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: Groom’s Attire

So much for the bride, now the limelight is on the groom! I will share with you our inspiration for the groom and his men.

Since our wedding will be a tree wedding *if the weather permits, of course*, we will have a casual dress code. No long train, no tuxedo, no bling, just simple white wedding dress and vest- tie for the groom.

We love this pic!

(via rsvpmylove via oweddingdays )

Winston loves the vest and jeans for the matrimony. But since Winston’s uncle who is officiating our wedding is from a Methodist church, we need to be more conservative. So bye-bye jeans!

Here is our inspiration for Groom’s Attire!

Sorry, but I totally forget where I found these gorgeous pictures. You can state the source here if you know!

Want to share this nice article for Utterly Engaged

via Oh Joy

17 more days to our Wedding!

She says: 1 MONTH to go!

It’s 1 month to go!! Haven’t really sink in me yet that I’m getting married in 1 month. All the tense preparation that we had since the beginning of last year seems to vanish in the presence of the future. We are nearly done with the preparation, and sent out most of the invitations already. These are the list that we managed to tick off:

• Venue ( Matrimony & Banquet)
• Venue Decor & Flower
• Programs + Coordination
• Photography & Videography
• Pre-wedding Photos
• Catering
• Wedding Gowns & Suits
• Make Up
• Wedding Car + decor
• Wedding Ring
• Wedding Favor
• Invitations
• Bands & Music
• Accommodation for Relatives
• Bridesmaids Dresses + Groomsmen ties
• Honeymoon
• Montages
• Booths: Photobooth +  Dessert Bar

That’s almost everything we need to do to pull off a wedding. Maybe left with the program booklet for matrimony, which we haven’t do yet.

I have a very useful habit of keeping journals and diaries. I started this habit since I was 13 years old and I am still keeping a journal until now. I love this habit, as I always reflect back of how I felt during certain particular events in my life. I still had them with me, except 1 diary that I burned when I had a big fight with my first boyfriend at 15 years old (so dramaaaa..).

So this wedding is no exception. I prepared a notebook when I started this preparation last April 2009. Now it’s already the second book and  almost runs out. It’s really heartwarming when I flipped the pages and saw my own hand writing listing the potential venue or florist or photographer. It shows the depth and thought involved, not just another impulsive decision.

I championed journal-keeping habit! You can look back and see how much you have grown!

(I did the cover (watercolor drawing) for Animation Illustration Ministry (AIM) during Marketplace Bazaar)

She says: Busy Week – Gown Fitting

This week had been the busiest week for our wedding preparation. Started with Sunday- second last fitting for my MTM gown and night gown selections at Di Gio, Monday-meeting with Jane, our florist, Wednesday-food tasting in Conrad and trial mock up, Thursday- Invitation arrives partially from Pemberley, Saturday-Food Tasting with Kriston.

I tried a few dresses and they were not quite as fantastic as it should have been. I am not a big fan of ball gown, but judging by the size of our ballroom, there is a need to choose a more prominent dress. I envy girls with longer posture, they can carry a sheath dress and still look gorgeous.

Here are some of the dresses I tried, a few of these are my final dress. But I am not gonna reveal the color yet, so enjoy the monotone version for now.

I will write about the mockup trial and food tasting in the next post! Stay tuned!

He says: The Defining Wedding Suit

I have never really thought about getting a tailor-made wedding suit, and I was pretty sure this will be one part of the wedding budget I am saving on. Well, till now, this thinking has still not changed, I am still not getting an expensive suit, just renting whatever Di Gio Bridal has, and make sure it is one that complements Hellen’s gown well. One of my brothers, Kevin, actually got a nice Topman suit for himself… and this leads me to thinking, it will be nice to have a good suit for myself too. But then again, logic and frugality prevails here. However, it does not stop me from researching more about guys’ wedding suit in Singapore, cause I know there is a growing trend out there for sophisticated wedding suit.A bit more about myself.. I am fat, not obese, but fat. And I am not proportional. I am the “Judo Guy” from “Slam Dunk”. That means I have short legs and a longer body… so I don’t look good in tux (as evident from my Taiwan pictures with tux) .

I am the Judo Man from Slam Dunk. Short legs, long body.

But no matter what type of body you have, the suit people can find a way to make you look good. So I used my internet snooping skills to find out more about wedding suits.  Here’s a good wikipedia link on the Black Tie dress code, which is the dress code of formal evening events, such as a wedding.  I have found another link that talks about the Groom’s suit tips (Credits to About.com: Weddings). 

Men’s suits are on the rise, as evident by this brilliant boutique that I see sprouting all over Singapore (ok sprouting is a bit too much): T.M. Lewin. Check out their FB page for more of their innovative suits. But personally, I do prefer something more casual.

This is what I liked... casual and cool and composed all at the same time!

One last thing that is off-topic… iPad is here! I am absolutely thrilled about this, as it is one of my dream gadgets deep in the recesses of my mind… can’t wait to get a hold of it when it’s out. My No. 1 target in the 2nd half of 2010.

Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 144 days

She says: Wedding Dress Dilemma – Things I Learnt.

I have yet to talk about my wedding dress again after my last post on wedding dress here. The reason is simply because I don’t feel satisfied with the dress my bridal did for me, yet.

Here’s the first fitting (I lose 2 inches after this photo was taken… huraaayy!)

I learnt something new, in contrary to popular belief, Made-To-Measure (MTM) has more potential for disaster than Off-the-Rack. I almost give up on my MTM dress. It doesn’t look anywhere near my vision of Katya. Sadly, the bridal shop’s collection is better than my MTM gown. It’s not anybody’s fault. I don’t blame my gown designer, nor I blame myself. So I will rather abandon it and choose something else off the rack.

But my persistent designer persuaded me to continue working on Katya’s design. The design is not like what they usually do, so their wedding dress template doesn’t work with this gown design. He re-constructed the whole piece from scratch again. Katya is such a demure, understated gown which is why I love the design.We will see the revised dress next month. Finger crossed!

Now I think, dress rehearsal is the best choice. Go to a bridal shop, pick up the dress you love, wear it, alter it and you’re done! Off-the-rack is better than Made-To-Measure, unless you are completely confident in your designer or maintain your expectation.

Please do it not more than 6-9 months before your wedding. Don’t look for any gowns once you decided. Not even on internet (I am speak for and to myself).

I’m thinking of getting a second gown for my outdoor wedding, most probably a designer gown from US or off-the-rack from Di Gio. I will let you know when it happens.

She says: Bridesmaids Dress

I just recently learnt from one of the top wedding planners in Singapore, that bridesmaids and sisters (jie mei) are different.

(Editor’s notes : Jie Mei is the bride’s wedding entourage in Chinese culture who are supposed to guard and test the groom before they let the groom in to fetch the bride.)

So what’s the difference?

In local context, it is the uniform dress.

Only bridesmaids wear the same color / same dress and march in before the bride.

(The last row picture is from Norman & Amy’s wedding via Feldberyl Images.

So nice to see a color-coordinated bridesmaids dress. This practice is not very common in Singapore, because usually jie meis are treated as bridesmaids. Now that I know, that is not the same.

So I bought my girls, the same blue dress and accessories. Instead of flower bouquet, I think I prefer parasol. But I’ll still consider. I am still thinking of tailor making another dress with Tiffany color, but only if budget allowed (pray hard, girls!).

Here are some gorgeous blue bridesmaids dress for your inspiration.

via Inspired Bride

If you have the budget to spare and want to splurge on your girls, consider this amazing dress by TwoBirds. Its a dress that can be wraps into 15 style. Check out the video tutorial, it’s mind boggling! Looks so easy and superb!

Downside : it costs USD 320

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)

She says: The Quest of Finding the Gown

This is the sequel of my previous post on wedding gown.

I am not a big fan of wedding gowns, in fact I am a bit scared of choosing my dress. I deliberately postponed my search of the gown until I am ready to face my fear. I used of have a mild phobia of big fluffy wedding gown with lotsa beads and sparkles [Winston's Edit: That's a phobia??!!]. The idea of wearing a heavy, troublesome, over-the top wedding gown leaves me with a little nausea and goosebumps. So I turn to an unconventional and non-threatening option to choose the gown. By browsing through online shops that specially sell pre-owned wedding dress. This gesture freaks my fiance out.

For a month I went through www.oncewed.com and www.preownedweddingdress.com to look for my ideal wedding gown. From these websites I discovered my future favorite wedding gown designer, Monique Lhuillier. I was not impressed with Vera Wang and not part of Bride Wars frenzy.  I fell in love with a full Chantilly lace gown by Lhuillier with the code name Claire. The beautiful paisley pattern and full Chantilly lace doesn’t come with a hefty price tag, which was also a big plus. I was raving about this dress and started to contact a few sellers to get the best price. I found a seller with the best price possible which miraculously have the gown that fit my size. Most of the size are for Caucasians, so the odds of having a 5′ 2″ gown is depressingly low. So when the price went down to 1,100USD, I was blown away and ready to purchase.

However, Winston and Katryn were not comfortable with my decision of buying my wedding gown online. Katryn insisted me to try the real gown, with the real cutting and material before buying Claire. Good advice. So I went down to Tanjong Pagar with Winston, to have a taste of wedding gown. Reality stikes. Most of the gowns in bridal shops are exactly the type I’m avoiding, so I was quite desperate.

Until we went to our last stop Di Gio Bridal. The sales girl, Josephine, was smart enough to spot my taste of simple and minimalist gowns, she brought me a beautiful structural gown with minimal beadings on the neckline and a nice clean Duchess satin dress with Swarovski crystals. I was finally at ease. It  also open a possibility of finding my gown in the local bridal world. She mentioned that I am not like a typical Singaporean brides, who wants more blings on the gown. I think it’s not only for Singaporean, Indonesians also fancy heavy beadings and bling bling. It doesnt feel like a wedding gown, without all that, that’s what they always say. We chatted with their in-house designer, a flamboyant and talented Mr Casey. Surprisingly Monique Lhuillier is also his favorite designer and we shared the same opinion about her gowns.

We did not sign up with them that day, but they left us with good impression. The second bridal we went to was Margaret Brides. This time it was a better experience, because MB gowns suit my taste of simpler, subtle gowns. However their price is not subtle. Margaret the owner and the designer herself takes pride in her work, her gowns are gorgeous, but she also has the designer pride which unfortunately clashed with mine. Budget is also an issue. In order to materialize my dream wedding gown, we need to pay almost double our original budget. I wanted to use French Chantilly lace which adds about 4k to the basic package. So forget it!

In the end I did not have peace in my heart to buy Claire, so I let it go (Eugenia, one of my housemates, made it easier by cutting the printout picture into pieces!). It was not easy, because I have been clinging to Claire for some time, thinking that this is a good buy. But actually I knew that it is not a wise decision to buy your wedding gown online.

Just after I let it go, I spotted another dress from Monique Lhuillier Spring 2010 collection, Katya. I love it right away, there’s an uncanny feeling telling me that this is it! I rely a lot on my emotional connection when it comes to deciding on something. This is one of those moment. But Since there is no way I could buy this dress, unless I fly to Hong Kong or to Los Angeles to buy the orginal gown, I will have to tailor made locally.

My first and only choice is Casey from DiGio Bridal. I made an appointment with them, and this time I brought Clarissa and Dora (my housemates cum bridesmaids) with me. I trust their taste and opinion. It’s comforting to know that they agree with your choice. Cut the story short, we signed up with them.

I love working with passionate people and Casey is definitely one of them!

She says : Prelude – Wedding Dress Hunting

I am so overwhelmed right now. The cause : The Wedding Gown.

Honestly speaking, wedding gown used to be my secondary priority when compared to venue or decoration or stationaries. But now that I finally exposed myself to this segment, I am super-overwhelmed. I began to browse wedding gown online nonstop, hoping to land a hidden treasure (read : Monique Lhuillier’s dress for less than 1500 USD- used). Moveover, Vera Wang! Monique and Amsale are in my top picks now! I researched intensively and even drew all the silhouette types, neckline, etc for my references. I’ll post it here in the next post.

However, I am becoming too engrossed with buying online frenzy – http://www.oncewed.com and http://www.preownedweddingdress.com – until Winston uttered his concerns and my Maid of Honor ( Presenting : Katryn Kusuma ) strongly suggested me to try the actual wedding gowns. I am really close to buying the beautiful full Chantilly lace, Claire dress by Monique Lhuillier *dress pictured here*

Well, after exercising walk-ins to a few bridal shops, I started to get the vibe of “the wedding gown”. Frankly, I am kinda feeling abhorrence to big wedding gown, I strongly dislike those wedding gowns with full bling bling….with due respect to all the brides who fancy big ball gown, I don’t mean to belittle your choice of the gown, it’s just not me. Most of the bridal shop attendants told me, simple gown doesn’t give you the feeling of wedding gown. I have to agree on that. Big princessy gown will look nice in grand ballroom, but not on outdoor venue. I will have my share of “Real Wedding Gown” aka-A-Line, full Duchess Satin with minimal embelishment.

Imagine my frustration to see most of these attributes in all the bridal shops we visited. Fortunately, we walked in to our last stop at Di Gio Bridal. Thanks to Josephine, the very attentive and pro-active consultant and Casey the passionate designer. They restored my faith in bridal shop, there are still hope in bridal studio!! I want a simple-classic-elegant-no fuss wedding gown, Josephine gave me a range of gowns made with Duchess Satin and only Swarovsky embelishment along the top. I love it! Winston also loved it. I always imagined my wedding gown to be just simple satin, strapless, floor length, no beads. Perfect.

It changed the way I perceived Bridal Shops. I guess some carries simple, elegant, not over-the-top wedding gown. So the next on the list is to find the bridal shop that suits my taste.

I know that  although Winston doesn’t prefer lace-like Claire dress, but he leaves the final say to me. But with this new decision of mine, he’s secretly relieved. I admit that Claire dress might not suits me. But I love the paisley pattern, the Chantilly lace and no fuss. Since my Holy Matrimony will be held outdoor, I need a simple yet classic gown. *I’m still hoping for that dress*

I’m saying goodbye to my oncewed or preownedweddingdress, now the quest of finding “The Gown” is fixed upon hundreds of bridal shops in Singapore.