welcome back!

BACK!

took a super long break from blogging.. here are some updates:

1. Pre-wedding photo album
We have more or less decided to get our album printed at Just1Book.. Been down to the shop about 2-3 times to view at the sample albums.. Saw some of the albums printed by big-names wedding photographers.. Sales reps are friendly and instructions to design album layout are relatively straight forward.. So now we are just awaiting the final album layout from our PG before we head down to print the album!

2. Wedding in KL
visited my grandparents who are in KL few days ago.. my grandma had a fall few months back, which left her with difficulties in walking.. plus age is catching up for the 2 of them.. my grandpa decided that we have another wedding banquet in KL.. and I think he wants to invite ALL of Malaysia relatives.. for my sister's wedding 2 years back, only my grandparents, 2nd uncle and 4th auntie came down.. so this time round, they felt that every relative should be invited to celebrate our wedding..

Left the decision to where the banquet is gonna be held to my grandpa since I'm not familiar with the restaurants in KL.. Now I need to confirm with my parents and AH's parents on the date of our 2nd wedding banquet.. and back to searching for PG/VG/MUA in KL..

Just1Book
Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station
11 Orchard Road,
B1-48, DhobyX
Singapore 238826
Tel: 6746 8765

Disney Wedding

How I wish I can have my wedding at Disneyland!

Reciting wedding vows in front of the Disney Castle.. So ROMANTIC!!

A fairy tale wedding :)

Updates....

I realized that I've been neglecting the updates in this blog..

Reason being:
1) Been SO busy with my work + studies + exams + assignments..
2) Not doing any wedding preparations since selection of PS photos..

Speaking of wedding preps.. Since I have confirmed my AD PG/VG & MUA.. Realized that there's nothing much left for me to do as for now.. All my DIY projects will have to wait till next year to start bah.. I have started a mini DIY project for my colleague who is going to get married in end-Nov.. gonna help her with her AP box.. hopefully I can do it well and get some good hands-on for my AP box next year..

As for now.. I will need to wait for a day that AH is free and will drop by Ave 8 to settle some issues if we still want to have another PS done.. and also if they can include our Holy Mat into the same-day edit video to be screened during the banquet.. Heard from a forum friend that one famous VG is charging extra $500 for an on-site editor to add in the solemnization part into the SDE video.. whereas some VGs are doing it FOC.. so I crossing my fingers and hope that Ave8 can do it FOC for us.. =)

Updates till then..

Everlasting love..

With the passing of Mrs Lee, or Mdm Kwa.. the love story between her & MM were always flashing on the media.  And it really touches my heart that they shared a strong knitted relationship over 63 years, especially during the times when MM started in career in politics and the times that she was bed-ridden for 2 years.  Little did I know she was contributing so much in little ways in the life of her spouse and partner.

It was really heart wrenching when I watched the news of MM entering where the wake was held, gazing at his wife's photo.. He doesn't look like the MM whom I knew of since young, the man who is always so stern & sharp.. Now he looked so lost without his life-long companion around him..

Not that I agree with the things he did or regulations set by him, but I really do feel inspired by the love they shared.  MM shared that he likes reading the Christian wedding vows as it signifies the love between he & his wife..

"To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part."

It's really sweet to have someone to grow old with.. :)

Ring Fingers

came across this on a blog.. just to share :)

Have you ever wonder why do we wear our wedding ring on the 4th finger?

Now, here is a beautiful and convincing explanation given and believed by the Chinese.

• Thumb represents your Parents
• Index finger represents your Siblings
• Middle finger represents yourself
• Ring finger represents your Spouse
• Little finger represents your Children

Firstly, open your palms (face to face), bend the middle fingers and hold them together - back to back. Secondly, open and hold the remaining three fingers and the thumb - tip to tip (as shown in the pic above).

Now, try to separate your Thumbs (representing your parents).
They will open, because your parents are not destined to live with you lifelong and will have to leave you sooner or later.

Next, please join your thumbs as before and separate your Index fingers (representing your siblings).
They will also open, because your brothers and sisters will have their own families and will have to lead their own separate lives.

Then join the Index fingers and separate your Little fingers (representing your children).
They will open too, because your children will also get married and settle down on their own some day.

Finally, join your Little fingers, and try to separate your Ring fingers (representing your spouse). You will be surprised to see that you simply cannot do so!
Because husband and wife have to remain together all their lives, through thick and thin!

awwww... so sweet!!

Movies come alive!

Wonderful engagement photos! Both from my fave movies :D

Inspired by UP the movie

Inspired by Alice in Wonderland

These couples are really spontaneous & creative!

Wedding Programs - Ribbon Inspirations

Was chatting with my friend, S, who is also getting married next year about wedding ideas.. Both S & his fiancee have already started to DIY their Holy Mat program sheet when their wedding is in May next year! Since I'm also a DIY bride.. must start to look for ideas & inspirations for my program sheet as well.. Can't really start on them yet as I have not decided on my wedding colours..

Things that are to be printed/included in the program sheet:

- Program lineup for Holy Mat (procession, praise & worship, prayers by pastor, reciting wedding vows, exchange of rings, solemnization, holy communion, lighting of unity candle, prayer blessings by pastor & recession)

- Lyrics of praise & worship songs

- Acknowledgments

Anyway here are a few using ribbons & multiple pages..

Each card explains each part of the ceremony, lyrics can be included inside too.. 

love the scallop edges and teal colour

Looks quite simple to make.. just that I need to get the design & theme that I want for my AD.. 

Some good wedding inspiration websites to share: 

- Martha Stewart Weddings

- TheKnot

Will try to look for more inspiration websites! Stay tuned :)

Holy Matrimony Briefing

The church arranged a briefing on the preparations and process of Holy Matrimony yesterday afternoon.. The 45 mins briefing was really an eye-opener for us.. Didn't realise that there's so much to prepare for the Holy Matrimony!

The church will be providing the basics consisting the worship team (singer & keyboardist), table & elements for Holy Communion, matrimony candles stand..

On our end the things that we need to prepare/do are:
- Print Holy Matrimony program sheet (including song lyrics inside)
- Memorise our wedding vows..
- Get the matrimony candles
- Rehearsal with all our helpers 1-2 weeks prior to AD
- Prepare prelude, procession & recession musics (I'm just gonna pick the songs from OH's song lists.. avoid all the copyright issue stuff)
- All other legal issues regarding to ROM.. (details can be found on the ROM website)

Since AH is in the music ministry, I've entrusted him with the task to ask one of his fella choir mates to be our worship singers.. Recently the worship singers are relatively new & I don't really like their style of singing.. I, on the other hand, will begin to source for some nice & meaningful worship songs..

Time to gear up for wedding preparations! been not doing anything since we came back from our PS..

我们爱让世界不一样

歌词：


你和我是天父愛的創造
每個人有最美的夢想
一路上彼此照亮
扶持擁抱
我們的愛讓世界不一樣

﹝副歌﹞
我們愛 因神先愛我們
雖你我不一樣 我們一路唱
走往祝福的方向

我們愛 因神先愛我們
心再堅強也不要獨自飛翔
只要微笑 只要原諒
有你愛的地方就是天堂

English Translation:


You and I were made to love each other
Every dream will complete His plan
We will carry each other
When hopes are gone
So we can make a difference in this world

(Chorus)
We will love, because He loved us first
God made us not the same, but we’re together
To sing a song of love

We will love, because He loved us first
No matter what we’ll choose to stay together
So we will smile, and we’ll forgive
For Your love will bring us heaven on earth

Found this song while browsing through some VG's work.. I'm so touched by the lyrics of this song.. It just remind me once again the reason why we love each.. and the union of both of us is part of God's plan.. Definitely gonna be one of my wedding songs!

PS Wedding Gown

I love my PS WG!!!!

althou it deviates abit from that "dream" gown.. I initially wanted a princessy tulle gown with a huge train for my wedding PS & AD.. but thinking of the logistic of bringing a tulle gown overseas is kinda impractical for me (tulle gowns are really heavy!!).. Moreover, tulle gowns tends to get dirty and tear more easily.. may need to pay more to repair & clean it..

So decided to go and have a look at other WG that are lighter in material & doesn't get damaged easily.. Popped by Allure Charix on Sat afternoon, without even booking an appointment.. It was about closing time then, so no customer.. Allure Charix sells OTR (off-the-rack) wedding gowns, evening gowns, cheongsam & cocktail dresses.. Each design only comes in 3 different sizes, each piece per size.. so it can consider to be quite exclusive.. Prices for each gown is about $700-900 depending on the design.. Their design is more of A-line & mermaid cut.. Not many choices of tulle gowns..

Browse through their rack & found a piece I like.. Satin A-line tube gown with white lace flowers.. I had always wanted my gowns to have something black in them.. who says wedding gowns needs to be always white or ivory in colour?!

So I asked the designer if I can tweaked her design abit.. and she gladly said "YES".. I just need to pay a small sum to top up for her to get extra black laces to sew on top on the current white laces and add on more lace flowers along the train..

Here's the final product.. Super uber pleased.. AH loves it to the bits.. and we find that we matched each other's attire.. His is classic black suit with white tuxedo shirt..

p.s: couldn't find the original photo of me wearing the gown before it was tweaked.. so can't make any comparison..

Allure Charix:

92 Amoy Street

#01-01

Tel: 6323 7868

At My Wedding Twitterring and Facebooking at the Altar

this is so cool!

PS Photos

Our PS photos are finally ready!!

Check out more on Junshien's website!

Time Flies...

I was looking through my friend list in FB.. and browsing through some ex secondary school & poly mates account.. was surprised to find out that a number of them are planning to get married, already married and some are even parents now!

Looking back at yester-years back in sec sch, we just grew up from that young kid to a teenager.. the rebellion years of a teenager, mugging for prelims & O levels.. having crushes on our seniors and/or boys from other schools.. Most of us had either that geek, ah-lian or tomboyish look..

As we progressed to JC/poly, mentality is still about playing/studying.. BGR are usually just transient.. thou a few of us are still attached to the 1 we knew years ago..

Now 8-14 years on, all of us have grown up & preparing or started a new phase in life.. I looked thru their wedding photos.. They all looked so gorgeous.. no more that geek, ah-lian, tomboy or playful look.. Its really heartwarming to see how blissful they looked.. Some of them I didn't think that they will marry so young!

Time flies isn't it.. soon we will be bringing our kids for gatherings... HAHA!

USA

Some photos of our holiday to share :)

Baker's beach - Golden Gate Bridge

back to Boardwalk =D

Nestldown at Los Gatos

San Diego, USS Marine Musuem

Niagara Falls

Liberty Island

Statue of Liberty

I'm BACK!

been back to SG for about 1 week now.. still have a little jet-lag feeling.. but getting better.. both AH & myself enjoyed the trip alot especially our PS.. and I finally know how it feels to be a celebrity.. Hee..

First was my acyclic nails.. oh well the nail extensions are not the main hoo-haa.. its the nail art & crystals on them.. In the US, ladies only do the basic manicure/pedicure.. and the furthest they go is just to put on extensions.. no nail art and no crystals.. so when I walked around, standing in que or even waiting for the lift.. the ladies around me will go "WAH" and start admiring my nails.. and I have answered where I did them and where I'm from for the 123456789th time... Every1 was making me so shy to the point that I have to ask AH to pay at the cashier or press the lift buttons..  

Next is PS!! My PG and MUA told me that in the US, its really rare for couples to take pre-wedding shots.. they only do enagagement shots and AD photography.. enagegement shots are usually more casual, wearing casual clothes and makeup is also relative light.. As we walked around Broadwalk and SF city in gowns & suits.. everybody started staring at us.. and some people even took out their cameras and start to take photos of us.. There were even people who requested to have a pic with us.. so funny!

Our PS was super duper rush but FUN!

Woke up around late morning, went to buy balloons for PS in Broadwalk and collect my hand bouquet from the florist.. Took out all the clothings, shoes & accessories that are required.. lazed around in the hotel room waiting for the MUA to arrive.. I love the make up & hair she did.. but a pity that I didnt take a close up shot of both hair styles she did for me as we were rushing.. our PG came 2 hours later and off we go for our PS!

We braved thro the strong winds and cold weather in Santa Cruz and SF.. the temperature got much lower as evening came.. and I still need to brace myself for the night shots! We didn't manage to have our PS taken at the Golden Gate Bridge as it was fogging quite badly.. half the bridge was being covered in the fog :(  Moved on to have our night shots taken at Treasure Island.. I personally loved that location, never heard of it until my PG suggested it for our night PS.. the place is so spooky!! There's an abandoned naval camp on the island and we actually went in there for PS.. cool right! We stayed in that place past 11pm.. and every1 was frozen at the end of it... really chilly winds!

I'm so looking forward to the photos.... esp the ones taken on Treasure Island.. :D

We are in San Francisco!

after 14 hours of long haul flight.. with aching neck and shoulder, we are finally in San Francisco!!

ok..shall blog about my experience about the flight, since most people are wondering how I manage the heavy wedding gown on board..

Thankfully the wedding gown is not very heavy, perhaps less than 1 kg.. hand carrying was quite a breeze with the exception that its quite flimsy to carry around.. imagine a dress that is longer than your height.. the designer at Allure Charix taught us to carry by folding it into half and sling over the forearm.. 

Everybody at the airport was giving me stares.. I guess its just basic Singaporean instinct to give people weird stares when some1 is doing something or carrying something out of the norm.. Haha.. 

Cleared the first round of custom with a breeze, with some difficulty trying to hold my gown on one hand and trying to scan my thumb on the automated custom machine.. Upon boarding the plan, there's another round of custom to clear.. I totally hated this part.. as this is the part where you need to take off whatever outerwear you're wearing, take out the laptop & handphone, handheld cosmetics & facial products (in a small clear ziplock), and other hand carried luggage and  placed them on a tray and sent for x-ray scanning... all these are quite routine since I travelled quite often.. BUT now with the wedding gown, its quite a tough task..  alerted the custom officer about my gown, and have to carefully arrange it on the conveyer belt and watched it passed through slowly on the other end.. 

The flight from SG to HK was full.. so imagine the large influx of tourists and locals on board.. lesson #1 learnt.. try to board the plane asap when your row number is called.. coz we waited to be the last few to board.. thinking that with the huge "load" we have, should let the others go first.. but we are wrong! by the time we are up on the plane, the air stewardesses & stewards are so busy trying to help everybody stowed their stuff up in the overhead cabin, getting the food&drinks ready etc.. called for the steward to help me hang my gown, but he was too busy.. so I just randomnly hung it over the railing that seperates the gallery & passenger seats.. that finally caught the attention of an air stewardess who kindly helped me hang the gown in their closet.. Upon reaching HK, we had to get out of the plane for transit (thou its the same aircraft, for security reason every1 & everything needs to be taken off).. The stewardess told us nicely to board the aircraft earlier for the flight to SF as they have limited closet space, they hung the gown in their cabin bunk earlier (feel so bad to occupy their tiny resting space).. All the stewardesses & stewards on board are really nice, kept sending their congratulations as I alight from the plane..

HK airport was a madrush, imagine all the "ah-tiongs" trying to clear customs alongside in the que.. there was que cutting here & there.. so pissed off but since I'm quite "handicap" with the gown, didnt really bother about them, since there's still about 1 hour before boarding.. there's an uncle who helped to check the luggage, he so cute lor.. keep asking me if I'm getting married in SF or what am I doing with that gown.. but I was in a rush, so the conversation was kept short..

Asked AH to go que up to board as soon as our row number was called.. this time boarded quite an empty flight.. as usual they staff on board the plane looked at me with curiousity and also congratulated me.. One of them even said its quite unusual for people to having their wedding photos taken in SF.. heee

All was good at SF airport, their staff were all as curious who kept asking me what am I doing with that gown.. that was like the 4th or 5th time I  answered.. lol... The most tiring part of the journey was carrying all the luggage (without the help of airport trolleys) and the wedding gown to take the BART (like our MRT) and walking from the BART station to our hotel.. SF roads are not flat and smooth like SG.. their roads are steeper we were practically walking uphill with our stuff and their roads are super bumpy! 

Reached the hotel safe & sound.. and time for bed (its was like 10pm when we arrived at the hotel).. the adventure in SF continues!

Cheongsam (II)

Finally collected my CS!

was quite a mad rush for me.. arranged to meet with Kim on wed.. initially thought that I could collect my CS that day.. But I wasn't quite satisfied with the product.. so I told her to do some modifications.. thankfully that Kim lives in the eastern part of SG and my dear parents are sending me off that day.. no choice but to collect the CS about 1 hour before check in time at the airport..

The final product is good.. mom saw it and was very pleased.. and she had good praises of Kim.. so now we'll have to see what is outcome of the PS.. looking forward to it..

Wedding Monogram (II)

Wedding monogram revisited!

this time round, fiddled with ready made templates..and only just need to add in our names & wedding dates..quite fun.. check the designs here

some samples of what I've been fiddling..

The website has also some DIY templates to download eg invitations, save-the-dates cards, etc.. Useful for all DIY & ala carte brides! :)

Arrived!

AH just told me that the tuxedo studs that he ordered from Ebay have arrived..!

yay~ now we can finally visualise how his white shirt will look like when we collect it next week.. was quite worried that it might not arrived on time..

Sidetrack abit.. I've finalised the design of my CS with Kim last Sat.. she commented that the colour I bought was abit dark for me.. but AH love that colour.. oh well, as long as the man is happy.. Since he is paying.. hiak hiak hiak~

I may be changing the design to a short CS, either knee length or 3/4 length.. there goes the 1 metre+ of cloth I bought.. AH say long CS looks like waitress (idiot right).. When I wanted a long CS initially, he just kept quiet.. After Kim drew the design of CS, he commented its too "waitressy".. Grrr.. Maybe I'll just ask Kim to make a top out of the remaining cloth.. or donate to her, in return for a cash rebate.. :P

Shirts settled!!

FINALLY settled AH's shirts for PS & AD.. after going to 3 tailors over the last 2 weeks..

30.5.10

Read thru reviews from SG Brides Forum.. decided to go to this shop "Personality" at Peninsular Shopping Centre.. We were quite dissapointed that they were closed for the Labour Day long weekend and will be back the following Thurs..

As such we dropped by another tailor on the same level, Tessuti Collezioni.. This tailor was recommended by Allure Charix.. The shop is definitely a more atas shop compared to Personality & Men's Tradition.. Didn't want to waste our trip and AH brought along his evening suit from Dan Stevensons.. We just went into the shop.. Told the tailor, David, that we wanted to tailor an evening tuxedo shirt to match my evening gown, the colour and texture we wanted.. Initially, he showed us the swatch for normal cotton fabric.. which we didn't find anything we liked.. Then he moved on to show us the higher end fabric, popularly known as Italian fabric.. Most of my male friends who tailored their shirts highly raved about Italian fabric & swear by them.. But of course the price is doubled too..

Looked throught the swatch of the fabric, found something that matches our citeria.. a whopping $180 to make a shirt.. and we also needed another white tuxedo shirt (which of course selected normal Eygptian Cotton).. However, AH could not come out with a design he liked and he also wanted to see what Personality has to offer.. So we put it on hold & left the shop..

In terms of service provided by the shop, felt that both of their staff (tailor & his assistant) are kinda of aloof and sacarstic.. But definitely not as bad as one of the tailor (shall not mention the shop name) in the same shopping mall.. AH didn't feel comfortable getting shirts from them too..

Went back to Men's Tradition.. crowded & packed as usual.. Told Uncle Daniel the colour we're looking for.. He said he don't carry the colour we wanted.. He does have a similiar colour but it wasn't the texture we were looking for.. so left the shop & headed home..

06.05.10

Headed straight to Personality upon reaching Peninsula.. The shop was relatively empty except one family who is making suits & shirts for a upcoming wedding.. We told Eric (the tailor) what colour we wanted.. I even wore a similar colour blouse today.. so AH just indicated that the colour we wanted is a shade darker than what I'm wearing.. Headed straight for the Italian fabric swatch since the usual cotton swatch are the same for every tailor.. Eric showed us a few books for Italian fabric which we didn;t see at Tessuti.. flipped through them and TADAH!!! Found the colour we wanted! Not 100% but at least 90% to what we wanted.. Its lyrca stretch material but was out of stock :( .. Eric say he will try to call the supplier to see if they still have enough to make a shirt.. Meantime he told us to choose an alternative in case the supplier doesn't have enough.. We flipped through the swatch and found another fabric which is also around 85-90% similar to our idea.. Its cotton mixed with yarn and there's still in-stock available..

We chose a normal white fabric to make a white tuxedo shirt as well.. Eric will go ahead to make the shirt with the alternative fabric we chose if the former is unavailable.. His prices are slightly cheaper compared to Tessuti.. Eric is also very friendly & he has worked in the bridal line before.. Read in another forum that Eric is/was the chairman of the Tailor Association in Singapore.. So he gave quite good advice and design ideas too..  Thumbs up for his service & AH is a happy man..

Oh ya, while we are choosing our fabric.. There's this law intern who wants to make a suit for his practicum.. Eric was explaining to him what he needs & other misc stuff.. so  I told AH to secretly 偷师 for tips.. :P

Now we''re left with his accessories for his suit.. Continue the hunt..

Personality Shop (Eric)
Peninsula Shopping Centre #03-24
Tel: 6337 2459

Tessuti Collezioni (David)
Peninsula Shopping Centre #03-17
Tel: 6337 2320

Men Shirt Designs

Some shirt designs to share.. AH is super particular about the nitty gritty stuff of his suit & shirts.. here are some homework we've done.. Majority done by me..

1. must be winged collar.. and AH wants a small-medium winged collar and the tip must look exactly like this.. seemed that winged collar shirts have evolved a bit recently..

2. If pleats are needed, they have to look small, defined & closed to each other.. There are 2 kind of pleat available.. hand woven or machine woven.. machine woven pleats are commonly used as the pleats are consistent & cheaper..

3. Tuxedo dress studs are used in place of buttons here.. Checked out that Taka do sell them but around $100 for a set.. Decided to go to my faithful Gmarket & Ebay to check them out.. found a set of studs + cufflinks for USD$19.. Cheap! now waiting for their arrival..

4. This is considered a big winged tip.. The collar has evolved to go without the conventional bow tie.. so the tip is now bigger.. complimented with an onynx button.. I love how the onynx button matches the shirt.. probably will go hunt for 1.. Decided to go with this design for the evening shirt, but with a smaller winged tip, probably the same as the white tuxedo shirt..

This was the initial suit & shirt design I wanted.. I even emailed the DJ where he has gotten his shirt.. and he gladly replied me that it was from Zara.. Sad to say he bought it last year.. and definitely Zara doesn't have it anymore.. The bowtie is attached to the shirt by the way, not an additional accessory as I thought it was..

If you're interested in the bow tie.. This kind of bow tie is called "Kentucky Colonel Bow Tie".. For the economical one, can get it from People of Asia (POA) in Marina Square.. or order it from Gmarket Korea or Ebay.. Those who can afford better quality one.. can get it from The Executive at Republic Plaza Raffles Place.. Needless to explain why this bow tie is called Kentucky Colonel Bow Tie.. the photo explains itself.. Heee :)

  

Men Suit Design

After spending alot time on my gowns & cheongsam, its time to focus more on AH's shirts & suit.. AH bought an OTR Tuxedo suit from Dan Stevensons at Marina Square last Dec.. There was a sale there and he was really blessed to have found a suit to fit him well.. Only the length of the pants needs to be altered.. Other than that, everything else fits perfectly fine.. :)

Initially we only wanted to have 1 suit to keep things simple.. But ultimately feel that tuxedo suit is more for the evening function & probably will match my evening gowns better.. Hence, decided to get another suit to go with the wedding gown.. But those OTR suits, are usually business suit, no choice but had to MTM one.. So I went on my trustful Google and start looking for men's suit design..

1. Peak lapel.. Lapel is the "collar" of the suit.  This lapel design is more commonly used for formal wear.. and was revived back to fashion by Armani in the 1970s.. Peak lapel suit is usually worn with French shirt & cufflinks to complete the formal look.  The classic design for peak lapel suit is with 2 buttons but recently the fashion is to design them with 1 button.

2. The tuxedo suit that AH bought is a one-button suit.. So thinking if we should get the same design or get a 2-button suit.. 2-button suit are more formal and it will also make the man slimmer..

3. As we wanted to keep things simple & minimal.. We decided to go without the waistcoat and cummerbund.. So its gonna be just a simple classic black suit with winged collar shirt to go with a bow tie..

Some tips I found on the net for groom's wear.. Hope it helps! :)

Bridal Bouquet

I wanted a hand bouquet for my PS to add some variations to the styles.. After researching & getting quotes from florist in US, I reckon it wasn't quite worth it to get a fresh flower bouquet.. 1 bouquet ranges from $150 onwards, depending on the flowers & arrangement.. As such, I decided to get a faux flower bouquet from SG instead, a faux bouquet ranges about $40-80.. and it can be recycled for other purposes too..

Upon researching for bouquet designs on my fave wedding site.. I stumbled upon some designs that I liked.. and the colour scheme matches that of my WG too.. Looking at the stunting colours & varieties of flowers used.. AH decided that we shouldn't save the money & should get real flowers bouquet instead..

Here are some ideas I got..

My finalised bridal bouquet design

The bunch that I chose consist of plum calla lillies, pink orchids & black magic rose (the colour of the rose is black magic).. Initially wanted to add embellishments and/or feathers to the bunch to add on more varieties.. But it will cost another usd $25 more.. plus tax etc will be about usd $191.. CRAZY!  So I decided to skip the embellishments, just keep it to flowers only.. I doubt there's such colourful calla lillies available in Singapore, I've only seen white or light pink calla lillies..

Now I just hope that the florist can stay as close as possible to this design of the bouquet.. really love the deep intense colour of the rose & calla lillies! :D

Wedding Shoes

Wooooooooooooo~

finally settled the shoes for my PS..

4" from Aldo

not your typical bridal shoe with straps of crystals.. this pair of shoe is actually quite bling bling & I prefer either peek-toes or plumps.. never fancy those strappy heels as straps make my feet very uncomfi.. moreover I have a wide feet.. plumps hide my wide feet.. the shoe is not stucked with crystals but different colour netting is sewed over a very shiny material.. and as such make the shoe very bling! My WG is also white based with black laces.. hence I chose a black/silver/white bling bling shoe.. AH loves it alot too!

4" from Pazzion

Suede black 4" with metallic heel & furball with a bling bling fox.. a very 有格性 shoe! got this to match my Vaughn Tan cocktail dress (short evening gown)..  As the gown has quite complicated design, Vaughn told me just go simple with the shoes.. and indeed perfect pair for my EG!

now I'm left with shoes for my CS.. need to get a purple or gold one.. :)

"Hello, intro please?"

AH & I started off chatting via the now defunct mIRC chat.. Both of us were OPS in  my secondary school channel, #crescent.  I usually don't chat with guys and uses a guy's nick to avoid unneccessary "buaya" chats with males in the chatroom.. He was most of the time "parking" in the channel and never participate in any of the chats in the chatroom..

Whilst chatting with my friends in the chatroom one day in 2000, he sent me a private msg "Hello, intro please?".  Usually I ignore all chats from guys, there's a lot of danger lurking in the cyberspace, and as a 15 year old then I didn't want to put myself at risk.. especially chatting with a guy older than me.. BUT I don't why, I just replied his msg & then we just started off chatting privately.  We chatted for a month or so & some of the OPS in #crescent decided to meet up so we can put a face to the nick we always chat with..

In June 2000, we first met each other together with rest of the chat pals.. As usual, the girls would stick together & the guys will form their own clique.. I didn't pay much attention to him but I know he was eager to meet me.. haha.. The outing ended about 2 hours later after our movie and we went seperate ways.  I thought he would stop msging me after meeting up.. I wasn't very attractive then, looking quite tom-boyish then..  Nevertheless, he continued having private chats with me & even asked me out for a date..

We met up 2 weeks later after the first gathering.. just the 2 of us.. I still remember we were still wearing our own school uniform! I I came from a all girls school.. going out with a guys alone and being spotted by any school mates/teachers would be a big headlines the following day.. Yet I still chose to meet him after school, wonder what had gotten over me then..  Being only students back then, we didn't have much extra pocket money to spend going on dates.. So we just hang out at McDonalds at Boat Quay and after our meal we would just sit by Singapore River and chat till its time to go home..

The next few days was also more or less the same, hanging out at our "usual place".. We moved from spending 2-3 hours after school times to meeting each other and spending weekends together.. We also exchanged pager and home numbers.. Soon, we started chatting on the phone and always sending messages to each other on our pager.. He kept hinting to me to become his girlfriend, but at that time I wasn't really that interested.. 15 years old is a time of fun & I love the company of my girlfriends.. So having a boyfriend anot doesn't really bother me. During our daily phone chats, I told him that my classmates saw us together once and asked me if he was my boyfriend.. Guess what he replied "then make it real lor.."  I never replied to that and diverted the conversation to something else..

On 23 Sep 2000, we met up and doing the usual stuff we would do like watching a movie, playing games in the arcades.. Kids marh!  After dinner, we just strolled around Orchard Road then stopped to have a rest at some seats between Wisma & Taka.. He continued on hinting and trying to ask me to be his girlfriend & as usual I just ignored and diverted the topic away.. As that place was getting packed with smokers, we moved away and strolled to Taka fountain.. He persisted and asked me once again to be his girlfriend, seeing that he was so persistant & sincere, I nodded my head.. We held hands & strolled back to Orchard MRT, took the train home.. I still remember how elelated he was and was smiling all the way back when he was sending me home.. :)

We began a new journey together from then and this journey has been going on for the past 9 years.. We've accompanied each other through the bad & good times.. Seen the ugliest side of each other.. But we still hold strong to this relationship.. I know I can't live without this man and I really thank God for bringing him into my life.. :)

CS Fabric Shopping

Met AH late morning to shop for fabric at Arab street.. we didn't explore any other shops expect Royal Fabrics which Kim recommend.. Too many choices can be a bad idea too..

We looked at the different laces in the shop.. the prices can range from $20/m to about $150/m.. I wanted french lace initially to make my CS.. but the price of french lace is really steep! Worse still, I need about 3 metres of laces as I need more "scallops" for my asymmetrical design.. That will amount to about $300-400 just for the laces!!

I printed the design I wanted & showed to the sales lady in the shop.  She showed us the german laces which are cheaper and can also do the design I wanted.. The colour we wanted has 2 different flower motif designs.. and we spent quite some time deciding which flower motif we wanted.. settled for the bigger flower at the end.. However, this piece of fabric does not have nice scallop sides.. So the sales lady told us to get 1 metre of the small flower motif (this piece has nicer scallop sides).. She say that Kim can also cut out the flowers from the fabric and sew over the other lace as a design too..

So all in all.. spent $116 on all my fabric.. now need to look for wedding shoes.. :P

Royal Fabrics

65 Arab Street

Singapore 199762

Tel: 6396 3820

PS Wedding Gown

Went to Allure Charix to have a look at my PS WG after the addition of black lace requested by me.. Both AH & I are quite pleased with the laces added.. but there's still room for improvement.. told our designer that we wanted more laces on the gown, to have a more complete look..

She say while she was doing stitching and layout for the lace in the shop, a few BTBs are very fascinated with the extra laces added.. I'm glad our designer likes our idea and try as much to follow it.. The WG is slowing becoming what we have envisioned for..

So happy :)

Deposit Paid!

Met up with Xue Ling today & we sealed the deal for OH Ballrm 3 on 6 Aug 2011..

WEEE! 1 major affair gone & now I can tell people my wedding is at OH.. It feels good to have our wedding venue confirmed..

:) :) :)

Banquet venue confirmed!!

OH wedding coordinator, Xue Ling called up Chris last Friday confirming that the 1st alternate date we wanted (6 Aug'11) is available and she can retain the wedding show promo package for us too.. Happy!!!

The wedding show promo package is as below:

- prices are in NETT price.. so whatever price is stated is inclusive of GST & service charge.. great money saver.. one friend of ours spent abt $7k just on GST!!

- $49 cash rebate per table.. so that works out to be $980nett per table.. withing our budget of < $1k per table

- free flow of beer (tiger beer) & wine (red & white) for 3 hrs thru out the dinner.. this way we don't have to spend extra to buy wine.. if we buy too little will not reflect well on us.. buy too much will have to think of ways to sell off the excessive wine.. so the free flow is so ideal! the alcoholic guest can drink non-stop and we don't have to worry about too little or too much wine left over..

- $49 cash rebate also applies for muslim & vegetarian menu as long as the number of guests are in multipies of 10.. which mean if I have 15 muslim/vegan friends.. I will pay $98nett/pax for the 10 guests and $102.90nett/pax for the remaining 5.. I don't think any other hotel gives more rebate on top of the rebate given..

- Xue Ling increased the invitation cards to 80% and carpark coupons to 30%.. AH say its expected lah..

- The others are quite standard thruout all the hotels' package.. Free VIP carpark lot, food tasting, wedding favours, blahblah..

The only setback is OH doesn't provide a day helpers' room.. Xue Ling says the price is already at discounted price, so can't add on the helpers' room.. Nevertheless, we have favour with God.. and our AD is 1.5yrs away.. so who knows we will get 1 helpers' room that night :)

Overall, we are very satisfied with OH and the service provided.. Chris also give thumbups for the ballroom and wedding coordinator.. now waiting for Xue Ling to draft out the contract for us & we are ready to pay the deposit during the weekend..

Change of dates

Due to the fact that OH is taken up during our preferred wedding date (our 11 years anniversary).. and we really set our hearts in getting OH.. both of us have decided to have a change of wedding dates.. ultimately wedding is a celebration of our union, as long the date makes some sense to us.. we wouldn't mind changing...

The 1st alternate date to find another Sat that falls either on 22/23/24.. looking through next year's calender, the next available date would be 23rd Jul.. we did a tentative booking with OH with this date.. but there wasn't any peace in us when we wanted this date.. so decided to change again.. as the promo of free flow beer/wine and cash rebate per table is only valid for weddings up till Aug '11 and AH doesn't risk the fact that our date will be taken away again.. He wanted the wedding date to be somwhere around Aug.. Although Aug falls withing the chinese lunar 7th month, the both of us really didn't mind holding a banquet since we are Christians.. The holding factor within me is about our unsaved relatives, friends & colleagues, etc..

Felt really uncomfortable with other dates, I spoke to my MUA (who is also my wedding planner) about this issue.. He is also a Christian, so he told me that its gonna be MY wedding, so I shouldn't be bothered about what the guests think about the wedding date, hotel location, etc.. I have previously told him that the citeria of my choice of hotel must be near MRT or at least accessible so the guests can find their way easier.. He told me that wedding is also a test of friendship.. If your friends really treat you like a friend, even my wedding is at Changi Hotel, they will still come no matter how ulu the place is..  and also will not mind if its superstitious to have a wedding during the "hungry ghost festival"..  My mom also once said this to me when I was planning my 21st birthday as the chalet I booked was in Jurong and most of my friends live elsewhere..

Was much relieved pouring out to him my concerns, now I'm quite comfortable with having my wedding during the "hungry ghost festival".. But I still want to please our relatives (especially the older folks), so I actually went to google for the lunar alamac and try as much as possible to understand what is an auspicious day and what dates are good for weddings during the "hungry ghost festival".. at least I have a reason to rebuke them if they say is "unlucky" to get married during this month..

ALAS! I came out with these 2 auspicious dates according to the lunar alamac

1) 6 Aug 2011

This is the 7th day of the 7th month which is also known as 七夕情人节or widely known as the Chinese Valentines' Day..

2) 20 Aug 2011

No special occasion on this date, but when you write the date out it will look 20082011.. AH likes the number combi and since its also auspicious for weddings, why not!

We shall have favour with OH that the 1st alternate date we chose will be given to us! :)

Avenue 8

Met up with Bernard from Avenue 8 on Tues.. he showed us the photos that he has taken so far and the kind of albums that his studio provides.. flipped through his works & realised that he has done a few celebrities' weddings! Melody Chen & Randall Tan, Vernetta Lopez, just to name a few.. His associate photographer, Douglas is also the photographer for blogger, Xiaxue's solemnization..

Bernard's style of photography is the current thrend of journalistic photography.. He has also trained a few photographers who has moved on to start their own business.. Bernard is also trained by renowned wedding photographer, Andrew Choi.  On top of that, Bernard happened to be from the church we attend.. As such, he will be very familar with the church ceromany and how it goes about..

Avenue8 has their in-house videographer and they also do tie up with AlvinAdeline & Simple Motion as their videography partners.. I was really tempted to ask AH to sign up with the latter 2 as I'm really wowed by their cinematography skills.. makes the wedding look like so movie lor!  Avenue8 in house videographer is more of simple and straight forward flimming.. Researched through forum and found that they do have a videography that does simple cinematography.. will call up Bernard soon to ask him abt this guy and any additional charges.. I still prefer some video effects than straight forward videography.. AH thinks otherwise though.. as long as someone videos, he is happy with it..

The package we are getting includes:

- 10 hours AD photography + videograpy

- 20 pages standard album with 40 photos returned (top up $300 to upgrade to flush mount)

- DVD of all RAW photos (about 800-1000 shots)

- Express video highlights (same day edit)

- 2 DVD of edited video footages (1-2hrs playback)

- Pre-wedding photoshoot (studio + outdoor)

- 20 pages with 20 photos returned

- soft copies of photos selected for print

- photo montage

- additional photographer (trainee of Bernard, will in charge of all portrait photos such as table photos)

- makeup & hair services

At first we wanted to take out the pre-wedding PS since we are already having our PS in US this June.. However, its only a deduction of $700.. AH analyzed that $700 for 20 photos + album + makeup services is quite worth it la..  since Bernard is charging quite a bit for pre-wedding PS outside.. We already 90% confirm with signing up with him, just need to clarify more stuff and bargain for some top-up or upgrade.. waiting for him to email us the package that we discussed about too..

Stay tuned for more updates~

Cheongsam

The title says it.. I'm getting a cheongsam!!! After much delibration and discussion with AH.. going through the locations that we will be doing our PS and the current gowns we have.. we decide to MTM a CS!

through reviews on SGBrides forum.. I chose Kim to tailor my CS.. she is a home based tailor and doesn't provide any fabric for making CS.. so basically she charges $150 and $180 for a short and long CS workmanship respectively.. As for fabric, we'll have to source it out ourselves and bring it back to her to make the CS..

booked an appointment with her last Sat & she told me to do my homework to bring some designs I want my CS to be for her to see.. Reached early on Sat coz I mixed up my appointment time.. but the session with her previous customer was quite fast & we ended up having a 40mins discussion.. Showed her the design I wanted and she also showed me some other designs.. and we managed to finalise a design for my CS..

As she was going for her holiday in end April, she's unable to do a fabric shopping trip.. Nevertheless, she taught both AH & myself what are the tricks of choosing laces.. and also showed us some example of laces that she currently have..and what kind of colour combination.. She empahases alot on the selection of laces as compared to satin.. since there are only three kinds of satin material.. but for laces, there are many many different types of laces.. quite an eyeopener for me and AH..

Hopefully I can remember what she has told us & I look forward to our fabric shopping next weekend!

Kim

Blk 246 Tampines St 21

#11-359

Tel: 6783 1963

Orchard Hotel Wedding Show

Went to OH wedding show on the 28th march.. The first in house wedding show that AH and myself went.. Visited their bridal suite, function room and ballroom.. They had their 3 wedding themes set up.. A buffet line of finger food was also set up.. There's also a showcase of their invitation cards and wedding favors..

Besides their in house stuff, the hotel has also engaged extenal vendors for photography, wedding cars, wedding jewellery, photography, etc..

Both of us were very pleased with the overall standard of OH.. Even thou they're not open for booking for our wedding date, we are willing to forsake the cash rebate per table (promotion) during the wedding show.. AH likes the fact that there'll be free flow of beer and wine provided throughtout the dinner.. Means another money saver..

BUT our wedding date has been taken up by a corporate event.. Not only our date but the whole of September!! AH was really upset cause he really likes that venue.. So we did a tentative booking with an alternate date with them.. And we'll have to discuss if we shd change the date or venue.. Haiz

Meantime here are the photos taken.. Enjoy :)

Ballroom

Ballrm 3 entrance

Ballrm 3 interior

Buffet lineup

      

Wedding Theme 1 - Celestial Charm

 

Wedding Theme 2 - Dazzling Dreams

 

Wedding Theme 3 - Intimate Indulgence

 

Selection of wedding favors

Solemnization Room

Bridal Suite

Living Room

Dining Area

Bridal bed

Free champange & cake for the wedding couple on AD

Bathroom

HUGE mirror in the bathroom

View of Orchard from suite