Childhood Montage

Finally had the time to upload our childhood montage.. The resolution is kind of low cause I didn't rip it off the dvd, used the one that Winson emailed instead..

Background music: Taylor Swift - Love Story

I loved how the background music blends in with the story line.. I have to admit that my acting and narration skills sucks.. Nevertheless, enjoyed the whole process of filming (minus the part that I was bitten by mosquitoes at Thye Kheng Gardens)..

There was a hiccup during the banquet.. This video was supposed to show before we came in for first march-in.. But somehow the hotel staff mixed this up with the pre-wedding photo montage.. They thought that we supposed to come in once the pre-wedding photo montage ends.. Despite this they managed to play it once the first dish was served.. Oh well one good point is that we could see how our guests react when we watched the video together with them..

I'm glad that our guests enjoyed the video as much as we do.. Enjoy :)

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 :)

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..

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! :)

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

OH vs Concorde

My last 2 choices for the banquet venues..

Since I'm not a person who can make decisions, most of my big decisions are settled by AH.. but this time round he wants me to decide on the banquet venue.. AH is a minimalist, so to him as long the price of the hotel and location is good.. he doesn't care if it is pillarless, high ceiling, has private reception area or whatever march-in format.. As I'm the fussy one, and these are the 2 best options now.. He is leaving it for me to choose..

who is my other decision maker..? My Daddy God :)

Concorde Hotel

Concorde Hotel might not sound familiar to most people, its located at where the old Le Meridien Hotel is.. Our last stop for recce yesterday..

The hotel exterior really looks old and once stepped in, you'll face alot of massage palours before reaching the lift up.. The ballroom is also hidden in one corner of the hotel, have to walk passed some travel agencies before reaching..

There was no wedding yesterday, so didnt managed to see any wedding setups.. But they have a showroom of their wedding themes in a room near the ballroom and we managed to see some themes.. Overall, I've moved Concorde up my list of short-listed venues.. It has a pillarless, high ceiling ballroom.. Straight march-in, the wedding themes are nice.. Price are good as well.. Not to mention its quite near Somerset MRT too..

Now we only negogiate whether if we can keep the minimun tables to 25 and hopefully try to get free flow of beer and/or wine.. Orchard & M hotel are offering free flow now.. Will call up the wedding coordinator soon..

The current wedding themes of Concorde..

the last pics is the newest Glitter theme

Goodwood Park Hotel

Goodwood Park is my dream wedding venue.. Fall in love with the old colonial feel of the hotel exterior..and being a 5 star hotel, the interior is equally "wow".. The food from Min Jiang has also a lot of good reviews.. and AH loves their durian puff..and he hopes to get some free durian puffs if we ever sign with them.. Thou the price is higher than our budget, but we still decided to have a look since everything is good about them..

Once stepped in the hotel, I was taken in by the entire ambience.. the swimming pool is surrounded by colonial style buildings, the lobby is very clean.. and I totally loved the stairways that leads to Winsor Ballroom from the hotel lobby.. very romantic feel!!

Everything about GWP is just so lovely.. The ballroom has its own reception area.. Size of the ballroom fits our table requirements.. Pillarless & high ceiling ballroom.. Straight march-in (no L, U or whatever shape).. Everything just fits so nicely into our citeria, until we saw... A LOT OF MIRRORS! the whole ballroom is surrounded with mirrors, thou I know that mirror will have an effect that the ballroom is bigger, but its gonna be photographers' nightmare!

Some other cons..:

• Can't negogiate for additional carpark coupons as the carpark is operated by external vendors, not by hotel itself..
• No wedding themes.. AH feels that the white seat covers are just too plain for weddings..

Hence my ideal GWP is striked off our list :(

Winsor Ballroom

Wedding Banquet Venues

Since we have settled our pre-wedding photoshoot, its time to move on to another big item.. the ideal banquet venue..

Having gone to a few weddings before, I have thus listed down some citeria that will help to short list some venus..

1. Min 25 tables, max 30-35 tables.. want to keep our guest list short. My sister's wedding had about 50 tables and I think its really tiring to move around so many tables.. Keeping the guest list short will also allow us to have more time to mingle around with the guests.. Moreover, we do not want to invite people just to fulfil the minimum required tables..

2. Pillarless ballroom.. Been to some hotels before and was quite turned off by the pillars in some of their ballrooms.. Pillars really make the guests feel uncomfortable.. Imaging you have to keep shifting your seat in order to view what is on stage or the video montages.. Otherwise, the couple would have to spend extra to install projectors/tv screens on the pillars so the guests can view properly.. With a pillarless ballroom, the guests can view the stage with comfort, and the couple can just save $ on projector rentals :)

3. March-in format.. Y-shaped, L-shaped, U-shaped.. you name it, you have it.. actually before looking reading SG Brides forum, I never knew there are so many different kinds of ballroom layout and march in formats.. ideally, a straight march-in would be good.. since I'm gonna have a big gown with train.. even my EG has a train.. would prefer one thats march-in straight..

4. Solemnisation room.. Its getting more common to ROM on the same day as the wedding banquet, and NCC being a church without its own premise.. It has always been a tradition to have the Holy Matrimony right before the start of the banquet dinner.. Have to discuss with AH whether we want to have it in a seperate function room (for a smaller group of people) or have it in the same ballroom..

5. Location.. being a car-less person, it's important to me where the location of the hotel is.. since I know the "hardship" of travelling to places that are inacessible to MRT..  Walking for a short distances is inevitable, but definitely not those places that you need to walk uphill, down slope...

The search begins!

Orchard Hotel

Went to 3 hotels for recce yesterday before heading to BOWS (Bridal Outdoor Wedding Show).. First stop was Orchard Hotel, will go for Ballroom 3.. Through reviews in SG Brides Forum, this venue suits our budget, guest list & ballroom citeria..

Pros:
- Pillarless & high ceiling ballroom
- Long march-in
- Fit our budget for about $1K per table

Cons:
- Shared reception areas with other ballrooms, there might be 2 weddings on the same night
- Hotel exterior looks old
- About 15 minutes walk from Orchard MRT

Shared reception area

Credits: SG Brides Forum

Ballroom 1 & 2

Credits: SG Brides Forum