Marriage is a once in a lifetime event, at least so I hope for myself. Since I did not have a complete family from young and I wanted to experience the total opposite. It was the chance for me to just change my life around, my own future family. I wanted a complete, loving and fun family filled with happiness. Getting married, having kids early and being a fun, pretty, young mum was a goal since I was a kid. As I grew older, after experiencing a few bad relationships, it seemed like my dream was not all that easy to attain.
Until M came along, all I did was focus on earning money, having fun and drinking lonely nights away. M showered me with so much love and care that I never thought I deserved. I was also scared that it would all disappear within a blink of an eye. M being 8 years older than me, we are roughly on par in terms of maturity as well as what we wanted out from a relationship. It was not a relationship just to past time but one which helped both of us to be a better someone for the other.Of course we had our fair share of fights. How does a relationship grow stronger without fights? These fights meant nothing in comparisons to the fear of losing each other.
THE STONE
My proposal ring was done by White Dwarf. It is located at the industrial areas. Went down so that i could try the ring size. The place is run by a Singaporean who does this on the sidelines. Prefer the service from them as compared to those big chain stores as there is more customisation and choices. They also walk your blur soon-to-be fiance through all the factors to look out for in buying the stone, giving advice as to what can be compromised and what should not be compromised. It is definitely better than buying the stone off commercial brands that charges you an arm and a leg for the branding. It is based on appointments only, great privacy to discuss what you are looking for at whatever budget you have.
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| Came the day he proposed! |
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| ♦My bling bling♦ |
My proposal ring was done by White Dwarf. It is located at the industrial areas. Went down so that i could try the ring size. The place is run by a Singaporean who does this on the sidelines. Prefer the service from them as compared to those big chain stores as there is more customisation and choices. They also walk your blur soon-to-be fiance through all the factors to look out for in buying the stone, giving advice as to what can be compromised and what should not be compromised. It is definitely better than buying the stone off commercial brands that charges you an arm and a leg for the branding. It is based on appointments only, great privacy to discuss what you are looking for at whatever budget you have.
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| My mum all smiles☺Cam shy didnt get to take one with her eyes open! |
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| Guo Da Li that M brought! |
PRE-WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY PACKAGE($3888)
We felt that there was no need to buy a wedding dress since I was only going to wear it once and keep it forever stashed somewhere at home. Renting the wedding dress seemed like a more practical option especially since a wedding dinner in Singapore does not come cheap. I came across this wedding showcase that was held by Sheratons Towers Singapore and discovered La Belle Couture. I decided on La Belle due to their selection of dresses available and actually loving a couple of dress choices.We were served by Lucas. Apparently he designs the dresses available at La Belle. I was probably one of the easiest customer he served. I tried on only 2 wedding dresses before deciding on the 2nd one as my wedding dress. The tough part came deciding which were the gowns for our wedding photoshoot. I ended up adding on 2 extra gowns for the photoshoot, on top of what was included in the package.
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| Wedding dress! |
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| Convertible gown w/o the petticoat |
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| W the extra poof! |
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| Outdoor gown which trapped tons of bugs within the layers>.< |
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| The tightest most uncomfortable gown ever! |
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| Super ohbiang gown but very pretty♥ |
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| Ex banquet colleagues and my evening gown |
The only cons, the price. We paid a total of about $7000 for everything end of the day. But I doubt you can escape these exorbitant pricing scheme for all pre-wedding packages. The killer was the extra photos. Since we do not usually take photos we just took those that looked nice. M kept going on about being conned even up till now. Both of us are not much of a bargainer. So we just paid. If you bargain with them aggressively and book early I am pretty sure you can get more than what I got.
WEDDING DINNER BANQUET(Orchard Hotel)
Since I used to work at hotels, naturally I knew all the worst stuff that could happen at a wedding dinner. It was crucial to me that I knew who was in charge of my wedding dinner. I can be quite a control freak especially since I knew what and how things should be done.
Usually couples book at least a year ahead however we managed to get a suitable date just 2 months prior to the big day. It would not have been possible without the help of Mon, assistant catering sales manager of Orchard Hotel. He knew how important it was for us to get the right date and ballroom that is big enough for all our guests. He did everything he could to help us secure the big day, 12 October 2013.
Orchard Hotel happened to be changing new rugs in the ballrooms, just in time for our wedding dinner. Since Orchard Hotel is a corporate hotel, the bridal room was not as big as I would like it to be but it was nice and cozy for both of us. It was a deep red theme as well, which I really liked.
We had a total of 30 tables and it was still comfortable for all guests. Menu for the night was the typical wedding dishes, nothing too fanciful since there were 8 courses and when we went for the food tasting, all of us were bursting at the belly.
Holding a banquet dinner was the biggest expense for the whole wedding making up almost 60 to 70% of our total wedding cost. If you like to cut on the amount you need to spend on the banquet some tips are :
We had a total of 30 tables and it was still comfortable for all guests. Menu for the night was the typical wedding dishes, nothing too fanciful since there were 8 courses and when we went for the food tasting, all of us were bursting at the belly.
Holding a banquet dinner was the biggest expense for the whole wedding making up almost 60 to 70% of our total wedding cost. If you like to cut on the amount you need to spend on the banquet some tips are :
- Do a wedding lunch if you feel that you are up for the marathon. Typically the ballroom would be for you all the way till latest 4? After that there would be plenty of time for you to chat with the guest as well after the lunch just outside the ballroom. Whereas if you did a dinner banquet, everyone would be rushing off to catch the last train or bus. Our plan for the big day was gate crashing, tea ceremony, solemnization. There was so much to do and we were worried if one gets delayed, the rest would be forced behind schedule. Plus I knew I would get tired. Imagine how horrible it would feel being so tired but having to smile and entertain all guest. I was not so sure if I would be able to keep my temper in check. WHOOPS. ( Thank god we did not opt for wedding lunch because our solemnizer came 45 mins later than planned.)
- The more courses of food, the more expensive the per table cost. Honestly, you do not need 8 course banquet. Most people would be filled by the time it gets to the 5th course. Also if you really just want to do a banquet dinner for the sake of family, getting traditional wedding dishes is more than enough. It is not a need to have delicacy for every course. Just one or two will suffice.
- Family style banquet is typically cheaper than individually plated banquet style. However when you do go for family style, special orders such as muslim or vegetarian would come as an additional per pax cost on top of the per table cost. Most hotels now serve no pork no lard menu which would typically be ok for muslims. Check with your muslim guest if they are ok w no pork no lard or do they only strictly eat halal food. No pork no lard does not mean it is halal but it is sometimes a good enough alternative for muslims. Halal means the food must have been prepared with halal practices, preferably slaughtered by a muslim, even the cutleries must have been cleansed properly.
- Try and bargain drinks wise what is complimentary in the package. It is the norm that hotels give complimentary one bottle of wine for every guaranteed table. Guaranteed table means that regardless if the table is half filled or empty, it will still be charged, it is like the minimum number of tables for your banquet that you are sure would turn up. You can arrange for more tables than the minimum guaranteed. Those extras are reserved. Only when you want to open the table, that it is charged. So try to finalise the guest list first so you have a rough idea how many tables you would definitely need. It would also be useful to help you decide which ballroom to book as different ballroom have different min and max numbers of tables to fit. Try to get waiver for corkage charge for your own wines and alcohol and free flow beer. The earlier you book your banquet, the more say you have in asking for complimentary items. You just have to know what to ask for.
- Some hotels provide good, practical choices of wedding favours. Look through what they have to offer. If you are totally easy going like me, just use those favours provided complimentary by the hotel and you save a bomb. Some hotels do provide ang pow boxes as well as wedding guest books. Check with them and see if you are happy with the way it looks. Less items to scout around for!
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| Our wedding favours (Recyclable bag and poker card with love quotes) |
- Wedding invites! Our wedding invites was provided by D'invite. Orchard Hotel collaborates with D'invite and Tdragoncards. We went ahead with D'invite because their design was more modern. Our package entitles us to invite for 70% of our total guests however printing of the cards are not inclusive. Hence before you go down to pick your wedding invite designs you should also know roughly how many you would be sending out so you do not overprint or underprint. If you do underprint and you need to print more, there is min 100 pcs, which by them would be way too much for you to use.
ACTUAL DAY PHOTOGRAHY
Orchard Hotel and La Belle have a tie up, if you are holding your wedding at Orchard hotel, you are entitled to 50% off actual day photography. That was what we went with. I was worried that it would be substandard after we paid for it but it turned out just fine. Some pictures here for you to judge for yourselves. Photographer was Ken.
Orchard Hotel and La Belle have a tie up, if you are holding your wedding at Orchard hotel, you are entitled to 50% off actual day photography. That was what we went with. I was worried that it would be substandard after we paid for it but it turned out just fine. Some pictures here for you to judge for yourselves. Photographer was Ken.
VIDEOGRAPHY
Our video was probably the best expense in the whole wedding. Do not save up on it. It captures that special day and keeps it alive. It was pricey so we only did morning highlights which I thought was more than enough.
Our video was probably the best expense in the whole wedding. Do not save up on it. It captures that special day and keeps it alive. It was pricey so we only did morning highlights which I thought was more than enough.
PixelMusica did our video. No regrets engaging them. Was a little hesitant about them because they wanted us to go down to meet them and see their work before giving us a quote and all. To me it was unnecessary because I was lazy and there was just so little time to prep everything. Did not want to make a trip down, get my hubs to sacrifice his lunch break and end up not engaging them cos their prices are exorbitant . However hubs said to make a trip down so I obliged. Initially I felt that they were totally trying to do the whole sales pitch, ask about how we met, the day's event of the wedding, show us their works which has won awards and give us background of their videographers. (I like to cut the chase) Hubs loved their approach and was very keen on them and proceeded to discuss about budget. They are willing to work out something that would fit your budget. Of course you cannot be expecting a lot for a dirt cheap price. They take loads of pride in their work so be assured that your big day videography will be in good hands. They do pre-wedding photography and actual day photography too however we already had all those settled. *If you have not engaged anyone for actual day photography, please consider getting them to do it if you are going to engage them for videography so they can plan how to cover the whole day and you not have photographers ruining your videography.
Overall our wedding was pretty much the norm. Sorry not much creativity juices flowing. Im glad everything turned out fine and most importantly we got married!
