A big step!

If you follow me on Twitter/Instagram, you would know that Wallace and I recently took a big step in wedding preparations at the start of June! We were looking for a dinner venue for a few weeks, looking up the different hotel websites and their wedding dinner packages. We considered a few like Intercontinental, Grand Hyatt, St Regis, Capella, etc. But they weren't suitable because they were pretty expensive, or inaccessible, and one of them (I can't remember which of the first 2) will be having renovations next year. Then, Wallace thought of Sheraton Towers. One of his criteria for the hotel was that it must have good food. He remembered he went to Sheraton a few years back for a rugby dinner and that the food was amazing. So he visited the website and it just so happened that Sheraton was having a wedding workshop that coming weekend. There would be promotions for couples who signed up on that day. So on 3 June (I remember cos it was the day after Wallace's birthday), we headed down to our first ever wedding fair.

The first thing we saw was the cake display!

No surprises as to which one caught my eye ;) They are all fake of course.

There were also stationary and favour displays.

In the Grand Ballroom, they had displays set up of their different themes.

I quite like the tree branch effect of this one.

Tiffany theme. I don't really like the way the beads hang on the display stand though. And the blue lighting (only for before the dinner starts) seems a bit cheesy.

 

Chairs.

Guest table

Another theme. I like the beads on this one better. The roses are pretty too!

Before we even went to the fair, I think we were pretty much decided on Sheraton. Their dinner package on the website looked good, and it was quite affordable compared to other hotels. For some hotels, they charge extra for alcohol (beer and wine) but for Sheraton, it was already included in the package. The tables also seat 12 instead of the usual 10 people.

Wallace was telling me on the way to the hotel that he was going to milk them for as much freebies they can give him! But honestly when we saw the extra stuff they were throwing in (for couples who signed up at the fair), there was nothing much else we could milk them for already. Lol.They also gave us a high-tea voucher for 2 which we are planning to redeem soon during my birthday period :)

And so, one major aspect of the wedding was settled! Wedding dinner venue - checked!

After we had signed for our wedding dinner, we went out to the lobby where there were a few booths set up for some vendors (e.g. live music, photography, jewellry) and there was a booth for a bridal studio as well.

Previously, I had been looking at many bridal magazines for gowns/bridal studios. I knew that we'd probably for a "package deal" since it was much more convenient and fuss-free. I don't need a branded gown or anything too fancy. So for a few months, Wallace and I had also been browsing different bridal studios at Tanjong Pagar Road, where most of the bridal studios in Singapore are located. We also went to Bugis but there were only 3 and they weren't very nice (except 1 called Bridal Concept I think which had good service). Wallace's older brother and 2 of my church friends had gotten their packages at Thomson Weddings. My other church friend who just got married a few weeks ago also recommended Sophia Wedding Collection because she felt that the gowns were of much better quality. I was focusing more on looking for the right gown, because that's the most important part for me. But after a few rounds of visiting these bridal studios, none of them had anything similar to what I wanted, and I never really really loved any the gowns that I tried on. I never had the "Gasp! This is the one!" kind of feelings you see in the movies. Haha. So we decided that I would have a MTM (Made To Measure) gown. Then the next step was to decide WHICH studio to do it at. What we had to consider:

1. the existing gown designs

2. photography (some are honestly super cheesy) 

3. service (some are quite pushy, or want to impose their own ideas on you)

To be honest, we didn't really bother to look at the packages of the Tanjong Pagar stores when we visited them because at that time I wasn't very satisfied with any of their gowns.

Fast forwarding to the day at Sheraton, the bridal studio which set up a booth there was called La Belle Couture. Wallace and I decided to have a look since we were there. After looking through their gown catalog, we were quite impressed, because it was the first time Wallace had gone "Wow, their designs are quite nice", which I agreed with. Their catalog had some of the nicest designs we had seen thus far, and quite alot of similar cuttings to what I was looking for. So we decided to take a seat, and we spoke to one of the gown designers, Kent. I told him that the most important thing for me is the gown, so he asked me what I was looking for, and on the spot, he drew a rough design for me! We were pretty impressed, and he seemed quite knowledgeable and honest about the details of custom making a wedding gown. He wasn't pushy too, compared to many of the bridal studios we've been to, which was nice. 

Then we looked at the photography samples, which were not too bad. They have 3 main photographers, so we can choose who we want for pre-wedding photos. He showed us their packages, and in a nutshell, it was pretty good. And because it was an event, they threw in some freebies like extra pages/poses for the pre-wedding photos and even bridesmaid dresses to keep! After discussing the price, Wallace was happy with what he saw and told me "If you're happy, I'll gladly sign." I was slightly apprehensive because it's still more than a year till our wedding date, plus we had never gone to their store to try on any of their gowns before. In addition, I was actually planning to go for a wedding fair 2 weeks later. What if they had better deals there! But Wallace brought up the point that at wedding shows, it can be stressful with so many booth offering you different packages and pushing you to sign with them and all. If I liked what La Belle was offering and the price was good, why not just sign and settle it once and for all? We wouldn't have to worry about which bridal studio to go with after that. After considering for awhile (I am pretty indecisive when it comes to such things. I always think of the "what ifs"), I finally decided to do it! We discussed the details, signed, paid the deposit, and it was done. Phew!

In the end, I was glad we settled it so early. It's a load off our minds now and we don't have to go to browse more bridal studios over the weekends anymore! After that Wallace went to look up La Belle on a forum and turns out that most people thought they were good and liked it, but it was too expensive for their budget. We were lucky to get a good price (in our opinion)!

What a day!

Decked out in Victoria's Secret for the day.

 It was a really big day for us - 2 major things ticked off our checklist! Now the last big thing to settle is the venue for our ceremony. Hope everything goes smoothly! :)

Since then, we've been to La Belle Couture twice (also at Tanjong Pagar but we never went there because it was further down from where we normally stop walking), and I'm glad to say that I've confirmed my wedding gown design! It's a secret for now though. ;)