Confessions of a Bride-To-Be #12: Confirming our Justice of Peace

We met up with Mr Alex Tan Yan Boon (recommended by Joy) on Saturday evening, after he had confirmed his availability for our wedding, so he could sign the consent form to be our Justice of Peace. Read good things about him on the Internet, I hope we won’t be disappointed!

Thanks everyone for your recommendations! :)

Wedding Eye Candy: Bride and Her Bridesmaids

I really adore this photo :)

Confessions of A Bride-To-Be #11: The Wedding Rings

We started our search for wedding rings a month ago and made our rounds among the usual suspects such as Love & Co, Lee Hwa, Soo Kee and Goldheart.

I was disappointed by the service provided by the local stores. Sales assistants were not forthcoming to serve but maybe that’s what happens when you both look like you are fresh from college. Not once, did anyone ask “What kind of designs are you looking for?” when we were browsing. Wouldn’t that be the most basic question to ask your customer, so you can recommend designs to sell to them?

If you ask me, I would say Love & Co had the best service among the stores we visited. But even so, the sales assistants were generally not well-trained and couldn’t answer some of our questions.

Just before we visited the jewellery stores, we had purchased an Agnes B bag from the Raffles City outlet, for his Mom’s birthday. I wish I could remember the name of the sales assistant who had served us, because he was patient and provided commendable service, from beginning to end. When we told him that we were worried the recipient might not like the design, he gladly offered to write an exchange card, so she could bring the bag for an exchange, without the sales receipt (and hence without finding out the price).

It’s ironic that the level of service you receive when you shop for wedding rings which easily cost at least 4 to 10 times than an Agnes B utility bag, is nothing to shout about.

Pardon the digressing, but if you’ve been following this space for a while, you would know that one of my pet peeves is poor service. Anyway, one of Love & Co’s designs did catch my eye but we decided to look around more.

And i'm glad we waited.

Thanks to Eadwine’s recommendation, we bought our wedding bands at eClarity, Shaw Centre, where we were served by Amanda, the owner. eClarity offers engagement rings, wedding bands, other jewellery and lots and lots of diamonds (from what I understand, their diamonds are cheaper because you don’t pay for the marketing).

If you like personalized service and reasonable prices, this is the place for you. Don’t forget to make an appointment though, because I don’t think they don’t accept walk-ins.

3 more months

Over the weekend, we bought our wedding bands, booked our honeymoon accommodation, confirmed our Justice of Peace and sat down to choose our pre-wed photos. I’ll write about these in greater detail soon, but can I just say what a great sense of accomplishment it is to strike off some items from our to-do-list!

That’s still more to be done, though.

This weekend’s agenda includes a trip to the tailor to get the fiance’s suit made, eFiling at the ROM website, firming up our guest list, hunting for ideas for our invitation cards, and going for our food tasting session.

With 3 months more to go, I’d be lying if I said we are not starting to tear our hair out over the stuff to be done.

I can’t wait for the big day to be over so our weekends, stress levels and finances can resume normality. But mostly, I can’t wait to embark on this new journey, with you.

Confessions of A Bride-To-Be #10: Selecting Our Photos

"Let's choose this!"
"It's too similar to the other shot."
"We must have this."
"But that means we will have too many photos of us kissing!"

And now, I understand why people say selecting your final pre-wed photos is a mean feat.

Lobster Porridge

I tried lobster porridge for the first time during dinner with the family at Orchid Live Seafood last night.

The porridge broth was very tasty, although i'm not sure whether it was due to MSG or the sweetness of the lobsters (i'm not one of those with taste buds discerning enough to tell when MSG has been used).

I still prefer Crab Bee Hoon soup if you ask me.

We also had the Steamed Patin Fish, Hei Zou (or Prawn Paste Rolls), Mixed Vegetables and Steven's Chicken which is the chef's signature chicken, but they were mediocre, especially the Hei Zou which tasted more of flour than prawn paste (don't you just hate it when places shortchange you?).

The Accidental Find

While geocaching, we stumbled upon a 'secret garden'.

Love the peacefulness and tranquility of the place. How nice it would be to have a picnic with friends by the water someday.

I wonder if it's crowded during the weekends.

Confessions of A Bride-To-Be #9: Making The Dress Part 2

After two visits to Dang Bridal this week, i've confirmed my wedding gown and cheongsam designs.

Will leave Dang and her team to work their magic, till my first fitting in early December.

Now to hunt for shoes :)

I love Dang's loft with the ceiling to floor views of the Singapore River. That's my Mom getting measured for her cheongsam.

Love her gowns. Sweet dreams are made of these

Hooked on Geocaching

One of the most common gripes I have about being a couple in Singapore, is that there's nothing to do, especially on weekends.

I mean, there's only so much shopping, eating and movie watching we can do, right?

And so, earlier this week, we decided to break our routine and try out geocaching.

In a nutshell, geocaching is akin to a scavanger hunt, where you are equipped with GPS devices, instead of a map and the aim is to locate hidden containers, called geocachees.

We downloaded the Geocache intro app on our iPhones (it's free btw!) and drove to Ang Mo Kio. It made sense to hang out in the North as we were heading to the Night Safari in the evening and we wanted to look for our first geocache in a neighbourhood we weren't familiar with.

Photos from our little 'expedition' :)

Follow the compass to find your geocache!

Our first geocache which took us a while to find

A geocache usually includes a piece of paper to log your date and comments

Finding the second geocache was easy peasy but we almost got bitten by red ants!

The third geocache was a real toughie (which explains why i stopped taking photos) and had us searching high and low, with no luck. Perhaps it has been removed by someone?

Anyway, i'd highly recommend anyone with an iPhone to give geocaching a try, especially if you're like me and love the idea of treasure hunts. Just don't forget to bring along lots of water, sunblock and insect repellant!

Confessions of A Bride-To-Be #8: Justice of Peace

Dear whoever reads this blog,

I need recommendations for a Justice of Peace.

Professor Yu Shi Ming, whom was recommended by some friends, might not be able to make it for our wedding in January because his license is expiring at the end of the year.

Our requirements are simple (or so we think).

• Speaks good English
• Doesn't get our names wrong (i've heard horror stories of how the JP mixed the bride and groom's names up)
• Is punctual
• Doesn't require us to pick him/her up
• Doesn't force us to write our own vows
• Doesn't try to crack lame jokes
• Is friendly and not stern

The SG Bride forum threads only seem to revolve around a few popular JPs who don't meet some of our requirements, so I would be grateful for any recommendations based on your or your friends' experience.

Thanks very much!

Cheers,
Z

Gossip Girl Addict

Most people I know are US TV show junkies, myself included.

Don't mean to diss our local TV shows but I think we all know that they can't compare to the US ones, whether in terms of budget, storyline or acting chops.

I love Grey's Anatomy for McDreamy and the riveting human drama, Glee for the song and dance and recently, True Blood (recommended by Kelly).

But if there's one show i love which contradicts what i said earlier about having a good storyline, it's Gossip Girl.

I like that it's not emotionally draining, unlike Grey's which can have me sobbing too much (like when Alex made his vows to Izzie, yikes) or True Blood which can be too gorey and sexual sometimes.

The eye candy and the Big Apple, what a heady combination. And not forgetting, the fashion.

Good, frivolous entertainment :)

Photos from InStyle

Saying Goodbye

I stepped out of the office at 8plus today.

It was like any other long work day, except I had sent out my farewell emails, cleared my workstation and left with two bagfuls of belongings.

Yep, today was my last day of work.

While i look forward to the new environment, i know i will miss the company of the colleagues whom i now call my friends.

One chapter has closed and another one beckons.

Wish me luck.

Confessions of A Bride-To-Be #7: Making The Dress Part 1

After months and months of waiting, my first appointment with Dang Bridal is round the corner.

Finally!

I'll be going down with my Mom next week and i can't wait. Mom's brutally honest, so i know i can trust her if she says a design doesn't look good on me.

Although i would like the fiance to be there to give his opinion, i have decided to spare him the agony and leave him out of this girly journey, so the wedding dress can remain a surprise (hopefully a good one) till our wedding day :)

Ok, back to surfing around for more inspiration!

Happy Children's Day!

Happy Children's Day everyone!

May we always embrace that inner child in us :)

By the way, hands up if you were like me and used to look forward to not having to wear the school uniform and being able to wear your own clothes on Children's Day in Primary School heh.