Any Brides whose HTB is 'Ang Mo'?

[frogprincess]

Morning Honeygem - The Singapore wedding is on 22 Jan 05, forgive me if I sound like whiners-are-us, but the list of woes roughly read as follows: we still have no photographer (though I am sorting that out now) We have no wedding cake yet. FH and I are meeting baker only tonight to discuss the intricacies of rolled fondant. We are still fighting with the hotel about how to serve vegetarians and/or muslims, we have NOT finished sending out our wedding invitations, FH has no shoes, no tie and no cuff links, we have no wedding bands, I have not picked up the various useless bits and bobs of jewellry that my mother ordered made for me. We are meeting with French Embassy on Monday to try to settle our stupid papers, I need to get translations for everything, my HSMP application is still pending review by the stupid UK Home office, I cannot find an earlier deed poll which shows my parents changing my name when I was 5 years old, so we have to try explain to the embassy why my birth cert name is different from my IC and passport.

To top it all off, I am still 5 kilos over what I intended to be..

In short, our total preparation for our life together can be counterbalanced only by the total lack of preparation for the wedding.

Update on Slime situation, nice French girl has said she will come only for our French wedding so that Slime and his squeeze can come to Singpaore.

I am currently going through the discussion about do I take his name or can we have a hypenated name or whatever, so Honeygem, if you don't mind sharing the story about FH's "sound argument" tell me what I can expect. kekeke...

 

[frogprincess]

I know this is real sad, but when wedding preps and all get too much I look at his baby photos, which his parents emailed us for our slide-show thingie. I know I will sound way too clucky but hey look at this!!

 

[honeygem]

FROGPRINCESS!!! you are my twinnie!!

Im on jan 22nd too!!!

havent bought wedding bands. FH havent bought his attire. We havent sorted our attendants' attire.

Our day reception is sorted but our cocktail venue hasnt event been signed off.

Basically, Im in the same boat as you. Although I feel FH & I are a bit too cool with all the last min arrangements.

 

[honeygem]

his argument is - If he can make the 'sacrifices' to ensure the wedding goes as planned, to make my parents proud and happy, and ultimately for me to be happy, then the least that I can do is to take his name and be proud of it. As a family unit.

If he can adopt aspects of my traditions for us to receive all the apppropriate blessings. Then I should compromise and take that part of his family tradition to take on his name. Give and take, he says.

I didnt want a foreign sounding name, if you know what I mean. Can never imagine that before. Took me months and months to reach this decision. But slowly, I'm rationalising it as this - It's my wedding present to him. So that he'll also be happy.

It's a good start to the give and take stance huh? haha

I was okay with the hyphenated surname but FH is not keen on it. He reckons it's just trying to be posh. In the end, I decided to keep my maiden name as my middle name.

But I think this should be your personal choice. Very much up to you.

 

[honeygem]

is that him?? Baby pics are a cute idea. Does he still like his sweets and cakes

And where's yours?

 

[honeygem]

Another issue I have is with the wedding band. I know it sounds very trivial but, do you put your wedding band on top of your engagement ring? Or will you wear your engagement ring on your right hand instead?

 

[frogprincess]

Twins indeed!!

Hallo my dear honeygem. Yep we are in the same canoe alright. (I dunno about you but sometimes I think I am up a certain creek without a paddle) But last minute arrangements being what they are, I am sure that everything falls into place at the end.

Thanks for sharing your story about the name-change. This whole name change thing is just too much additional aggro for me to handle at this moment. I will just think about it after June in France. Example of French admin aggro is this pre-wedding contract which the French embassy makes you go through. I am pretty upset (dunno why) that I have to state which law you want applied to my marriage in the event of our divorce and whether we will divide our assets in half and stuff like that.

By the way this dumb Thai girlfriend invitation issue was actually one of the many times where we just agreed to disagree. So yes, give and take is always good. There are LOTS of his ang-mo friends have girlfriends that seriously annoy me.

I think I must have insecurities about being labelled an SPG. I have absolutely no idea why I have issues but I just do, and I am so glad for this forum where I meet other multi-racial couples who possibly face similar situations, so that I KNOW that I am not paddling up said creek all by my/our lonely selves. Row row row yer boat...

 

[frogprincess]

Yes, engagement ring. Well, I am quite
"chor loh" so I originally wanted to wear only wedding band and leave engagement ring at home. But FH is slighlty non-plussed at this, so we have decided to custom make platinum bands (a very thin one for me) so that i wear the thin band on same finger as engagment ring. Hope this helps?

 

[honeygem]

a pre wedding contract? wow, they actually make you think of all that asset divisions etc? That should be hard to ponder when registering for a marriage!

 

[honeygem]

you'd better get the rings customised soon as they usually need 3 weeks to get one done...

FH chose his weeks ago. Mine is still up in the air... We've decided not to have matching ones.

 

[frogprincess]

Honeygem, thanks for the 3 week waiting period tip.. Hmmm maybe we can "borrow" someone elses wedding bands to exchange just for the ceremony before our customised ones appear? Dunno lah Where did your FH choose his? The pre-wedding contract is something the French admin requires. Sannie probably can say more about it.

Yep agree that baby photos are cute and our good friend is helping us prepare the slide show to entertain guests whilst waiting for the food and other guests to arrive!

 

[tootsieroll]

Hmm, I'm thinking about this deed poll thing, still not a clue - I suppose I've settled on the idea that I will take his name, since a double barreled one sounds yuk (2 monosyllables do not match), and I'm not sure a cheena surname fits with an ang mo one. Question: Do you have to give any notice to change surname or can you just do it anytime after the solemnisation? Also, do you do it in singapore or the overseas country?

Sorry for the qs, i'm still rather blue

 

[sannie]

ribbit,

for a moment i was wondering how you know our lastname.... until i saw that it was on the website. DUH.

I used to get upset when my "toopid" (i call him that affectionately) DH will call me his little SPG!!! I'll scream back "I'M NOT AN SPG!!!" stupid men.... especially when a few of his friends did have SPG girlfriends. anyways, now i dun care anymore plus we're not living in sg so this silly joke never surface. And of cos, living in TO means there are TONS and TONS of mix couples around, including the other way round, ang mo girls with chinese men.

as for the contract, yes we did go through that. we went to my hubby's family lawyer to get it done. well, they are concern cos french law and singapore law is different and in our case, even though we got married in france, our country of residence is canada and i'm singaporean, it makes it WAY MORE complicated. all three laws could apply and i guess they want to prevent complication when and if something happens. it does not only apply to divorce, but also what if you have children and one party dies, what happens, if both dies and have kids, what happen etc etc.... very complex. i didn't bother, just sign to say french law rules. anyways, french law is very protective of females (as explained by the lawyer).


tootsieroll,

you get the deed poll done in sg. cos it is for all your legal documents, e.g. IC, drivers license etc. i never had my name legally changed. however, i just took on his lastname for work use here. heehee.... so effectively back in sg, i am still a miss (i never informed ROM too), only a MRS in france and canada.


honeygem/ribbit,

jan 22 is the date hubby and I started our relationship! looks like it's a GREAT date.

 

[honeygem]

way to go jan 22! haha.

frogprincess, FH chose his at Lee Hwa for a more contemporary design. I'm actually going over to the jewellers at Takashimaya today to shop around for my wedding band as I want something simple to match my engagement ring.

Your wedding venue looks soooo romantic!

Counting down to the days... very very nervous.

 

[honeygem]

tootsieroll, I will do the deed poll thing after the solemisation. Sounds too much of a hassle to arrange before the wedding.

If you like, I have a lawyer friend/contact if you need one as well.

 

[frogprincess]

Hallo girls, just came back from French Embassy in Singapore. I am utterly convinced that all admin systems are equally crap even if you are a citizen! There was the poor French woman who looked quite pregnant, who was completely in tears at the counter. Apparently she is living in Jakarta, and she came to Singapore and then she found out at the airport that she could not go back to Jakarta because her passport less than 6 months valid, and she will have to wait some time in Singapore because all docs get sent back to France to do etc... I was so sorry for her, but there was nothing anyone could do. No waivers, extensions whatever..

anyway, as for FH and myself, the Banns are published, our rings are express ordered (yes decided to go for custom-made and matching simple bands) and we are waiting to be married at our Orange wedding! Because the Future is Bright...

Honeygem and Tootsieroll - I also have got a other lawyer contacts in Singapore, so we can do comparison shopping for Deedpoll later if necessary.

Honeygem - me really nervous too. Family - in laws and overseas friends start flying in next week, and I am in a frenzy of preps. But hugs, and good luck for yours!

 

[honeygem]

That's a horrible situation to be in - poor pregnant lady..

Just ordered my ring at Takashimaya yesterday and they promised it will be ready by the 20th. Very happy I got that sorted.

I will be going for my final fitting this Sat, together with a trial make-up. I cannot wait to be dressed up. How girly is that?!

What dress have you got? Since your's a church wedding, are you having a long cathedral veil? I always think that looks lovely.

As for the deedpoll comparison shopping... good idea frogprincess!

I remember that you mentioned something about having not send out all invites. Same here. It was supposed to be all done by yesterday but I decided not much later that shopping for weddng stuff was far more exciting. haha

Having said that, the joy of shopping is only shortlived by the pile of invites I still see right in front of me now.

 

[frogprincess]

Sooo exciting to go for gown fitting and make-up and all, but girly is good - have fun!

No I bought my wedding dress in Chicago, cos it is cheaper than renting twice! Since I got my Sand and Sea kind of 22 Jan wedding at Sentosa, followed by formal French church June wedding, I had to get the dress and veil which could match both settings. Instead of becoming neurotic, I decided that simplicity was the way forward (although I am still arguably neurotic). also becos I am not into lots of fussy stuff.

I am really proud of the choice of dress (*pats self on back* hehehhe)..It is a tube-top A-line dress from duchess satin, not too long train and shoulder length veil, sprinkled with swarvoski crystals, to be worn with fresh orange blossom and freesias. I am sooo looking forward to it!

However, I am doing a bit of advertsing becos I will be trying to sell the dress after that. will try to keep the veil though...

SHOPPING CRISES!!
Does anyone know where to buy Orange coloured cuff links? Originally I was going to buy the cuff links for FH as wedding gift, but realised that we still have not found anything that we BOTH like! ULP...

 

[honeygem]

heya frogprincess, have been running around like a headless chicken so I couldnt post yesterday.

Funny that cos I tailored my dress so that it has mileage for the August ceremony too. So I wont waste any money!

Not too sure where you can get orange coloured cuff-links... How about looking for them at Takashimaya?

Our guests are flying in next week. Oh dear, lots not done yet too...

Ooooh. I've just scared myself. Let me panic for the next couple of hours.

 

[frogprincess]

Hyuk Hyuk I completely understand about the mad rushing and headless chicken thing. Whilst I was absolutely adamant previously about not "wasting" leave on my wedding, I have since resiled from that position - I will take next Thursday off!! FH has a meeting in Europe next Monday, so he will fly off on Sunday night, and return to Singapore on Wednesday night, leaving me to deal with the onslaught of all his family by my humble self.. Not his fault though, it was one of those "cannot be moved" meetings. Though if I were him I would not come back before 22 Jan!!! BTW Honeygem (and forgive me asking this, if the answer is on another thread elsewhere) where is your wedding going to be held?

 

[honeygem]

Oh yes, the foreign contingent. haha. Ours coming down from the 19th and I dont think FH's sorted their accomodation yet. I've stopped nagging lest I'm seized with cardiac arrest before the wedding.

Still cant find any shoes!Where did you get yours? I tried Paradox (lovely lovely shoes!)but the whites there aren't right for my dress. Went to On Peddar (died a little and went to shoes heaven) but I dont know about spending that kind of money for a day's wear.

Went to Metro and Tangs but I didnt see the nicely slim heels that are 3.5 -4 inches high.

By the way, please PM me your email addy and I'll send you a link to our wedding website

 

[ashlee]

Hi
I am just reading the name-changing discussion you gals were having... me got a problem.

The only thing my easy-going fiance insists on our wedding is that I adopt his name after marriage. But my feeling-insecure mum said that if I drop my surname completely, that is equivalent to severing all ties with the family!

But if I were to keep my surname as my middlename, it might cause complication won't it, as it is not my given name... so my friends suggested I use "alias" so I can have both my fiance and dad's name. Do I need a deedpoll for that?

Honeygem & Frogprincess
Congrats! Two more weeks to wedding! How exciting! Honeygem, can I have the link to your wedding website as well please?
[email protected]

 

[frogprincess]

Hello Ashlee, I think you need a Deedpoll to use both names? Not sure, but me and Honeygem are doing lawyer shopping after our BIG DAY on 22 Jan (omigod it is this weekend!!) We will pick up the discussion again after we have finished stressing about all that...

Honeygem - On Peddar is great stuff! I am using a pair of old shoes for my "something old", bought from Nine West when I went on holiday there a couple of months back. Not intended for wedding use, but I couldn't be asked to do any more shopping ..

 

[ashlee]

ribbit
Ok... so you gals will keep me updated on the deedpoll business ya? Cheers...

Need to get shoes too... urgh...

 

[katgrrl]

Hi gals,

Ashlee, u're here too

Ribbit, I just read your mail, I'm so sorry for the awfully late reply!

Honeygem, have you tried Leaping Lizards? They've got slim 3.5-4" heals. best of all, you can bring them a page from a magazine and have them custom make it for you. Got mine made from a Christian Lacroix design I loved (oh dear, sound like a snob ..

) And they do rush orders too, you just gotta pay more. In all, I paid just $125 or so.

I've been reading all your comments about name changing. Have decided that I won't be doing that and although it's a Finnish custom for wives to adopt the hubbies' surnames, my FH's quite chin-chai with it

Somehow ironically, being in a mixed race relationship has made me even more aware of my/our culture. Does it do that to you gals?

 

[ashlee]

Katgrrl

Hehe... hihi...

$125 for custom-made shoes???? Wow, that is cheap, err, that is if we convert it to pounds lah... hehe. Do you think they will do it if I email them the design and my shoe size? Am not in Singapore and desperately needs two pairs of decent shoes for wedding. How fast can they do a rush order?

Ya, have to agree I am seeing more of asian virtues now. haha...

 

[frogprincess]

Hallo Katgrrl yep I emailed you back! soo stressed so little time so much stuff to do. Wish me luck!

 

[katgrrl]

Hei Ashlee!

yeah, I think they may do it....however, there's the risk that certain elements of the design may not be to your liking/fitting. Leaping Lizard's 'customized' shoes aren't 100% customization btw. We gotta choose from the existing library of standard lasts and sizes. In addition, for the outsole, there are at least 2 grades of satin in ivory (& 1 in leather) to choose from. Size-wise, I switched to a smaller size due to my design.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, I think there's a certain amount of risk if you can't see and fit the shoes yourself. I believe they may do a rush order from 3-7 days but the price ain't going to be cheap. pls confirm with them...

Bonjour Ribbit! Sounds like you've got lots on your plate now. Stay calm and remember to delegate the non-critical tasks

Meanwhile, come here to De-Stress!!

 

[ashlee]

Katgrrl
Oh dear... sigh, seems like I can't get shoes from Leaping Lizard then. Ok... need to do shoe-hunting again this weekend!

Cheers for the info gal.

 

[honeygem]

heya girls,

i apologise that I've not been posting much lately, but Im soooooooo running out of time! So many things to do!! AARGGGHH

I saw shoes at Metro - cant remember the shop's name.. Charles something... and I saw a pair of white shoes that are rather lovely. Will definitely sort shoes out by today.

I've definitely learned to delegate for the past few days, and it feels much better!! Although I've got loads to do for today:

buy shoes, jewellery etc
collect rings
buy our attendant's outfits (overseas guests only arriving tomorrow)
hair treatment
lists goes on... *sigh*

Frogprincess,
Truly cant believe the days passes so qucikly!! It's only a few days away now. Oh dear. I've just confirmed my cocktail venue on Monday, at Bar Opiume, Empress Place. Solemnisation is at Malay Heritage Centre, Kampong Glam.

As part of the day reception, we are having a costume party for all our solemisation guests. The girls wear kebayas and the guys in complete malay traditional outfits.

Then for the evening do, it's just cocktail with emphasis on drinks. very much looking forward to that. haha

the webby is pretty basic, just info for our overseas guests - nothing fancy.
www.thehitchingpost.co.uk
username: shaz&jon
password: wedding

 

[frogprincess]

Sigh sigh, I have given myself the scary task of getting an evening dress before the wedding this saturday. This is because I tried walking around in the white dress, and the train is pretty cumbersome, and in the face of objection from pple who think that I cannot NOT have a costume change, I guess I will just HAVE to go get one. Will drop by Avana after work I think!! NO SHOES NO SHOES!! going nuuttsss

 

[ashlee]

Honeygem
Aww... u are a very good-looking couple! Bet your kids are gonna be really cute! hehe...

Ribbit
Ya, dunno why we have to do dress changes. But well, another good excuse for us to get more pretty dresses! hehe... Tried Daniel Yam?

 

[frogprincess]

It is done It is done!! Whew -- dizzy dizzy...

we have done the deed and taken the plunge -- let me go off for some time in posting silence and enjoy a bit of conjugal bliss before i start doing stuff like showing photos and whatever.

BTW Sannie, your wedding gown looks alot like mine!! (this is a model's picture, I DO NOT look like this) But, I am trying to sell it after a French wedding, so if you have friends who are interested in a 2nd hand gown, please let me know!

 

[frogprincess]

Oh yes Ashlee, I actually go to Daniel Yam in the end -- lovely stuff, the gowns I looked at were simple and easy, and not at all expensive.. in the context, before I sound spoiled, the previous places I had looked were - Pois, Avana, and BCBG, and NOTHING looked nice but had really scary pricetags! I am so thankful that evening gown came from Daniel Yam! And I have not forgotten the comparison shopping for deed poll deal I said, but we can also wait for Honeygem to get back to this thread also, because I am sure she has lots to report about her wedding too!

I am off for a bit, will see you back sometime next week okay? [heheheh]

 

[ashlee]

Ribbit
Congratulations!! U made it! Aww... really cant wait to see your photos and u in your wedding gown (no models... hehe).

Please share and tell us more?

Yep... will be here waiting for your updates on "deedpoll shopping"!

 

[katgrrl]

Ribbit, Congrats!!!

I bet u're still in 7th heaven from all the excitement. Btw, your gown looks lovely! I think u could definitely put it up for sale in the forum after your wedding in France... wow... )

Honeygem, tell us about your wedding too

..I so love this girly talk heheh...

 

[sannie]

RIBBIT! CONGRATULATIONS! how does it feel like being a mrs?

Your dress is lovely. i'm sure you will not have too much difficulties selling it. just include some pics of you wearing it for your wedding in france. i'm sure it'll be snapped up. I just sold my dress (last week!) on ebay. Left it back in france for more than a year and finally took it back. the only consideration is the dry cleaning before selling.... quite expensive.

Are you dry cleaning it before wearing it again? Maybe you can do the dry clean in france.... it actually was cheaper than sg and canada!!! surprise surprise. maybe cos we had our wedding in a small town too. oh, and if you are not dry cleaning, you might want to ask them to steam the dress before wearing. i actually had it steam for free.... guess that dry cleaner has been dry cleaning my inlaw's stuff for years (like 20 or so!!!)

looking forward to seeing pics of your wedding!

 

[ashlee]

Sannie
If u dun mind me asking, how much did u sell your wedding gown for? Thinking of keeping my gown but in case it becomes a white elephant (which it probably would), might have to sell it. Which ebay did u sell it at? ebay.com or the french one?

Cheers

 

[sannie]

hi ashlee, no worries.... i sold it on ebay.com for US120+. i very much rather someone gets to wear it and feel pretty than for it to grow mouldy in the closet. it was not so much to make money out of it. i was thinking of keeping it and maybe in future if i have a daugther she might want to wear it.... but seriously, i do not think i would have wore my mum's dress if she had kept hers!

 

[ashlee]

sannie
Oh dear, guess i have to make up my mind before I leave Sg whether to keep it or not. definitely not worth it to take it all the way back to UK and then change my mind abt keeping it. Sigh...

Cheers for the info gal.

 

[frogprincess]

Hallo Ashlee, Sannie and Katgrrl

Yup yup! I am definitely walking around the office grinning like an idiot! married life is GREAT and Husband and I absolutely having a ball. We now have to plan for our French Wedding on 4 June, but at least we've done it all once before!

The wedding at Sentosa was absolutely wonderful. I will definitely put up my pix when we can get our website together -- Sannie, is your website free or do you pay for hosting? I am trying to find a not too expensive hosted website.

The only thing which I felt marred the happy Sentosa memory was the terrible experience at Spa Botanica I had (if you wanna know about it, I have already whinged about it on the Health and Beauty Forum on the thread about spa).

I think Honeygem may have taken a couple of days off. Cannot wait for her to come back to quiz her about it!

 

[frogprincess]

More serious topics, this is some of the prelim info I have found about Taking Hubby's name

I found a place to do Deedpoll for 90 dollars.

I also found that it only costs about $60 to get your IC changed. After that, when you re-new your passport, your new name will get reflected. check it out -

http://app.ica.gov.sg/serv_citizen/identity_card/change_name.asp

 

[katgrrl]

Ribbit, glad to hear that hubby and u are enjoying married life! Also, thanks for the link

Hmph, I'll check out your thread on Spa Botanica

Btw gals, when u go to Lavender to change your IC, bring along your passport. This is because they'll put a stamp on your passport to say that you're now, "so & so". This is free of charge & done in minutes and differs from changing your passport entirely esp if yours is still valid for a couple of years. Changing the whole passport also takes a few days and $$.

 

[tootsieroll]

Hey peeps,

Finally am back after a whirlwind 2.5 weeks....so hectic!

Ribbit: Any ideas how long this deedpoll will take to do?

 

[honeygem]

heya girls, back to reality today!

Frogprincess, we should pat ourselves on the back for a job well done albeit all the last min preps, don’t you think?

It was a good day and I think you’d agree with me on the good weather, good people around, good food and good booze for all to enjoy and celebrate the occasion. We are very pleased to see family and friends (happy too that everybody got along well!) smiling and laughing the whole day and night. I guess, there’s only one word I can describe Jan 22. Joyous.

We went to Koh Samui for part 1 of the honeymoon. It was lovely. We went resort hopping the whole week (pottering about on a bike and trying our luck on room availability) and the best room we’ve ever stayed by far is Rocky Resort Honeymoon suite. We stayed in this very room shown on the website. The view by itself is AMAZING.

Check it out one day! http://www.rockyresort.com/?source=adwGeneralAll

Just collected my AD piccies yesterday and very happy with the results. Our family and friends had kindly emialed us nice digital ones as well. Will upload them properly and share with you girls.

Frogprincess, have you sent out thank you notes? I shall do them this week I think.

Deedpoll... really dont know where to start with this...

 

[honeygem]

Frogprincess, gotta share with you this actually. I didn’t have any of the pre-wedding shoot etc, only AD pictures were taken. So, I plan to have a wedding scrapbook with piccies and bits and bobs of the actual day.

It seems like you do like to write, no? Maybe we can do a little funny wedding journal for our own amusement, as they are still fresh in our memory?

But having said that, sounds like hard work…

How did yours go? Which are the most memorable bits of the day?

One of the things I will not forget is hubby not even recognising me when the car drove past him and his posies. He thought there was another wedding at the venue and he was gonna complain to the mgt. haha.

Then during the solemnisation part, the serious bit, he just turned to me and whispered, "you look good, but I look FANTASTIC!" Cracked me up that.

 

[honeygem]

ashlee & katgrrl, I found wedding shoes at Cuppage Plaza (is that what it is called?) next to the new OG? Surprisingly nice and cheap

around $70. So i bought two! Another in gold

When is your big day Ashlee?

 

[frogprincess]

You are so right Honeygem - JOYOUS is a word to describe it!! saw the Koh Samui Rocky resort link and it looks great! You are spot on when you say I like to write [hehe] but I don't have the discipline to blog or anything. Possibly I will make the effort to do one for our weddings (singapore and france).

Yup yup- I don't have pre-wedding posed pictures either (don't really go for that), just silly spontaneous things like our friends, family and our baby photos (whilst we still looked cute), which I wanted to set out on a web-page. our photographer for AD was Kuang from pentaserve - check out his wedding gallery
http://www.pentaservephotography.com/

what i liked about his work was firstly, none of the pictures are posed, and secondly, even though not all the brides featured are super-models they all look good in his shots. This is important for average looking women like me!!

The problem with setting out stuff online is that I am trying to find a suitable site without too many pop-ups and a not too expensive domain name registration fee - anyone have any suggestions?

 

[frogprincess]

Oh yeah Katgrrl, realised that the thread i posted on was a bit obscure it is titled "anyone got spa to recommend", so i decided just to cut and past it for your viewing pleasure here ... (stopped fuming about it now, just want to caution other pple so that they don't have bad experiences like mine)

Posted on Monday, January 31, 2005 - 2:03 pm:

------------------------------
I thought spa Botanica was great untill this weekend!!

My husband and I got married on Sentosa on 22 Jan. To get into the wedding party mood, I went to the Spa Botanica with my close girl friends for a spa themed hen party, which was unfortunately disturbed firstly by motorized grass cutting less than 10m away from our outdoor massage and secondly a false emergency alarm! It was such an obvious intrusion to our wedding party that the spa manager came out and offered us a 15% discount voucher. This appeared to be such a sweet gesture, and he would have won many a loyal client, except for what happened when we tried to actually use the voucher!

My new hubby and I booked a couples treatment for day before yesterday (i.e. 29 Jan 2005). We are not rich, and couple treatments are at least $500 plus, but as we were newly married, we wanted to indulge a little. I had already mentioned to the Spa manager that I would be using the voucher with my husband, and we mentioned the voucher when we booked the treatment, and at no time did the spa tell us that the discount did not apply to the couples treatment!

When it came to payment time, they happily told us that it was for the a la carte treatment only (it is is stated on the voucher). BUT nowhere on their spa menu does it actually state which treatment is actually part of the a la carte menu, instead it talks about "customized treatments". When I pointed this out to the Spa manager he actually rolled his eyes at us, and became impatient and condescending.

He told us that we should just come back another time to use the voucher[!] The best part was he even told us that he is sorry to have given us that voucher if he had known it would have caused this confusion!

Ultimately, we wanted to indulge in an expensive treatment to celebrate our wedding. What really ruined the otherwise relaxing experience was the unpleasant way that we were handled when the error came to light, and the spa manager treated us like we were trying to cheat them!

I am posting this here in case any of you are thinking of going to the Spa Botanica - you may be shocked by the kind of service you get for that kind of price!

 

[katgrrl]

Honeygem, welcome back!

Btw, if u're thinking of putting together a wedding scrapbook, here's a shop that customizes albums. 1 idea is to bring along a swath of your WG/EG fabric and have it made into the album cover.

http://www.linnphotography.com/handcrafted_albums.htm