my BIG day!!!

*back dated entry*

today is my BIG DAY!!! after like slightly more than 1 yr of preparation, the BIG day has arrived!!! I will not be posting my wedding photos since i dont have them but more of sharing with you guys what kind of things will happen on your wedding day......... & if you all need a sample of itinerary can email me at vivi_kinki@hotmail.com    i wanted to post a link for the file but i am not IT savvy enough to do that, sorry about that....

so my auspicious timing for groom to step into the home is 9am so you will need to start preparing about 7am.....so i gotten my girls to come at 7am to prepare stuff for gatecrash, makeup artist as well as photographer & videographer also arrived around the same time..... & that marks the beginning of your hectic day...... 

the makeup artist took like a good 1 to 1.5hr to do my makeup + hair, she plastered like so much things on my face... really hate thick makeup but no choice since will be taking lots of photo & need thicker makeup in order to see in the pictures & for the look to last =( so about 8.30am, groom & brothers will come for the gatecrash thing, stepped in about  9am, came into my room & fetch me, took group photo before heading to guy's side to do tea ceremony... then come back to my side to do tea ceremony, more photo as well as creative shoot before we break for afternoon.... that was a really long & busy morning, i will put up the itinerary at the back so you all can use it for reference....

so after the long morning, we finally arrived at fairmont about 2pm & we check into our suite....

nice selection of drinks - complementary =)

nice variety of TWG tea bags

walkway to living room

pretty toilet+wash up area

open concept bathtub

enclosed showering area

nice cozy area to relax or simply camwhore

lovely bed

view from the room

another view

another angle

pre-wedding snack

i chose seafood hor fun & sandwich

 so yup, we relaxed in this nice suite before the main event start at night.... we had like about 1hr of rest before me starting my makeup at about 3pm & hubby has to start preparing for briefing with the hotel staff as well as the brothers + MC....

we had our solemnisation at 6pm, prof Tan was very punctual & the ceremony was short & sweet... he didnt say much in the intro, went straight to the point that everyone was there for our solemnisation... i think the whole process took about 10min??? somewhat shorter than i expect cause we didnt exchange any special vows & finish it shorter is also a good sign so that we were ahead of schedule & can spend more time on taking photos....so after that will be reception & of cause dinner commence... the whole thing ended close to 11pm, after we went back to our suite to wash up, we had to count angbao $ while having our supper as we want to pay off the remaining banquet bill with cash when we check out....

then the next morning we had the international buffet at the hotel cafe.... lovely place, really nice view with nice food =)

lovely cutlery

cafe

food selection

ready cooked section

cereal & yoghurt

bread & cookies

wide variety of spreads

my lovely breakfast

it was really a tiring day for us as well as all our helpers & relatives.... i am really glad & grateful that everything went according to plans despite having some small hiccups along the way....  so now i will share my feedback for my wedding services

La belle:
i mentioned in my earlier post that i engaged la belle for my pre-wedding shoot as well as actual day gown rental..... i would say their services were quite good, peiwen (our coordinator) was really nice & helpful, really appreciate her help.... gowns & suits were all packed nicely & easy for us to carry.... the car decoration service was not bad either despite having limited choice of ribbon colours so i bought my own & they helped me tied up

wedding car

so if you look closely the car itself doesnt look that nice, can read up on my bad experience with advance car rental here.... but thankfully the ribbons managed to cover up the flaws & the car still looked presentable for our BIG day...

moments in 7:
we engaged their services mainly due to their cheaper package but it didnt turn out as well as they promised to be... again... lesson learn, we should not just go for cheaper alternatives

i cant remember if posted about it before but anyway we had our pre-wedding video shoot in june.... Justin, the videographer aka the "boss" for moments in 7, shoot the videos for us, the shooting was fine but what happened after was not.... he told us that the first draft will be done in about 2 months, to me it was abit long but fine i just wait for him... so we message him in august then he said not done yet cause he had reservist so need another month... fine, we waited... then september came & we had to like pester him for the video before he finally sent it to us like early october & my god, it was terrible!!! the video image quality was acceptable standard but whole story was wrong!!! we gave him the script & the exact flow for the video & it turned out that he just randomly link the different video clips together... like seriously??? i know it's the first draft but at least give me something more decent... so hubby gave up on Justin so hubby had to get the raw clips from him & edit the video himself...

then came the actual day, we supposed to have Michael as our photographer but that very morning another 2 guys came & told me that Michael was not available!?!?!?! i was like WTF!?!?!? i mean we dont care who is the photographer but you should not just change it last minute & especially not informing us beforehand!?!??! so we were very disappointed with their services... now we only hope that the actual day photos quality will be good....

Fairmont:
two words = GREAT services..... i think choosing fairmont is 1 of the best decisions we made in our wedding preparation.... we signed the contract with danny but subsequently wendy liaised with us & it was such a relief.... i feel danny is a more rigid guy but wendy is amazing!!! she is very attentive & flexible with the terms... like they can start serving beer during reception instead of only at the banquet, gave us additional projector without additional cost (previously danny insisted that we had to pay for the use of 2nd projector), additional parking coupons & changes to the menu.... really appreciate wendy for being so nice & flexible with the options.... the hotel staff for the AD event were great too.... our wedding concierge , xue ling, was a lovely girl too.... in short, i think fairmont services turned out much better than what we expected =)

i shall end off this long post with the picture of the lovely complementary chocolate cake from fairmont =)

complementary cake from fairmont

feedback: photo selection at La Belle

*back dated entry*

after waiting for 1 whole month, we finally went down to La Belle to check out our pre-wedding shoot photos last fri.... kind of excited cause i want see how firstly, how the photos will be like and second is of cause whether i look pretty anot =p like all companies, they have individual dept, so in la belle, there is a guy who is in charge of dealing with photo selection... if i didnt catch his name wrongly, it was rayden, i dont know if that's the correct spelling but no matter.... if you have been to La belle's wedding workshop at hotels, you would have definitely seen the guy before... he is the one who will usher people to check out La belle's store....

so we sat down punctually at 6pm.... rayden told us that kenny (our photographer) took over 300 photos and after first round of filter, we are left with 149photos.... i am not surprised with the amount cause it was a whole day shoot & i believed taking 300+ photos is the norm.... for the first round the photos wont be photoshop.... kenny did some adjustment to the colours & minimal touch up, after final selection of photos, only then he will do all the beautifying steps... fair enough, it will take super long time for him to edit every single photos for all his customers...

so rayden gave us a brief look at all the photos first... i would say in general they were very well taken but some of the photos were not my style so i had a mental note that i will filter those out.... after that he went to show us the format of the photo album, canvas & 10R table top sizes... then we go back to select our photos.... for those who are new to this including myself, the photos were taken in series, meaning like same background/theme & they will psycho you to get all the photos in a set... after first & very brief selection, we left with 76photos & like 21 series.... our package only include 36photos + 11 series, so we exceeded by 40photos.... then rayden went on to tell us about the extra cost... additional photo is $80/piece of hard copy & $40/piece for soft copy, additional series is $130.. so that will total up to $4500... CRAZY sum of $.... i mean unless you are the kind of super into photos & want to have like TONNES of wedding photos then high chance you will need to top up alot of $... personally for me & bf, we want to keep to the minimum cause we felt that no point paying so much for the photos when other than the actual day banquet, nobody is going to flip through the album everyday.... then we went onto second round of more stringent filtering.... & we left with 42photos & 12series, meaning extra $610.... i mean this is a much more reasonable sum of $ but nay... still exceed our budget..... then rayden suggest us another package which cost $1088 which include 50photos, 14 series & 10soft copies... i mean ya... attractive package whereby you can save like $700 but nope... i am insistent of what we want = save $.... so we had our 3rd round of filter & narrow down to 39photos, 11 series & 5soft copies... in the end we top up $440..... my initial plan was to select up to 40photos which is additional $320, so we exceeded our initial budget by $120 which i think is still ok....

by the time we are done with all the filtering, it was like 10min to 9pm.... i would say rayden is quite professional, i mean at the start he was happier & more bubbly but after 3rounds of filter, he seem kind of exhausted & sian about it.... cause i believed they earn extra by the additional top up we made to the package & of cause stingy couples like us will mean lesser $ for them.... at least he contained his sian-ness & still try not to show us the black face.... my bf told me that another lab mate of ours also engaged La belle & they paid like $1000+ extra for the photos... i suspect they took the $1088 package.... this is also common for other friends who took up pre-wedding shoot packages, almost everyone need to top up for additional photos....

conclusion: i think La belle services is not bad, the staff are quite professional & kenny really took pretty photos for us.... rayden was not super forceful in psycho-ing us to buy more photos... also perhaps cause we were very firm with what we want.... i guess the most important thing is what the couples want... like i said, for those who love photos & have the budget then by all means, pay more for the photos cause they are really pretty.... but for those who are not, then you have to be firm & not get sway by the staff.... i would dare to say that i am very stubborn & i am very firm with what i want especially when it comes to $ stuff.... in such times you have to be persistent or else you may end up spending like $8k+ for a wedding album which personally i think is not worth it.....

pre-wedding photoshoot feedback + dinner @ gyoza king

*back dated entry*

had my pre-wedding shoot with La Belle on 30th june but only had time to post about it later on... La Belle studio isnt at tanjong pagar but 207 Henderson Road, is at those few storey buildings behind the bukit merah bus interchange... we were kind of rushing to the studio so didnt have time to take picture of the surrounding... we were expecting some La belle signboard outside the building but hell no... that place just look like a multi-storey garage... we were like looking around before a kind uncle at the opposite building told us to go up from the side staircase... apparently he was experienced enough to know that we shua ku come here for the studio shoot... kind souls..... or else we will take a longer time to reach our destination.... the studio is located on the 3rd floor... no lift... i saw the email from peiwen (our coordinator) that we can access via stairs but i was still hoping there to be a lift somewhere but nope.... stairs only.... the lighting wasnt very good either, so the stairs looked kind of spokey....

as no outside photography is allowed at the studio so again, i dont have any pictures to share.... but the studio is kind of big... at least compared to the neighbourhood studio that my jiejie had for her wedding photoshoot... there are about 10 spots for shoot but is all about capturing the angle & with the right lighting... so anyway we arrived on the dot at 9.30am but anna was slightly late but still sufficient time for makeup.... & it really took like 1.5hr to complete the makeup+hairdo+ changing into gown... the simple makeup+hairdo for my bf took like mayb 15min?? haha what a big difference....

our photographer, kenny came about 11+ to set up his equipments & all... we quite like his working style, quite friendly & try to mingle with us... as we are not professional models, we maybe stiff when taking pictures... kenny will try to position us, where to look & how to smile.... nice guy.... as i have 3 gowns for indoor shoot, we were really rushing  for time... it may take less than 30min to shoot each sets of gowns but it take about 1hr to change the look... tiring.... as the place is really ulu, there isnt any food stores around, the best way is to order delivery unless you have helpers for that day... as it was a monday, we couldnt get hold of any friends to help out so we had to order mac.... so if possible, it will be nice to have someone to help out....

about 3pm we set out for outdoor shoot... the first location is henderson wave area... it was drizzling then & the sky looked kind of dark... we were getting worried cause we wanted to end with a sunset shoot & it wont be possible with a gloomy sky.....we quickly finished the shoot at henderson then drove all the way to punggol lalang field.... since we wont go back to the studio to change, we had to change at outside toilet... again... it will be helper to have your girl friends to help with the change... for me, i only had my bf to help & it was such a difficult chore to change in the handicap toilet especially with the long train.... but somehow we managed.... sadly the lalang field isnt at its prime so there wasnt alot of lalang... & it was drizzling still.... after that we walked over to the punggol water park & the sky start to clear... *happy* surprising, that park is quite a nice place to shoot & good for family to hang out.... last location was the seletar reservoir.... & we were lucky that the rain had stopped & we had a nice sunset view!!! YEAH!!!! so the photoshoot ended about 6+ with our nice sunset background =) after that we returned to La belle to change out as well as making the next 40% payment.... ouch... $ gone.... really excited to see the photo but it will take about a month later...

after which, we went to have dinner at gyoza king which is just down the road from la belle.... lucky for us, the shop wasnt very packed but the ramen store next to us had a super long queue.... might consider trying out the ramen next time when there wasnt so many people....

how to prepare your own gyoza sauce

free beansprout & cabbage pickle... nice =)

vegetable soup... is like meatless borch... yummy

pork gyoza

rice with lots of furikake!!!!

sides....

so for each set it comes with rice(difference size at no additional charge), 5pcs gyoza (pork, chicken or prawn), miso/vegetable soup & 2 side dishes....all these at affordable prices of $13.90!!!! (or was it $15.90, i cant remember the exact price) at first i thought i wont be full but actually, i couldnt finished the rice.... the side dishes were so so but gyoza were really not bad.... & the best thing was that it has different type of meat, NOT only pork filling, so that more people can eat... ie: my bf... cause he doesnt eat pork... so he had prawn gyoza.... i think gyoza king is quite a nice japanese store with affordable prices.... will definitely go back again =)

meet up with photographer @ La Belle

today had the first meetup with my pre-wedding shoot photographer = kenny..... i read in forum that kenny is good so i am excited to meet him to discuss about the shoot locations..... my impression of photographers tend to be a more slender guy, perhaps is a stereotype that most of those photographers that i saw in magazines tend to be small frame guy.... but when we saw kenny, we got a little bit of shock... he is actually quite a big built kind.... really broad shoulder.... of cause, his size has nothing to do with his skill but i was just surprise =p

kenny is quite a nice guy, quite friendly... i am definitely not the hardworking sort of brides who do like tonnes of research on what kind of poses she want to do or where to shoot.... i only know that i want to shoot among those tall grasses area cause i saw in other albums that it look quite nice there... then another thing is the famous big tree + bench shoot... haha i guess i am a very common person.... kenny also showed us some of his works on his phones... some of the scenes are really pretty but then most of them cant be done in SG =(

as i have 2 outdoor gowns so naturally we will go to 2 different place to shoot.... our sales coordinator, ling zhee suggest that we do a shoot at a place nearby studio first, followed by 1 at a further location as you dont want to waste time traveling around as you have to go back to the studio to change gowns & change makeup.... as the studio is near henderson so we thought of shooting first at henderson wave area....

i like the terrace stairs... photo taken from here....

the henderson wave... photo taken from here....

i think hort park area not say ALOT of things to take but i think is still good for a simple greenery style

we did consider sentosa but then mayb abit tedious to go to other places after that so we decided to forgo sentosa.... the other places we decided for the next outdoor gown is puggol lalang field...

the lalang field.... photo taken from here....

this is somewhat the kind of feel i want... photo taken from here.........

 apparently this lalang field is like the super hot spot for photoshoot especially among the cosplayers.... i have seen quite a number of photo with that background but didnt know the exact location till now....

the other famous location is the mandai reservoir tree + bench....

the famous tree... photo taken from here....

something like this is nice too... photo taken from here...

i guess there are many nice outdoor locations but then you are limited by time so have to sacrifices & make do with whatever is available =)

so after meeting the photographer, we went to walk around 100AM & they have a NTUC finest at the basement =) i do like to stroll around nice supermarkets, you get exposed to food that you wont get to see everyday.... so at the outlet, we saw coolmix mochi ice cream

mochi ice cream

mochi ice cream is like 1 of my favourite dessert & is a must eat when i go back to HK cause there arent much brands in SG.... so i was excited to try this.... i think normal NTUC also sell them... 1 packet cost $4.90 if i didnt remember wrongly....

individually wrapped

so each box has 6 mochi ice cream = 6 flavours = vanilla, chocolate, black sesasme, mango, green tea & strawberry.... at first i was thinking they will be packed in a box but actually they are individually wrapped like those marshmallow mochi.....

mango mochi

each of  them is about 4cm in diameter... so is kind of like a bite size thing.... but sadly... among the 6 flavours.. i think only vanilla & chocolate tasted nice.... mango is ok.... strawberry & black sesame is edible but not very nice... & green tea is HORRIBLE!!! it tasted super weird & bitter that i almost wanted to puke out!!!

verdict... no more coolmix mochi ice cream for me.... there are definitely better brands out there in the market but definitely NOT coolmix... not cool at all =(

La Belle gown selection part 2

*back dated entry*

today is the second time for my gown selection... had to go back as mama wasnt happy with my choice of gowns =(  so for today, is mainly mama choose then i just wear to see if it fits me or not...

i kind of preempt peiwen (my La Belle coordinator) about my mama which i think it was a good move, or else she will be so stunned by her ridiculous comments.... as mentioned before, i felt that La Belle's selection of evening gowns are abit limited compared to the wedding gowns... so after sieving out some dark/inauspicious colours... there are not much left for me to choose from... but thankfully, i still managed to find some not too bad choices....

1 of my favourite but mama say too simple

close up on the dress... not bad ma

another choice.... simple lo....

my final choice... haha... damn eng right?? haha i doubt anyone would have wore anything like that for wedding... muahaha

the back view

so i decided on this yellowxpink evening gown for my actual day... at first glance, i also cant accept it... look very weird but after wearing it... then hey... actually not that bad after all.... so next... went on to select the outdoor shoot dresses.... as expected... outdoor shoot tend to have limited choices & mostly the older looking dresses....

1 of the outdoor dress.... er... top ok but bottom doesnt look very nice

the back view... quite sexy wor...

the other outdoor gown.. i like this... simple & i like the top... the design make me look slimmer =)

back view

outdoor evening gown.... mama say it look like raincoat material

the other dress.... ok lo....

as mentioned... there are very limited choices for outdoor dresses.... but peiwen said that for outdoor shoot... the photo will be more for the feel & not look at the details of the dress so i make do with 2 of my top choices....

the outdoor wedding gown i selected....

it has very long train = i like!!!...

outdoor evening gown.... very simple but flowy... i intend to have it for beach shoot

as i decided not to rend the kua/tea dress but it cant be replaced with another evening gown for actual day... peiwen has kindly let me choose 1 more gowns just for the indoor shoot to replace the dress....

1 of my initial evening gown

back view... ignore my fats

i like this evening gown.... i like the very fresh mint colour & the flowy look.... but the dress is actually very heavy... but at least i settled all my dresses for the shoot & actual day =)

so to "celebrate" that, me & mama went to have tori king for dinner at 100AM before heading home to collect our luggages to go airport....

the sesame seed...

mama choose the normal ramen flavour

i choose the wasabi flavour... some part of it is really spicy....

you get free flow of egg there too... is hard boiled kind... but seriously... how many can you eat....

& they even have green tea flavour cola!!! interesting... perhaps try it next time...

so yup... that's all for this post... next up will be my hk shopping trip..... =)