She says: Booth #2 – Photobooth

We have covered photobooths in our earlier post here (Winston’s edition) and mine, and this time we are serious about it!

Our marquee vendor, Outdoor Wedding Specialist has agreed to build us the backdrop, while I will design the background and print it on PVC as big as 12 ft x 8 ft. We will spice it out with props as well. Here are some ideas.

They also sell the smile stick, but I lost the link to the shop! It’s in the US.

(Please help, anyone!)

I will make our own version, so stay tune! It’s gonna be fun!

We tested it during the Halloween party here, it was a hit!

Photo was taken by Andrian & Irene from Ian Photography.

She says: Booth #1 – Desserts Bar

We envisioned our Holy Matrimony to be romantic, rustic, yet fun and full of activities for the guests. We have prepared 4 booths to entertain the guests and best yet, live music.

We are going to talk about them individually. So start with the first one :

DESSERTS BAR!

Personally I am not a big fan of candies or cookies. I don’t have a sweet tooth. In fact the bitterer (if there’s such a word) the chocolate the better. I love Royce dark chocolate and 85% dark chocolate Winston bought from Stockholm.

However, girls love desserts for different reason, and for me, it’s visually stunning and creatively fertile. Check out these gorgeous desserts bar.

The top row is from : Bake It Pretty via one of my fave blogs Inspired Bride

The second row images are from the desserts bar guru, Amy Atlas. She’s the best so far!

It’s my inspiration for desserts bar as the color theme matches mine. They even have the DIY version of everything. What’s not to love about it?

Bringing it closer to home, here are some of the desserts bar from local wedding planners (Singapore). Although it’s still a growing interest, no doubt they are gonna get bigger!

Top row : from Heaven’s Gift – Very nice candy corner!

Bottom row : from The Ivory Loft

She says: Our Pre-Wed Photo – Blue-Bay, Taiwan

We have received our edited pre-wed pictures last week. Although it’s supposed to be a surprise on the actual day, we decided to give a sneak preview for the sake of the readers who might not have the chance to see the actual album.

Looking at the pictures, we are actually quite pleased with the outcome. We must really thank our fantastic photographer and make up artist, as well as the DI artist ( I wish my arms are that lean! haha!). If you followed our story in Taiwan, you will know our disappointment with the weather. But thank God, the pictures came out great. Of course, I wish I have more landscape or blue sky or nice white building, but Winston always says, “Regret is a waste of time!”

So no regrets!

Here are the pictures, enjoy!

She says: Save the Date!

6 months to our nuptial! I am a little nervous. So many things that I want to do myself, but some have to wait until nearer the date. However I think I will give up some projects, and leave it to the experts, such as the florist, etc! I will meet a few florists these few weeks.

Meanwhile, it’s time to send the Save the Date. Albeit my busy schedule, juggling day job, Pemberley Paperie, church, etc, I managed to finish our Save the Date. I have too many ideas for Save the Date, so I did two! One for the reception and the other one for the Holy Matrimony.

So much for being busy, eh..

We are not going to print it. Save the environment! Go digital.

By : Pemberley Paperie  – pemberleypaperie@gmail.com

He says: Taiwan Storyland

Other than choosing the gowns, deciding the route, taking wedding photos and choosing the photos, we got to eat different types of local food and went to different places in Taiwan. I was really glad Hellen was with me as she was great company!

We reached on an evening, and that evening was spent finding food in Shilin Market, some shopping in the night market and resting for the next day. I did not prepare a specific itinerary for the trip, although I have a pretty clear idea of where we will cover during this trip. But I want to present this gem of a place that was totally unplanned, which we went on the second day of our trip: Taiwan Storyland!

It is a small exhibition type of place that showcases the old lifestyle of Taiwanese, in the period of time of 40s and 50s I believed. There were exhibits of the toys played, eating places, cinema, vehicles during those time. Here are some photos we took of the place:

As Hellen really likes vintage stuff, it was heaven-sent for her! I was amazed at the professionalism of the Storyland’s design. There is even an old provision store inside where they sell candies in old packagings and a place where visitors can play old funfair games. It was a nice break from the hassle of wedding photo-taking. More importantly, I am glad Hellen found something she liked!

Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 204 days

We say: We are in the Newspaper! Media Coverage!

There is an article of Blue-bay Wedding Studio in Lianhe Wanbao today (24 Nov 09) and we were in the article! We have one of our wedding picture in it along with a short interview. The article mainly talks about the Taiwan Wedding Photoshoot experience, with the things to look out for, tips as well as what is different about the Taiwanese Photoshoot experience. Check it out!

We looked like stars in a Taiwanese drama!

Here’s the interview portion:

She says: Edited Photoshoot (Taiwan)

After we finished our photoshoot in Taiwan, we asked for the RAW file from our photographer, Kiwi. I have certain preferences on how my photo should looks like. Being a designer, I have the advantage to be able to tweak the color as how I want it to be (aka: Photoshop skill)

However, I gave up the idea of editing my Taiwan shoot, since the weather should be just as beautiful as it is, right?

Wrong!

The weather was nothing like we expected. Rain and clouds became our main backdrop. Instead of clear blue sky, we have foggy and chilling sky. Instead of our original route (which have beach, farm and white building), we had 100 years old magnificent broken bridge and terracota castle-like cafe.

So now I have the freedom to edit my photos the way I always like, vintage, olden times and graphical.

It’s not like your typical cheery pre-wedding photo, but it is ours. (Hey, I do try to conform to the mainstream, I guess it’s nature’s call)

The picture above is our album cover. I love the misty feeling. Kiwi said this effect will not be possible without the fog.

I only edited these 5 pictures. The rest of my photos will be like the usual pre-wed photo setting.

I am not that hardcore after all.

She says: Makeup Session for Photoshoot

I love my makeup for the photoshoot! I am a big fan of natural make-up and I think Baby, my make-up artist, really did a great job. She did not only make my eyes look big and round, she made it look as if they are my natural eyes!

The gowns are gorgeous. I had a hard time choosing the gowns! Their colored gowns are beautiful and specially designed to look extra nice in the pictures.

When we were choosing pictures, there were these mainland Chinese ladies who were rushing to rent the display gown for a dinner event, just after passing by Blue-Bay’s shop. The mother and daughter fell in love instantly with the blue gown on display.

She followed us for the photoshoot. Each gown has a different look and she matched my hairstyle with the gown. I am totally pleased with the makeup.

I also want to specially mention this wonderful girl, Melody, who helped me dress up during the gown-choosing session. She is the only one who can speaks English in Blue-Bay, imagine my relief! She also visited our blog before and she likes it.

Thank you, Melody! (far left, beside me)

We say: A Journeyman’s Journal – Taiwan Blue-Bay

It was an interesting week last week as Hellen and I went to Taiwan for our long-awaited photoshoot. I can never cover the whole trip in just one post, unless I make it super-long. I know there are a lot of couples out there who are interested in our experience with Blue-Bay. Here I will try to recount our experiences as accurately as possible. This series is written for new couples out there. Hopefully it will answer some of the questions you may have, especially if you are sitting on the fence with whether to engage Blue-Bay or go overseas for a photoshoot.

Before I re-count my daily experiences, I will like to confirm or dispell some myths you may have on overseas photoshoot.

1. Before: I thought Taiwan has lovely weather

After: False! The truth is, we had really bad weather on our actual photoshoot day. We did check the weather forecast, but since we have already booked the ticket and taken our leave, we proceeded with the shoot. Last year, I went to Taiwan in May for a 8-day tour and the weather was fantastico… oh well… it did not turn out that way this time. It rained non-stop in Taipei on our photoshoot day, which forced us to abandon our original route and went to Taizhong instead.

2. Before: Taiwanese People are Very Nice

After: True! I have no complain about the attitude of the photographer, lighting assistant, make-up artist and driver who accompanied us all the way. Their service had been impeccable, and the photos did turn out nicer than we expected even though we did not have the best of weathers.  A shout-out to Kiwi, Baby, Ah-Zheng and Tong Ge, who were really nice to us and did the best job they could to prevent the photoshoot from becoming an utter disaster.

3. Before: The Photoshoot Schedule and Route is Flexible

After: False! I need to warn the couples out there, as there are some stuff that are out of our control. For example, the weather will prevent you from going to certain places. Also, there are several combination of places that you can’t really go to, due to the distance between them and the time you have. One thing I can suggest is for you to go to Blue-Bay Singapore, and affirm the route with the Taiwanese staff there. We wanted to have a photoshoot on another day as well due to the bad weather of the original day, but both the photographers and make-up artists were fully booked, we were unable to secure another timeslot. So if you feel that there is a possibility you will need another day for the shoot, do allocate more days to stay in Taiwan.

4. Before: The Gowns are Gorgeous…

After: True! I personally thought the gowns were beautiful and suited the Taiwan feel a lot.

5. Before: .. and so are the Suits!

After: False! I think I look fat in the tux… maybe because I am just fat… haha.. But those photos in which I wore my normal shirt turned out better IMHO.

6. Before: I Love Taiwan!

After: I still love Taiwan! Although there are things out of your control, there is still no denying that Taiwan has beautiful sceneries and when the weather is good, the pictures you can take will most probably trump any effort you can have in Singapore. Bottom-line is this: I will recommend Blue-Bay still, but I have to be honest about the short-comings and things that will be unexpected in your trip.

In my next posts, we will detail some of the experiences. Until next time!

Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 213 days

She says: Taiwan Trip – 1 day Before Photoshoot

I’m just going to give a quick update on our Taiwan trip. Tomorrow is the big day! After a great gown-choosing session, we really hope tomorrow’s weather is good. Pray hard! We love our customized routes, and if it rains, we will have to take an alternative route. This few days has been drizzling, hope the best for us!

By the way, our photoshoot is going to be covered by the reporter from Lianhe Wanbao (Singapore). That’s an honor but also makes us a bit nervous. Hopefuly we are not bothered by it!

Time to gather strength for tomorrow!