what can you do with $147...?

Saturday 8th August 2009

ok, so i'm in singapore this weekend for my brother-in-law's wedding. and what do you do when he hands you $147 and requests you to do something special with it...? you initially rack your brains because you are so honoured that he has given you the very important job of aranging his mas kahwin...and let me explain a moment what mas kahwin also known as mahr actually is...

Mahr is a gift given by the groom to the bride after the malay solemnisation ceremony. It symbolises the beginning of a husband's responsibility towards his wife in fulfilling her everyday needs.

Mahr can be in cash or benefits, such as gold, silver, money, land, a car, or an apartment.

Mahr is the bride's right and she owns the Mahr. Thus, she has the will to dispose of it as she wishes.

The current minimum rate for the Mahr in Singapore is $100 cash.

my brother-in-law and his wife chose $147 as it is a combination of their favourite number 14 & 7 (lucky the bride didn't chose to arrange the numbers the other way around!) and because they decided on money, my brother-in-law wanted it displayed in a most eye-catching way. this is where i enter the picture...

ok first things first...singapore money is almost of a plastic consistency...so i ask you...have you ever tried folding plastic money and actually getting it to stay in formation...super difficult. anyway after much folding, taping, pinning and various other activities of a not-so-PG quality...i decided to fold the money into a bouquet of roses...

this was made easy by the variety of notes i requested as $5 notes are green - they became the leaves. $10 red and $50 blue became the roses and the purple $2 notes became the added foliage. what a job! but worth ever pin prick, bead of sweat and moment of stress for the bride and groom...

and who knows? maybe i have a new career...mas kahwin folder and decorator pte ltd!