Showing posts with label Marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marriage. Show all posts

11 May 2016

Wedding Update 11: Room Renovation Part 1.

Oh wow this place has been vacant for too long I see.

You guys must have been missing me here quite a lot lately. Heh.

I was on a one-week-long holiday with my family to Korea, and I obviously did not have time to update the blog because in Korea, you just gotta go all out you know. Eat non-stop, walk everywhere all the time, sleep for few hours and repeat all over. Hah. It was one of the best holiday ever.

Anyways, I thought that this time I will do a quick update on our wedding. Okay, not really about wedding, but more to marriage-related. Heh.

Here goes.

One of the most frequently asked question from people is this.

Where are you both going to stay?

The answer is where he and his mom is currently staying at. His house. No, we are not getting a new place because we don't have the money to get a house now and we are still waiting for house prices to go down. Heh. Mainly because money not enough.

So, it's not so much of a life-changing aspect for him because he is already living there. The only difference is that he will have a roommate in 4-months time till the end of his life (hah) and we will also not stay in his current room, because it is way too small for the both of us.

For me, it is going to be one of the biggest change that I will have to deal with. Not to say that I'm unhappy about it but I am sad to leave my parents and stay at a new place, with a someone, since I've been having my own room and loving the 'loneliness' for so many years.

I don't know how emotional I will get but I will sure have homesickness. Confirm.

Anyways, we will be using the master-bedroom because it it the only room in the house that can fit two human beings (with all our loads) in there. Apparently, he needs way more storage than me. I THINK HE EVEN HAS MORE CLOTHES THAN ME. So girl this boy I cannot.

Initially, we planned to do a simple renovation to beautify and fix the place because we really do not have that kind of money to do a wedding and renovate a room, but somehow along the line, the renovation seems to expand little by little.

It just seems like we needed more power sockets, a brand new water closet (it's also called toilet bowl), a brand new sink, an air-conditiner, lightings and a new window frame and many more items that we thought we could re-use but cannot.

We also had to get people to come in and get rid of all the in-built cupboards so that we may have more space. That is also another cost already.

Recently, we made a purchase of a set of bedroom items at the price of about RM4,000, consisting of a dresser that comes with a huge mirror, a queen-sized wooden platform bed with side tables and a mirrored door cupboard at the Home Dec Fair.

We thought that it's quite a bargain since it costs us less than RM5,000 for all three main items.

Moolahs really drying up quick I tell you.

I'll just share some of the photos from the beginning and now. The room is not done yet, though from the look of it, it should be anytime soon.

Oh we also have the whole house re-painted so yeah. Living room, dining room and all the rooms. We would like to renovate the general toilet but if we do that, we would probably go into debt before we start a life together. Hah. So, that shall wait till the piggy-bank fills up.

We really cannot wait to see the end product.

Our master bedroom is not big so now what we want to do is to come out with things that could make it look bigger, like mirrors and stuff. Actually all we know is to put mirrors only. We don't have any other ideas so if you know, please let us know!

Okay, so here's a list of the things that has been done so far. I'm not too sure if it's according to the timeline but yeah who cares as long as it's done.


  • Replaced the window frames for all rooms (including the kitchen, living room and dining room). 
  • Removed existing toilet bowl and sinks.
  • Removed bathroom wall and floor tiles. This one is probably the hardest tiles they had to grilled into because the tiles just wouldn't come out. This took a few days for just a small bathroom. 
  • Took out two huge in-built-wooden cabinets on both side of walls. Termites have eaten probably like a quarter of these cupboards internally already so removing them was not too  difficult. 
  • Bathroom wall and floor tiles is up and done. We went for a grey-ish look. I LOVE GREY SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I think he had started liking grey a lot too. Thank you Google for all the amazing grey photos for rooms. Heh. 
  • Toilet bowl is installed and working fine. 
  • Sink is also installed and working just as fine.
  • Painted a few layers of white paint all over the walls in the house. It took us few days to decide on the color of our bedroom because we could not agree on the same color. So, we googled for more samples and finally agreed to two tones. 
  • We went to a shop that has a few brands for toilet items along Greenlane, and ordered a sink and a toilet bowl for the bathroom. Total damage: RM900. 
  • Drew Xs on the wall where we would like to have more power sockets (RM80 for each).
  • Windows grill had been installed. We decided to use the old ones because it is too expensive to change to a new one. I guess we just ahd to re-paint them and it'll look brand new. After all, we are going to put curtains over them anyways. Heh. 
  • Two chosen tones were already painted in the room. 
  • All bedroom doors are painted grey already. 



So yes that is all for now. 

Bye now. 

20 April 2016

Wedding Update 10: onemustardseed

"Why you need to take engagement photoshoot?"


Why not?

Initially, it was supposed to be for our pre-wedding but later on I realized that we would have to rent our dresses or wear casual style. I have no idea how we finally decided that we want to have a nice-in-bridal-gown-and-coat kind of pre-wedding photoshoot so we just leave that part to My Dream Wedding to settle for us. 


I may have said this too many times, but we both super love the photos that Shaun from onemustardseed has taken of us.

THANK YOU MR TENG! YOU ARE THE BEST YOU KNOW THAT! :)


We met up for lunch on one of the days and after a lot of research, we found this place to be of what we would like our photoshoot to be - rustic-ish and simple. Sekeping Victoria serves not only coffee, tea and drinks but also proper lunch meals like burgers and pastas. 


Okay, I'm not here to promote the food okay. To be honest, their food and me not really at the same page. I don't really like them? 


It was quite a short photoshoot as we did them over lunch but it was enough for us. We had so much laughter doing this, and it's mostly because we all know each other fairly well so yeah. That and we're so awkwardly romantic if I can say that.


Time to let you guys feast your eyes :)









Once again, BIG SHOUT-OUT TO THE MOST AMAZING SHAUN TENG for all the photos! Hah. We love them so much I'm going to print out and stick all of them all over my new room's wall. Heh. Maybe not all since our wall is quite limited, but you get what I mean. Hah. 


Next up, our pre-wedding photoshoot is happening so soon, like in a months' time OH MY GOODNESS I still have the double chin and I don't think it's going to disappear in a months' time.


Thank God for photoshop! HAHA!


Bye now. 

11 April 2016

Wedding Update 9.

We have about five months left before I become a missus and there are a list of things still to be decided. WHY SO MANY THINGS EH?

I shall break them down for easier reading. 

WEDDING CEREMONY

Prepare what again? 

Oh right. We don't know yet who is going to emcee the ceremony (don't know if we need one), how we want to do our marriage union to symbolize unity as one, and what time the whole ceremony will start. 

I am thinking that we don't do it so early so that all our guests can sleep in on a Saturday morning. So caring right this bride and groom? Hah I know I know. 

I'm sorry for those who is expecting to have some kind of brunch served at our ceremony, I would think that most likely we will not have that because that is another money-concerning item and can we stretch some more? I don't think so. Heh. Or maybe we will? See! So many I DON'T KNOWS OH GOODNESS. 

BRIDAL CAR

Hah. This one just pops onto my head, like literally 10 seconds after I finish writing the first one. My ideal car would be those old-rustic-convertibles-or-mini-cooper but I also know that to rent one is going to cause the pocket to koyak lagi besar so I am guessing that it would be one of the Sedan cars that we have or something. 

WEDDING DINNER

What time start also not confirmed yet. I would like to think that all our guests will not be late for our dinner because we will start on time. If really impossible to start on time, the most we would wait for is 30 minutes, but knowing Adrian Koay, we will most likely start on the time that we decide on. He don't like late-comers eh okay. 

WEDDING THEME

We don't really have like a theme's theme for our wedding because we really don't know which one suits us best. All we know is that our ceremony will be rustic-ish and our dinner will be super formal. So, I guess there is some progress?

WEDDING COLORS

There will not be any dress-code (I think! Hah) because it would be too troublesome for our guests to follow according to our colors so it's most likely going to be wear-what-you-want-but-be-super-formal. Heh. 

HONEYMOON

Believe it or not we have finally bought the flight tickets. Such a big headache because we are not going to just one place okay. 

Penang-Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur-Bali
Bali-Lombok
Lombok-Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur-Bali

All with Airasia. Suddenly I'm not looking forward to fly because I super don't like Airasia but what to do since we need to be in the budget. Stress giler. 

The only flight that we have yet to buy is PEN-KUL-PEN, because it was so pricey at that time. About RM150 per person I think. No thanks I will wait for promo time (hopefully).

NEW CRIB

This one only applies for me because I am moving into his crib, so for me it's a new thing. For him, sama je lah. Due to many other commitments, we have yet to own a house but that will happen one day I believe. Raffel we've got our eyes on you yo. 

We decided to renovate our future room and give it a total makeover. The renovation has started on the toilet and we have done some essential home-shopping and got ourselves some really good furniture so we are feeling pretty stoked and broke. Hah. 

BABY PLANS

Oh no no. As much as I would love to be a mother already, I want to maybe travel as much as I can first before the little Koays come along. I teased Koay that we shall start the production next year and he gave me that 'Siau-cha-bor" look. It may seem like I became so desperate at one point. 

But really no rush because I will have a new baby nephew to play with for the next 2 years? I bet my uterus also can wait longer la. Afterall, I'm only twenty-two. Heh. 

SAVE THE DATE

Yes, it's out! 

The designs were lovely BTW so thank you again Mr Tan!

Our save the date card has been sent out to a bunch of people, and they are all in soft copies, usually through Whatsapp or FB Messenger or Email. This is just the simple invitation so that our friends who are currently residing elsewhere may lock their dates earlier and make arrangements should they choose to be at our wedding. 

I believe there are still quite a handful of people that we have yet to send to so just hold on okay. Sorry again for those who did not get the card because I can only invite so many :( Don't be angry with us okay. 

MARRIAGE COUNSELLING

This is starting this week and we have been looking forward to do this with Pastor Cowan since January this year. We are finally able to lock down on a weekly Tuesday. 

Cannot wait for the sessions to start. 

BRIDAL PARTY

Now the headache is this - how am I going to make all my maids wear the same thing without spending money that I currently do not have? They are definitely going to make noise if they were to spend on getting some colored-coordinated clothes. My maids are the worse! KIDDING! I love you all! :) 

Some got brown shoes, some don't have. Some don't even have white shirt. G!

Maybe they should just wear tutu. 

Yes, I am DIY-ing some tutu for photo purposes. Stay tuned! :)

BRIDE AND GROOM

We are feeling pretty okay so far. He is not feeling any urgency yet to rush anything or make any final decisions whereas I am feeling all the stress because I see into the details. He? Umm, making sure I don't spend over the budget? Wait, there's a budget? Hah. 

One thing for sure is that discussing about our 'mini crib' and how we want it to be has brought us closer than ever. It's a very funny feeling. I finally felt so adult-ish to be buying my own furniture and at the same time, picking the furniture or mattress with him brings the joy onto a whole new level. So, it's like I'm not really picking my own bed but co-deciding it with another person and to know that he enjoys the process just as much is just so fulfilling. 

Okaylah, you gonna say we too in love or something but this feeling is so amazing I cannot not talk about it. 

So, if you ask us about us, I would say that we are doing great. More than great! We are looking forward to doing this. I am very excited to sign that paper and nervous. 

Till the next update, stay tuned okay? 

Bye now. 

06 March 2016

Wedding Update 7: Bridal Package from My Dream Wedding.

UPDATED AFTER THE WEDDING

We both agreed with My Dream Wedding was one of the big mistakes that happened - I was super quick to say yes to taking the package from them just because they looked really promising and their shop looked amazing with the dresses on display - only to find out later that whichever wedding gowns you choose that is on display is upon extra charge. Also, I pointed to a dress that I liked and asked if I could have that as part of the package and she gave me a yes. When it was our turn to choose the dresses, they told me that this dress has been off the shelf for so long already. Heh. 

Not only that, we were not allowed to enter the "room" that keeps all their gowns. I only shared with them what some of my preferences were and they were the ones who will bring out the gowns one at a time. I remembered trying less than 15 pieces and they told me that was it. 


Despite screwing with our travelling plans and time in KL, they didn't offer to compensate or add anything. Even when I needed to change a gown last minute, they went ahead to charge me about RM1,000. Customer service, zero. 


Let's not get to the photography itself. Many times, we told the photographer the kind of photos we wanted and not want (like at the beach kind of photo), he insisted that we go ahead and take - wasted our time and energy seriously. 


So, in summary, I will not recommend My Dream Wedding to any couples out there. NEVER. 


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I'm starting to feel that we got a very good deal. I may be wrong though. They may have given more upgrades and complimentary items to other couples. Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I doubting this package? It's already too late now because we've paid for everything already! Oh well. We are happy with what has been given to us. 

I hope this is helpful for all brides-to-be in the future. Something for you all to compare, and hopefully, also successfully demands for more upgrades/complimentary items :)


Also, I will be sharing with you on the overall comments and feedback that I've received since I posted on this. All from people that we know of personally and from our experiences of course :)

Later on that below.

My Dream Wedding @ Bridal Fair Gurney Paragon Mall, Penang
13-14 February 2016


PRE-WEDDING PHOTOSHOOT

Inclusions:

Kuala Lumpur or Penang or any overseas location (if my money grows on tree)
Service of a professional photographer and a make-up artist
3 Deluxe wedding gown
1 Selected Swarovski wedding gown
2 set of tuxedos
1 hand bouquet (artificial flowers)
1 bridal make-up with 4 hairdos
All accessories  and hair veil available for photoshoot day only
Fake eyelashes (the only bridal shop at the bridal fair that includes this)

A selection of 40 poses from 150 shots
40 selected photos in digital file (soft-copy)
12' by 12' wedding album (10 pages - 40 poses) - Cover stand-alone album from HK
8' by 12' soft diamond album (19 out of the 40 selected poses)
24' by 30' printed photo with desired frame
10' by 14' table top photo with desired frame (2 pieces)
50 pieces of 4R (5 out of selected 40 poses)

Exclusions:

Transportation service
Toll and bridge fee
Entrance fee to selected locations (if needed)
Body Foundation
Ampoule (acts like a primer, to hold make-up for a longer time)

ACTUAL WEDDING DAY

Inclusions:

1 Platinum wedding gown
2 Deluxe wedding gown
2 set of tuxedos
2 set of accessories
1 set of car decoration
20' by 30' signature roll for guest
1 DVD slideshows (chosen 40 poses)


Exclusions:

Make-up and hair-do
Body Foundation.
Ampoule (acts like a primer, to hold make-up for longer time)
White bow shirt for groom
Nude bra for bride


It is the most common thing that people shared with us and that would be on the extra expenses that you will find yourself having to pay, that ranges from a higher category of dress that you want or the more photos that you would want to have. Something like that. 

Be very careful with all the extra charges because before you know it, it could mount up to the same cost with the package original price. 

However, we were told by Bennie on some of the things that is not given and will be charged if you choose to have it. 

Extra soft-copy with touch up (RM100 per pose)
Request to change gown after confirmation (RM300 per piece)
Photo-shooting on Saturday, Sunday or Public Holiday (RM250) - waived for us yay!
Extra poses into album and soft-copy with touch up (RM160 per pose).
Early collection of photos in advance (RM500) 

TOTAL DAMAGE: RM4,988 (GST included)

Now that you have known of all the items that is part of the RM4,988 package, I bet you also want to know if the "extra charges on everything" is really true or it's just something that only some people will experience.

Based on our experience, this is very true. I don't know if the consultants earn extra income by up-selling their dresses or photos and even if they don't, they sure seemed really pumped up to get people to pay more.

And I would like to believe that this does not happen to only My Dream Wedding because my sister was with another bridal brand and same case also. Friends using other bridal brands also gave the same advice so I guess this must be the standard "sales & marketing" tactic in the bridal industry.

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Number 1
My Dream Wedding:
Wedding gowns displayed on the shelves are free to choose as part of the package. 

Friend:

All photo-shoot gowns are kept in a room and we're not allowed to go in to choose. They will take them out, batch by batch.

Me:

Wedding gowns displayed outside are only to be selected for actual day wedding, and not for pre-wedding photo-shoot. Extra RM1,000 will be charged if you wish to select from shelves for photo-shoot. We obviously did not choose any from the outside.

Summary:

They tend to be very general with the verbal offerings/deals. ASK MORE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS.

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Number 2
My Dream Wedding:
After all upgrades/additional items mentioned, they casually mentioned about an additional signature roll that they will give just for you. 

Friend:

Yes, we have that.

Me:

Yes too. We realized that we didn't need the signature rolls (which by the way comes in either pink or purple) and asked to change it with a table photo frame. 

Summary:

It's not just for you. Don't be naive, like us. Hah. IT'S ALL PART OF THE PACKAGE ALREADY!Change with another item if you don't need the roll.

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Number 3
My Dream Wedding:
We will upgrade the current big frame to a bigger one and two more smaller frame for table top showcase.

Friend:

They gave me one big frame if I remembered correctly. 

Me:

We were given 1 big and 2 small table top ones, as promised.

Summary:

This one may be dependent on the salesperson that served you. I think in this case we may be given more from others? Again, it may be the same as others.

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Number 4
My Dream Wedding:
You can choose 1 Swarovski wedding dress for the pre-wedding photo-shoot, upgraded from Deluxe.

Friend:

They did not give me any Swarovski wedding gown.

Me:

They presented to us 5 Swarovski wedding dress options to choose from, of which I chose one, after trying all five.

Summary:

They may have again casually mentioned about it. So, you must REMEMBER WHAT YOU'VE BEEN TOLD AND ASK FOR IT. 

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Number 5
My Dream Wedding:
In Malaysia, you can opt to take your pre-wedding photos either here in Penang or in KL. Discussion will be made in KL office if you wish to do it there.

Me:

Okay! As excited as we were, they did not mention anything about photographer and makeup artist having no transport. They only just say 'transportation service is not included' to which of course we understood as our own transport. Turns out, we actually have to fetch their crews around.

Summary:

ASK MORE QUESTIONS. DO NOT ASSUME IT'S PROVIDED JUST BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T TALK ABOUT IT. 

I'm beyond thankful that people shared their experiences with me, because if not, we wouldn't have known about having to transport their photographer and makeup artist, using our own car yes. 


This is actually not like a really bad comment. It's just they should have talked us through on this. 


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Number 6
My Dream Wedding:
Try the wedding dresses and choose the one you like for the actual wedding day, and we will book it for you.

Friend's Direct Friend:

A week before our wedding, they called and told us that the dress we originally booked earlier has been booked by other couple and that we had to choose another dress, which also means additional costs. We ended up paying extra RM6,500 because it was a week before the wedding and we panicked. 

Me:

This sounds insane. This is so not right and this is not the way to earn money okay. Now that we've been warned on this, we are making sure that we book our dresses earlier and make sure this doesn't happen by writing it out on the deal after choosing the dress. If not, I'm going to call all my lawyer friends on this. Hah. Judson, be on a standby okay? Heh. 

Summary:

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THEIR 'PROMISES'.

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Number 7
My Dream Wedding:
Promised that the exact location that we wanted to have our photoshoot at was available and need no prior appointment or entrance fee.

Me:

You can read the entire post on the incident here. Madness. 

Summary:

I think they were taking things quite lightly and not double-check on these locations. You should make sure with the team. 

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Number 8
My Dream Wedding:
Choosing gowns for actual day ceremony and dinner. 2 pieces from normal selection and 1 from Platinum series. Groom gets 2 sets of tuxedo. 

Me:

I knew what color I wanted so it was easier to narrow down the dresses. I saw one that I realy really loved but was told that someone else have booked it. Boo! So, proceed to try on other dresses and felt that they didn't have a lot of choices. Most gowns were kept in a room and only staffs can enter the room. The gowns displayed outside is quite limited, especially the Platinum series one. I left the shop feeling like there should be more dresses that I could choose from. Maybe because of the color that I chose. Hm.

For the tuxedos, please do not expect to get the nice formal typical type of tuxedo. It's either long tail tux or patterned tux. Not many choices to choose from to be honest.


Summary:

You should maybe have other colors in mind when selecting the dresses as they really do have quite limited choices, and I wouldn't say that their designs are spectacular. I was not very impressed. 

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Number 9
My Dream Wedding:
Making appointments for photo-choosing and gown-selecting. 

Me:

It was quite difficult for us to make date/time appointment as we both only can go after 530pm on weekdays and they are usually full on weekends, but I was quite impressed on their service because they were very helpful to make it work for both of us, so win.

Summary:

I think their business is doing really well because there's always so many people in and out of the shop whenever we were there. However, their service is pretty good. I like! 

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Number 10
My Dream Wedding:
Making appointments for photo-choosing and gown-selecting. 

My sister:

You will find it very difficult to choose photos within the limit and they will sell to you per piece basis and offer you "special" package. 

Me:

This was so funny. There were so many of you who warned us on this and told us that it's almost impossible to choose only 40 photos and once we both disagree, they will come out with special offers. Thanks to you guys, we were mentally prepared to choose only 40 photos. The consultant tried to convince us on some photos that we didn't want because we got chun-chun 40 photos. She even tried to sell us a special package of RM1,000 for a huge plain light brown wood frame with 10 extra photos. SIAU MEH! We were shocked at the price that she mentioned. She lowered it down to I think about RM300 but it was a no for us. We were not going to spend more money on this. Hello. We already spent RM5,000 on this entire thing so no thanks.

Summary:

Before you select the photos with your better-half, please discuss and agree on what you guys really want. It will really help with the entire process. It's like once both of you are on the same page, no one else can be featured in that page. Stand strong people! :)

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I guess if we could give a summary of it, we won't say we hate to the core of the services provided by My Dream Wedding. I think they are not perfect and they are probably not looking into becoming the best bridal brand in Penang. I think they have accepted too many clients that they should because their dresses seems to always be very limited due to the reason 'someone else have booked it'.

I don't know. I may not be fair to them by saying that.

I have people emailing me to ask on whether they should choose My Dream Wedding and it's the one question that I cannot give an answer to.

I feel that people will most likely be drawn to them because of the posh image that they try to portray. Just a look at their shops and you will feel like this bridal company confirm is famous/popular/well-to-do and with the price that they offer, you will feel like it's a good catch. 

Is it really a good catch? 

If I was given another choice, I would survey around more before deciding. They won my vote (in the beginning) because they took us to their shop and showed us all the fancy dresses and their 'quite-glamour' looking shop. Immediately I felt so princess-ish. Hah. 

But all is good with us because we're not haters like that. Heh. 

If you feel like this is the one, then this is the one. Despite all the negative feedback from people, you just need to make sure you do your part and be very careful because all bridal shops tend to have the same 'behavior'. Hah.

ENJOY EVERY BIT OF THIS PLANNING OKAY?

Fun times ahead :)

I decided to update on this post with more experience-sharing so you will not go through the same thing we did. Despite all the things that we went through with them, I think in the end it's where you stand and how you "take care" of yourself that will make all the difference. Heh. For our case, I'm thankful that we're not the kind of people who will demand for a lot of things when they screw something up or show angry faces whenever they sort of disappoint us. 



22 February 2016

Wedding Update 6: My Dream Wedding.

UPDATED AFTER THE WEDDING

We both agreed with My Dream Wedding was one of the big mistakes that happened - I was super quick to say yes to taking the package from them just because they looked really promising and their shop looked amazing with the dresses on display - only to find out later that whichever wedding gowns you choose that is on display is upon extra charge. Also, I pointed to a dress that I liked and asked if I could have that as part of the package and she gave me a yes. When it was our turn to choose the dresses, they told me that this dress has been off the shelf for so long already. Heh. 

Not only that, we were not allowed to enter the "room" that keeps all their gowns. I only shared with them what some of my preferences were and they were the ones who will bring out the gowns one at a time. I remembered trying less than 15 pieces and they told me that was it. 


Despite screwing with our travelling plans and time in KL, they didn't offer to compensate or add anything. Even when I needed to change a gown last minute, they went ahead to charge me about RM1,000. Customer service, zero. 


Let's not get to the photography itself. Many times, we told the photographer the kind of photos we wanted and not want (like at the beach kind of photo), he insisted that we go ahead and take - wasted our time and energy seriously. 


So, in summary, I will not recommend My Dream Wedding to any couples out there. NEVER. 


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I've mentioned on Wedding Update 5 that I would spend more time updating one solely post on how we got to this bridal shop. Also, check out Wedding Update 7 to know more. 

I don't think there is any couple that we know of who are so chillax when it comes to this part. We didn't bother looking out at different bridal shops/packages until when I happened to know of a Bridal Fair at Paragon Mall last week. 

That also I casually told Mut if he wants to drop by Paragon Mall and just to do some survey on it. I guess thankfully he did and we decided to take 3 hours off our Sunday noon and checked the fair out. 

In the beginning, we didn't think that it was already late for us to sign a bridal package despite marrying each other in September. It was until when every vendor that we talked to gave us that shocking expression that made us realized that we should quickly deal with this and not delay any longer. Heh. 

The first bridal brand that we stopped at was Kuang Yee Bridal Collection. To be honest, I think they spent too much time talking about how new their new studio is and how they have another upcoming one. I think their idea of building all the outdoor 'seasons and styles' into their indoor studio is genius because not everyone can afford to fly to Japan to capture snowy-shots. 

For us, we wanted everything outdoor. No roof. Yes to the sun and yes sweat all. We do not want the snow experience if it was going to be a fake one. So, I guess for this, it wasn't a selling point for me. Most of their concept is Korean-based and we do not really like that.

Oh and also they kept showing us a lot of similar photos (same locations) and stressing that those are not models because models will look too good to be true. But who knows right? Heh. 

When we were about to leave to another bridal brand, the lady-boss came and sat next to Koay. She started offering exclusive items like upgrading my dress to a Designer's level and giving us more frames/photos. 

With that, she wanted a small favor from both of us. 


"I want to feature you both inside our 'promotional items' because I love the way you both looked like a couple. Very loving!"

Something like that along the line. 

Straight shocked. Bangga a bit la but mostly shocked for someone to say that. She then turned to Koay and asked if he's a professional model because he's very handsome. PANDAI CAKAP TO THE MAX. 

After that, we walked to Anovia and Obsidian and spent quite some time in both places. Most of the packages are the same and their price ranges around RM3999 - RM4999. Must plus GST on top of that some more okay. 

At this point, we were both so mentally exhausted. We went for a quick toilet break and that was when I realized that Koay preferred Kuang Yee Bridal Collection. Aunty knows how to do sales I tell you. She immediately got Koay's heart after all the handsome face and model. Hah. So funny. Adrian Koay will deny all these 'accusations' that I just made, but we all know deeply that compliments like these usually will affect one's decisions. HAHA!

Anyway, we decided that we would go for one more before deciding. We kinda had to decide that day because the promotion ends then. 

We walked over to My Dream Wedding, which I have been eyeing from the start because the booth's set-up is pretty nice. Their backdrop photo also damn chun. 

We sat down and a lady came and gave us a few albums to look at without saying much really. It's as though she was observing what kind of a couple we were and sell her package accordingly. 

We opened the albums and immediately I was almost sold. Their outdoor photos were nothing like what we've seen so far and they are all unique and amazing. Koay felt the same. She asked us more questions related to preferences and style. Then, she offered us to the shop to take a look at the wedding gowns and tuxedos before saying yes. 

We were not going to say yes so fast okay. She hasn't even told us the price yet. 

As we were walking up (yes their shop is at Gurney Paragon Mall), she casually mentioned a few upgrades that she would give to us provided we sign the package that day and one of which got my attention was the upgrade to their most exclusive collection, the Platinum.

More on that details next time okay. 

We walked around in the shop and realized that I was falling in love with this brand even more. I didn't say it out because I didn't want Koay to make a decision based on how I feel. It was more on what we both think of the price and items given. 

We put on our poker face and as we talked even more on the package, the lady named Bennie kept adding complimentary upgrades for our package. 

Maybe it's supposed to already be in the package but from what we gathered, at that time My Dream Wedding seemed to be offering more complimentary upgrades compared to other bridal shops.

Also, the best part is that our photo-shoot will not be in Penang, which was what we really wanted. We love our little island but in terms of photo-shooting, every place doesn't seem that unique anymore. 

After all the talking, I looked at Koay and was looking into doing a bit more discussion.



"Go ahead with it babe. Just take this one!"

I straight opened my eyes so big that it's bigger than goldfish's. I kid you not. It's not a small amount okay, but I have to admit that deep inside my heart, I wanted the package too. The concept and style is very 'us'. 

I am very blessed to be marrying this man and I must have been doing things right (heh) because for Koay to seal this deal without a long time to consider is just almost impossible. 

To be honest, he did look a little worried later that day because we do not have all the money in the world and every time we spend on something else (wedding-related), it pains the pocket a little more. 

But you know what?

He called the next morning and told me that it's all okay and that he wants to make me the happiest girl on that day because this is once in a lifetime event and as long as I'm happy, he would be also. 

I straight cry.

Okay, I did not cry lah but it was really sweet for him to say that. So not him by the way. Money is not the thing that makes me/us happy. For me, as long as I have him beside me, I'm happy :)

So, there you have it. 

I will probably share more on the price and what we've got in the whole package next time. A big item is ticked and we're somehow glad that it's done deal.

Except for the fact that this year, I can no longer plan for any holidays :( Moolahs no more.