The Stamford Crest Suite!

We collected our casual wear photo album at Peninsula Plaza and headed for our meet-up with the new coordinator of Fairmont to confirm on the details of the wedding.

The photo album looked gorgeous but bcos it only has 20 pages, it appeared a little too thin...

The new coordinator, Wen Qing seemed to be a nice and well-organised lady. She walked through with us the necessary details for that day, for example, the music, menu, confirmed attendance, payment method, etc.

Everthing seemed to be in order as of now. I have also put forth the feedback I got from Hui Han when she attended her friend's wedding at the same venue back in March. I told Wen Qing about my concerns of the servers on that day. From Hui Han's experience, the servers were slow which ended up with cold food and unhappy guests in not getting their drinks refilled.

Wen Qing has assured us on this point that she will request to the banquet team for a group of more experienced servers for us. I have also reiterated the negative feedback I saw on the forum some time back. Service seems to be of an issue. But since she said she will look into this, we will give them the benefit of the doubt.

We requested to take a look at the bridal suite once more. Here are the photos!

The joint toilet that's on the right after the entrance.

Sparkling clean and nice!

The walkway towards the living room.

The spacious living room.

We are thinking of having the tea ceremony here but were afraid that the number of guests we are expecting might mess up our beautiful suite.

The view from the living room standing at 65th floor.

The entrance to our bedroom!

That's the open concept bathroom on the right!

A closer look...

View from our bedroom.

We are able to segregate the bedroom from the living room.


I love the bathroom!

Henry's going to wake up at 5am for this! Haha

The breakfast area at 65th floor only for the guests of Stamford Crest Suites.


The food area.

And... they serve TWG tea!

Si Dian Jing

It was a surprise I never expected.

Initially I thought I would be receiving the set of necklace and bangle from my PIL as Si Dian Jing, or rather, Er Dian Jing. But when my MIL showed me the set again today, it turned out that she bought a pair of earrings and a pendant for me!

MIL thought it doesn't look presentable enough with just the Er Dian Jing, so she took the liberty to add on 2 more items. Quite sweet of her to buy those dangling earrings for me since she noticed my fashion sense. The pendant is not too bad as well, with the shape of two hearts joining together!

Trial make-up

Had my trial make-up with Chris and FIL's jacket fitting.

FIL chose a navy blue colour jacket for black isn't his cup of tea.

Chris showed me the day makeup that he will be doing for me on that morning - a pretty basic one - and he is going to put to use what he has learnt from the hairstyling course which he attended for the past 4 days.

He confirmed with me the time and cost of the makeup for my AD and that he managed to get the help of his friend at $80.

Chris also taught me a couple of tips for taking care of my face. If I would like some exfoliating, I could mix 1/2 tablespoon of honey wih 2 teaspoon of fine brown sugar. Apply on the face in circular motion and leave it on for 10 - 15 mins before rinsing it off.

Next, one of the most effective ways in getting rid of pimples fast. Dissolve an aspirin with water and mix it with honey before applying on the targeted area.

After the trial makeup and jacket fitting, we went on to select the hand bouquet and car decor. I could only choose of their boring catalogues and not from those images which I researched online. How rigid...

We have also scheduled 25 May to pick up our gowns, suits, dresses, jackets, hair accessories and veil, etc. Whereas, 27 May will be for the hand bouquet, corsages and car decor.

Dresses for Mommy & Sisters

All of us headed down to di Gio for the selection of Daddy's jacket, Mommy's and Sisters' dresses!

Daddy's was the easiest which took a mere 10 minutes whereas the ladies spent a little more time, as expected, undecisive over several choices.

Nevertheless, the entire process was fun with the 4 of us squeezing into one changing room, helping one another with the zippings. Never had so much fun for a long time!

Mommy's ultimate choice:


Mommy's beautiful smile which I haven't seen it for days bcos of the bad news that fell upon her days ago. I realised that I used to take her smile for granted, until it was lost. I hope she will keep on maintaining this smile.



May helping out with Mommy's cheongsam.


Helping each other out while I snapped away discreetly in the changing room.



Sister Daisy's first choice:


Second choice:


Third choice:


Final - second choice!

Sister Jasmine's first choice:




The back of this dress resembles my AD gown!

Second choice:



I love the back design of this dress!

Third choice:


Final - Second choice!

Mommy also tried on the white dress.


Alas, it doesn't look flattering for Mommy's figure.

I have not decided on the choice of my hand bouquet and car decor yet! Have been delaying for weeks and now, I told May that I will let her know on 28 April, during my trial make-up.

Si Dian Jin

The long-awaited task for the wedding - buying PJs and Si Dian Jin!

Bought 2 sets of silk PJs in pink and blue at only $28!

Headed to a jewellery shop at People's Park where MIL's friend is working at. I spent an unexpectedly shorter time in choosing as compared to the jewellery selection at Poh Heng with Daddy.

I tried on 5 necklace designs and 8 bangles designs before I set my mind on these eventually:





They cost my PIL $2,800. MIL actually asked me to pick another pair of earrings but I'm satisfied with these 2, which I will wear them for special occasions!

Clothes dryer

A second worthy investment that we are going to make:



Chanced upon this article from a 2008 magazine!

A great solution for my laundry when I move over.

Bed sheets

Bought 2 sets of bed sheets from Home style at IMM for only $79 per set!!! Usual price: $399.

Consists of:
2 pillow cases
2 bolster cases
1 Queen size bed sheet
1 quilt

Confirmed!

Club Med has a room for us from 1 - 5 June!!!!!

I have a strong urge to take a month's leave - 2 weeks prior the wedding for preparation and 2 weeks after for Honeymoon... even at the cost of taking no-pay leave.

Photo album

I could not put the casual photo album on hold any longer. So I dedicated a few hours editing the layout that Henry has done up previously.

Finally, we sent it to print at Album Stories via their online services.

I have also discussed with my MIL on the ordering of wedding cakes, so I told her those from Sweetest Moments are good choices. She has no issues about it and let me decide on the preferred package and to go ahead with the ordering.

After seeking Mommy's opinion, I placed an order on 30 boxes of their LOVE set which consists of 2 mochi, 2 brownies, 2 swiss rolls, 2 fruit tarts! Will arrange to collect on 15 May, 9am which is the Betrothal Day.

The card to be included in the wedding cake boxes.

Maldives

We made a trip down to Travel Carnival at Expo in hope to get a good deal for our honeymoon to Maldives.

Checked out a few travel agencies like Nam Ho, Five Stars, AE Travel, etc. We found the package offered by Nam Ho under Club Med most attractive bcos of the full board meals and unlimited water sports activities. However, it was at a whopping $7,000plus!

We deliberated over the few choices and even called up another travel agency which Henry researched on for the quote but most agencies have packages that include accomodation and air tickets only.

Being quite confused, vexed and undecided over the choices, we left to meet our musician, Khairi at Tampines Mall McDonald's.

We discussed about the music for the dinner and the song for our parents after the thank -you speech. He's an experienced and jovial guy who is very passionate about music. He is familiar even with Chinese, Hokkien and Japanese songs!

I felt quite excited about our wedding dinner while talking to him cos he has lots of ideas about various genre of songs. He took note of our special requests and told us he will play by the ears on that day.

We do have intention to extend another session of 45 mins which will cost us $100 more.

With the music settled, we went back to the Travel Carnival to sign up for our Honeymoon package. Eventually, we signed up a 5D4N package with Club Med under Konsortium for their Water Bungalow at $7,010.64 after bargaining. Travelling dates are from 1 - 5 June, SQ flight.

We spent quite a while deciding the travelling period and only managed to secure these dates after checking the seat availability. Then came the bad news - Club Med Kani might not have room available from 1 - 5 June! Konsortium can only check on Monday but the person told us not to worry as chances of them holding back extra rooms are quite high.

Actually, the deals at the carnival are not to-die-for, they just threw in a 24" suitcase and a 3-piece breakfast set for us.

Manicure + Pedicure

We got a great online deal from Groupon - Classic Medicure + Pedicure at $20 by Beyond Beauty!

Sister and I bought a total of 4 vouchers for us (including younger sis and Mommy) to pamper ourselves on 27 May, day before wedding!

There's a little problem. They don't have enough manicurist to do 4 at one go... so we might end up in different outlets.

Oh, I changed my trial makeup appointment on 28 Apr, Thu instead as it coincides with my company D&D. Luckily, Chris is able to make it and he is nice enough to inform di Gio of the change on my behalf :)

Boon Lay Fields application result

Another failed attempt of our HDB application - what's new for our 5th attempt??

Again, our application for a 5-room flat is 3 times over subscribed.


1st attempt - Sales of Balance flat at Bukit Merah
2nd attempt - Dawson our BTO
3rd attempt - Corporation Tiara BTO
4th attempt - Sales of Balance flat at Jurong West
5th attempt - Boon Lay Fields

I just found out from Daddy that Lim Boon Heng is the MP for our GRC. I have asked Daddy to help me find out when is the next Meet-the-people session. Great timing to pour our grievance and make our voice heard!!!

Unhappy event of Chris and di Gio

I gave di Gio a piece of my mind today.

Chris, the make-up artist called me yesterday to confirm on the timing for the evening make-up for myself and Mommy. He informed that he has another couple who is holding their ROM at Conrad prior to mine so he will reach Fairmont at about 5.30pm to work on the make-up.

After I mentioned that we might need to be ready slightly earlier for a short tea ceremony for a few of my relatives who are not able to make it in the morning, Chris realised he would not have sufficient time for both of us.

If we want to be done by 6.45pm, he would need to get another make-up artist to do Mommy's hairdo and make-up at $100 instead of the agreed $80. After hanging up for less than 10 mins, he called again to find out the time Henry will be fetching me on 28 May morning. Only then, he sprung another surprise for me - another bridal make-up that might clash with mine! But he needs to check the timing of the other couple. If our timing clashes, he said both parties might have to compromise.

I remembered Chris told me that I would need to pay $130 in total for the morning and evening make-up, of which I vividly recalled that this should be included within di Gio's package.

Hence, I called May up this afternoon and she clarified the price with me:

$25 - Hairdo (should any curling of hair required)
$25 - ampoule
$15 - Fake lashes

At the same time, I expressed my unhappiness over Chris' schedule for that day, pointing out that it would disrupt our programme timing and inconvenience everyone on such a happy occasion. What's more, I have to fork out extra money to get a second make-up artist!

I have also enquired about the extra cost that we need to pay Chris for coming early to my house that morning. It would be charged at $50 for every hour before 6.30am and since I'm supposed to do my make-up at 5am, it would cost me $75! I requested for a goodwill price but May said it's a standard market rate of which the cost will go through them. Obviously they are drawing some commission from it!

The more I spoke to May, the more frustrated and agitated I become and I realised May's tone of voice started to change. She told me she will check with Chris and update me soon.

In less than 30 mins, Chris called to pacify my anger, saying that there might be a miscommunication on the fact that the charges of different make-up artist varies and there are some confidential issues which di Gio did not convey to them; it's only between the customer and the bridal studio.

I told Chris that I don't want to do my make-up and hairdo in a hasty manner on that day and that I hope to achiee a win-win situation for both myself and himself. He kept telling me not to get angry so I poured my grievances to him, saying that I'm upset di Gio charges for every little thing much to my disgust! He totally understands my plight and said that I'm not the first bride to file that complaint.

Finally, he managed to appease me by agreeing to help me to get his make-up artist friend to do it at $80 on his account and he can do my morning make-up at 5am since the other couple will only start at 7am, although I still need to pay $75 for the early charge.

Invite cards

I gave out my very first few invite cards today!

Passed to Eileen when we met for lunch and then to Yoke Ying and Haiqi when we had our dinner at Jurong Point.

More to go! I'm trying to arrange schedules to meet up with friends to pass it to them asap. Hopefully I will be able to hand out all by 1st week of May!

I have done up a 90%-confirmed program rundown of the Actual Day a couple of days ago. I don't know why, but I felt a huge rock has been taken off my shoulder thereafter. In fact, I feel happy even though I worked on it till 1.30am on a weekday :)

T-shirt printing

We brought all the Xiong Dis and Jie Meis' t-shirts to Queensway for printing.

Waited for about 1.5hours before they are ready for collection, only to know that one of the Xiong Di's t-shirt got a little stain from the printing! They offered ti compensate a piece to us but Henry was insistent that it was not entirely their fault...

In the end, we were only charged for the printing of 19 t-shirts.

We went to NTUC Fairprice to buy a bleach pen and try on the stained t-shirt. It proved to be futile though we managed to remove a little.

IKEA

Dresses and jacket fitting for family - 23 April, Sat at 12pm
Trial make-up - 27 April, Wed at 7.15pm

Henry could not wait till 23 April to collect our photo album, table top photo and the 30 x 24 canvas portrait so we made an impromptu trip to di Gio. Pretty impressed with the final outcome of the photo album and the canvas portrait!

I believe the portrait is going to have a significant presence in our room!

Packed Henry's room in the afternoon and we certainly put our new vacuum cleaner to good use. A worthy investment indeed! I have also began to buy some daily necessities and park them in my new room.

We went to IKEA with my parents-in-law in the evening to check out the bed frame and curtains for our room. A failed attempt at buying the bed frame... my dream bed with the romantic curtain drapes on the metal stands surrounding the frame proved too unrealistic and unpractical for Henry.

MIL was nice enough to suggest that if I really wish to have the drape, my FIL can drill a loop in the ceiling for me to hang a similar one that is separated from our bed.

Ultimately, we need to deliberate if we getting a cheaper one or a higher quality one depending on whether we would want to move it into our own home a couple of years down the road.

But our IKEA trip was not fruitless after all, since we bought curtains for the room! This is my first attempt in purchasing such home items so I got the help from MIL and I managed to find one, which I hope it will blend in beautifully with the green wall of the room.

Oh yea, my 'Married' car plate has been delivered to my house today! Thanks to Daddy who had to stay at home to wait for the late courier.

Depressed.

Bad news - Yiqian called me this morning, she sounded weird over the phone and I could sense something was not right...

Her dad has been admitted into the ICU for a week since his operation. Right now, he is in a critical condition of which his breathing is being supported by an equipment and he will remain unconscious unless the life-supporting equipment is unplugged.

Doctor does not have high hopes.

She cried over the phone and was apologetic for not being able to be my emcee, Jie Mei and even attend my wedding.

I was not upset with her at all, I know she doesn't want this to happen either and she is in much agony than me.

I just have regrets that one of my best friends of 14 years is unable to be present on my big day...

We have to think of someone to assume the emcee role again. As for replacement of Jie Mei, I have asked Jasmine and Hui Han for help. I hate to make decision between the two of them hence, I told them to discuss among themselves and let me know who is going to be my Jie Mei.

Henry and I were wondering... why did history repeat itself from our ROM 1 year ago?

Hyundai Sonatas

We have started to make arrangement for the convoy of Comfort Hyundai Sonata cabs wih the help of Daddy. He has already informed the driver of cab number 2805, our wedding car, of the booking on 28 May but we are still in the talks for the price.

As for the other 4 cabs, I told Daddy to get his friends so that it will be easier to negotiate and we can also ensure that things are in better hands. :)

FIL advised that maybe we should try contacting the ComfortDelGro people directly to seek permission lest it involves branding/licensing issues and also to try our luck in getting sponsorship.

I emailed Tammy from the Corporate Communications Dept and am awaiting for their advice on the cost and arrangement.

Orro 22 from Poh Heng

Daddy came to IMM to meet me after work and we went to Poh Heng for jewellery shopping.

I showed the necklace which I like to Daddy but he told me to see if there are other designs to my liking. Apparently, he doesn't quite like it for some reasons.

So, I browsed and had my eyeballs on a few others. Each one has a higher price tags than the previous one! I don't wish to burst Daddy's budget but he was insistent on getting another dewsign.

In the end, I shortlisted one...


I thought this looks contemporary and nice as a necklace from Daddy for my wedding! But this cost $2,110.




This is my choice from the start - Orro 22 collection at $1,750.




I could not make up my mind and told Daddy to choose since he's paying for it. However, Daddy told me to disregard the cost and get one to my own liking. Eventually, we thought to seek Mommy's opinion so I MMS-ed both pictures.

This is Mommy's choice:






She thought this is more contemporary-looking and so I heeded her advice!

Purchase

Bought the 8 t-shirts from Giordano for the Xiong Dis and Henry's pair of white shoes at last!

Dowry

I went with Ah Ma and Mommy to a jewllery shop in the late afternoon to buy my dowry. Managed to choose the most contemporary-looking pieces from the range of traditional collection.

Mommy bought the ring for me and the 3-gold necklace is a gift from Ah Ma! There was another similar one with 2 white gold at the side and fortunately, I spotted this nicer one at the display window!

A closer look at the set. I have finally bought a more exaggerated ring much to my desire...

And here is the ring which Mommy bought for her son-in-law.