[Review] My Wedding Journey - Prewedding Shoot

It gets really lame to keep on saying how this space has not been updated for a while, so OK I AM LAZY CANNOT BE BOTHERED.

In the space of a year, I managed to get myself married and moved into a new house. The only thing left is getting pregnant which is not gonna happen :P

People always have a lot of first world problems when they prep for their wedding because somehow they needed the chairs to be of certain colours, the invite design to be of a certain template ya-da, ya-da. All I have to say is...

NOBODY CARES ENOUGH TO REMEMBER

Not saying you should not plan at all though, some decoration, some form of decision making does help to make you feel more in control. 

And if you thinking preparing for wedding is tiring. Wait till your renovation. That's when all the colours selection matters. Not only that, there's the choice of flooring type, door, grills, etc waiting for you.

Anyway I digress. Am supposed to be here to review some of the services I have used. I wouldn't be showing much photos too, because... just because. If you are a bride looking for semi-budget wedding then these reviews would help. If you are going for all the 5* nonsense that people do not really care about (except how big the wedding bomb would be to their wallet) then this is not for you. 

ok this one legit my hand and my stupid manicure design hahaha. 

Pre-wedding shoot - Gaeul Studio http://www.gaeulstudio.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/gaeulstudio/

Even though I have 0 wedding fantasies, the only thing I wanted was an overseas photoshoot because Singapore is shit hot can. No way am I going to let a mosquito hide in my dress and sting me all over.  No mosquito shall harm me!!! And the melting makeup! and the flat hair! oh god. 

There are a few options when you decide on overseas shoot - 1) to bring a photographer (and your own gown there), 2) hire a local photographer (and somehow get your dress there) and 3) wedding studios overseas 

(1) and (2) are too troublesome. What if I damage the gown? but they MAY be cheaper depending on the choice of your photographer. 

(3) is the best option for me because I will get fussed around by many people - macam VIP. Three popular locations include Taiwan, Malaysia (still same hot leh) and Korea. 

Taiwan was also out because their salespeople here that I have encounter love to hardsell -,- and also additional photos are payable - like in Singapore. Siao bo, lao niang not print money one.  

For Korea there are a few agents in SG who help to link up couples to studios and of course they charge for this extra service. My advice is - DO NOT sign with them. Why?

This is Korea leh for goodness sake. A lot of Asian couples aim to go there and take their photos like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. So being businessman, they KNOW what to do to take your money. 

THEY SPEAK ENGLISH AND CHINESE (woohoo globalisation)

Agents typically do not offer you anything the studios would not. So except for slightly nice food for lunch break (which you would not be eating, because you do not want your dress to pop right), they really do not offer much value add. The only value add they provide is the list of studio names you can contact directly yourself. That's why most agents would just put studio 1- studio XX in their Facebook page. 

Tip 1: Lower your risk by approaching those wedding studios that are on the agents' list. There maybe some studios which are too common among international couples but so? Is not like you are marrying the guy in the other couples' photos right. If it is the same studio as your friend so? Just am chio if you think you are prettier than her lah. Also you will not be staring at THEIR photos forever right, same pose same pose lor. 不会死的啦. But if it is your enemy, ok change studio lah.

Also the studios I have approached do typically provide ALL unedited photoshoot photos for FREE. So you need not pay a single cent extra and can photoshop these photos if you like.

randomly inserting shots taken during the shoot. P/S this was taken directly from their camera with zero edits! 

Tip 2: Ask about shipping fee (for the album and frame) if any. Gaeul provided free shipping. Also ask about the timeline - typically they take 3-4 months to prepare everything.

We finally ended up with Gaeul because it was within our price range of below SGD3,000. 

There are many more prettier studios, but is okay. No money no talk. 

English was not an issue and they also have translator on the day itself if you needed translation. Years of K-drama watching had prepped me so I was conversing Korean during the entire shoot while my husband relied on the translator haha. 

Tip 3: The shoot session is more fun if you know how to speak Korean :)

Our shoot was a month before our actual wedding. The studio really rushed our orders out for us. They sent us all 700 photos the NEXT DAY (talking about efficiency) and we chose the album photos within THREE DAYS. Which Singapore studio does that lol? 

Alas, the frame and album came a week AFTER our wedding. It's ok though, because we did not expect it to arrive before the wedding, the fact that it arrived so quickly was already very satisfying to us. 

There are of course many couple shots, but nah not showing. 

Actual shoot day: 

We arrived about about 8.30am and had makeup done until 10-10.30am. You are supposed to select your gowns and suits within this time frame too. This was not a problem since I have tried many gowns in Singapore already - I just picked the ones I wouldn't get to wear in SG lah. There was not a huge selection so for brides who want to wear designer gowns (such studios exist), then do not go Gaeul. 

The makeup artist had mad skilzzzz, so I was really very happy with the makeup! The whole process was really fun despite having 3-4couples taking the photoshoots at the same time as us. Everything proceeded really smoothly. 

Tip 4: if you are taking outdoor shoots, try to schedule your shoot on a weekday so that there will not be so much crowd or strangers in your background. 

Overall, the experience with Gauel Studio was really great! If you wish to ask more details you can email or comment below!