Getting married in Singapore is really expensive

As the date of the wedding draws nearer and our bank account getting emptier, I can't help but feel that, damnit, getting married in Singapore is really ridiculously expensive.

My distant cousin who got married in Phoenix, America got married in such a shabby fashion that even I had to say how sorry I was. Her dress was too plain and she bought it over the shelf. Her in-laws did not even bother to plan for any reception and my aunt had to fork out tons of money for that (probably because most of the people who attended the wedding came from her side anyway). My aunt also had to pay for a limousine to pick up the newly weds because she could not take it that the couple had to drive themselves to and fro. And of cause, there wasn't any Chinese customary to follow, any videographer or express videos to show what happened during the day because everything took place in the church and in the ballroom of a hotel with cheapo chicken breasts as the mains.

I wished I could have gotten married in the States where everything else is cheaper than in Singapore. But then again, it would not be the wedding of my dreams already. I could have gotten a wedding gown from the shelf but it would not be as grand as any of what the brides in Singapore wore.

So right now, as I input more and more lines and figures into my wedding planner excel sheet and seeing the figures jump up like crazy, there is always this tendency to see if there are other things I can do without. Like for instance, I could do without the band, but what is a garden wedding with a band eh?

I could also save on some few hundreds by not renting a bridal car and use my own. After all, the car is just a means of transport but the huge scratch at my left fender would demand a more serious cover for repair and my orange ninja might not necessarily look suitable as a wedding car.

What is worst is that my salary is a fixed amount and there is only a certain amount I can save every month minus the fixed expenses. So the life-saver would be Ah Lau whose commission from his sales can really help a lot. And that would also mean that he has the blunt of the stress sword which I don't want him to have.

After all, getting married should be a happy and enjoyable process, not a stressful one.