Actual day wedding gown and evening gown shoe dilemmas

Mum has informed me that my tailor made wedding gown is finally ready. I'm actually a little impatient to wait for her to bring it when she comes in early October and so decided that she will post it to me first. The box will probably be really big as she will send it together with the 3-hoop petticoat, which even when folded is pretty bulky and not to mention how much space and weight the actual gown itself with the, embellishment, beads and long train will be!

Here's a sneak peak of my wedding gown. Now I had previously put a $200 deposit for a wedding gown at Nifi Bridal in Oakleigh, but I made sure to tell them NOT to order the gown first in case I changed my mind. And true enough I did! So luckily I managed to go back and exchange the deposit, added on extra $85 for 2 sets of bridal veil. One will be a 2-tier short one with a tear-drop crystal at the end and the other will be a long one to match the length of my train.

Now that the gown was sorted, I couldn't help but somehow have second thoughts about my shoes. Initially I was adamant that my wedding gown was definitely going to be white in colour but after trying on countless gowns, I realised ivory was the way to go.

Since my gown and veils were all ivory, I started to wonder if I needed ivory shoes as well because the impulse buy I did last year in Nov was a white one. I found this online shoe shoe in New York with reasonable prices and they ship free to Australia - ShopNewYork. Here are some of my picks:

Romance Alfani High Heels	Milan Rampage High Heels
Ginnie Nina High Heel Sandals	Nina Annora High Heel Sandals

I browsed for silver heels as well because I needed a pair to match my dark blue evening gown with silver embroidery. I emailed these shoes to mum to have a look to get her opinion. She mentioned that my shoes were gonna be hidden under the gown most of the time and it didn't really matter if they were white, they would still match anyway.

Mum made a fair and logical point and suggested that maybe I should just wear the white one I bought last year and not waste it. Well I guess I'll have to ponder about that and stick with the one I have if I just can't find another suitable one. Though I really do need to get a pair of silver heel sandals. ;)

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.

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.

Australia Pre-Wedding Photoshoot: Sat 19 Feb 2011

Silly blogger did a maintenance and all my writing was lost, I'll have to find the time to re-write the post again. Hopefully they restore my previous post soon. Otherwise enjoy the photos first. :p