My Guo Da Li on 18/9/010

We have a busy Saturday preparing for our guo da li. Cute Gregory is very efficient in planning the cake distribution route. With the help of Gregory's papa and friend, we managed to visit 11 places within 6 hours (from 12pm to 6pm). In between, we managed to have a break at Macdonalds. hehehe.....

Betrothal Gifts from Cute Gregory family

1) Pin Jin (聘金) of $2888

2) 4 touch of gold (四点金)

3) Nappy angpao (洗尿布的红包)

4) Grandpa angpao (祖父礼金)

5) 2 pairs of Dragon and phoenix candles replaced by 2 Ang Pao（两对龙风烛用红包代替）

6) 6 types auspicious seeds and grains (Red dates/ Dried longans/ lotus seeds / red bean/ green bean/ lily bulbs) （六种吉祥谷：红枣，龙眼干，莲子， 红豆， 绿豆，百合)

7) A basket of 12 oranges (12 粒橙放在蓝子里)

8) 2 bottles of XO (两瓶烈酒)

9) 28 boxes of cakes (二十八盒喜饼)

10) 26 pig trotter cans (二十六罐猪脚罐)

Dowry from Cute Catherine family

1) Baby Prosperity set (Potty/basin/baby bath tub/mug)

2) Wedding towels

3) Wedding lamps

4) Wedding bedsheets

5) A set of gold jewellery

6) Tea pot set

7) Bowls/spoons/chopsticks

8) Jewellery box

9) Sewing kit

10) new clothings and shoes

.... and lots more.

Some pictures of our GDL for sharing....

Singapore photoshoot photos collected on 16/09/2010

Yeah!!! We collected the photos within a week of our photoshoot. John was really efficient to pass us the photos so quickly.

Some photos for sharing....

Confirmed my AD makeup artist timing with Liffey today...

Today Liffey from my bridal studio Venus called me to confirm my actual day wedding makeup timing.

We have confirmed that she will come to our house at 6.30am to start with my mum's makeup first. Followed by mine at around 7 to 7.15am. Since I wanna the videographer and photographer to take photos of the makeup process(After i put on foundation), I will ask my VG & PG to come at around 7.30am. Meanwhile, as I will be going down to Venus for groom suit fitting next week, I arranged to meet up with Liffey to discuss my AD hairstyle. hehee.. she will confirm with me again.

Before Liffey hang up, she clarified with me about my blog posting. Apparently, a Venus bride was reading my blog and saw a posting on MUA flying kite. so she thought it was Liffey and went to tell Liffey about it. Arhhhhhh..... The reader never read properly!!!! The makeup artist who fly me kite was Celest Lai. I took her for my wedding photoshoot in Singapore on 11.9.2010. However, a few days before my photoshoot, Celest suddenly say she couldnt make it as she forgot she already booked her air tickets to KL. So I got to find someone else to replace her since photographer had been fixed. I end up booking Michelle from SG face for the photoshoot. Why I took up the "ROM makeover package" for my photoshoot.. it was because ROM makeover was cheaper than wedding photoshoot package. Since I felt that makeover should still be the same, I opt for the cheaper option.

So.... my AD makeup artist is still Liffey lah... No change!!!!!

(*Grin*Grin*: I thought my blog was a boring and lousy one with only me reading and updating it. haha.. didnt know still got pple reading it ah?? hahaha)

Anyway, looks like I can start to slowly finalised my AD programme....

Finally, the Singapore Photoshoot is over.... (11/9/2010)

Photographer: John Teo (Episode Photography) - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Episode-Wedding-Photography/139410739436781

Make up artist: Michelle (SG face)

Initially thought it was going to rain as the day before, it was raining the whole day. Luckily the weather was perfectly fine. hehehe... Michelle came to my house in the morning at around 8.45am and started doing the makeup for me and hubby. Somehow, I find her not very good as she seems to be rushing for time and i didn't think my makeup looks nice. Furthermore, she didnt spray enough hair spray on my hair. At the end of the day, my hair was super messy as it came loose. But since she charge quite cheap (only requested for her ROM makeup service cos it's cheaper than outdoor photoshoot makeup service) , just bear with it lah...

Together with John, we went to several places like Fullerton, Victoria theatre, parliament house, church etc for our photoshoot. Took for about 4 hours before we call it a day. It was really tedious standing under the sun. So really appreciate John's hard effort. Going to look at photos on Tuesday. Looking forward!!!

Photoshoot on 11/9/2010

I was just informed by the MUA that she couldnt make it for this coming saturday as she forgot that she had already booked her air tickets to KL. Hence she offered to transfer back the deposit to me. Last minute, I went to look through all the MUA contacts. THe next cheapest I can find is SG Face - Michelle. Looked at her portfolio and find it quite nicely done. She got about 10 yrs experience and her makeover is very natural. http://www.sgface.com/

Checked with Michelle and she informed that the slot is still available. Hence, I decided to book on the spot. She will be coming down at 9am to help me with the makeup.

ROM makeover package($150) includes:
-> Ampoule/Fake eye lashes
-> Makeover + hairstyle
-> Groom light touch up + hairstyle

Meanwhile, I have made some changes to the photoshoot venue. I have decided to go to Raffles Place/ Fullerton/ Clark Quay/ Esplanade. cos it's FOC. hehehe...

My custom made gown is ready after 2 weeks...

After the bridal shop received my payment, they rushed out the gown and sent it to me within 2 weeks. Quality is very good. I have made some slight changes: M top/Ribbon change from beige to pink..It looks great! Still come with free can can, veil, gloves, necklace, earrings, tiara etc etc......I'm a pinkish bride!!! Yeah!!!!!

Princess Catherine Wedding Slippers....

I like the heels with alot of crystals especially..... Is it unique? hehehe....

I have decided to custom made my actual day wedding gown!!!!

t was a very last minute decision.... I happened to come across this gown when I was surfing the net. It was really love at first sight. I simply love the design of this gown!!! It's a tube ball gown with alot of white fur and behind is tie back... looks very fairytale, v dreamy..

I approached this bridal shop to custom made the gown to my size. As I need it urgently, they mention that they can rush my order within 1 mth. At the same time, they offered me alot of free gifts: Veil/ Can Can/ Gloves/ Necklace & Earrings/ Tiara. It's almost perfect. Everything is there. I placed my order instantly. hehehe... Below is a glimpse of how my gown will look like.

Hope it will look good on me. Can't wait to see the end result.

Special Pre Wedding Photoshoot in Singapore

One day when I was surfing the brides forum, I came across this freelance photographer under Episode Photography....Since I had taken my photos only in Malaysia, I was very interested in this photoshoot package. So I decided to approach him for more details.

Episode Photography package of $650 (John Teo )
-> Photoshoot for 4 to 5hours
-> 20 full resolution/ Edited photos given back in soft copy & printed in 8R
-> Any additional photos required will be charged $40 per piece

Thinking it was quite reasonable, we decided to try it out. We have fixed the photoshoot location (The Singapore Zoo) as I wish to take photos with the horse carriage.. Checked out with the personel in the zoo and understand that I can actually just pay the admission fee and enter the zoo to take photos.

Roughly the cost will be as follow
Admission tickets (Gregory/ Catherine/ Catherine mum/ PG): $18 x 4 pax = $72
Horse carriage: $6 x 2 pax = $12
Elephant ride: $8 x 2 pax = $16
Total: $100

As for the makeover, I was looking around for a few makeup artists. Ask them for quotes on ROM makeover as I just need a simple hairstyle. The cheapest I can find is Celest and confirmed her on the spot.

http://www.facebook.com/celestlai

She's charging me $100 for the ROM makeup and it consist of makeover/hairstyling/ fake eye lashes/ampoule.

The photoshoot details had been confirmed as follow

Date: 11 September 2010
Photoshoot Venue: Singapore Zoo
Time for MUA to reach my house: 9am
Time to meet the PG at zoo entrance: 12pm
Duration for photoshoot: 12pm to 6pm
Gown: The one i bought from HK/ Bridesmaid gown from dressmeup

Hopefully everything turns out well.

Jay chou world tour concert 2010 (24th July 2010)

Woohoo.... I took a break from my wedding preparation and went for Jay Chou concert at the indoor stadium on Saturday (24th July). It took me alot of effort and time to buy the tickets as it was selling like hotcakes. The concert tickets ran out within 2 hours.

The sistic website was down early in the morning due to heavy traffic and we have to keep refreshing the screen till we reached the booking page. Was glad that we got the tickets. hehehe..... Even though we get the 2nd cheapest tickets (wanted to buy the more expensive one, but was sold out), the seating plan was not too bad... Managed to get a close up picture of Jay Chou.

The concert was really fantastic with the 3D stage effects. For almost half the concert, I was standing and swinging my LED stick to support my idol... Felt young again. hehehehe.... Was super high that night. Singing along with my idol, yelling and screaming at his name. hahaha... That was awesome!!!!!

Hope to see Jay Chou again soon. hehehe...

We have filed our ROM!!! Exactly 3 more months to go...

Early in the morning, we log into the ROM official website to file our marriage... Realised that the fee cost $26. Arhhhh.....Cute Gregory commented: Shouldn't the government absorb this cost since they are encouraging Singaporeans to get married and start a family. Sounds logical. hahaha.. but no choice lah... now still got to pay.

We were assigned a slot on 20th October 2010 between 8.30am to 9.30am to collect our cert. What a bad timing!!! My bridal studio is closed on Wed.. or else we can do everything on the same day. It's weird to collect the cert in the morning and go back to work in the afternoon... Wondering whether we should take a full day leave on that day.

Flowers....

Following the confirmation of my actual day wedding gown, I emailed the pictures to my florist, Lindt to design the wedding flower bouquet. The colour theme for my wedding is white, pink & purple.

For our church wedding, we will be using white & pink gerberas + Purple Forget-me-not as our main flowers to decorate the pews, altar flower arrangement, table reception flower arrangement etc. Gerberas represent innocence, purity & cheerfulness whereas forget-me not represent true love & memories. Great combination huh?

As for wedding flower bouquet, in order to look different from the church deco, we have confirmed using fuschia pink roses + white & purple eustomas. Isn't it nice and sweet? Below are the sample of flowers used.

Pink roses represents the glow of your smile & perfect happiness... As for Eustomas, not sure about the meaning. haha.. but it seems to complement well with my pink roses. hehehe...

A meet up with our solemniser today...

Right after work, we rushed down for our appointment with our solemniser, Father Edmund Chong at Church of St Joseph Bukit Timah which was scheduled at 7.30pm.

Father Edmund was very nice to guide us through the whole procedure. To make the whole atmosphere more lively, he cracked alot of jokes during the session. One of the joke which i can still remember was during the saying of vows, the nervous bride pronounced "fidelity" as "fertility".. it really make us laugh non stop. Hope I don't make such error on my wedding day. hahaha.. so malu...

We will be having a wedding service instead of a mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church because I'm a non Catholic. We have roughly done our church wedding slides, so he went through very slide with us to see whether any amendments to be made. Luckily there were not many errors. The whole session lasted for an hour or so. Cute Gregory will do the necessary amendments tonight.

As for me, I will keep the JP consent form safely in one corner as I need to produce the original copy when i go down to collect the ROM cert.

Yeah..... Another 2 more days to filing of marriage!!!!

A sneak preview of my white and pink gown....

Cute Gregory bought me a white and pink gown to match my fairytale theme... Will I look like a princess on my wedding day? I will be wearing this for my wedding banquet 1st march in.

99 more days to our wedding....

Woohoo.... another 99 more days to our wedding. Have been super slack and not doing any wedding stuff for the past 2 weeks since the gown selection. Cute Gregory was more efficient than me.

This mth, he managed to book more items for our Europe Honeymoon

- The coach tickets from London standsted airport to our hotel
- The train tickets to and fro Windsor from London
- The admission tickets to Windsor Castle
- Eurostar tickets from London to Paris
- Train tickets from Venice to Florence
- Train tickets from Florence to Rome

All these items make our journey more complete and connected. After booking all the miscellaneous items, our cost has increased to about $2950 per pax. However, considering that we are travelling to so many cities in 21 days, the cost is consider cheap and affordable.

Cute Gregory had finalised the itinery for London and Paris.. There are more to come!!

Some good news to share:

Today, we received news that we have been selected by Air Asia to take part in their 2 hrs focus group survey. At the end of the survey, we will each be rewarded with oyster card + london pass worth more than S$100 and baseball cap. hahaha... so our transport cost is now sponsored!!! Yeahhhh!!!!

Outcome of the AD gown selection on 2 July (Fri)

I finally went for my actual day gown selection at Venus Bridal. I was told by many that Venus are famous for their gowns. However, I was quite disappointed with the selection of the gowns.

I can't imagine choosing gowns for 5 hours... Super tedious task. So many gowns to change and try... Cute Gregory almost fall asleep while I was changing. After changing so many times, still can't find what I really want. I like a very grand, princessy gown with alot of crystals, beads and embroidery... Other criteria also includes minor minor details like

- Must look new (Some of the gowns I tried are already have abit of wear and tear)

- Need zips instead of tie up for convenience sake (Understand from Ivy that nowadays, most new gowns that comes in are all tie up.... So no choice. Out of my 3 gowns chosen, 2 are tie up. haiz...)

- Don't need long trains cos I'm careless and might trip and fall. (That eliminates more gowns because quite a number come with long train)

- I wanna have ball gowns with can can.(This is not too hard to achieve as alot of gowns are with can can. )

My coordinator, Ivy took out quite a number of the latest popular gowns for me to try, but none suits me.. maybe I don't have outstanding figure or face feature. That's why it looks awful on me rather than being outstanding. After so many hours of trying, I only managed to confirm 1 evening gown which is brown in colour and with zip... Convenient for me to change to other outfits. Just when I was about to give up my search, my coordinator took out 2 new gowns for me to try. Supposed to be a custom made gown by another bride, so it was not on display yet. Although it's not exactly what I want, but it still look quite new and presentable and better than other gowns. So just take whatever is available. Anyway, just wear for 1 day only. Doubt anyone can remember what I wear after a while. hehehehe... I have a sweet pink gown available for my first march in and cheongsum for my tea dress. This will add spice to my wedding.

Selected Wedding Gown Front view - Church Wedding

Selected Wedding gown back view

*** This wedding gown still fulfil my criterias. Very new/alot of nice beads & embroidery/ can put can can/ no train and no need to be afraid of trip and fall. Only disadvantage is the tie back which I hated...

Selected evening gown 1 (This is the only gown with zip) - For 2nd march in

*** There are really very few pieces of newer gowns with zips. This is the only few new pieces with zip and I'm still comfortable with the design.

Selected Evening gown 2 front view - For 3rd march in

Selected Evening gown back view

*** The colour is a bit too outstanding. But who knows, maybe with Liffey professional makeover skills, I might look outstanding too. Best part of this gown is it's new!!!!!!

Another item off my list.

I have fixed another date for hubby selection of suits as 24 Sept & AD gown collection date as 21 Oct. Looking forward to actual day...

My king size bed from Robinson...

Finally got the time to upload the pictures of my king size king koil bed from Robinsons... It will be delivered to my new house upon collection of keys.

My bedroom colour theme will be black + fuschia pink. Recently I have a liking for velvet design furniture with crystals.. When I saw this bedframe, I made up my mind to get this instantly. As for the mattress, I have chosen king koil for its good brand reputation. The mattress has a plush pillow latex top. Quite comfortable.... The bedframe + mattress will be fully paid by Cute Catherine.

After final discount, the mattress ($1682.31) + Velvet Bedframe ($1120.56) = $2802.87

As some of my vouchers are expiring soon, I will be making full payment of the bedframe + mattress by end of June.

After knocking off the vouchers redeemed using credit card, the total amount which I paid is finalised at $2324.87.

One furniture settled for my new house.

Some important dates to remember...

Some important dates updated....

2 July: Selection of AD gowns
21 July: Meet up with JP
23 July: Book ROM date
18 Sept: GDL date/ Sending out invitations
23 Sept: Food tasting
10 Oct: An Chuan
23 Oct: My wedding day
25 Oct to 15 Nov: Honeymoon

So many items settled within this month...

Wow.. We seems to be very efficient for this month


The following items were completed:


1) Met up with our coordinator in Orchard Hotel to finalise the details. We decided to go ahead with the pink roses dazzling theme which is in line with my fairytale theme. The 2 wedding favours which we have chosen are pinkish too!!!! Isn't that nice? The 2 VIP tables will be in purple and the remaining guest tables are all pink!!! Angpao box and complimentary guest book were collected from the hotel. Menu finalised.


2) Collected the invitation cards provided by the hotel from T dragon and sent it to JB for printing. I printed a total of 200 wedding inserts + 180 church invitation cards at S$185 only (All in full colour plus photos).. Very reasonable and good.

3) We managed to book most items required for our 21 days Europe trip

- Airtickets from Paris to Barcelona (By easyjet)
- Paris Disneyland tickets
- Airtickets from Barcelona to Venice (By Vueling)
- Florence Hotel stay
- Airtickets from Rome to London(By Ryan Air)

What is left outstanding will be the Eurostar train tickets, the Italia train tickets from Venice to Florence and from Florence to Rome.

It's almost 90% complete. We will be covering 6 cities in 3 weeks : London, Paris, Barcelona, Venice, Florence and Rome. And up till date, we have only spent about S$2500 per pax. Most likely we will be able to keep our budget within S$3000 per pax. Yeah!!!!!

4) The Guo Da li Stuff have been purchased, mostly from JB. They really have alot of varieties and it's so hard to resist all the cute cute designs. Bought things like baby prosperity set (mug, basin, pottery, bathtub), wedding lamp, wedding teapot set, wedding bowls/spoons/chopsticks, jewellery box, sewing kit etc. I have also bought my night gowns from US victoria secrets and cosmetics from Hongkong to complement the dowry. We have placed order for pig trotter cans from Carefour to be delivered to our house. At the same time, we have ordered our GDL cakes from Sweetest moments. Simply love their personalised box designs. http://www.sweetestmoments.com.sg/wedding/wdPackages.aspxPGroup=wd

More pictures will be shown on my Guo Da Li date. Do keep a lookout for it!!!

5) We have started to prepare our guestlist and slowly sending out our e invites. So far about 70% complete.

6) We have fixed a date with the JP: Father Edmund Chong. Appointment date is on 21st July. Just nice.. 2 days before we can file the marriage in rom website.

4 more months to go.... Looking forward.

My Pre wedding mtv....

What have I done for the past 3 mths??

It has been 3 months since I have last updated my blog. hehe.. in fact, I was quite slack in my planning. So what have I done during the past 3 months?

1) Wedding car settled.

I have decided to go ahead with a pink london cab. Why?? Because pink is my favourite colour. The driver is Mr Thomas.. Quite a friendly nice guy.. Managed to book him at $488 for 12 hours.. Attached is a pic of his car.

2) Make up artist confirmed

I have officially confirmed my bridal studio makeup artist from JB, Liffey.. Even though the price is as steep as local makeup artist... I felt more comfortable with her skills.. So decided to go ahead to get Liffey. Was charged for the following

Morning makeup + hairstyle: $350

Lunch touch up + hairstyle: $150 (First march in)

Lunch touch up + hairstyle: $150 (2nd marrch in)

Mummy makeup + hairstyle: $50

Grand total: $700

Already paid $100 deposit... going to pay the remaining on AD. Sweatz....

3) Went down to I studio twice... and made some amendments. Finally managed to collect my pre wedding mtv. Given the price which I paid, I find the quality really fantastic. Pending for them to give me the raw edited DVD

4) After more than 10 times for amendments on bridal layout, finally managed to send my album for printing and collected last week. Everything had been collected except 2 frames, guest book and thank you cards.

5) Confirmation of banquet menu done.

6) Some dates had been fixed as follow

12 May: Selection of wedding cards

16 May: Meet up with Orchard hotel to confirm wedding theme/ wedding favour etc

23 July: Selection of AD gowns/ Buy GDL stuff/ Printing of cards/ Book ROM dates

18 Sept: GDL date

23 Sept: Food tasting

10 Oct: An Chuan

23 Oct: My wedding day

25 Oct to 15 Nov: Honeymoon

Seems like it's almost 75% complete.... Planning a wedding seems so tedious. Can't wait for it to be over.

Wedding caricature standee collected

Yeah!!!!

Our wedding life size standee has arrived.. Isn't it huge and cute?? Got a hard time squeezing it into the taxi.

Let's have a look!!!

Honeymoon trip half confirmed!!!!

Arhhhhhh!!!! Can you imagine air tickets can be so cheap now? I have booked the one way airasia flight ticket ( from Singapore to KL /From KL to London) inclusive of taxes and meals at $291 only.

We have also confirmed our hotels for London/Paris/Barcelona/Venice/Rome which is way within our budget. Looks like we can have a 25 days trip within $3000. Didn't know travelling to Europe can be so cheap!!!

Currently waiting for the booking of connecting flights to open soon.. so that we can book our air tickets... Can't wait to go for the trip!!! Yeah!!!

Church Wedding Florist & cupcakes wedding reception vendor confirmed!!!

2 more items off the list.

After several selections, I have decided to confirmed my vendors for my church wedding floral decoration and wedding cake reception at Orchard hotel. Even though they are not the cheapest quotes I have sourced, I was quite satisfied with their service and decided on them.

Wedding Florist: 85 Flowers (http://85flowers.multiply.com/)

Lindt was very friendly and gave us alot of ideas on the floral decoration. As our theme consist of mainly pink, white and purple, we eventually decided on using pink and white gerberas together with Forget-me-not. We find it abit different from others because alot of the church weddings we have attended mainly use roses as deco. Gerberas represents innocence and purity, and holds an added meaning of cheerfulness, which stems from the assortment of colors available. Think it will really be very nice to fill up the aisle with gerberas.


Wedding cupcakes Reception: Simplycakes (http://simplycakes.multiply.com)

I was very amazed by the beautiful cupcakes featured in the website. It's a home based business. Tina is very friendly and very accomodating to my requests. We are actually to mix and match our cupcake designs so that everyone looks unique. After our discussion, we decided on the designs to suit the theme. We will mainly be using flowers/castle/princess/horse carriage etc. I'm really looking forward to 4 tier wedding cupcake reception!!!!

My hongkong trip (28 Dec 2009 to 2nd Jan 2010)

That was my happiest trip in year end 2009. Shop till I drop!!!!

I managed to buy 1 wedding gown and 3 evening gowns(for mother) at golden plaza, a building selling only wedding stuff. It was really a good bargain. Can you imagine each piece cost less than S$100?? and alteration is inclusive...

I wanna be the prettiest bride on that day.. and I have decided to have many changes of outfit and hairstyle on that day. That will be my plan

Church wedding - Wedding Gown 1 (Supplied by Venus) / First hairstyle & makeover by Liffey
Banquet- Wedding Gown 2 (Bought in Hong Kong)/ Second hairstyle & makeover by Liffey
Banquet - Evening Gown 1(Supplied by Venus)
Banquet - Evening Gown 2 (Supplied by Venus/ Third hairstyle & makeover by Liffey
Tea Ceremony - Cheongsum (Bought from Emmanul B Couture)

Still got 1 short gown... Can't think of where to fit in already.

Hope to get this finalised soon.

Wedding Caricature

While I was watching the live telecast of Fann Wong & Christopher's wedding, I noticed that they have a wedding caricature standee at their banquet reception. It really looks fantastic. So I decided to do one too.


hehehe.... Found a carcaturist who was very accomodating to my requests and have decided to go ahead with it. Here comes my drawing...

Draft 1

Draft 2

Final drawing

Intend to use it for not just the standee, but also for my church invitation card. Hope the final result is good!!!

Here comes my portrait wedding album draftt layout!