The People Behind The Scenes

I had two photographers, Jiaren and Desmond.
Jiaren approached me when I put up my post in ClubSnap. I am really happy with the shots he took. He tries his very best to make sure that the shots turn out well. He doesn’t just point and shoot blindly; very professional service! His rates are pretty affordable too 🙂
Desmond is my friend who is just starting to venture into wedding photography. Visit his blog to look at his past work! If you are interested to get him to help you with any events just drop him or me an email.

My wedding car was a white BMW320i hired from White Wedding Cars.
Thomas (the boss) was our driver that day. I think the rates are pretty affordable for a white BMW. On the night before, he drove to our bridal studio for the floral decoration. He seemed to know his way around quite well. The normal timing is 7am to 5pm, any earlier or later and there will be a surcharge, any trips that requires him to ferry someone else other than the bride and groom will be an additional $50.
Very friendly, professional and punctual (usually arrives earlier than arranged time).

My bridal studio was Volans Couture. Nothing but praises for my makeup artist, Elbson. He is soooooo nice, meticulous, very experienced and takes pride in his work. He really made sure I was properly doll up and will use as much time as possible to ensure you look good i.e. before I was going for my second march in, he was still helping me touch up.
Another person to compliment is Jiaxuan, she is my assistant in Volans Couture. She is the nicest person I have met. She is very reassuring and accommodating. Just tell her what you need and she will try her best to make you happy. Although sometimes she can be forgetful at times, so just give her a quick reminder. She is really really busy though, it seems like she is the main assistant there (everyone that comes through the door is served by her, the rest of them seem much more idle).
Oh and we found out that there is a lift (say what?) that leads you to Volans Couture. So next time if you have heavy luggage, ask them where it is.

Mother’s makeup was done by Yan Ling, 2 pax at 80 each. She is very nice, flexible and accommodating. My mother felt that her makeup was too thick so we told her to make it lighter, after which it looked pretty good. The man’s mother also felt that way, so perhaps let her know if you are not comfortable with the way it looks. Although both mothers looked great on photos!

Solemnizer is Mr Tan Yan Boon Alex. The ROM was short and sweet. He had a good command of both English and Chinese. We were a little late to start the ceremony but he was very understanding and kindly waited for us. Hongbao rate is $88.

Our banquet location is at Qian Xi Lou Farrer Park.
**I decided they deserve more credit and a more detailed post. So go to this link for more details!

Buffet Catering was Meihao99 (bride) and Yan Palace (groom). I think Yan Palace is nicer, but it is also more expensive.

Volans Couture Part 2

I finished my photoshoot on 20th May but didn’t really have time to post. Here is a quick update of the shoot 🙂

I have nothing but praises for the photographers and make up artist  😀

MUA: Elson
Photographer: Ah Guang and Ah Sheng (assistant)

1. We started earlier at 8am (no charge).
2. MUA helped me achieve the hairstyle I wanted, really really love him!!
3. There’s a main photographer and one assistant – so you have someone to help you change and the MUA will also pass some accessories to the assistant for the night shoot.
4. We were able to rush back to regroup, change outfit, hairstyle and touch-up makeup before the evening/night shoot – so i was not stuck with one hairstyle for outdoor shoot, that also meant the MUA stayed around till 4pm to help me
5. We were able to go to 4 locations for our outdoor shoot, we replaced alexandra road with haji lane as suggested by the team and it turned out for the best
6. They had an array of their own props which they brought along, they also incorporated all the props we brought along.
7. They have a lot of different scenes for indoor shoots, and they all looked super nice!
8. The team really worked hard for us to get the ‘feel’ we wanted – the photos prove it!
9. They have this make shift tent that makes it so much easier to change, no need to find toilet!

We just came back from choosing photos. They were not pushy at all. They just left us on our own to choose and came back to advise us if we needed to add in one or two photos so that a better design can be added. We didn’t feel pressured to add more photos nor did their attitude change when we didn’t want to.

Some things to take note (I am not sure if the following can be negotiated):

1. If it rains after you finish indoor shoot, you will need to pay 200 to reschedule the outdoor shoot
2. If you use their vehicle for the outdoor photoshoot, you will have to cover carpark fees and ERP and petrol which is approximately $50 as stated by them (we are not sure of the exact cost since my HTB drove)
3. Some gowns cannot be taken outdoor, so this might be a little restrictive
4. You will need to pay for eyelash and ampoules
5. All in all, after seeing the photos, I am a very very very happy bride. We are really glad we chose Volans (even with the initial crisis)

Volans Couture Part 1

Hello all,

I am a current Volans Couture bride. Would like to share my experience with them so far.
I signed up with them in Nov/Dec 2012, can’t really remember already. Went into the shop when I was scouting the different places in Liang Seah Street and this bridal studio made me feel comfortable. Just happen that they have a roadshow at Tampines, so me and HTB who lived nearby went there, talked about it, paid the first deposit and signed the package.

We paid the deposit and from then onwards, not much sound from them. Nobody contacted me to confirm my first fitting, pre-wedding shoot and everything. I pretty much had to call them to tell them the dates. I’m not sure if it like that for all BS though. So I can’t say if this is a negative or positive.

First Fitting
I went on Friday and in the afternoon so the place was super empty. No couples, no other customers, only me and my sister. So it was actually very relaxing. The assistant pass me and iPad to choose the gowns. There is good and bad, but I think they never update the iPad photos, so there are some gowns that are not featured inside. And some of the shots don’t really show case the gowns well. I also didn’t like the fact that I can’t walk around to ‘look through’ the gowns and pick the one I want.
Some things to note, their short gowns are very limited (maybe only 15?) and most of them look similar to each other.
They don’t have a lot of different shapes of gowns i.e. mermaid, most are ball gowns kind of dresses. This is based on what I have seen in the iPad and what the assistant let me try on.
I wouldn’t confirm that they have very little gowns as I manage to find ones that I like and a few that I love, but you don’t get to estimate how much they have because it is just all over the place, and not in plain sight so it is very difficult to judge.
The man’s suit are all arranged in plain sight and on a rack so it is easy to pick and choose for the HTB.
They also have many nice props and scenes for their indoor shoot.
We manage to speak to the photographers assistant to talk about the photoshoot location after requesting for it. It seems like we still don’t know who is our photographer yet.
In terms of hair and makeup, my assistant just told me to show pictures on the photoshoot day itself. I guess the MUA will try his best to copy?

First Crisis
Now comes the drama. I am not a skinny bride. Nor am I SUPER fat. But like all BS, they cater to the skinny girls and when it comes to alteration for the dresses, the problems will surface. AFTER I chose all my gowns and paid for the second deposit I left for dinner. Suddenly, the assistant calls and says that one of the short gowns can’t be altered to fit me. So the fact that they have very little selection of short gowns made it worse. So I gave my second choice and she said she needed to check whether it is available. But after that she called again and said that it is not available. So I told her frankly that I really don’t like the other designs; and somehow she manage to make my second choice gown available.
Great! First crisis over.

Second Crisis
Now, today I suddenly got a call from her again. She tells me that the first white gown I chose cannot be altered to fit me. Great, what a confidence booster.
So now she is saying I have to choose some OTHER gowns again. I tried on many many dresses in the shops but only this one really caught my eye. So I was pretty annoyed at this problem again. Plus I don’t understand why this information cannot be made know to me earlier. I would have rather BS just state that they only cater to M size and below brides so we don’t bother going into their shops. I express my unhappiness and she said she will speak to the seamstress again and see what they can do.
I was having dinner with HTB nearby so we called and told her that we are going to drop by to talk about this.
When I arrived the place was packed! But don’t know why one of the staff just kept glaring at me.
The designer spoke to us, she said that she has a few designs that she can rush out and she can design one that I like but I have to push back my wedding shoot till July (supposed to be May). We can’t do that! We already applied our leave and we need to settle other things in July. The designer also said that she threw away a lot of the old gowns when they renovated the place last year. I was like HUH?? That is just ridiculous.
And at the same time I was looking at another bride trying on gowns and one caught my eye, so I just told her that I didn’t see that dress in the iPad (that’s when I know that some gowns are not featured). So if your assistant doesn’t actively bring you nice gowns you won’t be able to get them. She brought that gown over for me, I liked it but not as much as the first one.
After a long discussion the designer said she will edit my chosen dress to a corsett style so it should be able to fit me.

After this two crisis I have kind of lost faith in them. I am a little scared of what is to come on my fitting next Wednesday. They do try their best to rectify their mistakes and all of them (except the one who kept glaring at me) were nice and polite and patient. I was a happy Volans bride until today. And I really hope that after my fitting on Wednesday I will become a happy bride.

**Update: they didn’t have to edit the gown, for some reason, Jia Xuan did not take my measurements properly. After re-measuring me again, they found out that there was ‘enough cloth’ to alter the gown. PHEW.