While Winston is chilling out in a western part of Europe for business trip, I am trying to do my first DIY project, which is faltered due to lack of material. Does anybody know where to get double fold bias tape? Spotlight is clueless, so do the whole stretch of textile shops in Beach Road.
Anyway, my package has arrived!! I’ll show you what I am up to, in the next post!
For now, here’s the sneak preview.
Filed under Do It Myself, Wedding Theme
It seems that I am churning out posts everyday this week… the reason is I have to be more diligent (*clenching fist in determination again*) since I will not be in Singapore next week due to a work trip in Sweden (Karlskoga [??!!], here I come!)
I am now going to churn out my personal view on Blue-Bay photos. Actually orh… I liked their photos very very muchy (My cheena side is coming through)! I have a soft spot for Taiwan since I went there last year for the first time in my life. I loved the natural scenery and the Chinese pop culture was rampant there. It’s like I can enjoy the fresh air in the mountains, and yet enjoy city life the way I want it, with great food and even better TV!
When the idea of overseas pre-wedding shoot became a possibility, it was a decision to be made between places like Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan. Hellen was understanding enough to follow me on this idea of going to Taiwan for the shoot. The main reason was also due to the fact that the partners of the studio is our friends. With everything aligning perfectly together, I felt that it was the best decision we can make at that time: to go overseas to a country I love, with the scenery I long for, and take pictures to remembers.
[By the way, BK and Francis had set up their new Blue-Bay outlet in Capitol Building, so if you are interested, drop by the take a look. In addition, do check out this link on the opening of their new store: http://www.citynews.sg/index.php/2009/08/young-entrepreneurs-open-bluebay-wedding/]
Blue-Bay owners in Singapore!
Below are some of my personal favourites from their ginormous portfolio:
I got this thing abt jumping…
…and water in the night…
...and clouds and sky…
...and making a wish in a flower field…
…and looking stupid while trying to be cool surfer dudes…
…and being romantically blue...
A good link to the different photos taken by Blue-Bay: http://verywed.com/0223568768/wedStreet
By the way, this will be my last post until I come back in Sep, cheerios!
Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 302 days
Filed under Photography / Videography
Is it good to share?
Since I started co-writing this wedding blog, my idea of sharing has been challenged. Most people won’t share or teach the others about their secret or their inspirations, fearing they might lose out if they give it away. Maybe it’s the competitive streak of most Asian. I admit, I also fall into this category. But ever since I started to browse wedding blogs, or listen to talks by great designers, I realized those successful people isn’t afraid to share their insight, inspiration even techniques.
Check out this fantastic wedding blog, that inspires me:
Another great source for insipration by one of my favorite designer, Matt Pyke from Universal Everything. He also happens to be the brain behind the latest MTV worldwide Re-branding.. Check out his inspiring talk here.
One of the author that changed my mindset, the late Paul Arden once said , ” DO NOT COVET YOUR IDEAS, give away everything you know, and more will come back to you”. I consider him the best Creative Director who ever lived.
So as my mindset changed, so does my action, I promise to give away DIY tips I found from others, right here on my wedblog. Stay tuned!!
Filed under Miscellaneous, Wedding Websites
As I mentioned in ‘About Us’, I am the more practical and budget-conscious kind… so my idea of a good photobooth wall is this:
Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 304 days
Filed under Photography / Videography, Wedding Theme
Beautiful Photo of One R!
After our detour to Burkill Hall, we realized we were a bit late for the meeting with Janet at One Rochester. Situated at Rochester Park, which is pretty close to Buona Vista MRT (deja vu… I have written this before somewhere in this blog right?), we took a cab down to Rochester Park.
It did not start that well though, as there was miscomm between us and Janet. It seems one of Janet’s clients was facing some problem with her gown people and Janet was going down to help her. She emailed us but we were out the whole day and did not manage to see the email. We caught Janet just as she was leaving One R and she did apologize for the mis-communication. She did however took time to walk us briefly through the venue.After she left we decided to have our dinner in One R, and rest our tired feet from a whole day of ‘work’.
One Rochester is a chill-out Gastro-bars located in a pretty convenient place. It is one of the most ideal venues for indoor / garden wedding settings. It has good food and the ambiance is romantic.
If you need a nice outdoor garden to have your solemnization, this place would be my top choice next to Burkill Hall. Again the garden itself is not very big, but it has a dreamy, wedding feel. The outdoor setting is not big enough to have people sitting around, so it is standing room only (I know One R can customized it so that guests can sit, but from my personal observation, the outdoor setting can only have standing guests).
Never fear though, the bungalow can be customized for the wedding ceremony. In the case that you need to show videos, or have sermons, the indoor can be used as well.
Psychedelic
The indoor venue has a bar, projector, sofas and chairs and can be arranged to your personal preference. It can hold a healthy number of people (up to 100 and probably more I guess).
In summary, I like One R. But yet again, budget constraint stopped me. For Hellen, I believed she really wanted to have space for creativity. For One R, as it is already an outstanding venue, there isn’t much you will want to change and hence Hellen can’t really have room to apply her DIY ideas. OMSQ on the other hand seems like a blank canvas for our creative juice to run wild.
This ends our road trip and after much consideration we decided on Feldberyl Images and OMSQ at the end of the day. For other couples out there, hope this little report is helpful!
Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 305 days
Filed under Holy Matrimony
Before I finish up my road trip series, I want to talk about something that Singaporean couples do not usually take notice of in their wedding. It is a thriving aspect of American weddings though. I am talking about CAKE TOPPERS!
In a typical Singaporean wedding, cutting the wedding cake is a tradition, something people do because they have to. Come on, often the cake is fake and a prop during the banquet. But in American weddings, the cakes are important. A wedding cake is the traditional cake served to the guests at a wedding reception (or in parts of England, at a wedding breakfast) after a wedding. In modern Western culture, it is usually a large cake, multi-layered or tiered, and heavily decorated with icing, occasionally over a layer of marzipan or fondant, topped with a small statue representing the couple. Achieving a dense, strong cake that can support the decorations while remaining edible can be considered the epitome of the baker’s art and skill. The average cost of a wedding cake in the U.S. in 2005 was $543. Wedding cake toppers are small models that sit on top of the cake, normally a representation of a bride and groom in formal wedding attire. This custom was dominant in US wedding in the 1950s where it represented togetherness. Modern weddings have embraced more variety in design and significance. Wedding toppers today are often figures that indicate shared hobbies or other passions (extracted from Wikipedia – Wedding Cakes).
Hellen showed me pictures of wedding cake toppers from a magazine, and I liked those cute toppers a lot. I have found several more pictures on the net and I’m gonna share them below (Credits to caketoppers.com for the pictures) :
Even on a cake, the guys does all the work...
Every wedding is a fairy tale in its own right
American sabo for you
Choosing a mate is like fishing, u got to be patient to catch the big rich one..
Naughty is the new fun
Oh my... oh my...
The epitome of a cute couple. Purple car to boot!
Every wedding is a precious moment for us all. Treasure it.
Cake toppers is another way to show the personality of the couples. Hopefully more and more Singaporean couples can exhibit their fun-loving side through little details like this. Attention to details!
Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 306 days
Filed under Miscellaneous, Wedding Banquet
I love everything vintage, including this great idea from Sasha Souza and photo by one of my favorite photographers, Elizabeth Messina .
This idea is on the top of my idea list during our wedding: “Vintage and Funky Photobooth!”
Some other ideas…
Filed under Holy Matrimony, Photography / Videography, Wedding Theme
Following up on the touching post from Winston (I almost teared!), I am behind him all the way. Wedding blog is a great avenue to chronicle our journey, ideas and inspirations to our wedding. While some might shivers at the thought of letting strangers know about their deepest thoughts, we are embracing it. I love wedblogs! No matter how busy I am, I always manage to peek through my Wedding Blog section on my Google Reader (Many thanks for Carl, who taught me about it!) It’s 12:50 AM now, and I am still stuck in my office waiting for my graphics to finish rendering, and I am blogging. I guess it’s a matter of priority.
I want to be able to write well, but the truth is I am not a natural-born writer. I doubt my grammar all the time. Winston is my walking dictionary. He has to proof-read all my writing before it goes online. So if you see any grammatical error or spelling error, blame it on the QC-man! But I try to be better, and not give up on writing. Winston inspires me to write. He Says more than She Says!
The main reason of me hooking up on those (mostly) overseas wedblogs is that they haven’t failed to inspire me with their generosity in giving up tips or sharing their beautiful wedding! In that way, people like me will get ideas, and make it even better. Ideas are free!
Wouldn’t it be nice, if we all strive to inspire and to be inspired, by sharing. I think we all can be more creative. Together.
Filed under Miscellaneous
This is not an entry to talk about our wedding preparation, but rather a sentimental / emo / I-can’t-sleep-now-but-I-want-to-ramble-on post.
I appreciate anyone who reads this blog, and I loved it when someone loves our blog too. In a way, this is an account of our journey and we want to share it with people around us. I may not be the best writer, but I do my best. I always want to make this blog engaging, but I know I still have loads of rooms for improvement. In the grand scheme of things, I want this blog to chronicle our wedding journey, then our house renovation journey and finally our baby’s life story.
Some people, especially Asians, tend to keep their love and feeling to themselves. Maybe because I was a single child and I was loved by my parents, I have the wish to show my love. Writing a blog may be too showy for some, but to me, it is just an avenue to show my love for my wife-to-be. She is absolutely amazing and motivates me every step of the way. I make mistakes, I am lazy and I can’t focus well, but she will push me at times, and I will push her too.
Friends do ask me why I have so much to write about. On the contrary, why wouldn’t I have so much to write about? Love is a journey worth recalling, it is supposed to be filled with adventures. I try to make my wedding unconventional, cause it’s once in a lifetime. I know there are those who will rather die than have a wedding, let alone an elaborate one. But if I have to do something, especially if it is once-in-a-lifetime, might as well tear the house down while doing it.
I still have loads of ideas for the blog… finishing my road trip series, talk about our pre-wedding shoot, tribute to my brothers and sisters, the PROPOSAL STORY (this is one not to be missed), our weight management story and the nervous road to marital bliss.
All I ask is that you continue to read our journey, and if you do not know us, it’s alright. Just read and enjoy!
By the way, you can drop me an email if you want to share some ideas for this blog: kiongster@hotmail.com
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 7, 13
Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 318 days
Filed under Miscellaneous
2 posts on 2 consecutive days!?? I am on a roll here!
After our trip to OMSQ, our next destination was supposed to be One Rochester. Looking at the time, we are still early. As our cab is traveling leisurely to our next checkpoint, we see that Gleneagles Hospital is coming up. A thought came to our mind simultaneously. There is one place we considered, but did not confirm due to the price, which is really near. It is Burkill Hall, Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Immediately we made a detour and went there. It is more specifically located in the Orchid Garden. We paid a nominal fee to get into the place and walked to Burkill Hall. OK, the truth is, the garden is definitely more beautiful than Fort Canning in terms of the flowers showcased. Burkill Hall by itself is a huge bungalow with a dreamy garden, that can be used for the HM.
The bungalow. It is huge, and the balcony can be open for guests to view the wedding from the 2nd floor.
I think I posted this pic before...
This is the best picture you can find online of the Burkill Hall Holy Matrimony setting. It is true, the seats are limited as the place is actually small. But it provides the intimacy and beauty with the orchids. It is very nice…
Didn't I just talked about an intimate wedding?
The place is nice, good setting to entertain your guests, popular venue… so what’s stopping us? The price. It is more than 4 to 5 times what I will spend on OMSQ and the garden although beautiful, is too small for my liking. But if you are looking for a nice garden setting and you have the budget to boot, this is a good choice. Last I heard there is some renovation to be done on the place, so it may not be opened for the beginning of 2010. Do check with Singapore Botanical Garden for more details!
Now that our detour is finished, we are on to our last destination for our road trip: One Rochester!
Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 319 days
Filed under Holy Matrimony
