The Full Story of Our Pre-Wedding experience with The Love Weddings 爱情海婚纱

Finally, the wedding is over!!

I've already posted the photos on Facebook but a journal of it is necessary because there's always a "story" to every picture...  And since we have no plans on Christmas day, why not?

A year before our wedding, we took a trip to Taiwan to meet our Pre-wedding coordinators from The Love Weddings 爱情海婚纱.  After the selection of gowns on day one, we went on for the photoshoot on the very next day.

First place we went to was Taipei Water Park (Museum of Drinking Water) 自來水博物館.

This was typically those -- look at the sky, look far far away kinda pose which we dreaded!  So difficult you know?!

After driving through some rocky roads, we reached a place full of GREENERY!  I hate greens..... But since we 辛辛苦苦 walked through all that mud to pose in the rain just to get a few pictures, we had to pick a few photos 要不然对不起自己啦!

We then headed off for some railway scenes!  This place was freaking cold, really.  And it was funny how we changed into another gown.  The photographer and makeup artist set up this portable tent real quickly in the middle of literally nowhere and we just popped in to change!

Then we randomly looked for somewhere to sit down while the makeup artist touched up my makeup and redo the hairstyle... then suddenly, a car had to pass by that narrow lane we were sitting by... and next a truck of grocery had to pass by... It was, 狼狈 i tell you.

As "glamorous" as the photos turned out, as much smiles as you see in the photos, it all came after we "braved" through the cold, the rain, the mud, the dirt..... 辛苦啊!

 It was here when the weather suddenly turned SOOO cold, the photographer just shot me with my jacket.  I refuse to get outta it!  Good thing my furry jacket looks cute! *grins*

As we traveled up towards 九份, the rain got heavier, the wind got stronger and the thunder came along.

While we had some time to rest along the way, i thought about all the shots we had taken before this and there were already some regrets stirring in me.

I should have endured the cold a little more for better photos at the railway.  I should have insisted on non-greens.  I could have done better.  *sighs*

After just a little while of flashing back, i probably fell asleep from the car-sickness.  I have never gotten car sick my whole life and did not even know i had it till my makeup artist told me what i felt was actually it.  Man, it was a horrible feeling, plus the cold, it was torture.

But this place, was well worth-it.

九份 is must-go for most tourists, so this place was jammed packed with people.  Plus their narrow streets, everyone with an umbrella and wearing bulky cold sweaters, it was a challenge moving around for a good shot.

To remember this, we took a flight of narrow stairs, paused in the middle of nowhere, and posed with curious tourists walking by us.

九份 is definitely a picture perfect place.  If only it wasn't raining...

Throughout our experience with The Love Weddings 爱情海, the most commendable was their indoor lightings for photoshoot.  Almost all our indoor photos was unedited and they just turned out great the way they are!

This photo was love at first sight.  Color was perfect for a bed top framed photo.

Most wedding portraits focuses on the Bride.  But amongst them, there's always a picture or two of the 帅 Groom！

But of course, the span of attention on the Groom don't usually last *grins*

Check out this next Gown!

I love the gown, except that it's suffocating.

The look which i did not expect would pull through.  So magazine...

After that was a galore of me, me and more close-up me with random us.  Hahaha.

I never fancied turquoise and blue gowns cause the shade usually turns out looking oldish and orbiang (in my terms that is..) through the lens.

But surprisingly, this gown with a touch of simple blings looks great! 

We got so comfortable with the lens, the photoshoot became a load of fun!

And here is the Groom's favorite photo!  Cause he said he looks good in it.. X.X

This is my favorite!  So korean drama-ish!

Then we had this range of photos where my steve madden heels look so good in it. lol.

This is the maturest i have ever seen myself.  Sooooo OLD!

And before we ended the day, a few photos were snapped just outside of the shop.  It was a beautiful evening.

Though a day late, Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year.

Our Wedding Thank You Cards

Remember the red "喜喜" cards which i made?

Well, they became our Thank You cards for the wedding!

Every word was penned, because we really meant it when we say Thank You.

Yet another secretive post

I can't wait to post pictures, but that's only gonna happen here after my wedding which is coming up on 8 December!

忍 忍 忍 ！！！

Key password here to view!

Oh, so this is 过大礼。

Somehow, the 过大礼 was over before i knew what was going on.

After all the preparation, shopping and ordering of items for this tradition before the wedding ceremony, it was all over in about 15 mins.  And it was only till the moment JF rang the bell then did we know that his parents are not to be present, hence they had JF's 舅舅 and 舅母s coming over as 媒人... And it was only when JF's aunt mentioned, then did we know that we should have informed and invited our relatives to be present during the event, be it to witness the occasion or simply to 凑热闹...

We knew none.  And well, we did none. Kua kua kua...

So JF and relatives came over with the Pine Garden cakes which he claims taste reallyyyyyy good, and there were cartons of canned pig trotters, a vintage basket of sweets, bottles of martell, 聘金 and some random stuff which i never got a chance to see.

And in return, mommy and daddy returned the favor.

Lazy mommy decided to pay a little more, and left it all to The Chinese Wedding Shop @ AMK to gather all the stuffs she needed for the 过大礼。How convenient.

Don't they look good? ;D  Why all so red?

I CHOOSE ONE LORH *GRINS*

And the cakes JF bought from Pine Garden, at AMK too!  The 过大礼 went by so fast that i didn't get a chance to snap pictures *sulks*

One less thing to worry about!

...

So learn from my lesson k.

#1: His parents will not be present, expect a 媒人。

#2: Inform your relatives!  If they care enough of your wedding, they'll be there to 凑热闹。

#3: 过大礼 doesn't take very long, get your cam ready!!

Oh and after the 过大礼, everyone else seems all busy, except for me.

Strange.

The Wedding Invitation!

Ooo, when did i draft this post.  It's totally overdue.

So this was a post when i was all busy over the invitation cards.  At this very moment while the clock's ticking close to the wedding day, we prepared an E-invitation for friends whom we didn't manage to meet in person.  感觉有点可惜... 好不容易有个机会叙叙旧的咯!  没办法... 我真的尽力了啦!

***

I think i'm crazy.  I couldn't live with giving out to my friends the plain red invitation the hotel gave, so i decorated them with ribbons!  Most people barely look at wedding invitations and it may seem its pointless to even be bothered by how it looks.  But thing is, 我过不了自己那关啊!  

Yar la, i eat too full nothing better to do.  What's new? ;p

Thanks to Xueling, we didn't have to go around sourcing for a great deal for the printing of wedding inserts!

If anyone ever needs the details, refer below!  While City Square is on renovation right now, they have a temporary shop space at the basement where all the food chains are.

They charge about SGD60 for 200 wedding inserts, which is as far as we know, really cheap!  Our hotel printer quoted us SGD120 (before GST!) for the same number of inserts lorh! Kns.

Just remember to go along with your parents' name in English and Chinese.  As for the other details like the wedding dates in the chinese calendar, chinese name of your hotel etc. and even the map of the hotel, you could prepare it just in case.  For me, the print shop helped me with all the details ;D

The sample was ready in an hour, and the inserts were ready for collection in a week.  They've lotsa templates to choose from, but the inserts are only available in cream or pink color.  And if you're thinking of printing nicer and interesting invitations, they charge a very reasonable price too!

That's about all!

Oh and i gotta complain.  Preparing invitation cards' by far the most tedious and time consuming thing to do amongst everything else! Arghhh~~~

Wedding is all about "喜喜" and Reds

I'm pretty surprise myself how "traditional" i can be.  While most brides shun from the traditional REDS and all, i'm actually loving them.  The redder the better! LOL!

And yes, expect to receive a very RED invitation from me soon! And yes, my gown is RED.

*HUGE GRINS*

Over the weekends, i got quite a bit of things done.  Firstly, i got too bored and did these!  Seriously, i have no idea what i'm gonna do with it.  I just like it so i did it. Psssh.

They're really easy to make, if you have.. this!

It's a "xi" cutter which you can get from Popular bookshop at about $14 (i think). I bought mine at a few dollars more from a wedding shop at Toa Payoh Central cause it was sold out at Popular.  I had to have it so i bought it lorh!

And once i got home, i got a whole box of them done!  They look so cool, but i have no idea what to do with them now >.>

What else?  My dearest mommy has settled the 过大礼 stuff over the weekends at this wedding shop at AMK Jubilee.  Not that i'm "bad-mouthing", but stuffs from these wedding shops are WAY over-priced.  If you drive or ain't bothered about the trouble it takes to carry stuffs back from Malaysia, you should totally buy them from across the border.  The whole package of 过大礼 stuff for Brides cost about SGD170 or so depending on the designs you choose, while those from M'sia cost only a little over RM200!  What the hell right? Owells, but there's always people like us (my mom and i) who prefers to spend more to save the trouble. Kua kua kuaaaa...

And JF and parents had settled the 过大礼 cakes from Pine Garden at AMK as well.  He said it's yummy!

Soon soon soon, i'm gonna settle my very red invitation cards!

Till thens!

So secretive, not?

So today i learned something new. Post encryption! Coolness. I hope this works, otherwise... Good game. If you're an IT expert, stay away huh!

Key password here to view!

The Bride, tempted by her own DIY.

My room's a total mess now with all the wedding stuff stacking around.  Every day, i walk pass the beautiful flower garlands i made for my sisters *coughs* *self-praising* and i sooooo wanted one for myself too.

Even if i have no chance to wear it on my wedding day.  I can still take a picture of myself in it right!  So yes i did it! As if i have nothing else better to do, i made a flower garland for myself today ;D

"Strangely", i already have everything i needed to make the Bride's flower garland *grins* You see... i knew this will happen so i bought extras of everything. HOHOHO.  Such foresight!!!

And this time, i'm gonna share a bit more how i made these flower garlands!

There are many materials we can use to make the skeleton of a flower garland.  Craft wires, rattans or anything that fits the head basically.  I used these from Daiso.  They can be found at the gardening section, cost only $2 and they already come in the shape we want it to be!

For measurements, a good fit would be about 56cm in circumference.  But we'll cut extra and measure it again on the head before fixing the size.

Once the size is decided, just tape it up! So simple ;D

And tadaaaa!!!!!  We got a flower garland with no flowers *nice*

For a easier-to-do flower garland, get these wired flowers.  Limited colors and designs though.  Daiso sells them.  There's the common pink, white, yellow, blue, red colors.  Or you could buy them on ebay.

I used those wired flowers for my sisters' garlands.  But a Bride's gotta be different!  So i bought a bunch of these flowers!  You can get any flowers, just make sure them have stems.

Cut the flowers and leaves individually right at the ends, leaving enough stem length for tying later on.

Then we wire up the flowers with flexible wires (from Daiso as well).  Remember to leave enough length to twist around the skeleton of the garland ;)

It doesn't really matter how messy the wiring gets as long as the flowers get secured properly.  But make sure the sharp ends of the wires end on the inside of the garland and are not sticking out.

Go around the circumference, placing the flowers where you want them to be.

To hide the "mess" of wires and stems, i used white ribbons.  Just stick double-sided tapes on the ribbons and go around the circumference again.

This may take quite a bit of patience.  And it really depends on how particular you are.  As you can see, i didn't pay a lot of attention to the details, except ensuring the wires and stems are all covered up.  The uneven ribbon twirls are barely visible when we put it on, so i guess it doesn't matter?  As said, it's up to individual.



Adding a little details with flowers or ribbons to the back of the flower garland will make wearing it look really nice. Really.

That's basically how i made my flower garland.

Dones!

Joy!  Snap a pic!

Loving it loving it.. x1million times!