It's A Guest List, Not A Guess List!

Eric Banana and Astro Girl are literally going bananas.

After squeezing out a wedding date by "brute force", they thought that they can finally proceed to booking the wedding banquet venue. Well, obviously they did not think hard enough. Their preliminary estimate of the number of tables they would require for the wedding banquet was based on back-of-the-envelope calculations. Their primary concern has been with maximum capacity, i.e. how many tables can be fitted comfortably in the wedding banquet venue.

Their primary concern moved on to secondary school after they re-did their mathematics. They have overestimated the number of guests they want to invite and failed to account for the confirmed-attendees-vs-invitees difference, as well as no-shows on the actual day. Guessing who cannot make it is an inexact science, almost an art. So while they have been looking at maximum capacity, they should really have examined minimum capacity more carefully.

Most hotels and restaurants require couples to book a minimum number of tables in order to secure the usage of the whole place. From a business perspective, it is to ensure that there is enough scale to sustain the profitability of the dinner. This minimum capacity varies from place to place. No matter how good a banquet venue is, it's a no-go when couples are not able to fulfil the minimum capacity requirement.

While Eric Banana and Astro Girl are cognizant of the possibility that their guest list may expand eventually, they are reluctant to bear the risk of overcommitting at this point of time. Thankfully, minimum capacity requirements also differ for weekdays and weekends. This was also one of the reasons why Eric Banana and Astro Girl chose to get married on a Friday.

When Lucida Meets Lucida

Here's a look at their engagement rings:

Astro Girl: A Tiffany & Co. Lucida ® Diamond Ring (0.47 ct, D colour, VS2 clarity) in a platinum setting (pt 950)

Eric Banana: A Tiffany & Co. Lucida ® Band Ring in platinum (pt 950, 3mm wide)

Actually, this photograph doesn't do the rings justice. They are much nicer in reality. Then again, Astro Girl probably blames it on Eric Banana's CMI (read: cannot make it) photography skills. Oh well, the initial blurry shots led him to tinkle with his camera and do some research on taking clear pictures of jewellery. And finally, he discovered the macro function on his camera *applause*.

Wanna read about the story behind the rings? Oh well, you would have to wait.

Eric's inane observation: It would seem that Astro Girl is becoming a Tiffany & Co. convert *lol* Stay tuned to find out more.

Mr & Mrs Eric Banana Ought To Be Shot

To Eric Banana and Astro Girl, the confirmation of their wedding date is dependent on two key factors: (1) availability of their preferred banquet venue, and (2) availability of their preferred AD photographer. 

The banquet venue is currently available on 9 Oct 2009 but they have not booked it yet. The site visit is scheduled for 31 May 2008. They did manage to book their AD photographer today though.

*drum rolls* Introducing their AD photographer....

Gilbert Chua of 9 Frames Photography

After reviewing some of Gilbert's work online, Eric Banana and Astro Girl found that his photojournalist approach creates a style that is both natural and interesting. It's all about capturing the moment there and then, as it unwraps itself. They love his style so much that they did not want to consider any other photographer. Amazing but true - Eric Banana even managed to convince the impossibly thrifty Astro Girl to look beyond the prices, which were bordering on becoming prohibitively expensive for the couple.

Eric Banana and Astro Girl have successfully booked Gilbert as their AD photographer on 9 Oct 2009 and are extremely happy with their choice. They trust that Gilbert will do an outstanding job. They would also like to thank Danon The for his excellent recommendation.

Check out Gilbert's work on his website and blog!

9.10.2009

Ever since he came back from Taiwan, Eric Banana has been trying to fix a wedding date, almost to the point of obsession. Both the Banana Elders and Astro Seniors felt that there was no need to rush since there is still quite some time left to plan. But nooooooo, the Bananaman is inherently uncomfortable with anything that is critical but remains a question mark for no good reason.

And yes, after some debate with the lovely Astro Girl, there is a tentative wedding date: 

The 9th day of October in the year 2009 (农历八月二十一日）

It is a Friday （but still complies with Rule #2) and doesn't fall in the 7th lunar month (which complies with Rule #4). It is one of the dates picked by LSF (so hopefully it complies with Rules #3 and 5). More critically, it is going to be the most important day for Eric Banana and Astro Girl. So, pen the date down on your calendar and make sure you are available yah? *wink*

To Date A Wedding

By any means, it is not easy to plan a wedding. This difficulty is infinitely compounded when one has to plan a wedding in Singaland, where the fear of losing out has reached new heights. To combat rampant kiasu-ism, Eric Banana and Astro Girl have decided that "If you can't beat them, join them!" is probably a maxim they want to follow.

Not so long ago, it was okay to plan a wedding about one year before the actual day (AD). Then everyone started to plan their weddings one year ahead. This means that banquet venues are snapped up like nobody's business, especially for so-called "hot" dates. Popular AD photographers and videographers are booked way in advance.

In developing the mental "project plan" for their wedding, Eric Banana and Astro Girl swiftly found out that the one most critical event is "Deciding on the wedding date". No wedding date = cannot confirm availability of banquet venue and AD photographer. Deciding on the wedding date is not as easy as it seems. It is definitely not an unilateral decision by either Eric Banana or Astro Girl. But their bilateral consensus counts for nothing as well. Not when the Banana Clan and Astro Clan are involved. Think of a multilateral trade discussion... bah, it's nothing like that. *The vivid images of the Montagues and Capulets in a gun battle à la the 1996 Baz Luhrmann movie start forming in Eric Banana's mind*

So what's so damn difficult about setting a blardy wedding date? Look at calendar, select a month, pick a day and *voila* done. Or at least that was what Eric Banana thought. His naiveness lasted for all of five nano-seconds. There are way too many constraints or "rules":

• Rule #1: The wedding date must not conflict with Eric Banana's and Astro Girl's work schedules. (No work = no money = no wedding = that's why it makes sense) But as far as work is concerned, there is never a good time. Eric Banana is all ready to use The Boss's words against him - "When you have to go, you have to go."
  

• Rule #2: "I want to get married on a weekend," said Astro Girl. Thankfully, she considers Friday as part of the weekend. The thing is, most couples want to get married on a weekend. So many couples will vie for banquet venues, especially popular ones. Actually this rule makes sense. Holding a wedding on a Friday or Saturday allows the guests to drink more and go home later since the next day is a non-working day. Sunday is less ideal in this aspect, but it still beats the weekdays. Then again, it is cheaper to hold wedding dinner on a weekday.
  

• Rule #3: Both the Banana Elders and Astro Seniors want the wedding date to be checked against the tongshu (the Chinese Almanac). It is called 通书 in Chinese, but as far as Eric Banana is concerned, it could be called 统输, short for 统统都输 (read: lose-lose situation). A lot of couples are waiting for the tongshu to be published before finalising their wedding dates. But the tongshu for the next workyear (2009 in this case) is only available after the 7th lunar month this year (2008). Even before that, some "hot" dates will already be taken for the popular banquet venues by those couples who do not care about auspicious wedding dates. When the tongshu is released, there will be a mad rush to book dates for wedding dinners.
  

• Rule #4: The wedding date must not fall in the 7th lunar month. Okay, a lot of people believe in this. It's probably the best time to book the banquet venue of your choice though.

• Rule #5: The wedding date must not "clash" with the birth years / Chinese zodiac signs of the Banana Elders and the Astro Seniors. Not to mention that of Hello Kitty, Forever Friends, the Powerpuff Girls, Doraemon, etc.

• Rule #6: The wedding date must not "clash" with that of close relatives who are getting married around the same period.

• Rule #90210: ...

Is there more? Eric Banana cannot remember. Or rather, he doesn't want to. As far as he's concerned, it's still as easy as looking at calendar, selecting a month, picking a date... Nevertheless, do remember, deciding on the wedding date is not an unilateral or bilateral decision. Looking at the rules, Eric Banana was convinced that he will end up having his wedding dinner at Food Republic or Kopitiam.

Despite the challenges, Eric Banana and Astro Girl have utmost respect for tradition. They scoured for a fengshui master who can calculate wedding dates based on bazi (八字) instead of relying on the tongshu. After reading some online reviews, they decided on 龙天翔 a.k.a. 龙师傅 (Long Shifu, or LSF). For a princely sum of 80 dollars, he interpreted their bazi and provided them with a list of auspicious dates. Even then, there was no guarantee that these dates will not "clash" with the tongshu. Apparently, if an auspicious date is calculated based on a couple's bazi, it doesn't matter even if the date is listed as inauspicious for weddings in the tongshu.

Right. Eric Banana believes in the above as much as he believes in Santa Claus. That reminds him - it's time to start penning his wish list for Uncle Santa again.

Armed with LSF's list of auspicious dates, Eric Banana and Astro Girl have circled a few possible dates. Now they just have to make sure the banquet venue and the AD photographer are available on that day. Sounds easy-peasy? Think again...

Once Upon... The Banana Chronicles

Welcome to The Banana Chronicles! This is where Eric Banana (a.k.a. The Bananaman) and the lady of his future castle, Astro Girl, reside in cyberspace.

Well, this blog nearly didn't make it into existence. Apparently, Eric Banana and Astro Girl could not decide on the blog's sub-domain name. Their Yahoo! conversation was littered with ludicrous suggestions, which they have decided not to list here to prevent readers from literally rolling on the floor laughing. And then, an idea suddenly struck them...

... uptoyoulor.blogspot.com

That moment was nearly magical. You see, Eric Banana and Astro Girl are two of the most indecisive people in the world. Most people can't wait to make decisions. These two buggers happen to be the exact opposite - they can't wait to offload the responsibility of making decisions to the other party. Their pet phrases include "anything", "I don't know", "you decide" and notably, "up to you lor".

So if anything defines the two of them, it has to be "up to you lor". And that's how the blog's sub-domain name was born!

And yes, this blog promises to churn out redundant blog entries which make a big hoo-ha over nothing at all. Who said being mundane has to be boring? *Eric Banana powers up his lightsabre*