Prep - The Gown (Ep. 1 Bridal Shop Hunting)
1:41:00 PMFirst and foremost, we would like to apologize for churning this post out late. It's quite common that most brides-to-be would start off their wedding planning with either sourcing for venues or bridal shops. For us, we did it both quite hand in hand actually. As we attended wedding shows and researched on venues for our wedding, we also started to shortlist some bridal shops that we had intention of visiting to view gowns and packages.
In our first "Wedding Prep Begins" post, we did mention that we were not keen to sign up for a bridal package because we might not need all the items offered in a wedding package. However, after much consideration, we eventually found a bridal shop that met all our requests, hence we took up a few packages there. In a few days time, we will be heading to the head office to meet up with our co-ordinator and discuss on our pre-wedding photo shoot and actual day logistics so we thought it was timely that this entry gets published now. We will reveal the shop that we have chosen in the next part of this series, but in the meantime, here are some pointers for couples who need help when shortlisting and picking out a bridal shop and also some tips on what you can request for or replace in your packages.
1. Do some homework!
We've stressed this a few times now that it's always best to do some research prior to signing a package anywhere, be it for the actual day venue, bridal packages or other vendors. There's so much reviews that you can find readily online through forums, blogs or word-of-mouth from friends and relatives.
We've read about many couples who signed for a package at wedding shows but decide to sell off their package online because they did not fancy any gowns after visiting the bridal shop. It's okay if you're able to find someone to buy the package from you but it will be such a waste if you end up having to sign for another package at a different bridal shop. That is something we try not to land ourselves into, so do take "safety precautions" and do your homework!
2. What's usually included?
Each shop would have a few price range of packages that you can choose from. Quite commonly, they would ask you to top up about $1,000 more to get your pre-wedding photos taken locally by their in-house photographer. It's quite a worth-it top up if you're not intending to engage an external photographer or take an overseas pre-wedding photo shoot package. However, do look through as many albums as you can at the bridal studio to see the works of their in-house photographers. You wouldn't want to engage one who has a totally different idea from yours.
Here's what's usually included in most basic bridal packages (2014):
Actual Day
Bridal Gown x 1
Evening Gown x 1
Tea Dress / ROM Dress / Kua x 1
Actual Day Make-up + Hair
Trial Make-up + Hair
Jackets for Groom x 2
Jackets for Fathers x 2
(Pants for Groom)
(Jacket for Best man)
Bridal Car Decor
Bridal Bouquet
Bridesmaids Corsages
(Bridesmaids Dresses)
(Gowns for Mother in laws)
Local Photo Shoot (quantity depending on bridal studio)
Bride + Groom Outfits usually x 4 - 6 sets
Album (size of album and no. of poses differs)
Canvas Portrait
Tabletop Portrait
Guestbook
Additional charges
Ampoules (rate varies)
Transportation for outdoor photo shoots (if you do not have a car)
Night photography (rate varies)
Early call time surcharge for make up artist (rate varies)
For extra photos / poses
* Some common acronyms used would be OTR: off-the-rack and MTM: made-to-measure for gown rentals.
So what differentiates the many shops from each other and would probably make your life easier when hunting for the right shop would be one or some of the following points you could consider:
- Price,
- which comes with Affordability too of course!
- Price v/s Quality (Don't go for something that is cheap but not necessarily good. We don't always agree with the phrase "good things don't come cheap" because we do find many useful and good quality items at Daiso, for instance. Which brings us back to the first point on research, asking around and knowing what you're in for by walking into your shortlisted studios to browse, feel and clear all your doubts.)
- Accessibility (Which is not a problem if you have a car. But for us, we can foresee ourselves heading to choose outfits quite often so as to find our ideal outfit, and it wouldn't be convenient if we had to travel very far each time before or after work.)
- Freebies
3. The Negotiation Process,
which is a nicer term for "the bargain process" actually. Haha! Well, who doesn't like some freebies or discounts? We all love them!
But if you don't happen to have any name to pen down, you might want to try your luck in asking for more of the following:
- More photos to your album + More poses to include in the album
- In worst-case scenarios, discounts for additional photo purchases
- Evening Gown for Maid-of-Honor (or you could also try your luck and ask on behalf of your bridesmaids as well. Erm... provided you don't have that many of them! Don't. Go. Overboard.)
- Wedding Bears/Dolls for Car Decoration, Wedding Ring Pillow
- More Gowns & Suits for pre-wedding photo shoot
- Jewellery to match with outfits on actual wedding day and photo shoot
- Waive of early morning surcharge for make-up artist or photography/videography team
- Transportation for pre-wedding photo shoot
So do share this blog post with your friends who might need help in their Bridal Shop Hunting process and feel free to comment below or email us at MelBenGets@gmail.com if you have any questions for us! Otherwise, stay tuned for other upcoming episodes on our wedding preparations!
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