Calla Bridal (Closed Down)

#1 Calla Bridal

23 Teo Hong Road

6223 5088

(the shop has closed down, with many brides left stranded because the designer eloped)

No photos are allowed in the shop, but since they closed down, should be ok right? 

Casey the designer, quoted me $5,888.00 then lowered to $5k for my criteria, not bad right! Told him I have a tight budget and he lowered it further to $4k. Thank god, I didnt sign with him. Thank heavens! What I found weird was after I told him I have a really tight budget, next question was "Is your bag a Hermes?", weird? And no, I wasnt carrying one. So after that he said, ok, $4k, which is really a good deal because he claimed that for rental, I can just change the color of pre existing gowns if I like, so its sorta customising right?

+ : Great designs and workmanship, since his an ex-digio designer

- : not comfortable, he said i can have everything i want after nonchalantly looking at my design references

Gown above is amazing, auto fluffed without the can can. So thumbs up for workmanship.

The only 1 i like on the rack but dont like on me. :/

Can you feel the love tonight?

Can You Feel The Love Tonight (Singapore String Q…: https://youtu.be/28sC7SY9ocg

Forever

What about the rest of your life?”

She shrugged. “What about it?”

“Aren’t you worried about, like, forever?”

“Forever is composed of nows,” she says.

Hayley Paige, you have my heart.

It has always been in the plan to rent a gown for the prewed photoshoot, so off i went to a few places and still not getting the WOW feel. I did when i found 2 dresses actually. This was the 3rd one i found and i knew i have to buy it! So thankful that my man is supportive of all my decisions.

Will do the bridal studio post next.

So i was so happy to find an unconventional gown, no lace, no ribbon back, chapel length and poofy without can can dress. Since the actual day dress is a mermaid, i was double happy that this is a princess gown.

And within half an hour, the gown was sitting happily inside the car! It was a spontaneous decision by me to go down to the shop, bcox i took half day on the actual day and just went down by myself, usually i have frens w me. This was not my 1st choice but the 1st choice is not around, so after trying like 5 dress, i keep thinking about this. So i sat there thinking if it was an impulse buy and if its worth it since alot of ppl alrdy worn this design, but i dont care la, i love it!

So heres a photo of the gown, taken in sydney, for all you nice people reading!

Bridal studio

I will touch on bridal studio next. Look out for it!

Wedding Venue

My pre requisites for the wedding venue are the following:
Solemnization, Sunset Timing, 80 persons, Green Space
Dinner, Good Food, Long Table, 250 persons

So we started exploring awhile back in 2014, with the constant urging of the friends, since everyone confirmed their venue 1 to 1.5 years before. So here are our choices:

#1 Equarius Hotel

We were pretty set on this place, but the coordinator urge us to build a tentage to cover the area in case of rain and we have to bring in our own sound system and lighting and decoration, since the place is rather bare. But the carpet grass is seriously pretty. So with all the above added in, we were rather apprehensive on taking the venue. Plus the turnover from solemnization to dinner might be a problem as there is no holding area. Food was to be catered by Forest restaurant, so we can rest assure it is not from RWS central kitchen.

 

#2 Four Seasons Hotel & Alkaff Mansion

Four Seasons have an amazing western menu and they have done long table settings before, and it looks good! What stop us from taking the venue is due to the lack of green space. To have the solemnization there, we have to pay 10k to block the lunch time, so they wont take any bookings. Function rooms was a no go for me since its not green. So our backup plan was to hold it at Alkaff Mansion, which is really pretty! And of course we have the option to hold everything at Alkaff Mansion, they have this tentage thingy which can hold everyone, but nah, if we want a tentage wedding, we can hold it anywhere.

Credits: www.welovelaughkiss.wordpress.com

 

Credits: www.theweddingscoop.com

Credits: www.greatnewplaces.com

Credits: www.superduperyummy.com

Credits: http://blog.wearespaces.com

#3 Grand Hyatt Hotel
They just renovated their ballrooms, their food menu is amazing! And it is very affordable for the value of the food you are getting. What blew me away was the full panel projector screen, dont need to decorate the stage at all, save cost! But the downer was the green space is so small. And to have the function room earlier to do decoration will cost another 10k, just for booking. I was all for converting that space into a green one, but alas not parting with the money. Their benefits was the best! Super chic I must say! They have the nicest holding area and bridal suite.

This is Hyatt's green space, not sufficient for the guest list.

Credits: http://belluspuera.blogspot.sg/

#4 W Hotel Singapore
After the unfruitful Equarius Hotel, we did more research and we found out that W hotel has a lawn, score! They took really long to get back with a good menu and we just gritted our teeth and stick to this place which we love. It is pricey hence we are restricting our guest list to a bare minimum. After waiting for their responses and going back and forth from Nov to March, we finally secure the place!

Credits: www.theweddingscoop.com

Credits: lenardilywedding.blogspot.com

Credits: http://www.hotelchatter.com

#5,6,7.......many more
We actually sourced and look around the following spaces but many didnt make it.
Raffles Hotel: Maximum is 150 persons, have green space..
Hort Park: Logistics nightmare
Chijmes: Turnover is tricky and cant do solemnization at the timing preferred
St Regis: No green space
Ritz Carlton: No green space
Shangrila Rasa Sentosa, Atmosphere by the sea: Maximum is 150 persons, have green space..
Clifford Pier: Too expensive, OMG! Will you pay 300++ per person for a 4 course dinner?
Old Kallang Airport/Sculpture Square/Changi Cove/Red Dot Museum/SAM: No longer available for rental
Boathouse: Pretty but small.
Fullerton Hotel: No green space and I heard food is bad. But tried and tested, its good leh.
Shangrila: We cant meet their minimum.

Golden call

You know how we have dived into tackling the styling and floral aspect of the big day. We have received quotes after quotes, met and went to appointments after appointments. We even had our first meltdown over this due to the money required to be spent. He wants to keep it within 4 digits, but lo and behold, its all 5 digits. Like mid high range.

My vision is to have styling done right, no matter what. No clustered tall centerpieces and aisle bird cage standee kinds. No drapes or curtains. Its just tacky! So we gave up on the hotel's floral bcox its full of the tacky stuff above and went to find a our own company. It did cross my mind to diy but i think i will die on the actual day, die from fatigue and worrying.

Today, we got a golden call. Why golden? Bcox its a company we really like and it came down to a comfortable five digit!!! OMG! We didnt put much thought into scoring this company bcox its on the extreme high range. But after 3 emails with appreciating their hospitality bcox its out of our league, they relooked and called us, saying its possible since we are sincere! OMG! I m thanking the wedding gods. I was so shell shocked that i have t look and re read my whatsapp a few times. So drowsy from the meds, but i woke up immediately after this news. OMG! No wayyyyyyy. Amazed i tell you. Is this the secret happening??????

Cant seem to share this news with anybody bcox they wont seem to understand...bcox everyone is using the hotel themes. Oh wells.

Hehehhehehe. Popping champagne soon when i feel better!