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