It's been a while since we last did something for our wedding preparation. After buying our wedding bands in September, I was tied up with work all the way until November. I started to do something about it again only after attending a class gathering in December when my friend (who just got married in November) advised me to start looking for the wedding photographer and videographer before the good ones were all being taken up.
It is really a time consuming and tiring process of sourcing, selecting, enquiring and "reporting" to Bob for his opinion and "approval". It is really not an easy task, especially when we do not have a very generous budget to work with. A video package would generally cost at least $1,200 for a 10 hours coverage. I did manage to find some videographers with package costing less than $1,000 ... but they were not available on 18 September 2010. And when we decided to settle on this videographer who had recently upped his rates to $1,400 for a package (which included express highlight), we were told that another couple was also considering and thus we had to be put on the waiting list. I am currently in the midst of sending our enquiry emails again.
For the actual day photography, I initially wanted to separately source for a photographer instead of taking the bridal studio's $300 offer for actual day photography. But I must admit that the $300 offer would really help us to save a great deal since a photography package (the most normal kind) would easily cost us another $900 / $1,000. But now I am worried that the studio's photographers would be fully booked on 18 September 2010 by now. I have just called my studio but the co-ordinator was not free to take my call. Guess I got to call her again ... ...
Sonia
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Gown fitting and photo shooting dates
Called up the bridal studio to confirm the gown fitting and photo shooting dates. Shall be going to try the wedding gowns on 28 February 2010. Pre-wedding photo shoot is scheduled on 6 May 2010. Trying to get as much things done before the lunar liu yue and qi yue. Well, people advise us to avoid wedding preparation during liu yue because it is the half year mark ... not very auspicious because it's like "HALF way there" and as for qi yue ... you know why.
Sonia
Sonia
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Lucky draw is real!
I always thought that the lucky draw contests published in magazines are just gimmicks for the marketing companies to get hold of new contacts. But when you see all the wedding gowns, wedding banquets, pre-wedding photography, etc that are put up for the lucky draws in the wedding magazine, you will probably just tell yourself "No harm trying, why not just send in the lucky draw ticket and try my luck".
So I sent out my lucky entries and wished for the best. I checked my emails frequently hoping that one day I would receive a notification email to inform me that I had won something. Just when I least expected, I received a letter (instead of email) to congratulate me on winning a pair of original silicon NuBra. Hahahahaha .... better than nothing!
Sonia
So I sent out my lucky entries and wished for the best. I checked my emails frequently hoping that one day I would receive a notification email to inform me that I had won something. Just when I least expected, I received a letter (instead of email) to congratulate me on winning a pair of original silicon NuBra. Hahahahaha .... better than nothing!
Sonia
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The ticker says it all...
It was a Friday.
Setting: The meeting with a client.
The insistent beeping on my mobile signalled that someone somewhere was looking for me rather urgently.
I excused myself and answered the call.
Cue the sweet voice on the other end of the line - "Thanks, dear. "
She liked it. And didn't have a clue about it.
I only had the time to reply with "Anything for you, paozy" before I exceeded the time allotted for courtesy calls.
Her smile, quite simply, completed my day.
Bob
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Our wedding bands are ready
We finally received a call from Lee Hwa to inform us that the wedding bands are ready for collection. Let's take a look at our wedding bands ...
Take a closer look
Next Friday will be 18 September 2009 ... exactly one year to go ...
Sonia
Our rose gold and white gold Destinee wedding bands
The wedding bands on the ring pillow ... so lovely
Take a closer look
Next Friday will be 18 September 2009 ... exactly one year to go ...
Sonia
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Shopping for our wedding bands
This year's National Day fell on a Sunday so we got a Monday off for the week ... weeeeeee. Since there would be no work on Monday, we decided to go wedding band-hunting. We had been scouting around for the ideal pair of rings for a few weeks now and we had been to Lee Hwa, Soo Kee, Tian Po and SK thus far.
Although the current designs for the wedding bands were pretty standard across the different jewelry dealers, there were still a few unique designs that caught our attention (Lee Hwa's crisscrossed, white- and rose-gold wedding bands [left] vs Soo Kee's white gold and rose gold digitalised wedding bands).
They looked something like this:
So we thought it would probably be good for us to start doing some serious comparison work and probably make our purchase on 9 August 2009 (sounds auspicious).
Our day begun with the intention to make our rounds about the Orchard locale, with our first destination being the newly opened Ion Orchard and then the other jewellers around the area. Fate had nothing to do with our divergence from our original objective, as we were soon to learn (to the peril of our collective savings). The large 50% off posters at each jeweler's entrance were ominous signs of things to come...
Stop 1: Larry Jewelry
Our first stop was to visit the branch of the place where I had bought the proposal ring in hope that we could find something that suited our fancies. A mere 5 minutes of looking was enough to convince the both of us that Larry's was not going to be our choice du jour.
The designs were relatively dated and quite forgettable, which certainly highlighted the fact that they were a specialty diamond shop.
Stop 2: Lee Hwa @ Ion Orchard
Armed with 2 x birthday vouchers courtesy of her mum and Auntie Irene, we stalked out the largest Lee Hwa in the area, inside the spanking new Ion Orchard. It was no easy feat navigating around the mall though as the jewelry street was located away from the main mall itself. We made a few fruitless trips around the complex before finding the outlet.
However, we spent the better part of the next 6 hours in this shop agonizing over the bands. And more [signed an NDA therefore no elaboration will be made on this part].
We were initially quite disappointed to learn that they did not have the crisscrossed rings in stock, as they were our bands of choice from the onset. However, a pair of Destinee rings caught our eyes. They were similar in design and looked more solid (the crisscrossed ones looked as though they were welded together. Unfortunately the 50% off did not apply to wedding bands. Smartasses.
We looked at them for a while before heading over to Goldheart. Unbeknownst to me, she was stealing glances at the diamond sets (which she had always dreamed of having).
Stop 3: Goldheart @ Ion Orchard
The Goldheart designs were nondescript, nothing fancy and pretty safe.
NEXT!
Stop 4: Soo Kee @ Ion Orchard
At Soo Kee, we rediscovered our liking for the digital / checkered wedding bands. But her mind was on something else altogether...
Stop 5: Lee Hwa @ Wisma Atria
Although the service we had received at Lee Hwa @ Ion Orchard was excellent, Sheena had specifically requested that we spend our money at Wisma if we could (she had some rewards points to be earned). Unfortunately, the store did not have the bands that we wanted in stock.
The retail executive was pretty persistent, and kept presenting us with bands that we did not quite like. We then adjourned to Starbucks for a Green Tea Frappe and to contend over our findings and observations.
We then decided to wait for her mum (who, like most women) are BFFs with their jewelry. I even had the time to pick out 3 shirts at the G2000 nearby.
Final Stop: Lee Hwa @ Orchard Ion
I suppose it was apparent that we would settle for the pickings at the Ion Orchard Lee Hwa store by now, and unsurprisingly, the selection of the bands took a back seat to the diamond jewelry which took up most of our time.
We chose the Destinee wedding bands without much hassle, and I was thankful for not having to settle for the initial pair of keychain-ish bands.
And so, proudly presenting the fruit(s) of our labour (the male counterpart is a mere peripheral of the female):
I wonder what has religion got to do with Gross Sales though. The Merchant of Venice harks to mind. Of Jews, Shylock and Usury :)
Ryan Bob
Although the current designs for the wedding bands were pretty standard across the different jewelry dealers, there were still a few unique designs that caught our attention (Lee Hwa's crisscrossed, white- and rose-gold wedding bands [left] vs Soo Kee's white gold and rose gold digitalised wedding bands).
They looked something like this:
So we thought it would probably be good for us to start doing some serious comparison work and probably make our purchase on 9 August 2009 (sounds auspicious).
Our day begun with the intention to make our rounds about the Orchard locale, with our first destination being the newly opened Ion Orchard and then the other jewellers around the area. Fate had nothing to do with our divergence from our original objective, as we were soon to learn (to the peril of our collective savings). The large 50% off posters at each jeweler's entrance were ominous signs of things to come...
Stop 1: Larry Jewelry
Our first stop was to visit the branch of the place where I had bought the proposal ring in hope that we could find something that suited our fancies. A mere 5 minutes of looking was enough to convince the both of us that Larry's was not going to be our choice du jour.
The designs were relatively dated and quite forgettable, which certainly highlighted the fact that they were a specialty diamond shop.
Stop 2: Lee Hwa @ Ion Orchard
Armed with 2 x birthday vouchers courtesy of her mum and Auntie Irene, we stalked out the largest Lee Hwa in the area, inside the spanking new Ion Orchard. It was no easy feat navigating around the mall though as the jewelry street was located away from the main mall itself. We made a few fruitless trips around the complex before finding the outlet.
However, we spent the better part of the next 6 hours in this shop agonizing over the bands. And more [signed an NDA therefore no elaboration will be made on this part].
We were initially quite disappointed to learn that they did not have the crisscrossed rings in stock, as they were our bands of choice from the onset. However, a pair of Destinee rings caught our eyes. They were similar in design and looked more solid (the crisscrossed ones looked as though they were welded together. Unfortunately the 50% off did not apply to wedding bands. Smartasses.
We looked at them for a while before heading over to Goldheart. Unbeknownst to me, she was stealing glances at the diamond sets (which she had always dreamed of having).
Stop 3: Goldheart @ Ion Orchard
The Goldheart designs were nondescript, nothing fancy and pretty safe.
NEXT!
Stop 4: Soo Kee @ Ion Orchard
At Soo Kee, we rediscovered our liking for the digital / checkered wedding bands. But her mind was on something else altogether...
Stop 5: Lee Hwa @ Wisma Atria
Although the service we had received at Lee Hwa @ Ion Orchard was excellent, Sheena had specifically requested that we spend our money at Wisma if we could (she had some rewards points to be earned). Unfortunately, the store did not have the bands that we wanted in stock.
The retail executive was pretty persistent, and kept presenting us with bands that we did not quite like. We then adjourned to Starbucks for a Green Tea Frappe and to contend over our findings and observations.
We then decided to wait for her mum (who, like most women) are BFFs with their jewelry. I even had the time to pick out 3 shirts at the G2000 nearby.
Final Stop: Lee Hwa @ Orchard Ion
I suppose it was apparent that we would settle for the pickings at the Ion Orchard Lee Hwa store by now, and unsurprisingly, the selection of the bands took a back seat to the diamond jewelry which took up most of our time.
We chose the Destinee wedding bands without much hassle, and I was thankful for not having to settle for the initial pair of keychain-ish bands.
And so, proudly presenting the fruit(s) of our labour (the male counterpart is a mere peripheral of the female):
I wonder what has religion got to do with Gross Sales though. The Merchant of Venice harks to mind. Of Jews, Shylock and Usury :)Ryan Bob
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Hotel confirmation received
We have finally received the confirmation from Orchard Hotel for the wedding banquet on 18 September 2010. The $5,000 deposit for the confirmation has also cleared. Earlier on, we are informed by the hotel that my credit card cannot be processed. We are so worried that we would miss the settlement deadline and lose the offer.
The confirmation package came in a nice folder with some interesting documents such as ... ...
Based on the Wedding Dinner Programme, we are supposed to exit the ballroom to prepare for the second march-in at the end of the first course ... and we will return for the second march-in only after the third course. Most likely after the champagne pouring (right after second march-in), we will need to tour the ballroom to take photos with the guest. Hahaha ... hope the pre-dinner snacks will be good.
Sonia
The confirmation package came in a nice folder with some interesting documents such as ... ...
The Wedding Dinner Programme, a sample Toastmaster's Speech and a list of Wedding Songs for reference
Based on the Wedding Dinner Programme, we are supposed to exit the ballroom to prepare for the second march-in at the end of the first course ... and we will return for the second march-in only after the third course. Most likely after the champagne pouring (right after second march-in), we will need to tour the ballroom to take photos with the guest. Hahaha ... hope the pre-dinner snacks will be good.There's also a mandarin version of the Toastmaster's Speech!
Sonia
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