Sakit Gila

Yon know, my friend yang always bitches that 22 is like damn old liao(got meh??) and that i should be getting married liao.... thats why i'm now waiting for yang's wedding dinner on 2nd feb 2008 when he turns 22.....

But the thing is, getting married in SG is no big joke man. I'm not talking about finding your ideal partner/the one or all that romantic related crap, but the fact that it's just so darnnn bloody friggin expensive. How ex? Well lemme give u an idea....

HOUSE
Ok most impt of all is buying a new home. The 2 of you being newlyweds, you'll probably be bonking each other as much as possible, and doing it in either parent's houses isn't very fun unless u like your parents to be hearing weird noises from the bedroom....

Well lets say you or your spouse come from a well heeled family who can give u some financial backing. If you wanted to stay in lets say..... a 3 room condo apartment..... that would set you back minimum $800 000.... and if you wanted to stay on landed property, thats at least 1 million..... considering a downpayment of 10%, thats like $80k-$100k instantly.....

So for most people you'll prob get government property, which means HDB or EC(Executive condominums). Not only are these cheaper, but you can get loans and grant for them, which definitely saves you quite a bit i would say....
But lets say u getting an executive apartment in woodlands, thats about $350 000.... i'm not sure if the the HDB grant or housing loan covers the downpayment.... but anyway if it doesnt, thats 35k for the roof over yer heads. Of cos you can't be making love on the floor all the time, so renovations and furnishings/appliances will set you back at least $5k. So thats $40 000 bucks for the home.

CAR
Well some might argue that this is optional, but to be realistic, having a car can make life a whole lot easier, both for getting to and fro from work and going to east coast park to make out. And lets face it man, with girls nowadays being so pampered(and some guys also), you gonna be looking at divorce papers from her lawyer if u don't get a decent ride to ferry her around in. Economically speaking, you can get a Toyota Altis for about $45k, and 10% of that is $4500.....

Wedding/Honeymoon
Well if you're in medicine, there's a high chance you'll be getting "jiggy wif it" with another tabib, despite what some say about not "eating and shitting in your own backyard". Let's face it man.... being medical students/docs you don't really get to interact with people from other facs, and even if u have a "hey hey" outside of med.... maintaining the relationship ain't gonna be easy, esp after houseman starts;p

But anyway my point is that professionals marrying professionals = 龙纵(long zong,grand) wedding, well most of the time anyway. But this will prob mean that at least either side of the families parents will want a big scale 5 star wedding at somewhere like The Fullerton or The Ritz Carlton.

Now saying this i actually feel that The Fullerton isn't that worth it. I mean the ballroom is like damn grand and nice but at the end of the day.... the ballroom is in the freaking basement. And the windows open out onto street level.... not terribly grand unless you have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed wedding and the ballroom is a secret base in the sewers....
I'll rather much have my wedding at somewhere unique and special.... like Sentosa.... of cos now that i've said this some of u buggers will prob be stealing my idea 9 yrs down the road=p thank goodness i've got other tricks up my sleeves haha.....

But anyway a table at the Ritz or Fullerton will set you back minimum $1000 - $1200 per table, so if you get 20 tables(10 per side enuff?) thats mimimum $20k liao..... of cos you'll be able to recuperate some of the cost from the ang bao.... but not everyone is that generous=) So anyway let's assume you get back 60%... so thats $4000 for the wedding night alone.

Now since you'll be wanting to do the horizontal tango in exotic places, that means a honeymoon is in order. Lets say you both go on a 1 week europe trip and stay in nice hotels(it's a damn noneymoon for goodness sake.... don't tell me you wanna backpack and bone each other in hostels), plane tickets(and airport tax) about 3k, lodging another 1k plus, food maybe $700, shopping money for the lady.... all inclusive i'll say a honeymoon would set you back about $6k to $8k.....

So wedding plus honeymoon..... thats $12 000, and that's not even including misc fees like wedding photo taking.....





So that brings us to a grand total of......

$40000(home) + $4500(car) + $12000(wedding)= $57 500(highly optimistic number)

Of cos personally i believe that since you only get married once in your life(ok ok i now thats not true in this age anymore but indulge the romantic in me for a while haha), you should just spend as much within your means and make your wedding as memorable as possible.....

So my advice is..... if you find someone you really really really like hold on to her/him like crazy and never ever let go...... and oh yeah start saving too=p

PS: I believe in planning ahead but i'm NOT that crazy to think about such stuff on my own... the only reason why such stuff in on my mind is cos i've been listening to my elder bro talk to my mom about marriage stuff.....