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!

Weddings in Singapore are Going To Get Prettier!

After co-founding Diary & Design Wedding, Hellen has headed the design team to expand into a new company, Rosette Designs & Co which specialised in wedding design & decor. Our website is still in progress, but you can see our portfolio here or in our Diary & Design blog.

Simple set up to showcase our props. Cupcake by Twelve Cupcakes. they are super yummy!

Please check our previous works here . You can visit our Diary & Design Wedding blog for portfolio too!

Pictures by Ian Photography & Rosette Designs & Co

She says: Surprise.. Surprise..& My Bro’s Purple Wedding

It has been while since I last blogged. Ever since we started Diary & Design Wedding, I was surprised by the response. I didn’t know that this blog has avid followers. (Apologized for not blogging as regularly like I used to)

I didn’t intend it that way, but it’s a good surprise! This tells me one thing, every brides do want to have a beautiful wedding of their own. Gone are the days of Singaporean way of default wedding.

I have met plenty of couples who didn’t intend to hire a wedding planner at first, but were intrigued by the idea of a customized wedding of their own. It’s really an encouragement when brides-to-be send an email, starting from,” I didn’t intend to hire wedding planner, but…”

I was skeptical over wedding planner too. I did try to contact some of them but they proofed my skepticism right! However, in the end of the day, I have to surrender to a professional wedding coordinator, who happened to be my friend and now my partner in crime.

In Indo, we didn’t even battle an eyelid to hire a Wedding Organizer (WO). It’s a must for every wedding in Indo, big or small. Imagine the hassle they have to go through on the actual day without these handset-armed organizers. Madness guaranteed! I give you one recent example.

I was back in Jakarta for my brother’s wedding over the weekend. It was one of the typical Indo wedding (only better). Fancy, huge ballroom, thousands of guests, extensive decor. Take a look at the pictures and you know what I meant!

Anyway, check out their prewedding photos here.

The venue is one of the biggest function hall in Jakarta, boasts at 32,000 sqm. It can comfortably fits 1,500 of our guests. Although it’s quite a common number of guests in Jakarta, it can be too overwhelming for any Singaporean to experience, as it did to Winston’s parents.

Top : the stage design. Bottom : (left) Me at the photo gallery. (Right) Me and my mom at one of the buffet line

The hallway and photo gallery

Winston + Hellen

Left: Irene (my sis). Right: the purple cake

They even had a small photo studio set up in the ballroom for a quick photoshoot.

In Indonesia, wedding is a family affair. Most of the time, the guests come from the parents side, instead of the couple. Imagine inviting 1,500 people for your party?? Who are these people??? Practically everyone who ever crossed the parents’ path. Business people, relatives, neighbors, friends, anyone they can think of! The basic principle is the same, whoever finance it, has the say.

the in-laws talking. My mom and her beautiful dress

Having been involved in 2 different set up of wedding culture (Singapore & Jakarta), I simply marvel at the endless possibilities of this one lifetime event. It will be awesome when I combine the best of both world.

Greedy me.

PS : just between you and me, I’d choose small wedding anytime.

He says: Thank You (Part 1) – Serene Koong

Well, as I return to blogging here, I will like to dedicate my next few posts to the people who made our wedding possible. Some seems to think that the wedding is all about the couple, but forget to appreciate the people who dedicate their lives to making the dreams of couples come true.

The first person that I want to thank is someone that is already making waves in the Chinese Pop scene in Singapore, and she is Serene Koong (龔芝怡). She is one of the 3 musicians (along with Matthew and Boon Chye) that played during our banquet. The music (with the piano and saxophone) and the beautiful singing voice of Serene really enhances the evening, as compared to CDs. Several guests reflected to us on the soothing music and simply how awesome Serene’s voice is.

Prior to the wedding, we did not know about Serene, just that she was a backup singer for Stephanie Sun. So imagine my surprise when I saw her album being presented in newspaper articles! So even when we are in the midst of our wedding preparation, she was readying her album release!

Since she did such a good job for our wedding, here I will do my part to promote her CD: “55:38:7″

Check out her songs here:  http://www.myspace.com/serenekoong

.. and see more of her promotional stuff here: http://blog.omy.sg/serenekoong/#

Serene's Debut Album!

She says: When We Dance..

I have posted almost all the items featured during our banquet in the previous post. We have a Breakfast at Tiffany’s theme video montage, Special Pre-Wed montage, Wedding Highlight and touching MoH speech.

I mentioned in the previous blog that our wedding highlight is the second highest compliment received on the banquet. Somebody asked me what’s the highest?

This is the highest compliment received on that night..

Our First Dance.

I blogged about the process here.

Bride-to-be and Groom-to-be, please consider this item. It is not as hard as you think. You might think you don’t have any ounce of dancing muscle, but believe me, it’s worth the try. We learned our routine for 3 months (10 classes and 2 extra private lessons) and we are quite confident with it. The gown was quite challenging, as it was long and a bit heavy. But once you hit the floor, you will just flow. I was very nervous, but once we start, the world just turn into silence and it was just us two.

Everybody was raving about it. Most of them said, it reminds them of the dancing scene in Beauty and the Beast, especially the yellow gown. Honestly, it wasn’t intentional at all! I am not that cheesy and mean (imagine what Winston would feel as being compared with the Beast!).

Turns out, we did the right choice by doing the first dance.

You can go to Arca Dance (where we learned our step) or other dancing school.

She says: Behind the Scene

I realize, I put a lot of nice, beautiful pictures of my wedding, but not the unsightly pictures (wth??!). So when all the pictures finally arrived, I decided to share some of the not-so-glams, but it’s still memorable.

By the way, no decoration involved….

The Haggling Session begins..

It was a guaranteed fun session with the cheeky and creative bridesmaids and jie meis.

Heart Breaking Moments Caught on Camera

My mom couldn't hold her tears anymore when I whispered, "This song is for you" while Serene sang "Mother How Are You Today". It was her favorite song. Priceless.

My mother is not the emo type. She is one of the most independent women I’ve met in my life. She detests crying in public, so she always avoid sensitive topics. But this moment caught her off-guard.

Thank you, Wansheng for your good instinct. That’s why we hired him.

We had our little "sister-conflict" and was resolved as soon as usual.

Drama!! Where's the ribbon???Just use this one!

No wedding is perfect without the drama behind it.

FUNNY – CANDID – MOMENTS

2 Generations of Lie Sunaryo

this is a good contrast...

Wow.. so many good pictures! I will slowly post by their category..

She says: Made for Honor

She’s the best Maid of Honor a girl could ask for

In two weeks time, my Maid of Honor Katryn is getting married. So I’d like to dedicate this post to her. I’ve been friends with her for almost 8 years, it’s not the years that count but the experiences we shared. Although I have good friends that I’ve known way before Katryn came along, there is no one quite like her. Her husband-to-be, Ari,  happens to be a childhood friend of mine whose rude and nonchalant attitude charmed my heart when I was a silly (and possibly blind) primary school girl. Now everyone knows about the disgraceful fact of my secret crush and Ari always used it to tease me if he is lost for words to “suan” me.

Katryn is special. She’s not just my best friend, she’s my soulmate. There were times when I felt nobody could understand the situations I had to go through but she did because she had the same situations too and I would understand her when nobody else does too. That’s the coolest things. We had our worst times and best times. We grew together in our walk with God, walking side by side in this journey of life. We were born with different family background and upbringing but always find each other in the same page. She is the youngest daughter, I am the eldest daughter. She’s an introvert, I’m the extrovert. She’s a bit of a OCD ( that’s an understatement, by the way) while I’m messy and nonchalant.

She used to dislike me during our first year of highschool. I attracted too much of attention as a freshman. It’s a given, since my elder brother was the popular soccer captain. I was oblivious to that fact, instead we grow closer because we found God together, with the same group of friends. Or rather God found us.

There were times during highschool, we hated each other, purposely stepping at each other toes under the table. But we manage to be friends again. Each fight and make up made us a little stronger. We had a moment when we liked the same guy, and realized we are not his type. We even had a moment after series of fight that we asked each other, ” Do we want to continue this friendship?” and we did say yes. It’s my first steady long distance relationship. That was the first time I learnt that love and commitment are decisions.

We also have many good years together, in fact those few hiccups can’t compared to the wonderful things we had. It’s a custom for us to give each other’s favorite things. Katryn loves pink, so she has a customized cupboard in her room to display her collections. A substantial part of it is from me! I treasured the beam in her face when she opened those gift. I love Precious Moments figurines. She gave me my first figurine and subsequently added to my collections.

Our story is too long to write in a post.. and I don’t want to bore anyone with our stories. She gave an outstanding and hilarious MOH speech on my wedding, raising the bar for any MOHs-to-be,  including myself. Seeing her in that podium instantly warmed my heart and teared my eyes. We’ve come a long way since our single days to this. A metamorphosis in our lives, from daughters to wives and eventually mothers. One thing that will never changed, we are forever soulmates.

*P.S.: I happened to watch a Sex and the City season 4 ep 1, when they talk about soulmates. Here’s the tag at the end of the episode, “..with three soulmates down, it’s easy to spot a nice guy to have fun with..”

Here is an excerpt of her entertaining yet touching speech…

“With every ending there is a beginning. While the end of our singles days may certainly have changed the nature and the frequency of what we do together, it has not changed the nature of our friendship. I look forward to all the new experiences we will share in the future as we continue our lives as married couples.”

Here are the pictures:

Someone is watching over me.

She says: Introducing Diary & Design: A Wedding Story

After the success of our wedding, we received a lot of compliments and requests regarding wedding planning and design. It has always been my secret desire to cultivate my love for wedding design to a concrete plan. So, when Lily, my wedding coordinator asked to meet up to talk about the possibility to partner, I couldn’t feel more happy! This is the moment I’m waiting for!

It feels so right and so natural for us to plan & design wedding. I am always championing a life of passion and purpose. There is a purpose of why we are wired this way. Why we are born with certain tendency or talents. Some people are naturally drawn to numbers, sports, music, biology, or some cool ones, like design *haha*. I happened to be born with a love for art and design. I was an aesthetically-inclined child with tons of imagination. My mom can testified to that. She had to repaint the wall many times because of my constant sketching.

So now I know why I love and is able to do art and design, so one day I could help many brides to have a beautiful, memorable and stress-free wedding. Man, that was some revelation!

Anyway, enough of childhood flashback, now the future is in front of us. We are officially launching Diary & Design: A Wedding Story today!

Diary & Design Wedding combines the individual strength of a well-designed and well-organized wedding. You get the best of both worlds. Neither design or coordination becomes secondary. Both are given the same priority and full attention. This partnership provides assurance that all of your design and coordination needs are covered, so that you can relax and enjoy your big day.

We already drafted the services and packages to suit your preferences. We even have the Design-It-Yourself packages to help you materialize the ideas you are dying to impose but have no idea how to!  *Gosh, I wish I had that privilege when I planned mine*

UPDATE:

This post was written about 3 years ago, when everything is still in the infancy level. Now the ladies of Diary & Design Wedding are more mature and experienced, not to mention big thinker. So DDW is undergoing restructuring process and will be officially branch out into 2 companies, which each specialized in different area, wedding planning and wedding design. We have yet to officially announced it, but being a design junkie it is a no-brainer for me to head the new baby, Rosette Designs & Co, which specialized in event design & decor. Please check out our portfolio in our facebook page, while we work on our website.

No matter what is the company I am belong to, my love for design & decor is always prevails.

 

She says: Wedding Banquet Pictures!!

Finally the wait is over!! Wansheng from Feldberyl has delivered the rest of the pictures and it’s all gorgeous! He might be one of our most expensive vendors we engaged, but it is worth every penny. All the while we posted our outdoor wedding, because we have lotsa photos from our friends, but during our banquet, the guests enjoyed the programs so much they didn’t bother to take pictures.

I have to admit that I treated my outdoor wedding more like a pilot project of my long term plan. However, the wedding banquet is a treat for ourselves. I enjoyed our banquet more than the day before. We both really loved our banquet. So did our guests. The feedback was tremendous. We took care of every single details and thanks to our wonderful coordinator, Lily and our dear helpers everything was well executed.

Here are the photos! We will post on the detail of the programs on the next post.

First March-in highlights :

• Video of Childhood +Couple Montage (watch it here)
• Cake cutting

Second March-In highlights:

• Video Highlights of the Holy Matrimony the day before (watch it here)
• Champagne Popping & Pouring
• Yam Seng Toast
• Maid of Honor Speech & Toast
• Video dedication for Groom (watch it here)
• First Dance
• Couple’s Thank You Speech for Parents & Guests

More posts on the details soon!

She says: Sneak Peek of Black-White Wedding Banquet @ Conrad Hotel

We get the best of both world! The fabulous outdoor wedding and very smooth and romantic wedding banquet. Nothing is impossible with God! Amen to that!

(Did I mention that we love our wedding and is not apologetic to flaunt it? Like the ol’ saying, if you have it, flaunt it! )

So here is the sneak peek of our wedding banquet@ Conrad. I love black & white and it was no secret. I also absolutely love my Hellen dress. It is supposed to be a Katya dress by Monque Lhuillier, but we detoured so much that I scrapped the original plan and just go with my style. Big kudos to team at Di Gio, Josephine and Casey!

Love the Calla Lily bouquet

my Hellen dress

The dramatic First Dance

The bride with her brother

with Andrew my boss. Gosh, I love the birdcage headpiece. Thanks, Chris!

Finally pay off, love the setting!

Everybody was looking very classy that night!