Pre-wedding Photoshoot: Missing Wedding Dress!

I thought I had the pre-wedding photoshoot all planned out. I booked the dresses I wanted, prepared the face ampoules for both Wei Jien and I, coloured my hair, scheduled for my manicure and pedicure session a day before the photoshoot and booked the restaurant of my choice for the outdoor photoshoot. Everything was going according to plan...until I got a phone call from my bridal studio at 5.30pm today (Tuesday, July 5, 2011).

My Lace Wedding Gown

"Sue Lynn ah, I have something to tell you. But please don't be angry," said Fiona, the bridal shop assistant. "The lace gown you reserved for the pre-wedding isn't available," she said, nervously. Apparently, a customer who rented the same gown before me took it to the US, and couldn't bring it back on time for MY pre-wedding photo shoot. She was scheduled to bring it back a week before my shoot, but due to some god-knows-what emergency, she couldn't do so. 

I almost popped a vein!

"What the hell am I going to do without my dress?!!" I replied. All Fiona could do was to apologize repeatedly. I was pissed that this happened, and of all people, TO ME! That was my favourite dress of the 4 dresses I selected, and it had to be the one missing. "I'm not going to try on other gowns! This is the bridal studio's fault. FIX THE PROBLEM!!" I hollered. I was furious. Called Christy (one of my bridesmaid) crying, and she quickly came to see me.


The only solution was to go to the bridal studio and see the alternative gowns Fiona has set aside for me. To be honest, I knew it wasn't entirely her fault. But it was the carelessness of the bridal studio and that customer. Getting to SS2 was horrible; traffic jam, foul mood and all that. At the bridal studio, I hated almost everything I saw.


Fiona tried her best to find me replacement gowns, but I didn't like any of them. They didn't fit me right and I didn't feel comfortable wearing them. "No, no, no. I don't like any of these," I said, frowning. Christy too, didn't like the alternative gowns. They didn't have the wow factor, the way the lace gown had on me. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier? Why wait until 3 days before the photo shoot to break the news to me?!!" I asked. Before Fiona could answer that question, her colleague intercepted and said, "Aiyo...the bride like that, so how? We also don't want this to happen ma. But already happen, so what to do?"

I even have my face ampoules ready

That "I-don't-give-a-shit reply" enraged me and I told that girl off. Never ruin an apology with an excuse, especially if it's a stupid one. According to Christy, I wasn't even mean to the girls, but Fiona teared up. I had to tell her I wasn't pissed at her, but at the customer and the lack of attention from the bridal studio. After trying more than 10 gowns and rejecting all, I was getting restless and annoyed. This whole thing was a waste of my time. And Christy's time too. All because a selfish bride didn't want to return the dress on time.


Three to four assistants scrambled around the whole shop trying to look for a good enough replacement. They even brought out their brand new gowns for me to try. Usually, new gowns carry an additional surcharge, but they were prepared to waive that for their error. I wasn't impressed with the gowns, new or not. None of them looked like my lace gown and I didn't like the princess cut most of them carried. My lace gown was a mermaid cut.


In the end, I had to settle for a diamante detailed-bridal gown from the new collection. It was no where as nice as the full lace gown I selected, but that was the best of the dresses I've tried. Anyway, I'm just really upset, hence this blogpost.

Wedding Update (28 March 2011)

Things were not so smooth-sailing for our wedding planning (hotel issue), but I managed to get a few things sorted out. Those include deciding on my bridal gowns, theme, colour, video concept and make-up artist/hair stylist.


Kien Ling, my wedding planner accompanied me to the bridal studio to confirm the gowns I want for the pre-wedding shoot. Fiona (the bridal studio's dress consultant) was most helpful and accommodating. She was super patient with my pickiness and her recommendations were pretty spot-on. Fiona spent more than 1 hour convincing me that the can-can dress would look suit me, but I refused to listen. Kien Ling too, tried persuading me to ‘just try and see’. When I finally tried it on, I liked what I saw.


I’ve decided on my bridal gowns for the pre-wedding photography as well as THE gown I will be using on the actual day. It was the only gown that made me go, “Wow. This is it. There’s no other dress like this one”. I won’t be revealing the gowns until the time comes, so you’ll have to wait. :)


As for our ROM, I have chosen and purchased my dress. Actually, it was rif who choose it for me and we’re both pretty pleased with it. You’ll see it when I post pictures of my ROM this coming October 8. I’m pretty excited about it, as my videographer Nigel Sia will be also be documenting it on video.


Wei Jien’s mother has already bought me my wedding kebaya. She scouted for it in KL, before taking me there the next day to try it on. I’m glad we didn’t spend much on it – only RM200 for the kebaya top and silk cloth.

His mum will be making me a pair of Nyonya beaded slippers. She showed me a few designs and colours, before helping me choose the right one to match my wedding kebaya. Honestly, I would prefer that she didn’t make them, as they require a lot of work.

I hope my hairstylist can do this for me! 

I’m still not sure of the hairstyle I want for the ROM and actual day. But I know for sure it’s not going to be an updo. I hated the hairstyles given to me during both Miss Universe Malaysia 2008 and 2010. Those updos made me look like an auntie. I’m thinking of letting it down, with soft curls at the end. Or maybe have half my hair up to hold the tiara/veil properly. I’ll talk to my stylist about this, and let him (yes, it’s a he) decide for me.

Horrible make-up and hairstyle during Miss Universe Malaysia 2010

Miss Malaysia Universe 2008 -- hated the make-up and hair too

I actually like this hairstyle, but I'm worried it might make my face look rounder. ~_~

Trying on wedding gowns (part 2)

I got pretty annoyed with a few bridal studios, who tried to charge me additional money for their "VIP" gowns. The studio I went to last weekend was recommended by a reliable person, and I was quite happy with the dresses and package.


Before I looked at the gowns, I made sure there was no "VIP" gown nonsense and no hidden charges. Once I got that out of the way, I went upstairs to see the gowns. Saw a few that I liked, and two gowns looked almost like the gowns I wanted (plus point). Only after I was satisfied with the gowns, we went downstairs and talked about wedding packages.


I insisted on looking at the photographers' portfolio, their real life shots and asked about their photography experience. Wei Jien chose the senior photographer, but I really didn't like his style. He likes playing down the cheekbones, but I want my cheekbones to be highlighted. Also, I found his style a bit old school. The photographer I chose has less experience, but his style suited me and Wei Jien more. Overall, all the photos were alright; nothing impressive but they were not horrible either.


I insisted on quite a few things upfront -- my style of make-up, my own false eye-lashes, my own ampoule and my hair extensions. They charge RM30 for a pair of false eyelashes, and I have plenty of nice lashes in my make-up box. Some may think I'm difficult, but I'm just getting my point across and making sure I get what I want. The girl who attended to me was very nice - let's call her Jane. She was very pleasant to deal with.


Once I agreed with the package, I went back upstairs to try on the gowns. Jane choose two gowns based on the pictures I showed her on my blog. Her selections were pretty spot-on. 

I think this gown is really nice. I'm definitely wearing this for the wedding dinner walk-in...unless they have a nicer gown for me by then. It's fully lace and the cutting suits me well. Jane will need to alter the dress as it's too loose on me. For now, this is "the" dress I want. 

I'm not a fan of this dress/modern cheongsam. There's something about the colour that reminds me of the table cloth used at hotel banquets. Wei Jien and Jane thinks it's nice, but I think it's weird. I might wear it for the photoshoot, since it gives me quite a bit of cleavage but definitely not for the dinner. 

This is the evening dress I want to wear for the dinner. I think the colour is gorgeous and I love love love the back!  

What do you think? Ignore the no make-up face and focus on the dress. :)

When I stepped out in this wedding gown, Wei Jien told me he paused for quite a while. Don't know if he's being corny or if he meant it. This was almost exactly like the dress I wanted from the wedding gown websites I browsed. 

Since it's not as elaborate as the full lace gown (1st gown), I'm keeping this for the photoshoot and maybe the tea pouring ceremony. That's if they allow me to use two wedding gowns on that day. 

This cheongsam is a bit too much, if you ask me. Jane said it would look good for photo shoot, but I'm just not feeling this dress. I don't like the flower details on this dress. It's OTT. 

Hmmm.......

Trying on wedding gowns

Wei Jien and I went to two bridal houses in SS2 to look at gowns and packages. While I have an ideal gown in mind, I was told that it's going to cost me somewhere between RM10,000 - RM20,000. That's way too expensive!

The first bridal house (let's call it Bridal House A) didn't have the package I want. I don't want to pay RM30 for false eye-lashes when I have boxes of eye-lashes from my pageant days. Also, I'm very particular with my eye shadow colour, and the templates they have are blue and green, the two colours that look most awful on me. I also didn't like the gown selection -- some were OTT.

Bridal House B was better. The packages were more flexible and I liked the service. Showed the staff some of the gowns I had in mind, and they recommended a few nice ones. Two gowns they suggested were on the way (one of them looked similar to what I wanted); the designer just finished making them. These were some of the gowns I tried on:

I like this best. It's simple, but elegant. Sizes were ridiculously small! I couldn't zip it up fully. I'm either fat or brides are expected to be stick thin these days.

Wei Jien thinks it looks good, but he likes another gown better. This gown is a new arrival, so I'm going to have to fork out more $$ if I plan to wear it for both the photo shoot and the big day.

I personally didn't like this, but Wei Jien thought it was quite alright. The chest area felt weird -- it was loose and the cutting wasn't suitable for me. I don't think I can fill the chest area up nicely even if they were to alter it to my size. The bottom half was too plain, which I didn't fancy.

Wei Jien likes this best. I think this looks nice, but I like the first one better. Again, it's way too tight for me, so don't mind the gaping back. For the package they offered, I get a choice of 4 gowns for the photo shoot and 3 gowns (one bridal, one evening and one cheongsam) for the dinner.

They didn't have many gown selections that day, as a lot of gowns were rented out. I didn't see any evening gowns or cheongsams I liked. Apparently, many people got married in December so it's best to return in mid-Jan to see more gowns. We are still looking around for good Bridal Houses, so let me know if you have any in mind!