To-do List

I know there are still a lot of things to be settled for our wedding, but I just have not got the time to really look at what these things are. Today, I finally had the chance to do it and oh my, it is a whopping list of 65 to-do items for now. Sweat, really got to work on it like now!!

TASKS	DUE
Save the Date
Send out Save the Date invite	Jul
Save the Date Video	Sep
Wedding Dinner
Visit Florists	Aug
Invitation Card Design	Aug
Ballroom Décor	Sep
Table and Chair cloth colour	Sep
Door Gift	Sep
Programme Details	Sep
Confirm list of Guests	Oct
Send out Invitation Card	Oct
Food Tasting	Nov
Thank You Speech	Nov
Receive Final RSVP of attendance	Dec
Confirm no. of Tables	Dec
Seating Arrangements	Dec
Solemnisation
Solemnisation Décor	Sep
Book JP	Sep
Register at ROM	Sep
Book Audio System	Oct
Gowns
Selection of Gowns	Aug
Mum's selection of gowns	Oct
First fitting	Oct
Final fitting	Dec
Guo Da Li
Purchase baby prosperity set	Sep
Discuss Pin Jin	Sep
Buy Si Dian Jin	Oct
Book Guo Da Li cakes	Oct
Collect cakes and Guo Dao Li purchases	Oct
Guo Da Li ceremony	13-Oct
Pre-wedding Photos
Casual studio Photoshoot	30-Jun
Formal studio Photoshoot	Jul
Finalise album Layout	Aug
Receive album and bedframe photo Photobook for other photoshoots	Sep Oct
Car
Book Car	Aug
Music Band
Confirm Details	Oct
Confirm Emcee	Oct
Emcee Script	Oct
Practice Song	Nov
Photobooth
Confirm Template	Aug
Photographer and Videographer
Confirm Programme Details	Oct
Brothers and Sisters
Purchase Sisters dresses	Sep
Purchase Brothers wear	Sep
Jie Mei Gatecrash Discussion	Oct
Assign of Roles	Nov
Meet up to explain Roles	Nov
Bachelorette Party	Nov
Others
Red packets	Nov
Remind people of wedding dinner	Nov
Polish Ring	Dec
Renovation
Book Fengshui Master	Jul
Confirm Fengshui Plan	Aug
Book Interior Designer	Aug
Confirm Design	Oct
Collection of Keys	Oct (est)
Completion of Renovation	Jan
Set An Chuang Date	Jan
Purchase Furniture and Electrical Appliances	Feb
Move in	Feb
Mini Honeymoon Book Air Tickets                                                Plan Itinerary Book Hotels Honeymoon	Oct Nov Nov
Book Air Tickets	Jan
Plan Itinerary	Apr
Book Hotels	Apr

Our Photoshoot!

6 Apr 13 Sat
Didn't get down to blogging about the Taiwan trip as there was no time! It was a long awaited trip. We bought the package for the pre-wedding shoot in Aug 12 and in a blink of an eye, 8 months flew past and we were finally in Taiwan. We went there with two other friends as our videographer wanted to do a Save the Date video for us. It was also more fun to have more ple travelling tog in Taiwan as it meant more food to try! We didn't spend a lot, changed $3000 and half of it eventually went to the bridal studio. This once in a lifetime trip was definitely memorable.

We took Scoot and the flight was at 1am. Reached Taipei at about 6am. Hence, you could imagine that we didn't sleep well and the first day's body clock was a bit off. Once we reached the Taoyuan Airport, we took Kuo Kwang bus 1819 from Terminal 2 to Taipei main station. The bus fare is NT125 and takes one hour to reach Taipei city. Checked into the VIP Hotel that the bridal studio, 飞雨主题摄影 booked for us for 3 nights. Rested for a while before we went out for lunch.

 

Next, it was off to the bridal studio to choose my gowns! I was very excited and was so looking forward to this day. There were 5 gowns in my package and I was already prepared that I would spend a long time to select the gowns.

 

 

Altogether, I took 4 hours to select the 5 gowns! Had 2 white, a pink, purple and green one. I spent a long time deciding on the 5th one. They even took out gowns from the VIP section for me but I also didn't really fancy it. Was torn between a red and pink one, as I love them both but had to eliminate one as the colour was close. From this gown selection, I realized that I actually could wear deep V cut gowns! Hahaha. For the white gown, I chose the one with a really long train for dramatic photo effect. The other white one was flow-y, meant for the flying effect. For the coloured gowns, one was princessy, one was cute and another one mature. Darling and I had quite the same consensus on the gowns to choose, as we usually like the same gowns. He especially like those with cleavage one. Hahaha. People say they feel tired choosing gowns, but not me, I really enjoyed it!

 

We went to a shop next door for darling to choose his suits. He has only 2 sets in his package, a black and white suit. He only took 20 minutes to settle his portion, how boring! :D The whole experience was ok, except that if I had the opportunity to look at and choose the gowns myself, it would have been better. This bridal studio didn't even have a catalogue to show, so I could really only depend on what they think suit me and try out those gowns. Another negative point was that the assistant was sort of tired and I could see that her face was turning sian when I couldn't find my 5th gown. She also didn't really let me try a lot of white wedding gowns. Pls lor, the more I see you sian, the more I won't give in. She even told me that ya, we only have 1 wedding gown with long train. So indeed, after I feedback to the manager, they have more wedding gowns with long train.

 

After the gown selection, we sat down with the manager to discuss the route that we want to take for the photoshoot the day after. (the next day was sunday and we wanted to avoid the crowd) Since I have already done my homework on where to go beforehand, the session didn't last very long. We also discussed on the feel that we want to achieve and things like which angles do we like. By the time we left the bridal studio, it was already 7+pm. With some time left, we travelled to 士林 夜市for dinner before calling it a day! Love their cheese potato or anything cheese in general.

 

 

7 Apr 13 Sun
It was a free and easy day for us in Taipei. Met up with YTK to go to 五分埔. However, when we reached the place, the shops were barely opened! We decided to eat at 五分埔 instead. Haha, eating always works. TK brought us to this place called.. I forgot what, I only know it's associated to some moustache guy. He says that they sell great 卤肉饭. But I think so so only leh. Actually I don't really like 卤肉饭 because of the fats.

 

Next up, we went to Taipei 101 to walk walk around and eat again with the aim to kill time so that we could shop at 五分埔.

 

 

By 3+pm, we travelled back to the cheap shopping district. I got a few buys from that place!

 

When night fell, we went to 饶河夜市 for dinner before we went back to our respective hotels. Got to rest early for the photoshoot the next day!

8 Apr 13 Mon
Another exciting day of the Taiwan trip - photoshoot! We reached the bridal studio at 8am for makeup. This would be another thing to complain about. I brought my own ampoules as I know that they charge $25 a bottle. (btw, I bought 10 bottles for like $20 only?!) But then the make-up artist said that mine may not have the best effect blah blah. And psychoed me to use hers. Fine, I can pay $25 for a bottle, but guess what? She said that I need 8 bottles and darling needs 4 bottles! Wth. Have you ever heard of this joke? She said 4 bottles are to be used on my face while another 4 are for my body. Body??!! But since I have already brought my own ampoules, she said that I shouldn't waste it, and that I could use 5 of mine, and buy 7 from her (of which, she can give me 1 free). I was fuming mad and I have tried to stand firm for a long time, but she wouldn't budge and kept on wasting our time by talking and talking about her own ampoules. In the end, I unwillingly gave up as time is more precious and I didn't want to strain our relationship further. When she put on the ampoule on my body, she cut my shoulder with the broken glass of the bottle. I would like to believe that it was unintentional, but I just couldn't reconcile with our previous episode.

Ok fine, let's move on. One good thing was that, we had really good weather! Actually throughout our entire TW trip, it rained everyday except for our photoshoot day! It was also very cold throughout the trip and I was thinking how I would be able to endure the cold in tube dresses, but very fortunately, the temperature was really just nice. I cannot imagine doing the photoshoot in Singapore's heat.

We travelled to the first destination - mini waterfall located at the foot of 阳明山. I put on my fake nails on the way there. Pretty cheap nails at $10! Ok in the end, you couldnt really see these from the photo output, but at least you could see that there were some white things on my nails.

 

We got to climb up numerous rocks before we could be near to the waterfall. It was very slippery and scary. Luckily I was wearing flats throughout almost the entire photoshoot and could balance better. The good thing was, it rained the day before and there was a strong and steady supply of water coming down. They told us that it is not a sight that you get everyday!

 

 

Next, we went to the second destination, 硫磺谷. YTK left us after the second destination. It's better la, it's so boring for them! What can they do except watch us.

 

The third destination was a place solely made for wedding photos - 淡水庄园. There are dressing tables and changing rooms available. The whole place was filled with wedding couples and you wouldn't feel like the whole world is looking at you. It's like going to USS, where you got to queue up to take some shots at a particular station hahaa. I wore the rest of the 4 gowns here. Some behind the scenes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were so many things to shoot here and we only finished ours at about 7.30pm. If you like to do things fuss free, can consider doing your photoshoot at this place! The photoshoot wasn't that tiring as what other BTBs said. I enjoyed it and don't mind doing it for another day!

 

9 Apr 13 Tue



The day to choose our photos! We had lunch with YTK at 西门町 before going to the bridal studio at 2.30pm. Excited excited. We had 307 photos to choose from. Looking through the photos flashed back the memory of what happened the day before, what poses we made and I missed it all. But the problem we had at hand was to reduce those 307 photos to 40, the number in our package. We went through many many rounds of elimination. Could say that darling and I had similar views and we could easily agree on the photos to eliminate. But there was a bottleneck when we were left with like 80 photos? Appreciated YTK's presence then to also help us sieve through what to keep and what not. After 6 long hours, we finally decided on 62 photos. That meant a top up of 22 photos at about $42 each = $900+. The bridal studio kept psychoing us to buy more photos, but we were very firm. Everyone tells me that this wedding photo album will be stashed inside our cupboard after the wedding and there is no use topping up so many photos. Okok, we have input this into us and controlled ourselves. Our budget for top up was less than $1000 and we have kept within the budget. So all in all, this was what we have paid in total:

$2500 for basic package, $150 for AMPOULES, $80 for make-up artist, $200 for transport, $100 for admission fee, $900+ for top-up, $200+ for shipping fee = $4,200.

 

It was a long and cold day. We decided to eat steamboat at 天天火锅 after the photo selection at 9pm. Shiokness to drink hot soup in the cold weather. Priced at about $20, they also served haagen dasz ice cream and Taiwan beer! This was the most extravagant meal that we had in TW. Our photoshoot journey had ended and it was time for us to travel round TW!

 

Photobooth!

We were thinking whether we should engage a photobooth for guests, and finally, we decided on it! We finally came to a conclusion because of.... a groupon deal hahaha. Yes so now, you would have some form of entertainment before our wedding dinner. :) We bought the deal from Lifesparks Photography. Priced at $288 (original is $680), it consists of:

2 hour unlimited instant prints
4R matt/ glossy prints
Customised Watermark/ Border
Professional Studio Lighting
1 Photographer and 1 Assistant
Variety of backdrops to choose from
Props
High speed industrial printer
Photopacking