The Wedding Planning. Part 1

10 years back, if anyone asked about my ideal age to get married, I would say 26. As I get older, I realise how unrealistic it is because of all the monetary responsibility that comes from a wedding (banquet, house, honeymoon... ) I pushed back ideal marrying age to 28 so as to save more money.

BUT... because of our flat that is being built in SUPER fast speed, we decided to get married this year! We started planning late last year and many tried to persuade me to do small ROM first, get the flat then have Chinese customary wedding a year later. I know I will not want to go through the whole Chinese customary wedding (BANQUET) so I decided to work hard and put everything together by having gatecrash, tea ceremony, solemnisation and buffet lunch all in one day. Sounds a little crazy and lets hope all goes well.

Here are some things that we have selected:

Venue

pic from weddingdiaryblog.com

 I have always visualise a garden wedding and love all the photographs taken at Burkhill (Botanic Garden) and Fort Canning Park. However, most of these venues do not come with any vendor and that means alot more work to liaise with all vendor. Locations weren't ideal too and some were far away from washroom... ... We visited Fort Canning Park, got kissed by mosquitoes so many times, we decided not to put our guests through that.

In the end, we decided to own our solemnisation at the Glass Pavilion at Amara Sanctuary Sentosa and have a buffet lunch at Shutters Restaurant. Some may feel that Sentosa is inaccessible but we will be catering a bus for our guests, we think it is still alright. Heard very good reviews about their food and really love the place (boyfriend included, not just me). Most importantly, the Glass Pavilion comes with air-con so that my guests and I don't have to suffer from heat (or rain). The only thing about the Glass Pavilion is... it exudes this elegant feel thus making it impossible for a rustic garden theme which I love. Am working towards a coral+pink/mint theme now.

Bridal Shop
After confirming date and venue, it is time to choose a bridal shop. I had wanted to do all ala carte but got really lazy about it. Another concern I had was the fathers' jackets for both our dads. I knew it is included in most of the mainstream bridal shops and didn't want them to go through the trouble and money of tailoring one.

Here are the list of bridal shops I visited (both mainstream and slightly atas ones):
Olive Suites Wedding - MTM to rent/sell. I get to design my own gown but it is alittle too expensive
Blessed Brides - rental of gown and also MTM. Felt I could get similar gown at mainstream bridal shop
Yvonne Creative - out of curiosity, we ventured into their shop and were so disappointed with their service, space and gown
La Belle - they have this really gorgeous gown that I love (but only one) but wasn't able to haggle much for the price
 Di Gio - beautiful gowns but I do not like the coordinators there
Rico-A-Mona - love their gowns, service and place

pic from Rico-A-Mona Bridal

It is not difficult to see which I choose in the end. I managed to get further discount because I met my sister's coordinator (Yep! she is a Rico's bride) during a walk-in visit and she recognised me. We took up their AD package and will be renting a gown and suit from them for our photoshoot in April

Photographers

pics from Multifolds Photography

We actually book our pre-wedding photographer way back in July during the Wedding Village show at Suntec. I have been following Multifolds since they started and really love some of their photographs and decided to drop by their booth to talk to Melvin. He was super busy on both days but we managed to talk to him about his vision for prewedding photography. We gave their package a thorough thought for a day before heading down again to sign their package as they offer 20% discount for the wedding show

 When it comes to deciding AD photographer, we have a smaller budget to work with and decided not to engage Multifolds (too expensive). Happen to see someone selling her package with Lightedpixels Pixies at a discount, which was a steal! Decided to go for it though I did find some budding photographers with slightly more affordable price.


We will be meeting Melvin to discuss about our pre-wedding shoot soon and also going down to Rico to select gown for photoshoot. Meanwhile, I need to put together other outfits for the shoot since we are only getting one set from Rico. We will be heading to Bangkok in April hopefully to get some things for wedding/home :))

Exciting 2014! One month down and more to go!