Our New Place @ Jw

[NiVleK 0]

Crazy leh. Its a five figure digit. No thanks. LOL Besides, I dun see the justification.

[wendily 0]

My advice would be, do your renovation first. The rest can come later. Renovation and furnishing cost normally adds up to more than what you have budgeted.

Unless you really got lots of $$$$... Then just get whatever you like best. I think Sony will be a good choice. My sony TV used for 6 years but never give me any problem yet.

[applefreak 1]

yup agree with wendily, get these after renovation

coz the price will only go one way - down

unless you see a fantastic deal that's too good to miss

thing that can wait includes fridge, tv, HTS, washing machine

[NiVleK 0]

Yeah. I have a budget about 25K for renovation alone, not including all the electrical applicances cos I am quite the tech geek. Hahaha

[applefreak 1]

since you are the tech geek, all the more you should wait

skali got new model come out with features you MUST have, very aiwan feeling leh !! !!

[Zc31 0]

Wow u're lke in the same situation as me.

My wedding n ROM in one day, july. 1st appt coming up soon and in march taking bridal shots. In btw gotta settle hse.

Shack....finance more shack.

[h4happy 1]

You should also set aside at least $10k for misc expenses.

You know, those small and bits can add up alot! Beware.

Yeah. I have a budget about 25K for renovation alone, not including all the electrical applicances cos I am quite the tech geek. Hahaha

[NiVleK 0]

You should also set aside at least $10k for misc expenses.

You know, those small and bits can add up alot! Beware.

Yeah. Thanks for the info. I have been reading and things like lights will add up to about 1k+!

Hahaha. I am trying to minimize the reno budget, doing essential things only.

Hoping that my toilet color will be NORMAL.

*cross fingers*

[wendily 0]

You know ah.. initially me and my SO planned for the whole reno cost to be 20k including furnishing.

End up now.. we are spending close to 30k for everything. However, our fridge, washing machine, dryer, microwave are all gifts from MIL, BIL and aunty.

So the cost is definately higher that what you have budgeted.

Eg of misc cost:

We bought lightings for 1.6k. (30 PLC, 3 bedroom light, 2 designer lights)

Toilet accessories & Kitchen = 2.4k

We are having our AD in Jan 19th. Imagine we are now financially drained! haha.. advice is.. wedding shouldnt be so close to house reno...

[marcus_tm 0]

Your Living Rm very challenging to do, keep us update

[NiVleK 0]

You know ah.. initially me and my SO planned for the whole reno cost to be 20k including furnishing.

End up now.. we are spending close to 30k for everything. However, our fridge, washing machine, dryer, microwave are all gifts from MIL, BIL and aunty.

So the cost is definately higher that what you have budgeted.

Eg of misc cost:

We bought lightings for 1.6k. (30 PLC, 3 bedroom light, 2 designer lights)

Toilet accessories & Kitchen = 2.4k

We are having our AD in Jan 19th. Imagine we are now financially drained! haha.. advice is.. wedding shouldnt be so close to house reno...

Yeah. Thats why we didnt plan for AD yet....and actually we intend to avoid AD! Hahaha

[NiVleK 0]

Booked Venue for ROM

We just went and made reservations and paid deposits for our venue for our ROM. Our choice of venue? My secret garden. That was also the place I proposed to her and we like the ambience, I guess its a good choice.

Cost wise. Its pretty expensive. The minimum that we have to spend will be $2500++.

Service is ok at the moment. I spent close to $400 for her proposal setting that night and the service then was fantastic, so I reckon it will be as good during our ROM. However, the boss, Paul has a little eccentric character, I hope that we will be dealing with the excellent floor manager when it comes nearer to our ROM day.

Ok, back to reno stuff

[NiVleK 0]

Another Non Reno Topic - Bridal Studios

We have chosen our bridal studio!! It will be Bridal Concepts from Bugis area there, Liang Seah Street to be exact.

Before that we have went to quite a few bridal studios...

1) Precious Moments

- Nice salesperson. He was quite patient in explaining all the items to us. We are quite new in getting quotes from bridal studios and what to look out for, so he came in handy to explain things to us slow and steady. I had actually thought the photos looks not bad. Being a avid photographer myself during my uni days and doing some part time photographer jobs for offical events, I say the photos passed. Layout was ok then.......Price was ok also....everything ok la...cos first time mah...dunno what to look out for. Anyhow, I am determined not to sign anything and the guy was not pushy though.

Gowns wise. My WTB requested to look at more simple long gowns as she wanted to have a more formal ROM gown. Our decision was not to hold an AD and thats why she wanted the ROM to be something like a mini AD. Sadly, they didnt offer any gowns to try and they looked quite irritated about that aspect.

Good. And so we left with his namecard and told him if he hears our call during Jan, he will get the job.

2) Michelle Huimin.

- We actually went all the way down to the place but found that it was closed. Recalling comments from Renotalk about the difference in prices for this place as it is more to MTM style and more expensive. We left. We are not doing AD at the moment so its a little out for us.

3) Golden Shoe Award

- We went to the Marina Square outlet and was pleasantly served. That level has a pestering uncle who keeps soliciting business in the walkway. Very irritating. I grumbled to the ppl inside Golden Shoe immediately. LOL This BS is ok. Layouts were WAY better than Precious Moments. On a hindsight, Precious moment layout are like little building blocks without style. Just add in square boxes of photos here and there. Golden horse knows how to play with photoshop and fade photos, cut photos and edit them with style. The photographer skills were not too bad as well. 90% of shots were in correct focus and the brides/groom is posing naturally.

My WTB managed to try one gown after request. But that outlet doesnt seem to have much gowns, particularly gowns that are long dress with simple design.

Price for this was ok. Highest at the moment but with more photos thrown in than precious moments.

When we said that we were about to leave and decide later, they started the pressure tactics. They throw in a MTM gown and said that the offer last only today. Not that interested, we left with their namecard.

4) Wedding News

- All the previous BS that we visited were fruits of labour by my WTB, in the sense that I told her to do a research on the net before we step into the shop. This BS was not. Wedding News was recommended by my colleague, I had their bookmark given to me and he also went in together with me for the first session with the BS.

The studio had a nice feeling to it, homely and friendly, perhaps more so as my friend was there with me and he seemed to be on very good terms with the ppl there.

As usual, albums were shown to you when you are there. First look, I couldnt help but fire off. My WTB almost fainted. Like I say, I have an eye of a ex-photographer. Immediately when I looked at the album, I said something without realising. I mentioned something like, "eh, why your photographer focus on scenery one? This one is bridal shots right? Why so many of the faces blur blur one, cannot see one?" Immediately, the salesperson aka the boss AKA the PHOTOGRAPHER (*faints*) jumps to the defence and said that he took the photos etc and he was placing the scenery in mind. Then I got a shock, oops I didnt know he was the photographer. But anyhow, thats the fact. 40% of the photos in all albums, especially for outdoor shots were not in correct focus. He likes to capture the outdoor scenery with the bride/groom very small. This is ok as he has many overseas shots and the view was really magnificent but I think thats not what couples are looking at. Apparently, his skills with the camera is still not that polished. In fact, even for studio shots, the focus were not on the eyes. Somehow, it was a little off which makes the eyes look dull. From far, I would say the album is nice. Layout is rather good as well. But close up inspection puts me off. The next issue is that 50% of all albums he shown has have the tendency to stick to each other, the pages i mean. This resulted in parts of the photos tearing off and sticking to the adjacent pages. Not good. Poor quality.

Price wise. He was the cheapest after my friend step in and negotiated. But, I was not convinced, even if he threw in 100 shots for that same price, I dun think I will buy it. In any case, as my WTB was too embrassed by me shooting criticism off the photos, she was only interested in getting out of the the BS. Of course, they apply no pressure tactics and I left happily to a nearby place to be for shooting my mouth off. Hehehe.

5) Bridal Concept

- We were both tired by the numerous rounds of discussion (reno, bridal, ROM venue). I told her, research again and shortlist one last BS, if that one fails my requirement, we just go back Golden Shoe to sign up. So, she said Bridal Concept and we went.

The coordinator that served us was quite a comical one and a veteran in this business. Why? She is almost my mother's age from looks and she speaks like her too! LOL And so, she started to show us her albums. Boy oh boy, I was surprised. She showed me OLD albums. Again, I cannot resist and shoot off saying, "these albums looks very old hor..." My WTB glared at me. Ooops. So we continued looking at the albums. This was also the first time I was showed 4R versions of the photos before editing. Interesting. I always wanted to look at these versions. However, the ones she showed first were quite old. *again*

And then we discussed price. Blah blah blah. Told her we only want ROM photographer and PS. No AD, etc. And she gave a price. Quite ok price, but more expensive than what golden shoe offered.

And then, she asked if my WTB wanted to try the gowns. Of cos. Up we went to the second floor to try no more than 3 gowns, the most gowns that we ever tried in a BS. Most importantly, we think that this BS has the gowns that my WTB wants. Simple and long gowns w/o trains and the other EG and WG looks not bad also. Then I asked again, show me some more recent photos that you have taken. I was still not satisfied with what I have seen. Skills were no doubt quite good but I need to see more recently taken photos. So she went up looking for more photos. Then she came down. She surprised me again. She took some newly printed photos, yet to be pressed into albums, i think to fit into 15R albums and showed me. Not bad. In fact, excellent shots. But again, this was taken in what, australia? Nice leh.

Then we went down. After some chatting again, she went to take something and came back with an invoice sheet to write our details down. Then I told her that I will not confirm today. Pressure tactics starts. Told us that this price will not be for design layout, will not be so cheap, will be much more expensive as we dun do AD, etc etc. Again, I stressed that I will not sign today but of cos, I was quite ok with the photos and my WTB is ok with the gowns. Then she said that if I dun sign and come back later, she might not even want to do my business. Even if she want to do, then it will be $300 more. Then I also tulan liaos. I said ok lor, if like that I just based on +$300 and think about it lor. Its ok to me one. Then she calm down and tell me nicely and lower the price also. Then I say give me time alone to discuss with my WTB and decide.

Meantime, I also told her that my requirements of photos very high and while I was discussing with my WTB, she pass me 2 stacks of just developed 4R for selection and show me. After discussion, I think Bridal concepts ok la, so negotiated more photos to be added in package and then signed up for it.

Overall, I think they are ok. Just a tad more pushy at the end and resorting to pressure tactics. Thankfully, their photos and gowns were nice to consider. If not I would have just walked away.

So now looking forward to the session during April and then now trying hard to lose the spare tyres!

[compassvale 0]

Hi, I was a BC bride last time too. I particularly did not like the lady boss, whom i suspect you spoke with, too much pressure tactics. Ask for your coordinator to be Big Sally, she's the best in that studio.

[NiVleK 0]

Can change coordinator one issit? Yeah, I was surfing around SG Brides and Stylewedding and it seems like Sally was a preferred choice.