Cake deposit and Wedding Wish Factory Outlet Sale.

We confirmed our wedding cake supplier as Three Sweeties and gave the a deposit a few of weeks ago. If you recall from the previous post on visiting cake suppliers, we only visited two of them and just decided to pick one from there. I had contacted a few other suppliers through email, but their prices were just more expensive. So Three Sweeties it was; reasonable prices, pretty tasty cupcakes and over 20 years of experience, I think that should set our minds as ease. :)

Anyway I found the Wedding Wish Factory Outlet through facebook one day. They sell wedding accessories, gifts, jewellery etc. and they are situated in Mentone. I found out about them having a warehouse sale on Fri 20 May and so Dar and I decided to check out what they might have since we're still looking for wedding favours for guests and gifts for the bridesmaids and groomsmen. Here are some pics from their warehouse:


They had quite a lot of things: toasting glasses, cupcake stands, ring pillows, guest books, bonbonaire boxes etc, you name it, they have it. They also had some practical gifts for bridesmaids and groomsmen and stuff for Hen's and Buck's Night. Most items were for display only and they didn't have much stock on hand. So the items I bought that night had to be delivered the next week. I got a silver crystal bling key-rings for my girls and mum, a handbag holder for the future MIL and a wedding certificate holder for us.

The prices were quite reasonable and they also hire out wishing wells should you need them for collecting monetary gifts on your wedding day. You can choose items from different themes on their website and they even have some Asian style stuff. But as we still haven't decided on the wedding favours, I might just need to look more varieties online before we make a decision. But salt and pepper shakers are definitely on the list. ;)

Actual day wedding gown dilemmas and my evening gown.

I have finally decided on my actual day wedding gown but it wasn't an easy path to get there. When we first got engaged in March last year, I went for quite a few gown try-outs at different bridal stores with darling and girlfriends Ammie and Daisy. But I just didn't find one that felt right and now I'm glad I didn't buy on impulse because I'm really happy with the final decision that I made.

My initial dream gown was a princess-like, ball gown type of style, which is similar to the one I tried on the right. But I couldn't find many of those styles in Melbourne, either that or it was too expensive and way over budget. There was definitely more choices when I went back to Malaysia. So we came to a conclusion that maybe it's an Asian thing for liking "pong-pong" (a.k.a poofy) gowns! Ha-ha...

The gown I tried on the right is from Venus Bridal, the shop in Malaysia which I did my pre-wedding photoshoot. It was a rental (pre-loved) gown and the shop assistant quoted me RM2500 which is about AUD$840, to buy it.

That was within my budget and I was really close to getting it, but the put-off was that I couldn't take it back with me to Melbourne until after June because they already have two other brides who are renting it for their wedding.

And so after the dress measurements at Aunty Margaret's (Mum's friend) place that day, we went to check out the other bridal shops across the road from Venus Bridal. We chanced upon Miosa Couture and the girls were really friendly and nice. They don't have a website but the link shows you a photo of the shop.

After trying out countless gowns, I settled for this ivory/white poofy gown with organza fluffs on the right. It was also a rental gown but as the shop wasn't as high end as Venus Bridal, the price quoted was quite a difference; RM1200 for it.

Among the gowns, the shop assistant picked out a newly made, ivory coloured gown with very beautiful embroidery at the train and it was really suitable to walk down the aisle with it. Mum, Aunty Margaret, Len and the shop assistants all swooned over it, but I didn't take a fancy then because it wasn't "poofy" and was too simple for me.

After settling on the wedding gown, I decided I want an evening gown too since the prices were within budget. I tried a few in different colours but didn't take any fancy. Then I was shown another of their new designs; this blue and loose flowing evening gown with silver embroidery. Darling's favourite colour is blue and it was really gorgeous when I tried it on; so I went with it.

I happily paid for the ivory "poofy" gown (centre right) and the blue evening gown on the right - for a total of RM2700. That's equivalent to about AUD$900; for two gowns I'd say that was quite a steal! The price included dry clean and alterations. I collected them the day before I flew back to Melbourne.

Thinking back now, I was annoyed that I didn't check the wedding gown properly while packing it for the flight. It wasn't only until I got back to Melbourne did I realise that a crystal bead on the wedding gown was missing! It was quite a prominent one, positioned on the right hand side near the waist. That kinda devastated me because the wedding gown is one of the highlights for the day and it was truly one thing that I wanted to be perfect. And though the gown was dry-cleaned, it somehow still looked a little old and faded.

The shop assistant apologized for it and were really helpful in trying to resolve the matter. But that wasn't the only reason why I don't want the wedding gown any more. I showed it to friends and even the future mother-in-law and all they did was manage a small smile and say "ah okay..."; trying not to sound offensive. I knew deep down that they didn't like it. My colleagues were more honest in telling me up-front that the elegant ivory a-line gown (with the embroidery at the train) was definitely more gorgeous and I should go for it.

So I had two choices:
1) The shop assistant would find the missing crystal / get me a new one and post it over to me or
2) I can post the "poofy" gown with the missing crystal back and for an additional RM1000, they will tailor make a brand new one of the ivory a-line gown for me.

I think you know which choice I went for because I wouldn't have posted the "poofy" ivory gown in the first place if that was really my wedding gown. ;) Having a tailor made gown meant I could add in a special request; like asking the dressmaker to make the chest area a little more heart-shape styled. The gown will take about a month to be ready and mum will bring it over for me when she comes.

Bridesmaids meet-up, sorting their dresses and our wedding bands

Meeting up with my bridesmaids on the Easter trip back to Malaysia and Singapore was one of my main priorities and I was so glad I managed to catch up with all of them - even though not all of them at once. ;) Luckily there is emails and sms to communicate with one another when I'm back here and then there's the private facebook group which we use to discuss stuff as well. Here are the special ladies for my big day:


The arrangement was that I will provide their dress; just a small token for their effort of flying all the way over to Melbourne for me. We all came to an agreement on the dresses before I went back; that we will settle with 1 colour choice and 4 different dress designs. The colour chosen was sort of orange/red colour, quite similar to the colours of the first two dresses. And here are dress designs that they have chosen:


Aunty Margaret, a friend of mum's had a very good tailor who made really nice dresses and so she recommended her to me. The tailor's prices were also quite reasonable and she will organise everything including getting the material for me. There will be 3 satin dresses and 1 chiffon one. On the last photo with the 2 models, Denise chose the one on the right with the flower at the neck and that's the chiffon one.

Darling and I also managed to tick off a few more items off the list by getting our wedding bands, ring pillow and guest book all in one go.

Darling got a Lee Hwa Jewellery Member card when he bought the engagement ring about a year ago. And the member card entitles the user a 10% off any jewellery purchased from the store. What was better, was that they had a sale going on that time and there was a further 20% on top of that. And so we got 30% our wedding bands!

Darling chose something simple, just a plain band with a border on each side, while I went for a single row of diamonds on the top half of the ring (also with a border on each side) to compliment my engagement ring, which was a solitaire.

We also knew we wanted white gold as we are both not a fan of yellow gold and so agreeing on that was easy. The shop also gave us a complimentary ring pillow and guest book. They were white and looked elegant which we can and will use anyway, and so that was two less items we had to get ourselves.

I think white colour goes with almost every theme and so I think a combination of our orange/red colour should go okay with either white or black. Well we are honestly not too fussed about it anyway, simple and elegant is the key thing we want for our wedding. ;)