Wedding 9-12 months - Searching for the perfect Chinois Wedding venue

I have always wanted more "unique" wedding venue and theme, outside of restaurants and hotels, typical of most Singaporean couples.

Thanks to the impossibly beautiful wedding photos on Style me Pretty, I really took on the idea of a garden theme wedding at one of our national parks. Did some research and fell in love the colonial house - Burkill hall. I think they have renamed it to Botany centre. However the logistics of squeezing 200 odd guests into a colonial house was too adventurous for me to attempt.

A dear friend's sister inspired us with her wedding held in one of the restaurant at Labrador park. And she engaged the legendary Wan Sheng for her photographer so the photos are without say, amazing. Alas, after much contemplation, we realised that this venue may not go down with my guests as with hers since half of them came from Canada (her hubby is a Canadian).

We then thought of having a seaside wedding complete with outdoor BBQ styled buffet wedding and Beautfort , Sentosa Resort and Spa, The Sentosa hotel came to our mind. But their Royal Romance package which is the only one which has the BBQ buffet option comes at a forbidding price. My mum also help in the elimination of this option by whining about having to travel out of Singapore to the wedding venue. Oh yes, I told her the last I remember, Sentosa is Singapore.

After all these elimination, we came to conclude a few things we wanted about the wedding. We wanted an intimate setting with no more than 200 guests which would be our closest relatives and friends. We like being able to go to each table of guests comfortably to mingle and chat. We know grand regal kind of wedding theme was not us. The idea of doing march in through those tall majestic entrance into the high ceiling ballroom completed with 1000 guests all standing and clapping for us makes us weak in the knees. In the bad way.

While unique wedding venue is something I always wanted, practicality rules at the end of the day to cater to our unpredictable weather and somewhat more predictable (aka traditional) appetite of my guests.

And after consulting my tatler inspired shopping directory aka Lester my colleague, we decided to narrow down the choices to Chinese restaurants since they are reputed  for better food quality as compared to hotel banquets.

We took about a month to decide on the venue, decided rather swiftly after only site surveying a couple of restaurants. We tried some of the food before so I had added their reviews below. Hope these serve as a rough guide for those who want a chinois themed wedding liked me:

Club Chinois - their ala carte buffet Dim Sum breakfast was good; still remember their wasabi prawn till now; the venue is passable. I did not managed to see the wedding setting so can't take my word for it. Somehow it did not leave deep impression for us to seriously consider it.

Peony Jade - can't remember the dishes i had but I remembered being really satisfied at the end of the meal; venue is quite unique given it is all the way at Keppel; perfect romantic sunset setting for ROM facing the sea; logistic wise is potentially problematic since the advantage of the privacy also comes with the problem of inconvenience. Very traditional chinese decor with prompt and experienced server. We would have considered this one if not for our love at first sight with Grand Shanghai.
 
Humble House - Rightfully only I tasted the food there before, courtesy of a really generous friend for one of my birthday celebration. I love the chi-chi ambiance, the unusual choice of dark and modern theme for Chinese restaurant, high back chairs, the impossibly small portions and the fusion of western-Chinese cuisine. I gave serious thought about this venue but after much contemplation I come to realise that it is not mainstream enough to please my varied guests. Sigh.. next!

Peach Graden restaurant - It turned out way too restauranty for us. There was a grand ah pek celebrating his 80th/90th/100th birthday but since they had to share the restaurant with other patrons, the ambiance was jovial, rowdy, abit chaotic and very public. While I am sure food must have been good to deserve the enthusiastic crowd but it is quite the opposite of the intimate wedding we wanted.

We did not get around surveying Li Bai restaurant properly since Grand Shanghai came before that and stole our heart away. But if it comes highly recommended by Lester, it is definitely good stuff, I assure you.


Grand Shanghai - Not sure if it was the plush red seats, the dainty retro stage with the songstress sweetly belting out old Teresa Teng songs or the nostalgic looking bar counter that took our breathe away. And bravo when we learned that the band comes with the wedding package! We were going to hire a live band anyhow so it was great to know that we do not need to fret about that. The package was pretty standard but the one thing that stood out was the one night stay at Grand Copthorne which was in the same building. The other restaurants also partner with nearby hotels for the complimentary night stay but Grand Shanghai and Grand Copthorne vicinity beat them hands down.

We wanted to sit on it for a while taking our time to explore other options. But we found ourselves coming back to Grand Shanghai time and again, daydreaming about the march in we will do, researching on the food reviews and marveling on how it matches many of what we wanted for the wedding. And so, we went down to sign the contract. And congratulated ourselves on the good choice by trying out their dinner set that very day. How is the food? Let us just say, the self congratulations carried on through the night. ;)

And so that is how we arrived at our perfect Chinois Wedding venue.

Wedding Preparation: 9-12 months - Select a Date

Select a date - big part of what we did in the first month was to decide on the date. After much surfing around Singaporebrides.com I found out that Long Tian Xiang 龙天翔 master is not only reasonable in his pricing ($50 to select date) but also got rave reviews due to his friendly easy disposition. I have gone to him for Bazi readings before so I knew the claims in the forums are credible. And so we trouped down to Bullion Park very soon to get our date.

Review of Master Long - He prepared a kit which not only provided the basic Bazi charts for both of us but also a booklet of favorable dates over the next 3 years which can be used for moving house, starting renovation, preparation of the nuptial bed  安床, etc.. basically any major events that can benefit from some good luck.

AND on top of all that, a guide book on all the ceremonial things to follow; from what to do to during the delivery of the dowry gifts 过大礼 to remedies for guests' whose animal sign clashes with yours.

Master Long also did some brief bazi readings for us on some things to look out for in marriage. Well, not much to advise cos the first thing he said was “你们两个都没桃花， 哈哈哈哈。。。” 


(=o=)"" ..........................
 
Anyhow, he thinks infidelity is the biggest problem in marriage so since that is out of the way, me and Yong should be blissfully married for long. 

Hmm... abit too simplistic for me but how can I question him, as he chuckled away in his grandfatherly way. It is liked arguing with Santa Claus. So we obediently chose one of the dates from the three years booklet and decided upon 16th of Jan 2010. 

For those who do not already know, I am into the studying of the metaphysics and was taking classes on Bazi then. So the more I studied, the more I was convinced the dates were not really suitable. On top of that, by then we bought our house and I was more than happy to push back the wedding and concentrate on the renovation. 

Review of Master Chew - I decided to book another appointment with my Bazi Teacher, Master Chew whom I respect alot for his passion and integrity. Alot pricier at S$180 but... he is MASTER CHEW leh... and so we trouped down to Fu Lu Shou complex  to get our wedding date calculated once more. 

Master Chew recognized me from class and it was a really enriching session for me since it was more liked a personal one to one lesson. Master Chew is really good at teaching, able to explain things in the most animated and engaging way that even Yong learned alot that day. Unlike other Masters who can get abit defensive or evasive when I asked technical questions about the Bazi chart, Master Chew would clearly explained the how and why of his conclusions since he knew I would understand. 


He also prepared our bazi charts but instead of 3 years of favorable dates liked Master Long, he gave only 3-4 dates to choose from. Mostly, he spent alot of the time going through analysis of our bazi chart and what to watch out. 


And guess what? Yong has PLENTY of 桃花 (peach blossoms) afterall which means he is a true blue lady's man. I will not go into the technical part of the bazi analysis but as Master Chew explained, the more I understood his chart and his reading makes lots of sense.


Am I worried? Naturally.. but metaphysics is more than just chart analysis. It is a combination of your family and upbringing, your own willpower, fengshui (as in living environment e.g. living in Singapore and Nigeria has very different impact on the same birthchart), etc therefore knowing Yong and his background, I know I can trust him la. 


Then again, everything in the world is transient. So we will never know what can happen in the future. Oh well, que sara sara (what will be, will be). 


And so, we finally decided upon 16th of May 2010 as our Big Day. :)

Conversation Pieces Latest Buys!

Can't resist putting up this post. I tagged it under "IwantIwantIwant" but the great thing is these did not stay in my wishlist indefinitely! *yeah*

Always love Conversation Pieces sense of fashion and the very reasonable price tag. They got so popular I managed to spot a couple of their dresses on the street! The shipping fee is VERY reasonable at US$10 worldwide. It is so easy to fall in love with the whimsy, flirty, easy style so had to exercise ALOT of control when I am in the shopping mood. Another big plus: you can shop without moving out of your room. How great is that? Browses tens of clothes without having to travel, squeeze with the crowd, queue for the fitting room, etc.. Ya, I am that lazy. :P

Anyhow, with CNY round the corner, and absolutely NO time to shop, I jumped on their sweets for sweet promo which is a steal at US$80 for any three pieces of their dresses, tops, bottoms and accessories. But of cos, the popular pieces are already gone by the time I got to the pages. And mind you, it was only a couple hours passed the start of the promo.

Nonetheless, with furious clicks and swift typing of my credit card details, I nabbed these three pieces:

Swee boh?

Wedding preparation: Right from the start!

Okay, the supposed wedding blog is starting to feel less of a wedding blog than a random rojak anything goes one. Which is fine actually. But I really liked this to be more weddingish themed.

So I decided to go back, right from the beginning. When it all started and what & how we did all the preparation. Hopefully this can serve as a rough guide for new brides-to-be, saving you some time from trawling the Singaporebrides.com, renotalk.com, flowerpod.com.sg, cozycot.com liked websites. Though I have to say, they are really great source of information, except that you need to be prepared to invest time scrolling through many random chats to spot the useful reviews or info.

After much floating around in cloud nine after The Proposal the first thing we did was to search around for the To-do list and Budget guide. I like the ones from Extraordinary Weddings as they are downloadable in my favourite excel sheets. For to-do list, I like to carry them in hard copies contrary to my love for gadgets. All imaginable to-dos and schedules are listed and that will make any Singapore brides-to-be feel very much in control.

There are a couple more sites that offer similar stuff around the net.  Weddingonline.com.sg features online wedding planner and schedule; Singaporebrides.com though they only listed key points to look out for and lastly for more international perspective, try brides.com for their fantastic online planning tools.

I will be putting up posts following the month by month To-do Checklist by extraordinarywedding.com.sg. I hope the memoirs on my little journey can help some of you lucky gals out there plan for your big day. Keep in tune. 

Lazy sunday afternoon - peek at my new ottoman and wall decor

Was lazing around playing with the camera on Sunday trying to capture the lighting of the afternoon sun.

Well, not much success there but the picture took in both the new ottoman and wall hanging and thought I will post it up. I find the red ottoman clashes abit with the green cushion AND blue wall AND grey sofa. Yong thinks it is an interesting combi. What do you think?

The wall hanging is an old jigsaw puzzle I did years before. Painting of "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt. Love the expressions on the lovers and the rich mix of the gold and earth tones. It goes with the high stool but I find it a tat too dull for the blue wall.

Swee boh?

Food Glorious Food

Thanks to Xiaolin who quickly drew up the list of Must-Eat in Hong Kong island, my trip was saved from being totally disastrous.

I tried my hand at the digital macro function of my Canon Ixus and with abit of photo editing, I hope you get some glimpse of the reasons of my ecstasy with Hong Kong cuisine.

First dinner was at Oyster C. Came highly recommended and a quick search around the internet proves it to be a favorite among the locals. And it was the most satisfying meal I had in Hong Kong.

As per the name, it specializes on oysters and seafood. With clear instruction from XL, I took order of oysters, uni (sea urchin) sashimi, foe gras apple wrap and their truffle seafood spaghetti.

Address: 98-104 Hing Fat Street, Tin Hau (short walk from Tin Hau MTR)

Tel: 852 2834 7748 (best to make reservation)

Uni Sashimi. Freshest and creamiest I have ever eaten. DOUBLE Thumbs up!

Foie gras apple wrap. Very interesting combination as I would never think apple goes with Foe gras. It does but pity on the portion of foe gras.

The truffle elevated the dish to a whole different level from the mediocre world of spaghetti. The portion was generous and being cream based, got abit je lat and had to forego half the plate.

It is definitely not a cheap meal. Probably at S$60-S$80 per pax. But trust me, the money is well worth it.

Breakfast was at Tsui Wah restaurant (翠華餐廳) and I love their buns. We marveled at the crispness which was done just right so it was fluffy with the right crunch. Drizzled with the copious butter and condensed milk, it was the highlight of our morning breakfast. The rest of the set was moderately satisfying. Nothing spectacular.

Simple Ham and abalone macaroni. It is... well, simple.

The condensed milk and butter drenched bun. *drool*

My must have for breakfast in HK. Satay beef instant noodle. MSG laden but oh so good.

Salted vege and pork noodle. Better than we expected. But nothing to wow over.

There is a porridge place near our hotel which we had dinner the 2nd night. There is something very comforting eating hot porridge on the freezing night. Mum had century egg porridge cooked to perfection and my oyster porridge was choked full of fresh oysters. Enjoyable but nothing to shout about.

I took my mum to Hang Fa Lau (杏花楼) to try out my favorite dessert  双皮奶 Double skinned milk.

I love the rich milk fragrance and creamy texture of the pudding. You need to like dairy to love this dish.

Due to my deliberate attempt to pace out the star restaurants Xiaolin highlighted (you should see the stars in her eyes when she talk about HK food!), I missed out on Che's Cantonese Restaurant, Yung Kee Restaurant and the Fatt Kei Dessert shop. Sigh.. next time..

I love Etsy!

Etsy is a god send shopping site for those who love all things handmade. I rely alot on their Etsy Find newsletter which the editorial board selects etsy items by theme and send them to your inbox daily. It can get overwhelming scrolling through thousands of products (some rather absurd!) so lazy me would click on items I fancy and look at the other stuff their owners are selling.

Been looking out for the Etsy finds on home décor and organizing theme and bravo to Etsy editorial team, there is one just yesterday on organization nation

Been swooning over these:

Source from Etsy: FishboneDeco

 Love the vintage lines and color. Will look great by the sofa or on study table.

Source from Etsy:sewlutionsbyamo

 Leather snap coupon pouch as it is named. Had a peek at the content my day bag. I think I need it quite badly. 

 

Source from Etsy: nostalgictreasures

The oh so cute letter holder. Sure to bring a much needed smile on my face when I place all the pending bills on it. 

The down side of relying on these newsletter is that things featured get snapped up RIGHT AWAY. The newsletter reached my mailbox yesterday night, read it this morning and I am left to just fantasizing how they would look like in my life.

Henceforth, still an Etsy virgin buyer. Sigh..

Oh well, will stick to drooling over the pictures for now.