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! :)