Actively searching for BS now - Thread for sharing

[felicity]

hi gals
i am actively searching for a BS now. so far I have visited dang, sil, ted wu, fred lee, kai.
i am thinking of paying a visit to jawn.
i hope to find gals also shopping for bs to compare notes... perhaps we can share and discuss here what we tot of the bs styles as well as what hidden costs etc to look out for and what questions to ask in making a choice...

anyone care to join?

 

[genesisgalaxy]

hi anna, my advice to u wld be to sign up for photography separately. This is especially so if you are considering photographers like Chris Ling, Andrew Choi, Studio D'fia, Utopia, etc. In doing so, you'd be eligible for promotional offers given directly by the photographers instead of being held ransom by the fixed package pegged together with the BS.

all the best! =)

 

[ayane]

Hi anna,

Thanks for starting this thread! hv also just started my search for BS, and it's an uphill task man!

So far have seen Bridal Veil's fashion show (not too too impressed by the gowns modelled, but hv heard gd comments abt them from frens who hv used them). Also tried on a gown from Irene's creation, but they were slightly more pushy than i thot they wld be, so didnt stay very long. Am also thinking of visiting jawn.

How were your experiences with those you have visited? kai is one of my shortlisted BS - can u share on the style of gowns and prices for their packages?

hi genesis,

i wld hv thot we wld be able to get better deals if we sign them up thru the BS than walking in to the photography directly, no?

 

[ashly]

ayane,

From my personal experience, I feel that we get a better rate for higher end photographers when we go for BS that tie up with them rather than separately. I've done some enquiries and I realised that I'll get a better deal (in terms of rate and no. of pics) if I go for BS tied up with the photographer I want.

 

[timminbuzz]

hi anna...

thanks for starting this thread. i've been wanting to find out how other gals are doing shopping for their BS.

I'm thinking of a bustier with half body french lace. Dutchess satin. Anyone knows where I can get a nice one done with a affordable price tag?

 

[ashly]

Hi tim or buzz,
I should think The Wedding Present like to use the two materials you mentioned. You might want to drop by there.

 

[toot]

Hi anna

Just a note, from my BS shopping I realise there is 2 types of BS :
1. Designer BS
They concentrate mainly on the clothings i.e. gowns or suits, some of them even outsource the suit makings. For these BS, they will most likely tie up with independent photographers, make up artists as well as florist.
2. One stop BS
They offer everything and thus everything is in-house creation starting from photos, make up artists to florist.

It depends what you are looking for. Some of my friends doesn't want to fuss so they prefer to go for a one-stop type. Designer BS will tend to cost more off course as they tie up with high end photogs normally.

From the list of BS that you have gone to, seems like ur going for designer BS. Then if you want to MTM ur wedding gown, it's important that you like most of the gowns that they have in their BS as that actually gives u a feeling on their designs. Oh, and also u must be comfortable with the designer =). Some designers even design a sketch for you even before u sign up..

Hi timminbuzz,

Try giving Amanda Lee a visit...She did some gowns using those 2 materials i believe...=)

 

[danlian]

Hi gals

I am also looking for BS now. Also can't decide which BS to choose.

 

[ashly]

I was also having a hard time deciding on my BS. But one of the brides here mentioned that the first thing to look out for is the gowns. If you like their gowns, then there's little question about it. Second comes the photography.

For me, both gowns and photography are impt to me. I'm quite an idiot at makeup. So I wasn't concerned over the makeup artists they tie up with.

Most importantly, pls DO NOT place a deposit with those boutiques which ask you to make up your mind on the very day you step into their shop, no matter what they say. They love to use lines like,"The promotion that I give you is only valid for today. If you come back another day, you won't get the same deal again." That's the red light signal for you to flee from that shop. Trust me. I've had enough experiences to type this down.

 

[danlian]

Asley

I agreed with you. To me both gown and photography are equally important to me

I also dun like those who kept pestering you to sign for their package

 

[timminbuzz]

hi ladies...
Thanks for all the info. Will check them out. When are all of you getting married?

 

[snowy_casper]

Hello every hard time finders,

I have just signed up UBS.
Had a hard time finding.... but i realise the more u find, the more u compare & more blur u are.
Therefore, is best that u go to a few BS (abt 5 or so) do the choosing from there.
You can hardly find 1 that suit all your requirements.
Is either this BS have this n w/o that.
Choose the one close to your expectation will be gd.

 

[ashly]

I'll be tying the knot in Dec.

Snowy_casper,
I dun quite agree with you actually on shopping for BS. The more I explored my options, the more I became more certain abt the BS I wanted. But yes, 5 or so is good enough.

 

[han_evonne]

Hi gals

I'm looking for BS as getting maried in Feb 2006. Is it too soon to start looking around? I am not so keen to shop too many and wouldn't mind signing up with them if they have what I want. Can share which BS you gals had been to? I've shortlisted one to go but hope to visit 1 or 2 BS before them. Thanks for helping

 

[jozy]

HI Evonne, I am also getting married in Feb 06 and in fact, time is running out for us, and I am rushing to see BS every weekend this month.

Nearly most BS told me considering the fact that our wedding will be after next yr's CNY, BS and photographers may take long break. As such, the photoshoot should be recommended to be taken in Oct/Nov.

Therefore, if you are to take a MTM gown, you need at least another 3-4 more mths so it means we have to confirm a BS in May/june time.

 

[royndor]

Hi ladies!

It took me quite awhile before deciding.

Take your time.. for those in begining of next year & wanna MTM their gowns, try to decide by may lor.. coz need to discuss abt e design n chose material etc etc...

I went 14BS before shortlisting 3 to my FH.

then we went to all 3 tgt.. then we decide...

btw, i chose Jess Haute Couture...(Jessica's not pushy, designer boutique but with in-house photographer.. very personalised service.)

 

[royndor]

Hi Snowy_Casper,

I dun really agree with you. I do agree with AShley. In fact the more you go, the more you'll realise wat you want.

Like me, I do visit BS from Tg Pagar, some 'reputable' ones... so from all these I do make notes and see wat are the things the BS can provide me.. wat are the things that I dun need. I even got a fren who went more than 20 BS.. before finalising..

jus my 2cents worth of comments... keke

 

[limko]

Hi Anna,

Really glad that you started this thread! Just looking at the enormous number of threads on individual BS are enough to give me headache.

I think I prefer one stop BS, save all trouble of having to coordinate between the two. However, it is probably true that these places will specialise in either photography or gowns so it is hard to get the best of what you want.

I have not actually started to search for BS but would be glad to listen to other bride's experiences.

 

[ayane]

hi Ashley,

I am like you! gown and photography are impt to me, and i know nuts about makeup, haha! so which BS have you chosen?

hi sirod,

haha, i think it was a really good idea that you went to look at the 14 BSs first and then went with your FH to the 3 you shortlisted, very clever!

my poor FH has been trying very hard to be enthusiastic about the BS selection and I dun blame him esp when i find it so hard to decide myself! alot of BS have their own distinct styles of gowns which i find attractive, but i have not found one which calls out to me yet.. maybe i am fussy, but still searching for The One BS, haha!

 

[dxoxb2005]

Generally, if find that those BS at tg pagar are very pushy.

I find Camellia's service is good and helpful. They have very good and creatives suggesiton that help you to avoid making mistake on the big day.

 

[jozy]

harlow

I am also sourcing for BS already and just to share with those who intend to go shopping for BS.

For chinatown area, you can go Siverlining> Dang> Wedding present cum empire>Flamingo(train to tanjong pagar) All these can be done within half a day, say start from 10am. Very fun and flamingo is very willing to let you try the different gowns. They make me feel so at ease.

 

[choc_cowgirl]

Just wanted to add on....I got turned off by pushy Tanjong Pagar BS - not saying that they are all like that, but quite a few are.
For Silverlining like what Rainne said, you should get an appt first, it tends to be quite busy, no appt, you may not get to try on anything.

 

[jozy]

Hi choco

i didn't get to try anything on my first visit leh, dare not ask, all the gowns look so small size leh.

 

[ashly]

Actually, I would much prefer to look at 20 BS if possible, but my bf is not keen on it. He prefers to sign on with whichever boutique can give us what we NEED (hello, every boutique is able to give you a wedding gown and photography!) We made some bad mistakes on the way bcos of his mentality and lack of experience. But eventually, I signed up with Divine. How abt yourself, ayane?

 

[han_evonne]

Hi Rainne

Thanks for your advice. Lately, by chance I had been to 5-6 BS. Actually wanted to go only 2-3 BS only... Currently, I have short listed only The Wedding Present and thought of going with Utopia photography. However, pricing quite steep though if both add up

... so still considering hard. My last stop going to Precious Moment which heard a lot of good comments from other brides. I would want to see their gowns and photos before making a final decision.

Which BS have you shortlist?

 

[choc_cowgirl]

Rainne, did you book an appt with jit then? If you did, he would have allowed you to try them on? Maybe you should have asked him if he had any about your size? I think I tried on like 4 at my first appt, and another few more when I went for the design appts. He is very nice, you can really see the beauty of his pieces once you put them on.

 

[jozy]

Hi evonne,

Yeah, feel that TWP price is quite steep though.
Maybe you can try those few I have mentioned at china town, they tie with wellknown photographers and price for a MTM with photo range from $4188 to $4388 for different BS.

Have shorlisted siverlining, flamingo. Have to forgot ritz though I love their gowns alot alot, but their pacakge without photograhy is rather expensive...

I'm intending to visit jawn happy ever after, silhouette and julia wedding news.

 

[smokeyeyes]

hi there

i am thinking of getting good photography like chris ling or utopia or O studio or equivalent & getting the gown from any other BS.. would it be cheaper or more expensive?? or should i stick to a one-stop BS?

I think i would like beautiful pictures than gowns... pictures more important.

any advices?

TIA

 

[jozy]

Hi vonn,

from what i gather, it seems to me for MTM packages, it is better to get from BS that ties with these well known photographers.

For OTR, not very sure, coz I didn't see.

 

[ayane]

Hi Ashley,

unfortunately, I have not been very hardworking at visiting BSs, haha. dragged my FH to a couple of wedding shows and then we kinda got bored. i kinda like BV's gowns cos they are simple but haven gone down to try yet. Visited Divine, but cos we didnt make an appt, i didnt get to try on any gowns.

Think its gg to be hard to decide cos i am particular about the gown and FH is particular about the photographer..

Have you chosen a photographer? We sam Beetles@work portfolio at the glamour bash last sun and were quite impressed by it. think they are having a promo with Divine currently. did u check it out?

 

[royndor]

hi ayane,

i think its better to visit with a fren/alone without FH. coz you get to see e style (gowns) etc and need not commit on the spot. anyway some1 tot me that! kekeke

I find some BS can really hold on to you til you cannot brief.

if you are one who are more concern abt gowns, can go and try all those boutique BS rather than those 1 stop BS. then norm they have rather reputable photographer tie up with their BS.

I'm more concern abt gowns and as for my FH, he doesn't even wan pics... heehee to please me he jus agreed to the minimum.. he only wanna mtm a stylo milo suit... n my BS is able to do so and willing to rent him more suits on actual day ie 1 more suit.

ps: norm boutiques/coutures are not that pushy, do make an appt so that they can attend to you whole-heartedly

jus another 2cents worth of comment.

 

[royndor]

hi ayane,

i think its better to visit with a fren/alone without FH. coz you get to see e style (gowns) etc and need not commit on the spot. anyway some1 tot me that! kekeke

I find some BS can really hold on to you til you cannot breathe

if you are one who are more concern abt gowns, can go and try all those boutique BS rather than those 1 stop BS. then norm they have rather reputable photographer tie up with their BS.

I'm more concern abt gowns and as for my FH, he doesn't even wan pics... heehee to please me he jus agreed to the minimum.. he only wanna mtm a stylo milo suit... n my BS is able to do so and willing to rent him more suits on actual day ie 1 more suit.

ps: norm boutiques/coutures are not that pushy, do make an appt so that they can attend to you whole-heartedly

jus another 2cents worth of comment.

 

[ashly]

Ayane,

Haven't you heard? BV's service sucks. I thought the gowns are nice from the advertisements on the mags but the comments from other brides don't seem to be very favourable. One of them even said that her friend called it BV torment I think or something to that effect.

It's such a shame that you didn't get to try on Divine's. Yes, I've heard that they don't attend to you if there's no appointment made. My bf (yes, it's my bf) loves their gowns so much that he said that he only wants to see me in a Divine gown.

I'm still thinking abt the photographers. I quite like Chris Ling but Beetles@work doesn't look too bad either. Besides, Beetles also allow in-and-outdoor MTV ... Chris Ling's is not so comfortable with it. I don't get to view a lot of Beetles' works, but from what I've seen, most shots are posed shots with couples facing the camera.

I'm still thinking la!!!

 

[ayane]

Hi Ashley,

i did read about some negative feedback on BV in the forum, but I have yet to visit them myself, so dun really wanna pass judgement yet. msot of the comments were mixed tho, so if i do get sucky service, then its too bad for them cos they can forget about my biz, haha!

I spoke to Kim at Divine who was nice.. but i didnt realise that Helen was actually the designer! who is taking care of you at divine?

btw, i must say u are really lucky that you bf has an opinion on the gowns..

i would be lucky to even get some comments from mine, sigh.

as for the photographer, my bf had a preference for Chris Ling's pictures too, but they came across as being rather snooty, and din get a chance to meet chris himself so cant decide yet. on the other hand, spoke to all the photographers from beetles, other than kim himself (the boss), all the other 3 photographers were very easy-going. from all these experience, i realise that besides looking at the photos themselves, its impt to like or at least be able to get along with the photographer too.

u dun like the couple facing the camera?

Sirod,

yah, have decided to do just that! am arranging to go and try gowns with some gfs first

any to recommend?? my fren is interested in The Wedding Present so i will probably tag along. btw, would u consider TWP a 1-stop or a boutique BS? i find some BS hard to differentiate ;p

 

[royndor]

Hi ayane,

hmm... some not bad... in fact u can try J&C Collections, designer Cynthia a nice lady too with her asst. if not graceful image or Dang all these are designer boutiques... among here only graceful image i din manage to try on...

TWP, i din go becoz e other time I was pretty busy.. ;p

if not Jawn.Happy.Ever.After not bad also, the designers there very friendly...

samples of pics are real couples rather than some will only show u models shoots.

 

[ashly]

Ayane,

Helen is one of the designers. Kim herself is also one of them. Yah, she looks like she's very nice but since Helen was attending to me when I first visited them, I just went with her.

You're quite right abt CL's photographers ... I do detect some kinda vibes from them ... Ya, I don't want to have too many facing the camera shots, nor do I want too many profile shots, that's why I'm still thinking.
Have heard alot abt Jawn Happy Ever After, but my bf is not keen to visit any more boutiques so got to let go.

 

[imhappybabe]

Hi gals

I were just like anyone of you shopping around for too many BS. My AD is 8 October 2005 and started shopping for months. Experienced some poor service from some BS who are damn practical to treat me like shit at that point when they knew my FH and I will walked away without signing up their packages... most refused to let me try gowns. I called them really hard sell and cheapo!

With no regrets but lots of compliments to my current BS... at Precious Moment Bridal, they won our business! I'd signed my package with Precious Moment Bridal on our visit days itself due to their nice attitiude...nice gowns and nice photos. Had went for our first appointment...with out hesitation, both my FH and I each will give them 2 big thumbs of up

! If you want a good package (not too expensive) with good service, nice gowns and photos, check them out. Trust me, we also visited a lot of BS before deciding Precious Moment Bridal. They have a one-time $1995 package w/o car but tea dress is inclusived. I spent $3305 for 35 pics and their OTR gowns are nice to win brides' hearts. I am not promoting PMB hahaha...... I mainly want to share my good experiences here

.

 

[choc_cowgirl]

Hello...I think the more 'reputable' BS tend to be less pushy and allow you to try on a few gowns. I had no problems when I visited Silverlining, Kai couture, Ted Wu....all very professional...but you need to fix appt of cos. I visited some BS in tanjong pagar area and was turned off by pushy and desperate salespersons. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[jozy]

hi chocolate cowgirl,

can share who you sign up with eventually?

For Jit, nope, I didn' try on any gowns on my 1st visit at all. My first visit lasted abt 45 mins only, and he only showed me the gowns one by one. I have shortlisted siverling, flamingo and silhouette. The only thing abt SL is that evening gowns we dun get to keep leh. Pro point is that we can MTM a teadress cheaper. I forgot if there is rental of kua not, can you recall?

 

[choc_cowgirl]

Hi ryes, I'm not keen on jua, so I didn't ask Jit, but I have seen kuas as silverlining before, I know he doesn't like kuas, but I think he has some for rental - maybe you should ask him.
I signed up with Silverlining eventually - for me I couldn't decide btwn ted wu and silverlining, took me a couple of weeks to decide!

Ryes, I think flamingo and silhouette tends to have more simple and classic pieces while silverlining is more dreamy and low backs - why don't you decide on what type of gowns you prefer.
For me I'm ok not keeping WG and EG as it will be too elaborate for me to wear for dinners anyway.

 

[wacky]

hi ladies,

It's always good to find out more info on the BS in-house designer portfolio and tied-up photograher and MUA b4 signing up any package. Which I did not do so.... sort of worried now.

Hope my 1st stop BS will not disappoint me.

 

[jozy]

hi chocolate cowgirl,

I like the dreamy low back gowns too and flamingo, silhouette and siverlining can do all those, although SL can do much better of course. That was why I had shortlisted sl in the first place.

Nonetheless, i shall view the photographers before making a decision which to sign up with. If FH allows me to splurge, then I will pick silhouette. If no, then is either flamingo or siverlining...But I will top up to keep EG and WG...
which photographer did you choose with?

 

[choc_cowgirl]

hi ryes, I did not go for photography in the package as I already knew who I wanted for photography before BS searching. My PS photographer is ray ong from photolanguage, AD photographers are meng and his associate from imagegarden photography. My photography is ala carte. It was too bad that silverlining does not tie up with ray.

 

[jozy]

oh ray ong! heard lots of raves abt him too! how much is his package? expensive not??

 

[choc_cowgirl]

hey ryes, his PS is or was $2.8K for 36 pages. We also intend to fly him overseas and also get an extra collage. He is probably higher end in pricing? I didn't source for more, cos I had to have him for PS. Heehee.

 

[jozy]

wah, he sure is expensive leh, at 2.8K....but he is very good no doubt.

 

[choc_cowgirl]

he ties up with flamingo, ted wu, amanda lee and kai couture...so over at those 4 BS you can get a better PS deal for ray.

 

[jozy]

hey chocolate cowgirl,

today I had signed up with O studio already...

 

[choc_cowgirl]

hi ryes, they are good too, saw some of their albums at silverlining also.

Did you sign thru the BS?

 

[jozy]

really good? coz hor, I am gg to spend quite a bomb on my wedding gown and the least i want is not being able to capture the little details such as beadings of my gowns in my shoots leh...

coz i saw those B/W hor, is like over exposed leh, so I intend to convey what i want to jaki..

I didn't sign up with the BS....