Cost cutting tips and our wedding cake

As we've already spent a lot on our wedding, I've been looking for ways to cut costs and DIY as much as possible. Believe it or not, websites selling paper pom pom, wedding banners and other decorations like MerryLove marked up their items by a lot. I've found the same items from Etsy and Taobao which are my to-go websites for buying practically everything.

My banners from the previous posts are custom made from Etsy. I can customised them according to my requirement and they are definitely cheaper than if I buy direct from MerryLove. Here are some links to share.

Mirtillo Shop - I believe MerryLove order their banners from this supplier. After adding postage I still save about $10 by ordering directly from them. And they have more varieties on Etsy.

TwoChikKadees - I ordered custom made banners (Mr & Mrs, We<3 Do) from this lady and she is very accommodating. She even purchased new fonts to make my banner upon my request. Her banners are also relatively cheaper than other sellers on Etsy.

knottingwood - My wooden peg wedding cake topper is from here. The seller can customised the hair style, hair colour, clothes and accessories for you.

Paper Pom Pom - There are many sellers in Taobao selling the same thing. I didn't look through all to find the cheapest but as long as they are cheaper than the prices in Singapore, I will order.

So here are some websites that I've ordered my stuffs from. To further cut cost, I've decided to bake my own wedding cake. Recently the hype is all about rainbow/ombre cakes and zhai nan and me have signed up to learn at a baking school. Turns out it's real easy and I can save like $70 by baking my own. However, I have one problem. Our icing skills are pretty bad and the cake will look disastrous. Lucky for us, I've found many cakes online that are without icing but still look just as nice! They are called naked cakes or unfrosted cakes. Goes very well with our rustic garden theme for solemnisation. And less icing means less fat too! :)

So here are some ideas for reference. Can't wait to actually bake it!

Preparations for solemnisation

Hi all, long time never update the blog! Been really occupied with preparations for solemnisation and Taiwan bridal shoot next year. We're just 29 days away from the big day and I feel like there's still a lot to be done! Anyway, I've finally found my ROM dress from Taobao and it costs only $30+! Very happy with my buy and this saves me money from renting outside. Zhai nan already bought his suit at Domanchi and shirt from H&M. So we're left with his pants and shoes. For my shoes, I've bought a pair of heels from DMK. So outfits aside, we've also began some DIY at home. I've also ordered custom made items from Etsy which I super love! I shall let the pictures do the talking. :)



DIY photo booth props

DIY invitations

Our Mr & Mrs burlap banner for the back of our chairs

 

More banners for decorations :)

 

Our Wedding Cake Topper!

 



  

Solemniser Confirmed!

I am so glad that after months of worrying that I might not get a solemniser has finally ended! And and and...I got my 1st choice solemniser Dr Phua Tan Tee to solemnise us!! Double yays!!
 
Maybe to those who attended a lot of weddings must have seen him quite often..and he is really very popular..but I just can't seem to find anybody else who fits the bill..
 
Of the reviews I read, many have their bad points..but nobody seemed to have anything bad to say about Dr Phua except that he is long winded maybe?
 
Anyway in order to accommodate his schedule, we've change our solemnisation lunch to a tea reception instead. Therefore we are not following the "auspicious" timing given by our geomancer. Though I don't feel comfortable in doing this, but I'm really tired of searching for another solemniser. So I decided to ditch the traditions/superstitions and went ahead to confirm Dr Phua.
 
I've got another news to update. We've previously signed up with this production company called Loud! Productions Pte Ltd for our pre-wedding video and AD video. Long story short, the whole experience was horrible and they were very dishonest. When we wanted to cancel the package, the director even threatened to take legal actions against us if we do not pay them $1k as a form of compensation. Usually I'm very nice but his threat makes my blood boil!! After seeking advice I emailed him explaining all the time lapse in their service, failure to deliver their promise and also non response/updates via social media. I even emailed CASE to lodge a complaint. And true enough, it was just an empty threat as there is no news from him anymore. So moral of the story is, do read what you're signing and always ensure you do not pay too much deposit upon first sign up for a service. We've lost our $2k deposit but I'm glad all this is over. Hopefully when we're planning our renovation next year, this kind of situation won't happen again.

The Proposal 06.09.2013

On 06092013, it is our 2nd year anniversary as a couple. It is also the day zhai nan aka Mr Chua proposed. Smart me already know the date and location beforehand by accident. Nonetheless, I still hope that Mr Chua will plan a nice and touching proposal. Reason why this proposal came so long after our plans to get married is bcos Mr Chua need time to brainstorm for ideas and to wait for the "right" date to propose. I told him as long as it's touching and that he makes the effort to plan a bit, I'm ok already.
 
So on that day, he came to my house to pick me up. We were gonna check into MBS at 3pm. We were late and reached there at around 3:30pm. The room he booked was a suite with the view of Marina Bay from the 43rd floor. It was the biggest suite I've ever stayed in and not to mention with a view to kill for. We went for complimentary tea thereafter and went back to our awesome suite to dress up for dinner at 5:30pm.
 
Initially I thought he was gonna propose to me at the restaurant. But when I see that he didn't bring the ring box along, I started to get worried. What if it was true of what my friend said? That he did not intend to propose on that day? Anyway we had dinner at this celebrity chef restaurant, db Bistro Moderne. Food was alright and he wanted to bring me to Au Chocolat for dessert. But I changed my mind and told him let's head back to the suite to relax. He looked a bit panicked and started to sms. So I reckon he's buying some time to prevent me from going back to the suite. I played along and we continue walking around.
 
At around 8:30pm we went back to the suite. Upon stepping into the living room area, I realised something is not right. The sliding doors to the bedroom are closed. Zhai nan led me inside the room and there are rose petals on the floor. The bedroom was nicely decorated with my favourite pink colour balloons! It was sooo romantic. :)
 
There was no one around in the whole suite. I thought he really didn't invite my friends over until I accidentally had a glimpse of my friend's bag in the walk in wardrobe area. After the bedroom tour, he led me back to the living room to sit down to watch a video. Turns out it's a photo montage with my favourite B.A.P song! No wonder he got the MP3 from me earlier. I started to tear while watching the video and it ended quite suddenly. I was still thinking how come so short. And then I heard the door opened and my good friend and his friends started coming in group by group. I was truly surprised and touched that he really manage to gather my friends for this special moment. My friend Shenny was the last one to come in with the bouquet of 69 pink roses. She was the one who I already expected to turn up bcos I saw her bag earlier! Hahaha~
 
After all my friends and his friends arrived, I was brought back to the bedroom where Mr Chua kneeled down and said a touching speech to me. And the rest is history..I was on my first step to being Mrs Chua..It was a very memorable night for me..I'm very grateful for all the love and wishes from my friends. Most importantly, I'll be marrying a guy who treats me like a princess..taking care of me..doting on me..giving in to me..and loves me very much..So thank you zhai nan! <3

 

 

 

Counting down to our Solemnisation!

We're about 4 months to our solemnisation and I've kinda stop all my research for the time being. I've more or less bought all the craft materials for making the wedding props and decorations. We've also just received our ring pillow and my paper flower bouquet from Merrylove. I love the paper flowers! Hope it will really turn out nice on the actual day. 

Now that we're nearing the big day. I realised there's actually a lot of money involve and I'm worried we are not saving enough by the time the wedding banquet comes. So I might cut costs here and there and scrape off some ideas like the wedding cupcake tower. With the house ready next year, got no choice but to scrimp and save for the renovation and furnishings.

For now, I've sent out 2 emails to 2 JP to solemnise our wedding. One is the famous Dr Phua, but he kind of rejected us as it was too early and asked us to email him in Nov. November would be too near to the wedding and I don't wanna risk him not being able to make it eventually and I can't find another solemniser. So, I've been on the search for other recommended solemnisers. Just emailed another popular one, Mr Peter Lee. Hope to get a positive response so that I have one less thing to worry about.

By the way, we've collected our wedding bands too! Here's a preview with the ring pillow~

Updates on ROM/Solemnisation Venue, Photographer & Wedding Cupcakes

Been busy again for this past 1 month researching for ROM venues. Finally zn and I decided on this small and cosy restaurant near Hong Lim Park called Shoebox Canteen! I'm so glad the search for the perfect venue is over! I've seen so many restaurant pics and reviews and whatnot till I'm so tired~~~Thanks to CF for her advice to scrape the idea of a chinese style lunch and go for more western style restaurants/cafes. Even though the place doesn't fit into our solemnisation theme - Garden theme, I guess ultimately cost and quality of food are the more important factors that we are considering. We can always try to decorate the place to look like a garden? I've already order paper pom poms in shades of pink and white to decorate the place. 

So why Shoebox Canteen? First, it can cater to our no. of pax requirement of 30 guests and we get the whole place to ourselves. It's newly opened last year and food reviews are good. The chef is able to come up with customised menu to suit our tastes and preferences. And the marketing manager provides good service. We went down for a site visit and we were overall very happy with the place and the menu. And all these are within our budget of S$2k. Moreover, I'm thinking of booking Parkroyal Pickering for a 1N stay on our ROM. And it's like 5mins walk from Shoebox Canteen. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone!

The pics below are taken off their website and we'll post more pics when we visit them during the day. 

Besides my update on the venue, I've also confirmed our ROM photographer with Samuel Ng Photography. He's a freelancer and I like his pictures. He does couple shoot as well and we might be engaging him next year for our Save the Date photoshoot. 

And on top of that, I've been meaning to have a wedding cake after seeing my friend's solemnisation had one too. However, I don't want a conventional 2 tier wedding cake. I happen to come across a wedding cupcake tower with a round cake on the top tier. (See pic below) So these few days I've been searching for freelance bakers who can do this for a good price. Thanks to my photographer Samuel Ng's facebook photos, I came across this freelance cupcake baker called The Cupcake Party. Her cupcakes look very nice and she recently added ombre cakes to her portfolio! 

Those of you who do not know what is an ombre cake, let me explain to you. An ombre cake is a cake with layers of cake in different shades of the same colour. (refer to pic below) Apparently this is the new trend for cakes and I was so inspired after attending Grand Copthorne's wedding show today! (Their wedding show theme is Ombre too in shades of green) 

Anyways, the owner of TCCP, Zyee charges are really reasonable as compared to the more popular bakeries out there which charge a ridiculous fee of $100 just for delivery and setup. So if anyone is interested in cupcakes for any kinds of occasions, you may visit her instagram page for her contacts. http://instagram.com/thecupcakeparty

Pink Ombre Cake

Cupcake Tower with Fondant Cake

Our Love & Co. Wedding Bands

Since we are planning our ROM, another important thing besides the location would be the wedding bands. I've already ordered a very pretty and custom-made ring pillow which I will not share now. But it's very garden feel and that is why I would hope that our solemisation venue has a garden feel. 

Anyway, ever since we've decided to get married, I've been wanting a ring from Love & Co. When we were looking around for my proposal ring, Love & Co. was the first shop that we went to and we love the designs there. However, it's a little out of our budget then, or rather the HTB's budget. After that I read somewhere that someone bought Love & Co.'s wedding bands at less than $1k per pair and I think that's quite affordable! Oh well, but that was 2-3 years ago and prices inflated. And so I gotta up my budget for wedding bands and since it's gonna be on our fingers for a long time, I decided to get one that we really like. Hence the decision to step into Love & Co. for a preview first. Was thinking we shall go to the other shops like Goldheart and Soo Kee when they will have promos in the upcoming GSS.

And so the plan today was to watch Iron Man 3 at PS and then head to Love & Co. to see see look look. When we first step into the shop, there were already 2 couples and hence no one attended to us. That's even better cos we can walk around and take a look first. So after all the looking around and questions asking. Here's our selection! It was love at first sight for both of us and we decided to buy it right there and then! It's still within our budget and best of all we can pay it with 12-mth interest free instalment plan using our credit card. That will free up more cash for us as we've just paid our $2k deposit for the banquet 2 weeks ago. 
So yay! One less thing to worry and I shall focus on the solemnisation venue and JP and misc stuffs. :) We will get our rings in 3 mths' time and here's a picture of similar rings as ours from the Love & Co. website.

My ring is like the ring on the right but in white gold while zhai nan's is without diamonds

Solemnisation Venues on 22122013

Ever since we've decided to have our solemnisation separately this year, I've been busy researching and reading forums, emailing restaurants for ROM lunch packages. My ideas have been changing and changing and till now I can't confirm what I want.
From hotels to Fort Canning/Hort Park function rooms and to chinese and western restaurants, I've thought of so many different ideas. I've cancelled out solemnisation at hotels because they are too expensive and my budget is around $2k for the reception plus photographer. So next then would be function rooms in Hort Park, but the room is more like a meeting room which I find it very plain and so not romantic. I even thought of just ROM at the Registry and go off for a restaurant lunch with family. 

Ultimately, I do wish I can have it at my ideal location and it would have a garden feel. But I don't want an outdoor venue cos it is just not practical in Singapore. I don't wanna be drenching in sweat while saying my vows. So that leaves restaurants as the best choice. But there are so many restaurants around and I was really hoping that I can find one with nice interior garden feel.

So here's a list of the restaurants I was considering:

1) Tung Lok Signatures at The Central Clarke Quay

• Pros - Good food and has a balcony with shelter for a "outdoor" solemnisation
• Cons - Might be too hot as our ROM is at noon time and price of the lunch package is expensive

2) Peony Jade Clarke Quay

• Pros - Good food and solemnisation can be done outdoors by the Singapore River or onstage in their restaurant / Price is cheaper than Tung Lok
• Cons - None so far

3) Shin Yeh at Liang Court (under Tung Lok Group)

• Pros - Serves taiwanese food which has a more unique menu than the above 2 restaurants / Indoor solemnisation has a romantic ambience / Price is cheapest among the 3 chinese restaurants
• Cons - Solemnisation area is facing the entrance and passer bys can peep through

4) Blisshouse Theme Restaurant (at The Central)

• Pros - New restaurant with indoor garden theme and very nice decor for photo taking 
• Cons - Need min 35 pax to waive venue rental charge and this will burst our budget of $2k / Food quality unknown

Before I came to know of Blisshouse, I was more or less leaning towards Peony Jade or Shin Yeh. And then last night I happened to surf a website and saw the pictures of Blisshouse. It is so nice! And it's exactly the kind of garden feel I want! And which is not at the expense of us drenching in sweat! I am still trying to work out the budget and maybe do a one time site visit for all the restaurants since they are all within the same area. 

I'll leave you with some nice pictures of Blisshouse restaurant. :)

Updates (10/6/13): We've went for a site visit to Blisshouse and the venue doesn't look as nice as what the pictures shows. On top of that, we simply don't want to invite the min no. of 35 guests as we wanna keep it cosy and within close family and friends only. Worst of all, the lady we were liaising through email for the site visit did not turn up and couldn't be contacted through her HP. Very bad impression of their service. Like can't be bothered and super unprofessional. Therefore I've went on to search for other venues after that. 

We have a date & venue! 06122014!

It's been a while once again and there's so much to update! We've seen our geomancer, David Tong for our AD dates early last month. As we wanna have more time to save and also to coincide with my schooling cousins' holidays, we told David we would like to have our banquet at the end of 2014. And so he came up with a few dates in Nov & Dec 2014. We've chosen 6th Dec 2014 as our wedding date as it's the only day where the conflicting zodiac sign doesn't clash with any of our xiong dis & jie meis. That date is also our 39th month anniversary! (We got together on 6 Sep 2011.) 

Initially we were thinking of doing our solemnisation on the actual day. However, David advised us that overall 2014 (Horse Year) is not good for my zodiac as both clash with one another. Hence, it will be good if we can separate our ROM and do it right by having it this year. After considering all the costs and stuffs, and due to my insecurity and "bantang" ness, we decided to ROM end of this year! This means I got more things to plan and lesser time to slim down! 

Before I go on to talk about the solemnisation plans, I will blog about our AD banquet venue hunt first. Mar/Apr was the period for attending wedding shows. 1st hotel for the year is Pan Pacific Orchard. It's pretty ulu and about 10mins walk from Orchard MRT. Not to mentioned there are alot of foreign workers there at the shopping centres. They only have 1 ballroom which can cater to just 12 tables. The ballroom is newly renovated but there's a weird smell that smells like the carpet has been there forever. Food wise we're not able to comment bcos we didn't manage to taste anything. Saw many couples signed and I was once again tempted. Haha I'm fickle minded! Thanks to the stern zhai nan, he manage to talk his way through to me and I decided to KIV first. 

And in April. we went to Mandarin Orchard just to see see look look. The Imperial Ballroom which look like a theatre took my breath away! It's so unique and suddenly I feel like I really wanna have my wedding   here! But of course, to be realistic, the price for having a banquet there is way out of our budget. However, during the show they did throw in discounts per table and free flow wine perks. After all the discounts, it's still $1.4k per table and we decided that despite the beautiful ballroom and nice food. Here's a few pictures for your reference. Didn't manage to take the imperial ballroom though. 

So after more research and budgeting, we shortlisted 3 hotels and decide to go down to check them out before deciding. They are: 1) Grand Copthorne Waterfront (GCW 2) Novotel Clarke Quay (NCQ) 3) Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre (HIOCC).

We had already signed up for NCQ & HIOCC wedding show so I just have to email GCW to arrange for a site visit. Turns out that even though we missed their Mar wedding show, they have a June show coming up which we'll able to enjoy perks offered even if we sign and confirm now. To me that is really great flexibility as it gives us more time to compare and deicde. So anyways, we went down to GCW and were looking at the Riverfront Ballroom which can cater to a min of 17 tables and max of 20 tables. The events manager is very friendly and is very generous with our requests for additional perks. We manage to negotiate for a package that can match that of NCQ and HIOCC. I was very keen on confirming GCW cos the food is confirm good and ballroom is pillarless with Singapore river view. When we first came for their wedding show last Oct, we already think this is our No. 1 choice. Only concern then was the price per table for a weekend dinner banquet. We also manage to tour all the function rooms and venues for solemnisation if we are keen to have it in the hotel. However, the cost is out of our budget as the package is $2088++ which includes buffet lunch & free day use room. 

Anyway, we didn't wanna make a rash decision so we told the events manager that we will confirm with him again. He gave us a 2 weeks time frame which is great as we were going for NCQ and HIOCC's wedding show that particular weekend. We did go for NCQ's wedding show and the cinnamon ballroom w hich can cater to 16-22 tables is very grand and nice. I got tempted again!! haha..but after considering everything else including the hefty deposit sum of $5k to be made that day..We decided our AD venue shall be Grand Copthorne Waterfront! And here's a picture of the chosen ballroom! More pictures will be taken at the June's wedding show~

      

Riverfront Ballroom

ROM venue

Happy new year and happy chinese new year everyone! It's been a while since my last update. Had been busy with Christmas and my bestie's wedding. We were suppose to go for Orchard Hotel's wedding show last Dec but didn't make it. Anyway, there's more to come in 2013 and we've signed up for a few in Mar.
Hopefully that gives us more ideas and options on where to have our banquet.

We did manage to head down to BOWS 2013 in early Jan and checked out Holiday Inn Orchard's package which is very attractive with free flow wine and beer. Not to mention they also have nice ballrooms. Only concern is the food cos they doesn't seem to have an in house chinese restaurant. I also can't find any solid reviews on their food online. So I guess gotta KIV first. Another venue I'm considering is Peony Jade Clarke Quay which alot of my colleagues raved about how good the food is and how cosy the place is. If I eventually go for restaurant wedding, this would definitely be my top choice.

Anyway, banquets aside..this entry is to talk about the ROM venue which I'm considering now! hah..I dunno how I have the idea but it somehow just came across my mind that I could have my ROM at this place..and where is this place? It's none other than Music Dreamer Cafe (爱琴海民歌餐厅). I've been there a few times to chill and listen to live performances by their singers and I love the place alot. I've just emailed for a quotation on the rental for the cafe and hopefully it will be pretty reasonable. For decor wise, I might get my aunt who is a florist to help me out. I happened to come across the decorations done up for a ROM event back in 2009. It's pretty nice and this gives me a chance to deco the reception table, something I've been brainstorming every now and then. Also, if rates reasonable, I might wanna engage their in house singer to perform. Or I can actually perform a song too! I think this is quite fun. 

Another alternative ROM venue if this option is too expensive will be at the hotel. After attending my fren's solemnization ceremony at the hotel, I don't quite like the setting and venue. Having indoor solemnization is too enclosed and outdoor though nicer might be too hot. MDC is really my ideal ROM venue for now. Keeping my fingers crossed!