My Wedding Series: ROM

Disclaimer: Some will call Registratration of Marriage (ROM) as engagement but technically you are legally married because you already signed the papers. I will still be known as Miss Boey because married Asian women do not take after their husband's surname. As in my social security card or passport or license will not be "Alicia Lee". Same goes to Malays, Indians and other races in my country. 

We held our ROM on 10th April 2011 (Sunday) so this is old news but I just wanna share with you what we have gone through.When I asked my husband which 1 of all 3 events in our wedding series does he like the most, his answer was the same as mine which is our registration day. It's less stressful and hectic compared to our pre-wedding photoshoot and wedding day. My complexion was at its best on our ROM too. Oh by the way, ROM stands for registration of marriage or some say paper marriage.

I will break this topic into sub-sections to guide those who are planning for their ROM. Besides, feel free to drop some questions. Note that I will only answer questions that require hands on experience or my personal knowledge and not those you can find answers on Google. Same goes to all of my entries.

Note: Other rules may apply depending on you or your spouse's condition such as divorced, parents deceased, non-citizen etc. Please consult registrar beforehand.


Procedure (for non-Muslims)

1. Fix a date.
We fixed ours on April 10th 2011 on a Sunday because April 11th 2004 was our first date.

2. Take form JPN.KC02.
Attendees: Bride and bridegroom

Venue: National Registration Department (NRD) counter
In my case, I went to:
Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara
Tingkat 3, Bangunan Persekutuan
Jalan Anson,
10551 Pulau Pinang.

3.  Statutory declaration
Attendees: Bride and bridegroom

Venue: Commissioner for oaths
We randomly entered into one at Lebuh Bishop, Penang where there are dozens of them the whole street.

Procedure: You and your spouse are required to make a statutory declaration in Section D.2 of Form JPN.KC02 before a commissioner for oaths.

4. Obtain confirmation stamp.
Attendees: Bride and bridegroom

Venue: National Registration Department (NRD) counter
In my case, I went to:
Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara
Tingkat 3, Bangunan Persekutuan
Jalan Anson,
10551 Pulau Pinang.

Procedure: Go to NRD office (Marriage Division) to check personal details and marital status and obtain a confirmation stamp on the front page of Form JPN.KC02. This is when you pay RM30.

5. Submit form JPN.KC02.
Attendees: Bride or bridegroom

Venue: Assistant Registrar of Marriages.
You can conduct your ROM in the NRD office or your desired venue. In my case, I went to:
Che Hoon Khor Moral Uplifting Society
360 Jalan Macalister, 10460 Penang
Tel : 04-2267248, 04-2264643

Procedure: Submit form JPN.KC02 to the office.

4. Waiting.
The registration of marriage shall take place after 21 days + 1 day  but not later than 6 months from the date of application. Anyway, we applied like 3 months beforehand.

5. Registration day.
Attendees: Bride, bridegroom, 2 witnesses and whoever you want to invite.

Procedure: Refer to pictures below. We did not know what was prepared for us too on that day. It will be a surprise.

For more info, go to official portal of National Registration Department of Malaysia. Click on Frequent Q&A here. Download various marriage forms from NRD for your own reference.

Required Documents

• Original and photocopy (A4 size not to be cut) identity cards. (Front & Back)
• Original and photocopy (A4 size not to be cut) birth certificates.
• Three passport-size coloured photographs each
• A photocopy (A4 size, not to be cut) of the respective identity cards of two witnesses who must be Malaysia Citizen above 21 years old.
• Original identity cards of bride, bridegroom and two witnesses on ROM day.

Payment

1. Only RM30 for marriage certificate and certification paid to NRD.
2. Fee of not exceeding RM4 (per document) paid to commissioner for oaths for certification of your required documents.
3. Pledge of RM50 paid to Che Hoon Khor Moral Uplifting Society for holding our ROM there. This depends on your ROM venue. Of course it will be more expensive if you plan to make a beach wedding or in a hotel banquet hall.

Schedule
This depends on which session your registrar slotted for you. I have forgotten the exact time but here's a simple agenda I have prepared.

9:15am  : Arrive at Che Hoon Khor
10:00am: Registration ceremony
10:40am: Photoshoot at Botanical Gardens
12:00pm: Luncheon at Maple Palace Restaurant

Dress, makeup & hairdo
Bought my dress from SA Creation at Gurney Plaza. My mum introduced me this brand long time ago when it's first store opened at Bukit Jambul. It offers beautiful prom and bridesmaid's dress too. For hairdo and makeup, I did it all by myself. Pro huh?

Photo Time!

It wasn't our turn yet as we were the 2nd or 3rd couple I think. Hence we took some pictures. Hubby invited some colleagues who happen to take photography as a hobby.

Of all the photo shoots I have done in my life including my pre-wedding, I love this shot the most. My skin was at its best that time. I also do not know how to make up exactly like this anymore.

My red roses. Thanks, hubby.

An official videographer will offer you a package on that day. If not mistaken only RM30. You will be contacted once it's ready. Note that the above video clip was taken by our friends. I can't upload the official one due to its format. We were also given the vow to practice. Available in Chinese and English.

We went into the waiting room when it's almost time. This was just past Chinese New Year hence the deco. I bet the deco is nicer now. Each couple pays RM50 donation to the society.

Our turn! Yippee!

Take our our rings and identification card.

The registrar then cheked our documents. Then she explained about the meaning of marriage and gave us some word of advice kinda like a very brief kursus perkahwinan (compulsory marriage course attended by Muslims).

Raised our right hands and take the vow.

Both of us read our vows in English. We are a bunch of bananas (Chinese who are yellow on the outside but white inside meaning can't read or write in Mandarin).

Finally, we exchanged our rings. Both of the rings were a gift from my mother as she was working at OE Fine Jewellery. Thank you so much, mummy!

All of us must sign for 3 copies; 1 for hubby, 1 for myself and 1 for the Registration Department. Hubby signed first, then me, then his dad and finally my dad. Witness not necessary have to be fathers. You can read more in our government's website.

Hubby decided to make a fool of himself by kneeling on the floor proposing. Seriously? Our registrar told us she had never seen so much photographers throughout her service. We felt like celebs.

Then I accepted and we sealed with a kiss.

Full group photo.

With one of our certificate coz mum kept mine or his mum kept his copy I forgot.

Next, we went to Botanical Gardens for a short shooting session. It was very hot and sweaty.

Playing fox and chicken.

After multiple attempts of jumping.

Our portrait.

Hide and seek Bollywood style.

Laying on the grass pose.

Do not feed the monkey.

Our wedding tractor lol. Ok, that's a wrap. We took lots of pictures but these are some hunourous ones to share. Big thanks, guys!

Lastly, we went to Maple Palace for our luncheon. We booked 2 tables.

It was a pretty classy restaurant that I had in mind for our wedding dinner as well but it was too small to fit in hubby's guests.

Happily waiting for our food.

Lunch is served. We ordered a lunch package 2 weeks beforehand. It was the RM468 package consisting of combinations platter, drunken chicken roll, beancurd, grouper...oh well, go click on the link and read. I bet the menu has changed because we don't have oysters and such.

Thank you to all my family and friends for coming and thank you my dear readers for sharing this joyful day together.View my pre-wedding package preparation which include photos, banners and gowns and our real wedding day posts by clicking the link.