Gold Coast Pre-wedding Photoshoot

 

I am back after a long hiatus! Well I haven’t really been updating for the longest time ever due to my packed schedule and of course… laziness! LOL!

Today I am going to share with you our super WORTH EVERY CENT Australia prewedding photoshoot with my photographer Will from WillideaPhotography!

HTB and I initially didn’t have much expectation at all because all we wanted is to go through the motion and get this checked off our wedding checklist. It just so happens that we wanted to go to Gold Coast for a short break to visit our friends so we decided why not get a photographer to get our pre-wedding photoshoot done as well? Overseas pre-wedding photoshoot feels more ATAS no? HAHAHAHAS! We were pleasantly surprised with the results that we have gotten from Will for the price that we paid!

The package we took up is the gold package which entitles us to 4-5 hours of shoot, makeup + hairdo, 200+ raw photos, 20 edited photos and 1 wedding gown for $868 (current price increased to $968 due to his popularity). I brought my own gown along (-$50) and had to top up for transportation fee (+$100) for gold coast photoshoot as the photographer is based in brisbane and tipped both photographer + MUA ($50 each) out of goodwill. Hence in total, we spent approx $1000 for our gold coast pre-wedding photoshoot!

My MUA is Yui. She is SUPER attentive and gave me a very pretty makeup and hairdo. Just before my prewedding shoot, I researched the makeup and type of hairdo that I like and requested that she gave me something similar (BRAIDINGS woohooooo!). Despite me tearing like mad due to the fake eyelashes, she is very patient with me. No doubt I look gorgeous that day (: The makeup that she uses are brands like MAC etc, not some cheap brandless makeup making me feel very satisfied and secured! Even though it is not stated in the package, Yui followed us the WHOLE day giving me touch-up in makeup+ hairdo, adjusting my gown for me during my photoshoot and acted as a photographer assistant to Will. 

The unglam but very happy me laughing like mad during our shoot

Our photographer Will is very professional! He acted as a director for our photoshoot directing HTB and me how to pose for the photoshoot which was very IMPORTANT for us as we were stiff like woodblocks. He made the process very fun and I was naturally laughing away the whole photoshoot (especially when HTB had cramps when trying to carry me during the photoshoot! HAHAHAHAHAS!). His selection of photography location is great and he knows what angle is the best to capture the different effects. Even the raw photos look great! We had a hard time picking out 20 photos for him to edit as the natural effects of the photos are good enough for us (or because we are simply not that picky hahahas).

Here's some unedited photos for your reference (we are still waiting for our edited photos, cant wait!)

 

 

I would highly recommend Will to all BTBs who are out for budget pre-wedding photoshoot and yet not 100% picky of wanting PERFECT wedding photos. If you want to have the perfect wedding photos, I would recommend you to go for indoor photoshoots with bridal shops so that they can photoshop gao gao (enough) to make you look like a fairy. For HTB and I, we just wanted to enjoy the process, have fun and have some photos to show to our guests. Will definitely delivered the value and quality!

AND YES! My very beautiful floral gown is from Giorgia Bridal that I won during a facebook giveaway from Aido! Vienna the owner is very nice, very meticulous and gown looks fabulous on me! (I even had people requesting photos from me during my prewedding shoot because they say that my gown is very pretty!) HAHAHAS! like a superstar leh? ;p Vienna is very knowledgeable on wedding gowns, how it will look, what kind of design is nice and will make recommendations on what you may like. I highly recommend her! What's more, her gowns are AFFORDABLE even though they are made-to-measure! She chose to set-up a home-based bridal studio so that the wedding gowns are priced right to help brides keep their budget low to get the best valued gowns instead of paying for highly marked up gowns due to expensive space rental. So now if you are interested, pay Vienna a visit and take a look at the gowns that she has! (P.S. I especially love her white wedding gowns with the intricate beadings! Don't miss out on that!).

Will update my blog again once I get my edited photos!  XOXO!

Part 2: Taobao bridesmaid dress

Hellooooooo!

I'm back with my promised 2nd post on bridesmaid dress whereby I will share with you guys the other bridesmaid dresses that i have shortlisted :D

Fairy-like bridesmaid dress

Price:
Short-> 49RMB = approx. $11.20SGD
Long-> 69RMB = approx. $15.70SGD

What's so good about this dress?
Its a tieback dress, which means it is VERY adjustable at the boobs area. For the waist wise, it is fixed at indv sizes (S-XL)! Quality looks good and the dress can be worn in a few different ways! It has a few different colors (different tones of purple, champagne, blue and pink), definitely a good buy! ;D

Elegant and intricate bridesmaid dress

Price:
Short-> 39.56RMB = approx. $9SGD
Long-> 56.76RMB = approx. $13SGD
Buy here

What's so good about this dress?
Elegant looking dress with very delicate/intricate looking details. The color is very pretty and quality looks very good! In fact, out of the many dresses i have seen on taobao, this is the only one at this price with such quality and such pretty details!

Cheeky peppermint bridesmaid dress

Price:
Short-> 75RMB = approx. $17SGD
Long-> 95RMB = approx. $21.60SGD
Buy here

What's so good about this dress?
Cheeky peppermint color! So pretty! The bow at the back makes the dress looks even more luxurious! I rarely see these peppermint/tiffany kind of color on taobao! LOVE IT!

Little bow bridesmaid dress

Price:
75RMB = approx. $17SGD
Buy here (different colors available by clicking on the images in the website)

What's so good about this dress?
This little tie back bow is sooooo PRETTY! On top of that, it can help to cover the flabby arms of the bridesmaids and the tightness of the sleeve cover can be adjusted when you tie the bow, you don't have to worry that it would be too tight for some and too loose for others!

Hope these 4 designs of bridesmaid dress is something that can fit into yours and your bridesmaids requirements! I handpicked all these out of the many due to their prices, design and quality! Hope you like them as much as i do :D

Part 1: Buying bridesmaid dress for my JIEMEIS!

Ah ha! Bridesmaids can be the most tricky link of the wedding preparation.
You have to be prepared for it!

Here's a rule of thumb for brides-to-be:

• If you do not wish to spend on bridesmaid dress, give them a choice of colour and let them prepare their own clothes. But don't expect all of them to wearing the same colour tone/design etc
• If you are very particular about what they wear and want to keep everyone sychronised, then you would have to prepare the bridesmaid dress for them

Trying to cope with the expectations of my 6 bridesmaid was no easy task.. but its GAME ON!
As usual, everyone has their own likes/dislikes... its important to make sure everyone is happy during this process and minimize the conflicts. It can be a frustrating process for the bride I know, but after all bridesmaids are your besties so bear with it yah!

To shortlist the right bridesmaid dress, here's some of the shortlisting criteria that I put in place:

1) Colour
What are the colours available?
Do they match the theme?
Do the bridesmaids like the colour chosen?
Does the colour clash with the colour of the wedding gown?

I try to avoid colours that are too dark like navy blue (though I love it) and black because for day time, these colours looks very dull on bridesmaid and don't look very nice in pictures.

I chose to go ahead with baby colours in the end as I feel that they look very soft and sweet which will match with my theme (:

Credits to www.siroccodesign.co.uk

2) Style
Shape of the dress (gown? flare? bodycon?)-> Do take note of your bridesmaid body shape. What looks good on you may not look good on them. Bodycon dress may make your bridesmaids look fat at the tummy and thighs.

Textile (lace? neoprene? cotton?)-> Depending on the environment... neoprene may be a little hot for Singapore's weather especially if your bridesmaid will be running around the whole day to help you settle the nitty gritty stuffs.

Length (Short? Long? Midi?)-> I personally feel that long dresses are more formal, elegant and suitable for my church wedding. Some of my bridesmaid are tall and some aint that tall, so a short dress may expose some of their assets ;x Most importantly they must feel comfortable with it.

I am not very particular about the length so I allow my bridesmaid to choose the length and specific design that they like. In the end 5 of them chose a long dress and 1 of them chose a short dress LOL

3) Sizing
Please make sure all your bridesmaid fall within the size range of the available sizes.
Especially if you intend to buy from blogshops like lovebonito, hollyhoque etc... their sizes may not necessary suit everyone

Example of lovebonito sizing which is TOO small for my bridesmaids /;

4) Other expectations
Do your bridesmaid have special requirements? Important to ask this right from the start!
One of my bridesmaid wanted a dress that doesn't expose her cleavage and something to cover her arms so I have to respect her and put it as my search criteria.

5) Price
Price of the bridesmaid dress is very important for me because I am on TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT budget. But I don't want to buy ugly cheapo dresses for my bridesmaids so its really about balancing my budget and finding something value for money.

I would think Zalora would be a good place to start if you would like to find something locally for lesser than $35SGD (my friend got her bridesmaid dresses during sales at less than $17 per dress). There's plenty of blogshops providing bridesmaid dresses too but they are over my budget.

So I am back on my favourite website TAOBAO to search under 伴娘礼服 and here's what I have got for my bridesmaids!

Baby blue bridesmaid dress! I let them choose between purple and blue and this is what they chose.
The reason why I like this bridesmaid dress is because it is stretchable at the back with a zip at the side. It will help to fit my bridesmaids of varying body shapes (:

We did a fitting and here's a picture of their 三八 pattern LOL. Cute please!

The dresses fit them well, looks good and quality is good!
The dresses even came with padding!
 I am very happy with my purchase and so are my bridesmaids (:

Guess how much they cost?
Long dress at $48RMB = approx. $11sgd
Short dress at $34.36RMB = approx. $7.80sgd
Shipping cost to Singapore not included (local china shipping cost is about $2SGD)
If you are interested you can purchase from the seller here.

Part 2 here where I have shared on the other value for money bridesmaid dresses that I shortlisted on Taobao (:

Hope this is a good guide to help you choose the bridesmaid dress that you want!
Good luck!