Songs for march in (part 2)

So glad to be able to watch through most of the suitable songs for march-in on youtube couple of days ago. We were snuggled up in bed and listening while thinking which part of the song should be suitable for the first step to be taken as the door opens. As spoken, I would want a big impact sort of entrance and it would be perfect with dry ice and lot of flowers. Heehee!

We did not go with The Day I Fall in Love by Dolly Parton and James Ingram because the song is too slow and Ah Lau doesn't really like that song. He however, likes For the First Time by Kenny Loggins, just that in turn, I find it impact-less. After googling a little more, I found N sync's This I Promise You and Shania Twain's From this Moment; a little too common I know and somehow I think it has been used so many times in weddings that it is kind of duh. But all in all, we like the latter, especially it having that umpff that I want.

We were thinking of cutting the song and playing it from 2.10 onwards where there is a crescendo when the door will open then and we will walk out. It seems perfect and our tedious job was done only then I found out that cutting it from there will make it sound weird so I am not sure if we might go ahead with this song after all. 

We however, have picked our 2nd march-in song and it'll be For the First Time by Kenny Loggins because Ah Lau likes this song and it is mild and romantic enough for the 2nd entrance. 

And oh! We have to pick a song for the solemnization march-in with my Dad and one that is suitable for the band to play... Uhhhhhh....

Songs for march in (part 1)

I was googling on suitable songs for my march in during the wedding dinner and solemnization and the first website that appeared was this: http://www.kiasubride.com/top-wedding-march-in-songs

The first song that struck me as suitable was A Moment Like This by Kelly Clarkson and parts of the song started to play in my mind but then, very quickly Kelly Clarkson's weeping face appeared and I cringed. Haha! I can't walk down the aisle thinking about her face from American Idol!

I need a song that has the crescendo with the loud and high sounds of violins that can make your hearts burst with emotions. I did a quick listen through the entire list and can't help but laugh at a few. What the hell, Oh Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison is among the top 10 list! How comical would that be if you were to walk down the aisle to this song! Haha!

And the conventional and common Canon in D and Bridal March are too yesterday already. But a few other songs do catch my eye. I really like Shania Twain's From This Moment, somehow though, I felt that it is very common too.

So I finally pick For the First Time by Kenny Loggins and The Day I Fall in Love by Dolly Parton and James Ingram. I am not really a huge fan of all 3 singers but I do listen to their songs. Like I've said, I want a class 95 or gold 90fm feel to my march-in that everyone can relate the song to and feel the hype as we walk in hand in hand to everyone's applause.

Now is to wait for the Ah Lau's green light and opinions on the above songs then I can download and cut the song to where I would like and viola! I can finally proceed to find other songs for the dinner.

One thing's for sure, I can't wait to have a few Chinese and Malay songs in there. Stay tune for my list!

The venue

We went to meet the assistant manager for Sentosa for the venue visit for our wedding yesterday. A good thing is that we sneaked in during an impromptu site visit couple of weeks ago and decided that we already want this place. That coupled with these stunning photos, we are sure we want this place.

This place is none other than the former Jewel Box, now called Faber Peak.

Look at the marvellous view!

And we have free access to the veranda too!

I really wanted a place away from town and it definitely cannot be a hotel. I am simply not into those conventional hotel types of weddings and the handful of hotels that are within our budget are just that few, not to mention it'll all be those same old, same old.

As conveyed, I really want a garden theme. Too bad my first choice of Alkaff Mansion already has the date booked. Even the lawn area is taken up too. Making do with Faber peak doesn't compromise too much on my side. Here is how it will look like.

Christina came to meet us yesterday too. And good O her brought up a lot of good points that I would have overlooked. She asked for a Cantonese dishes instead of Teochew because the entire menu would have looked too cheap, even though the cost per table is a whopping amount of $1,380++. The assistant manager too agree that for such a low cost menu, the calling price at the above amount is really too high. She could only regretfully say that the food is catered from the Sentosa food group which doesn't make sense to me because they are all from the same company after all.

In addition, we could move the reception to the lawn too since we are already booking the lawn at $888++, we might as well use it for the reception too. We readily agreed.

The meeting proved to be very fruitful because we have already firmed up a lot of other things. Some of the things included items needed in the 过大礼 which thankfully, was told where to get them- Chinatown market!

I was also asked about what type of music and what songs I would like to play for my solemnization and my march-ins. I was amazed. I did not even think about those because I would have thought that the event manager for the venue would have settled it. But I guess it would be better for me to download and play all of my own songs.

Christina was also amazed when I said I would prefer class 95 and gold 90fm songs to modern songs. Heehee, perhaps I am now officially an old lady of the 80s.

All in all, the meet up does rekindle my zeal in planning for my wedding. What made me more at ease is that I have a very good O friend and a bunch of friends to help me with it so that I can have a peace of mind during this entire journey to being a wife.

On another platform, I am all equipped should my groom and I come head to head with a lot of arguments for our wedding. The first came 2 days ago- and it has nothing to do with our views on the wedding; it is of his opinion that I have neglected him because my entire mind is on our finances and the wedding.

But like all squabbles and arguments, we settle them all hand in hand and amicably. Just like what an ex-colleague of mine told me when her fiance was about to face a jail sentence, "If we are unable to face this together, how would we be able to face worse things in future and walk on together?"

Fatigue

Sorry for the lack of posts for almost the entire week. Work has been a drag and after the saga with the Taiwan bridal studio, I think I am having a withdrawal symptom and want to get my career back on track whilst planning my finances for the wedding.

I know that I have this tendency to always be super enthusiastic about something then have my interest level dwindle down quickly if I jump into it so damn fast. Right now, I am wide awake at 9+am in the morning of a Saturday and dreading it because I've made an appointment with the venue's events manager at 12noon. And everyone knows, my Saturdays are my sleep in days. Argh.

I must say that planning for a wedding is fun, especially when it is yours. But the jotting down of finances here and there, then wrecking your brains on what to choose, how to cut cost from here and then to have everything you want and be able to afford it is so damn tiring! Coming from a bride-to-be, I can tell you, never plan for a wedding, nope don't even start to think about it when you are so financially tight. I am taking it so hard now.

Just last night, we went to buy 2 really expensive pillows for our new place and will have to plan for another 2 to buy when we move to his place, (we have plans to sleep over at my place on the weekdays and then his place on the weekends after the wedding) And to my horror, I have this anxiety building up inside me when I realised I have not planned for the budget for 4 expensive pillows! Then I dread going back to the excel sheet and keying in the costs of these pillows and seeing the total sum jump.

Hours later when I'll be at the wedding venue surveying the place with Chris, I have to prepare the deposit for the booking because due to Chinese custom, it'll be unlucky to make payment for anything of your wedding during the 7th month Hungry Ghost festival and it'll  be start of this festival tomorrow!

I am so tired!

Decided on a bridal studio!

God! We sat through the most tedious, mind-wrecking, temper-curbing 2.5 hours of shitty bridal package talk ever!

The organizer is a taiwan-based photography company and I must say it's my mistake for allowing them to corner us all because I was nice enough to just give in for a quote.

Finally, I blew up. Too tired and upset at being exploited and perhaps being a little too silly at being too polite, I gave up being Ms Nice and we walked away.

These stupid 2 and a half hours could have been better spent looking at other bridal studio booths at the bridal exhibition at Suntec. At the end of the day, with just about an hour or 2 left before we are off to our Buddhist class, I took the lead, did a quick calculation in my head, bargained a little here and there and proceeded to pay a $2k deposit on the next bridal booth. 

Partly due to my fatigue and frustration from battling a hard-selling Taiwanese 陈大哥, I took to the soft-spoken Jackie from Beautiful Love. His colleagues were also not pushy and were kind to me too. 

Also very much like Grace Image, the first bridal studio I went to who prized themselves as a local designer, Beautiful Love too offered me a competitive rate and threw in a lot of freebies and stuff. And after I did my math and thought of the impending exhausting meetings with more bridal studios, and my future husband being so understanding and respecting my decision that I jumped into it and we paid the deposit.

Having only seen 2 bridal studios, I felt it was enough for me to determine what I want. Here is a quick checklist:

- a guarantee that the actual day dresses are able to cover up my tattoos with alterations at no extra costs

- no model-like poses for my wedding album ie those look-at-sky, gaze-into-the-distance types

- no problem about paying for ampoule and eyelashes but they must be good quality

- at least a change of 4 dresses and looks for the album

- the groom is able to have 2 suits and another jacket for the actual day

Beautiful love is able to give me a good deal but I don't know if I am able to put it on this post but all in all, I compromised a bit here and there, they gave me more things here and here then poof! I signed up for the package.

Bridesmaids' dress

Finally caught up with my videographer. He is Pang from Gorilla Pictures. He apologised for being too busy to reply to my emails and also updated me on how he is going to quit to do a movie instead. I am so happy for him and also grateful because he promised to only prepare for his movie after my wedding. And he has given me a very good quote too! The cheapest so far! I am so happy for that.

Now, since we have already gotten the ties for the groomsmen, I was thinking it should be better for me to settle on the bridesmaids' dresses asap too. So after digging out some information from my ex-colleague about where she got her bridesmaids' dresses, I proceeded to pop by there to take a look too. Unfortunately, the shop is closed for good and the nearest to what I had wanted was way too expensive and out of my budget.

So I decided to go to Qoo10 to browse. Hey, I know what you are saying, that I am too cheapskate to get my bridesmaids' dress from an online marketing store. But I beg to differ because there are simply too many choices there and the variety is perfect for me to pick and choose. And I found this:

http://shineeshop.com/0308/NB33-6066.jpg

What do you guys think? I think it is sweet and the most important thing is the flair skirts made it easy to move around. Sam was okay but Chris was laughing. It was then that I knew I made a mistake. I only picked what I think would look good but not to my bridesmaids' tastes. I thought it was okay since they would not be wearing it again anyways but deep down, although I make the choice, they have to be comfortable too.

So Sam sent me a picture and Chris and Sam both commented on how this is more to her taste.

http://www.lovebonito.com/26-bridesmaids

My concern about this dress was first, it looks so uncomfortable. The fact that is a toga dress makes it hard to move around and the lack of 'protection' might make my bridesmaids tired to always think about protecting their modesty.

But you know what, they deserve to look pretty. They are helping me in my wedding and they should look beautiful in the dresses I picked for them. So this toga it should be. But one thing I am concerned about though, is if the turquoise matches the ties of the groomsmen I have bought. Sickening turquoise has so many shades!

I was also thinking of a Greek goddess look for them. Something like a chiffon dress with that soft feel to it, totally matches the garden theme. My first look at this toga dress was that it is so off my garden theme! But after a careful look and a more precise thought given to it, I think this toga dress DOES fit the Greek goddess look and adds to the garden theme. It is afterall, chiffon too. So I guess I will not be shopping too much for another version of the bridesmaids' dress.

Heehee, I can be a lazy bride.

First bridal studio hunting and the right shade of blue-green

Saturday was our first time at a bridal studio TOGETHER and boy was it a bad experience. I’d always thought that people working in bridal studios are hard-selling sales people and I know they will do anything to make you stay and secure a deal. But this one, Grace Image along Tan Quee Lan Street was one hell of a hard seller.  Not only was she adamant on how good her package deal was, she also did not allow me to try on a dress.

I promptly asked Christina if this was the practice and she said no. She also firmly told me to try on a dress before I put in any deposit.

But one thing for sure, this bridal studio does offer one of the best deals; only thing was they don’t offer a car on the actual day.

Also, the lady boss being a designer of all her gowns would be able to do add ons complimentary for me. This, I am damn sure is a good offer because given the extensive amount of tattoos on my back and arm, I do need a lot of coverage on the gown and I do not want to pay for it if possible. 

I would love to be able to hop on Grace Image's wagon and just go ahead with her service but being unable to try on the dresses (more like she didn't offer me to) and the lack of the wedding car held me back. Christina says that people usually go back to the first studio at the end of the day. Oh well, as soon as my stamina for bridal studio hunting runs out, I might go for Grace Image but for the time being, the hunt continues.

So before trying our best to run away from Grace Image's head on hard selling, we were at the push cart section of Bugis Junction to look for that particular push cart that sells all sorts of ties at a cheap price. In the end, we got our loot at only $30 for 4 ties. We wanted only 2 groomsmen but decided to get 1 more extra tie just in case and 1 black one for his daily use. 

The ties are turquoise for sure but I would have thought that turquoise is more of a greener shade. So I took our my old trusty and favourite set of colour pencils and proceeded to pick out a few shades and colour them. The colours look faint in this picture but thankfully the tie is not too blueish in colour because they would be totally off my scale. 

If you can see the thin line of green on the black box, it is then the shade that I want. However, how far it is from turquoise, I only got to find out that day! So I guess that colour that I want is not turquoise because it is more blue than green. The exact shade that I want is blue-green. 

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

As you can see, the above 3 shades are all in the cyan family but the right shade that I am looking at is number 3. Oddly, when I googled for the right shade, number 3 says it is Tiffany blue though it is more a balanced shade of both colours. But the ties that we have bought is clearly number 4. So I'll be damned if I get my brides maid's dresses in that shade. Argh!

Budgeting with a good wedding-planning template

I did not know or have a gauge on how much I need to spend and who to invite. I just had a rough figure on this and that so I decided that I need a template to help me work everything out.

Some templates created are too simple whereas some are just not adequate for coverage. Then I found a template called The Smart Bride by an AU website. I must say that although it is a template more catered to the western style, it is very comprehensive for usage.

For readers who are interested in it, here is the link http://www.thesmartbride.info/organiser.html

Having the calendar makes planning easier. There are also a lot of other helpful details such as resources (which I really like, especially the part about speeches). The budget part is has been done up with much thought particularly with the break down for groomsmen, bridesmaid and entertainment etc.

I deleted a few irrelevant items because I am not having a hens party nor an engagement party, so for those of you who want them, this budgeting will do just right.

I also like it that there are 2 tabs for guests list so I can put in names tentatively and then later plan for who are definitely coming for the wedding and who are not. And then it brought about some kind of revelation that those of my friends with lots of kids will absolutely benefit from attending weddings because they bring their entire clan and would only pay for 1, at most, 2 people's share of ang bao. Not that I mind, but like all brides, we have to maximise our returns. No wonder after such tedious and miserly planning, most brides pray that it doesn't rain during their wedding or old folks would say they are stingy brides.

*Fingers crossed it doesn't rain on my wedding day for people to say that about me*

Haha!

But if you ask me, I don't really mind that much because having kids at a wedding is a happy thing, the sound and nosies they make do make the occasion more lively. As for the returns, well I have no hope that we can take back, let alone make from our wedding. I just want to have a memorable wedding and definitely one that I want without making too many compromises.

So after keying in the prices of this and that, I got a shock because the costs just rocketed sky high. Right now, the excel sheet shows a whopping $46,269 after taxes and I have yet to search for bridal studios, video and photographer.

He says it is okay to just key in everything first because it would be good for us to see everything from a bird's eye view and then eliminate items that we can do without. But I am already feeling exasperated with the high amount and I am damn sure I have nothing in there that I want to compromise on.

Therefore, the only way is to first save as much as we can, then see how much we can borrow from the bank and speculate from our ang baos, pay back the bank and lastly then see which are the items we need to do without. From my guess, I might do without the band, then the emcee and finally, maybe the videographer. Oh well, hopefully we can have all of these in without burning a huge hole in our pockets.

That perfect suit

The adrenalin from researching and finding things for my wedding is unbelievably fun, so much that I realized I am focusing on myself more than my groom! Haha!

I know that he likes a silver suit so I proceeded to search the net for some variety of shades and patterns. The process has deemed so hilarious because there are so many flowery types that I am damn SURE he wouldn’t put it on but I giggled to myself because I know he will laugh along with me when I show those to him. He will definitely look good in those below if he plucks enough faith in me and courage in himself to wear them and; of cause, if he decides to want to look like a Victorian baron.

Here goes:

http://www.ottavionuccio.com/2013/esp/barocco/b06-(498).html

http://www.ottavionuccio.com/2013/esp/barocco/b15-(522).html    

http://www.ottavionuccio.com/2013/esp/barocco/b01-(529).html

Nice right?!

Ok, that’s it for fantasizing.

I have spoken to him and he has agreed to have 3 suits for the day. One silver one for the first part then change to Chinese collar black to suit my Nonya tea outfit. It is necessary for that because I will be wearing a red Kebaya and if he bounces about me still in his silver suit, we will look very odd together. So here is the version of the Chinese collar black suit that I think he will look stunning in.

http://www.weddingbycolor.com/shay2011

Save the fact that the male model wearing it is as hot as hell.

http://www.liquiwork.com/menstuxedossuits/jpg/123022.jpg

http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/796164667/2013-new-arrival-men-slim-fit-business-suits-the-groom-best-man-wedding-suits-white-silver.jpg

http://www.google.com.sg/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alizeebridal.com%

http://www.weddingbycolor.com/milestones/photo.do?photoUrl=http://photos.weddingbycolor-nocookie.com/p000027065-m163953-p-photo-429461/groom.jpg

The variety of silver suits is many but due to the different shades and variety of ties, there are not many I can post here. As the theme if turquoise, I was thinking if he wants to be in a turquoise coloured tie or even a bow tie. The whole point is, he would have to wear it again during our solemnization as well. So most importantly, he must be comfortable in it.

For his evening suit, I would like for him to be in black but with an intricate vest that fits his sun-shinny-like face. What do you guys think of this? I think it is purrrrrrrfect! *Shows claw*

http://www.black-tie-hire.co.uk/images/whtrad.png