Today marks our 2nd month anniversary. Seems forever ago we got married. Married life is different because spoiled brats like me need to start helping with the chores more regularly =P And when you marry, you inherit a man to clean up after and look after when he falls sick. FYI, a sick husband is like a sick, hairy, XXL child. You’ve been warned ladies.
Plus, every week I’m splitting my free time between the husband and my parents. Daughters, if you will be moving out on your wedding night like I did, be prepared for your mother to miss you a LOT. Hence, I’m sleeping over now at my parents’ house. Thank God for the long weekend!
Anyway. In this post I shall knock out 3 more vendor reviews for gubahan, bunga pahar and live station.
Gubahan Cinta – Gubahan, Sireh Dara, Sireh Junjung
I booked Gubahan Cinta 1 year in advance hence I got her 2014 rate of $26/tray. Her sireh dara and sireh junjung are priced at about $140-$150 each. Her works are gorgeous.
If you intend to book this vendor, take note that you should retain every item including every ribbon/flower/pin etc. to be returned the next day to get back your refundable deposit ($80). So make sure to dismantle everything carefully right after your event 🙂
With regards to sireh junjung and sireh dara, I feel that these traditional elements are of no use now since no one chews betel leaves anymore. I only got them at my mother’s insistence and pressure from relatives. I feel that a lot of brides these days get it simply to avoid the gossip. Which is why they are so expensive. Not to mention the bunga pahar. Can you believe that you need to spend over $400 on 4 vases of flowers and betel leaves in the name of tradition?
Thank God they are gorgeous though, and I feel that they really do add the seri of the pelamin (: But I will save photos of the pelamin for my review of the decor vendor hehe because it deserves a whole other post on its own =P
I think there’s quite a bit of confusion over the sireh2. What I know is that the sireh junjung must be taller than the sireh dara because the former symbolises the husband’s role as the head of the household. In terms of which party gives which party what, I heeded the advice of Wannie from Gubahan Cinta; I gave my husband the Sireh Junjung while he gave me the Sireh Dara.
Aniwae, 3 weeks prior to my event, I was asked to send over my hantaran items to Wannie’s house in Toa Payoh and made full payment. I honestly did not know that this would be a consultation session as well but thank God I had come prepared with mock-ups of the the tray designs I wanted for both bride and groom. I literally cut and pasted different flowers/trays that she had as well as prepared a mock-up of the tray tag. Hehe. Unfortunately, some of the trays I wanted were no longer being offered. So don’t have your heart too set on something until you’ve checked with your vendor.
Wannie took careful notes of everything I said, asked me to send her photos of all of my mock-ups, and produced brilliant results which you can see for yourself in the photos above (:
Tip #1: Prepare mock-ups or screenshots of the design you want for both the bride’s gifts, groom’s gifts, plus tray tags. For the sireh dara and sireh junjung, the flowers really depend on availability so what we did was I told her the general theme (bold, subtle etc.), the colours I wanted, and the colours I did not like.
FYI, talking about gubahan, I heard a not so great review about a vendor, RT, that my good friend took for gubahan + bridal room decor for her wedding in September. Which leads me to my next tip.
Tip #2: BTBs, make sure to discuss with your bridal room vendor to find out if there will be any drilling etc. because the holes will require painting over after the vendor has patched them up with putty. And lay down the rules clearly with regards to what time, at the latest, you expect the services to be completed so they don’t show up at 11pm & you can make sure that you have a good night’s sleep before your event day, InsyaAllah (:
Joo Bee – Bunga Pahar
Joo Bee is located on the first floor of the Larkin Terminal Central (take SBS 170 after exiting customs at JB Sentral). The person we worked with is Auntie Gan. We ordered 80 sticks of bunga pahar at 4RM each (without salted egg).
I don’t seem to have a good shot of the bunga pahar as a whole but really they were gorgeous 🙂 Aniwae, we were told that they would be ready in about 9 weeks but we dropped by 7 weeks later since we needed to collect our invitation cards across the street at Plaza Larkin anyway. Turns out, the bunga pahar was ready and packed lightly into 2 boxes so that they will not be crushed. They looked exactly like the mock-up she prepared for us on the spot when we first made the order (: You can read more about my trip there in this post
The mock-up.
If you are looking to save a little on DIY supplies for gubahan etc., their store is worth a visit. They have such a selection as you can see below
Fiesta De Arena – Live Station
(Popcorn/Candy Floss/Choc Fountain)
Sample shot of their setup. I will update with shots of the setup at my wedding if I find any.
I got to know about Fiesta De Arena at a cousin’s wedding. Their food is delicious to me. Really good. I love their popcorn, and their chocolate fountain. Never tried their candy floss though but you can’t go wrong with spun sugar. Had no issues with them on event day service =)
However, prior to that, I was liaising with H from FDA who really wasn’t very good at customer service in my opinion. It took about 2 weeks for the invoice to reach me & her responses were slow as well and 1 email was simply “Dah receive invoice??” with no greeting or signature. Then, towards the big day, after not getting a response from them for a week, I checked out their facebook page. Turns out they had parted ways with H and apparently they did not have access to their business email anymore.
Anyway, I got in touch with Joe from FDA and informed him of the change in venue. I also negotiated for the remaining payment to be made on the day itself. Originally, their terms stated full payment to be made prior to event day which to me is just unreasonable when you’re talking about $1.5k. But Joe readily agreed to let me pay the bulk of the invoice upon setup (=
~dah habis dah crite saya~
ourstoryimmortalised 