Which Bouquet Is Better?

Which bouquet is better? Just purely white or with pink? I cannot decide at all. Haha...

Our wedding planning journey

How it all began?

April 2009
He suddenly just wanted to get married. Propose? Haha, he did that long time ago back in year 2007. Very sweet memory. However, the ring was kinda small but still it meant alot to me.

But this time, he upgraded the ring and got me a bigger one just in time for Korea.

We went for wedding band hunting. Saw a few but nothing captured my heart till I saw an extraordinary design pair in Lee Hwa, Plaza Singapura. Even he likes it very much. It was a diamond affair for us. Ironically, his diamond is much better grade than mine but a little smaller in size. But who cares about the size cause there is no difference if you look at it side-by-side.

Decision on where to have the dinner? Not sure, but we decided to have the ROM (registration) here in Singapore. We feel it is much classy. Then I manage to coax him to do the dinner here. Look at the bright side, we can minimise the amount of people we want to invite but only invite the close ones.


May 2009
We went to Korea at the beginning of May for a week and it was our normal yearly trip. Last year was Hong Kong and Macao.

After we got back, we went for our photoshooting. It was quite an experience. The photographers are his colleagues. He joined the photography club, so he had his colleagues to shoot it. Imagine this, the main photographer is a Manager. I am very fortunate to have a manager to be our photographer. He has the talent. You should see all his photos in flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewjktan/

To those who wants him as their photographer, do let me know. I can pass you his contact. Trust me, he is very talented. He understands the subject very well before he does the shoots. He knows the subject's best image.

Did I mention, the wedding shoes that we purchased, was a last minute thinggy before the shoot. Haha, we forgotten all about it. We had to dash to Vivocity to get a pair before the shoot. Bloody cow... I have never spent a shoe >SGD60 in Singapore at all. Ok, the Adidas sneaker is different. I meant court-shoes, strappy heels, flats, etc.. the girly kinds. I have never gone beyond SGD60 cause to me, it is not worth it to spend so much on a shoe where I know after a few months, it will be worn off. Who knows, just for the wedding, I actually spent SGD120 on the sandals... and I paid for it myself. Chinese have this taboo that the husband/bf cannot buy shoes for the partner or else the partner will walk away from him/her. What a pain-in-the-arse! I cursed the shoe for being so expensive.

June 2009
We went hotel hunting. We had this idea of pool-side dinner. We got options like Shangri-la but we were not happy with the locations they gave us. Then we attended the wedding event by styleswedding magazine which I registered us. At first he was just tagging with me with no intentions of what-so-ever. The food was amazing because it was from Swissotel, The Stamford. 5-star buffet is awsome. Plus, I paid for the registration. So have to eat worth the money.

Part of the event is the hotel's decoration display. We ended up with a few options: a) Alligator Pear, Fairmont, b) Equinox, Swissotel. Actually it was 2 options cause the rest we ignored it. Both places have meaning to us. Alligator Pear was our 2008 Valentines' dinner affair. Equinox was his 2008 birthday affair. We ended up with Alligator Pear because it was a pool-side.

At the same time, he was busy with the photo fixing. He ordered our first album. Nice... simple yet nice. Then we ordered a smaller booklets for family. Even better. I love it. Small and handy.

On the other hand, I was busy browsing through the internet for wedding gowns. I hate to rent. I hate to tie to the boutiques here cause they are so blardy expensive. So I opted for internet purchasing and went for the risk. Many advised me that I might get cheated. Well, I told them, let me purchase something cheaper/lower price. If I get cheated, then it is my fate not to get a gown online but to rent it.

Date? Well, at the beginning we wanted 9-September. Why 9-Sep? Because the date is easy to remember.. 09-09-09... but it was so unfortunate that the hotels are fully booked. Shangri-la, Fairmont... So we changed to 20-September. Why 20-Sep? Haha... 20-09-2009. Nice or not? I just love these date.

For Shangri-la, it was never meant to be because 09-09-09 has no place for us, and 20-09-2009 do not have the room/place we wanted. For Fairmont, 09-09-09 was not available at all. So left 20-09-2009. There.... it was just meant for us to be at Alligator Pear... A memory for us cause, as I have mentioned, we had our 2008 Valentines' dinner there.

July 2009
Invitation cards were ordered. Once receiving it, we began writing. Actually, it was me who wrote it. Haha... Hand became cramp. The pen nip was spoilt due to overloaded/overworked writings I did. About 120 invitation cards.

This is the month where I ordered my gowns online. Dinner gown and wedding gown. Spent about SGD500 for everything, including alteration.

a) Wedding gown
b) Dinner gown
c) Can-can
d) Veil
e) 2 bags

These gowns are unfortunately not the gown that is in the album. Those gowns in the album are the ones that we rented for SGD500 just for the shoot. I can say that it is cheap because if we tied to a normal package of a bridal boutique, it will costs us at least SGD2k. "At least" is the key word. Gosh.. but the gowns that I ordered are even nicer. Haha... but never mind, this means I can have another album to make with the new gowns. *all smiles*

Also, we went to check out the Beach hotel that we will be placing our guests at.

August 2009
Made an appointment with Jenny, the manager for Alligator Pear that we liase with. Saw how the arrangements of the tables. At least with the rough idea on how the table arrangements will be, then it is much easier to plan.

Did arrange the guest lists to allocate them on seating arrangement. I can say this is VERY difficult. There are hidden rules in how we place them on the seating arrangements.

Hidden rules:-

a) Who knows who
b) Who should seat at the main table
c) How are they related
d) Who cannot seat on the same table with X-person
e) Cannot part the partners they bring along ==> Obviously not a hidden one. Haha!!
f) Who can click with who
g) Managers must seat with other Managers
f) Where are they from
g) etc...

Flower bouquet hunting is also not easy. Have to search online for many days. I like this type, but he doesn't. He likes that type, but I don't. Hmm... kinda hard to decide cause all the bouquets are pretty and beautiful. However, we wanted simple and elegant bouquets. We decided on a few...

Choice #1:

http://www.singaporeflorist.com.sg/product.php?TYPE=3&CATID=79_117&PID=900

Choice #2:

http://www.singaporeflorist.com.sg/product.php?TYPE=3&CATID=79_117&PID=539


So the decision will depends on how the hotel does the decorations. Well, we are not so particular in themes cause we want to spend the minimum amount we can. Being in Singapore, it is not cheap at all. But with 5-star hotel at the cost we estimated, it is quite reasonable. Please... we are not converting it to RM and compare. Then it defeat the purpose of us decided to have the dinner here.

We had to decide on the songs too. I can tell you that it is hard to choose songs for the wedding. I love Christian wedding songs. I just love the serenading melody in it. Oh yea, we also search for a band. We had a few options... a) 2 guitarist who can sing all sorts of languages/songs, b) pianist, violinist, singer, c) saxophonist, singer.... I tell you, option (a) is kinda expensive cause it charges but the time but base on our timing it won't exceed SGD1k. Option (b), bloody cow.. this is damn expensive. About SGD2k. Hmm.. can scrap this option. Option (c) is the best cause it is cheap and KY likes saxophonist. Unfortunately, he is booked on the same day of our dinner. Aww.. so we had to go for option (a). Nevertheless, these 2 guys are talented too.

September 2009
Hmm... definitely will do my hair, my nails, my eyebrows. Nope, no facial spa for me. I do not believe in keeping my skin just for my wedding day. Keeping my skin at best is a daily affair.

Tips to those bride-to-be who stumbles upon my blog... Golden rule.. Just have fun coordinating and planning the wedding cause quarrels and misunderstandings will definitely arise. You will definitely show "black face" to each other but then again, don't let this stop you from getting married and love your partner for the rest of your life.

What else have I missed? Well, this is for now. I will update more in future.
Gosh.. time in nearing...
Photos and other tips will be later.... C ya..

Preview of the Album

Hi guys,
I hope it is not disappointing to preview it.
I actually printed out copies but for family only.

http://www.blurb.com/books/724474

PS:-
This preview is not complete. It is just part of the whole album.
The gowns shown in the album are not the ones that I purchased. Hihi.. sorry..

Thinking Hard

What is it like to be a full time housewife? I wonder...