Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Wedding Speech


My bestfriend Yusuf, is now married to his beautiful wife Salwa, who is also the Bride's close friend. 
Small world eh??? Pi Mai Pi Mai Tang Tu Betoi!
The bride and groom requested the Bride and I to deliver their wedding speech.
Drafting a wedding speech is no joke. It's certainly not like updating blog posts. 
It took us about a month to discuss the flow and Alhamdulillah, after a few email exchange and some brainstorming session, the speech was finally drafted to our satisfaction.
We didn't show the speech to Yusuf and Salwa so that it was kept as a surprise for them and the rest of the audience.
Just to be on the safe side, we did a practice session before my parents and they gave their greenlight to our draft.
The Bride and I were really excited to deliver the speech to Yusuf and Salwa. The whole Saturday saw us reading and re-reading the speech over and over again for the Big Night. During the wedding, we were all fidgeting at our seats waiting for our que. Although beautiful coloured rice was served as dinner, instead, we had butterflies and fireflies in our tummy the whole night.
Nervous giler!
But Alhamdulillah, the speech was delivered smoothly.
THE BRIDE WAS AWESOME!!!
Muka dia rilex and she was so cool and warm when she did her part. Lagi selamber than the time she overtook the estate runner during the Nike Run a few weeks ago. Yusuf's mom loved her pronunciation when she delivered her speech. :)
*High Five To The Bride*
Alhamdulillah, both Yusuf and Salwa seemed to have liked and enjoyed what we had to say about them. :)
From the pleasant comments that we recieved after the speech, Alhamdulillah, we can also say that the the audience enjoyed it too! We hope you would enjoy reading it too!

Speech for Salwa Mohd Jamil And Muhammad Yusuf Tajul Azwa’s Wedding Reception

Assalamualaikum and a very good evening to all. (pengantin pun belum tengok draft speech ni, so good luck to us)
The brain is a wonderful thing. It never stops functioning from the time you're born until the moment you stand up to make a speech.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am Raja Nor Liyana Raja Aznil, honored to be given the chance to say a word or two on behalf of all Salwa’s lovely friends.
 And I am her husband, Syed Adam Alhabshi. I am the bridegroom’s best friend… up to now. Three years ago, he literally broke my right leg in a futsal tournament. The best part is that we were in the SAME team!!! Be that as it may, we are still best friends. However, if I mess up this speech, the future would see me as someone who “was” the bridegroom’s best friend. So here I am, hoping to be successful in performing this difficult task.
  
Difficult task because it is not easy to say just a few words about Yusuf and Salwa. We had sleepless nights picking out the incidences that are worth mentioning. Too many were there to select from. None of them were appropriate for tonight’s occasion.

Salwa and I go back to the very first year of university, Multimedia Universtity. A student of SRK Convent Kajang and SMK Convent Kajang, she is now an esteemed manager at HSBC Bank after successfully completing her Degree in Marketing with Multimedia.

Although she would insist that she first saw me in a lift where I did not return her friendly smile, my memory of when I first met Salwa is at the grill of her apartment unit where she stood in her pyjamas grinning a huge hello and striking a conversation with me, someone she barely knew.

We ended up being housemates, course mates, classmates, group mates and yesterday, I was one of her bridesmaids.
  
And I have known Yusuf since we were nine years young. A professional student is what the boys regard him to be as he is always known to be studying. Intelligent and hungry for knowledge he went from SRK Damansara Jaya to MCKK. Upon obtaining his Electronic Engineering Degree from University of Southampton, he went on to complete his Masters in Operational Research at the London School of Economics. On top of that, Insha Allah, next year he will be graduating as Chartered Islamic Finance Professional from INCEIF. Not only hungry for knowledge, Yusuf is also always hungry. Alhamdulillah for the Bermuda Triangle located in his tummy that ensures he is always slim and sexy (Yes Yusuf, I know your secret!) he will always finish our food when we go out to eat. Bottomless pitt!

We clicked even before we could remember when. Yusuf is open enough to accept criticism and wise enough to reciprocate advises when needed. There is nothing that I would not do for Yusuf, likewise there is nothing that Yusuf would not do for me. In fact, we spent most of the time doing nothing for each other.

Both Salwa and Yusuf are completely unique individuals. They’re even more amazing as a couple. The one thing about Salwa which all her friends unanimously agree (and I’m sure her family would agree as well), SALWA SANGAT SUKA MENYAKAT ORANG. Sangat sangat sangat. EVERYONE falls victim to her pranks. She just loves to pull jokes and watch as we struggle to comprehend the fact that we’ve just been duped. But the thing is, she does it with such humour that you can’t help but end up laughing at yourself along with her. That’s Salwa through and through. Friendly, funny, gedik, sweet, she is the life of every party. Or in the words of her bestfriends, LEGEND.

Last night the Tok Kadi mistakenly said that her name was Siti Salwa, after which he corrected himself by removing Siti. For the first three years that I knew Salwa, I thought her name was Sharifah Salwa, as that was how she introduced herself to me simply because I was a Syed.

In combining all of the SMS that I gathered from our gang, Yusuf is described as follows:
Helpful, dedicated, determined, passionate, humble, loyal, extraordinarily cheerful, mysteriously funny and a friendly Australian kangaroo (he was born in Australia), who moves like a butterfly, stings like a bee in futsal. He is also Tall dark and handsome who is as sweet as chocolate. (Ni diorang cakap tau!)

Now here’s another thing you should know about Salwa, Yusuf, although I believe you would have figured this out by now. NEVER underestimate this cili padi. She may look all dainty and gentle but there’s that other side of her that can pack a serious punch. I’ve seen her jump, climb and wrestle a person to the ground, literally. Trust me, she can mean serious business. She’s a determined little lady who will go all out to get what she’s set her mind to. You know, she first laid eyes on you (or rather your picture) in 2001 and today, 9 years later, she’s got you for life.

As the saying goes; “Biar lambat… Asal Dapat”! Actually, their real courting and dating, arguing and loving phases began only a few years ago but we can humbly say that it appears to have been… very Shariah compliant.

As they say, marriage is made in heaven but solemnized on earth. Our advice is to praise Allah for every single thing that makes you happy especially the fact that you two are now legally known as one entity, as He has promised when He said in the Qur’an in Surah Ibrahim verse 7:

(Waiz ta’azzana rabbukum la’in shakartum la’azidannakum. Wala’in kafartum inna ‘azabi lashadid.)

وَإِذۡ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمۡ لَٮِٕن شَڪَرۡتُمۡ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمۡ‌ۖ وَلَٮِٕن ڪَفَرۡتُمۡ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌ۬ (٧)

And when your Lord proclaimed: If ye give thanks, I will give you more; but if ye are thankless, lo! My punishment is dire. (7)

In other words, if you are grateful to Him, He will add more “satisfaction” and favours unto you… This mentality is very much appropriate for all purposes, open or hidden.

Salwa, Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. That direction is sometimes fuzzy, blurry and unclear. Rely on Yusuf to pave the right way and prevent him from going astray.

I’m sure both of you would see many Salwa and Yusuf juniors in the future so you can start getting busy.

Before we bore everyone to sleep, we have here the following conclusion to make.

To Salwa, keep in mind that a good wife always forgives her husband when she’s wrong.

And to Yusuf, my dear friend, remember, Marriage is a bilateral relationship where one person SHALL be right, and the other is the husband.

Jokes aside, we really want to share these two hadiths with you all. Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:

"Take my advice with regard to women: Act kindly towards women, for they were created from a rib, and the most crooked part of a rib is its uppermost. If you attempt to straighten it; you will break it, and if you leave it alone it will remain crooked; so act kindly toward women".[by Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

And to Salwa, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) also said:

"The world is but a (quick passing) enjoyment; and the best enjoyment of the world is a pious and virtuous woman"[by Muslim]

I’m sure that you are, and I pray that you will forever be Yusuf’s best enjoyment!

The both of you are like brother and sister to both of us, and yesterday we shared the utmost joy in witnessing your solemnization as husband and wife. We love you very much.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Yusuf is a truly lucky guy to have spotted Salwa and Salwa is as truly lucky to be stuck with him forever.

And finally to everyone, on behalf of the bride and groom, we would like to thank you for your presence and for your presents.

Jazakallahu Khair and Thank you.

Yusuf, does this mean you won’t be joining us for futsal tonight?

You better not!



****

Tahniah again to Yusuf & Salwa :)
Blog adjourned.

(Psst... At the time I was editting this post just now after lunch, Yusuf was just beside me at Mandarin Oriental, trying to figure out how to use his BlackBerry. Haha)

(Psst psst... The Bride posted our speech in her blog too! Click here!)
:) 

2 obiter dictum:

Quiyah said...

the bride and groom mcm pinang dibelah dua.. so cantik and sepadan..

two_one said...

Q: Kan???? :)