Hand bouquet & ROM dress

It was a heart-aching day for me cos we have burnt holes in our pockets for something which I knew I could have bargained for more discounts or find slightly cheaper alternatives.

These 2 items were mildly over the budget - hand bouquet and ROM dress.

We made a trip to Sarah's terrace house at Jalan Hitam Manis. Her house was nicely decorated just like a cosy English cottage. I discussed and showed her the callas lilies which I want for my ROM and she gave professional advice and great suggestions. Finally, we settled on a bunch of at least 5 yellow lilies with suitable stalk length for my height, bundled with long, flowy cream ribbon.

What I had in mind was the orangey lilies that I saw in the magazine but Sarah thought it would look dull, so yellow would be a better choice to brighten up my dress and to complement the OneRochester environment.

She is going to decide on the number of stalks in the bundle as she mentioned that she couldn't predict the size of the flowers from the florist. Hence, it will be safer to order more and she will size them up as deemed fit but she will not charge extra for more stalks used.

We said yes to the flowers even before we talked about the money. Initially, I went there with the intention of not spending more than $100 for my hand bouquet as Mommy said a few stalks of flowers will not and NEED NOT cost much. I saw her writing the amount on the invoice and felt my jaws dropped - $150. And wait, on the second clearer look, my eyes were playing tricks on me! It was $180!!!!!! Way beyond the budget! Of course, I bargained a little but Sarah said she is already charging me $30 cheaper for those callas lilies..

After this jaw-dropping episode, we talked further about the wedding favours and we were to decide between a 30g of France imported honey and 30g of various tea leaves that we can select from. After much debating, we picked the honey as it suits our theme and no doubt, less harsh on our pockets although it was only $0.50 cheaper per piece. Sarah will do the packaging according to our colour theme - blue & green. Anyway, we ordered 65 bottles to cater for last minute surge in attendance. Pick-up will be on that day itself on our own. A total of $427 were gone at Sarah's.

I had to pour it out to someone and the closest who is able to understand my situation is Joo. We share the same sentiments that only an appropriate sum of money should go to hand bouquet cos it will be discarded eventually and that's literally throwing your money away.

Rushing for the appointment with Yamei Aunty, we took a cab to Bukit Panjang. I was again dealt with another blow. Apparently, her house is a SOHO where fabrics and other tailoring materials were scattered all over the place. I showed her the picture from the mag and she suggested the fabrics to use before taking my measurements. I could tell that she is really experienced in making gowns as she was able to tell me what kind of cutting I'm suitable for.

Fabrics used on the ROM dress - satin, organza & netting. Yamei Aunty will help me to source for the ball of feathers too.

She explained how she is going to tailor it and told me how many alterations there will be and when will be the first fitting. When measurements were being taken, she commented that I need more exercise on my tummy cos it's flabby so I need to work harder to look nice in that dress. But of course, she will leave some leeway at the waist just in case I can't lose those fats in time.

After all the excitement on the dress, she revealed the price to me - $388. I gave her a blank look cos I was only prepared to pay $250, from that time we conversed on the phone. Bargained for more discounts, she hesitated and gave a $20 discount. I'm trying my very best to think on the bright side, seriously. I keep telling myself, actually $368 is reasonable for the dress which is still wearable for wedding dinners and other occasions as I told Aunty to tailor it so that it looks versatile. So she suggested to have the train of netting on the shoulder to be detachable.

First fitting is going to be on 17 April, Sat. We paid a $50 deposit and had to pay another half on 17th.

After these 2 episodes, I was wondering why can't I utilise my bargaining skills in Bali on the ROM dress and hand bouquet??! I should have bargained for more, go for slightly cheaper alternatives, argued on the fact that I was quoted between $100 plus to $200 plus for the dress over the phone and that I'm not willing to pay so much for something which will not last for more than 3 days!! In the end, I realised it was bcos of the fear that I will get slipshod work and inferior quality for arguing so much with them. I do not want to jeopardise my flowers and ROM dress for the unnecessary bargainings in exchange for a few dollars cheaper.

I shall leave these in both their hands and I hope I will be happy at the end results.