As you probably already know, my husband and I held our wedding ceremony for our family and friends on 2 June 2019 at Hort Park. But what you don't know is how much everything costs.
When my mother was inviting my relatives to the wedding, I told one of my aunties that I was a budget bride and she said, "No lah, don't like that say." I thought that this was weird because I'm proud to be a budget bride! Why would I feel proud about spending a lot of money on just one ridiculous event that is only a few hours long and isn't even meant for me to enjoy? I know that a lot of Chinese people think that "face" is very important, but honestly I can't be bothered. When organising an event, you'd be so caught up with all the details and you'd be so busy making sure that things go smoothly that you'd never actually get to enjoy the big day itself. So why spend so much on the wedding when you can spend more on your house and your honeymoon?
My husband and I paid for the wedding expenses ourselves, so we weren't prepared to spend a large proportion of our life savings on just the wedding when we had to pay for the renovation of our new house too. Also, it's wrong to plan a wedding thinking that you can spend all you want since the angpaos will make up for it, because that's not something that you actually have control over. In our case, we were pleasantly surprised that we received quite a lot of money from our angpaos! Although the angpaos collected ultimately didn't cover the total cost, I think that the money that we spent was worth it because many guests said that the garden themed wedding was beautiful and I absolutely agree.
Here's what we spent on and approximately how much things cost. I've mostly rounded it up or down to the nearest ten or hundred, and GUESS WHAT? It's almost exactly $25k! Mission accomplished! Haha! Anyway, here's the breakdown:
When my mother was inviting my relatives to the wedding, I told one of my aunties that I was a budget bride and she said, "No lah, don't like that say." I thought that this was weird because I'm proud to be a budget bride! Why would I feel proud about spending a lot of money on just one ridiculous event that is only a few hours long and isn't even meant for me to enjoy? I know that a lot of Chinese people think that "face" is very important, but honestly I can't be bothered. When organising an event, you'd be so caught up with all the details and you'd be so busy making sure that things go smoothly that you'd never actually get to enjoy the big day itself. So why spend so much on the wedding when you can spend more on your house and your honeymoon?
My husband and I paid for the wedding expenses ourselves, so we weren't prepared to spend a large proportion of our life savings on just the wedding when we had to pay for the renovation of our new house too. Also, it's wrong to plan a wedding thinking that you can spend all you want since the angpaos will make up for it, because that's not something that you actually have control over. In our case, we were pleasantly surprised that we received quite a lot of money from our angpaos! Although the angpaos collected ultimately didn't cover the total cost, I think that the money that we spent was worth it because many guests said that the garden themed wedding was beautiful and I absolutely agree.
Here's what we spent on and approximately how much things cost. I've mostly rounded it up or down to the nearest ten or hundred, and GUESS WHAT? It's almost exactly $25k! Mission accomplished! Haha! Anyway, here's the breakdown:
Food is obviously the going to cost the largest amount of money. We catered for 200 people even though less than 200 people were coming because I wanted to make sure that there would be enough food for everyone in case they wanted an extra serving. The catering company was also in charge of all the floral decorations and the bouquet that I was holding.
Although the caterer screwed a few things up at the wedding, at least the food was good and the macarons were adorable!
They made 200 macarons as wedding favours for our guests, which were in the shape of cats and rabbits. I chose some pictures of cute macarons on Pinterest and they were able to replicate them! Oh, and the wedding cake was Pinterest inspired too.
Many of our guests kept telling us about how good the food was! I didn't get to eat much but I'm glad that everyone's tummies were satisfied.
2. Prewedding Shoot ($2,600)
Some of you may have a separate budget for the prewedding shoot but I included this to show that it is possible to have an overseas prewedding shoot even on a budget. I did some research and felt that taking pictures in Singapore would be kinda boring. Going overseas sounded a lot more fun! And it was, because we didn't just go to Indonesia for the shoot. We also explored Surabaya a little, then did some hiking at Mount Bromo before heading to Ijen.
Anyway, since we were on a budget, we couldn't possibly go to Europe. Also, some prewedding photoshoot packages seemed really expensive and gimmicky. They would restrict the number of photos that you would get and give you additional stuff that you don't want.
So in the end, we decided to have our prewedding shoot in Indonesia. Since it's not too far away, everything would be much cheaper. I found a list of local Indonesian wedding photographers and we chose to go with House of Photographers. We brought my husband's suit and two of my dresses over, and they arranged everything else for us (two cameramen, one makeup artist, and transportation). Since we didn't want to go to cliche, recognisable places, we went to places that people have not heard of before.
The cameramen and makeup artist were very professional and my husband was super pleased. We were in good hands and he didn't have to worry much. Also, they gave us all the photographs that they took. No gimmicks.
3. Venue ($2,500)
So in the end, we decided to have our prewedding shoot in Indonesia. Since it's not too far away, everything would be much cheaper. I found a list of local Indonesian wedding photographers and we chose to go with House of Photographers. We brought my husband's suit and two of my dresses over, and they arranged everything else for us (two cameramen, one makeup artist, and transportation). Since we didn't want to go to cliche, recognisable places, we went to places that people have not heard of before.
The cameramen and makeup artist were very professional and my husband was super pleased. We were in good hands and he didn't have to worry much. Also, they gave us all the photographs that they took. No gimmicks.
3. Venue ($2,500)
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| I took this picture when we first arrived |
As mentioned, we had our wedding at Hort Park. We booked the multi-purpose hall for the entire day so that the catering company could go there early and set up the tables and chairs and all the other stuff. We also booked another room for the tea ceremony, which took place just before the dinner.
We hired a vendor to help us with the decoration of the stage and the reception area (welcome board, area to display photographs, and I really wanted a wishing well for the angpaos to be placed in so yay! I got that!).
The wooden photo frames were from Daiso and we developed the photos before passing them to the vendor so that they could arrange it all nicely. The balloons with our names on them were from Partyshop SG.
Special shout out to Yanli, who designed the wedding invitation cards for me! She managed to draw a cat and a rabbit out and it was exactly what I asked for. Then John and I simply went to a printing shop and got the cards printed out so that we could distribute them to our relatives. Easy peasy!
Actually, we spent more than the amount stated above. We gave each of them a tip since they were both so helpful and professional on the day of our wedding. (P.S. I'm not including the amount we spent giving away extra angpaos, since you could consider that as optional)
Most of the pictures I'm using in this blog post (apart from the prewedding pictures and unless otherwise stated) were taken by Zhun Kiat, the photographer we had from Jstillmotion.
6. Band ($1,500)
Contrary to popular belief, we paid for the band ok. John is part of The MadHatter Project so he knows what the market rate is. Musicians still got to eat, so don't be stingy ok!
7. Alcohol ($1,000)
We had Shake Affinity to help us with alcohol. My dad also provided us with some bottles of hard liquor for the cocktails, but in the end most of it didn't get used. Shake Affinity provided us with beer and wine, but only the wine ran out. So now we have a hell lot of beer and hard liquor in our kitchen. I don't know what to do with this much alcohol!
I chose to have pina coladas and other cocktails at my wedding because I personally love pina coladas (just like the song). But I guess it wasn't a hit. Since alcohol wasn't as popular as I expected, we probably could've saved more money here. But it also wouldn't be nice if we ran out of alcoholic drinks or didn't provide them at all, so this was still kinda necessary.
We had Shake Affinity to help us with alcohol. My dad also provided us with some bottles of hard liquor for the cocktails, but in the end most of it didn't get used. Shake Affinity provided us with beer and wine, but only the wine ran out. So now we have a hell lot of beer and hard liquor in our kitchen. I don't know what to do with this much alcohol!
8. Suit and gowns ($750)
I think I've mentioned way too many times that we got our stuff from Taobao. The most awesome thing about buying stuff from Taobao is that it comes with freebies! For instance, I think every single dress I bought came with a veil, a pair of gloves, and a can-can. They also gave us a free jewellery set, complete with necklace, earrings, ring, etc. (Not that I actually used these things, though. The jewellery was too gaudy and I had my own. I only used the can-cans.)
You might be thinking: Why so expensive? One wedding dress from Taobao is only about $100! Well, after purchasing the dresses from Taobao, we had to bring it to a tailor to alter it to perfection.
My husband got a blue suit from there and I bought a pair of shoes as well as three dresses:
a) Blue gown for photoshoot in Indonesia
We had to alter this gown because the boob area was too big (yes sadly, my boobs weren't big enough). The aunties at Alt-To-Fit had to alter the shit out of this dress by removing some sequins and sewing them back on again. But everything else about this dress was amazing.
b) White gown for tea ceremony
Ok, this gown was a little disappointing because when I first put it on I felt that it looked nothing like the gown in the pictures on the Taobao app. Thankfully, the aunties at Alt-To-Fit were able to salvage the gown so I looked decent.
c) White gown for wedding dinner
I DID NOT NEED TO ALTER THIS DRESS AT ALL. I had it made to measure, which means that I had to figure out what all the Chinese terms meant and then measure what felt like every single part of my body. This was done by my mother-in-law actually, because she's also a talented seamstress herself. Then, she told us the measurements and we messaged the people on Taobao and... Voila! In a couple of weeks, a perfect dress had arrived from China! It was princessy so I really liked it and chose it as the dress that everyone would see me in. Unfortunately I have since found out that I suck at walking in long and poofy dresses.
I think I've mentioned way too many times that we got our stuff from Taobao. The most awesome thing about buying stuff from Taobao is that it comes with freebies! For instance, I think every single dress I bought came with a veil, a pair of gloves, and a can-can. They also gave us a free jewellery set, complete with necklace, earrings, ring, etc. (Not that I actually used these things, though. The jewellery was too gaudy and I had my own. I only used the can-cans.)
We had to alter this gown because the boob area was too big (yes sadly, my boobs weren't big enough). The aunties at Alt-To-Fit had to alter the shit out of this dress by removing some sequins and sewing them back on again. But everything else about this dress was amazing.
I DID NOT NEED TO ALTER THIS DRESS AT ALL. I had it made to measure, which means that I had to figure out what all the Chinese terms meant and then measure what felt like every single part of my body. This was done by my mother-in-law actually, because she's also a talented seamstress herself. Then, she told us the measurements and we messaged the people on Taobao and... Voila! In a couple of weeks, a perfect dress had arrived from China! It was princessy so I really liked it and chose it as the dress that everyone would see me in. Unfortunately I have since found out that I suck at walking in long and poofy dresses.
Total: $25,000
Final thoughts:
Like I said, I'm proud that we managed to plan a wedding that costs only $25k. It may seem like a big amount to some, while others might find that I should've had a more extravagant wedding. But to each their own.
If you know me well enough, you'd know that my dad has eight older siblings, which means that growing up, I've had to attend so many weddings. All of my cousins would have their weddings at luxurious hotels. They'd always have the cliche photo montage (baby to adulthood), speeches, and everyone (mostly men) would somehow feel compelled to shout yam seng for an inordinate amount of time. There'd be so many tables in the ballroom and the food would take forever to arrive. (Once, the dessert took so long to arrive that we left before it was served!) Usually, my stomach would be rumbling but we still had to sit through some lame video that showed us what happened in the morning at gate crashing and all that. To me, it all became boring AF.
Which is why we did away with the speech, gatecrashing, and yam seng portions of typical weddings. I made my own photo montage of pictures that actually matter to my relationship. And instead of waiting for the food to arrive, our guests could go get the food themselves. No groomsmen, no bridesmaids, no wedding rings. My wedding is probably the weirdest one out of all the others. But so what? I don't care if my relatives and friends see my wedding as something that is not as high class or atas as what they are accustomed to.
Remember: This is your wedding. Don't feel pressurised to do what you think others expect of you. Once you know what you want, just set yourself a budget and make sure that you spend within your means. It doesn't matter what people think as long as you're happy and still financially secure after that.
Final thoughts:
Like I said, I'm proud that we managed to plan a wedding that costs only $25k. It may seem like a big amount to some, while others might find that I should've had a more extravagant wedding. But to each their own.
If you know me well enough, you'd know that my dad has eight older siblings, which means that growing up, I've had to attend so many weddings. All of my cousins would have their weddings at luxurious hotels. They'd always have the cliche photo montage (baby to adulthood), speeches, and everyone (mostly men) would somehow feel compelled to shout yam seng for an inordinate amount of time. There'd be so many tables in the ballroom and the food would take forever to arrive. (Once, the dessert took so long to arrive that we left before it was served!) Usually, my stomach would be rumbling but we still had to sit through some lame video that showed us what happened in the morning at gate crashing and all that. To me, it all became boring AF.
Which is why we did away with the speech, gatecrashing, and yam seng portions of typical weddings. I made my own photo montage of pictures that actually matter to my relationship. And instead of waiting for the food to arrive, our guests could go get the food themselves. No groomsmen, no bridesmaids, no wedding rings. My wedding is probably the weirdest one out of all the others. But so what? I don't care if my relatives and friends see my wedding as something that is not as high class or atas as what they are accustomed to.
Remember: This is your wedding. Don't feel pressurised to do what you think others expect of you. Once you know what you want, just set yourself a budget and make sure that you spend within your means. It doesn't matter what people think as long as you're happy and still financially secure after that.
You guys were gone so long on that day and came home with frightful balloons!
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