Sanding - Signed, Sealed, Settled!

Hey again everyone more like anyone!

Its been close to a month since my last update where I shared with you my whirlwind experience of booking the outstanding Jentayu Gallery to make magic at my reception venue. And at that time, I had no actual venue confirmed or secured, so it was really a gamble just to secure Jentayu for my date. I was not even able to work out my total package cost or details of the items that I would need, haha. But all that is finally about to change! 10 months after I first started this search, I am so relieved and excited to share that my sanding venue for saturday is BOOKED!

The final lap before reaching our conclusion was not an easy one. We had basically pretty much settled on The Joyden Hall, except that my parents were still keen on somewhere located further east so we did do one last site recce for The Begonia Hall at D'Resorts Downtown East.

Those are the only 2 decent pictures of the place that I can find online, sorry.

Getting to the hall itself was quite a journey. From the north to the far east is already quite a distance but the thing about this hall is that it is located pretty far from the taxi stand, carpark and drop off point. As such we had to walk quite a distance to get there, making it one of my concerns for this venue already. I mean, if we who have no illness and difficulty walking already find it uncomfortable what more the elderly guests or those on walking aids. I definitely don't want them hobbling away or suffering just to get to the venue!

Once we reached the building with the hall, we noticed there was only one lift up to the hall on the 2nd floor. So again, this was a red flag in terms of accessibility. Nevertheless, I didn't want to strike this venue off yet - afterall, if it did match up to the way The Joyden Hall made me feel and it is in the east, its a win-win for both my parents and I. On the 2nd floor there is a expansive seating area or lobby which honestly is ideal for guests to mingle or to just hang out through the event without crowding the actual reception hall.

We met up with the consultant there who was very polite and warm. He showed us first to the additional rooms - prayer room, family room and bridal changing suite before taking us to the actual event hall. The rooms were huge! They were almost like smaller function halls so you can imagine that they would be able to comfortably fit in quite a number of people. All these additional rooms are fully air-conditioned and are inclusive in the venue hire cost. Definitely a plus point!

When we got to the actual reception hall, I must say that it was pretty nice. It gave off a really warm vibe cause of the dim yellow lighting and it was fully carpeted. There were also inherent light fixtures - about 4 long chandeliers across the room. The room itself was a little odd shaped to me cause it seemed very much longer than it was wide. The maximum capacity of the room is 30 tables and the dais can either be placed along the length of the room or at either end. All in all, it really was a decent venue. The consultant then explained that for the price we pay we would get the hall, the additional rooms and time the day before for set up! This is a great deal because usually event halls will consider all these as added cost.

By this point, I could honestly say that it was a tough choice. In my heart of hearts, I know I love The Joyden Hall more because the hall is bigger and the high ceilings and you can refresh your mind on my gushing with this post. But I know that a venue in the east was something my parents wanted, and this was not the worst hall ever so why not, right? Decisions, decisions....

BUT! It suddenly got a whole. lot. easier. Our consultant then dropped a bomb on us by letting us know that by the way the surrounding area of D'resorts (Asli Village and EHub area) would be undergoing a major renovation starting November 2016 to approx. November 2017.

Yup, that was the sign I needed. It was not meant to be. There was no way we would agree to have our wedding surrounded with construction - neither my parents nor I would take that sitting down. And with that, I scheduled my appointment with my consultant from The Joyden Hall secure my date and make my deposit. Of which she replied that my date was still available (Alhamdulillah!) but, another couple is looking at the same date, so I would need to get it done as soon as possible. So, to the other couple...if you happen to come across my blog and read this...I am so sorry! I wish you all the best in your wedding planning and that wherever you end up having your reception, it will be full of love and barakah!

So I did what was needed, put my deposit down and, ta-dah!

I am so pleased to say that as of today at 4.30 pm, I can finally look forward to having Jentayu's stunning work in this beautiful hall with these dramatic high ceilings!

For more information on my research on The Joyden Hall, please look back at this post on it where it is far more detailed. I did not want to go on and on again about it to spare everyone the extensive post!

And now, 15 months away, I am left with my last major vendor to settle - catering! Now this would be an adventure, cause for the first time ever, I have no clue where to start. I have nobody in mind, no particular idea of what I want, no ability to discern between the qualities of nasi minyak?! Hahaha.

In any case, its really been heartening to see the numbers pick up on this humble BTB blog of mine, We've surpassed a thousand total views! A big hello and thank you all for taking the time to read my rambling. Don't forget to leave a comment or drop me a line through the Talk To Me tab. I'll be glad to link up other fellow BTBs so do let me know your links too!

Love,
Z

Drama, Dilemmas and Decorations

Hi again everyone! First and foremost, Eid Mubarak to all!

Work has been hectic as usual because I spent 90% of my June holidays back at work for longer hours than usual. And as all teachers would know, the second semester is a really short one (read: non stop, cramming everything in 12 weeks). Nevertheless, I still made some unexpected progress on the wedding front.

After booking my nikah venue, I thought I could just take a breather while my parents try to firm up their decision on my sanding venue for Saturday before booking my decor vendor closer to the 1 year mark - maybe September or October. As usual, I always think I have more time than I really do.

Of course, I did have a few vendors in mind already - Anggun Decorations, Jentayu Gallery, Signature Bridal and RH Bridal. The drama all started late one night, when I was browsing through all their social media and decided that its a good idea to maybe just ask for their packages or price range first since I have some time now to mull over it and do my finances before arranging meet ups after Eid. First one that I contacted was Anggun Decorations.

Now, these people are true magicians with drapery. Every time I look at their work I am just in awe of how much cloth they use to truly transform a hall into a stunning masterpiece. Because the look that I want for my reception is the ethereal-drapes-flowers-white-silver-cool vibe, I thought they would be someone to look out for. So I dropped them a message on their Facebook handle at 12 midnight asking for a price range and to arrange for a meet up soon. Kak Nyta got back to me instantly with the price ranges and then...

Bam! That was the first harsh slap of reality that told me to wake up my idea and get moving with my wedding preparations if I want my wedding to be what I want it to be. Nothing to wake you up quite like your first ever vendor rejection, really.

This just basically made me drop everything and sent me into bridezilla freakout mode. I quickly contacted Signature Bridal to set up an appointment to meet up with them and see what they have to offer. Signature Bridal is actually more of a photography and bridal company I think. Meaning to say their anchor service is not really their decorations. But I really like how they keep their daises quite elegant and polished - something I really want for my own.

Before I go on, it is time for another disclaimer:

All information and opinion that I have on this blog is a result of my own personal experience with the said vendor. I am simply sharing what happened and how it made me feel. I have no intention whatsoever of breaking anyone's rice bowl or dragging my own race (not really) down to poverty. Neither am I motivated by vengeance of any sort, my mother, father, uncles and aunties and grandma's don't own any wedding business. Basically, I have no personal vendetta against any vendor or service provider. I just feel that in order for information to help others it has to be truthful and transparent.

Now, where was I?

My scheduled appointment with Signature Bridal was for Saturday at 1pm. Two of their staff had confirmed this with me earlier in the week and I was really looking forward to meeting them. So on Saturday, I woke my man up and we headed over to their office. When we reached, it looked awfully dark and the door was locked with a sign that said they would be away at this time. Confused, I just rang the doorbell anyway. After 5 minutes of no response, I was getting rather impatient and I gave them a call.

When they answered my call, I tried my best to sound pleasant and calm because God only knows how little tolerance I have for incompetence. It turns out they forgot or "saw the date wrongly" and had just landed from a shoot in Korea. Sorry but, what the flamingo?

How can it be that 2 staff from the same place can confirm the date with me wrongly?! Definitely as a service provider you want to show from the get-go that you are a reliable company. So, this my friends, was already a bad impression and its just been 5 minutes into our relationship. The consultant asked if I mind waiting for half an hour or coming back tomorrow instead. In all honesty, I wanted to just go home. But since I am actually considering their work, I opted to wait for 30 minutes - seething no less.

During my 30 minute wait, I decided to contact Abang Joji from Jentayu Gallery to check if my date was even available. You may remember me mentioning him here, when I met him late last year. Jentayu Gallery has seriously been one of the dream decor companies for the wedding, and I am so sure I am not the only BTB who shares these sentiments. So of course, after I've tasted rejection once, I was so nervous and had such low hopes for Jentayu's availability, seeing how sought after it is.

So anyway long story short, when I finally met up with the consultant from Signature Bridal, even though she did seem pleasant enough and she was patient in explaining what they had to offer - I just really was not feeling the right vibes. Of course I did not walk away and reject them on the spot because I know that they are my next best option if Jentayu doesn't pull through for me.

The next morning, Abang Joji texted me again to let me know that he'll have his colleague attend to me during my appointment as he is out for another meeting. So...I asked him if it was confirmed that my date is still available. (I mean, I ain't gonna travel from Yishun to Eunos just to be told they can't do my date!) Unfortunately, Abang Joji didn't manage to check for me yet - meaning another few hours of suspense ...

By lunchtime, Abang Joji texted me again to update me and...Alhamdulillah! Last slot for my weekend! I was at work when I received the good news so I had to maintain my giggling to a minimum, lest it betrays my cold distant personality that my colleagues are used to. But boy oh boy was I so relieved and excited and over the moon and on cloud nine?!

Now I was really counting down to Tuesday for my appointment with them to see more of what they have (not that I wasn't 100% sold on them already) and to put my deposit down to secure my date. You know how the auto-response to someone not knowing something is "google it"? Well, if there is one thing that Mr Google does not know it is Jentayu's price points and payment terms. I spent a good 2 days scouring the ends of internet earth for any information at all on this and didn't even get close! I mean, as a BTB, money in and money out is important as I am sure you all know. There is a lot of pacing and planning of bookings and payments to make sure you are not left in debt or eating grass. 

So when Tuesday came, and I still have not found any information, I decided to assume that their terms would be similar to Signature Bridal's whereby blocking the date would come at a deposit of 2k. There I was, dragging so much money in my bag from home to work and then all the way to Eunos by myself. And ya'll know how much anxiety I have carrying around wads of cash so, that was one hell of a long journey and I couldn't wait to hand it all over to Jentayu and stop mentally freaking out. 

When I reached, Kak Fay attended to me. And she was the nicest most polite and helpful lady ever!!! She just brought me to a room and let me take a look at their albums of all their works including those not published on their social media. The thing that I loved most about her service was that she did not rush me! I absolutely hate pushy and rushy consultants who behave as if they do not have the time of day for you unless you shove your money in their face first. *rolls eyes* Anyway, nothing like that happened at Jentayu. In fact, after I was given a good 10 min alone to gush over all their pictures, Kak Fay came in and showed me even more of their work in different venues that they have done. She asked me where I am planning to hold my reception at and then let me have a look at their work in those venues and also gave me great insight onto some of the challenges and benefits of different halls.

GUYS. I CANNOT HANDLE, GUYS.

She was super patient when explaining to me their price packages and what they include. Jentayu really has a wide variety of options available so that they are able to cater to the different needs for different brides. Their full deco packages are an upward of 6k and depend on the complexity and drop dead gorgeousness of their designs. Their full deco packages are really FULL okay - complete with chiviari chairs, table, buffet table deco, bridal table, doorgift table, registration table, aisle, pelamin, wall drapery, ceilings, eveything lah! They also have packages that include gubahan trays, doorgifts and invitations that are done up by TWC. These packages would be an additional 2-5k on top of the deco price. To me, for the quality of Jentayu's work and service, it is worth every cent. (Again, these prices are conservative estimates and ballpark ranges okay, please go and check with them directly for the most updated and accurate information)

Kak Fay then explained to me and reassured me that I don't have to commit to a package or a design right now. All I need to do to secure my date is to pay a small deposit of a few hundred bucks (haha, all that anxiety of carrying so much money for nothing), then arrange for another appointment with Abang Joji where I can bring in pictures and inspiration for us to conceptualize on the design and set up together. It is during this 2nd meeting that I will have to know which package I am taking up and what the design would be like - and also a more accurate estimate of the final total cost, of which I would need to pay a 20% partial payment. And the final meeting before the wedding would be 3 months prior where a 50% partial payment is due, and where I will go with them to the venue itself to finalize placements of the different tables and pieces and get a good sense of our vision coming to life in the space. So good right?! I mean, for someone who needs to be in control alot, this is a dream come true. I feel so involved and hands-on and that makes me so assured that I know exactly what is happening and what the hall would look like when I walk in. Love love love major love! Of course the last and final installment for payment will be on the big day itself - pretty normal for most vendors out there.

So without any hesitation...

Venue decoration - DONE!

Alhamdulillah! So happy to have struck this one off the list, albeit unexpectedly and in just the short time frame of a week. Haha! I guess it just goes to show that in the crazy world of wedding planning, sometimes things just never go as planned but they always turn out for the best, InsyaAllah! 

As for my venue, my parents and my sis would be taking a look at Begonia Hall next week and hopefully by this month we can finally make a decision on this and get the venue secured before it gets taken up. Once this is done, we can settle the last heavyweight vendor - catering. For now, I am just pinteresting my life away to collect enough material to bring to my next meeting with Jentayu and also exploring ideas on the smaller bits and pieces like wedding favors, invitations, henna and wedding cakes. Also trying to piece things together for my bridesmaids!

Hopefully it won't be too long  before my next entry and I can finally share my selected venue! Fingers, toes and eyes crossed hehe. Till next time dearies!

Love,

Z

Just A Quickie

Hello again everyone!

As mentioned in my last post, we had decided on the nikah venue and Alhamdulillah, we have managed to secure the venue without a hitch. The team at Royal Plaza on Scotts has also been so patient and accommodating in acceding to my requests and being open and forthcoming in discussions on the room layout and itinerary. Being able to envision the day in its actual venue makes the wedding planning experience so much more real and exciting!

Moving forward, the top of the priority list is to secure the venue for Saturday as well and hopefully Azli's family to secure Sunday's venue as well. Since the school term is starting soon, and I foresee another 5 month hiatus from wedding planning, I've asked for my sisters help with sussing out just a couple more venues in the East - Begonia Hall @ Downtown East and SIA Sports Club. My family is actually pretty settled on The Joyden Hall but my dad still feels that where possible he would rather have a location in the east. So hopefully by the time we hit the 1 year mark in October, we would have secured all 3 venues so we can finally move on to other vendors like decorations and catering, InsyaaAllah.

I'll definitely try my best to keep this page updated as the wedding planning progresses despite my hectic schedule. In the meantime, I have updated the Get Connected tab (finally), so now you can just click to be directed to the vendors listed down so far!

Love,
Z

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back.

Since the new year has started, it also means that the new school term has started. So, as you can expect, I have been pretty much swamped with work for the first couple of weeks of 2016 - resulting in close to zero progress on the wedding planing front. Now I know why my dad was pushing me to make the most of the 2015 end year break to get started. To some people, starting planning and making bookings 2 years ahead may seem too early but my man and I agree that for us, given our busy schedules, it definitely was a wise move.

Despite the hectic start to the year, Azli and I did manage to make some progress on our bookings. We have officially secured Colossal Weddings as our actual day photographers! This booking was a fairly straightforward and fuss-free one because my man and I pretty much had our hearts set on them from the very start. The moment we scrolled through and laid eyes on the magic made by Afiq Omar and his mega talented team, every other photographer portfolio that came our way paled in comparison.

Some of you may be wondering why we chose Colossal Weddings, given they are fairly new to the wedding photography scene. This is true to a certain extent, but for those of you who have been doing some research on them or considering them for your own wedding, you'd know that Colossal Weddings is newly formed arm of one of the most well-reputed nightlife photography companies in Asia - Colossal Photos. So they do have experience taking photos in crowded, unruly, noisy, messy places with poor lighting (haha, abit like our malay weddings, no?)

all images retrieved from Colossal Weddings

Also, the team is lead by Afiq Omar, whose work, as you can see, is pretty jaw-dropping. And the team is a group of really talented guys, including Azli's childhood friend, Nasri Ibrahim. All in all, the reason is really simple, we are in love with their work and we have full trust in their craft.

For 2017 BTBs who are interested in engaging them, I believe they are having a 5% off promotion now for the first 10 couples to sign up! (make that 9 since one spot has already been grabbed by yours truly, haha) Their packages are quite versatile, ranging from those with pre-wedding shoots included to actual day packages that cater to single or double photographers and between 10 - 15 hours. We opted for The Colossal Package, which includes two photographers for 15 hours, a flushmount album, a photo canvas and 2 framed photos along with our digital copies. Their payment schedule makes their packages much more affordable - 30% retainer/deposit, 50% after the wedding and 20% upon collection of deliverables 2 months after the wedding. Another plus point! I love vendors that offer a non-cash mode of payment, because I am one of those kiasu people who just do not feel safe carrying tons of cash on me. Colossal Weddings only accepts bank transfers & cheques, which make me feel more secure! Those who are still on the fence, please make an appointment to meet up with them at their office on Arab Street where they will be more than welcoming and willing to show you their work up close. I dare you to walk away after that.

Right, well that was our one step forward, now for the 2 steps back - otherwise known as the major headache bane of my existence and wedding planning. THE VENUE.

Yes, I know that I said this was the first thing that needs to be settled, and yet here we are. Basically, I think for my side we have narrowed it down to 2 options - The Joyden Hall and The Star Gallery. From my previous post, I think you can tell that I was definitely swooning over the latter. Sadly, they have a list of approved caterers that we have to use, and the caterers are pretty pricey. Not only that, these caterers don't exactly cater malay wedding style food, you know? So it seems like a no brainer that I should go for The Joyden Hall, where they allow external caterers at no levy and where I know malay weddings have been done before. Right?

Alas, just like all things that we love and cannot get, we will refuse to let go till we try everything we possibly can. I wrote in to The Star Gallery to ask if they can make an exception for me to allow an external caterer in. So far, the response I got was a phone call after a couple of weeks to let me know that "in principle, we will allow it" but they need some time to get back to me with a list of T&Cs that I have to abide by. Which probably means a levy, and a lot of limitations in terms of what and how my caterer can bring in their food. And just a recap, this venue is already the more expensive of the two mind you. SIGH.

So, I am now just awaiting an official response from The Star Gallery on this caterer issue, and a good time to talk to my dad about these developments to see what he feels about it. To be honest, it seems so ma fan to work my way around all this red tape with The Star Gallery, that a part of me feels like I should just settle for The Joyden Hall? After all, it is a decent venue which does not have as many loops to jump through. We'll just have to wait and see I guess. And this is just one venue, we have not even come anywhere close to this progress for our nikah and groom's side venues.

So, I guess that's pretty much it for now. I can't move on to other key vendors like deco and food until this venue is finalised. InsyaAllah, we will be able to secure the right venue soon enough so that we can move on to other decisions like our other vendors and our nikah venue and arrangements.

Till next time dolls!

Love,
Z

The Limiting Factor

Good morning dolls! Woke up this morning finally feeling inspired to blog. Over the past week, I've gotten a start on my research for a suitable venue for my side's sanding event. Now, some of you must be wondering why I started with venue, when most CCs only allow bookings 6 months prior to the date. Which brings me to the key message of my post today - Always start with the limiting factor.

Limiting Factor (noun)

The piece of the puzzle that would affect how you move and select all the other pieces of your puzzle. 

Okay lah, this post will make a lot more sense with some context right?

If you take a look at my checklist you'll see that in totality, we actually have three events to plan for. For my man's side, of course I won't be involving myself much. This leaves me with my side's sanding event and the nikah event. So I chose to start working on my side's sanding event first.

*teacher mode on* Here boys and girls, we have example numero uno of what a limiting factor is:

If I were to start with my nikah event, I can start with thinking about bridal house for outfit. But, I need to know how many outfits I will have for sanding, to know which package I am looking at with the bridal house. So, it depends on the sanding. Neeeeeext! Okay, let's do catering then. Next to make up, makan is important always (golden rule of life #692). But! catering for a small group would be quite expensive, usually catering can be done with the sanding catering as a package. So, it depends on the sanding. Okay let's do venue then! Mosque or function hall? Target date is a Friday, so mosque might be ootq (out of the question, teehee) considering Jumaat prayers at Zohor. Function hall it is! Eh, but that means, need to book venue for this small event? Might as well do at the same place as sanding and top up abit for extra hours right? So actually it all depends on the sanding.

So between my 2 events, the event that would affect the other event's planning is the sanding, which makes it…? The limiting factor! 

Alright, so that's why I chose to work on the planning of my side's sanding event before I work out my nikah event. If you have noticed my blog title banner, it would describe my wedding as "not-so-conventional". The reason I labelled it as such is because my side alone would be inviting a large guest size of about 1800 to 2000 pax, and my dad is not too keen on having the event at a CC because we would need a seating capacity of about 450 to 500 pax. We also do not have a void deck, so that's quite ootq (should be pandai by now ah).

Let's start with bridal house. I will be going to my top choice bridal house for their open house later this week, and really my outfit choice won't bear much consequence on the choices of my other vendors. Okay, settled for now. Moving on, to catering. Yes, many caterers would be able to cater for a large number of pax, but how many venues will allow these caterers to come in? So, it depends on the venue. Next, let's check out decorations. But, some venues do come with decorations in their wedding package already right? So why am I searching? I guess, it depends on the venue.

*teacher mode on* Okay boys and girls, did you spot the limiting factor? Very good.

As you can see, finding the right venue is important for me because it would dictate the direction for me to take in selecting caterers, decoration vendors and even things like invitation cards, wedding cakes and door gifts because some venues do include these in their wedding packages. How has the search been so far? I must say, not too bad. I've looked at a number of options and even ruled some out.

Here's a list of venues that are in consideration:

1. Hotels: Fairmont, Fort Canning, Furama Riverfront
2. Function Halls: The Joyden Hall, The Star Gallery
3. Country Club Ballrooms: Orchid Country Club, Serangoon Gardens Country Club

I would love to include more about the venues specifically in this post, but girl gotta gather more info first lah. Plus, I'll be meeting with the teams from some of these venues this coming week, so my post on venues will be more worth reading once I get the juicy details. Until then, I hope that this post will help those who have no idea where to begin their research. Remember that starting with the limiting factor will be able to direct your research better subsequently and prevent you from doing unnecessary work by researching and contacting vendors that you may not even have to!

& of course, for those of you who may still be struggling to understand what I have been going on and on about and still figuring out where to start, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a line okay? Teacher explain to you again slowly.

XOXO,
Z