From time to time, I'll interview brides who have been there, done that to share their valuable experience so that you, a bride-to-be, could pick up some useful tips for your own wedding! Today we interview Irene, who recently got married in May. =3
Enjoy!
Thank you for accepting my interview, Irene. Tell us something about your wedding, when and where was it held?Our wedding was on 30 May 2010. We had the usual Chinese wedding ceremony in the morning and solemnization-cum-banquet in Grand Copthorn Waterfront Hotel at night.
You managed to go below your initial budget when planning your wedding, how did you manage to do it?
We booked our banquet venue during their bridal show and enjoy good perks that help us to save some costs, such as 1 table for free, free-flow of beer, 2 bottles of wine free for every table, etc. On top of that, we got a $688 waiver off total bill from our lucky dip at the bridal show.
We did not sign up with a bridal studio but went for a promotional overseas pre-wedding photoshoot package and rented our gown and suit for the shoot. Instead of a photo album, we designed our own coffee table photobook using an online print-on-demand service. On the whole, it costs us less than $2.5k for over 600 photos (softcopies only) and a 92-page pre-wedding photobook.
As for videography, I initially intended to take a half-day package as there were not much to shoot during the day since we do not have gatecrashing. After discussion, our videographer understood that I do not need a morning highlight express, what I really desired was a keepsake record of our solemnization ceremony and our dance item during the banquet. So he proposed a ROM package and this helped to shave off almost half of my budgeted expense for the item.
By the way, we engaged the service of a wedding specialist. Besides wedding planning services, we also gotten quite substantial savings on our actual day photography, wedding attire rental, make-up services and montage creation due to her contacts and recommendations. In fact, our wedding specialist was the one who helped us shortlist suitable banquet venues based on our indicative budget and promoted the pre-wedding photoshoot package to us.
Which part of the wedding planning is most likely to trip the bride-to-be up when it comes to the budget?
Personally, I think it's the pre-wedding shoot photos. From reading other brides-to-be experiences in the forum, I learned that many find it hard to resist topping up extra money to purchase additional pre-wedding photos from bridal studios despite the steep price tag for each photo. I guess it's understandable, as there are not many occasions which we get to doll-up so nicely and had our photos taken by professionals.
Wedding planning is so stressful. How did you relax or take time out from all the pressure?
Very often, wedding planning is stressful because we do not know what to expect, worried if we missed out anything, unsure if things are done correctly and many, many "what if-s".
As mentioned earlier, we engaged the service of a wedding specialist. Getting a wedding planner/specialist does not means we just pay and do nothing. Like other couples, we also had a lot of things to take care of and many places to run around. However, the guidance by an experienced professional and the assurance that there is someone whom we can turn to and rely on whenever there is any problem help to eliminate excessive stress and pressure. So in fact, we were relatively stress-free throughout our wedding planning process and had no problem with taking time for R&R.
Last but not least, any last word of advice for our brides-to-be?
A wedding is a for a day, a marriage is for a lifetime. If you are arguing with your husband-to-be every other day over wedding matters and are starting feel resentment, perhaps you've missed a very important point... your wedding is a celebration of your love.
In a future post, Irene will share some of her lobangs so don't forget to visit the blog soon! =3
Picture by Sharron Goodyear
Do you have a story to share about saving costs when it comes to planning one's own wedding? I'll love to hear from you! Simply email me your story at lilian.writes[at]gmail.com. See you soon!
Love,
Lilian
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