Copy cats arrested !

Wedding gown is very personal, agree? :)
6 months before my wedding, I already found my gown. I was very happy with it and just wished that no one will wear that gown, or gown of that design until my wedding is over. I want it personal, I want it special, one of a kind.

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2 months before my wedding, this girl in church came to talk to me. She's getting married a month after me.
Girl : Eh Joan, how's wedding preparation? Have you found your gown? You rent or what?
Me : Ya I found mine. I'm renting.
Girl : Oh..how much?
Me : RM950.
Girl : Wah, that's quite expensive just for rent.
Me : Have you found yours?
Girl : Ya! I found mine, the rent only RM500! From ss2 Precious.
Me : Good for you!
Girl : * opens iphone * this is my gown! I like to have designs around my waist & A line, so I look slim.
Me : Nice. :)
Girl : What's your style?
Me : A little mermaid but not very fitting type. :)
Girl : Where you rent your gown from?
Me : Pretty In White. :)
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2 weeks later, she posted on her Facebook "I finally found my wedding gown in Pretty In White Hartamas!"

Of course, I felt a little insecure. What if she picked my gown???
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At a church camp a week after that, she showed me picture of her final gown on her iphone. She said "mine is a bit similar to yours, mine also mermaid!"
................... I was speechless when I saw the picture. It is VERY similar to mine!!

I told a few friends about it...I was really angry! I regret sharing information with her!
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On my wedding day, when we approached her table to take photos...
Girl : Joan, your gown is really nice! Where you rent it from?
Me : Huh? You know mah, from Pretty In White. You also renting yours from same place right.
Girl : Yaya, I tried on your this gown, but the one I tried have no flowers at the bottom.
Me : I asked them to add on the flowers.

What a fakey??!! She already tried on my gown and yet she acted as if she didn't know where I rented it from?? Grrrrrrr..........
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1 day before her wedding, she and fiance posted up their pre-wedding photos on Facebook. I got a shock to see that they went to the exact same place we went for our pre-wedding photos!! I did my "analysis", Joshua's best man was with us when we did our photos and he was one of the photographers for this couple. I made Joshua ask his best man, he said "the 2 of them had no idea where to take photos that morning, so I just suggest to them that place la, sorry if some of their photos looked a bit similar to yours."
Not just that, in our pictures, we featured Joshua teaching me how to play the drums. In this copy cat couple's pictures, the boy was teaching the girl how to play the guitar??
According to Joshua's best man, this couple doesn't know much poses, the most they do is holding each other's faces, staring into each other's eyes. I guess the photographer had suggested our pose to them!!

Worse thing is - Our pre-wedding photo album had less than 20 likes, but this copy cat couple had more than 200 likes??!!

Is this even FAIR???
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I didn't go for their wedding ceremony in the morning, I saw from pictures that she also wore her hair up, wore pearl earrings, and a pearl pendant on her white gold necklace.
I attended their wedding dinner, and I saw her.. wearing the same wedding gown with a gold bow at her waist!!!! That's what I did at my wedding dinner too!!!

Can't she have some originality instead of stealing all my ideas?????? Such a copy cat!!

The worse out of this scenario is really, the copy cat gets more attention? Higher attendance at their wedding ceremony, much more Likes on Facebook????
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I must admit, I couldn't sleep well at all. I felt so violated, I felt robbed, I felt taken advantage of, felt a big part of me was stolen away..my wedding was not as original and as special I wanted it to be.... I was full of anger towards this copy cat couple which received much more attention than us in the same circle of church friends. I will let out my anger only at home, only to Joshua.. and he too didn't know how to help me... I was really seeking for help.....


I wrote an email to my mentor, she replied.. stating down a few points that made me realised I was too narrow minded over the whole issue. She said, 1st, a tube dress is very common for brides. 2nd, we had more than 1 location for pre-wedding photos, they only copied 1, ours are still very different from theirs. 3rd, jump shots of groom & groomsmen are very common, photographers tend to use back same poses. She ended by saying, she hope I can be more generous...

On 12-13 Aug 2011, it was Bloom Conference in church. The key scripture was Isaiah 54.
1 “Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”
says the LORD.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.

When Pastor Sandra shared this, I was immediately ministered to. I felt... I am the barren woman. I was looking forward to having more "fruits" from our wedding photos on Facebook but couldn't and the copy cat couple seemed to have it all? I was disappointed and felt lowly of myself, but no.. I should REJOICE! And more so, I need to ENLARGE MY TENT, my generosity... I need to have a bigger heart.. :)

A sudden thought came. I too, got ideas from different ones, from pictures on internet and different blogs for my wedding... and I wouldn't have gotten those ideas if those people were not generous in sharing. :) I felt relieved, I tasted freedom. God, thank you..


Well, doesn't mean that I'm totally ok with the copy cat couple. I'm still mad with the girl but at least I know God is challenging me to enlarge my tent. He sees it all, and He will deal with her separately. At least on my side, I'm set free. :D

Actually, when we were at their wedding, the groom's father Uncle Ronnie came to our table to thank us for coming, he looked at both Joshua and I and said out loud "Your wedding is still better !!" we were shocked, tried to say "no no, your son's wedding better." He said it again "Yours still better!!" :) We don't know what makes him said that, but I guess God wants me to hear it? Sadly, I still brushed this away, and focused on the wrong thing & feel angry for about a week... if only I could be set free when Uncle Ronnie said those kind words? :D

Lately, Joshua and I also noticed some Facebook trend and inappropriate postings on Facebook by this copy cat couple & other couples, trying hard to get attention - comments & likes... we realised, all these are so meaningless? :) Some of their posts actually could stumble some single men & women who're still waiting for their true love. I'll share this next time. Conclusion is, we both had learnt through the hard way. :) It's not worth at all, now I don't even bother about my "fruits" on Facebook anymore. ;)

p/s : Had food poisoning since yesterday noon and had vomitted twice. Just saw doctor at 10.30am, do you know when you have upset stomach, all you could eat are whole meal bread with jam and oats with sugar & hot water?? No dairy at all! I've been eating all the wrong food since yesterday dinner = porridge, milo, milk, butter on bread, chocolate cream bread, fried egg. -_- Gotten myself 1 day MC for tomorrow.