I just realized that there is a thread for Castalia Wedding Gallery. Good things are meant to be shared; especially for those doing their wedding preparations and intending to do their pre-wedding photography in JB.
Of all the decisions i have made so far for the wedding preparations, Castalia Wedding Gallery impresses me the most and I am dead sure I would select them even if I can re-make all my choices again. I am currently at the "confirming layout stage".
Like all brides, I did my fair share of research prior to sealing the stamp with Castalia. In fact, I am very kiasu. Even before my hubby proposed to me, I already accompanied my GFs and sister for window shopping since late 2013. Singapore and JB bridal shops, I covered many of them - Destino, Spozami, Mondore, Venus, SG Bridal, White Link, Rico-a-Mona, Thomson Wedding, Privately run studios, Overseas shoots (Macau, Bali, Taiwan, Japan, Greece, Paris, Venice, Prague) etc. Not sure why but somehow I just did not step into Castalia Wedding Gallery then. When it was my turn, I started scrolling around FB to peek at those who posted their pictures, and there.... I spotted Castalia Wedding Gallery from 2 not so close colleagues. I was already taken in then when I saw their photos. It was just very different from whatever I have seen so far. I did not immediately contact them still but continued to look around. I finally contacted them around April this year to check on the rates and package. After much dilemma between Rico-a-Mona (the gowns are super nice I have to admit), a newly set up studio (perks were madness and very cheap - everything bao ga liao) and them, I eventually picked them and it was never because of the price. If i really wanted cheap, I would have taken a bao ga liao package. A myraid of factors on why I chose them.
a) Service/Customer-Centric
Never once did the staff at Castalia pressured or tried to upsell me things. From the point i met JC to telling her i still need to look around, she didnt give me any black face or keep pushing me. She also took the time to explain their packages to me after hearing our needs. Most JB shops simply just pushed us their most expensive package. I just did my AD gowns and photo selections yesterday with JC and Joey respectively. Before I arrived, JC already had gowns prepared for me to try. I took about 1.5 hours to select a bridal gown and an evening gown. My third gown was a kwa so meh, nth much to select (tradition so ive no choice). For photos and layout, Joey was sitting there with us for 3.5 hours listening to our story and letting us contemplate over our picture choices. She doesnt even walk away, just fully focused on us. No upselling at all. Majority of my payments to Castalia has already been made prior to photos selection (left with only 400RM) but they still serve me so earnestly and gave me a lot of attention. The service simply supercedes any of the BS I have visited on my own and with my GFs.
b) Personalisation
Every wedding i go to, I will always check out the album. I have been to at least 20 weddings in the last 2 years and every album seriously looks the same to me or otherwise looks very cliche. Castalia is the only gallery that can actually personalize your album for your story. Most other shops would just blend in some poses here and there, nice backdrops/backgrounds, some lame hair-standing phases or worse, simply just the photo itself (my sis!). There are so many who spend thousands of dollars to custom make exclusive gowns or buy designer gowns, spend even more thousands just to fly to Greece - Santorini or even Grand Canyon in Vegas and they simply end up as an object in that beautiful background. No feel, no connection. I now know why people tell me that the album is kept in the storeroom - it probably didnt have a story and the album is just a ritual. Mine will definitely be different!
c) Album Layout and Design
We had Joey who will assist us in putting together all the beautiful shots from scratch for us. Lots of drawings and markings during our planning. Ive not seen the actual design yet but im sure it will be good. I am pretty sure the albums you have seen so far at weddings are simply very effortless compilation (boxed up or same theme pictures blended into the page).
d) Pre-Wedding Team's Professionalism
Before our shoot, I was introduced to our photographer, Jay and MUA, Gina. Jay showed us his works to give us ideas as we were still clueless as to what kind of pictures we want to take. Gina gave me advice on my hair (damn short zzz), face etc. I just told her that i want the natural look. We did not speak much then. Prior to the shoot, we had already been sending Jay ideas we want to try (naw.. not your Korean look alike thingy, not special enough). During the shoot was where he impresses me the most, he is very open to trying out whatever ideas we had and take the extra effort to get the best angle (i.e. standing on a ladder, lying on the wet dirty ground, standing in awkward positions, etc), constantly thinking out of the box, consistently checking every picture's feel/pose/overall look... He could have just do the norm as every couple does and not needing to waste time to get the best angles and light for our ideas. He showed us sneaks during the shoot which got me even more thrilled. You can have the nicest and most expensive gowns, most beautiful backgrounds, but with a mediocore photographer, that's it... You are just an object in a pretty thing and beautiful background. You have seen those right, the tiny couple against vast beautiful backgrounds, makes you wonder if you should be saying wah the background so nice or the couple is so nice.
To be honest, both me and hubby feel that we are underpaying Castalia for the effort. Yes! Even after we purchased extra pictures and pages (still slightly more than a thousand dollars cheaper than a similar SG package i found. must compare apple to apple la). I couldnt help with the purchasing because the photos were so perfect (just edit some blemishes and some other minor edits).