal procedures. It could be a bit too rush that I was not well prepared and underestimated the joy we could bring to our friends…it was only a simple registration and nothing good to treat friends, I therefore, did not really plan perfectly and invite all my important friends to come. (><) Friends, please be patient with us. We need one year’s time to prepare our real celebration with you, and you will witness again our real love, where our passion, our caring and loving hearts are still as heated as we are now, and the warmth will be like ashes that bring every of you comfort.

There are always something "better than words" - snapshots of the day:

Our Wedding (Part 1 - HK registration)