walking down the aisle naked...

hi followers,

interesting title right? apparently Kate Middleton dreamt that she walked down the aisle naked on her big day one night before her wedding. But as we all know, in real life, she walked down the aisle in a gorgeous Sarah Burton gown. and as for my own wedding, i've finally made up my mind and decided on THE GOWN! =)

*drum rolls*

Check this out:



Monique Lhuillier - Arielle

 i would really really love to show u guys the silhouette of the gown after i put it on, however, i don't want to spoil the WOW factor on my wedding day. so pls bare with me for just showing this tiny piece of info. all i can tell u is it's very classic, lots of lace, sweet heart neckline, trumpet shaped, that kinda wedding gown. =)  it was such a relief after i've signed the bill... to be honest, gown hunting is such a stressful event psychologically... it's a constant battle between your dream gown and how much it costs... and for me.. dream trumps the cost of it...  so now what we'll need to do is just to wait for the gown to be made and deliver in Feb 2012 (wouldn't it be nice to receive it right b4 my birthday?) all i need now is a lace-trimmed veil to go with it... will check that out when i'm in London ;)

special thanks to Shirley and Brenda @ the Wedding Atelier!!! You Girls Rock!!!! and kyna my lovely sis for coming to the shop with me, lub ya!!!

Cheers,
Liz xoxo

p.s. o ya... forgot to mention... the gown is VERY VERY VERY VERY EXPENSIVE.... i must be out of my mind when i sign the payslip... i'm secretly crossing my fingers and my toes that my bank has 'accidentally forgot' to put that item on my credit card bill... ;P

designer bridal room/ lusan mandongus :(

hi followers,

my visit to this so called high end bridal shop was the MOST BIZARRE EXPERIENCE EVER!!! visited the shop yesterday with mum and chris and here is our experience:

my appointment was at 1pm and the girl (let's just call her C) that was supposed to serve me didn't show up until 2! Nonetheless, while we were waiting for Miss C to arrive at the BDR shop, a guy (let's called him K) came in into the fitting area and annouced that Miss C will be late for our appointment due to a work meeting (in which she was already 20 mins late by that time), Mr K then asked us what kind of dresses are we looking for (and i told him that i'm only looking for evening gowns as i've decided to get my wedding gown from another shop), he then said we could look around in the shop for evening gowns (which means 'serve ourselves' in my language), and to be honest, there were only 4 evening dresses in the shop, so it took me 15 seconds to actually browse them... then 10 mins later, he came back into the waiting area and said that Miss C has actually picked out some dresses for me to try on and there are more new arrival dresses available at their warehouse, so he asked a totally random girl from the shop to bring us over (at this point, i'd call that girl the reception girl as she has NO IDEA whatsoever about bridal gowns or evening dresses, also, throughout the whole process, she was either playing with her hair, or texting on the phone).

so when we arrived to this so called warehouse (which is about 5 mins walking distance from the shop, inside a shabby building), I asked the girl, "So which are the dresses that Miss C has picked for me?" she said, "Oh, I don't know, let me check with Miss C", then she went off and talked on the phone, and asked us to 'serve ourselves' again to browse and pick out the dresses that we like to try on. so we did, just so that we didn't want to waste any time. it was actually quite difficult to pick out any dresses that i like from the rack as they were soooooo not my style, all sparkly and structured and ruffled... ARGH... at the end, after having a difficult time to pick out the dresses, i picked out 3 dresses to try on, out of 3 of them, 2 were actually ok. one's a satin, deep-v, knot twist at the front, bias cut red dress (which i look totally hot and sassy in), however, the back was all scrunched up along the zip which creates the horrible effect of an enlarged anus... the second dress was a pale/nude/turnip coloured one shoulder draped dress, kind of grecian godess style... very elegant (and no anus at the back), however my concern is that i'd be wearing just 1 dress throughout the banquet night and the colour wasn't eye catching enough to make me the center of attention, and the one shoulder might make me look broad in photos.... so... it wasn't perfect still...

by this time Miss C has arrived at the warehouse (and it's already 2pm), she walked in without any apology, and pretend that it was ok to be late for the appointment. started to ask me what kind of styles do i fancy and then started to pick dresses off the racks. still remember Mr K said Miss C has picked out a few dresses for me earlier on? it was all BULLSHIT and a LIE, it was just a way to keep us 'happy' so that we could follow the reception girl over to the warehouse. all the 3 dresses that Miss C picked were awful, totally not what i wanted at all... and then while i was trying on the dresses, Miss C actually left us there unattended, well... ok... another girl was there but again, she's kinda like reception girl again with no knowledge whatsever... anyways, at the end, it was still those 2 dresses that i picked at the first place, and have actually decided on the grecian one, so i tried it on again and asked Miss C to pin it up for me to have a better look of how it's gonna look like after it's fitted, and can u believe this? she actually refused to help me to put some pins on 'coz she said the dress was just a tit bit bigger, and if i ordered it, their in house tailor is going to help me to do the fitting, so no worries about not having it fitted at that moment. my mum was actually getting angry by that point and she came over to help me to tug and pull the dress to  make it look better on me (so... at the end, it's still serving ourselves).

i have to say, the dress is not cheap at all, $8000 something after discount, (totally overpriced as i've check the dresses online, they're charging double the original price comparing to buying them directly from the designer's shop). and guess what? chris, the guy who never has any comments on his likes and dislikes, has actually got an opinion this time and felt that he would rather spend that money on another dress that is perfect, and also, i could feel that he was actually very annoyed by the service and attitude that we got from the shop. in his words, he said "we're spending quite a generous sum of money on the dress and Giordano could have given us a better service" he said he would spend the money on another shop rather than this crappy service shop. for chris to have such a negative comment could really tell u how terrible the experience was... we ended up leaving the shop without buying anything and not using our $3000 deposit.

i wouldn't say that this shop is a scam, as they really do have some really nice bridal gowns, however, do not expect to have top notch service from them. TOTALLY UNPROFFESSIONAL!!!!

so just a word of advice to any brides-to-be:

DO NOT GO TO DESIGNER BRIDAL ROOM or LUSAN MANDONGUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you could afford it, go to The Wedding Shop, Central Weddings, or White Bridal Couture. i haven't been to these shops yet, but i'm pretty sure u'd definitely get a better service than DBR!!!!

cheers,
liz xoxo

shanghai... oh... shanghai...

hiya followers!!!

since i haven't been blogging at all... u must have wondered where i've been for my long weekend right? well... i bet the title of this piece has given the answer away... yes!!~ i just came back from shanghai... and it's too bad that i wasn't able to blog 'coz china apparently has blocked blogger.com too :( so... here is some catching up to do...

the main reason that we went to shanghai was  (other than the obvious reasons 小楊生煎- yummy dumplings and 阿娘麵- yummy crab meat noodle ;P)  to prepare for my dowry, and check out the wedding gown boutique My Wedding Atelier at Pennisula Shanghai. i have to say... i was totally overwhelmed...

mission #1 pearl shopping:
spent 2 days in the same shop shopping for white and gold pearls... it wasn't an easy task as there were soooooo many different kinds of pearls to choose from (sizes, shapes, colours, shininess, blah blah bla) but thankfully everything went smoothly with the help of the owner 玲紅 and her sister 玲玲, with their patience and expertise, we've found and made ourselves some exquisite necklaces, earrings and rings (all with a 'friendly' price as my auntie and mum were 'long-time' customers)... so... mission accomplished: gold pearl necklace with earrings for my traditional red 'qua' wedding dress and white pearl necklace and earrings set for my wedding gown, gifts for my bridesmaids... e-mail me if you would like to check them out the next time u go to shanghai 'coz their price is way lower than retail price but much better in quality...

mission #2 wedding gown:
talking about wedding gowns... i've finally visited My Wedding Atelier in Shanghai and have tried on T-H-E G-O-W-N... it's a wedding gown - Arielle by Monique Lhuillier and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL... the original piece comes with a cape, but it could be worn without... altho it was a little bit too big for me, it's still the BEST gown i've tried on =) the minute i walked into the shop and saw that dress on the manikin, i knew it's meant to be.... Shirley, the owner, was very nice and helpful and has also suggested gowns by Jenny Packham, and urged me to try them on. it is true that the floaty silhouettes are more suitable for beach wedding and they were all very well constructed... but u know... once u've set ur mind on something wonderful... it's so hard for u to change... so now the only concern is the cost... :( Shirley said they've got some new dresses coming in in oct... that means there's still some time for me to think...  everytime when i think about that dress my heart aches a bit... it's so close yet so far away... *sigh*

xoxo liz

dream dress? or not so dreamy afterall...

hi followers,

just received an e-mail from vera wang about their spring 2012 bridal collection. out of the collection, there's only 1 dress that captured my eyes:

i really like the colour of the sash and the mermaid shape and lace of the dress. however, i've set my mind on a dress with a sweet heart neckline...  so wish me luck everyone... and my journey of dress searching continues....

cheers,
liz xoxo