It Is Better To Give Than To Receive

This evening, we gave away RM105,000 worth of wedding prizes, all contributed by industry colleagues from the 'weddingsmalaysia family'. 16 deserving couples were the lucky recipients by virtue of being winners of the 'A Virtual Treasure Hunt : An Online Search For Wedding Goodies' contest, co-organised by weddingsmalaysia and Chocolate Mousse.

I believe that when I say 'it is better to give than to receive', I speak on behalf of my fellow sponsors who were present at the finale at Covershots. The camaraderie that is always evident between our group of industry colleagues was again on display as we wholeheartedly congratulated each and every one of the 16 couples who made it a point to dress for the occasion and who had to undergo a Q&A session with our 3 judges from the Association Of Wedding Professionals. Their efforts in hunting for more than 50 answers in the online contest clearly paid off.

To the 50 or so prize sponsors, I say 'thank you'. Collaborative initiatives such as this is what makes the work so enjoyable, and to see that we have collectively contributed to the wedding plans of 16 couples is very much testament to our motto of 'making dream weddings a reality'. Cheers.

Photo of clock at Covershots, Petaling Jaya.

A Virtual Treasure Hunt

Some months ago, the idea to run an online treasure hunt came to mind, which I shared with Shumita Chaudry of Chocolate Mousse over a cup of coffee. Now 5 months later and we have jointly launched 'A Virtual Treasure Hunt : An Online Search For Wedding Goodies'. The concept that we envisioned was to create a campaign that would be an enjoyable experience for couples, and at the same time enhance their wedding planning process by pointing them to our industry colleagues who are potentially vendors they can appoint. Of course, the ultimate aim was to offer exciting prize packages, not only 1 but 16, in the hope that they would be catalysts towards encouraging enthusiastic participation by couples who are soon-to-be-wed. Such sponsored prizes we also felt would come in handy in these economic times.

Developing the contest took much time and effort. The support from our industry colleagues was the motivation that kept us focused. The challenge was for us to craft a hunt that would be relatively easy to navigate, yet be sufficiently challenging as well. I think we have achieved that. We hope that couples will now embrace the contest fervently.

Once again, much thanks to our friends in the industry, as I so often and aptly describe as members of the 'weddingsmalaysia family', who have thrown their support behind this endeavour. And to those of you out there who will soon be tying-the-knot, explore, enjoy and be inspired ...

Photo courtesy of Acadia Card.

The Good, The Bad And Everything Else In Between

Today is a classic example that life has its good, bad and everything else in between. What started off as a relatively smoothsailing day - I got my pass renewed at RTM without a hitch; then got my parking summon revoked, expected of course, all within 5 minutes was the surprise - got even better. What's there to complain about a lunch meeting over dim sum at Tai Zi Heen, Prince Hotel & Residence KL's spectacular Chinese restaurant? Shirley, a dear friend and the hotel's Director of Marketing Communications, together with Shumita from Chocolate Mousse, my partner-in-crime of the soon-to-be-launched 'A Virtual Treasure Hunt : An Online Search For Wedding Goodies' were perfect lunch dates and enthusiastic conspirators for the proposed launch event. The food, satisfying as always.

Everything else went downhill after that, probably with the exception of the nice swim I had under a blazing hot sun! I am not one to dwell on the little misfortunes that beset my afternoon, so those expecting dramatics will unfortunately be disappointed. Suffice to say, problems solved, though a waste of good time which could have been much better spent on more R&R on this day off of mine.

So, I now find myself hoping to round off the day in a good mood and on better temperament. And what better way to do so than to look back on the recent short holiday I took in Phnom Penh. That was just a week ago, and what a drastic difference in scenario that off day was, compared to the one I had today. Such is life I suppose ... the good and the bad beckon. The lucky ones are those who embrace the good and take everything else in stride.