Wedding Vendor reviews

Two months since we became man and wife! Time flies, doesn’t it. I guess a lot of people would think I’m crazy but guess what, I really miss the wedding planning process! Lol! Crazy right? People can’t wait to get their wedding over and done with and breathe a sigh of relief. Me? I still wistfully reminiscise the times where I surfed Taobao, Dayrebrides, Etsy, Instagram etc while researching for pretty wedding stuff.

It really does feel like something is missing ever since my wedding was over. So my advice for all BTB is to enjoy the process while it lasts!

Anyway, I always wanted to do up a wedding vendor post, to summarize my experiences while planning for our wedding, and for memories’ sake. We didn’t engage a wedding planner and sourced for all our vendors ourselves, either through contacts, friends’ recommendations or pure Google research. I must say that overall, we’ve had pretty good experiences with our wedding vendors. Here’s our honest feedback!

Engagement ring: On Cheong Jewellery

My engagement ring placed in an “I love you” mini pot of soil.

How it looks like on my finger

 

My hub and I belong to the category of couple who selects my engagement ring together hahaha. Practicality. We visited On Cheong Jewellery (Hubby knows the boss there so we decided to support him. In fact, the boss is also our Justice of Peace on our wedding day!) located in Chinatown on a Saturday, and we selected my engagement ring on the same day!

To me, practicality is good even though some people may feel that the girl shouldn’t come along when the guy is choosing the ring or else it wouldn’t be a surprise anymore! But I’m glad I was there cos they took my ring size and I also got to take a look at the design & selections.

 

How many carats I guess is not THAT big a deal to me cos we were on a budget also, but we did get a diamond ring 💍 heh! My finger is kinda small, so a huge diamond would look too obscene on my finger. We got an excellent Cut though for the ring, which means excellent quality. I hope! Hahaha. GIA cert too. Tbh, hubby and I really don’t know much about diamonds!

Service-wise, no complaints there. Okay of course I can’t guarantee that they weren’t nice & patient to us only because we are their boss’s friend but hey, On Cheong Jewellery is really an established brand (老字号）that has been around for years, so I do believe that they are a brand to be trusted after all.

Wedding ring: Poh Kim Jewellery

For our wedding rings, we chose to visit a jewellery warehouse called Poh Kim Jewellery Trading at 1092 Lower Delta Road. The boss is super nice & friendly and hubs heard from his friends (2 different people have recommended Poh Kim to him with singing reviews of him) that he is an honest chap.

 

Basically, the guy can do imitation ring designs of more expensive brands like Tiffany and Cartier at a fraction of the price. So all you need to do is to browse through any ring design you want and show him, and voila! He will be able to reproduce the exact same ring design for a much cheaper price!

I asked for rose gold, half diamond version.

Also, I had to make sure that the wedding band I chose has to match/complement my engagement ring, because I intend to wear them together/ stack the rings on my finger 😊 initially, I thought I was gonna have some difficulty cos my engagement ring band is slightly narrower in the middle so I thought my wedding band has to be narrower in the middle too, but to my relief, a straight band works just fine as well!

My hubby’s wedding band is just a rose gold band with silver lining at the side. He initially wanted one with Roman numerics on it but the price scared him off 😂

Anyway, the price of mine alone is about 900. Not bad right? He does his business by word of mouth. No advertising needed. From my brief interaction with him, I could already tell that he’s a humble chap. His business is good too, there were many other couples as well. Considering that the location is not in a prime area (delta road) and he mainly depends on word of mouth for business, really not bad leh!

Bridesmaid/ MOH cards: DesigningMoments (Etsy)

I ordered my bridesmaids cards from Etsy (search for user: DesigningMoments) and was so thrilled to receive them ! 💕 they look exactly like what I ordered!

 

And the seller was so personable; she actually included a personal note in this card:

I loved my bridesmaid cards; too pretty! Of course, I’m sure you can also get similar bridesmaid cards from many local vendors these days.

Bridesmaid mugs: PaperPiperPrints (Etsy)

As you can probably tell by now, I love the whole “florals + calligraphy” design look. Chanced upon this on Etsy as well and I was so pleasantly surprised by the fast delivery. Considering that they ship from the US, 1 to 2 weeks is really fast! In fact, they arrived even earlier than my lightweight bridesmaid cards lol. But once again, yes I’m sure you can get similar designs printed on mugs from Singapore vendors at a much cheaper price.

Guo da li items: Le Knot

I first chanced upon Le Knot when one of their sponsored posts appeared on my FB feed, offering a promotion for a discounted wedding decal. Subsequently, we decided to go with Le Knot for our Guo Da Li. We were very confused with what items to get for our GDL at first. Although there are GDL lists available for reference online, but we also had to find out which items were honestly more compulsory and which were the truly optional ones, you get what I mean?

And on the day of GDL, what should the actual process be like? What should we look out for? Lol, seriously we were very noob. And asking our parents were of no use at all because they didn’t know too! I am the first in my family to get married and my hub is the only child.. so yeah.

 

That’s why we were grateful that the shop assistants at Le Knot were very helpful and patient, giving us advice & guidance for us about the whole process. They even gave me a list of things to take note of for the betrothal ceremony.

Some weeks later, we found that there are many shops in Chinatown selling GDL stuff at cheaper prices, and we did feel sian at first. But when we thought of how Le Knot guided us throughout the whole GDL process (the list really proved so useful for us!), we totally don’t regret being Le Knot’s customer too.

Bridesmaid dresses: The BMD Shop

For the longest time, I was deciding between tiffany green or lavender colour for my bridesmaid dresses. After I narrowed the colour down to tiffany green, I had to further decide if I wanted a knee-length dress or maxi dress. I’d always thought maxi dresses would look more elegant but because most of my bridesmaids are petite, I worried maxi dresses wouldn’t flatter them. But then we decided that the dresses could always be altered, so maxi dresses it was!

 

Another problem I encountered was that one of my bridesmaids was plus-sized, and it was actually very difficult to find a dress from a blogshop that would fit her. I discovered that even when blogshops list a convertible dress as “free-size”, even their “free size” has a range okay. My bridesmaid told me that she wasn’t within this range, so bo pian she had to source for her own dress from G Market.

Oh yeah, I didn’t end up with convertible maxi dresses for the rest of my girls in the end, cos they voiced out that they didn’t know how to tie the dress lol. So 2 of them chose design A while the other 2 chose design B.

Oh yes I would totally recommend The BMD Shop cos they have the largest selection of BM dresses available, as compared to other normal blogshops who have only a small range of BM dresses. The BMD Shop also sells other bridal accessories, such as floral crowns for your bridesmaids. I bought white/cream coloured floral crowns for my girls, and look how pretty & sweet they look wearing them on my big day! I’m glad the floral crown matches their tiffany green maxi dress so well.

 

Service wise, very prompt delivery. Today place delivery online, tomorrow receive already that kind. My email was also replied to very promptly. Thumbs up for customer service I would say!

 

Dinner banquet venue: Novotel Hotel Clarke Quay

My hubby’s friend is the boss of Dragon Phoenix restaurant, which is located in both Novotel Hotel and Temasek Club. Hubby wanted to support his friend as usual so it was either one of these two. We went to recce Temasek Club and decided against it because of the ulu location (think of how the aunties & uncles and elderly folk gonna get there!) and the slight slope you need to climb up to get there. So Novotel Hotel it was!

Tbh, Novotel isn’t my dream hotel (actually, because I skipped the entire hotel selection process, I don’t know what is my dream hotel). But the one thing I CANNOT have is pillars in the ballroom. Have you been to a wedding and you can’t see much because you kenna blocked by a damn pillar? So ya lor, thankfully Novotel’s Phoenix ballroom has no pillars! That was really my one and only request hahaha.

I decided against the outdoor solemnization at Novotel cos it will really be jialat if it rains, so indoors will do. The package includes wedding invitation cards, wedding favours, free room for helpers during the day, free one night for bridal suite etc. The theme we chose was French elegance 2017 and the wedding favours we selected were a wine opener and a diamond pen (we were allowed to choose two wedding favours).

Indoor solemnisation on the AD

This is the lobby area outside the ballroom (pic taken during one of our recce sessions). What’s good about Novotel is that the ballroom is the only ballroom on that level so you don’t have to share the lobby space or that whole level with another couple who’s having their wedding at the same time.

Inside of ballroom on AD

Tables

Wedding favour 1: wine opener, which also doubles as a magnet

Wedding favour 2: diamond pen. The ink is good quality okay!

And this is the menu

 

Vow books: The Stalk Market

 

I first saw pics of these lovely vow books on Cherri Wong’s dayre I think, and that’s how it led me to The Stalk Market.sg! Emailed them to enquire on their vow books and they were so prompt in replying! Not only that, they personally delivered the vow books to my doorstep!! OMG I was so super impressed with their personalized service! If you check out their FB page, they offer many other services as well such as floristry etc, can go take a look!

 

Wedding milestone cards: The Cat Carousel

Perfect for photoshoots and documenting your wedding prep milestones along the way! I liaised with Dulce to purchase these cards and though our interaction was brief, she’s just the sweetest. I’m sure these cards will be very useful to BTBs!

 

Personally, for me, I’m quite forgetful. I only remembered to use the cards during my photoshoot (and only at the end!) because on the actual day, everything was so rushed and there was so much on my mind, I totally forgot about these cards I had. What a regret and what a waste. Don’t make the same mistake I did!

Wedding Invites: T Dragon

So the card vendor tied to our hotel was T Dragon, for which I was quite relieved about because initially it was another vendor, D. I’ve read reviews online about how reliable T Dragon is! As compared to lousy reviews about D.Hubby & I couldn’t decide on the card design however. We had totally different views about what we wanted! I wanted a floral classy design while he wanted the traditional red design so in the end, we decided to have both designs!

And actually over time I’ve come to love the traditional red design more. We gave the floral classy design mostly to our female friends and the traditional style mostly to our male friends, relatives + the older folk. No complaints about their service, everything was ready on the promised date. Of course, we had to top up more since we chose two designs but that’s expected.

 

 Bridal studio: Bridal Concept

We were very fortunate to have the help of Cecilia from Bridal Concept throughout our wedding planning journey. We have grown to become friends now and every trip to the bridal studio is more like dropping in to visit a friend. Cecilia was very helpful throughout the whole journey, patiently assisting us with all our enquiries regarding gowns, suits, photos, flowers, etc.

Initially, I have to admit BC wasn’t my first choice but it was a recommendation from our friend. Hubby really wanted to go with BC because our friend said the whole package (including gowns, photoshoot, MUA, AD photography, bridal bouquet) was less than $4000 which was really very reasonable. It was tough to find my dream white gown too but thanks to Cecilia, who introduced me to an off-shoulder white gown that totally suited me, I have no regrets about my white gown.

As for my evening gown, I settled for a tiffany blue one which is so pretty I cannot!

My AD white gown! All along, I always knew I wanted an off-shoulder gown.

My Kua

My gorgeous Tiffany blue evening gown that I am so in love with!

See how there’s hues of pink in the train of my blue gown! ❤️

 

And these were my photoshoot gowns, also rented from BC:

Super love the tulle train!

This is a different gown from the off-shoulder one. It’s a tube gown.

My PWS electric blue evening gown

And yes, I had to top up because my AD gowns were all different from my PWS ones.

 

Most of us also have the misconception that photographers from bridal studios are not as good as “a la carte” photogs. But this is not true as in fact we were highly impressed with our photoshoot photog and our preweddingshoot photos turned out gorgeous (in my opinion, at least) and we loved them!

Our PWS photog was Xiao Wen, whom we had a great experience with. He is very experienced and knows how to suggests certain poses which would look good and so on. I loved how our PWS turned out. Actual day wedding, I admit we weren’t too confident with our photog Ah Kok at first. Maybe he gives off the blur vibe at times but when our AD photos were ready, we were relieved as they turned out nice in the end.

 

Flowers wise, actually I didn’t get my dream bouquet in the end even though I already topped up a bit for a nicer design. After topping up, the bouquet still wasn’t really what I wanted.

Our bridal bouquet

But then again, you can’t expect too much from a bridal studio florist. My advice is if you are really particular about your flowers, don’t get them from your bridal studio.

 

 MUA: Regina Makeup Artist

Now we come to my MUA, Regina, also “tied” to my bridal studio. However, Regina can also be contacted directly and its not necessary to have to go through the studio in order to engage her services. Regina was my MUA for both my PWS and AD, and also the MUA for both our mothers. After my wedding, someone on my FB messaged me to ask for her contact after seeing how she transformed my face!

PWS makeup

Flower crown done by her!

Evening gown hairstyle and makeup

Casual shoot hair & makeup

Trial makeup

AD for first march in

Regina’s skill is no doubt good. But she does make honest criticisms so you have to be prepared for that. On my PWS day, she complained that my face is very dry and my eyebags very bad. On my AD, she expressed horror at my milea seeds near my eye. Lol. So if you are those type of bride that cannot hear not-so-nice things on your big day, just be prepared la. Lol.

Regina and I on my wedding day

 

 Bridal nails: Daisy Nail Shop

Daisy nails was recommended to me by my colleague. And what I like about Daisy is how fuss free and no frills it is. It is a simple shop located at Far East plaza. The staff don’t try to make conversation with you (which is good for me cos I don’t like to talk! Lol) and you can even, for example, bring your own bubble tea with you in the shop. They also have a TV screen in the shop so you can watch whatever movie is playing on TV while your nails is being done!

 

No hard-selling for you to sign a package with them either.

My PWS nails

My AD nails: chose an ombré design this time.

 

 Videographer: Green Imagination

 

We engaged Joe from Green Imagination after seeing alot of 5 star reviews for them on their page. And i must say it was definitely one of our best vendor choices. Joe shows a lot of passion in his craft. He is also very professional, nice and easygoing to work with.

His package is v reasonably priced, and which includes a free childhood montage done for us. On the actual day, he also went the extra mile for us. And though timing was a little tight for him to incorporate the ROM segment into the SDE video, he decided to go ahead to do it anyway tho we gave him the option of leaving it out. And the end result turned out 👍🏼our bridesmaids & groomsmen also had praises for him. Thank you v much Joe and we do highly recommend his services!

Replies to our emails were slow though, and I’ve to admit I was worried initially esp when I had to keep chasing after them for our edited childhood montage video. But I’m glad we continued to have faith in them.

 Wedding props and reception stylist: IM Perfection

IM perfection was a vendor we got to know at Novotel’s wedding fair. I was attracted by their fairytale theme display and told hubby we had to consider them!

Our first impression of the boss James was good. Our meeting was held at their warehouse office and he was very helpful and flexible when we shared with him what we were looking for.

I remembered giving a wrong handphone number to James in our email and thus he couldn’t contact us on the day of our meeting. Not being able to contact us, he wasn’t sure if the meeting was still on. When we arrived at the warehouse and nobody was there, I called him and after knowing we were already there waiting, he immediately drove all the way down to the warehouse. Oops.

Subsequently, I found that their replies to our emails were too slow. Eventually I had to resort to calling them. I later found out that they are short of manpower (only one staff handling emails). Also, they are not around on weekends (cos preparing for weddings ma) and so they’re all off on mondays.

There was also one occasion I was irritated with them. There was an email asking for second payment which I promptly transferred the money to them and replied their email that I already done so. To my surprise, we received another email some time later chasing us for payment. Hubby called them and later they replied to say that they found my email but reminded us to reply to the same email thread for their easier reference.

 

I was so pissed because that’s exactly what I did?! I clicked “Reply” to their email which was asking for payment? Could the email thread get any more relevant than that? 明明 it’s their fault and instead of apologising for chasing me for payment wrongly, they say I didn’t reply to the correct email thread?

I didn’t feel assured with them as our vendor after this incident, especially when their email replies were so damn slow. I had to resort to calling them instead for an update instead of relying on emails.

But well, anyway they did a good job on my wedding day so all’s forgiven haha.

Our photo album table.

We chose the fairytale theme package, which includes photo album table, reception table, well wishes notes for our guests, and a wishing well angpao box. We also added on other items such as a floral backdrop for our Photobooth, a floral wedding arch, LOVE cursive marquee letter signs for our stage decor, and a pumpkin carriage.

Our photo rack

Well wishes cards

Well wishes table

Cursive LOVE marquee sign for our stage

Our wishing well angpao box.

The floral backdrop we chose for our photobooth

Under a different lighting. Yep this couple and the bride in the previous pic is not us la. I “koped” these pics from their fb.

Our floral arch type B which we also got from them

And my favourite prop from them: pumpkin carriage! Got lots of compliments about it haha. And actually it was a last minute decision. In this aspect, thankful to James for agreeing to rent this to us for an additional top up of $250! Any higher than that, hubby wouldn’t have allowed me to get it lol.

 

 Bridal car: MiniBugs

And now we come to my absolutely favourite vendor: Minibugs!

 

We loved our baby blue Volkswagen from Minibugs and our car floral decor so much! 😊😊😊 We received many compliments on how cute the car looked. It was also a pleasant experience working with John. We shared with him our Budget and he was very open and flexible in working out a package to suit our Budget. And we so didn’t regret our choice. If you are looking for a vintage bridal car, do consider Minibugs!

Bridal car decor

The boss also designed this sign with our names on it, specially for us

 

 Photobooth and 2nd photographer: RT Photography Services

Hubby has a friend Roger (RT Photography Services) who is a photographer and does wedding photography and Photobooth services. He is experienced in events and besides being our photobooth vendor, he also doubled as our second photographer. Roger is a jolly and humorous guy who never fails to lighten the atmosphere at any event. My friends commented that he is a “joker” lol.

He doesn’t advertise his business much, it’s mostly word of mouth. Even his Fb page “RT Photography Services” isn’t updated much lol. But what I like about his services is that for the table shot photos he took (yes he ended up taking our table shots), the photos were printed out hard copy on the spot and our guests collected them on the same day. And of course, the photobooth shots too.