Third gown fitting

We had an intention to file a complaint with Casey, another designer of di Gio about Jesline's disappearance today. But the other main objective was to try on the gown featured in the magazine and to decide on the last gown for photo shoot.

I asked for the magazine from Casey and pointed out to him. He seemed elated and revealed that it was designed by him and it was one of his favourite works this year!

He asked May to assist me with the trying. I simply fell in love with it! Casey commented that I looked great in it and I'm one of the few who could carry the design, BUT the sad fact was, my bulging tummy was an eye sore! I asked him so he could add another layer of corset within however, he said it could look weird when I sit down. Therefore, the ONLY solution is to do sit-ups!!

Here's a peek at the gown:

I love the long train of chiffon at the back, and that's what caught my eyes when I first saw it in the magazine! Actually the train of chiffon is detachable and according to Casey's advice, I will not wear that during the day where I have the veil on as it will be too complex at the back to bring out the beauty of the gown.

It's a mermaid-cut and so I do find some difficulty in walking but I have asked May to loosen a little at the thigh area.

I'm so looking forward to wearing this on 28 May! From now onwards, I'm going to start my exercise regime to be in time for May. I guess some photoshopping will be useful in the pre-wedding photo shoot.

Besides the Actual Day white gown, I have also finally decided on the white gown with maroon elements as the last gown for indoor photo shoot. HAHA, I'm a very happy girl and it's the happiest trip to di Gio so far that I decided not to lodge a complaint, temporarily.

Makeup artiste and Her World Brides magazine

I received a call from my di Gio makeup artiste whom I have not met before. He asked if I could change my photo shoot date cos he has classes on every Friday.

I just find this request very ridiculous...

Oh, I forgot to express our displeasure in previous posts that we were very unhappy with Jesline, the designer from di Gio. She has been Missing-In-Action for a while everytime we were supposed to have an appointment with her. It was either she was busy with other customers and left us with the dresser or somehow she needs to be on long leave due to some domestical issues when she promised us that she will be around to help me with gown selection on 11 Dec.

We did express our unhappiness to May but she was quite helpless in a sense. To put it in an ugly way, Jesline's presence will only be felt when we are due to make staggered payments.

Being a little pissed, I lied to the makeup artisite that we have already taken leave for 7 Jan. So, he suggested a change of makeup artiste, which I thought he should have done that earlier since we have not even met up with him yet.

During lunch, I went to Giant to flip through some magazines and I just happened to set my eyes on a beautiful gown from di Gio being featured in Her World Brides. I'm determined to try on the gown on 25 Dec and it's very likely I will pick this if I look good in it!

On the other hand, I saw an ad from Oneyeclick that was obviously taken on the upper deck of a SBS bus. I took down the number, called them up to find out how they managed to do it given the stringent policy of SBS on the pretext that I'm interested to ask for a pre-wedding photo shoot quotation from them.

And guess what? They did it without getting any permission.........
So I probed further to ask if it was done "illegally" but this guy told him they boarded the bus like normal commuters and took it on board without disturbing other commuters. The smokescreen was, the couple was in casual wear!

In the end, I guess my wish to take photos on a SBS bus will never be fulfilled...

Regrets...

I'm beginning to have regrets over my choice of white gown for Actual Day...........

How?? I know deep down inside that I don't like it, but I chose it becos it was the best among the worst!

I can't help but keep harping on it.. I think I'm going to ask for a change when we go for our 3rd fitting on Christmas Day.

5th & 6th Jie Meis

They are both the real Jie Meis - my sisters!

It's ironic that they were the last 2 whom I approached to be Jie Meis, or more of Bridesmaids, I would say, cos I know they will definitely make it, if not, I will force them to be able to make it. Whahahahaah!

In fact, both of them will be more like the helpers with the changing of gowns cos we have been seeing each other change for the past 20 over years, so no qualms about it, prefectly comfortable!

Photo shoot locations

We have chosen our 3 outdoor locations:

- FairPrice Xtra @ Jurong Point
- On board a SBS Double Decker
- Secluded Tuas area

Henry followed up with the relevant parties in NTUC and SBS.

NTUC was fairly helpful in coordinating for our photo shoot. However, SBS told us that no photo shoot on board buses are allowed as the buses have a very short lead time in the interchange. We can only have the photos taken in the interchange.

I was determined to have it on board the buses so I suggested a few solutions and only ended up with rejections. I have even thought of boarding the bus just like any other passengers and take the photos at the upper deck. The PR person declined the request, saying that it could intrude the privacy of the commuters?!!!!!

Hence, it's high possibility that we will drop this location :(

I thought of replacing it with the game arcade at Marina Square but again, we hit another hurdle of having to pay to book the entire arcade for 1 hour (ridiculous!!) for the shoot.

Second gown fitting

I was elated when I knew Yiqian and Xiaofen could make it for my 2nd round of gown fitting, for Xiaofen, being a graphic designer, has got trustable, yet unique opinions on the beauty of gowns, whereas Qian, voices out which she thinks will suit my body and style.


I finally get to see my evening gown for which I had been having butterflies in my stomach the previous day over how it will turn out to be. To my relief, it looks beautiful....... and I LOVE it! Totally exudes playfulness, youthfulness and most importantly sexiness!


It really went all the way down my back, just above the butt cheeks. Actually, there was a layer of nude netting coverage, about 5cm above my butt cheeks but it was not obvious from far, so it would look as though I bare it all the way down.

There was just some amendments to be made:

1. Have the flowers in front to be slightly pushed back to reveal more of the legs

2. To add on nude netting along the string of black lace to hold it in place

3. Alter the waist to make it tighter

So much for the beautiful evening gown..

The next uphill task was to select my white gown for Actual Day from their latest Dec collection, which apparently disappointed me yet again.

I tried on almost 10 different designs and some of which Qian thought I looked elegant and nice in. However, regret to say, none was close to my ideal, dream gown. I was really indecisive over the choice of selection available cos I didn't see any that will catch my second glimpse.

Qian and Xiaofen was so helpful in the selection. They gave really honest and constructive comments on all the gowns I tried on. It was after quite a while that I finally settled for, albeit reluctantly, a real simple tube gown which I didn't set out for initially.

I realised it was that simple a gown that I could hardly see the design from the photos taken.

Anyway, we proceeded to Level 2 to begin another round of selection for my outdoor photo shoot. Had a hard time choosing another white gown but eventually gotten a lacy one with a deep-V at the front and back.

As for the coloured gown, I just tried one of it and decisively told May, the dresser, that, "Yes, I will take this!". Why is it that I don't see this kind of prompt decision-making in choosing their white gowns??

I love the purple gown choosen! It's (again) a toga gown with a long trail of black netting on one of the shoulders. Similar to my ROM dress, except that it's long, purple AND a section of the gown near the waist is revealed through sexy black netting!

I have chosen 4 out of the 5 gowns for photo shoot. The last one will be pending for my own indecisiveness between a white gown with blue lace, corsetted at the back OR a white gown with an element of maroon, with cutesy ribbons at the back.

Seriously, I have exhausted myself and of course, the hubby, the buddy and her bf throughout the 3-hour gown fitting... I can't thank them enough for their tolerance and patience towards the indecisive self where we almost late for our buffet lunch. Actually, I wanted to drop by another day to decide on the gowns as I didn't want to have a haste decision but May put it tactfully across to me that, the more time I have, the more indecisive I will become. -_-

Bridal photo shoot

di Gio called to fix an appointment with us for our pre-wedding photo shoot.

Decided on 7 Jan 2011 (Fri)!

4th Jie Mei & Emcees

4th Jie Mei - Buddy of 13 years since Secondary - Yiqian!!

She, together with Xiaofen (bf) have agreed to be our emcess! They have a few experiences of that and to quote her, they are highly sought-after. Hahaha!

2nd & 3rd Jie Meis

Sms-ed and confirmed my 2nd and 3rd Jie Meis - Ivy and Yen Ling!

Apparently, they have started to generate ideas for the "hurdles" of the groom. SCARY....

Contract with AR

Paid the deposit for the photography service with Absolut Resolution.

Joe invited us to his studio at Marine Parade. Actually it was a 3-room HDB co-owned by him and the other partner. It lookes pretty empty and raw as it was not fully furnished yet but I could tell they spent a bomb on the nice, cosy and artistic renovation!

I found Joe to be a very, very chatty person. He has got endless topics to talk about. I'm not really complaining; it can be a good thing when it comes to gearing up the engines of the couple to get things into the mood for photo shoot.

He showed us some photos and montages which he has just completed editing. And yea, we got an idea for our Jie Mei and Xiong Di's attire for the Actual Day - printed t-shirts that shout "Jie Mei" and "Xiong Di" in Chinese for the respective groups!

Both of us find it kind of cute! But we have yet to confirm cos we need to check out if Uncle has got lobang in Bangkok or not.

Sia's brilliant works

We finally had our photo shoot taken by Sia in our casual wears. It was nothing short of a thrilling, traumatic and dramatic experience that will forever form part of our permanent memory. I'm not referring to Sia's photography skills per se, but rather the drama mama incident that happened at the railway track at Hillview.

Initial plan was to head to the railway track at Sunset Way which Sia thought was the one I described from the drama serials. When he picked us at my house, we deviated and make our way to the one at Hillview.

It was a scorching day, much less at a railway track where the metals are emitting heat. All of us were sweating buckets, especially when Henry was wearing his ROM suit. We climbed the slope covered with tall grasses up to the track and started the ball rolling. It was a little awkward at first as it was both ours as well as Sia's first time doing a couple shoot.

Things began to ease up and we threw in a few impromptu suggestions on some poses. It was about 20minutes into shoot before we began to inch forward to the area where the railway bridge was just right above the roads, with no side railings, just ruffia ropes tying from pole to pole.

I was doing some solo poses by the side, with Sia at the middle of the railway track and Henry of close proximity to him, when we heard a LOUD honk coming at us. Our heads turned to that direction and saw a KTM train coming right direct into our faces at probably 90km/h!

Boy, were we taken aback and of course, our instinct told us to run for our dear lives! Imagine running in high wedges on the railway paved with rocks.....

We jumped out from the middle of the track and ran beside it towards the slope where we came up from. My first instinct was to get to the bush area (where I won't fall onto the roads from dodging the train) and lean forward as much as I could to avoid getting hit by the train. I pulled my body in as much as I could, in time to see the train going past behind me, sending my dress flying up!

When I turned to my right, I saw Sia doing the same thing with Henry right beside him. It was after the life and death moment that Henry said it was Sia who pulled him to the side in time and prevent him from getting hit from the back. He was trying to run and jump to the area away from the track but he was too slow for the train, of course. Sia was his life saviour.

While we were attempting to recover fro the shock as the train came past behind us, Sia suddenly screamed. His $3,000 len was left near the track, in grave danger of being smashed to pieces!! Three of us stared intensively at the len and prayed hard that somehow it can grow legs to pull itself out of danger. Thank goodness, the len was just inches to getting hit! After the train passed, I ran to save it and checked if it was still intact. Luckily, it was. :)

After those traumatic moments, three of us were still in a state of shock but we resumed the photography to calm ourselves down. Undoubtedly, those photos did not turn out very well as predicted.

We gradually recovered from the shock and managed to take a few more shots before moving on to Seletar Airbase for the next location. This location was chosen when I saw a couple's photo album at di Gio. It was a vast green patch with just a big standalone tree against the blue sky. We changed into our casual couple's tees with bermudas for him and demnin shorts for myself, coupled with our quirky, round specs in white.

The shots here were supposed to portray youth and playfulness. Very beautiful shots, I would say.

Third location was to Arab Street, which I feel was the least exciting amongst the four as we were awkward with posing in front of the public. Nevertheless, things got better when Sia brought us to Kampong Glam. ;)

Last location was to Marina Barrage. It seemed like a popular place for wedding shoot as we saw 2 more couples in their wedding gowns and suits under the sunny weather. Kudos to them! We were still in our couple's tees attire cos we wanted some shots at the water fountain area.

After which, we proceeded to change into the last attire - smart casual! It was then I realised the sun has taken its toll on my skin and 3/4 of my arms were sun burnt (1/4 was covered up by the sleeve of the t-shirt). Plus, it was quite a torture having to change into a fresh set of attire with your sticky, perspiring skin! I can't imagine how am I going to do that during the bridal photo shoot where I will need to change into my wedding gown!

It wasn't long before fatigue creeped in and we had simply ran out of poses but fortunately the photos turned out fine. We did a few more shots on the green grass patch on the top of the barrage and went into the exhibit area for more cooling indoor shots. I must say Sia was really creative to make use of the mirrors to take a reflection shot which turned out brilliant and it was one of my favourites!

We could tell that Sia was worn out too and we suggested to call it a day after the sky turned dark. Actually, there was supposed to be a last location for a night shootwe wer at Helix Bridge but since Sia forgot to bring his tripod and we were drop dead tired, we ended the day with a sumputous dinner at Ka Sou!

Photos for your viewing pleasure:

The MATRIX! Amazing effects...

I love the following 3 pictures to bits!

Makes my leg look so long and slim! Hahaha!

I like this - so old school!




Acting cute along Arab Street.









Mommy thought this looks cute!






One of my favourites... An impromptus suggestion by Sia.

I like this too!

A pity that I didn't really take much of side profile!

Luckily we managed to take the sunset shot at Marina Barrage! Beautiful...

Another favourite..

The following 3 pictures were all before the thrilling yet traumatic escape from Thomas the train.

Halter-neck gown

I called up di Gio last week to add the halter-neck gown to my KIV list, just for the beloved hubby...

I talked to the dresser, May for a good ten minutes to jolt her memory of me, being the fussy customer and to describe to her in extreme details of the gown, before we managed to come to the same wavelength.

Sale of Balance Flat result

Result for Sale of Balance Flats under the HDB scheme is out - Queue No. 77 out of 33 available units.

Soon, we will make our way to Mr Mah's office.

Family dinner at Pu Tien

Both families sat down for a dinner at Pu Tien, Jurong Point for a discussion on customary formalities. No one knows what we should start on but eventually the ladies - Mommy and MIL - did most of the talking and decided to make everything simplified.

Mommy does not want any wedding cakes for the relatives, instead, she would like to replace them with the canned pig trotters. There were a lot more formalities to which both Henry and I just sat and listened to both Mommys' exchange of their respective experiences.

MIL asked if I would like to have the 4-piece jewellery or a pair of gold bangles. I'm going to pick the former since there is a higher chance of appearing in those even after the wedding.

Both families had a basic understanding of each other's expectation and we will get to more specific details nearing the date.

First gown fitting

Just when I was excited to see and try on my MTM evening gown as well as to select my white wedding gown at di Gio, everything came as a disappointment...

Firstly, the evening gown was not ready as promised. I questioned the designer in a jokingly way and she said the gown made at the tailor was not to her satisfaction at certain areas, that was why it had been sent back for some re-touches. I don't know how true it is.

Secondly, despite the wide array of white wedding dresses they have in the shop and shophouse upstairs, I could hardly find any to my real liking.

When I was there the first time in August to discuss with the designer on my evening gown, I could see in a glance that those in the boutique were not what I'm looking for! The dresser kept "forcing" me in a way to take a look at those but I insisted on going upstairs to see other collections.

Out of the 4 racks of approximately over 200 gowns, I tried very hard before trying on 6 sets quite reluctantly. Photos were not allowed before the confirmation of your gown, therefore we didn't manage to take any.

I tried on a halter-neck A line dress with low back covered up by some translucent, beaded netting just above the bum, a white and red victorian-inspired tube dress, a mermaid-cut with lots of gathers on top, a white and maroon tube dress with cutesy bows at the back and a few others which I could not really recall.

It did help when Joo was around to give some comments when I tried on the gowns. :)

The dresser told me that a new batch of collection will be coming in Dec, hence I deposited my hopes on that and kind of lost interest in continuing to try the rest. Nevertheless, I KIV-ed 3 of them - the white and and red, the mermaid cut and the white and maroon - just in case there was nothing I could find in the next collection. I could only say they are the best among the worst. This is the situation I fear most - could not find a gown to my liking among the vast collections and in the end I may have to settle for one which is not to my satisfaction.

It didn't help when the designer, who was supposed to be around on that day, was busy with other customers even though we made an appointment with her 2 months ago! She just appeared towards the end to let us choose the photographers for our pre wedding shoot.

I did emphasize to her that I need her to help me in choosing my wedding gown when we next meet on 11 Dec so that she can advise on the designs that suit me best and she also promised that I would be the first to see the new collection.

Speaking of photographers, we were showed 4 albums of different photography styles. After looking through them, we agreed the first one is the best. Jayven and Joo felt that the photographer made use of unique angles and played with reflections to bring out the photos of the couple. So, we have choosen Ben, as our photographer!

Throughout the gown fitting session, Henry only gave generic comments like, "This looks ok", "It's very victorian-inspired", "It's nice", etc. so I thought he was not that excited to see his wife trying on gowns, just like any other guys. But I was wrong. He left the most touching comment to the next day when we were both lying on the bed, thinking of our wedding preparations.

In fact, he liked the halter-neck gown best because it's in pure white! He said when he first saw me coming out of the dressing area in that gown, he thought I looked beautiful in it. I knew he really meant it and I was touched but at the same time, feel guilty for assuming he was not interested in the gown fitting at all... The most guilty thing was - that gown was not in my KIV list!!

Absolut Resolution

Met up with Joe at Raffles City to discuss our AD photography package.

Good thing was he could still recognise Henry as the cute guy who was tagging along with all the jie meis during Jayven & Joo's AD.

Both of us felt that he makes an excellent salesman at selling his services. However, he stood firm on the prices quoted and gave good justifications to them. In the end, he could only give in a little by not charging us an additional hour extra on the actual day if the dinner ends late and throwing in 50 more digitally enhanced photos in the DVD for us.

He showed us albums of the other 2 packages which are more costly. I can only say, you get what you paid for. The basic package of $2,800 only has 4R photos slotted into a 6-pocket per page photo album, whereas the $3,500 and $3,800 come in a 40-page 12" x 12" soft page coffee table album in a box. The only difference between these 2 is the premium textured material used for the pages.

I must say the coffee table albums are really nice to have. After the discussion, Henry told me he is quite tempted to take up the most expensive package - $3,800, which surprised me.

Nevertheless, we will review the packages again and hopefully come to a decision soon.

Photography

We will be doing our photography by Sia, my ex-colleague from Borneo Motors, this month - 28th! Pretty excited.. but we have not gone into details on the shooting locations and our casual attire.

Initially, we wanted to do it near year end, probably in late Nov/ early Dec but I have work commitments so it's unlikely that I could take leave for it. We could not do it on weekends either as Sia would need some family moments with wifey. Since he is doing it FOC (we are only reimbursing him the petrol and parking expenditure of his car), we thought it's only right that we accomodate to his schedule.

He will be meeting up with me to discuss on the details real soon.

I'm thinking if I should have my hair and makeup done by Edward again... or should I DIY?

Families Dinner

The time has come for both families to sit down and discuss about the customaries aspect of this matrimonal union over a good dinner.

Date: 23 Oct, Sat
Venue: TBC
Time: 6.30pm

I have no idea how this is all going to take place and I believe it's a first time for both families to be in such discussion. But I'm sure my MIL and Mommy have done some homework on their part to understand more on each family's tradition.

Actual Day Photography

We contacted Joe from Absolut Resolution for a quotation.


This is the package that we are likely to take up:

Package A - $2,800 includes

- Up to 10 hours of photography
- 2 distinguished photographers covering the event
- 300 digitally enhanced photos in DVD (printable up to 8R size)
- Table to table, tea ceremony and group photos all returned (original) in DVD
- Photo montage during dinner
- Customised slot in album with 300 photos provided

I'm also comparing their services to the one of Live Studio Photography, of which I'm a sucker for their unlimited standard photocards! Alas, their package is not inclusive of the necessary, like montage and morning photo shoot.

We will be meeting Joe from AR on 14 Oct to discuss in further details on the package offered. Hopefully, he will be able to accomodate to some of our requests.

Casual photo shoot

Got my ex-Borneo Motor colleague, Sia to check out the videography and photography rates for some weeks back but it didn't fall within our budget range.

Sia, the budding photographer, offered to take photoshoots of us in our casual wear to make into a story album - FOC! But of course, we have to bear the costs on our end if we want to develop the photos for display on our wedding day. How sweet!

It's a win-win situation for both parties. We can have another photo album - FOC - and he could also have some publicity and beef up his portfolio!

We will try to have it done in late Oct/ early Nov. Currently we are still sourcing for nice locations, preferably one that is suitable for a night shot. ;)

Ballioting results

Our queue no. is 300% over the available units at Corporation Tiara. Damn it! There goes another chance.

I thought our changed status would get us a better chance, no??! :(((

Jie mei & brother

Got our first jie mei and brother confirmed - Joo and Jayven!

Gate-crashing Task No.1 - Groom to eat ma la veggies and "selected" brother to have blue cheese! HAHA.

Sale of Balance Flat

Applied for sale of balance flat in Jurong East/ West area.

Keeping our fingers crossed.

Evening gown

We had our very first visit at di Gio last evening. On my way there, I couldn't believe I'm really going to try on gowns and have my measurements taken for my evening gown. I went with a mixed feeling of excitement, anticipation and a tinge of anxiety.

Jesline, the gown designer asked if I have any designs to show her but I went there knowing only those things/designs/colours that I don't want, instead of the design I have in mind. Clearly, this is really the other way round.

We spent the first 15 minutes deciding on the colour of my gown and ended up with a shade similar to turqoise. My initial sugguestion was the elegant emerald green but from Jesline's professional point of view, she thought it would look too mature on me and that I should accomodate my hubby's youthful looks. HAHA.

Finally, I told Jesline that I'm quite into cheong sam designs but she suggested to have a cheong sam-inspired gown to play down on the maturity level. She led me to try on a cheong sam gown that was modelled during the bridal show we attended and it was exactly the one that inspired my cheong sam idea! Alas, the gown was a little tight at the bottom. But the more important fact was for her to assess the length of my neck for me to carry the look well. Luckily, I have lots of excess. :)

She began to do some sketches of the design and after some amendments on my side, the top part of the gown will adopt a cheong sam element, whereas the bottom part will fluff up to hide my flaws. However, the length of the gown will be shorter in front to accentuate my legs and flow gradually into a long train towards the back.

There will also be an element of surprise on the back of the gown. I wanted to do a bare-back all the way to just above the hips (of course, I have got the green light to do so!). Henry said, since I am going to be the bride, I can wear whatever design I want! Initially, it was supposed to be a diamond-shaped bare back but I thought it might not be aesthetically- pleasing to the eyes since I don't really have a well-toned back so we settled for a piece of lace to be connected from the back of the neck all the way to above the hips. In this way, the lace at the centre would have my back divided into two and take some attention away from it.

The evening gown is settled as of now and the first fitting for it will be on 16 Oct (Sat), 1pm. Seriously, I have no clue how it's going to turn out to be..

Preparation

We are starting our engines to prepare for the big day, but we are taking it slow and steady until we have fully gained back the momentum.

I have contacted my ex-colleague from Borneo Motors to see if he's interested in doing our AD photography after seeing some of his works on FB. Currently waiting for him to quote us on the rate.

A crazy but very unique idea on the bridal car came to our minds! Shall keep it under suspense at the moment until we get a confirmation on the feasibility of this idea. It's going to be a real excitement!

Weird dream...

Recently, I came to know about the pregnancy of 2 of my friends. I feel very happy for them!

Somehow, my maternal instincts kick in and I feel like having one of my own too...

I had a weird dream a few days ago. I dreamt that I became pregnant before my customary next year and I was worried cos I will not be able to wear my wedding gowns!

On the contrary, I was actually glad that I do not have to undergo the torturous weight-losing regimen. How ironic...

Emcee

Confirmed on our emcee for the wedding dinner next year - Qian, the bestest bud!

I'm certain she will make a great, entertaining emcee given her gifted talent!

Corporation Tiara

We have applied for BTO flats at Corporation Tiara. It's near my place but not within walking distance to the MRT :(

No choice, we got to exhaust every option we have right now.

A 4-room costs about $325,000, pretty reasonable given the current soaring property prices. I hope I will get one with balcony!

Evening gown

Called up Jesline from di Gio to make an appointment on 26 Aug for the making my evening gown!

Got to start early as we intend to have our photo shoot in Dec this year. :)

Live band

We have confirmed the live band for our wedding dinner! It's the one from Don's wedding which both of us thought they were fantastic!

The package comes in:

Duo band - 1 guitarist/ vocalist + 1 guitarist
2 sets - 45 mins each
Cost - $800 (with $100 deposit)

We are going to meet up with them on the songs we want and to discuss in further details on when we would like them to sing during the wedding nearer the date.

di Gio

A fruitful and rather satisfying weekend at Her World Bridal Show held in the ballroom of Mandarin Orchard!

We signed up for it a couple of weeks back with the intention to save us the shopping for bridal boutiques and we thought the deals at the show would be very competitive among those six of them - La Belle, dio Gio, Satine, Z-Wedding, My Dream Wedding and The Feline.

I have only 2 in mind for this bridal show - di Gio and La Belle - of which they were already on my list of boutiques to visit. We made a beeline for di Gio first and found ourselves to be looking through their photo albums at other seats cos all their tables were taken up by other customers!

di Gio had the most overwhelming response and they were the only one who would not even bother to station sales coordinators to do hard-selling in front of their booth cos customers will just go to them!

We were served by their gown designer, Jesline. A very nice lady who is open to lots of negotiation. And of course, I was very aggressive in getting the most deals out of the $3,988 package! I could not care less about how they see me but I thought the best time to sign a package is when they are competing against other boutiques to draw customers to their side at the expense of offering better deals!

Here's the package:
1. Actual Day Bridal Gown
2. Actual day Evening Gown (MTM)
3. Actual Day tea dress or kwa --> Exchanged for my 2 sisters' bridesmaids dresses


4. Actual day Groom's suit x 2


5. Free trial makeup


6. Actual day morning makeup + hairdo


7. Actual day evening makeup + hair do --> I tried to negotiate for Mommy and MIL as well but she could only get us at special rate of $80 each instead of the usual price of $120.


8. Actual day and studio accessories (necklace, earring, tiara, veil)


9. Bridal bouquet (Fresh flower) --> It can be of any design or flowers I want at no additonal cost.


10. Corsages x 6


11. Bridal car decoration --> We just have to provide her with the design we want - definitely not the conventional V-shape!


12. Following Cars' ribbons x 4


13. Studio makeup + hairdo


14. Studio outfits x 3 (bride)


15. Studio outfits x 3 (groom)


16. Studio fresh flower --> Again, any design and flower to our liking


17. Outdoor shoot (2 locations) with 2 outfits (own transport at $120)


18. Wedding album 12'' x 15" = 20 copies --> It will be a 12" x 18" instead due to the promotion and we also managed to negotiate very fiercely from 20 to 28 to 35 and finally 38 poses!



19. Canvas portrait 20" x 24" (with frame) --> We increased it to 30"!



20. Free 4R - 24 copies (4 poses)



21. Free mini album (repeated poses from wedding album)



22. Free table top 8" x 10"



23. Free Guest Book



24. Free soft copy return in CD (selected photos only)



25. Fathers' jackets x 2



26. Mommy's dress --> Die die also must get something for my Mom!



27. 50 pcs of Thank you cards (to be placed at reception table) for guests --> Managed to convince her that we can do some publicity and branding for di Gio! Marketing skills really came in handy here!



The other expenses which we have to fork out money includes:



- eye lashes @ $15

- ampoule @ $25

- additonal styling of hair @ $25

- rental of wedding car + chauffeur @ $480 onwards

- additonal poses @ $80 each



Jesline was a little overwhelmed by our incessant negotiations and requests that she took my hand and said she would give a very good FINAL deal within the package - the increase of the canvas portrait by 10" more - which she told me to keep it to ourselves.

Basically, we just lay our cards on the table and told her directly that we came to the Bridal Show with the intention to sign up a package today and that di Gio and La Belle were the 2 boutiques we came for. In the end, she acceded to most of our requests with a returned promise on our side that we will not go for a sit-down at La Belle! Haha!

Then, there came our 2nd surprise when my name was called out for the 5th lucky draw prize - 3D2N to stay at Le Meridien Bangkok with 2 return tickets! This is our second time to be so lucky in these 7 years we have been together! I still remember vividly that the first time was during our 1st or 2nd Valentine's Day celebration at PS Pizza Hut where we won a personal pizza......

My secondary school mate was luckier! She won a $5000-package from La Belle for the Vote For Your Favourite Gown Contest. I didn't realise it was Jing Wen until she went up on stage.

Nevertheless, we were elated at our luck and what we fought for during the bridal show! :)

The deal is sealed.

We signed on the dotted line with Swissotel The Stamford/ Fairmont this afternoon and were made $5,000 poorer.

Had a failed attempt to negotiate for more perks to be thrown in, for example, extra 1 more night in the bridal suite, free flow of beer and special anniversary rates on hotel stay.

We were terrible at it.




Date is also fixed on 28 May 2011.

Somehow I feel uneasy after signing the deal. Maybe it's just too big a transaction and I'm not sure if we have made the right choice.

Finally!

I'm surprised that we have come to a decision this fast although we were caught in between Grand Hyatt and Swissotel The Stamford/ Fairmont.

Victory goes to.................... Swissotel The Stamford/ Fairmont!!

I called up Agnes to confirm the package with her and tell her that we would go through the package and come up with a list of questions/ negotiation for us before she drafts a contract for us.

Date to sign contract: 3 July, Sat at 4pm

We are going to be $5,000 poorer! Got to think of ways to get money for the bridal studio package!

Hotel Hunting

We have taken a look at Grand Copthorne's (19 June) and Grand Hyatt's (21 June) ballroom.

Grand Copthorne was a definite no-no! We were given the Waterfront Ballroom since it fit the min. no. of table requirement and there was no room for negotiation for the Grand Ballroom that comes with a garden landscape as the stage backdrop since it required a min. no. of 40 tables on a weekend.

Things that turned us off:

- Very low ceiling
- Pillars
- Attitude of the Catering Sales personnel (She gave us an impression that, if we can't meet the min. requirement for Grand Ballroom then don't ask so much)
- Suite (One of the worst we have seen. It looks like a standard hotel room, just slightly bigger)

On the other hand, we were quite impressed by the Catering Sales Exec who showed us around on Monday despite the hiccups earlier on when we were informed that the Catering Sales Manager was on sick leave and had to re-schedule the visit again. He actually waited for our arrival at the lobby!

We were given the Magnolia/ Vanda function rooms and were disappointed at how old they looked. Worst still, there were too huge pillars! The exec showed us their Grand Ballroom upon our request and we were bowled over by it!

It looks so much grander at the reception area as well as the ballroom inside. Alas, we would need to take up at least 38 tables for it and each table costs $1,300 plus. Though it has a low ceiling, but its grandeur won us over. A pity that due to the high occupancy on that day, their suite was not available for viewing.

Photos are out....

Terry, the photographer called to inform that our photos are ready so we went to his house to pick them up.

To be honest, I was very nervous about seeing those photos that he has taken. Of course, we have no doubt about his photography skills since he has already been in this line for so long and has always been fully booked during certain period. We have already shown him Joo and Jayven's ROM and that's how we want our photos to look like after editing them.

He's giving us 120 photos free but we topped it up to 180 so we had to fork out $30 more.

When I saw those photos, they were an utter disappointment to me... Out of 180, I guess there were only 10 or less that were edited to the way I wanted them to be. To give some credits, a handful of the photos were indeed well taken.

However, I do not understand by his way of editing the photos. From what I can see in the album, borders and text were added to those photos, some were given touches of special effects like blurring, fading out, etc.

They do not portray the dreamy, fairy-tale effects that I have been looking for.

All photos, a total of about 500, were given back to us in a CD-R and Henry's name was spelt wrongly on it. Instead of Henry, it appeared as Herry due to the cursive font they used.

Henry thought the photos were fine even the borders were a little boring and conventional-looking. I expressed my displeasure when he asked me to rate Terry's work and I gave a mere 60 out of 100. He thought I'm too hard to please but from my point of view, I would think that since we paid for his service, there should be some kind of expectations. Moreover, we showed him what we wanted but did not get it in the end.

I guess it's his photography style that matters. This is not what I wanted.

Sadly to say again, he did not achieve what we were looking for as conveyed to him during the meet-up way before the ROM. I will give him the benefit of doubt that it slipped his mind. I remembered Henry kept emphasising to him that we do not want all our photos to be point-and-shoot kind. There should be more candid shots that reveal the happy emotion of the people from within. A picture tells a thousand words.

I want the focus to be not just on both of us but our parents as well, for example, my parents' expression when we were saying our vows, my mom's emotions when I said my thank-you speech, etc but I saw none of those.

Instead, it was Yada who took such a beautiful shot of my parents during our solemnisation at the table.



This is part of what I have been searching for!

We will certainly view the style of the next photographer for our customary wedding and of course, the pre-wedding shoots. Maybe I should not grumble too much since you get what you paid for.

Site visit at Swissotel The Stamford

We went back to Swissotel The Stamford one week later to check out the actual wedding set-up.

We just went in happily and snapped a few shots:



The reception table...




with their guest book.




The way to the reception area where drinks




The couple's wedding portraits on display.




The wedding albums placed near the reception area.




This is where the guests can help themselves to strawberries and admire the heart-shaped ice carving!




The rather spacious reception area for guests to mingle..




And the bar counter is just a stone's throw away!




As we only have 1/3 of the entire ballroom, which is already big enough to accomodate up to about 45 tables, we will also be entitled to 1/3 of the reception area outside. That explains the partition to ensure that guests attend the right event.




A shot from the entrance of the ballroom.




Looking from the inside of the ballroom... It's going to be an L-shaped march-in.




I don't like the floral display along the aisle.




The projector screen is positioned right ahead from the entrance.




I'm quite pleased with the stage set-up and especially love the way they created the flowy effect of the backdrop. Maybe I will change another colour though. I think this is the typical design adopted by the Swissotel Group as we have seen similar design at Swissotel Merchant Court.




The set-up for VIP tables.




And the guest tables.



Notice that this guest table looks different from the previous one in terms of colour. This is slightly a darker purple. This was due to the special intelligent lightings that they use in the ballroom which direct a ray of light colour of your choice right onto each table.




A pity that we did not take photos of the suite at Swissotel The Stamford and we are definitely bowled over by it!!