Wedding Providers

I think I’m at the age now where everyone is getting married, so recently I’ve had a lot of people ask me for recommendations for providers that I used for my own wedding. So if you are getting married or know some one that is getting married you might find this helpful. It’s also proof that you CAN throw together a wedding in 2 months like we did.

Cake
We had a few dramas with getting the cake as our wedding was on Easter Sunday which is also a public holiday. To be honest our cake wasn’t exactly what we had in mind but seeing that we ordered the cake the week of the wedding it did just fine. Our cake was from Sweet Fantasy Cakes in Bankstown: http://www.sweetfantasycakes.com.au/ they have a good website and an awesome showroom. The best thing is they open till 7pm on a weekday which is great for people with work commitments. If you do visit I highly recommend trying out their chocolate éclairs – Yum!

Cufflinks
http://www.1stchoicecufflinks.com/ - if you are looking to have matching cufflinks this site has heaps to pick from and are very reasonably priced, leave plenty of time for mailing. My first lot was lost in transition but they sent out some new ones for free which we gave to the groomsmen as gifts after the wedding.

Dresses
My gown is by Maggie Sottero purchased from Abbey Bridal in the Dymocks building next to Myer on George Street. You can also view her gowns at http://www.maggiesottero.com/ for dress ideas. My tips for dress shopping are:

• Prior to visiting the store print out some photos of dresses that you like. Make sure that you pick a few different styles as the dresses can look quite different to what you imagine once you have the dress on. Show this to the shop assistant and she will find dresses to match what you are looking for. Don’t go in with no idea at all as you end up wasting your time.
• Once you have made a booking and you are at the store make sure you wear good underwear. When dress fitting you pretty much strip right down with the shop assistant in your change room (no room for modesty there!) they are also very picky about how you get the gown on and off so that you don’t soil their dresses.
• Be honest about your budget so that you don’t fall in love with something that you can’t afford.
• Keep in mind that in addition to the cost of the gown you will pay anywhere from $250-$500 extra for alterations.
• Finally check the sale racks you never know what you might find.

Dresses – Bridesmaids
I have had a few people ask me about these but my green cake cutting dress, ties and bridesmaid dresses were all made by my parents. We shopped for material all over the place but a good place to start would be Cabramatta.

Flowers
Depending on the time of the year that you get married you may be restricted on the types of flowers that you can have. I had a few bad experiences with a few florists where once I mentioned the word ‘wedding’ the price of everything doubled! Just when I was getting a little disheartened I made a visit to Primrose Florist (who did the flowers for Christina’s wedding).

The shop is nothing fancy but Mimi and Ben who run the business are friendly and helpful. They have an album of flower arrangements and are happy to talk through your ideas and budget. We were extremely happy with the result and found the prices to be very reasonable. Their website is: http://www.primroseflorist.com.au

Make up/ Hair
I found out about Martha Mok through my Mum who is friends with her mother. Through my own research I discovered that Martha is very well known in the Asian community winning various awards and doing the make up of everyone I know.

I don’t wear much make up day to day so I was always nervous about my make up on my big day. For me the most important thing was that my make up artist knew how to do make up on Asian features (I’ve had some terrible experiences previously). Asian eyes are different and you just can’t use the usual techniques for western features.

Martha provides a unique service where she does hair and make up (she may bring an assistant in the morning) and follows you around all day and all night until after the cake cutting. She does touch ups through out the day (which was handy when I started crying during the ceremony!) and is just there to help out with all the bits here and there: http://www.dmakeupstation.com/. As I wore 3 dresses through out the day Martha changed my hair and make up 3 times with lightening speed.

I recommend having a make up trial so that you can agree on colours and for your own piece of mind.

Music
http://www.mobydisc.com.au/ if your venue doesn't include music as a package then for $350 these guys were a bargain for 5hrs! You select your own songs from a list and they bring all their own equipment and provide a microphone. It saves you the stress of preparing a playlist etc on your wedding day where you'll be very busy. I booked these guys the week of the wedding and was very happy with their service.

Photographers
Photography is expensive but well worth it because after everything is over you can look back on the photos to remember the day. Photography is very personal as you need to pick a style and photographers that you are comfortable with. Be sure to meet with them first and confirm everything from costs, number of photographers, cost of extra prints etc. Our photographers were:

http://www.saxoncole.com/ who did the day shoot and part of the reception (up until cake cutting).

www.tealilyphotography.com/ - who did the photos from cake cutting onwards (they were also our guests so we didn’t want them working!).

You can view the slideshow of the wedding here http://users.tpg.com.au/jcness/

Suit Hire
http://www.spurling.com.au/ - We looked at a few hire places for suits but some were really old looking and didn't fit well, we settled on Spurling in Miranda where we found the service was really good.

That's all I can think of for now, hope this helps!

xo

Em