The Wedding Venue

The husband and I knew from the very start of our wedding planning journey that we wanted a small wedding. Just close family and friends. No distant relatives whom you never knew existed or people you invite to make up the numbers.

We also wanted the wedding to be in Sentosa although it was a little inconvenient because we loved the idea of it being away from the city.

Based on these considerations, our final three choices were Amara Sanctuary, Sentosa Resort and Spa and Suburbia. We struck out Sentosa Resort and Spa after a site recce because the lawn area was too small and we didn’t want to hold the dinner reception in a function room.

It was down to Amara Sanctuary and Suburbia.

We went down to Amara Sanctuary first and were quite pleased. I liked the Glasshouse and could almost envision having our dinner reception at Shutters, the hotel’s buffet restaurant.

But it was Suburbia that stole our hearts.

Coincidentally, there was an ongoing wedding and the couple had an outdoor solemnization at the lawn in front of the restaurant. The evening sun had cast warm golden light, the bridesmaids were dressed in yellow and complimented the greenery perfectly. (That was also one of the reasons why I chose yellow for my bridesmaids).

It was beautiful.

We loved the small cosy garden, the high ceiling of the first level dining area, the Western setting with long tables, the peacocks roaming in the vicinity, and the restaurant’s quaint heritage – the building which houses Suburbia used to be a monorail station. We were worried intially that it could get rather humid and uncomfortable for guests because the first level is not air conditioned. But we loved the venue so much that we were prepared to deal with that. And so, we contacted the wedding coordinator and the rest as they say, was history.

And kudos to the Suburbia team, especially Belinda, who has been very accommodating to our requests and a real pleasure to deal with from start to end.

No prizes for guessing where we will be having our first anniversary dinner :)

Here are some photos of our venue and lovely decor (made with love by our best men/bridesmaids) from Ead.

We developed photos from our seven years together, to be hung on a tree at the garden but because it rained, our decor i/c improvised and hung them at a glass panel near the entrance, as a photo wall.

Our flowers were from Sing See Soon, who are pretty well known among the wedding forums. Gracelyn really knows her stuff and made the whole process so easy and fun.

The Wedding Parrrtayyy

Now that the home broadband is up and running, I’m dusting the cobwebs off this space and starting on my backdated entries.

Let’s go way back and start with the overdue wedding recap, shall we?

What I remember most about our big day wasn’t the gatecrashing (nonexistent for us), the moment my Dad walked me down the aisle (a really mini one in our case), the solenmnisation where we both got a little emo or the first dance we shared as husband and wife.

It was clearly the post wedding party.

Even as we go through our wedding photos today, it is evident that we were relaxed and having the most fun as we we let our hair down and boogied the night away at the after party with our friends.


And thanks to Ead, we’ve got these incriminating pictorial evidence of us partayying, which we can proudly show to our kids in future and say “Seeee, we were cool!”.

All photos taken by Eadwine from Plush Photography. Please do not reproduce without permission.

Stefanie Sun's Wedding Dresses

It's been close to four months since the wedding and though I have put my bridezilla days behind me, I still can't help but gush over a beautiful wedding gown (and bride) when I see one.

Singapore's home-grown songbird, Stefanie Sun got hitched yesterday and her wedding photos were featured in today's papers.

I like how she went for a simple, classic gown, matched it with a chapel veil and let her hair down to avoid looking overly mature.

But really, for me, it was her second gown for the evening which stole the show.

She wore a long-sleeved lace gown. A Grace Kelly gown!

No offence to the House of McQueen, but this dress in my humble opinion is more breathtaking.

I'm so envious she got to put on this gown. Do you know how hard it is to carry off a full lace, needless to say long-sleeved gown?

I wish she wore a different hairstyle though. Her hair looks a little unstyled, don't you think?

Photos from The Straits Times

The Wedding Outfits

In light of the recent Royal Wedding fever, I'm taking a break from my remaining Maldives entries to feature my wedding outfits from Dang Bridal.

For the morning, I wore a short made-to-measure lace cheongsam with scalloped sleeves and skirt hem, while the husband wore a black suit with a pale pink shirt, both from Tessuti and a silver tie from Topman.

Photo taken by the sister's bf

Dang had asked what colours I was thinking of for the cheongsam during my first appointment.

When I told her I wanted a bright cheongsam, like the red and blue, diamond cutout bareback one she made for Fiona Xie previously, she shook her head disapprovingly. "You can wear those cheongsams for other occasions. As a bride, you need to wear something more resplendent."

She then showed me a bale of pink sequinned lace, which I had reservations about. I'm not a big fan of pink and I was afraid of looking overtly sweet. I loved the blue and orange cheongsam Lin wore for her wedding (Dang is known for playing with bold, contrasting colours with her cheongsams) and I wanted a similar contrast of colours.

"Trust me. You will look good in this."

And with those words, I took a leap of faith.

I'm very glad Dang insisted I follow her advice because I received many accolades from family and friends. I can't thank her enough for the beautiful cheongsam and wedding gown.

Love the pink buttons that adorn the back of the cheongsam

Dang kept my morning bouquet simple by using a bunch of pale green roses tied with white lace.

I made an unconventional decision not to don the wedding gown for the morning part of the wedding. I thought it would be more practical to wear a lighter dress for the tea ceremony and I found it troublesome to change from the wedding gown to the cheongsam. More importantly, I wanted to save the best for the last. I wanted to reserve my gown for the special moment where I walked down the aisle towards the man I was going to marry.

My Mom and MIL didn't take well to this, naturally. They both felt a girl had to wear her wedding gown when she left her home to 出嫁 (get married). It was frustrating because while I didn't want to upset them, I couldn't see the big fuss about not wearing the gown in the morning. After all, it's not like I wasn't going to not wear the gown at all, right? In the end, I stuck to my guns and I'm glad I did because it poured non-stop (our wedding was the wettest day in January on record!) and my gown would have been dirtied had I decided to wear it that morning.

Next up, the wedding gown.

 

It was love at first sight, when I saw the off the rack gown at Dang's studio.

When Dang added that the gown was inspired by a similar Oscar de la Renta design, I was sold in an instant. The gown had a toga strap, made of tulle, which I asked Dang to remove, for my MTM version. For the evening, the husband wore a white shirt and a slim black tie from Zara, with his Tessuti suit. Call me biased, but I thought he looked dapper :)

The sweetheart neckline and the criss cross of tulle, over the lace bustier

Loved the details of the skirt, made of silk organza. Dang dyed the gown herself from white to off-white.

 

My wedding bouquet, made up of ivory roses and blush and pink eustomas, was also by the very talented Dang.

All photos, with the exception of the first, taken by Eadwine from Plush Photography. Please do not reproduce without permission.

In Lieu Of Wedding Favours

A few months before our wedding, I chanced upon this wedding on Style Me Pretty where the couple had made a donation in lieu of favours.

I told the husband (then fiance) about it. After a quick chat, we decided it would be meaningful to do the same - make a donation instead of spending the money on wedding favours which not all our guests might appreciate.

And so we made a token sum donation of a few hundred dollars to the Community Chest. We chose this charity because it supported different causes - children with special needs, people with disabilities, the elderly and families facing difficulties.

If you are a bride-to-be, I hope you will be inspired to do the same.

One of the ways you can do so is to support the ongoing relief efforts in Japan.

Help Japan Recover - American Red Cross and Singapore Red Cross

It may sound cliche, but even a small effort will go a long way in helping those in need.

Our First Dance

We were chatting with some friends when the band invited us to share a first dance to Lifehouse's You and Me. Wasn't planned and it caught us off guard.

It might seem from the photo like we were indulging in the moment but really, we were more embarassed and trying our darnest not to step on each other's toes!

Still, it was nice :)

Cause it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why
I can't keep my eyes off you

PS, thanks MY, for capturing the shot!

Saying Hi as A Missus

So it rained non-stop yesterday and we couldn't have our solemnisation outdoors. But the rain didn't dampen our spirits.

And due to a miscommunication, our live band got my walk in song wrong. But I still got to walk in with my father, to another of our favourite songs.

Despite being one of the longest, most nerve-wrecking days of my life, it was also my happiest.

I'm so glad to say we're FINALLY HITCHED!

Btw, thanks for following my wedding preparation journey, for the advice and kind words!

One-Eyed Bridezilla

My left eyelid has been swollen since yesterday.

This ailment isn't new to me. It's my chronic blepharitis at work again, which I can only attribute to the following factors - the stress from the upcoming wedding, dust from the springcleaning over the weekend and long hours of contact lens wearing recently (I really should have known better not to wear my contacts for my work trip to Bangkok last Thurs, from morning till midnight).

What impeccable timing.

Hot compresses, medication, drinking more fluids and staying away from 'heaty' food - I'm doing it all.

I keep my fingers and toes crossed that it will subside by this weekend, or I'd really be a one-eyed bridezilla.

RAWWRRRR!

Confessions of a Bride-To-Be #20: Fanfare

Besides the handcarved stamps, we also bought wooden fans during our Vietnam trip. Who would have thought that Hanoi would be a treasure trove for any bride-to-be!

We bought ribbons from Spotlight not too long ago, in our colour palette and tied them to the fans, to add a simple personal touch.

For our outdoor solemnisation

Confessions of a Bride-To-Be #19: Bridal Survivial Kit

I've been told that it's useful to prepare a survival kit for the wedding.

Here's what i've come up with so far. Have I missed out on anything?

• Dental Floss
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrush
• Mints
• Adhesive bandages
• Sewing Kit
• Straw for drinking/Bottle of water
• Hair brush
• Hairspray
• Bobby pins
• Small Mirror
• Safety Pin
• Tissue
• Extra Contact Lenses
• Eye Drops
• Lipgloss/lipstick
• Loose Powder
• Cotton buds
• Small scissors

Confessions of a Bride-To-Be #18: Do Not Remove Your Shoes

My Mom just told me that the bride is not supposed to remove her shoes when she steps into the groom’s place and can only do so when she returns home.

WHAT!?!

Not like I mind the extra height but wouldn’t it be weird if everyone else has their shoes off? What about the groom? Is he expected to keep his shoes on too?

Has anyone heard of/adhered to this custom?

Confessions of a Bride-To-Be #17: The Wedding Shoes Part II

Hello, Gorgeous

Read more about the elusive search for my shoes here.

Time Out

I haven’t been able to write here as often because there’s just too much going on the wedding/house front.

It used to be just our weekends being used for running errands but now even weekday evenings are burnt with appointments with wedding vendors.

As maybs puts it on her blog (i’m sorry I don’t have your name nor initials!), it’s a tough life… being a bride-to-be.

Off the top of my head, these are the remaining to-dos.

* To confirm a florist for venue decorations
* To consolidate RSVPs and do up the table arrangements/seating plan
* To finalize song list with our wedding band and compile our own playlist
* To go for my make up trial
* To develop photos for our wedding
* To look for a wedding guestbook
* To book our post- tea ceremony buffet
* To go for our final gown and suit fittings
* To go for a haircut
* To brief our best men and bridesmaids
* To finish up on miscellaneous DIY décor (i.e. table number cards etc)
* To confirm our interior designer for the new place

1 more month to go.

We can do this.

Confessions of a Bride-To-Be #16: Our Wedding Invites

Because our wedding venue doesn't cater for invites, we had to customise and print our own cards.

The good - freedom to personalise our invites to our whims and fancies. The bad - designing our cards from scratch is a daunting task for two not so artistic people.

We turned to the Internet, which gave us plenty of inspiration. But our customised cards would not have been made possible, without the help of our very talented friend KH, who not only helped to design but print two designs! And not forgetting Angie, who sacrificed time to help to despite her packed schedule.

The traditional Double Happiness card for family

The floral design for friends, which in our humble opinion, suits our wedding venue/theme to a T!

Chop chop!

I love the hand-carved wooden stamps we got from our Vietnam trip in January this year. Besides choosing your own design, you can also add your own text. We decided to include our names. Cheesy, but we likey!

Tak glam!

Yours truly wrote the addresses while he stamped the back of the envelopes. After an afternoon of writing, stamping and sealing yesterday, i'm proud to say that our wedding invites are ready for mailing!

Keep a lookout for them y'all and don't dump our envelopes into the bin, just yet k?

Wedding Eye Candy: Rouge

From StyleMePretty

I love how the bride looks like she walked out of an Audrey Hepburn movie.

Absolutely adore her vintage dress/hairstyle and I wish i have the aplomb to carry off red lipstick too!

Floral Dilemma

Photo from here

We have been talking to some florists for our wedding and I'm just appalled by how expensive flowers can be in Singapore. And by expensive, i am talking about anything from $1000 to $2000.

I know I'm being practical and budget conscious here but I don't feel comfortable parting with this amount of money for something that only lasts a day.

It will be nice to have some basic floral decorations on our big day though.

Decisions, decisions.

Sneak Peek

Photo by Eadwine from Plush Photography

Confessions of a Bride-To-Be #15: Thinking Outside The Box

Besides enjoying the relaxing lunch, there was another reason why we left Egg3 Cafe feeling mighty pleased.

We found a tissue box holder to double up as our wedding ang pow box. The icing on the cake was a 10% discount by the owner because she didn't have it in a new piece.

It was serendipity at its best :)

The Pursuit of Happiness

When i first embarked on this wedding preparation journey, i was so certain that being the type A personality that I am, it would be the wedding details - the decor, the theme, the invites, the dress, that would unleash the bridezilla in me.

How wrong I was.

These days, i find myself devoting more effort in managing certain relationships than fussing over our wedding details.

Fending off certain demands and expectations of the wedding/marriage are taking a toll on me.

I just want to be happy.

Why does it have to be so difficult?

Confessions of a Bride-To-Be #14: Hey, I'm Not For Sale!

If there's one Chinese wedding tradition i would like to abolish, it would be Guo Da Li.

Maybe i am too modern for my own good, but i don't believe in betrothal gifts, dowry and what nots. This tradition probably made sense in the past where matchmaking was prevalent but it just seems archaic to me in today's context.

A marriage should not be a transaction between two families. I don't want to have a value placed on me.

But as we both realised a while back, a wedding or marriage isn't always about the two of you. It also involves your families.

And that's why we decided we should arrange for our parents to meet to discuss this iffy topic. So at least both sides can come to an agreement, no matter whether they decide to do away with this. And yes, the date has been set for this Sunday.

It will be interesting to see how the talk unfolds. If our parents decide to go ahead, we will respect their wishes. But I sure won't be practising this in future when my kids get hitched.