HK shopping trip for wedding preparation (6th - 12th May) part 2

second part of hk trip is still on shopping for dowry stuff.... so the second objective for this hk trip is to rent kua cause mama cant find suitable ones in SG.... & my cousins seem to manage to get some good deals during her wedding so it sparks the idea of renting kua from HK....

the place most well-known for kua rental is actually 金都商场... you get off at prince edward mtr station & come out from the 联和广场 exit & the building is just opposite 联和广场...side track abit, TSL is also another famous jewellery store in HK

金都商场

this building is amazing, to me it's like the whole tanjong pagar street has condensed into this building.... all the shops deal with wedding stuff... like rental of gowns for both brides & family, wedding shoes, kua, wedding goodies, pre-wedding+actual day photography/videography & etc.... so inside this amazing building, we managed to find afew stores that rent kua but most of them are pretty expensive... just when we about to give up, we saw this  tiny stores selling wedding goodies but also have afew kua on display... we ask the staff how much for the rental, to our surprise, the price is pretty reasonable.... again, there are 3 categories of kua.. the cheapest kind is about 888hkd for 3D2N, middle is 1188HKD for 3D2N, cant remember how much the most expensive one cost but i would dare say is still cheaper than SG.... but since we need to bring the kua over to SG & back to HK, we need to rent at least 7days... & the price we were offered was 2288HKD, which is about S$370... hey man, that's much cheaper than what we can find in SG for similar kua....

the kua store pamphlet

forgot to take picture of the store, only took a copy of their pamphlet... the staff there was quite knowledgeable about the wedding customary stuff... & when she help me try on the kua, she wore gloves... wooow... so pro wor....

the kua i rented

 didnt take a picture while i try on the kua... this design is pretty nice, not the super fancy but still look formal... the best thing is that the kua look new... those that you can find in SG tend to look dirty & old but well... you cant complain much since not many stores do renting of kua... have to make do with what you can find... but of cause, if you dont have relatives/friends in HK who can help you bring over the kua then of cause renting one in HK is out of the option..... another thing i learn from the staff was that, we supposed to wear a red pyjama beneath the kua... one thing is precaution purposes since the kua is like OMFG expensive, more importantly is supposed to be something auspicious... so i will wear the same pyjama for 上头 on the night before wedding.... the staff also suggest us NOT to wash the pyjama since you want it to be like NEW...

red pyjama for bf (left) & me (right)

so after settling 2 important things, we went on to get other stuff for my 行头(jewellery/show-off stuff) to match the wedding + evening gowns... i actually intended to get those cheapo jewellery from chromel or kenji those kind of brands cause seriously, who will go up close & check whether your necklace is real anot.... but mama say should have something real... so fine... lets see what we can find in HK.... we took a brief look at those pearl/ diamond necklaces... like my god!!! prices are insane!!! a simple necklace cost like 6digits hkd... that's totally rubbish for me.... so the next best alternative is getting from swaroski.... i actually took a look at SG store before... i do like the pearl necklace that mirandar wore on the HUGE poster.... we also check out the price in DFS in changi airport... only less 7% GST, like not much discount... so we went to check out swaroski in HK... like woah.... really cheaper wor.... we went to the langham place outlet... after looking around the store, we narrow down to top 5 choices of which 2 of them are really stunning....

selma all-round necklace

fidelity collar... this 1 is not bad but the necklace may roll around

hot necklace

i think all these 3 necklaces are not too bad but when tried on, they dont look that stunning compared to the other 2....

nude all-round necklace ... really like this

azalea collar ... this necklace is amazingly nice when you tried on

azalea bracelet

so in the end i bought the pearl & azalea collar + bracelet.... that's my wedding present from my jiejie & bro-in-law =) the pearl necklace cost 2140hkd = S$348, SG cost S$400 for that necklace... then the azalea collar cost S$880 but in hk is 4300hkd = S$699.. you saved almost S$200!!! my god.... that's ALOT of difference.... so again... this prove my point to buy jewellery in HK is more worth it =)

the most famous kua rental shop in HK

to end off this post.... 冠南华 is like THE kua rental shop in HK but the prices are way too expensive so that's out of our option... the nearest mtr station is jordon... mama asked & the simple kua which wore for more than 10x, the rental still cost like 3000+hkd for 3D2N..... but you guys are interested, can always take a look at the site =)

the search for kua (裙褂)

*back dated entry*

this post is on the search for kua for my wedding.... La belle also provide rental of kua but they only have 2 designs, 1 is peony & 1 is dragon+phoenix... peony is OUT cause mama say is like for "dead" people, again... my whatever expression.... for the dragon+phoenix kua they have, is more of a sequin design, so mama reject cause she only want gold+silver thread embroidery.... as a result, i have to find alternatives from outside store since she somewhat insist me on wearing kua for my actual day... personally i dont mind wearing cause some of the designs are not bad but it isnt a necessity for me.... but mama insist... what to do... so after some internet search, i managed to find afew stores in SG that do rental of kua... there might be more but i only can find a handful....

1. some wedding shop at people's park complex, level 2 (above the market/hawker center)
sorry... didnt managed to catch the name nor the exact address of the place as i just happened to stumble upon this shop when i was searching for cloth in chinatown... the shop mainly sell wedding stuff like tea sets, double happiness stickers, etc.. but they do have rental of kua but only 1 design...

the kua on display

 personally i thought this kua looks pretty nice... but apparently mama bet to differ cause she say the designs are sew on, not embroidery... at first i didnt understand what she meant but when i saw the actual embroidery kua then i realised the differences... but seriously, i think both will look equally nice on pictures lo... anyway the rental for this kua is $100 for 3D2N, deposit $500


2. Gemini Body shop @ 57 pagoda street
this store is on the right side of the street when you came out of the chinatown station... again, the shop focus more on wedding stuff than the kua... similar to the shop at people's park complex, they only have 1 kua but i think that 1 is really embroidery...

photo taken from http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/39662-chinese-wedding-dress-kua/

photo taken from http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/39662-chinese-wedding-dress-kua/

i didnt manage to take picture of the shop so i just kope them from this site... the rental for this kua is $250 for 3D2N, deposit is about $300... personally i feel the sew-on design kua look nicer....


3. House of Etiquette @ 16 Jalan Masjid, #01-01
this store really focus on kua & some wedding/evening gowns.... even mama say they have a wide selection of kua, at least in SG...  the store has 3 categories of kua, the simplest = princess, not so much of embroidery but still look pretty nice.... middle = queen, much more embroidery.... super gao = king, full of embroidery till you will look like a gold/silver bar....they also do sell some wedding goodies but comparatively lesser to other stores

the princess style, photo taken from original site

queen style, of cause ignoring the headdress... photo taken from original site

king style, really look like a gold/silver bar right??? photo taken from original site

the staff there was really nice & patient, we spent like almost 2hr there trying out the different kuas..... the staff first took my measurements, i predicted it to be L since that was the size i tried in La belle but surprisingly my size was actually M... & even more surprising is that M is actually not a common size... apparently most girls who rented their kuas belong to size S and L...so the staff only managed to find 1 piece of princess & 2 pieces of queen style for me to try...

princess style

queen style 1

queen style 2

actually we are not supposed to take picture unless we are renting the kua but the staff was very nice to excuse us =P.... of cause if you compare the designs, i would say queen style will be nicer, look more formal since it has much more details but seriously the rental price is too expensive!!!! princess style = $268, queen = $568, king = $868.... i was like OMFG when i heard the price.... like seriously, do you have to spend so much $ just for a dress that you wear for afew hours???? but well... they do have wide selection of kuas IF you are not M size...

4. Little white wedding shop by Golden happiness @ Katong Shopping Centre, 865 Mountbatten Road #01-45
this store has ALOT of people, i was really surprise since most of the wedding shops i went are pretty empty.... as usual they focus on wedding goodies... they do have afew designs of kua but for the embroidery kind, they only have 1 design & sadly... the workmanship wasnt that good which also correspond to the much cheaper rental fee...

the shop

some of the wedding goodies

the embroidery kua

kua selection

 for them, the kua rental was pretty cheap, since we dont intend to rent from them, we didnt ask for the exact price but from the poster at the entrance... the rate is at $68-268


5. I wedding @ People's park complex, level 1 
mama happened to come across this store, really very ulu, deep inside the people's park complex, at the far end, closer to the outram park mrt side rather than chinatown mrt..... again... focus on wedding goodies & only 1 design of kua.... didnt manage to take any picture but the condition of the dress looked really worn out.... & the rental is like $580!!! like WTH..... if you compared to like house of etiquette, that kua is only in the princess to queen range & yet they charge so much for such a dirty dress....

the shop... sorry ar... signboard reflection too strong

goodies sold at the store

after looking at a couple of stores in SG, i would say house of etiquette is definitely THE store for rental of kua but sadly the price is out of my budget.... so after this incident.... mama is actually spark the idea of going back to HK to rent the kua since most of the kua came from HK/china.... & which is why I am flying back to HK tmr (6th May)... haha... really sudden.... super last min decision... leave SG in 1 wk from the day i bought the ticket.. cause cathay is actually have promotion, so my ticket only cost $286.2 including tax!!! like OMG cheap!!!! let see if i managed to find any good stuff in HK =)