Sunday, September 30, 2007

Our ROM celebration

ROM CEREMONY - 1ST SEPTEMBER 2007

For us, our ROM was THE OFFICIAL WEDDING for us as we were more keen on a cozy get together to celebrate our marriage rather than those huge events where we dont even know half the crowd. Thus we envisioned a small cozy event at a nice, hip place with close family and friends. Being kiasu, we started our planning 9 months ahead and below are some of the things we did to make the ceremony a wondeful memory for us both -

VENUE : GLASSBAR @ THE JEWEL BOX , MT FABER
For us, when we first sought out a venue, we considered a few factors like budget, good sales support, flexibility to cater to our needs and that X factor ( scenery, uniqueness etc ) We found that in a uber cool hip joint at The Glassbar, Jewel Box located at the Mt Faber Cable Car Station. It is actually a diner cum bar during normal hours. As the name depicts, it is a glass enclosure with wonderful views from the vantage point at MT Faber overlooking Harbourfront, the coastal area and Sentosa. We liked the contemporary look of the place and it was very good for photography wth plenty of scenery and light.
For the food, at that time, they had two different menus and we chose the one with items like sushi and sashimi since we liked Japanese food. While it is not exactly cheap for $70 pax considering that you only get a light tea buffet spread, it does include a beautiful venue which is worth it.

Oh yes, for those who are going there, do check out the washrooms,especially the female washroom one floor below which has a lounge area and wonderful views, we took some good pictures there ! Below are two shots of us at the washroom.
For those who are interested, you can log onto http://www.mountfaber.com.sg/main-events-venue.htm or call the sales executive who served us - Siew Wen at 98220431. She was quite helpful and took the initiative to highlight certain areas for improvement,such as the arrangement of the seating layout etc. She was on hand throughout the entire ceremony to ensure everything went smoothly.

FLORIST - REDBOX
Speak to Ching about your creative floral ideas. She is quite easy to banter with and will take ideas readily. More importantly, she will go the extra mile to do a gd job and even throw in some feebies to make yr floral decor look perfect. As Gayle likes sunflowers and we though sunflowers add a cheery and happy mood to our bright and cool venue, we chose a floral decor based on sunflowers, geberas, and yellow roses. Each table had a floral tableset which helped to brighten the venue and become conversation pieces for our guests. The guests could bring the floral pieces home so that gave them something to talk about and show. To line the walkway bridal passage to the solemnization table, we had yellow rose petals which 'lit' up the passage way and added colour to the photos. Ching also string strips of yellow geberas on the glass panes which looked like it was raining yellow geberas which was very cheerful and romantic.

For our bridal car, we chose of course sunflowers to keep with the theme and also, the sunflower is the flower of choice for the Beetle. We also ordered a pair of bride and bridegroom figurines from the Precious Moments website to complete the decor. We asked for a yellow colour theme to depict the cheerfulness and happy day for us and of course, no organza as it was too cheena! We asked for yellow silky cloth to drape the car. We also wanted to revive some interesting traditions so we asked Ching to customize for us a just married sign to be placed at the back of the car and also to secure tin cans to trail behind the car as we drive off. You can contact Ching at http://www.redbox.com.sg/ and ask for a customized floral decor package based on yr budget.


BRIDAL CAR :
We didn't want the traditional Mercs, BMW or Jaguar ! As i owned a beetle before and used it for my brother's wedding, i felt that it was quite a good bridal car in sync with the theme of love since the beetle is commonly known as the Love Bug. We decided on a cabriolet as we just wanted a very stylo car and the open air feeling! Please do look for yr bridal car way in advance due to popular demand for cars like the beetle cabrio. For us, we booked the car 10 months ahead.

For those who are interested in the beetle cabriolet, and a white one which is quite rare, you can contact her owner Candy Pan for rental details. Drop by her Blog - http://beetlerental.blogspot.com/ . She is very friendly to banter with and do ask her for her complimentary customised just married plates. There is nothing like a cabriolet to make your day even more special!
PHOTOGRAPHER AKA VISUAL ARTIST :

For our ROM photography, we engaged the services of Kuang from 39 East who is well known for his journalistic and artistic rendering of shots. It was wonderful working with someone who was very passionate about his work, yet had no airs and was very good natured and just easy to banter with. The photos you see in this blog of our ROM are all testimonies of his exceptional works. If you are into details, moods and flair for abit of adventure in your shots, Kuang is your man. I would see him more as a Visual artist than just a photographer. Pls note that he doesn't take posed shots. For that, you either get someone else to take posed shots or you can ask Kuang's colleague Eng Hong for a favor to take the posed shots.
To contact him, go to http://www.39eastimages.com/ or more details of his works, go to : http://www.39voices.blogspot.com/

STRING ENSEMBLE :

To add to the romantic feel of the ceremony, we hired a String Ensemble to play romantic classics to entertain the guests and provide musical backdrop to the venue. We also requested for them to play the wedding march theme which was Pachelbel's Canon in D and really, the soothing and live musical notes from violins, cellos and bass really made the moment special for us. For those who are keen, do look for Elaine from Grace Notes - http://www.gracenotes.sg/
Feel free to share your requirements with Elaine and she is very helpful and professional, keeping you up to date closer to the date and also sharing with you clips of past performances.

SOLEMNIZER :
Justice of Peace - Mr Chan Kai Yau. We selected him based on good reviews in bridal forums from other couples who havehad him solemnize their marriages. Indeed Mr Chan was very good. He was punctual on the dot, was very meticulous( he is quite detailed and formal in explaining the proceedings to us). He has a respectable presence and a commanding and firm voice and is able to speak in both English and Mandarin. During the ROM, he displayed a playful sense of humour when he made me shout out YES I DO by saying mischeviously that he couldn't hear me. Also, as both of us are teachers, it was a pleasant surprise to know that he was once the former Director General of Education at MOE, imagine us teachers being solemnized by DGE! Mr Chan is very popular with couples so we would advise you make an appointment with him way before your wedding. For us, we booked a date with him 10 months before our ROM date.





















Home Furnishing

Home Furnishing is really linked to two things - lifestyle choice and budget. Decide on what kind of look you want for yr home - Zen, contempoarary, balinese etc. Then locate those stores that feature furnishing styles that blend with the house style that you want. Be on the lookout especially during Saturday Straits Times Weekend/Lifestyle page where there are many adverts on discounts happening at various furnishing stores. Scan your credit cards or ask around at the stores whether they have card related discounts. Eg, we found out that holders of the SIA Priority Passenger Card were entitled to 25% discount at Hansgrohe and promptly asked around and managed to borrow one card which saved us quite a tidy sum. For the contemporary look, we sourced from the various places :

Lightings - CitiLights ( 249 Jalan Besar )
I-Lite ( 351 Jalan Besar )
Lightcraft ( 131 Jalan Sultan )

Furnishings - Mondi Lifestyle ( The Furniture Mall )
Furniture Club ( The Furniture Mall )
Bedding Saloon ( 68 Sungei Kadut Loop )
OM ( 177 River Valley Rd )

Sanitary / Bathware - Hansgrohe ( 69 Mohamed Sultan Rd )
- Ferrara Asiapac ( UE Square )
- Sim Siang Choon ( 21 Changi South Ave 2)
- Hoe Kee Hardware ( Tanjong Katong Complex )

Curtain - Corri Track and Accessories ( 71 Geylang Lorong 33 )

Wallpaper - Goodrich

Accessories - XZQT
- Molecule

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Choosing a First Home

Getting our first home involved many hours of scanning newspaper classifieds first thing in the morning for us. Things that we considered when we selected our own home :


1) Type : Private / Public
- After calculating the amount of interest we have to fork out for a private housing , plus considering the CPF minimum sum rule of $120K in ten years time, we decided on a HDB to ensure that we can both be debt free by in 10 years. After all, it's what you put into the house and other things you can do to enhance yr lifestyle with the money you saved that will really make a quality difference in yr life unless you can afford both. In addition, first timers get a 30k grant ( 40k if your purchased flat is within 2km of yr parents or in the same town. However, note that this rule does not apply if yr parents are living in a private flat. ie they must be living in HDB also for you to qualify. ) To think if you should be buying a private apartment and borrowing a loan from banks to do it, consider this. If bank interest rates rise by 1 - 2%, will you get flustered and start calculating how much cash you need to top up yr monthly loan payment ? If yes, then maybe you should reconsider buying a private apartment. We wanted an apartment that would be comfortable for us and not one that we have to slog our entire life for. For resale flats ( HDB and private ), you would need to consider the difference between the asking price and the valuation as stated as that would affect the amount of cash that you would need to have or would have to use up, which will affect your budget for other items.

2) Location : Location is everything to us at least ! Having lived in the east for decades, there was simply no other location that could match the east ! We identified a few areas in the East
- Cassia Crescent , Marine Parade , Bedok Reservoir and Bedok South . The first two soon were deleted from our list as the booming property market made these flats soar beyond their valuations. We managed to get a gd 4 rm corner flat at Bedok South near Temasek Primary which is quite a pleasant environment, quiet and near to private estates. It was a good catch and we were lucky we could just afford the above valuation cash value ( FYI - flats during booming property cycles tend to get overpriced above their actual values as stated by property valuers. Banks / HDB will only loan up till the valuation amt and anything above that, it is pure hard cash which you have to cough out ). To get yr dream location, you should do a recee and scout around for the specific blocks and check the classifieds listing early in the morning. For us, we had to rush down first thing in the morning and put a offer price based on what we could afford.

3) Size / Layout - For us, we felt a 4rm was just right. Most young couples wld collapse two rooms into one, leaving one more rm for future needs or for relaxation / other purpose. Also note that a 5rm would result in more cleaning, more taxes.... Importantly we felt it should be a corner flat rather than a corridor one as PRIVACY is very important to us. The premium for corner flats is justified as you have yr own privacy, a bigger floor space and also a better selling price later if you should decide to sell.
4) Find yourself a reputable and honest Property agent
For me and gayle, we were very fortunate to meet up with a very reputable and honest property agent - Mr Andrew Pat who helped us in our home sales transaction. Andrew is really helpful and very responsive to all our queries as a first time buyer and he helped us to settle outstanding issues with the seller in a very friendly yet professional manner. He is really the type of person who puts you at ease and this is very important as you need to have an agent you feel you can trust esp when like us, we know very little on HDB regulations and the sales process etc.. It is really important to have a property agent whom you can converse with and at ease to ask all kinds of questions. Also, he was always very prompt despite his busy schedule to get back to us on our queries and clarify our doubts. He even gave us complimentary durian puffs to make sure we weren't hungry at one of the meet ups. Such is the good measure of his exceptional service.
For those of you who are looking for a property - private or HDB or looking to sell your property/rental of property . do look for Andrew and give him a call and tell him Eugin and Gayle recommended him to you.
You can call Andrew at : 91848840 ( HSR Realty )

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Welcome to Bliss&Dreams


Welcome to our very own one stop portal, full of genuine information on planning that very special day. We offer personal opinions that hopefully will give you a different perspective, to make your own informed decision, coz we believe that you should make your own choices that you are comfortable with. We do not claim to be gurus but rather just a fun loving and sentimental couple who just want to contribute to the wealth of information that will help make your special day just full of bliss and dreams! This site is also to celebrate our own journey together down the joyous path of being lovers, friends and soul mates.

Cheers

Eugin & Gayle