Malay Wedding Reception Venue - Would You Choose Your Home or a Rented Hall?

“Direnjis renjis dipilis 

Ditepungilah tawar 
Hai beras kunyit ditabur 
Disiram si air mawar…”

If you have been to quite a number of Malay wedding receptions, I bet you must have heard of the song lyrics above, sung by R. Ismail, titled DiRenjis-renjis Dipilis.  Two decades ago this song was commonly played during rewang and tepung tawar. Today, it’s still a favorite choice among many, including those who are holding receptions in rented halls.

Wedding songs aside, let’s put our focus on the venue of your wedding reception. Would you choose your home, or a rented hall? Home, hall. Home, hall. Which one? Arghh! Still having headaches in deciding which one’s the best? Well, that’s pretty normal, so don’t worry too much, yeah?   

“Not to worry much? Are you kidding me?” Some of you might say that. If you did, forgive me. Yeah, you’re right. Choosing the venue for a Malay wedding reception is a big thing. With this one, you can’t make the wrong decision. You are going to invite hundreds of guests. Some of you might even want to hold a bigger reception. Could it be done at home? Sure! You have many good relatives and neighbors who are willing to lend a hand. Are you sure about that? Not really? Oh, gosh! It’s time to panic now.

Before you get surmounted by panic attack, why not you take a deep breath because I am here to help you ease up on the pressure. I am about to list down the benefits and drawbacks of holding wedding receptions at home and rented hall now. You can compare and contrast, and hopefully make easier decisions later on. Without further ado, let’s begin.

Benefits of home wedding receptions

     1.    Help is available in abundance

A day before your wedding takes place, relatives and neighbors will start flooding your home to lend a helping hand, voluntarily and free of charge. Work will be shared regardless of its level of difficulty. A special tent for penanggah (helper with specifically assigned duties) would usually be built at one corner of the house compound. In most situations, the tent would be as near as possible to the kitchen. Under the tent, all the ingredients will be prepared mostly from scratch. You will get to see heaps of garlic, shallots, gingers, and potatoes to be manually peeled and cut. Dried chilies will need to be soaked in boiling water and turned into paste. Chicken, meat and mutton will be cut into individual serving sizes. The greatest part? All that hard work will no longer feel as burdensome anymore.  

Shortcut approach: You could also hire a catering service when holding your wedding reception at home. It’s an acceptable practice and rather common these days.

     2.    No time or zone restriction

Holding a wedding reception at home allows all your family members, neighbors and friends to hang out for as long as they want to. The ambience will be less formal. Guests with suits and ties will be happily welcomed, and the same goes to those without. There will be no restricted areas for kids to play, even in the red zones like cooking areas and slippery bathrooms. Hmm… on a second thought, those places aren’t safe for kids but when they are accompanied by adults, it’s perfectly okay.

When the wedding ends, people could stay for another day or a week after that. It doesn’t matter. But, a majority of the guests would normally go home at the end of the wedding day itself. Those who stay for another night or two would usually be your close relatives, psst… because they want to watch you unwrap your wedding gifts. Haha!

Drawbacks of home wedding receptions

     1.    Limited parking space

A home with a small compound and surrounded with crowded, little streets could experience the hardest challenge in providing enough parking spaces for all the guests. For sure, everyone would try to park their vehicles as near as possible to your venue, resulting in a massive traffic congestion. Worse than that, your entrance gate could be blocked with parked cars. This could be really troublesome when the berarak ceremony is about to begin. You can’t expect your significant other and his or her family members to squeeze in between the small openings of parked cars to join you during the berarak. It wouldn’t only be troublesome, but also embarrassing!

Problem solving approach: You could use the help of auxiliary police to navigate a better flow of traffic during your wedding day.

      2.      Consumed by lethargy

      Although many people would be willing to help you out, you would find out that, sometimes with the absence of your conscious mind, you would be inclined to do a lot of work. Imagine the number of tasks that would need to be completed, and the number of people doing them. Whether you want it or not, you would have to check on them to ensure that everything is on the right track. A loophole here and there means you would need to jump in to provide rescue. A long line of incomplete tasks means you could get a severe headache; however, you couldn’t afford to have one during the entire day. Even teeny-weeny issues could make you drip in sweat, no kidding.

Viable solution: A wedding event is not a one man show. You could hire a wedding planner to reduce the work load when preparing a home-based wedding reception.

Benefits of renting a hall

     1.    Spacious

A hall could provide a more spacious environment, resulting in a more comfortable ambience. You could have a better arrangement setting for the reception and dining area. Your guests would not have to squeeze in to get the chance to meet you and your parents in person. Commonly, there would be more tables and chairs available, so all your guests could simply take their food, have a seat and dig in right away. There is always a stage in the center-front of the hall, where you can place your dais. In most occasions, a dais would look way more impressive in a hall compared to the home based version.

     2.    Bid farewell to daunting tasks and cleanups

When renting a hall, you would not have to do much of anything. Everything would be prepared by your appointed caterer or wedding planner. Literally, you would not need to lift up even a finger to get all the dining tables and chairs arranged neatly. No more cooking would be required, how nice would that be, right? No more worries about how and when to serve food, as professional ushers and servers would be readily available when you hire a catering service. At the end of the day, when all your guests have gone home, there would be no need for you to cry helplessly, trying to wash one dirty plate after another. All of these will be taken care of, completely. Of course, they will come with a cost, but, the bottom line is you will not have to deal with messy cleanups, I promise.

Drawbacks of renting a hall

     1.    Hiring a catering service is mandatory

Up to now, I haven’t heard of a Malay wedding reception that opted for rewang when the venue was at a rented hall. At least, not yet. Perhaps, there have been some that I am not aware of, but that’s a different story.

Although it’s perfectly alright to prepare your own food for 500 – 1500 guests in average, would it be a practical option? One thing for sure, there would be delivery issues. How many trips do you need to take to deliver the whole bunch of food and drinks, not to mention the desserts and wedding cake that are so fragile in nature? What if there is an overflow in the number of guests, resulting in not enough food to serve around? You could order in, but doing it would defeat your original purpose, which is to cook your own food. If you knew such a problem could arise, you would have considered hiring a catering service right from the start, isn’t it?

     2.     A costly option

     You must get ready to be ripped off down to zero! No kidding, especially when your budget is small. Renting a hall these days is not cheap. It could eat up thousands of dollars even when you’re only renting it for 24 hours. So yeah, be prepared.

Cost-effective solution: There might be cheaper halls available, but you have to ask around or Google for it. Or, you could split the cost with your significant other, especially when your parents would be the ones paying the bills.

Note:

Rewang is a term referring to communal work where neighbors gather up at the home of the bride and groom to help in the preparation of the wedding day. 

Tepung tawar is a ceremony performed at the dais where blessings are given to the bride and groom by older members of the family (usually the parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties) by throwing yellow-colored rice at the couple and sprinkling their palms with a few drops of rose water accompanied by a pinch of shredded pandan leaves on each palm. 

Berarak is a ceremony where the groom walks into the entrance gate of the bride’s home (accompanied by family) and joins the bride who already waits inside the home compound with her family.

The 5 Most Helpful Tips When Looking for a Logo Designer

Hiring a professional and compatible logo designer is imperative for the success of the creation of the logo that you have in mind.  Thus, before hiring one there are at least 5 most helpful tips that you should be aware of:

1.  Ability to Deliver

The main role of a logo is to market your brand.  Therefore, your logo designer should be able to understand your specifications up to little details.  He should not deviate from your general intention, unless you’ve encouraged him to do so.  This is vital as you don’t want to waste time circling around an idea that has no definite direction or even worse, plan of action.  For instance, when you want a logo that carries a professional outlook, but with a hint of humour in it, the designer should be able to come up with a precise design that will make your brand stand up to its claim. 

Many designers tend to be suggestive, and this is one aspect that you should be careful about.  It’s not that being creative isn’t a good thing.  It’s just that sometimes, these designers are actually trying to direct your focus to something that they’re good at – but not at the exact output that you’re looking for.  In other words, they want to make the job easier for them by persuading you to follow their lead.  Don’t get influenced rather easily – it’s good to study their suggestions a bit, and only agree with them if you’re happy with how the outcome would become. 

2.  Request to Look at Their Business Website

A full-time, professional logo designer should regard their work as something serious.  Therefore, they should have a professional looking website that can explain their credentials in details.  There are some clues you can look for in the website that may suggest their level of professionalism.  For instance, have a look at the overall layout of their website.  Are all the contents, i.e. written materials, graphics and advertisement units properly arranged, sloppy-looking, all messed up or just okay?  We all have our website layout preferences, but in general you can actually decide within seconds if a website hasn’t been created with professionalism in mind. 

You can also look at the logo used in the website to determine whether a particular logo designer is a good fit for your project.  Do a little investigation on the logo – is it original or simply bought from a ‘buy-and-sell-logo’ website?  If you know for sure that the logo wasn’t the original creation of the designer, this alone can make you ponder whether to proceed with hiring or to run and never look back.  

3.  Portfolio is the Lifeline of a Logo Designer

No matter how small your project would be, never underestimate the importance of looking at the portfolio before hiring a designer.  Based on the portfolio, you’ll be able to know his work history - his achievements (whether average, excellent or poor), the number of clients he had worked with in the past, client testimonials (whether good or bad or average), the complexity level of the jobs that he preferred to accept, and many more.  

A portfolio also provides a good way for you to learn the credentials of a logo designer especially when you know little to nothing with regards to logo design.  By having access to the portfolio, you’ll get to see the types of logos that have been created by the designer, and from there it will be easy for you to decide whether it’s still worth it to spend time, effort and money on that particular designer.  

4.  The Types of Questions Asked

Before a logo designer can start designing for you, he must know enough regarding your brand.  To meet this purpose, he must ask enough questions that will allow him to come up with the most precise design.  If the person doesn’t ask any questions, there are two possibilities – it’s either he is too genius and extremely experienced up to the point that he could deliver satisfactory outputs via guess work, or he is a total scam.  The latter is more likely the scenario in most cases, so it’s imperative that you be careful when a designer seems to know too much already without having to ask. 

When a designer is asking questions, you need not provide him with everything that he needs to know, though.  What it means here is that you should have a sense of discretion on what should stay private and confidential and what could be shared with your designer.  For instance, if he asks for your banking information for whatever reasons at all, remember that a person who could have thought about asking such a question should be questioned of his work ethics and sense of honesty. 

5.  Cost Matters, But It Is Not Your Primary Aim When Hiring a Logo Designer

As a client, certainly you would want to get your project completed within the least possible cost.  At the same time you would not want to compromise on quality.  However, cost should not be your number one concern if it involves hiring a professional logo designer.  A professional will make sure that all your specifications are met accordingly, and in most cases they would go all out to even exceed your original expectations.  Thus, your money spent on such a satisfactory outcome would be worth every cent of it.  Additionally, since creating a logo involves a lot of creative elements, it’s quite impossible for you to fix one hour as the deadline of the project and expect to receive a flawless output. 

At the same time, the purpose of the logo and the complexity involved should be taken into consideration when it comes to cost. A simple logo that is going to be used for a casual purpose would normally cost less than a corporate logo that serves the purpose of representing the image of a multinational company.

Conclusion

If you have found a logo designer who could fill up all the five elements mentioned above, you’ve found a true gem in this industry.  You can now proceed to the next step which is to conduct a thorough interview to ensure that both you and the designer could meet eye to eye in transforming your visualization into reality.

Massmart Medical Aid

The working class population in South Africa has been experiencing a serious problem when it comes to obtaining sensible medical services and products. Due to the shortage of quality being portrayed in the state hospitals, Massmart Medical Aid takes up the challenge to provide the locals with a better health servicing option.

Nowadays, South Africans who can’t afford to pay an admission into a private hospital will no longer need to wince at the possibility of staying in a state hospital. This is because Massmart has several effective medical aid schemes that can help a person receive the best medical treatment with the most affordable costs. Everything needs planning, and so does the aspect of medical. Massmart Medical Aid is a professional in terms of planning for the best medical service to South Africans. If a person has a permanent job, it is likely that fifty percent of the amount of monthly contribution will be paid by his employer. In most cases, employers do encourage their employees to enrol into any beneficial medical aid schemes.

In short, there is nothing to lose when a person with a permanent job registers with Massmart, as his employer will be covering half of his monthly contributions. The benefit truly goes to the employee, as in the end he will be the one receiving the medical benefits, and he is only paying half of the actual fee. The Covered Benefits A member of Massmart will get a full understanding on what he is getting from his chosen medical aid scheme.

In general, when a member chooses the basic hospital plan the coverage may include the in-hospital treatments as well as events when the person is being hospitalised. There is also a possibility that a patient will receive benefits from 26 or 27 different medications that can treat different kinds of chronic conditions. However, this statement is used as a general guideline as the actual benefits tend to differ based on what a member applies for in his chosen medical aid scheme. Massmart ensures that a member is shielded from the harsh implications due to inability to pay for medical fees.

Even cases of surgeries and life-threatening diseases are covered by the company. These health problems may cause thousands of Rands and even more, but when a person takes the initiative to register with Massmart, all these worries will go away and the person will only need to concentrate on achieving a better health. Massmart is always firm in what it is offering to the public. Its main intention is to provide a safer and healthier work environment which will promote an increased level of productivity and open the door to career enhancement opportunities. All these goals are only achievable when the workforce is free from illnesses. Having that said, Massmart is ready to provide its HIV positive members and spouses with the appropriate medical treatment.

Massmart is also involved in the effort to provide the required medical treatment to those who are in need but not able to get access due to financial constraint or any other reasons including lack of support.

Foschini Medical Aid

Many people have not been really aware of the benefits of registering with a reliable medical aid scheme. Some people used to have the opinion that a medical aid scheme is not really needed because it’s a long way to go before a person gets old and starts getting all sorts of illnesses. However, today more people are becoming health conscious and that they are very concerned about getting the best medical treatments if any unfortunate event occurs to them one day.

Getting prepared for the worst case scenario is very important, and Foschini Medical Aid understands this really well. Being prepared for future grey days gives relief to a lot of people, young and old alike. The consequences of not preparing for any future medical needs are many, and all are rather frightening ones. If a person does not have any financial backup and suddenly he needs to deal with an illness that he has just been diagnosed with, this would become rather a devastating moment for him. At that moment, his options may become narrowed and he might be forced to opt for private medical services which have been known to be typically expensive. This option is certainly not practical at all if the person is not earning enough to support the medical bills. Applying for a loan during critical moments is only going to add in to the suffering, both physically and emotionally.

How Foschini Helps

Instead of leaving fate to take place, anyone can practically refer to Foschini to ease up their future medical worries. A lot of South Africans have been left with no other option but to go to state health care, but this should be the last resort for everyone. The state health system is mostly under-funded, and thus it is not able to provide the best medical service. Patients with chronic diseases and illnesses need to queue in a waiting list that may, often times, take weeks to surface to the top.

When a person chooses Foschini and registers into its medical aid scheme, there is a guarantee that chronic illnesses will be attended to immediately. In addition, Foschini is a merciful medical aid scheme provider as it only requires a small fee each month. This way, nobody is forced into applying a loan that he is not even sure whether he could pay it off with ease.

Sometimes it would be rather confusing to pick the right medical aid scheme, but when a person deals with Foschini it is unlikely that he will revert to other medical aid solutions. Offering a wide range of flexibility in its line of medical aid schemes, Foschini is ready to take up the challenge and make sure that every medical need of its member is met accordingly. At the same time, members get the chance to save money and yet they are getting the very best deal available on the market. This is because Foschini takes great effort to educate potential subscribers and its members about the different schemes it has to offer and their benefits.

Quantum Medical Aid

Today consumers are exposed to a variety of options when it comes to choosing the best medical aid scheme on the market. South Africa is one of the countries that is experiencing a rapid growth in the sector of medical aid scheme. Quantum Medical Aid is one of them, but it has flourished over the years and has become one of the most dependable companies that can be relied on at all times.

A family without medical protection is going to live in fear. This is why everyone should consider looking for the best medical aid scheme regardless of how much money they bring home each month. Registering with Quantum Medical Aid relieves the financial pressure to many South Africans, as the company truly understands about the economic conditions of most local families.

There will be no regrets when a person registers with Quantum Medical Aid. This is because nobody is forced to register immediately after he seeks information regarding the available schemes provided under the company. Potential clients are free to investigate, study and analyze all the available schemes and come up with their own comparison plans.

Quantum understands that doing ample research before registering into any medical aid schemes is very important. Most schemes are subscribed for years and years, so it makes sense why prior investigation needs to be carried out before registration is made.

Quantum Medical Aid is not only established to serve individual clients, but it also focuses on giving benefits to a family as a unit. Therefore, if a person couldn’t find a suitable medical aid scheme on the market that benefits his whole family members, he should consider looking at what Quantum has to offer to the public consumers.

How to Become a Member

First and foremost, it is crucial that an interested consumer takes an effort to identify his personal medical needs. If the person is not married and he is not living with any of his family members, the best medical aid scheme to be chosen would be the one with more comprehensive benefits. However, the company does not interfere with the final decision. In this case everyone is free to choose the basic medical aid scheme if he feels this type of coverage is good enough for him.

For families, of course the applicant of the scheme may want to consider applying for benefits that will cover everyone. At the very least, he should choose a medical aid scheme that gives basic medical attention to everyone in the family during cases of illnesses and emergencies.

For bread winners who are earning more each month and they are able to spend on a higher monthly contribution fee, by all means they are welcome to choose a more comprehensive scheme that covers everyone in the family in greater detail.

As a conclusion, the medical aid schemes provided by Quantum are designed to meet the specific needs of members. If a person can pay more, he can opt for a more lucrative medical aid scheme. If not, it’s enough if he chooses the basic scheme.

Protea Medical Aid

Protea Medical Aid has made it possible for South Africans to receive adequate medical attention from established hospitals and rehabilitation centres. Even HIV and AIDS patients can get ample benefits by registering with Protea. The company knows that not everybody can afford to pay a high amount of monthly contribution, so it creates different medical aid schemes to suit the budget of everyone.

Many people have benefitted from the medical aspect because they chose Protea as their medical aid scheme provider. As a consequence, more people are able to enjoy a better state of health and that the average lifespan of South Africans has been observed to increase over the last decade. When the population is healthy, this scenario will likely contribute to an increase in the economy as well. Now that people can live longer than before, it’s crucial that they maintain being in this condition.

Registering with Protea helps very much because with a low monthly fee, everyone gets the privilege to receive world class medical attention at all times. The good news is that Protea provides a fair payment scheme to its members. As a matter of fact, there is not much difference in the amount of contribution required from one medical aid scheme to another. However, it should be noted that every medical aid scheme being offered by the company is unique in nature. It differs from one member to the next because everyone has individual needs when it comes to medical services and products.

Basically, a younger member is required to pay a lower amount of monthly contribution when compared to an older member. This is only a general comparison though, as different terms and conditions may alter the amount of payment required from a member.

How the Scheme Works

In general if a member registers with Protea when he is already thirty-five years of age, he might be required to add a small payment into the total amount of his monthly contribution. This is not done to penalise the member for late registration, but rather it is done for the benefit of the registrant. The small addition will be used to cover for the additional benefits that may be required by the member, and it will also be used to ensure that a member always receives the benefits that he is entitled for.

Protea has always been lenient with its existing members as well as new members. Those who are wishing to take part in the scheme but already have some pre-existing conditions are not barred from joining in. As a matter of fact, everyone with a certain amount of medical condition is welcome to register with the company. The approval lies within the jurisdiction of the company and perhaps its Board of Trustees. A waiting period might apply to some cases but this is to ensure that the company is not exposed to uncalculated risks.

All in all, everyone is allowed to join in the medical aid scheme offered by Protea. The only requirement that is needed is that the person must be able to pay his monthly contribution without fail.

Parmed Medical Aid

Everybody will eventually become old, fall sick and need to get medical attention. Before it actually occurs, it is crucial that everyone be prepared for it. Enrolling into a medical aid scheme like the one provided by Parmed Medical Aid is a good idea. This is especially true if a person is already married and has a family to take care of.  Parmed Medical Aid knows what is best for its customers, and this means every member is able to receive the most medical benefits both for himself and his dependants.

It is true that a family needs more funding to support their medical needs. When one of the family members gets sick others might be affected as well. This is not a good scenario especially when the family is on a tight budget and they don’t have additional funds to support for unexpected medical needs.

Sometimes people can never avoid from being hospitalised and this is when funding is crucially needed. Everyone will feel much relieved if they have registered with a good medical aid scheme provider like Parmed Medical Aid. Being with the company, all worries can possibly vanish altogether as it provides members with the most comprehensive medical aid schemes.

Most acute illnesses are fully covered by Parmed Medical Aid, so a family only needs to focus on getting better and does not have to worry about how to pay the medical bills and such. At the same time, every family member is entitled to receive the right kind of medical treatment. This is fair enough as the paying member has already contributed the required amount of fees each month for his chosen medical aid scheme. 

Further Benefits

Even when it is a case of emergency, traumatic or chronic illness, a member of Parmed Medical Aid will still receive the right kind of medical attention. Based on the type of scheme that he has chosen, he will be eligible to a number of basic medical products and services. For example, if the person or any of his dependants are suffering from a chronic illness, everyone is entitled to an admission to any hospital that has been listed under the specific scheme. When the person is not able to come to the hospital by himself, transportation will be arranged. Ambulance service is also provided – a patient will be taken to the chosen hospital immediately and the expenses for this purpose are fully covered by the company.

A member of Parmed Medical Aid is able to enjoy a list of different medical services. This includes the privilege of getting regular medical check-ups. Maintaining health is crucial for everyone, and a visit to a doctor’s office simplifies the goal. Any newly developing disorders or illnesses can be detected from its earliest stage of formation and thus can be treated more effectively. A comprehensive medical aid scheme is the best package to be applied by everyone as it allows regular doctor visits to every member and his dependants.

All in all preventing a disease from occurring is more beneficial than curing an already developed illness. Registering with Parmed Medical Aid ensures that every little detail is given enough attention and that everyone can stay healthy for a very long time.