Budget, Venue and A-la-carte or Studio
Fireworks on a budget! - Photo by Arture
1) Budget
Weddings in Singapore are expensive. That's something you will lament over and over again as you plan your wedding. I think the biggest struggle for me was cost versus value. Even if I could afford it, do I think it's worth its value?
A year or two before he proposed, we planned out our finances and how much we wanted to start saving together. Janan suggested $25k for the wedding. I laugh so hard at that now. We ended up spending around $45k for the wedding, which I feel is okay considering that it was a 2-day wedding. The average wedding in Singapore costs around $30-60k.
I think having a budget is important, and so is doing your research. After getting a rough idea of how much each category would cost, I negotiated with Janan to increase the budget to $40k. Breaking the budget down by category was helpful because I could quickly rule out vendors that were out of the budget. Whatever it is, be careful not to overspend to the point of debt. There are lots of such stories in the news, and it's quite scary to think about.
This was our rough budget. There were things we ended up not spending on (like shuttle bus), and others that we spent more on. But I think we were mostly able to keep within this budget and give-and-take here and there. You should also decide as a couple the things you want to prioritize. For us (me mostly), it was venue, decor and photography & videography. One thing we were sure of, was that we wanted iFly as our venue because of the beach-garden setting and most of all, fireworks! With that large-item cost in mind, we worked around other things to keep within our budget. I think the next thing we spent the most on was photography and videography, but it was totally worth it because they were two of our best decisions. After the wedding day, the photos and videos are what you take home. This is really true: a good photographer can salvage even an ugly wedding, but even the best day can be spoilt by a bad photographer.
Having a cheaper wedding is possible, but it really depends on what you (and your parents and parents-in-law) want and the number of people you have. Normally, keeping a wedding small helps reduce cost significantly since food makes up 50% of the cost. The other is venue, which I elaborate on in the next section. You could always elope too! (e.g. Batam and Bali have a lot of wedding packages all-inclusive)
2) Venue
I will have a separate post on venues, but I thought I would talk a bit about it here since venue makes up a large part of the cost. Deciding your venue is normally the first thing you would do, since you might have a certain dream wedding in mind and this sets the tone for the style of your wedding. It's also likely the thing you will spend the most on, since food and venues usually come together. Do research on this before setting your budget. You will be surprised at how even venues that don't look very nice are expensive to rent. And you would think cafes are cheaper, but they're really not. Some will have a venue rental cost as well as minimum number of guests, some can only be rented on weekdays, and so on.
If your priority is having a wedding for $30k and below, the other way is to be flexible with the venue. Consider places like your own HDB home/condo function room or Botanic Gardens Bandstand. You could always hold it at home and splurge on decor so that your photos still look nice. The last I checked, using the bandstand for ROM is free but you have to let NParks know. The bandstand is also a good idea if you just want a simple ROM. I considered this but was too lazy to plan some more since we were having our wedding celebration a few months later (our ROM was in November 2018 and our wedding in February 2019).
Band stand: https://singaporebrides.com/weddingforum/threads/solemnisation-at-the-botanic-gardens.19109/
3) Bridal Studio or A-la-Carte
a-la-carte photography, hair & make-up, and flowers which I loved <3
It seems like more and more people are going the a-la-carte route. I think after doing research on bridal studios and reading lots of bad reviews, it's hard to feel confident going with a studio. Things that can go wrong:
The staff you first met with promises you something, but when you go back a few months later their colleague tells you a different thing.
You sign a package thinking it's a good deal, then regret it when you find something nicer or of better value.
You have limited choices when it comes to photography, make-up artist, and flowers. You might also not get to liaise with them directly or face the issue of clashing with other brides' bookings.
Some studios require you to top up per photo you select. For comparison, our pre-wedding photographer stated a minimum of 50 photos delivered and gave us 160 at no extra cost.
You might have to top-up for things that you want, like a certain style of gown or bouquet.
You might be asked to choose your gowns very early on or during a fixed amount of time.
I generally dislike pushy salespeople, and that was often the case with bridal studios. They would also promise you that you can only get that price if you signed with them that day. I guess it's a personal choice but I hate being hustled into a decision. I prefer places that are upfront and fixed with their prices. Some places also let you try on a limited number of gowns at the first visit, so you don't know if you will actually find a gown you like with them.
That said, if you are less choosy about these things and prefer convenience, then going with a studio package might work well. Going the a-la-carte route means a lot more time spent researching and liaising with vendors before you decide which one is right for you. However, it gives you more control and say over the services. You get to customize things according to what you want.
I think the main reasons I chose to do things a-la-carte was that I am particular about photography and don't trust the studio photographers (although nowadays there are collaborations between gown studios and established photographers, so if you're lucky you can find them working together). I wanted to avoid the pitfalls mentioned above, and didn't like some of the bouquets I saw offered by studios. Working with my florist, we had a discussion on the types of flowers I wanted before I confirmed my booking and paid the deposit. I was happy working with her and ended up hiring her services for other parts of the wedding. Same with my make-up artist, I could communicate with her directly on my make-up and hairstyle, and ended up making changes from the trial we did.
For each of these, do sit down with your partner and discuss it before you rush into things :) It's easy to get overwhelmed and pressured into signing for things you don't really like or want, so it's good to have a clear idea before you go into it.
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