Hello! My name’s Diana, and I’ve been a designer here at Axioo since 2011. I’m a lover of all things design and handmade. Why? Because beautiful things can touch people’s hearts, and I’ve realised that I love making them. I often tell people that I feel the most beautiful ever since I worked at Axioo. I guess it’s true what they say — that when you love what you do, you get some sort of glow on your face. In fact, throughout my first year here, I used to always arrive at 5.30 in the morning because I was just that excited to come to work. Even during the weekends, I would show up at the office, because all I knew was that I wanted to spend a lot of time doing what I love doing, creating a beautiful masterpiece.
Oddly enough, all my dreams happened after I joined Axioo. I wanted to have an iPhone, to travel to Korea, to have a car, to have a nice bedroom — a bedroom which I had designed long before I even had the budget to build it, a bedroom which would eventually set the scene for the start of my first (and last) ever love story.
It all started when a friend of mine asked to include my instagrammable bedroom in a magazine. When the day of the shoot came, I was introduced to two other guys: one a photographer, the other, Rudy, a videographer. My first impression of Rudy was that he looked cool and patient, so I did what every girl who has a crush would do… stalk his Instagram profile! Little did I know, on the other side of my phone screen, Rudy was looking at my Instagram stories, too.
He often replied to my Instagram stories, bluntly asking me out, but I never responded. Until one day, Instagram came up with a genius little feature: the “ask me a question” sticker. In which I asked and posted, “make an assumption about me.”
“I assume you would still go out with me?” was what Rudy wrote in that sticker box. The next thing I knew, we were on a date at a Japanese restaurant in Blok M. Back then, I found Rudy to be charming and funny, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I was a hopeless romantic, I had never been in a relationship before.
Rudy kept on replying to my stories and kept bringing me gifts to my house. That’s so aggressive of him, I thought. Regardless, ever since our first date, we went out a couple of times together, and it never once crossed my mind that we were “in a relationship”.
Not long after, in January, he asked me to meet his parents.
In February, on Valentine’s day, he asked me out again. This time, I was so sure he was going to ask me to be his girlfriend. The relationship was obviously heading in that direction. Bear in mind that I had never been in a relationship before, but when Rudy stepped into my life, I wanted to become more serious with this whole “relationship” thing.
So, when Rudy proposed me to be his wife instead, I was stunned. It was so unexpected that the first few words that came out of my mouth after seeing the beautiful ring he had bought for me was… “wow, you sure do have a nice taste in rings” … because I actually liked and had always wanted that type of ring. 2 hours later, after a hefty discussion on marriage, I finally said yes. It was after the proposal that we started to actually date. It was after the proposal that I realised: Rudy exceeded all of my expectations.
The wedding planning period lasted from February to November. It was surprising to know that we had similar visions on how we wanted our wedding to look like, and we both agreed to finance our own wedding. However, our taste was very particular. We wanted a lot but our budget was tight — so, being inspired by my bedroom (#dianahenrysroom), we decided to DIY most of it.
Finding a place was also a struggle. We wanted an outdoor space, but the famous outdoor spaces are almost always subject to rain. Throughout this journey, I was optimistic, thinking that if we couldn’t get what we wanted, I was sure there was something greater in store for us. And, so, we came across Studio Air Putih, which actually is an architecture office that had never been used for a wedding before. But it was perfect! It was also close to a family restaurant, allowing us to hold two ceremonies in a day. Not only did I get my dream wedding — I’ve also made my family happy.
Having worked in the wedding industry for quite some time, I sort of had an idea of what I really wanted for my wedding. In the end, everything fits into our budget — the wedding dress, the prewedding video — all because we DIY-ed them. Looking back on the journey I’ve been on, it feels humbling to see all of my dreams unfold, one by one, right before my eyes. I’ve learned that dreams do come true, and they are often found in the unexpected.
Love,
Diana
