Thursday, April 28, 2011

Malaysia Pre-Wedding Photoshoot: Thu 21 Apr 2011

We booked our Malaysia pre-wedding photoshoot since last year. I think that was one of the first things that I did when we first got engaged. I always admired all the beautiful albums of friends and relatives in the past. And so a studio photoshoot was a "must-have" for me; plus this was a norm in the Asian culture because you have the album ready for viewing at the reception place on the wedding day.

We chose Venus Bridal because it was recommended on forums and also one of the top two bridal photography studios in town. Thanks to my dear "Maid-of-Honour" Len who came down from Ipoh to spend 2 days with me and do some girly and wedding stuff together. She and mum came with me to choose my gowns a couple of days before the photoshoot. Below are some of the more boombastic gowns that I didn't pick. They were just way too much for me. The last one really looked like some sort of coral.


The photoshoot took us the whole day from 10.30am to around 7pm in the evening (with an hour's break in the arvo for lunch)! Thanks to darling who had quite a bit of patience though he was quite grumpy already towards the end. But we made it through make-up, 7 gowns, 7 hair styles and countless poses; not to forget the numb cheeks after all the smiling to get some really great shots!

Some shots below that darling took for me on our own camera. I wanted some of my own photos so I had more photos to keep and also to look back on in the future. Two girls from make-up schools who were there to learn that day also took some snaps for me.
1st gown: A white and really long one with black beads and embroidery on the chest area.
2nd gown: A red satin-like number with black embroidery. Tradional with modern touch
Su Lee, the fantastic make-up and hair stylist for the day doing my hair for the 3rd gown.
3rd gown: Another white one with silver embroidery but this was a two piece corset type.
4th gown: Old Victoria English green gown with black corset top and gold embroidery.
5th gown: Mum suggested a Cheong Sam and so I picked this which was quite revealing on the right side!
Su Lee at the back again changing my hairstyle for the 6th gown. This was not my fav one.
6th gown: A fully black number, quite popular nowdaysas  people are no longer so superstitious
Su Lee again doing the hairstyle for my last gown. This has got to be my fav gown and hairstyle
7th gown: White silky gown which I only got to pick on that day for outdoor shoot.
The photos were ready for selection the next day. We had to select 30 poses (photos) out of the few hundred odd photos that we took the day before! Some were easy to pass on but mostly it was no easy feat. His royal tubbyness had to leave and go back to Singapore that arvo and so Mum and I landed up going back to the shop again after church to continue choosing.

Here are some of the shots that day. Apart from the last one, these were all poses that we didn't choose. Because the ones we chose were cut off and given to the designers who will be doing some photoshop editing and album design. Mum and I figured it was such a waste as they will probably throw away the rest of the wallet size preview photos anyway and so we cut them out and took them instead.

Vertical poses above with the horizontal poses below. Darling's gonna "killed me" for posting up this cheesy, playful one below. But I don't care, it was all for the fun of it! :p Majority of the photoshoot was done indoor. The studio had quite a few different backdrops and decorations. We were a little skeptical about the outdoor shoot because of the heat and humidity and so we only went out for a bit in the evening.





Even though I was bitten like hell from so many mosquitos at the garden, I've gotta say some of the favourite shots were from the outdoor shoot. Plus like I've said, the outdoor gown was the favourite for the day. It had just finished raining around 5pm-ish in the evening and that's why the garden / park was swarming with mozzis! We had to force out a smile even though I was itching and scratching all over.

But the long and tiring day ended with a yummy dinner treat from dad, together with mum. And we were quite happy with the photos; that are going to be special keepsafe with us forever, so all the "pain" and effort was worth it, not to forget the experience.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Checking out a couple of Wedding Cake Suppliers

We had two appointments last Saturday with cake suppliers for some tasting and discussion on our wedding cupcake / cake. We are of course, considering prices, flavours, taste, delivery and set-up charges and anything else they provide. The first appointment was in Oakleigh, just in the surrounding suburbs. Their building was a little hard to find, but lucky they said that they will be moving to a proper shop in Glenhuntly in a few weeks time.

Cake Supplier: Three Sweeties
Website: http://www.threesweeties.com.au/
Prices: Cupcakes start from $3.50 each and top tier cakes start from $75. Cake toppers of a Couple with simple designs start from $100.

They hire out cupcake stands at a $30 rental fee and set-up and delivery fee was $75 to our reception place. The lady suggested that we could get some cupcake boxes so that if guests couldn't eat them on that night, they could bring them home.

The next appoinment was in Knox. They were recommended by Ammie, whose colleague had her very pretty and tasty birthday cake made by them. I don't deny their cakes tasted good as Darling went on trying one after another, though I don't think we would go with them.

Cake Supplier: Special Treats By Carolyn
Website: http://www.specialtreatsbycarolyn.com/
Prices: Cupcakes start from $4.00 each and top tier cakes start from $110. Cake toppers of a Couple with some extra small flowers start from $190.

The cupcake stand hire was $50 here and they require a $200 refundable bond. Set up and delivery was slightly cheaper here, $50 to our reception place. But somehow the prices of everything else was certainly more pricey as compared to the first shop. The cake toppers at that, were almost doubled the price here! And no I wasn't too happy about the $200 bond for the stand hire too.

Plue we didn't really feel too comfortable with the lady that chatted to us. She was nice but rather pushy and sort of wanted us to put a deposit there and then. We don't want to make a decision yet as there's still time for us to look around a little bit more. But I'm glad we had these two appointments as we learnt some things; that the cupcake/cake can actually be packaged and given away and was better served as a dessert after the main meals.

We plan to make an appointment with a couple more cake shops when we return from our Singapore/Malaysia trip after Easter. But at least we have decided on having a cupcake/cake, and the theme is still rather debatable. :p