Second gown selection

About a month later, I went back to the studio for my second gown selection. This time I had invited my aunt to come along. I tried quite a few gowns including some of those which I had tried the last time. But none of them was The One.

My coordinator then asked me to try back the "translucent" gown that I chose the other time. After putting it on, my aunt and mum (and myself too) just thought that it was the nicest gown. My aunt convinced me that the mid riff wasn't that translucent ... probably it just appeared translucent under the camera flash?!?! But anyway, since my aunt who thought that the gown was quite translucent when she saw the pictures, had also approved of the wedding gown, I finally set my mind to confirm that as my wedding gown for the actual day.

After that, we understand from the coordinator that another bride (whose wedding is also on 18 Sept) had also set her eyes on this gown. Because I had already confirmed this gown in my first selection, the studio was therefore not able to release it to her unless I gave it up.

The One wedding gown

"In the end, I still choose this back"

We also managed to secretly take a few pictures of the other gowns that I will be wearing for the photoshoot ...

The Kimono

But I will be wearing the black one for the photoshoot

The red one

I love both but I will only choose one of them ... I chose the halter one although many people told me that the black sash one is more elegant and classy. Well, if possible ... I will probably try to make the black sash one my second evening gown for the actual day.

Red gown with black sash

Red halter gown with black floral design Evening gown

Bob chose this gown ... nice colour. But it looks kind of plain so we have requested for diamonte to be added along the top (M shape neckline) ... add another $100 for that ... gasp!

Sonia

First gown selection

I thought the gown selection would be just a breeze ... just fit the gown, look pretty and choose the best gown ... doesn't sound too difficult. But I am so wrong. It is a really tiring process and I just get more confused. I went for the first fitting and managed to choose a wedding gown, an evening gown and 3 others for photoshooting purposes. But I really regretted my choice after that and had to call back the studio to "cancel" my confirmation and arrange for a second fitting session.

I went to the bridal studio with an open mind and was overloaded with the different designs and styles that were available. But the coordinator was really nice to introduce some popular and new wedding gown. I found one which I loved it once I tried it on. Although it is a really nice wedding gown, I was pretty concerned with the mid riff area which seems a bit translucent. I am worried that it will look "indecent" for a bride. But my sisters and mum were very pleased with the gown and persuaded me to take it. So I took it!


I happily showed my cousin, aunt, future mother-in-law and future sisters-in-law pictures of the gown but they thought that it was too transparent!!! My heart sank ... I had no choice but to inform my coordinator that I wish to choose again. But she was really nice and understanding and quickly arranged another fitting session for me.

Sigh ...

Sonia

Positive and negative comments for Orchard Hotel

I was reading the forum on Singaporebrides website and saw some really positive comments for Orchard Hotel ... Bob and I were really relieved to see other OH couples complementing their services. We were quite worried with the service quality at first because Bob didn't have a very good experience when he attended a wedding dinner there last year. The negative comments were on the food presentation ... not presentable enough for wedding dinner standard. Shall bear that in mind and see if the co-ordinator can feedback to the chefs when we go for the food tasting. Another negative comment was about the "not so good" services of the waiters ... which was what Bob had experienced. The recommended dish is this crispy roasted chicken ... they say it's a MUST!

Sonia

First dish song - Diva Dance by Inva Mula

I suddenly remembered this song which I heard in the movie "Fifth Element". It was sung by a blue alien with an amazing voice. I just thought it will be great to use that for the first dish song ... something fast and catchy that can energise the guest for the feast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKuKDzhQ6Cg&feature=related

Sonia

Videographer confirmed!

After a heated debate over which, where and what videographer to get and a whole lot of online streaming (where we saw the bad and the marvellous), we met up with a chap from Forest Productions. We had previously viewed their clips online, and were impressed enough to warrant a face-to-face meeting with the videographer himself.

We finally met up with the videographer on Friday for the demo. He was very young ... probably younger than us (which really says alot about our demographic progression). Wanjun and Marcus also came along for the demo as they were contemplating a video montage on their tight budget.

We had critically evaluated the quality of his previous works, and the layout of his presentation did not differ too much from the clips that we had seen online. He went through with us the deliverables and the timeline for the day itself, and he got us thinking when he mentioned that he would need 6 hours to do up the express highlights in time for the dinner.

As I would set off from Sengkang at 9am in the morning, the time spent on the 'games' and fetching of the bride to and fro might be a tight squeeze, given that we were to do our ROM on the same day as well. Owells. We might have to consider doing up the to-the-minute schedule done up by one of Sonia's friends.

All in all, his services were pretty well presented and we were confident enough to confirm his services on the spot that day. We then fund transferred the deposit of $300 immediately to his account the following day.

Ryan Bob

Target (photographer) located!

The videography firm reverted to me yesterday that the couple who was considering to make the booking on 18 September 2010 had decided that they needed more time to look around and hence would not be confirming the deal. The co-ordinator was also very nice to help us get her boss's agreement to extend the pre-increment rate till 7 February 2010. If we are satisfied with their works and placed a deposit by 7 February 2010, they will let us have the 10 hour coverage videography + express highlight package at $1,200 instead of $1,400. I immediately went to check with my "boss" on his schedule and made an appointment with the videographer for a demo session this evening (Monday). Unfortunately, the videographer was not feeling well and the meet up was postponed to Friday.

But coincidentally, the bridal studio also called me this afternoon to confirm the gown fitting and photo shoot date as well as to check if we were interested to take up the optional offers such as actual day photography, made-to-measure man suit and rental of bridal car. Upon further enquiry, I learned that the bridal studio also provide videography services. Since the meeting with the external videographer was postponed, we thought we might as well visit the bridal studio instead.

The video produced by the bridal studio was ok only. Bob thought that it wasn't that impressive so we didn't enquire further. The actual day photography was really quite cheap ... at least I thought so. But we don't really get to choose the photographer, or I should say we were not given sufficient information to make an informed decision. Well ... we were only told that there were a male and a female photographer available @@. The bridal studio just gave us some album and softcopies to view ... frankly speaking we also couldn't be sure that those works were indeed done by the male or female photographer. But since it's just $300 ... I think we just take it baaa!

Sonia

Where are my photographer and videographer?

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