MUA for my wedding day

YES! I am now Mrs Huang! Just had a tiring weekend due to our wedding, but it was all worthwhile!

Actual Day MUA

Previously I did not dare to recommend the MUA i chose because i do not know if she is good or not? But after reviewing a full list of MUAs, I chose Shanice Makeup & Hairstyling after looking through her extensive portfolio on her Facebook page! I love the contrast of her before and after makeup photos! I love how natural the brides look after the makeup! I love the designs of her hairdo!

Most importantly, Shanice is VERY professional, here's a few examples:
1) She reached EARLY on my wedding day (but sat in her car till i texted her because she didn't want to disturb me).
2) She brought her own lighting for the makeup which is why I got to enjoy my makeup in my air-conditioned room at my own comfort (my sis told me her bestie had to do her bridal makeup in the living room because of the bad lighting in the room). This is how fortunate I am!

3) Shanice uses spray makeup for my foundation which makes my makeup light and comfortable! During my shortlisting of MUAs, other MUAs charge extra for spray makeup ok! I have the tendency to get deep laughing/ smiling line mark (微笑纹) due to my way of smiling which will be VERY obvious if i have thick makeup. Guess what? I didn't have that on my wedding day ;p

4) Shanice managed to settle my very fussy mum who have had a bad haircut 3 days before my wedding! THUMBS UP FOR HER! She dolled up my mum and made my mum VERY happy the whole day! My mum was so 神采飞扬 as if she is the main lead of the wedding hahahas! She is VERY satisfied with Shanice!

And yes, hiring Shanice is the BEST decision i have made my whole wedding! She is patient, meticulous and very skillful. I looked super gorgeous and received lots of praises from my relatives, friends and of course.. my hubby ;p

As I have just changed my job a month ago, i was pretty tied down with all the wedding preparation and job transition stuff. Hence i was not able to fix a date for my trial makeup and hairdo. But having full confidence in Shanice's ability, I was not the least bit worried.

Do consider getting Shanice as your MUA and you will NOT regret!

Accessories

As i had a particular look/ requirement that i want, i had purchased my wedding hair accessories on Taobao! It wasn't cheap but i was lazy to mail back the rented accessories to Shanice so i bought my own. The quality is good and its very pretty!

Why i chose gold accessories to match my white gown?
i have a pair of golden dragon/ phoenix bangles that i HAD to wear for my wedding so i wanted my hair accessories to match my bangles.  Pretty right? ;D

Unfortunately I bought way too many hair accessories and did not get to use most of it (talking about being budget but yet overspending ;p). Sold them at a discounted price to a BTB just yesterday since i have no use for it anymore hahas.

I also bought a set of hair accessories for my floral gown (exact same one i wore for my pre-wedding shoot). Its so pretty!!

I'm selling the set of 3 pins for $18 and the set of 2 hair accessories for $25.

Do send me an email if you are keen to get them (:

I am also selling my SUPER long bridal veil for $20. Soft and good quality!

Its a dual layer classic veil that is 77cm on the front and 2.2m at the back. Perfect for the kind of wedding where the groom will have to unveil the bride :D Its going for $20!

My advice to BTBs if you keen to get hair accessories on taobao is… go for reputable shops and don't go for cheap hair accessories. It's important to have good quality ones that will complement your overall look on your big day. I bought a cheap hair accessory and had the biggest regret of my life when the crystals are falling out when i got them hahahas. So reminder my dearest BTBs, go for quality since these things don't cost you an arm or a leg.

<3

Buying gold for my wedding

For the traditional Chinese, gold is one of the important gifts that traditional mums will definitely want! My mum insist on buying me gold to gift me during the tea ceremony and she insist that my htb family must buy me 四点金! No joke, she would not even accept an angbao in place of the gold.
Gold = face for the family, so it is not something that she would compromise on!

Gold price is approx. $61/g for 916 and $65/g for 999 (it is estimated to be likely to increase due to the unstable economic conditions, hence investors will shift from stock market to commodity investments). But I think the price would hover around that range, hence don't think too much and just buy if you need to. You can monitor the trend here.

Lets be practical, what are the factors that one will take into consideration when purchasing the si dian jin?

1) Price
Wedding is costly enough, make sure that the couple is agreeable on the amount to spend on si dian jin. Si dian jin should be paid by the groom's parents, but in the current society today I think most couple would be buying it themselves. For me, we have to be self dependent (esp when my PILs are retired).

2) Type of gold? 999 or 916?
999 gold has designs that are more traditional and is more costly due to higher 手工费 (workmanship cost). It is softer due to higher purity thus more prone to damage. 916 is harder and easier to be shaped so more designs are available.

3) Design
四点金requires 4 items namely a necklace, a bracelet, a pair of earrings and a ring.
Otherwise you can purchase a 龙凤镯 （dragon/phoenix bangle).
Some people will buy according to their dialects but recent trend is people tend to buy things they like (:

Traditional designs are things like flowers, dragon/phoenix and 双喜wordings etc. SK jewellery has a WIDE selection which I find fascinating. Trendy designs can be anything (I love gold heart's 916 series design as I find them very fashionable).



4) Practicality
Is what you are buying something that you can wear on daily basis? Or for events? Or its going to sit in your cabinet forever? With that, your sourcing criteria will change!

Initially I was looking at 999 gold (because im worried my mum wouldn't accept 916 gold). LOL! But after discussion with my mum, she told me that 999 gold series is ugly and we should get 916 gold (:

I would want to tell every couple, always LOOK LOOK and LOOK + compare prices!
Price of gold is standard, but the 手工费 is the expensive one!
I have heard that 2 gold shops in Singapore does not have GST charge, so it is more worth it to buy from there! You can google more about it (many blogs have information on that).

One of the strategy is to ensure that the shop itemize the cost of the 手工费 per item and negotiate from there. I went to SK jewellery @ JEM to look at the si dian jin set and the sales person refused to itemize the 手工费 for me so I walked out without a 2nd thought. Went to SK jewellery @jurong point and was told that the 手工费cost $419 per bangle (crazily expensive). I would think that those big branches of jewellery shops are not going to give me a good deal when it comes to gold accessories, so I started to look at less prominent gold shops.

Another of my strategy is to bring my mum there with me to negotiate for me! LOL! I will feel paiseh to negotiate too much but my mum is very good at it! ;p

For now, my favourite shop is Royal Dragon @ Jurong point! Some of their items do not have 手工费 so its a good deal! On top of that, you can negotiate with them on the 手工费 if there is any (: if you are willing to pay by cash or nets, they are willing to make a further cut for you! You can look for an auntie there wearing spectacles (I think she is very experienced), I forgot her name ;x think its ivy or something...

I overshot my budget of the bangles by almost twice my budget ;x but got something that I really like (: My 手工费 per bangle is less than $100 (for your reference) so that BTBs can use it as a baseline to make a judgement if you are overcharged for 手工费!

Freebies from Photobook Singapore

As a budget bride, I love freebies and discounts!
Today I am going to share with you the recent freebie that I have found when shopping around (:

Photobook Singapore is having a giveaway now Now NOW!

Photobook Singapore is giving Free 100 4R photo prints or a 6" by 6" square softcover photobook if you subscribe to their website.

The only downside is that you would have to pay for their shipping $8 for 100 4R photos or $7 for the mini photobook. $8 for 100 pcs of 4R photos is like $0.08 per photo! No matter how I look at it, I still think its a steal! They will email the voucher to you and it is valid till Dec 2016.

I have used Photobook Singapore few years ago and found their quality to be decently good. Which is why I am planning to use them to print my wedding photo album and a canvas for my wedding photo (: What I like about them is their software, very user friendly and useful for people like me who don't know anything about designing LOL.
I will do up a review later date for their items (I'm only planning to buy in sept).

For $7/8, I think they are worth a try. They have lots of promotion on their website so if you like what you get, you can explore their promotions. I find their deals still cheaper than other shops in Singapore (:

Go try it out!

Something special for my man- Bowties for wedding day

Other than shopping for myself, I would have to take care of my man on our big day ;p After all he is the lead actor of the big day and without him none of it would be possible <3 Its shopping time for my Bee to pamper him for all the hard work!

To make my groom shine on our wedding day, I started sourcing for some bow ties (:
Why bow ties and not ties? I always thought bow ties are kind of geeky and cute so it suits him~

Of course, I am not going to show you some plain colors boring bow ties but something more artsy, cute and fanciful! I mean if you are not going to try out something crazy for your wedding, when will the opportunity come again?

Bowties shown here $59-79RMB approx. $14-18SGD.

Superhero Bowtie

Cool right? If your man is a geeky marvel lover, he is sure to fall in love with these bow ties! I mean is there any guy that don't love marvel and superheros?
You can buy them here, here and here

Dragonball series! Cool 爆了！
You can buy them here and here

Animal prints Bowtie

Animals from kitty cat, panda, fish, dog, sheep.. All so cute!
You can see the series here

Fruit Series

This is the quirky fruity bow ties!
You can see the series here

Everything from artsy to floral to vibrant bow ties can be found here
I'm sure with all these quirky bow ties, you can definitely find something for your wedding day!

Last but not least, Baymax says BUHBYE!

Wedding Angbao Box

I have been searching high and low for a wedding angbao box for my wedding day.
As per usual i would want something that is unique and nice for my wedding ;p

All these are pretty angbao boxes but I wanted something that is more out of the box.

IM-perfection has these GORGEOUS wedding angbao boxes that i really like! Chio right?
I think i read somewhere that the rental cost about $150? But i don't really remember...
However I think the price is out of my budget so no point asking/:

Carousell is selling a postbox angbao box for approximately $60, also a little on the high side /:
Wanted to buy a second hand one from another bride on forum but i could only deal on weekend as she stay at the other side of singapore. In the end, she sold it to someone else ):

Taobao is selling some pretty unique ones which caught my attention!

The red post box with stand: $250RMB = approximately $57SGD
The london post box (1.2m): $418RMB = approximately $95SGD
The white angbao box with stand: $106RMB = approximately $24SGD
The envelope mailbox: $224RMB = approximately $51

I have not yet decided on my angbao box...
Any one have any idea how to make a special angbao box or where to buy one for less than $30? /:

Anyway I have set up an email account for this blog! ;p
If you guys have questions/need any assistance, please don't feel paiseh/shy to contact me!
E.g. If you want to taobao something but don't know the translation I may be able to help LOL (i try lah!)
I may not be able to give immediate response, but i will try to respond when I'm free (: