She says: Inspired Me!

I haven’t blog for a while now and I know I should do it more often. Juggling many tasks and wearing many hats has been a routine now. Although I might sound like a workaholic, I enjoyed the busyness and long working hours I have to put up with. Torn between 2 worlds, I need to stay afloat. It is the desire for beauty and it is the eagerness to transform dream into reality that keeps me going. Currently I am doing a few weddings that involved creative juice and handiworks.

I blogged in Diary & Design Wedding and put up the boards there. Check out the full post here.

These are some of the boards for projects I am working on. March- April have been a peaceful months and soon it will be the bustling seasons again.

Fancy solemnisation at a hip bar

Lovely theme for an overseas couple

Grandeur Islander for lavish dinner

Whimsical Paper Flower in Turquoise Tone

I always love to engage non-wedding color and I am so happy to find couples who are game to do it!

She says: Best of Outdoor Wedding

We had 2 photographers for our actual day, Feldberyl and Ian Photography. It was meant for different purposes based according to their strength. Both have strong aesthetic values and softer feel that I like, yet they churned out different style of pictures.I love the spontaneity that Wansheng (Feldberyl) captured, he basically recorded the mood of the moments as it is. He has eye for great unnoticed moments. But Ian from Ian Photography shot most of my money shots. Thanks to his advertising background, he naturally captured each picture with commercial added value.You can see his work for Pemberley here

Now, this is the last outdoor pictures of my wedding. After this, we will move on to new and exciting topics with Diary & Design Wedding. This wedding is one of the projects of Diary & Design under the category of Full Planning (Chapter THREE) or if you are interested just for the design look and coordination, look for Chapter ONE.

Enjoy!

If you interested in renting the typewwriter or the LOVE plates, go to the SALE AND RENTAL page!

We danced the night away and ended with row of sparkles. Best night ever….

She says: OMSQ – Hidden Treasure

Our outdoor venue is really a hidden treasure in the heart of the city. I really like our venue, not only the place itself but also the location. My office is in Dhoby Ghaut and sometimes I will visit OMSQ during lunch time to visualize, measure the space and to familiarize myself with the place.

I am inspired by Jung Lee, the founder of Fête New York, one of the hottest wedding planner in New York. In her book, she disclosed her habit of spending time in the venue for a few hours to observe and visualize it. I think that’s a great trade secret.

In our church, our pastor taught us the power of visualizing. You must see it in your imagination before it comes to past. If you can see it, you can have it. I need this practice to put my creative mind to work. I am no wedding planner, this is the first time I am doing it, so I need a lot of preparation. I often hear my friends complained about their wedding after it happened. While I do know, there will be a lot of things beyond my control on the actual day, I can rest assured I have done my best and have no regret.. what if I have done this or that.. Winston can testify that I often laments, ” I’ve should done this.. if only…” So on my big day, I’ll do my best not to say that….

Today, I went there again. This time to measure the traveling time from MRT and to determine where to put the wedding sign. So these are the proposed location:

(Winston’s note: However we are contemplating whether to minimize the traveling of the guests by foot… well, I am thinking about it)

He says: Outdoor Wedding Layout in OMSQ

Another short post by me. We have engaged Outdoor Wedding Specialists (OWS) as our tentage and logistics provider of our outdoor wedding in OMSQ, Fort Canning. Their impressive portfolio gave us confidence in their ability. Here’s a layout pic of our simple outdoor garden wedding.

Our Matrimony Layout in OMSQ!

Thanks to Don and Eleanor for the enriching discussion! Hellen, especially, had lots of inspirations and ideas from the various blogs she went to. In essence, I was pleased that OWS dispelled the myth that Singapore are unable to do outdoor weddings and do not have the resources to do so.

On a side note, 20 more days till the pre-wedding photoshoot!… and I am still fat… gosh…

Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 240 days

He says: OMSQ Pictures!

We visited Old Married Soldier’s Quarters (OMSQ) at least 3 times. This is the pictures from the second trip there, with my best man, You Chun and 2 of the bridesmaids, Dora and Clarissa. Do note that the pictures are pretty raw, and I believe when we put in the decos, everything will look very good. Key word here: ‘Potential’.

This is the blank canvas, where the guests will sit to witness the HM.

This is the tree that will act as the backdrop of our wedding. I like it.

Man-to-tree scale right here.

There is an old-school swing and bench in the vicinity as well.

The same swing-bench combo from another angle.

Beside OMSQ, there is Fort Gate. Not under the same venue rental, but pretty cool place too.

Me and YC under Fort Gate. Some couples like this place for HM as it looks grand too.

This is a glasshouse which will be used as an art exhibition / training place. Right beside OMSQ.

Woman-to-tree scale here. Hellen and the angle makes the tree HUMONGOUS!

Hellen is forced into doing this. She is not like this. It is bad influence. From me.

Some of our friends may be worried about the weather and the mosquito. Rest assured we are aware of this and will try our best to prevent that from affecting the wedding too much. Cheerios!

Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 320 days

He says: Road Trip Happenings.. (Part III)

It was nice meeting Aloysius and seeing what 39 East has to offer. As we were leaving the studio, we were talking about 39 East vs Feldberyl vs Gabriel Mendes. Gabriel Mendes is, in my opinion, the best in the business in Singapore today, but also the most expensive of them all. We do have a budget to keep so we did not choose him. Although we did not make a decision outright on that day, we both did have a slight preference for Feldberyl.

So it was time to move on from actual day photography to Holy Matrimony (HM) location. Hellen contacted Fort Canning and made an appointment with them. We are not going to Legends as most couples would choose but rather the other different venues for weddings that Fort Canning Park provides. The meeting was made with Lili, who is incidentally my good friend, Junhong’s future wife’s sister. Junhong will be one of my brothers for the wedding (there will be posts that honour the bridesmaids and brothers in this blog).

Fort Canning is a basically a small hill / park in the middle of the city, with a pretty storied history as the home of Sir Stamford Raffles and also a British Fort during WWII. For history buffs, refer here. We were looking for outdoor wedding venues and after surveying the different resources and websites, a particular place caught our eyes. It was Raffles House, the former residence of Mr Stamford.

Boy, were we disappointed when we saw Raffles House. The house itself was alright, cosy for a function. A wedding meal will do nicely too. The whole compound is not bad, but the garden that was reserved as the wedding spot is un-spectacular. Maybe our expectation was heightened by the pictures we found online. But the tree in the garden for the wedding is in reality smaller than expected, and the lawn coupled with the tree is not symmetrical but irregular in shape. It makes it hard to sit guests as it is too small, and quite odd in fact. As I asked the practical questions to Lili, Hellen went around snapping up pictures of the place.

The exterior of Raffles House during a wedding

The interior decoration, the interior is actually quite small.

A Muslim Wedding held under the Raffles House

After the disappointing stop, Lili told us there are other places in Fort Canning for weddings. We never really heard people talk about them, but oh well, since we are here, why not? So with her killer buggy-driving skill (which means she is extremely good), she drove us around and bring us to Fort Gate and Old Soldiers Married Quarters (OMSQ). Immediately when we reached, I can see a change in Hellen. I think she found ‘the place’. I felt good about it too. The tree near OMSQ is big, old and grand (sounds like a piano). Looked poised for a matrimony right there and then.

OK, so here I will try to explain the setting as well as I possibly could, with an amateurish diagram:

…..

On second thought, forget it. I think I will take some photos and repost it another time.

We think we found the place because:

1. The tree setting is cool (as in hip, not the weather. I foresee it being hot).

2. The little swing is cute and the gravel ground prevents rain from spoiling the ground and making it mushy for people when they walk on it during heavy rain.

3. The OMSQ can accommodate seating and food. We will prefer the guests to walk outside and eat though.

4. There is great potential for DIY decoration.

All in all, this seems to be the place for the HM. We will post the photos of our site visits another time. Although we liked the place, our day is far from over, as we have 2 more locations to recce. Next stop: Burkill Hall!

Countdown to Wedding Day (19-06-10): 329 days