She Says: Magical Bash for the Miracle Baby (part 1)

I want to make a confession. Although I am a trained wedding planner and a full time wedding designer & stylist at Rosette Designs & Co, when it comes to finding a venue for my own party, I am as clueless as anyone that doesn’t belong to this industry! I’m planning the 1st year party for my baby, Savannah Grace and looking for places to match my theme.

Maybe some of you know about the bittersweet story of my pregnancy (if not you can read it here, here and here), now those dark moments are in the past and Thank God that my baby, Savannah Grace is well, healthy and cute as ever!

So I had a pretty pink party for her baby shower with a cute dessert bar.

Now, here’s the challenge to outdo ourselves (or myself, to be exactly). I am not into primary-color-fiesta ala kids party and the theme for her party is MAGICAL. Think fairy lights drapping down, lush garden, pale pastel flower and baby Sava dress as fairy. I envisioned lights everywhere evoke the magical feeling.

via Minted

Fortunately, we are decorating an ultra-stylish wedding for one of Singapore’s stylish personnel, on the following week after Sava’s party, using fairy lights too!

Some inspirations before I decided on the color scheme.

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via Minted

via Pinterest

Here’s one of the inspiration for the party. Done by my uber-talented decorator friend of mine, Sally, for a birthday party in Jakarta. It’s quite common to hire a decorator for any kind of party in Jakarta, whether it’s for baby shower, 17th birthday party or 1st year birthday party. Hopefully the trend catches on in Singapore, or at least try to insert some form of design and decor for the party.

The next post is about my inspiration board and decor plan as well as my quest to find the right venue for an intimate party. Stay tuned!

Burkhill Hall: Romantic Greens in a Colonial Setting

As a wedding coordinator in Rosette Designs & Co, I (that’s Winston) have to know the venue well and take note of every nook and cranny. While Hellen looks at the aesthetic and identify the areas to design and decorate, I often look at the logistics aspect of the wedding, namely fundamental issues like table setting plan, seating, program flow, electrical points for the equipment… blah blah blah…

Burkhill Hall is a fantastic venue for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is an old-school colonial 2-storey bungalow. With the constant urbanization of our island-state, it gets harder to find venues that screams “vintage”. The condition of the bungalow is impeccable, with regular maintenance work done by the good folks from National Parks.

Another wonderful aspect of this venue is the vast greenery you can find around it. As Burkhill Hall is in the midst of the National Orchid Garden, you can really appreciate the different orchids and flowers planted throughout the place. As mentioned in the description in the Singapore Botanic Garden website: “Since 1859, orchids have been closely associated with the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The products of the Gardens’ orchid breeding programme, which began in 1928, deserve a place where they can be displayed in their full splendour. The very design of these orchids is, one could say, ‘hand-crafted’ by the Gardens’ horticultural staff, dedicated to bringing out the finest in any hybrid cross. Over 1000 species and 2,000 hybrids are now found in the Gardens’ collection, with about 600 species and hybrids on display. Every year, more vibrant and enduring hybrids are added on. So that all may admire and enjoy their diversity, richness and beauty, the National Orchid Garden now offers a permanent showcase, the largest display of tropical orchids in the world.”

The above pic shows the main gate on the first floor. For the wedding couple, this is the march-in point where the bride and her father (or sometimes the couple) emerge. The size of the gate is grand and not overly-big.

The above 2 pics shows the second floor of the colonial bungalow. It can hold 10 or more tables (of 10) comfortably, but more of that may be a slight issue. For smaller-scale weddings or a more intimate wedding, this is suitable for round and long table dining. The lack of in-house audio and visual equipment by the venue operator makes it necessary for the couple to engage an AV vendor for the task.

My most favorite part of Burkhill Hall is the front garden used for Holy Matrimony and Solemnization. The 2 pics above shows the before and after when you add in the tables and chairs. Additional decoration such as wedding archs can enhance the ambiance of the venue greatly.

All in all, Burkhill Hall is a venue Rosette Designs & Co like working at, and if you are interested or considering or have confirmed this venue for your wedding, do contact us and let us design your dream wedding! Below are 2 more pics on weddings we did there, you can find more of our work on our official Rosette Website or Facebook Page.

Rosette Designs & Co: Classic Chic Styling Part II

On one fine day, in Rosette Designs & Co compound, when we are feeling a little nostalgic and romantic… we decided to roll up our sleeves and dress up, by digging up our black and white collection and do a little styling.

Here in Rosette Designs & Co, we have a common obsession. We love Black and White. Stripes, checkered, chevron.. love love love…Black and white can’t go wrong. It is listed in one of Kate Spade’s 20 Inspiration Yearbook.

But of course, only the brave ones embrace it for a wedding. Please see our works in our website here.

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast” - this quote by Ernest Hemingway might be one of the thousands reasons why everybody adores the idea of Paris. While the city itself might not be as romantic as the mental image, we are still spellbound by the idea of eloping to the City of Love.

If you are keen to do a Paris-theme wedding, please focus on one specific era of the Parisian life. Whether it is Belle Epoque, the Chanel-era, Renaissance, they have distinct characteristics that separates them from each other. Another way, is to focus on the city itself and it’s beauty.

We created this lovely arrangement that housed the silhouette of one of our couple. Love how it turns out.. graphically poetic..

Introducing our best steals yet, emerging from one of the vintage flea market in Singapore.. this mellowing fellow has been a regular resident in our decor line up.

There’s something romantic about the idea of writing letter on a typewriter, which leads to the trend of having it on a wedding. Although this trend was popular around 2-3 years ago, people still loves it. I used it for my own wedding and for my clients. Vintage won’t go out of style.

What puzzles me is the fake-all metal-China-made-typewriter that actually mimic real typewriter…

But having a typewriter is good just for the display sake… because when I tried to type a letter using my retro Olympia, it frustrates me! Where’s the backspace key??!

Guess I’m not ready to give up my digital life.

Now, lets step aside from the mellow zone to an after party of Minty Dessert!

We love seafoam or minty of tiffany color.. they are look-alikes.. and they bring the same feelings.. coolness personified.

Check out our Facebook page here.

CHIJMES: Walk Down the Aisle in Grand Vintage Style

Getting married in CHIJMES is the closest you can get to a Royal Wedding, think Westminster Abbey. Built in 18th century, this convent building carries a Gothic architecture style and it has been well preserved since then. The last activity for religious and education purposes was in 1983 and it was adapted for public use till now. Thankfully the hall managed to survive over the years and now is a popular wedding hall.

We (Rosette Designs & Co) have planned and designed a few weddings in CHIJMES and are still in awe of their potential & beauty. Having the characteristic of a cathedral with tall columns, beautiful ceiling and huge stained glass, it was perfect for Western and Vintage inspired wedding. The best part is, you don’t have to be a Catholic to walk down their aisle.

The hall can fit in up to 30 round tables, but of course the best arrangement is the long table!

Since the hall is generally sports cream and off white color, it’s a designer paradise! We have done weddings in a few colors.

Purple Vintage

Peach Perfect – Vintage Lovely

This wedding gave us a chance to challenge ourselves.. turning a theatre setting for Holy Matrimony…

to Dinner setting in an hour during Cocktail timing! Challenge accepted and completed!

The trick is to hide all the tables into the side wings and hide them behind the elegant drapes. Love how the draper elegantly merged with the venue.

I even recycled the posies from the ceremony to decorate the drapes gatherings. Not a detail is spared!

What is a vintage wedding without antique typewriter and real old books? The books are imported from the father of the Groom’s library. Since both of them are law practitioner, these law books hold bittersweet memory during their study days.

Check out our full portfolio here!

Garden Setting

One of our favorite flower and somehow a lot of our bride love them too!

So if your eyes are drawn to this look and feel, maybe you can consider this venue. Of course, we will be delighted to plan and design your wedding too! We love creating wedding in CHIJMES! Expect Pinterest-worthy wedding.. haha..

Introducing Our New Website!

Finally our website is up and running!! After a long period of juggling everyday work and designing this website, finally I can proudly say, “Please go to our website!”

The link is www.rosettedesigns.com.

Inspired by a French memory board that I saw in Europe during our honeymoon, this design doesn’t really follow the typical look of a website. I always love pinning my inspiration on a board and while now we have Pinterest to do it digitally, the analog form of an inspiration still holds dear to my heart. So, this is my way to share my obsession of a gorgeous board. The look of the website is non-traditional, fun and whimsical. It reflects on our taste and value in designing every wedding. It should be fun and pretty, without losing your own identity.

Please feel free to click the polaroid icon inside to lead you to different directory.

Start from About Us, a short introduction on who we are and a link to meet the founder and principal designer, (ehem…) Hellen Lie. As most of you might know (or not) that I co-founded Diary & Design Wedding together with a fellow planner. Cut the story short, starting this year, Diary & Design Wedding is no longer in operation and both of us have move on with our own things. So this is my thingy now! Nothing changed, the passion is still the same (even stronger) and the works still fabulous.. the best part, the team remain intact and ready to do bigger and prettier weddings.

 

The Gallery page is inspired by Photo Gallery that we often do for our client, with clothes pegs clipping the pictures.

 

Sp please check it out and let us know what do you think about it!

Love,

Hellen Lie

Real Wedding: Jeremy & Cheryl

It is a custom in most Chinese families to have a proper wedding dinner banquet. Especially in Singapore, where we are based, hotel dinner banquet is the norm. They comes with a convenient package of food, decor, wedding favor and even invitation. Which can be dummy-proof and a very safe option to save money (or spend more depending on how you see it) and for fuss-free couple. However, increasingly we see couple putting more effort and heart into their wedding banquet.

We are featuring one of our client’s wedding, Jeremy & Cheryl. Their wedding embodies the good example of mixing their personality in the traditional setting. Adding their whimsical personality  into the Victorian setting of the Four Seasons ballroom, shows that they’re a fun and loving couple.We designed this board for them, Classy with a Twist. Jeremy who is also a designer himself, wants to have a well-designed, well-coordinated wedding matching their personality.

Here’s the actual wedding montage:

Instead of the usual flower centerpiece, we had a bowl full of windmills doubling up as wedding favors.

The reception area doubled up as solemnisation venue before the the rest of guests flocks in.

Fancy those backdrop stands in the red carpet event that printed the event or company’s name? Why don’t you do it for your own wedding. Jeremy & Cheryl had their names printed all over the photobooth. Talking about branding your own wedding.

The other special items are the wishing table with vintage typewriter for the guests to type or paper to write in their wishes for the couple.

Who says photo gallery can only display pictures? We brought in a vintage cupboard to display their memorable mementos to share with the guest.

We did the bird theme for their stationery and it carries on to their birdcage angbao box.

This wedding proves to us that even a hotel banquet wedding can be fun and personalized. It was really nice working with such a creative and lively couple.

Please check out our gallery here for more portfolio & our Facebook page!

Real Wedding: Jasmine & Lionel

We have come to know many brides over the years and hardly seen one that is truly committed to her dream of fairy tale wedding. Jasmine is bold and proud about being a Princess Bride. That’s why we love Jasmine’s theme of Fairy Tale wedding with lovely carriage icon and array of sweet indulgence. Pink and pearl is the ultimate symbol of femininity, so who can resist it?

Here’s the collage of her wedding:

Find more of our lovely works at our Facebook page here and like our page!