A Luxury Wedding Fair and a Romantic Wedding Proposal

A Great Press Conference on 2nd June 2011

The 1st Luxury Wedding Fair held at the Sofitel, looking at The Art Of Celebrating Weddings have finally come to a grand and romantic finale after a 2-day event.

Do read a personal story on the fair here : Sofitel Luxury Wedding Fair  and view some of the Wedding Fair photos here : Sofitel Wedding Fair & The Big Proposal

Enjoy and once again, truly thankful and grateful for all the support from industry partners - both international : Beauty Haven, Acadia Cards, Kid Chan Photography, Marsio Timeless Productions, La Flaire Malaysia, LiveStudios, Carven Ong Couture, Janet Lee and local partners : Artworx Studios, iFriend Studios, Silk & Pepper, Water Lily, Bite Productions, Livewire, Khmer Angkor Wat Jewellers and Royal Jazz Band.

Together WE CAN :)

The Next Big Thing

Planning for a wedding for some it is a challenge and for many others it is an event to get over and done with. As a wedding planner it is really sad when you have brides who can’t wait for the wedding to be over and her life to get back to normal. A wedding is suppose to be the most important event in your life, an event that you can’t wait for it to come and when it does, don't want it to end.

For the bridezilla
The days after the honeymoon will be like losing a friend, you don't have to send daily emails to your wedding planner anymore. You don't have to think about music, colors and flavors anymore and you don't have to fret about the weather anymore. For the bridezilla, they become like lost sheep and can be quite depressed. I have had an ex-bride who emailed me to say she was sad we were not planning her wedding anymore and she missed our daily emails, I have another colleague who has a bride who after 5 years of marriage is now planning her renewal of vows in Phuket (no less) just because… (From what I hear it's the whole works – the gown, the makeup, the cake, the whole bang).

My advice: Don't worry, there will always be the next big thing you need to plan for and the adventure has just begun. Besides, give it a couple of years and you can plan your renewal of vows too.

For the anti-bridezilla
The days after the wedding itself is pure heaven, no more listening to the family, no more decisions to make, no more bills to pay and most importantly no more worries. The anti-bridezilla is the bride who just wants to get married without the wedding. The whole wedding show was the intention of the family or of the groom. So this anti-bridezilla can’t wait that everything is over.

My advice: Don't look back at all the negative memories of your wedding, instead remember the good times and the laughter, remember that you had the time of your life.

As an ex- bridezilla, I have to say it was really sad that my wedding is over; I still look at everyday things and get inspired to have it for my imaginary wedding. But I’m lucky because I get to plan other couple’s weddings and my inspiration is produced in someone else’s big day.

So no matter the type of bride you are, look on the bright side, you still married the one you love.

Spring in here!

Spring, the time of fresh beginnings and the start of a busy wedding season!

What are the latest trends for weddings these days? Well, here’s a list of what’s in or getting there.

1. Macaroon – Gone are the days of cupcakes. Macaroon towers/ favors/ cocktail snacks/ candy bars are all the fad these days.

2. Detailed stationary – Brides are doing the whole set from place cards, menu cards (even for Chinese dinners), escort cards, the works

3. Custom made wedding gowns – Why rent when you can make, brides are spending more and more money on their wedding gowns from RM 2,000 up to RM 20,000!!

4. Finer things – The finer things in details are becoming more of a “must-have”, things like cake stands, wishing trees and money boxes (check out our website for ideas). Even the cake needs to have pretty “shoes”!

5. Lightings – Lightings are fast becoming the latest decoration trend because the impact and mood it instantly gives the room is undeniably chic. The weddings we’ve recently work on, the only drawback is your imagination, with imagination and a bigger budget, and the ballroom will be transformed.

6. Overseas pre wedding shoots – The gloves are off and its time to beat the Jones’s. Pre wedding sessions are no more a question of “to do or not to do”, its where in the world to do it. We’ve seen couples jet off to Iceland, Paris, Taiwan, Bali – you name it, couple’s have been there. Recently I went to a wedding and there was a shot of the couple with a bridge in the backdrop, I innocently ask if it was Putrajaya, to the bride’s shock she replied that it was Hong Kong, but of course.

7. A few years ago the color of the season was white and green, every bride wanted a clean modern feel to her wedding. Now, pinks/ reds/ purples are coming back big, brides want a lush, rich and velvety feel to their wedding

That’s it for now, will update as I confirm the changes in trends.

New Friends in Odd Places

We’ve recently organized an International Wedding Soiree in one of Phnom Penh’s best hotel’s – Nagaworld. It was an educational process for all of us, but the outcome was a fabulous show that impressed the guests and met our objectives.

What were more important was the friends we made; it goes to show that if you click, you click. I made friends with some of the vendors in a matter of minutes, gossiping by the next hour and best friends by the time we were going home.

The soiree was held for our two-day period and like any pioneering event there were turbulent times but with the help of new friends from all over Asia, we pulled through and staged a grand show.

It is friends like these that I will treasure for years to come, friends that you only meet through emails, who trust your credentials, fly across the ocean to support you with all their might. Friends in the wedding industry, we unite!

Cheers! Here is to many many more successful events together.

Photos by Livestudios Singapore

Keeping Up With The Joneses

Every wedding starts with the purpose of two people in love who want to spend the rest of their lives together. Then it becomes about two families, two people, two groups, two teams, two continents, two weddings who want to out beat each other.

Why does “keeping up with the Joneses” become such a big deal?

Well, we’ve had many weddings where decision made in terms of the gown, the décor, the photographer, the cake, the favor and even the wedding planner was based on an invisible competition with a cousin/friend/sister.

So the element of show-off comes to play and your entire program is planned in such a way that you get the benefit of “showing off” to the guests and especially your invisible competitor.

This becomes a really sad situation because you loose sight of what is really important and why you are getting married in the first place. Make your decisions based on what the both of you want, make your plans based on what truly represents both your characters and make your choices based on what you’ve always dreamt off. Not what Mrs. Jones would die to have ☺!

Goodbye 2010

Looking back on 2010, it has been a year of utter turbulence. There was pain, tears, disappointment and regrets sprinkled with plenty of laughter, lots of love and loads of kissing.

2010 was a year of challenges for me, it was a year where God has tested my faith, family has tested my loyalty and friends have tested my patience. Hopefully through the tunnel of 2011- there will be light. You cannot help but wonder, whether a time for change has come - A big change.

Of course not all is lost, someone asked me how my life has changed after getting married, well I can honestly tell you that; Life Is Great! We are like two school kids who have just fallen in love, after 18 years and we still have so many things to laugh about, so many things to plan together, it is truly amazing. I feel more loved and in love than before I got married.

It will be Events Wizard 10th Anniversary on the 11/01/11 and the new beginning for our wedding division, we hope this will turn our luck around and give us a breath of fresh air.

Hats

I have held many roles through these 10 years and let me share with you my opinions of each hat I’ve worn.

As a Wedding Planner
You get the pleasure of making someone’s perfect day even more perfect and that IS truly fulfilling. There are times when you wonder why you are in this business, but you keep marching on and you know it’s for the better.

Being a wedding planner, you are the backstage manager, the go-to person, the confidante, the mediator, the butler and the shoulder to cry on. There is so much nitty gritty work involved that I honestly do not know how can one plan a wedding without a wedding planner!

As a Wedding Guest
You get to feel how your guest feel and see what your guest sees. You know you get irritated when they stop the food too long because of speeches. You know that you don’t really enjoy seating and sharing food with guests you just met. And you know that although the bride has painstakingly tied every ribbon on every favor, no one really pays attention.

As a Heng Dai assistant
Yes I was a heng dai assistant for friend’s wedding, not really the heng dai but not really useless as well. The heng dai’s are just as blur as everyone else and not every heng dai is evil. Some are just there for a good time. For those who are evil to say the least, I believe that if you have signed yourself up as a heng dai be a good sport, don’t push the girls, don’t be a pain and don’t take the opportunity to molest the girls.

As a Bride
Being the bride is Da-Bomb! Haha. Well being the bride, you have a lot of pressure and stress from family, friends and unreasonable guests. But you are also the star of the show and you get to throw the party of your lifetime. You could command almost anything on that day and it will be done. Among the many things a bride must know, is that everything flies by too fast, so take time to enjoy your planning, enjoy the company and enjoy every other thing. This is your day… when else are you going to walk down the aisle and marry the person you love and you'll soon realize that you'll miss your wedding (i still do after 2.5 months), you wish you could re do it all over again.

As a Chi Mui
I was a chi mui last weekend to be exact and well, I’d rather be the bride. Being the chi mui involved planning, coordinating, scheming and preparing; and at 6.00 AM in the morning !! After that you were pushed around by hooligans, screamed at and molested. But, if you have signed up to be a chi mui, do it and do it right. Be there for the bride, help get things done and not just be a by stander.

Bottom-line ? Put yourself in everyone’s shoes, try to make the event as comfortable as possible for everyone and you’ll have a fantastic do.