My 2nd last post did mentioned that we actually signed up for a bridal package at a roadshow... So this post is going to be entirely on the bridal package and the bridal studio's services.
Well, unlike many couples, we did not manage to visit any bridal fairs, walk down tanjong pagar stretch (where lots of bridal studios were located). I can still remember, I saw a post in a facebook group saying that there's gonna be a bridal studio (not bad reviews) that was going to have a booth in Expo. No clear indication of which hall, what fair either. So the very silly me just drag my baby along with me and he was game enough to 'hunt' with me.
Alas, that was kinda a 'wasted' trip. We couldn't find at all any fair relating to bridal shoots despite trying our luck entering into different halls with all sorts of different fairs going on. It was only upon nearing exit, we spotted a bridal roadshow just outside subway but nay, it wasn't the one i read about on facebook.
Nevertheless, we thought we would just take a look. But, after about 40 minutes, I was signing off the bill. We did no homework, tried no gowns at all! All we saw were photos and more photos. I must say, the sales lady is really good. She convinced both of us and baby even more to make him want to take up the taiwan photoshoot package while I was only looking at doing the shoots locally.
Anyway, we signed up for the taiwan package in the end. And it was only after leaving expo, i did a quick search on the bridal studio and ended up reading lots of bad reviews!!!! It was really like a shock of my life that evening. Imagine signing up for something which cost $3988 but to read a good deal of bad reviews online?! I thought that was really bad luck for us. Baby tried to talk me out of it saying that things may have changed etc. Well, I had to really just keep my fingers crossed.
A surprise came the next day - I received a text from the bridal studio's boss to acknowledge that we have already signed up for the package and if we need to clarify any doubts, we may do so by making an appointment. Honestly, it was still 2012 then, nobody knew what was coming next, and so of course, we told her we'll do so on a nearer date when we are going for our photoshoot somewhere 2013 or 2014 since we had not even settled down on a wedding date!
Since then till end of 2012, an sms and phone call from the boss to ask if I'm keen to join their upcoming TW entourage for our shoots. Again, we turned her down as we only manage to finalized our wedding date to be in Sep 14, giving them 6 months time in advance, we would only want to do our photoshoot in early 2014. So that brings us back to Jan 13 baby lost his grandma and we had to follow the chinese custom of 10 days or 3 years.
We did not manage to make any appointment prior going down to the studio as time was not on our side - the clock starts ticking from the day she passed away and we had decied on the 100 days option. I prep myself to get pretty bad customer service or rigid treatment based on the number of bad reviews I've read. Even baby was all ready to talk to them nicely. However, to our surprise, the staff were all very patient and understanding when we related our situation to them.
They managed to slot us in for gown selection and phototaking in Feb as they are really packed for Jan. We told them that we have to forsake the TW package since it's almost impossible and requested to have others in exhcange, such as additional photos etc. but they was unable to decide then because the boss was not in. The only possible option was as per our invoice, an Actual Day (AD) photographer could be included as hiring one from them would cost $500 extra and 2 additional photos for us. But they sort of 'promised' us that the photos will be able to deliver by our AD which we had set it to be on 7 Apr 2013 (the last weekend before 100 days).
Since that visit, we did not hear from them for quite a fair bit. Until we received a surprise call EACH. Somehow, somewhat, they didn't seemed to have recorded down on our invoice that we have already changed our TW package to a local photoshoot and they were still asking if we would like to join them for their upcoming TW photoshoot entourage. That was really a shocker for the both of us We came across their booth during a bridal fair held at Marina Square as we were still keeping options open on our venue then and we manage to get hold of the sales lady who sold us our package to verify our package with them. Hubby even relate the situation again to her so that she would remind them we only have 2 months for them to deliver the photos given that our photoshoot appointment was locked on 28 Feb 13. It would have been a nightmare if they had not note down our changes and fail to deliver everything on time.
Finally, the day before our fitting, baby received a call from them on our fitting appoitment the day before. The lady who attended to us was Lili. I must say, she's really good. Be it her attitude, friendliness, efforts, she had really please both baby and myself. Honestly, the only homework i did was to look at some bridal magazines, get the ideal of what type of gowns I was looking for and also the cuts that I should be avoiding. I managed to show her only about 3-4 pictures of the gown designs I liked and guess what? She manage to picked out about 5-6 gowns for me to try.
Not only did she helped me with every single gown, she also took the effort to look for belts to add on when I found certain gowns too plain. When selecting gowns of different colours she was also looking up and down for designs towards my liking. She also advised me on the height of the heels that I should go for to match baby's height. It was really an almost hassle-free fitting session for me.
Oh, i must say, i miss trying out gowns and wearing them. Tiring but so fun...
A week after fitting was our photoshoot day! We're so excited about it. Lili wasn't around that day. The make up artist was another lady whom I have not met before. And we were still kind of clueless on the photographer whom will be working with us. Managed to meet him finally at about 12.30 or so? His name is Pierre and he was discussing with us on the photoshoot locations and also the switch of photoshoot schedule due the the constant heavy showers in the afternoon that period.
Perhaps to trade off for the night shoots, Pierre suggested to thelet us have one gown which was meant for indoor shoots to be brought along for outdoor shoots instead? Or maybe because it was a long black gown which could fit nicely into the museum look perfectly?
Anyway, he was too very easy going and we were able to get along pretty ok. He also suggested for us to go back to the bridal studio for a change to the 2nd gown before heading to the 2nd location (because the journey will passby the bridal studio). Which means, I get to have another hair style setting and also, dont have to change gowns outside twice! It's really a hassle to change gowns in public toilets. Good thing, we had this option and I only change from the black evening gown to the short dress outside! But, the sad note is that, we switched our itineary to avoid the rain but it DID NOT RAIN!!!! So, we totally miss out the night shoots. No evening, night light shoots at all.
Overall, we headed to 3 different destinations - Botanical Gardens, National Museum and Sentosa.
It was a pretty fun but tiring experience. Pierre was informed that we were 'rushing' for the photos and he was really kind enough to let us select our photos the following day. But because i had to work, we rescheduled it to the weekend instead.
And so, days passed and we went for our photo selection as scheduled. We spent about 3 hours in the studio! No doubt we only went to 3 locations, he had editted the photos with filters and effects that the turnout was quite stunning for some of the photos. Even the indoor ones which were unedited look really not bad and we were pretty surprised with the outcome.
Both below are indoor shoots by the way.
Out of the 140+ photos, we managed to downsize to half through elimination method and after some discussion and money talks, we ended up topping for 35 more photos from what was already included in our package. Again, they promised that they will rush to deliver the photos for us as it was already March when we view the photos and let us have the layout review of the album by our 2nd fitting.
It was during the 2nd fitting that they really made us felt uncomfortable. I was waiting on my own in the studio, while baby went to park the car. We manage to view the album layout which seems still alright with some amendments and repeated request to amend ont he pocket flap. The guy working on the layout was studious enough that he note down all the details we have requested for and fixed a date with us to view a 2nd draft in another few days time as he was also well informed of the tight timeline we had.
However, the fitting experiene during our this particlar visit was one downhill experience. Lili was ot around. Another lady by the name of Lina was attending to us, whom we felt was nothing but lazy. She didn't really took the effort to help me select the gowns and even asked me to help myself with the racks. When I told her I had 4 sets of gowns/dresses to look at, she didn't believe it either until the make up artist who attended to us during our photoshoot had to intercept.
Finally after a very tiring selection, we manage to pick the white gown for my AD morning and I took back one of the evening gown which I had selected for my photoshoot as per above photo - the pink one. :) Also managed to select a cute short white dress for my solemnization. As for the chinese tea dress - KUA, it was really disappointing at how Lina attended to me. She was lazy to dig for my right size that she took one that was too small then later one oversized one, claiming that there was no size which fitted me (in the end Lili saved the day by getting the right size for me when we went for our 3rd fitting and i really like myself wearing it because it made me look good in it!).
Interestingly, baby also could not find fitting suits for himself during this 2nd fitting. the ones he wore for our photoshoot was also not there. And this time I guess the lazy Lina gave up and she actually asked us to wait till Lili's return so that she can get us what we wanted.
Well, the one little regret which I still feel for was during baby's fitting. We saw one white gown similar to the one I've picked for my AD except that this one has baby pink finishes and flower petals. I like it so much that baby asked me to try it since he's still not done. But Lina wasn't keen to let me try at all. I do not know why. The only explanations I can find is either she's lazy or perhaps it's dinner time and she's famished? She kept repeating to us before we left that we're done for the day and we can go grab food. Food was not in our mind at all! Baby helped himself and took down the gown for me to try.
Another lady came in to help me with the gown since Lina wasn't 'available' to help. That gown fits me as kinda perfectly like the one I've selected! I was actually very happy and was thinking to change but the make up artist reminded us that, it's more appropriate to pick full white gown for AD morning which in turn baby then later thought of the veil too and we decided to let go of it. But I just can't take it off my mind that I actually can't sleep the entire night!
My mind was occupied by some queries on the album and the gown. I managed to convinced baby to make a trip down to the studio despite having a swollen eye. Our heart almost stopped beating when our Pierre said our album was another design (vertical) according to what his invoice had written! He refused to look at our copy of invoice initially till I told him that he was the one who confirmed with us the album design we were entitled to (horizontal). I even reminded him that he commented that the sales person was very nice to give us this album design then. Eventually, we confirmed that what we had was correct and all the other queries that had kept me awake the entire night.
Baby and I then tried our luck with the boss to negotiate on 1 extra gown for my AD to be worn during my March In in the evening only. But she was totally not giving in to us. The lady who help me fitted the gown and the make up artist were also aware that I really loved that gown that they tried to put in words but it was still a NO. The best she could offer was for us to top up $150 as the dry cleaning fee only. Well, we told her we would consider and left disappointed.
We went back 3 days later to view our album layout. Xiao Zhang was the one working on our album. Thumbs up for him as most of the items which we had discussed earlier had been edited and we just did some final changes which he did on the spot for us. Once everything wasconfirmed, he proceeded to orderour prints.
We almost had another heart attack when we asked about our wedding montage. It was a total miscommunication. Based on our understanding, a montage is a compilation of our pre-wedding photos done in soft copy meant to be played before our wedding banquet. But to them, it's those long white portrait frames of photo collage hanging on their walls!
Anyway after showing the boss how upset I was she finally (perhaps unwillingly too?) asked one of her staff to do one for us. I was already boiling mad by then as she kept insisting that their collage is called a montage. Besides, I only wanted 50 odd photos done in slideshow format without any music at all. Sighs.
Moving on, our next fitting was on 27 Mar, close to 2 weeks after the montage incident. Lili called up to confirmed on our appointment and I briefly ran through with her verbally on the items to be looked into (when Lina was attending to us during her absence). On 27th itself, at about 5-ish, Lily called to asked if we could try to be there as early as possible because they had to close early for the night. I didn't ask why but I promised I would try.
We reached there 15 mins before our appt time (7pm) and she was already waiting for us. I managed to try my vening gown again as previously when attended by Lina, it somehow didn't manage to fit; which is totally unbelievable because I wore it for PS and I lost some weight from then till my fitting. Even Lilo finds it impossible! Eventually, it fit of course. She also let me try on the KUA and was with me guiding me how to wear it properly unlike Lina who just left it there for me to try on my own. The size Lili picked was perfect. 1 try and it's done. She just needed to help me do some mending on some of the embroideries.
Then to my last worry, the short dress. She showed me the dress which was still in tact on the mannequin. They had been doing alterations. After trying, I noticed that the major alterations had been done. Just some bits which they can't tell when it was on the mannequin. To my amazement, Lili just did the alteration with me wearing the dress. In like less than 10 mins, it's 90% done. Just one more sewing that can only be done without me wearing it. I would say, she's really fast and good!
Then it's baby's turn. Lili tried her best to locate the suit he wore for PS but only manage to find 1 set. The other had 'went missing'. We could tell that she's very focus and determined to complete everything that evening. She went searching in and out a few times just to find something closest to that missing suit. All these while, the smile and warmth never left her face. And when all the selection is done, she did a trial make up for me.
After the trial make up, I was asked to select my hand bouquet for the day. Guess what, almost everyone in the BS is leaving. The boss was giving them a treat that night if I'm not wrong. And all of them are getting ready to go. Poor Lili was still trying to clear up the oustanding matters for us.
Personally I felt that the boss should arrange the dinner later instead of having to rush the clients down and witness them all happily getting ready to go for dinner. They even turned off the aircon and music! Xiao Zhang at the same time, passed us all the photos, albums, portrait and softcopies of the files. He had already shut down and so we weren't able to test view it.
I must say, album was done really fast and good. Only the table top photo frame was scratched. We requested to change the frame after our AD as time wasn't on our side anymore. We quickly left once everything was collected and all the gowns and hand bouquet were finalized so that Lili could join them in time.
One last fitting on the eve of our AD. Lili called about 3 hours before our appt time, telling us not to rush cause it was raining, and traffic jam etc. Anyway, we reached about 30 mins later than the fixed time. I requested to try on ALL gowns one more time to ensure nothing went wrong (I had only tried my AD white gown once!) as there were still some minor alterations from our last fitting.
Baby too tried his suits. Minor hiccups here and there for him. But alteration was immediate. So no worries at all. Our bridal car was also there awaiting for the ribbons to be tied at the carpark opposite. I must say the guy they engaged to do the flower/ribbon tying on the bridal car is quite professional. We witnessed the whole procedure. He also advised the driver and us to only tie the couple bear the next morning in case they go missing at night.
After that we went back and Lili helped baby to select his bow ties. She also gave us the 'ribbons' for the brothers' cars. Initially we were told that they will give us only 16 pieces (4 cars or 8 cars going at 2 pcs each). In the end, she gave us more than that She even ask if we need wrist corsages! She had a bagful of them. The wrist corsages aren't the best looking around and I had already bought something matching to my jiemeis' dresses and so we didn't take any. The car ribbons were extremely awful to be honest but we had not prepare any so we had to take whatever's offered.
And so, that's about almost all of the experience to relate with the bridal studio. The last bit will come in the AD update.
here's one outdoor shoot from botanical gardens which i really love...
And in case, you're wondering, the bridal studio is Feline Bridal.
Located along River Valley Road.
Till then... ciaos!
