Country Cottage Arts

 Saturday, 25 September 2010



The Hari |Raya celebrations are over and the 'open house'  culture of feasting is still ongoing.  I've  been  invited to and  have attended  a few  'open house'  functions.  The food, of course, was great, especially the chicken rendang.  However, I did notice that not many served the traditional 'nasi himpit'.  It was  briyani rice most of the time.  Times are a changing, I guess. 

Below are the last tranche of wedding photographs of Farrah and Raja Arfiz.  There are hundreds and hundreds more but I think what I have uploaded so far is more than necessary for readers to get a complete picture of the wedding from beginning to the end.

 The couple taking their seat at the banquet table








 Tan Sri Syed Yusof giving a speech




 Raja Arfiz is seated next to the King and Farrah is seated next to the Queen



 Discussing the sumptious menu, perhaps?


 Puan Sri Sabrina with her guests..........

  


 The view of the very very  long banquet table .........................................


      

My good friends,  Ms Patsy Kam and Rosemary, among the many invited guest.......




 One of the Malaysian guest artist who performed at the reception




 That's Nawal Zoughbi  performing on the dais for the guests...... her voice was really melodious and she sang mostly  Arabic songs, which language I find captivating......................  ( just a trivia - would you say that she's a mother of 3 kids ? With her face and figure, it looks  impossible but true!)





 The beginning of the bye- byes......










 The long handshakes................... and even longer well wishers......................







 The lady to the left of Farrah ( top pic) is Farrah's Grandmother and Puan Sri Sabrina's mother. The second photograph shows  Farrah's younger sister, Farhana  at the extreme left. 


 That's all folks...............................


Happy reading


Lakshmi

Wednesday, 15 September 2010





This is the second tranche of photographs of the wedding of Sharifah Farrah Soraya and Raja Arfiz at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in August.

What  an awesome and stunning arrival of the young couple,  none could take their eyes off them ( and there were  more than two thousand pairs, I think !)  such was their grand entrance on the red carpet, sooooo beautiful la !






The couple walking up the  specially built runway to the dais.  Her bridal train is being carried by her  sister, Farhana



Farhana adjusting the bridal lace  train ..................





They finally have a chance to put up their feet !



Doing their prayer






The King blessing the couple





The Queen blessing the couple




The Sultan of Selangor and..................................








That's the Sultan of Kedah, blessing the couple





Raja Arfiz's parents blessing their dashing son ........................................







That's Tan Sri Syed Yusof and Puan Sri Sharifah Sabrina, blessing their beautiful daughter .....I simply love the hairstyle , the old but elegant French bouffant look.................




 The parents of both bride and groom are not bad looking themselves, I'd say .................










 The VVIP's themselves can't seem to have take their eyes off the stunning couple....................




 Simply WOW


 Wish  I could wear a gown like that and look like that too !





 Now, that's a terrific pose Arfiz,  I'm certain all the young girls would be heaving a sad sigh ......
 move over girls, he's taken !



 One for their album



 I can't figure out the concept of the design of the cake ( someone said it resembled a jelly fish, no offence btw)   The long chain like hangings are actually chains of crystal ....................................



 Paying their respects to the King and Queen  




 What a beautiful pair


 ' You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you .................................'
 Waking down  hand in hand to join the King and Queen for the dinner banquet





 Notice the crystal chains on the raised dais runway..........it was crystal all the way...............  a singularly unique deco............  Rizalman has excelled in his field.




The last batch of photographs will be uploaded soon...........................    and just in case you didn't know,   the guest artist who was brought in all the way from the Middle East was the beautiful Nawal al Zoughbi, the pop superstar from Lebanon .  More pictures of her in my  next update .....



 Happy reading


 Lakshmi

Friday,  10 September 2010

I have finally seen all the albums of the wedding of Sharifah Farrah Soraya  and Raja Arfiz held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre  in August 2010 and for this I must really thank Tan Sri Syed Yusof and his lovely wife, Puan Sri Sharifah Sabrina ,  for graciously allowing me to use them in my blog.   This cache of photographs were taken by professional photographers ( the Rizalman photographers are a different set altogether ).

For ease of readers, I have divided the photographs into 3 tranches .  This is the first tranche of the photos which feature the arrival of the DYMM Yang diPertuan Agung ( King) and DYMM Yang di Pertuan Permaisuri ( Queen )  together with the  Sultans and Menteri Besar ( Chief Ministers ) of the various states. ( I'm not very good at the titles' department so please forgive me and don't take any offence if I have omitted any honorifics, etc., etc....with the VVIPS and VIPS in the pictures)

The photographs have been  chosen randomly as I simply don't have the patience to upload all of them ( I'm busy too, you know !) As it is, I had to sort them out in sequence , next, beg my daughter to help scan them into the computer ( haven't learnt that as yet !) and then sit beside her  next to the scanner and hand the photos one by one while at the same time putting the scanned ones into the albums  quickly in case it is misplaced or lost .  Gosh! the things that I have to do for the convenience of others.................................................................!

It makes me wonder why I have to go to such lengths, really........................  but the fact of the matter is that it is not often that one comes to witness a grand  occassion such as the wedding of Sharifah Farrah Soraya. It was truly a most  beautiful affair,  painstakingly organised with such detail and love by the loving parents of the bride , Tan Sri Syed Yusof and Puan Sri Sharifah Sabrina.  They gave their very best to their daughter and to their friends who had come to  witness and bless the young couple on the shared journey of their lives together.

The least I could do was to share this wonderful  journey with others who did not have the opportunity to attend the wedding. I'm sure you'll bless the young couple  too after you've seen them...........................................................



 

 That's the Raja Muda of Kelantan, receiving a token from Tan Sri Syed Yusof  upon arrival.









































That's the DYMM Yang di Pertuan Agung ( King) being  escorted  by Tan Sri Syed Yusof upon arrival



All the VVIPs arriving in style - The Sultan of Selangor in purple and the Sultan of Perak in red...



That DYMM Raja Permaisuri Agung being escorted by Puan Sri Sharifah Sabrina










The bevy of bridesmaids making their entrance.  The young and handsome  tyke in the front is Farouq and the bridesmaid walking in front is Farina .  Behind Farouq is Azarina





This was the first time that I had seen the King and Queen, the Sultans  with their consorts, the Regents with their consorts, the Governers of Malacca and Negeri Sembilan with their wives,  the Chief Ministers and their wives, corporate flyers and other dignitaries  in entirety attending an occassion .  Don't even ask me the list of  Tan Sris/Puan Sris/ Dato/Datins, ministers............... in fact, every table was filled with the Who's Who of Malaysia. 

If you do spot anyone you know, please update their names in the comments/shout box section for the benefit of others.

That's all for now.  The next tranche of photographs will be the arrival of the beautiful bride and groom.  


Just to share in the Hari Raya celebrations, my daughter and I both went shopping for a  traditional Malay costume,  aka   'baju kurung' . I bought  one  with a floral background  and my daughter chose a simple turquoise coloured one.   We've been invited to, who else,   but  by Tan Sri Syed Yusof and Puan Sri Sabrina to their '  open house ' on the first day of Hari Raya.  I thought it appropriate to wear a traditional Malay costume  for the occassion. We are, after all, Malaysians first .  On the drive  back, we came across a makeshift stall selling 'lemang'  and  'rendang ayam' ( traditional glutinious rice cooked  in bamboo and a traditional chicken preparation  )  opposite the ITM University at Section 2, Shah Alam .  We bought some too..............................



Once again  wishing all my Muslim friends and readers " SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI.    Please do call me for your 'open house'  ya, so I can eat and blog more ......................!!!!!



Happy painting and reading


Lakshmi