Monday, April 25, 2016

Vanessa's Hen's Night - Dinner @ Seoul Garden Hotpot @ Cineleisure and Ice Lab cafe

The day after I'm back from my honeymoon trip to Perth, I met up with the girls to celebrate Vanessa's hen's night. It didn't feel that long from my hen's night and fast forward it's already 2016.

Anyway, it was her wedding the weekend right after the hen's night. Oh well, the hens night were sorted out at the very last minute because  the bride herself was too busy to meet us prior to that! 

The hen's night dinner was held at Seoul Garden Hotpot @ Cineleisure. Most of us didn't know there's Seoul Garden outlet which sells Korean food because most people will link to them to bbq buffet lunch/dinner instead. But anyway, they do have quite a few Seoul Garden Hotpot outlets around the island. 


Most of us ordered the Marinated Sliced Chicken Hotpot that night. 

I had it in Kimchi soup base and it turns out better than expected. It doesn't taste too blend and they were generous with their ingredients. This whole set including the side dish costs $12.90 which I think it's pretty affordable for a decent Korean meal :) This will be the perfect meal on a rainy day! 



#welfie time :) 


A quick group shot before we dig in! 

 Seoul Garden Hotpot @ Cineleisure
8 Grange Road, #B1-08
Cathay Cineleisure Orchard
S(239695)

I'll keep this place in mind and give it a try again if I ever come across Seoul Garden Hotpot again :) 

So the 2nd part of the hen's night was dessert time. But before that, it's time to dress the bride-to-be up haha! Everyone has to go through this and none will be spared from this bride-to-be 'treatment' lol. 



The bride-to-be all 'dressed' up and ready to walk down the streets of Orchard Road :)

And here comes a series of group photos/welfies while walking to our dessert place, Ice Lab @ Orchard Shopping Center.












So here we are at Ice Lab for part 2 of the Hens Night..

Anyway, it was such a coincidence that they just started operation a few days before we visit them. The best part about Ice Lab is it operates till 1am. Best hangout place for one who wish to have some bingsu for their supper! 


This is their signature bear 



The menu. 

They do server churros too but we didn't give it a try even though it looks good. 


There's a variety of drinks too..

Btw, all their staffs were dressed in white lab coat which makes the whole place pretty cool. 


We ordered the large Green Tea Bingsu - $21.20.

Till date, this is the best bingsu I've ever tried before. Simply because the whole shaved ice is FLAVORED unlike other places which served bingsu with syrup on the outside whereas inside is pure non-flavored shaved ice.

You may refer to my post on bingsu from Nunsarn Korean Dessert Cafe , there's a picture which shows the pure ice shavings in the inner layer of the bingsu.

Even though the price of Ice Lab's bingsu belongs to the pricey side, but it's totally worth it due to it's size. It's good for sharing among a group of friends because of it's huge portion but what matter most is the quality of it is simply too good. 


Ending this post with a group photo of us before we 'attack' the Green Tea Bingu. Even though we were very full, but we polish the whole bowl of bingsu clean haha! 

I'll go back there again to have more their bingsu soon, looking forward :) 

Ice Lab
Orchard Shopping Centre, 321 Orchard Road #01-01/02, Singapore 238866 (Somerset MRT)
Opening Hours: 1:30pm – 1am (Mon-Thu), 10am – 1am (Fri-Sun)

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Pre-Wedding Photoshoot Experience with Louvre Bridal, Coffee fromDreamzCoffee Photography

I know it's long overdue because I had my pre-wedding photoshoot nearly 2 years ago, and my photos were only displayed out to everyone on my actual wedding day (Dec'15). 

I have intention to blog about it only after my AD but seems like I've procrastinate for nearly 5 months. Opps! 

But anyway, so let's rewind back. I'll try to remember as much as possible the details and etc because afterall it's nearly 2 year. 

During the photoshoot gown fitting, these were the gowns which were confirmed for the pre-wed photoshoot. I confirmed a total of 3 gowns, 1 white gown, 1 evening gown and 1 short gown.


The white gown (no 'can-can' inside so it looks not 'pong' at all) 


The back details. It's a tie back mermaid top, ruffles bottom gown. 


The A-Line evening gown

This color of this gown was so trendy that year because it somehow reminded us of Elsa from Frozen.


The colorful beads pink short gown. 

This dress is so apt for the photoshoot and it totally fits the theme for our photoshoot.

After the photoshoot gown fitting, we started to plan the photoshoot locations and prepare the props for the photoshoot. Guess what, we only had roughly 2 weeks to sort out all the details while in the midst of our house renovation. It was probably 1 of the most hectic period in our lifes.

There were many stuffs which we should have started planning prior to the photoshoot gown fitting instead of leaving it to the final few weeks. It was totally uncall for because all this can be prevented with proper advance planning.

We can't really blame anyone because we simply overlook it and didn't do much homework prior to that.So here are some tips that I could offer to prevent last minute screw up for your photoshoot :)

1) Location for the various outfit - Things to consider are, are there any washrooms/changing room available for you to change your gowns? Any place to touch up your makeup and etc. Are there any permission to be requested or any extra fees involved to use the place for photo shoot? All these have to be taken into consideration. It will be best to recee the place first if you have extra time to spare.

2) Transport - Louvre Bridal do not provide any mode of transport like van or etc for us to transport us from place to place. Hence, we have to arranged it ourselves. Not forgetting, we are require to return our gowns on the same day of the shoot too.

3) Make Up Artist - Yes Louvre Bridal provided us with make up services before we set off for the photoshoot, but if we wished to have 1 MUA to tag along with us during the shoot, there will be a need to top up.

4)  Timing - Our photoshoot package was inclusive of 5 hours outdoor photography. Yup no indoor studio shoot, so everything was done outdoor. One have to consider the travelling time, changing/touch up make up time, and how much time to spend at each location.

Basically, planning the particular outfit to be shot at which location and how much photography time will be catered for it. Careful planing is needed for all these small details to ensure a smooth and enjoyable pre-wedding shoot experience.

Btw, we did met the photographer, Coffee during the gown fitting session prior to the photoshoot. We did discuss about the theme we wish to achieve and all the various kind of effects we will like to see in our photos. I do think this is important to convey your message/idea to the photographer prior to the shoot so as to prevent any mis-com.

Alright that's all for my little tips for pre-wedding photoshoot.

Back to my pre-wed photoshoot, the theme was Maplestory. Simply because we met each other online in this game call Maplestory so we decide to do a theme wedding shoot instead of those cliche type. But because it was a theme photoshoot, we have to get down DIY-ing our own props so as to suit the theme.

Here are some behind the scenes..


The props we took from Asiasoft. 

In actual fact, we took this from them way before we find our bridal studio and etc haha! 

We also printed out our in game character weapon and also faces as part of the props for the photoshoot. Despite the whole process being so tiring and tedious (cutting them out from foam board 1 by 1 is no joke), but we had lots of fun preparing for the photoshoot.










All these props were not wasted as we used them for our actual day wedding too :)

We had a few locations in our mind for the photoshoot. The locations we chose meant lots to us so we have to plan properly our timing so as to accommodate all the location into our pre-wed photoshoot.

Even though we may have decided on 3 outfits (from the bridal studio) for the photoshoot, we added on 1 more casual outfit for the photoshoot. So it's like 4 outfits for a 5 hours outdoor shoot, I know it sounds challenging and it need lots of proper planning and coordination with all the parties involve (cameraman/transport/mua/bridal studio). I will say, it's very ambitious of us to do that, but bearing in mind if there's a will, there's a way.

On the wedding shoot day, we started off with the casual outfit shoot first. Because it's the easiest to be executed. The downside was, I've to do my own make up for this outfit. It was totally fine for us because we wish to have a natural/normal side of us to be incorporated into the wedding album.


The only selfie for the morning casual shoot. 

It was done at The Cathay

Reason being, it was our favorite hang out place when we were dating during the first few years. We could spend the whole day, watching 2-3 movies at 1 shot when we were having our holidays. 

Derp and I do reminiscence those days so we decide to go back there for a photoshoot. We even had a shoot inside the cinema theater. Shiok to have the whole cinema to ourselves during the shoot haha!
Oh well, I'll share the pre wedding photoshoot photos here in the next wedding related post. So stay tune!

We spent a total of 2 hours (out of the 5) for the casual shoot. We had our lunch before heading to the bridal studio for the 2nd part of the shoot. It's time to get the thick make up done and also get us dressed up in gowns and suits.


Unglam shot of myself getting the hair done..


The backview of my auntie hair lol.

It took us nearly an hour plus to 2 hour to get everything ready..


Loving this hairdo of mine for the photoshoot. Indeed unique enough as mentioned by the bridal studio people hehe. 


The couple shot which the bridal studio took for us before we left for the shoot.

Our transportation car + driver (Derp's friend drove us around) and my personal make up artist came to join us at the bridal studio before we left. So everyone helped us to carry the gowns and suits on to the car. 

One pre-wed photoshoot really requires lots of manpower behind the scene just to get things done! So much of a hassle I know, but at least the experience was good and it's very memorable. :) So thankful for the friends around us.


#selfie while on the way there..

Our first location was Sengkang Riverside Park. We decided on that simply because it's a place so close to our new home and this location marks a new beginning for us.

We have placed our props all at our new place way before the shoot so we went to grab it before proceeding to the shoot location. They are really big so we try to minimize moving them around that much. 

Some behind the scenes at the first shoot location...



I will never forget how hot the weather was despite the photo turned out to be really nice. And since I'm a person who sweats easily, my make up artist was really busy passing me tissue and touching up on my make up. 辛苦你们了!  

Everyone at the scene was fan-ing us, or if not trying to make the props stand because they kept falling down everytime when there's wind blowing. Somehow my photographer have to be quick to capture the perfect moment before the wind came to ruin that moment again.


We went to the park's toilet to change into our 2nd outfit.That moment I felt really happy because it was the pink short gown. No longer need to wear the heavy white gown which I was sweating so much in it haha! 

Our second outfit was also done at the same park but it was at a different part of the park. Hence, the background is different and it looks just like another place. To be exact, the park has 4 different areas and they are connected via a bridge among them. 


In our 2nd outfit which mimick our maplesfory character 

My gown was from louvre bridal whereas we source for Derp's clothes ourselves.

Some behind the scene photo of the 3rd outfit of the pre wedding shoot..


Here we go.. whacking the monsters haha! 



This part of the shoot was to show how we met each other and etc. Yes and 'fighting' monsters together was part of how we met in the game. lol.

For the last part of the shoot, the intended location was to go Punggol Waterway for a sunset photoshoot. Since we reckon it will be just nice for a evening shoot but we have to consider in traveling time hence we make it somewhere near to Sengkang.

We went back to our new home to put the props, get ourselves change into the final outfit before heading out again. Our helpers get to rest too after the hot afternoon :)

As mentioned earlier, we were supposed to head to Punggol Waterway for a sunset shoot but we ended up at Punggol Settlement instead haha! We somehow got lost and ended up at Punggol Settlement.

It was a first time for everyone of us to Punggol Settlement. It's a pretty place so we continue our photoshoot there.


The only photo taken by our friends for the last outfit of the day.

I didn't have time to change the hairdo to fully braids till the end so it become everything bun up in the end haha! It didn't turn out to be that bad afterall.

We returned back to the bridal studio at around 8+pm. By the time we settled everything and reached back home to have our dinner, it was already 9+pm. We were totally tired after the long day out but yet at the same time happy that we achieved what we want for the photoshoot :)

We had a fun time with our photographer, Coffee, who gave us lots of ideas on what to do next/pose next. Our creativity were pushed to another level because we did actions/poses which we didn't think of during the photoshoot haha!

That's all for my pre-wedding shoot experience. Do stay tuned for the whole series of the pre-wedding shoot photos as I'll be posting them up really soon!

For more information of my experience with Louvre Bridal or any other pre-wedding related stuffs, you may refer to the below links.


2) Solmenization Ceremony: http://firstlove88.blogspot.sg/2014/04/23rd-february-2014-rom-ceremony-lunch.html (most of my stuff were provided by Louvre Bridal) 


4) Pre-wedding Photoshoot feature on 新明日报: http://firstlove88.blogspot.sg/2014/07/once-in-lifetime-memories.html

5) Pre-wedding photoshoot feature on Singapore Brides: https://singaporebrides.com/articles/2014/11/maple-love-story/

Monday, April 11, 2016

Dinner @ Five & Dime Eatery





Chanced upon this sad news few days after I've dined in at Five & Dime Eatery (Went there on the 1st of April). So I reckoned I shall blog about it first since this review won't be useful after the 29th of April. And perhaps this can do some good to those who are heading there for the last time.

Derp and I went there on a Friday night (around 7+pm) and it was actually full house. We didn't make any reservation with them but they managed to gave us a table. I saw some who came after us and couldn't get a table because the place is full. They were asked to leave their contact number and when there's table available, they can make their way back again.

So point to note, do make your reservation if you are going there for the last time because I reckon many will do the same too! The place is quite deserted so there isn't much place for you to loiter around while waiting for your seats.


The exterior of the cafe


A cosy little cafe which probably house the most 20-30 guests. 


The dinner main's menu.

Derp and I ordered 2 mains to share so as to have the best of both world. 


Salted Egg Yolk Pasta - $20 

Joining in the #everythingsaltedeggyolk craze, that explains why we order this. 

To be honest, the 'marriage' between salted egg yolk and quite a lot of stuff (I've tried salted egg yolk fries before too, you may click here to find out more) do work out quite well.  And this goes the same for pasta.

There's a slight spicy taste in the pasta which I pretty like because it enhances the overall taste of the pasta. Not forgetting they cook the pasta with my favourite prawns. 

A thumbs up for this dish because I think they turn out quite well :) 


Mentaiko Pasta - $18

Another hot favorite at Five & Dime has got to be their Mentaiko Pasta. If you are one who is not into that has the 'raw fish' smell, then this pasta is not for you. Derp find the 'raw fish' smell too strong but it's totally fine for me.
But if I were to compare the Mentaiko Pasta to the Salted Egg Yolk Pasta, I'll still go for the Salted Egg Yolk Pasta despite it being more pricey :) 


Matcha Milkshake - $12 

Both of us love #everythingmatcha these days, so this is 1 of the best choice made to order the matcha one instead of the usual flavors. We whipped up every single bit of it simply because we are matcha lovers!

The cafe is not easily accessible unless you are driving or so. There's a few buses to that cafe from town area though.

However, because Derp and I were around that area to run errands hence we dropped by to have our dinner. One more cafe off the bucket list and I'm also sad that it's coming to an end soon. So for those who have yet to try, do go there before the 29th of  April if you are interested to try.

Five & Dime Eatery
297 River Valley Rd, Singapore 238338

Wednesday, April 06, 2016

1st quarter of 2016

I'm used to doing this kind of personal reflection and skipped doing it because of my busy schedule (I will roughly say about that later) so I reckon a quarterly reflection seems not that bad either. 

I do not wish this blog to be so 'dead' in the sense there's not much personal thoughts put into in. It's getting more and more mundane at times. I do prefer to write at my dayre about my day to day rantings(and it's more private there though) but I know i should not neglect this little space of mine. 

For the first quarter of 2016, I've went to take up a new skill: Driving. I can't believe I'm finally taking this leap of faith to do it but it seems like now it's the best time. If not now then when? :) 

I've procrastinate about it for the longest possible time since 2012 but only get down to doing it what seems like now. Better late then never and since the wedding is over, I can finally concentrate on taking up this new skill. 

Oh well, I'm proud to say I've a supportive partner who is taking his license at the same time and I'm glad we are on the same page regarding this and our future. After all, it's a skill which last a life time. Because of this, our pak tor times these days revolves around the driving school and the time spending to and fro. 

Our weekends are just as busy/more busy than prepping for the wedding. #nojoke 

Not to mention we have to slot in time to run errands and do housework. The exercise regime have to goes on and to squeeze time to work out 3-4 times a week is not an easy task at all. It's a challenge but I'm glad I'm still maintaining this life style even after the wedding. No slacking even though the wedding is over because keeping fit is a life time thingy.

Ending this quote which is also my mantra for 2016, a quote which I'll keep reminding myself from now on so as to keep myself going whenever I met with any challenges in life. May the remaining of 2016 be good or even better than now!