Dear Ladies,
Now that my wedding is over and I have settled most if not all things related, I thought a review of the services would be helpful to you who are in the planning stages.
Firstly, the venue I had my temple wedding was PGP Hall. It is highly popular and despite a 1.5 year advance booking I was not able to get the slot I wanted and had to settle. I would recommend making the booking as soon as you know your date if you are eyeing this temple.
My Reception was held at MBS and it was a great venue for 200 pax. While they don't specialise in south Indian cuisine, they are receptive to feedback and the guests loved the food.
The decor was by Pandora and they were truly amazing. I only mentioned the colours I desired and left it up to them to come up with the decor and they truly delivered. Was very happy working with Krish and his team as they were punctual and flexible with whatever conditions that were thrown to them.
For photog/video I hired two different companies. For my wedding day, Amore handled everything and they truly do live up to their name. The only regret I have is that I was unable to book them for my second date. Their full footage is akin to the quality of the highlights videos you see on their youtube channel and I love William's candid manner of communication. On my reception day, I hired StudioA and while they are extremely friendly and easy to work with, it has taken them half a year to deliver the products and their work pales in comparison. I do however think this is subjective on what style you would prefer.
For MUA I hired Bubbly from Lookstudio for all my events. For the 3 events that I had her, she tried her best to attempt different looks and vary the style of the makeup. She is very professional and I left it up to her to recommend what she thought was the best. My relatives were dolled up by Roxanne and they commented that she was good, fast, very approachable and punctual.
My henna was by Saheli and while I would say they were prompt, they do not stay with you and if you have itchy fingers like I do, the tendency to mess it up is very high. I am not sure if most artists leave once they are done, but I think that is something that would be good to look out for in an artist. We also hired henna artists for our friends and family from heavenly henna and they were efficient and drew beautiful designs in the time they had. They were so popular that we had to extend the timing.
Food for the wedding was by Gokul and the food from them always has had fantastic reviews. I have sampled the other places before and I would still say that Gokul's food stands out in terms of variety and quality. For my other functions I used Raja catering and it is a big favorite of my family because their food is notably spicier than other caterers.
If you are looking to buy your attires locally, I would advise being cautious about what the salespeople tell you. A very popular boutique (which begins with 's') told me that they had brought in the saree 'new' and that it was exclusive but when I watched other wedding videos, I noticed 3 brides wearing the exact same saree. While it's understandable that there will be reproductions made, I believe that you should be upfront about it esp when it is in that price range. That being said, I still adore some of the designs that they bring in. The best however would be to make a trip down to Chennai as honestly you will not be able to find products for the same quality and price. I also bought my jewelry sets there and they are more unique than using the ones that the MUA will be able to provide you with.
For wedding invites, which I know most of you ladies struggle with, I ordered online after going around looking for vendors in JB. To be honest, the ones in SG charge exorbitant rates and the ones in JB didn't have any designs to our liking. While it is a harrowing experience depending on an online vendor, the cards were delivered on a timely basis and there were several compliments on them.
One of the biggest headaches we faced were the emcees and deejays for our reception. We had contacted Just feel productions and we communicated with them, paid a deposit confirming emcees, deejay and 2 dance performances. $500 later and a lack on response from them, we had to cancel. They were apparently too busy and could not provide us with a meeting slot even 2 months before the event. It was truly disappointing and we went scrambling to fill this up. Thank heavens that Varman was available. He is a consummate professional and everyone loved his emceeing. I had overseas guests who were in love with the way he ran the show and it was easy communicating with him. One of the biggest things I look out for in a wedding emcee is that they should not be degrading towards the notion of marriage or women and that limited the pool in SG rather greatly. Varman however was perfect and I highly recommend hiring him for your events.
I think the biggest lesson from everything is that all will work out fine and there is no need to worry. If you have any questions, do feel free to ask
Can I ask about Bubbly's saree tying for your temple wedding. Thank you =)
