I must say that the photos are majority quite well developed, but some of the photos which I opted for a digital size (4″ x 5.3″ instead of the normal 4″ x 6″ 4R size) came out pretty white-washed. I believe they used different printers, and as such resulted in a varying quality of the print-out, which is quite disappointing. The package came as a registered package though, and for the cost of postage we paid, I am very satisfied with Snapfish’s service (S$1.90 for 1st 50 prints, and S$1 for every subsequent 50 prints or part thereof). However, I believe it will still take some deliberation on my part before deciding whether I will continue using this online service for print-outs in the future, as it does take considerable time to develop (3-5 days compared to one day for normal photo labs). Plus, we have to upload the photos, which may take considerable time, before getting to choose what we want to print. Nonetheless, it is less hassle-free as we do not have to go out of the way to get the photos printed and collect them again when it’s done.

I’ve finally stuck the photos into our wedding album (but still incomplete due to a lack of some photos and I’ve not had time to do any captions), and added on some stuff to the design of the album cover. HAPPY!

Here’s a peek at how the album looks like on the outside:

Click on picture to enlarge

I think the other two couples made two very good points which myself and Peiying agrees to wholeheartedly as well. The first is that life is unpredictable, and if we wait, we might never get the chance (touch wood but you never know). Secondly, family before career is something that we feel is important because the warmth of a family helps to provide a strong emotional support to ride through the rough waves of establishing a career.

I suppose not everyone agrees with such lines of thought but well, I think marrying early is really important because marrying late means that you will rush to have kids due to the biological clock ticking away. I think it’s better to enjoy a few years as husband and wife, understanding each other before the kids come because kids will definitely place additional stress on the family. It is important to have an emotionally strong bond between husband and wife before the kids come along, and for the strong emotional bond to happen, you need time to nurture it. So, if you are thinking about marriage, don’t wait!

I feel really grateful to have you cousins/ brothers by my side, ever so supportive and ready to help. HUGS!!!

With Ah Ma & my Jie Meis…Did I mention you all looked lovely that day?

The special bunch of girls and their wrist corsages with the bride..(No prizes for guessing which hand belongs to the bride)

And I got mostly Cs! This means that “You’re both committed to your relationship and prepared to work hard at it. That said, you also understand the dangers of immersing yourself completely within it. Keep up the good work!”

We definitely do work at our relationship! And we will keep it up into our new phase of life, in 10 days!

This is the link to the quiz!

We took the ROM package and it cost $398, which includes one made to measure ROM dress, make-up (at their shop) and one hand bouquet. If you want the make-up out of shop (i.e. at your home or the place where you are having your solemnisation), they will charge an additional $50. If the dress length is below the knees, it’s additional $50 too. I rented a suit from them and the usual rate is $150 but because we took the ROM package, Jess (the owner) gave a slight discount.

The good thing about Jess Haute Couture is that they do made-to-measure. Peiying saw a dress in a bridal magazine that she liked, and since Jess (the owner) is a designer, she could get it designed and made according to what we wanted. Being able to get a dress made to what you want opens up a lot of possibilities and can certainly help you get something that you really want, instead of picking the best one off the rack (which may not be what you really want).

Of course, it’s more expensive compared to taking one off the rack, but we get to keep the dress, and since ROM dresses are usually pretty simple and elegant, the dress can still be wearable to other functions in future. And, after doing our homework, we think that the prices quoted by Jess Haute Couture are one of the lowest for made to measure. Service wise, I thought that Jess was a very nice lady. She seems to have lots of experience and good advice to give, although she tends to insist on keeping the design of the ROM dress simple. If you like elaborate designs, you might have to spend some time talking to her about the gown design.

If you are doing the customary pretty close to your solemnisation, you can negotiate with her to either lower the price for the ROM package or get her to give some freebies. If you need photography, they have it too. You can pretty much settle most of your wedding requirements there. Oh yes, she works by appointment only, so be sure to call them up and arrange a time before going down. The thought of visiting a bridal studio might be a little harrowing for some people (after all, you usually visit them once in your life), but don’t worry too much about it. We didn’t find it to be that terrifying. Just be sure to go there with some idea of what you would want (check out websites and bridal magazines). It helps to be a little prepared.

The solemnisation refers to the legal aspect of the marriage. Under Singapore law, a couple is considered to be legally married only if the couple has undergone the solemnisation. The proceedings of solemnisation is very simple. All the couple needs to do is to exchange vows in front of a licensed solemniser in front of 2 witnesses. The licensed solemniser, the bride and groom as well as the two witnesses will have to sign their names on the marriage certificate. Once the Registry of Marriages receives the signed documents, the marriage will enter the state register and the couple is considered married under the eyes of the law. And, exchange of rings is not necessary, but I think most people do it (we’re doing it too!).

The customary, as the name implies, is the marriage ceremony that adheres to the traditional customs of the bride and groom. For the Chinese, it is typically the tea ceremony and other traditions to be observed according to the dialect group on the chosen auspicious day, in addition to a dinner banquet. For Christians, they typically opt for a church-style wedding. Malays have their own unique customary wedding traditions as well.

However, according to Singapore law, it is illegal to have the customary marriage before the solemnisation. It is a crime that’s punishable by a fine (I’m not sure if there’s jail, but there’s definitely a fine). I suppose this law is in place to prevent any party from being “forced” into a legal marriage by applying pressure through the conduct of the customary first. Perhaps a Singaporean lawyer or law student might want to explain the reason. Whatever it is, one should not reverse the procedure of the solemnisation and the customary.

That being said, from the legal perspective, it is not necessary to have the customary. The law only recognises the solemnisation ceremony as what constitutes marriage. In Singapore, most people appear to place a stronger emphasis on the customary, so the solemnisation usually becomes a very low-key, procedural affair involving just family and close friends that’s best to be done quickly and over with so that the couple can get on with the more festive customary wedding.

For some people, they might do the solemnisation in the morning and then quickly proceed with the customary. For others, there is a time lag between the solemnisation and the customary, typically for a practical reason. In Singapore, applying for new public housing apartments can take up to a couple of years of waiting before the keys are received. Therefore, some couples would do the solemnisation first and the customary a couple of years later, since it is necessary to be legally married in order to be eligible to join the queue to buy a new public housing apartment at a subsidised price.

For us, we want to get our own nest as soon as possible, so we have decided to do the solemnisation now and the customary later. In anycase, it’s difficult for us to do our customary soon because both of us are pursuing graduate studies in the coming 2-3 years. So, our customary will have to wait for a couple of years before we can share the joys of the customary and the dinner banquet (which I estimate will involve anywhere between 600-800 guests, maybe even more) with everyone around us. However, we both feel that solemnisation is also an important event and that the joy should too be shared, at least with our family members and perhaps some good friends. So, the solemnisation is being kept low-key (compared to the banquet), although it’s considered a pretty big event by usual Singaporean standards.

I suppose the difference between the solemnisation and the customary should be pretty clear now. I’m not sure if the Singapore style of marriage strikes anyone as odd, but that’s just the way it is. I’m pretty glad for a 2-3 year interval before I do the customary (I’m sure Peiying’s glad too) because to plan something for 800 odd guests is not something we can do in a few months. And, we have to go dig up what are all the customs that are required to be followed. To complicate matters further, I’m from the Teochew dialect group, and she’s from the Hokkien dialect group, so we have to slowly sort out what customs from whose dialect group is to be followed. That’s a huge can of worms that definitely needs a few years to settle.

Thankfully, the solemnisation requirements are short, sweet and simple.