Shopping for the ultimate package..

A few days ago, I consulted a few friends about where I can go for the best deals in a bridal package... (yes yes, we finally decided that it's much better to have everything lump up in the bridal package rather than doing everything individually) and everyone agreed that the best place to go would be "Tanjong Pagar Road" a.k.a the "Bridal Street".

Yesterday evening after work, we headed down to Marina Square for our dinner. And so happened that there was a Bridal Fair being held at the atrium. Being me, I cannot control myself from viewing what's on offer. Hesitantly I pulled Mike into the "trap"... hahaha... our 1st stop was at Bridal Zone (BZ).. at the initial stage, we weren't too impressed with what we saw but we sat down anyway. Trying our best to squeeze as much info as we could from them.. we tried to use it to our advantage as a bargaining tool. After a brief half hour, we figured that we got the info we needed and headed to grab some dinner. Whilst strolling across the atrium to the exit, a salesperson from another boutique "XYZ" stopped us. He was trying too hard to sell his new collection to us. So much so that it felt more like demanding us. As the saying goes, never stand in the way of a hungry man, or couple in our instance, we brushed him off and went to enjoy our comfort food: SUSHI!!!! *slurp* =P . We went back home with many thoughts in our mind but determined to make a 2nd trip down.

Just this afternoon we headed down to Tanjong Pagar Road to see for ourselves how true it is to the legends. We were in for a shock. The entire street is flocked with bridal houses. Literally! It kinda gave me the "brothel house" feel.... kekeke. You know what i mean? ..... "Sir, wanna have a look at our new collection?? All new... Come come.. have a look, dun be shy." You get what I mean.. the competition here is so saturated that it lies next door to each other. The only way to get customers in is by having someone outside to pull them in. We pity the poor fellow having to brave the crazy hot humid weather..well it's their job anyway...haha =P

With so many shops, we didnt know where to begin! It was a horrible feeling!! Like a kid in a candy store but you only get to choose ONE item...We took a quick breather at the nearest 7-11 and formed up our plan... After much discussion, we decided to go in to the nearest one from where we are...Directly opposite the 7-11.. Lame huh???... hehehe.. "ABC" Bridal House Nice layout, beautiful gowns, stinky sales man (because he smoked). We went in anyway, to beat the heat...Got free aircon, why not?? In the next hour or so, both of us sat there as if we will be signing the package.. Enquiring on what their service is all about.. blah blah blah. However the guy seems to be avoiding one thing. the $$$ factor. No wonder, in the end the package he was selling for was at $3388 +++. Sounds nice huh.. sam sam fatt fatt.. but not nice to our wallets at all. With such pricing, it does not even compete with the ones we saw at the Bridal Fair in Marina Sq. Soon, he started to be a little impatient and the hard selling took over. Slashing of prices did not seems to be one of the option. At this point, it was time for us to make the exit.. However without trying to be bad... we excuse ourselves with respect. Instead of being professional and cool about it, the threat comes in. Not like they are putting us at gun point la.. but I think he is doing too much to get us sign for the package. That is a very wrong move from him.. "I understand you guys need to talk in private.. here, I'll leave u guys alone to talk it out for a while and I'll come back later"... WTF?? I wanna go home AND decide. Not decide NOW. The whole goodwill factor just disappear. I just wanted to leave. After much persuasion, we made it out the door..FINALLY!! At the end of the day, my personal mission wasn't accomplished. I WANTED TO TRY A GOWN! Seemed like his gowns were too precious to be worn not to mention touch/browse.. End of the drama.. Back we went, to the Bridal Fair in hopes and search for a better package.

We left the house at 1.30pm, reached Tanjong Pagar at about 2.30pm.. when we checked our watches, it was after 4pm!! Precious time wasted, not productive at all. Well at least we know how to bargain for more..Off we went... One shop was enough to represent the rest there. Afterall it is still the $$ that draws us to the package..Having to plan an elaborate wedding without crossing our budget is stressing us out to the MAX.

Back at the Bridal Fair in Marina Sq.. the catwalk show had already started and was nearing the end. We try to squirm our way into the crowd so that we could get a better look. Only managed to view about 10mins of the show...*Shrugs* Oh well... The booth(from BZ) was like a beehive.. with so many ppl buzzing around for the best bargain, we headed up to their showroom for a quick glance at their selection of gowns available. As much as we thought we still wanna browse around, our minds were pretty much settled for BZ. We liked what we saw and it was only the details that we needed to settle. Back at the booth, we managed to look through the rest of the albums that they had.. Without the pressure of being pushed, we felt comfortable looking at what we wanted.. Drinks, food, attention.. we had everything. Backed with the info we collected from "ABC" Bridal House, we tried to negotiate what we could into the already filled package. To our surprise, not only did they happily agree to it, they threw in even more. Needless to say, we signed up in the end with a smile that could scare Joker away.

Finally the burden seemed to drop completely off our shoulders. Almost everything is settled and we can concentrate on something even more stressful. Our HOUSE. I'm not gonna say too much about that now.. In fact i think i already mentioned too much. Hahaha..

Well here are some of the freebies we got from the Bridal Fair.. with a purchase of the latest bridal mag from Her World. Enjoy!!

1. The mag of course 2. Tissue box cover from Tea 3. Evening pouch/clutch 4. Dunno how many packets of Asience shampoo/conditioner 5. Manicure set 6. CD 7. Home Deco mag 8. Make-over 9. A cover shot (where there's a chance to win some more goodies if we get voted Most Photogenic Couple). 10. Sample pack of Ralph Lauren Romance perfume.




Here's a pic of me doing my free make-over...


Here's a up-close shot of us...Leng right???

Alright then..till the next post...

Love,
Peggy & Mike

In Step In Tune...

Finally got a better pic of the shoes that will be worn on our wedding day...Marching in Tune, Taking each and every step together in our future together..

We will be going to Raffles Hotel for the bridal package this weekend and also to get the draft confirmation letter...Will post up more pics of the event...

*Crossing our fingers that we'll win some prizes in the lucky draw at the event*..

Till then,

Mike & Peggy

What next?

After the initial rush of adrenaline.. its time to really slow things down and enjoy the fact that.. my status is slowing changing. It's true that I tend to take things alil too serious. I got all scared and "kan cheong" over the fact that something didn't go MY WAY. A definite big NO NO in my dictionary definition. But what is it that freaks me out so much?? You know what.. I don't know that myself.

Looking at the list of "things to do".. we are way beyond the timeline.. what people tend to do only in the last few months are already ticked in our list. (yikes!) nothing wrong mar... it's good to work ahead of time... this gives you more time to regret later. HAHAHA.. just kidding.

As the 1st few major issue off our heavily burden chest.. the next is slowly creeping up. There always seems to be so many choices that you can never seem to choose just ONE. Seriously, how can you choose between just one dress when every piece you tried on is like the next best thing? It's tearing me apart man.. how how how?? Not forgetting the price goes up with every piece I try on.. hahaha.. someone is beginning to feel the heat..

As much as I wanted to DIY most of the things myself.. I also want to be the princess of the day. No wonder those wedding planners earn big bucks. Simply, brides/grooms-to-be are THE most easily influenced people in the world now. Just tell them that "its only once in a lifetime leh"... and everything else is not important anymore. However, once reality kicks back in, it's back to juggling between reality and fantasy. And with this you will think whether the "once in a lifetime" thing is really that important that you have to live with the shadow later? To celebrate the once in a lifetime day is no doubt second to none.. there is no substitute.. but there is always other things which concerns me more than just one day. Everyday is the "once in a lifetime" experience for me whenever I'm with my hubby. Because it is with him that I am writing a new chapter together. So... how can this not be leh?

Love and Hugs,
Peggy

Hotels, Hotels and More Hotels....Pt II

Hi all, it's the weekend once again and off to carry on our photo-taking of the various hotels as mentioned in our earlier post..

We visited a few hotels within the City Hall / Marina Boulevard area and managed to sneak in more than a couple of pics for everyone's viewing pleasure...so sit back and enjoy the visual fest...

First up...Swissotel Stamford...

There was a couple that would be celebrating their 50yrs of marriage (ok everyone go AWWWWWWW!!!)...the ballroom was huge but only had 25 tables...the thing i liked about this ballroom was the 'tent' in the middle of the stage...pretty cool idea to do that for our KL banquet...a 'tent' lit with many LEDs, making us the centre of attention... =P

Loved their cocktail/reception area as well...

Next...to the newly refurbished Marina Mandarin...

The 'ballroom' at the Pool Garden..

Both of us agreed that the new look works great for the hotel...nice, cosy ambience greeted us when we stepped into the 4th floor lounge...On the 5th floor is the entrance to the Pool Garden..and a Chinese Restaurant by the name of "Peach Blossom"..the best thing about this restaurant is that there are live birds (kept in cages) singing and hung along the whole stretch of the corridor...sorry didn't manage to capture a picture of that..will do that another time...

Here's the other Ballroom...The Vanda Ballroom...nice with lit stairs leading up to it...a nice touch i must say...most of the settings i would say is common amongst the hotels / magazines we've seen so far..

On another note, I used to work in that hotel when i was much younger..when i was still in my poly years (about 18-20yrs old)...worked there as a banquet waiter pretty much both years as a classmate's father was the F&B manager then...was pretty fun esp when you get to find out the nooks and crannies of the hotel...the places that the general public are unable to see... =P well that was so long ago but going back into the hotel sure brings back memories...

Taking a break in between viewing these ballrooms, we finally arrived once again at The Raffles Hotel...

Here are some clearer pics of the East India Rooms, the adjacent Palm Gardens and luckily (or unluckily) depending on how you view it, a solemnization ceremony ended earlier...we got a pic of the decorated chairs but the ballroom was locked...(ARGH!!!!)...

The Palm Gardens does look pretty spacious...and with the stairs at the start of the march-in to the solemnization, the ceremony is set to be a very romantic and intimate one.. =) now we need to trash it out with the hotel to give us freebies and MORE FREEBIES!!! (Where's Sun when you need her???) lol..

Ok that's pretty much the end of today's little report...our feet exhausted and sore but we treated ourselves to a nice reward for our hard work...here's a lil sneak preview...

Marching in tune...till our next post..

Love,

Mike & Peggy

A quick peek into Raffles Hotel...

Just rushed back from a slightly longer lunch 'hour' to give you this report..Met up with Michelle (Catering Sales Mgr) for a quick 15min view (of the ballrooms la..what are you thinking? =) tsk tsk tsk)..anyway back to the report..there are currently 2 ballrooms that are available for our usage in Raffles Hotel, namely the Casuarina Suites (A & B) and East India Rooms..

Casuarina Suites A & B have a capacity of a maximum of 6 and 12 tables respectively. This suite is situated on the 3rd floor of the hotel, facing Seah Street..There is a separate bar counter for this suite and looks pretty standard for any ballroom..There was no setting/arrangement done for the room when i was there so it is pretty bare..Peggy and I will return to the hotel when there's an actual wedding there to see the different layouts...

Enough said, here are the pics for Casuarina Suite B:

Signage indicating the room

Bar counter for the Suite

View of Ballroom upon opening the main door

View of back of Ballroom on the right of the main door

View of back of Ballroom on the left of the main door

Moving on the East India Rooms, it is situated on the other wing of the hotel, so if we pick this room, you guys will have to alight at the hotel lobby, to save yourself some walking...haha..

As I turned the corner to head to the corridor outside the room, this is what greeted me...pretty garden don't you think...would be great for an intimate solemnization especially with the fountain in the background...according to Michelle, the whole garden will be cordoned off for only the invited guests of the wedding couple (US!) for the event with a red carpet going through the centre of the garden...i think a white carpet would be nicer... =P

As for the ballroom itself, i didn't manage to take pictures of the interior as there was a function held when i was there..I did, however, take a pic of the lighting of the room when someone stepped out...looks very cosy to me...cant wait to have a proper look at this place..

Well that's as much as I could get within such a short time span..will definitely post clearer pics of the ballrooms as well as that of the other hotels shortlisted...

Till then,

Mike...

Hotels, Hotels and More Hotels....

Naturally the next step after deciding the date of the ROM would be to find and select a location to hold the ceremony.

Prior to the decision of the date, Peggy and I had already gone through a few rounds of discussion on how the ceremony should be and would be held. After emailing and getting the packages from the different hotels, we have narrowed down to the following four hotels...

Try to squint and see the hotels we have shortlisted so far..We're definitely going to make this as memorable and grand an occasion not only for us but only you people, the invited guests of this special occasion..Hint hint.. =P

Well planning for our wedding has kind of taken over a majority of our time..Be it conversing over the phone or on msn, even whilst chilling over coffee, we are definitely giving our all in making sure we are one step ahead..

Will be going over the shortlisted packages with my parents over this weekend and hopefully we will be able to visit the hotels as well to get a feel of the individual ballrooms and their seating arrangements..Will definitely post up more pics once it's available...in the meantime, it's back to more discussion over hotels, hotels and more hotels..

Till the next post,

Mike & Peggy

Soleminzer Chosen...Hotel Next???

Just called and managed to secure the solmenizer (Brother Emmanuel) for our Big Day. He is such a funny fellow, asking me why I had to 'book' him so early when the wedding is still about a year away. Well regardless of our leadtime, I think it is in the Singaporean culture to 'chope' or book everything early, to avoid any disappointment.

Anyway Peggy and I will meet him in person sometime later in Dec 2007 or in early Jan 2008 for an official confirmation and signing of the consent form. This consent form will need to be either faxed or mailed to the Registry of Marriage (ROM) for their processing and acknowledgement.

Well another item off the "To-Do" list. I'm glad that Peggy and I started this off as early as we could..

Next on the List would be choosing of the venue and more importantly the packages available for us...Will be visiting some of the hotels for a better understanding of what they can offer us and hopefully book one by latest early Oct..As Peggy mentioned, I'll definitely want to keep this as intimate as possible but also pleasing the elders in fulfilling their traditions...



Looking to Being Together For Every Sunrise & Sunset


Mike