Wedding: Guo Da Li 过大礼

Today is our Guo Da Li 过大礼, or the Chinese betrothal ceremony.
It is said to be a formal state of engagement to be married.

G and I went to a few shops to see the Guo Da Li items but in the end we got our stuff at Amanda Dreamweaver which located at Peoples Park Food Centre 2nd level.
The reason why we decided to buy from them is because they explained the traditions and customs to us and helped us to match the items.
We were to lazy to to match the items as we aren't sure what to buy and what's not.
I feel that their service is good just that their items are quite pricey.
Also, the custom to follow is more traditional, i.e: bedsheets has to be red, etc.
G had friends telling him that their custom are much more simpler.
But anyway, we re glad that this is over.
7 more days to the actual wedding.
Can't wait for this to end. Haha..






Our wedding cake from Swee Heng which I was not allowed to eat. :(

Hen's Night & Staycation

The Hen's night held at York Hotel on 6 May 2017.
Stayed for a night but not all of my sisters stay over due to some other commitment.

That day, I touched down Singapore at about 6pm.
Then I rushed back home to prepare and was able to meet them at 8pm only.
I felt bad because it was my idea first but due to Biz Trip, I can only meet them late in the night.

The girls plan some surprises for me.
Really appreciate the plan and gift.

Wedding: Pre-wedding Photoshoot Experience

Our pre-wedding photoshoot took place on 3 October 2016, just a day after my dissertation submission.
It's a great timing that I selected, whereby all my worry temporary throw behind me and focus on photoshoot.
It was a Monday, so both of us took a day off from work.
Advised by my French Wedding coordinator, Joanne, that selecting a weekdays is better because it will not be crowded and no one photobombing you.

So we went to the boutique as early as about 9am.
The makeup and hair done for me and G took about 2hrs and then we started our indoor studio shoots.
I had 3 gowns for indoor shoots, so the MUA gave me 3 different looks/ styles.
We finished our indoor shoots at around 2-3pm then we prepared to go outdoor.

Before these, G and I had a hard time thinking of which outdoor venue to shoot.
I didn't want places that look like Singapore, hence places like MBS, Garden By the Bay are out.
Finally, we concluded that to shoot at Victoria Concert Hall and Botanic Garden.
The area at Botanic Garden might be somewhere not many has known of.

So anyway, our outdoor shoot took about 3hrs at two places.
I felt lucky that I had toilet to change into the second gown.
I didn't find somewhere whereby I need to use tent to change.
If not, I will be so uncomfortable and insecure. Haha..

Overall, I feel that the photoshoot went well.
Even though, I feel quite awkward with G on some pose. Haha..
The photographer is also very patience with us.

It was a big headache when comes to selecting photos.
There were a total of 182 photos taken and we have only 38 photos to select.
In the end, we bought extra 4 photos.
So in total, we have selected 42 photos and we've also collected our photo albums.
Happy with the outcome. :)

I will share our Pre-Wedding Photos after 3 months.
Here's a picture of our album cover.

Wedding: Food Tastiing at Novotel Clarke Quay & Parents Meeting

Last Friday night, 10 March 2017, we had our food tasting at Novotel Clarke Quay.

It was also the day whereby two side of the parents first meet up.

Lucky, it wasn't too awkward and the night went well too.

As for the food, I hope the guest will enjoy it.

I am not someone who can tells whether the food is very good or not very good.

Different people has different liking too.

Counting down to less than 3 months.

I am getting nervous....

Wedding: Wedding Cards

It's already March! Left 3 months and 1 week to go..
Its scary when you feels that the days are getting nearer.

I am going to talk about the wedding cards.
T Dragon Cards is Novotel's wedding card supplier.
Last month, G and I headed down to T Dragon which located at AMK to select our wedding cards.

It is a small office space and lucky for us, it wasn't crowded then.
We looked for a table to settle down and one of the lady handed us a file containing many different wedding invitation card designs.
All the cards we saw wasn't very impressive so we really had a hard time choosing.
G then saw one customer collected his wedding card and it was like love at first sight for him.

Ended up, we got that design that he saw but we need to top up for the design.
Initially, I guess no one really care about the card because mostly people just take and throw.
But I still go along with it because the price difference isn't really that much.

2 weeks ago, we gotten the printed card and was very happy with the wedding card.
We decide to keep 1 for ourselves for memory because it is really pretty.

Today, because I met Tommy for dinner so I gaave out my first red bomb to him. :D
He was all ready to accept it. Haha..
Soon, I will slowly give out the invites.

So is it. ^^

Wedding: Gown Fitting for Pre-Wedding Photoshoot

I am going write on what was my experience for Pre-wedding photography.

First and foremost, G and I bought the package at BOWS November last year.
I was quite reluctant that time because he didn't even proposed yet.
Initially, we just wanted to look around but was then "kena psycho" by the cheap package that was offered by French Wedding.
For your info, French Wedding was the first merchant that we stepped into.
We didn't even get to see the other merchants, but we ended up signing up for their package.
I guessed we were easily convinced back then.

From the period of signing up in November last year till my appointment with them on the gown selection, I was actually worried, and also felt that we bought the package impulsively.
I feel that we should check out those shops in JB, because it is cheaper.
Moreover, their shooting location is not Singapore.
I kept telling G that I don't want to shoot at location whereby people knows its Singapore. LOL!

What worries me was that when I want to do research online on French Wedding, there isn't much info on their studio, gowns, etc.
Not only that, I even saw bad review on them that was dated years ago.
The only plus point is that the package SEEMS cheaper than the other merchants that offered in Singapore.

Anyway, since there isn't much review on French Wedding, so I gonna write my part here.
However, different people will have different encounter with them, so this is based on my experience with French Wedding.

I had my first gown selection and fitting on 24 September 2016 for Pre-wedding photoshoot.
Joanne was my main coordinator.
And there's another lady called Lily who helped me with the gown fitting.
She is a nice and helpful lady and we clicked really well.
They have a wide range of gown selection and I really enjoy the process though it was tiring (Mentally and Physically).
Many gowns that I wore was really beautiful but I can only limit to 5 gowns. :(
Here are some gowns that I tried and I am not telling you which one that I choose.
Will release all after I am married. LOL!








Actually, I really enjoy trying different gowns because I feel like a princess or barbie doll. Haha..
It is really unusual of me to use "princess" this word because I am not that girly girl who will appreciate princess stuff.
Anyway, I just love seeing myself wearing different gowns. Haha..

I think we took about 5hrs to select all the 5 gowns and suits for G.
Really a dilemma to choose the gowns.
Anyway, it was over.
Gown fitting went really well.

I will be back to tell you about my Pre-wedding photoshoot experience in another posts.
Till then..

Wedding: Wedding Bands

We gotten our wedding bands on 13 August 2016!
The process of looking for the right ring took us about 3 months.

At first, my thought was to get matching wedding bands (design) because I feel that its more symbolic and meaningful.
However, G and I have different liking hence we decided to get different designs.
Anyway, I guess the purpose of wearing a wedding band is to show that one is married so its okay to not having the same design.
I considered that I have to like the ring, feels comfortable in it as I need to wear it everyday.
Friends told me that it is okay not to have the same design too.

Before getting the right one, we searched and tried out many brands - Lee Hwa, SK Jewellery, Michael Trio, etc.
The below 2 are from Lee Hwa.



Finally, we settled on Michael Trio because it can custom made as well as they have a wide varieties of designs.

For G, he selected a design that look like Bvlagri wedding band.
The ring looks thick to me which I dislike.
I prefer ring that is thinner.
Here's the 3 designs that I shortisted.





Guess which is my final decision?

We paid our first deposit on April and was told that we can collect at the end of May.
On May, when we saw our ring, I diamond wasn't fill half the ring and I think it was also loose for my finger.
In the end, we ask them to redo which explain why I got the rings on August.

Overall, I was happy with the service that Michael Trio provided us.
The sales guy is very patience with us.
I feel that it is very important because as a couple, we want to look for the best and suitable wedding bands for ourselves.
We will request to see many many ring designs until we find the ring one.
The sales guy is not only patience with us, he also help to give advise when we need it.

So you ready to see our wedding bands? :)

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Wedding: Wedding Banquet

I swear (for now) selecting the banquet is the most headache decision but finally we've settled it today.
Well, I guess in the later stage, there will be more headaches to come.

Actually I was thinking of delaying the wedding ceremony.
However, while chatting with sis, I voiced out that we didn’t want to have wedding ceremony and getting the house at the same time.
We will be heavily debt if we do so.
My suggestion is that you can have a time frame of few months to a year – hold your wedding ceremony first then wait for your house to come.
If you are lucky to break-even the banquet cost from the hongbao money, the money can help to cover your house renovation expenses.
If you can’t break-even, at least you have a time frame to save up for it.
I think it quite make sense, don't you think so?
I am the CFO of this marriage, so all the accounting stuffs is managed by me. LOL!

Okay back to topic… so why do I say selecting wedding banquet is the most headache thing for me?
Because there are so many factors that I have to consider - Price, Venue, No. of Tables needed, etc.
We use websites like Singaporebrides and KiasubrideWebsite to narrow down our selections.
As I was busy juggling with school, assignments and work, G was the one who do the email liaising with the coordinators.
I am thankful to have him helping out and most of the time he accommodates with my ideas and opinions and we didn’t have much conflicts.

In the initial stage, I was considering Orchid Country Club (OCC) and Rendezvous Hotel.
OCC was because my dad wants me to choose, but dropped the idea later due to the inconvenience for our guests.
While, Rendezvous hotel was due to the good location and rather good price. However, the dates that we looked into was booked.

At last, we narrowed down to M Hotel and Novotel Hotel and went for hotel inspection respectively last month.

M Hotel
We viewed the Anson Ballroom and Banquet Ballroom and I really like Banquet Room.
Banquet Ballroom is spacious with high ceiling and it can accommodates a minimum of 25 tables.
I don’t like Anson Ballroom because it is low ceiling and it looks cramped.
The layout of the room is in a long rectangular shape.
Banquet Ballroom has a VIP room and bride can do their changing of gown there instead of going up to the bridal room.
As we will be holding our solemnization on that day itself, the downside is that the Banquet Ballroom area doesn’t have a small room to hold solemnization and they will be using part of the reception area to hold it which, I thought that it might be quite rush.
Other than the ballroom, the coordinator who is a lady, was really nice and I felt really comfortable discussing related issues with her.

This is the look of the Banquet Ballroom (Source: Google image)

Novotel Hotel
We viewed the Phoenix Ballroom and Cinnamon Ballroom.
Phoenix Ballroom is the bigger ballroom in Novotel, however minimum number they can hold is 30 tables which we don’t have so many guests.
Hence, we can only look at Cinnamon Ballroom.
The Cinnamon Ballroom is better than the Anson Room as it is more of a squarish layout.
It ceiling is quite low but overall looks okay.
The downside is that, it has a pillar at a part of the room which might block the view of the guests.


This is the look of the Cinnamon Ballroom (Source: Google Image)


The small pillar in the Cinnamon Ballroom (Source: Google Image)

Final Decision
Both prices and perks are almost similar but it was quite difficult to decide which to go ahead.
We did soft booking for the dates we wanted for both of the hotel.
I really wanted M hotel however, the other couples before us decide to book with M Hotel, so we loses our chance.
The coordinator of M hotel did try to convince us to change to an earlier date but our budget will not be enough to cover if we bring forward.
G also does not want a later date.
In the end, we decided to go ahead with Novotel.

All in all, I can say, it is finally beginning...

Wedding: Auspicious Wedding Date

I was really busy with work and assignment but since its term break, I have some free time to do some preparation for our wedding.

Our first step is to engaged a geomancer to calculate auspicious wedding date for us.
Through G's friend, he found a geomancer.
Actually, this geomancer is quite popular as my friends also gave me the same contact when I asked if they have any lobang or not.
We contacted Master Long and if you google about him, you will find some bloggers who also has contacted this person for wedding date consultation.

Few weeks ago, G whatsapp Master Long and provided him our “Ba Zi” information so that he will be able to calculate the auspicious wedding date for us.
2 weeks before today, I found out that I have given a wrong timing and G provided him the correct one.
However, he read but didn't his message.
Today, when we met him, I had a small conflict with him.
He was rude and impolite to me, and has a very poor customer service.
I rarely give a stranger a bad attitude but this one really gets on my nerve.
G kept on helping him to speak good words, I was like wth.....
Well, due to his seniority, I also don't want to kick up a fuss.
We spent about 30mins listening all the chimology details. -_-"

Anyway, we gotten a list of auspicious years until end of 2018.
Next, we'll need to choose the dates and start planning.