Eat, drink and be married!

**Note: This is NOT a paid review, purely out of my own experience**

Darlie white smiles are considered the standard for pictureperfect. I am no smoker but am born with naturally yellow teeth that has become quite a nuisance when I am meeting people - most assume I smoke.

People around me have long raved about the effectiveness of teeth whitening, afterall it is pretty much like a normal dentist's visit and rather fuss free. If it were not for the dentist's gentle reminder that I can consider doing something about the shade of my teeth, I probably would not consider any teeth enhancement - this is what braces does to you, a heightened fear of dentists. 

With a wedding in the works and a Bangkok trip, I thought - Teeth whitening? Takes guts for sure to trust a dentist in a completely foreign country and their ISO certifications. Gutsy I am and I had a series of email correspondences with Bangkok Smile Dental and even made appointments for my whole family for a list of dental treatments. Prices are definitely a fraction of what we are paying in Singapore and even with Groupon vouchers matching the prices, the results have been varied amongst friends. One claimed that the whitening effects barely lasted 3 months and by her wedding day it was back to the same shade. Tip: Price and quality is directly proportional.

Traffic in Bangkok can be such a pain sometimes and partly due to our miscalculation of time, we arrived too late and was told flatly our appointments were given away and there was no way they could slot us in. Bad service to top it off.



Generally cheaper to go in twos.



If they had slots, we'd have gladly chosen this place!



Still cheaper than Singapore!



We walked around the area and managed to find another to accomodate to our last minute requests.




8am appointments made the very next day and the dentist kindly came in earlier than her usual time to see me. Basic polishing was recommended (800 THB) followed by an hour long teeth whitening procedure (7500 THB). Note that it is definitely cheaper to do in pairs so consider that fellow brides-to-be and grooms-to-be! She explained the procedures clearly so I was sure what was happening. I was clearly informed of my current teeth shade by matching to their shade palette before starting.

I am not going lie and say it was a painless process. In fact, there are three stages of whitening to be done, each lasting 15 minutes. Each felt more intense than the last but at any one point if there were heightened pangs of pain or sensitivity, I had to inform the nurse.

First stage: Went fine and dandy. I still thought - what is the big deal, it was just tanning my teeth under the light.

Second stage: Slight pain felt and sensitivity towards the end. Nurse adjusted the strength of light.

Third stage: Stronger pain felt with jolts of pain searing through the teeth in shorter intervals. I actually told them to stop with 3 minutes left.

I was advised not to touch coloured foods for at least a week i.e. red wine, carrots, chocolate amongst others. Sensitivity is expected to last. This new shade should last 1-2 years if I adhered to the food restrictions.

The teeth sensitivity only lasted 1 day for me, otherwise everything else is back to normal...but with a whiter smile! :) While everyone assumes that service is generally friendly in Thailand, Land of Smiles, I beg to differ. Bangkok Smiles Dental Clinic was bad enough but prices are way cheaper. If given a choice, I would still prefer to head back to Asok Montri for my future dental treatments if I am in Bangkok.

http://asokmontridental.com/

Asok Montri Dental Clinic
38/8 Asok Montri Road (Sukhumvit 21)
Wattana, Bangkok 10110 Thailand

Venues are the bane of every bride...actually which decision is not? For those who are by nature indecisive, planning a wedding will without a doubt throw you off guard and get lost in the sea of choices. Choices, choices, choices...when all we thought choosing the right groom was the hardest decision to make.

For us, it was a clearcut banquet dinner at a hotel. Our parents would hear none of the restaurants though if we had it our way, The White Rabbit would be awesome or even Alkaff Mansion! 

First of all, the number of tables determine the size of ballroom and height of ceiling. Few hotels would offer a ballroom with high ceiling and also accommodates 25 tables. If memory serves me right, those that do are Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, Carlton Hotel and Grand Park City Hall. The rest come at a premium.

Here's a breakdown of what the fiance and I went through before we settled on THE hotel.


Carlton Hotel - Empress Ballroom 1 and 2

Ceiling Height: Nice and tall!
Foyer: Spacious enough to accomodate a photobooth, candy table and more!
Walk-In: L-Shapred.
Pillars: Nil.
Remarks: Seems that the PA system is not known to be great hence all the effort of prepping the world's sappiest photo montage or express highlights is likely to get screened without audio.

















Fairmont Hotel - Atrium Ballroom

Ceiling Height: On the low side.
Foyer: Decent but the height of the atrium ballroom is such that even the foyer is affected by the low height.
Pillars: 2 thick pillars.
Walk-In: Recommended to do a U-turn walk in rather than straight walk in from the back door.
Remarks: We weren't too impressed by the U-turn walk in and 2 pillars which would cause some obstruction.






















Hilton Hotel - Panaroma Room

Ceiling Height: Decent and Panaroma room had natural light which made it brighter and bigger. 
Foyer: Small area
Pillars: Nil.
Walk-In: Midway or from back depending on layout of tables.
Remarks: The room was odd shaped (think L-shaped) with the front portion being completely blocked off hence the walk in would be missed by those sitting in that corner. It has a "city view" being located on the 23rd floor but there is nothing much of a view except buildings.

Hilton Hotel - Vista Room

Ceiling Height: Decent.
Foyer: Decent.
Pillars: Nil.
Walk-In: Midway.
Remarks: The mid-way walk in would mean that guests seated towards the end of the ballroom would be completely neglected. Seating arrangement recommended is in rows of two.






















Pan Pacific - Ocean Room

Ceiling Height: On the low side.
Foyer: Decent but shared with other ballrooms.
Pillars: Nil.
Walk-In: Due to the length and breadth of room, walk-in is done from the side which results in a short walk in.
Remarks: Nil.

















Marina Mandarin - Vanda Ballroom

Ceiling Height: Claustrophobically low.
Foyer: Exclusive area and spacious.
Pillars: Nil
Walk-In: Straight in.
Remarks: I found the ballroom too cramped with minimal space to man oeuvre. .

So the one we finally decided on is....























Regent Hotel - The Grand Ballroom

Ceiling Height: High enough!
Foyer: Exclusive area and spacious.
Pillars: 2 but these were negligible considering the ballroom can accomodate up to 50 tables so our table arrangement will be comfortable.
Walk-In: Straight in.
Remarks: We loved it from the start and even at the open house, we were won over by the dessert table - oh the macarons, martini tower and all the delicious food. :( Being foodies means, we can be won over by food. Truth be told, we were actually most impressed by their selection of themes - shall not disclose which one but yes we are also very visual people.

First deposit made and now we are looking forward to 3 months prior to our BIG day where we can decide on the details.

There are always options to upgrade to a larger ballroom as long as you meet their minimum spending requirement.

Good luck!

This will be a series tracking my journey as a bride to be and maybe some tips for the others! Research before hand is important before signing your life away (not entirely) but usually this is amongst the first few things to do when your man proposes.

I have to admit that the laundry list of things to do grows exponentially by the day - blame the female genes for conjuring up the 1001 possibilities of the ideal wedding the moment you are proposed to.

This entry will focus on bridal studios. Not a lengthy one since the decision was made rather promptly. Fickleness is not quite a trait I have neither does the fiance so he is lucky he did not have to plough through tens of booths or bridal shop visits before we decided.

"When I decided to get married at 40, I couldn't find a dress with the modernity or sophistication I wanted. That's when I saw the opportunity for a wedding gown business."  - Vera Wang.

I wish I had such lofty ambitions or a family member who owns one. I did not grow up with an idea of how my white dress should be like though I had many black dresses. Here is the opportunity of a lifetime to be dressed in white and nobody will dare say I look bad.

If anything, I grew up knowing that Vera Wang has THE gowns and Jimmy Choo THE shoes. Yet realistically, without a budget to the tunes of a pretty 10 grand, the gown is not achievable. I have attended weddings where brides are clad in Vera Wang and for sure, they look stunning - a cut above the rest, not too sure about those Jimmy Choos though.

I was really clear what I wanted though, a one stop shop with majority of what is required. Bearing in mind the budget, I contemplated sourcing my own photography or even an overseas shoot...and wanting to do ala carte gowns.

Singaporebrides, perfectweddings...are just a couple of forums to help you by with reviews of bridal studios but fact is, what I was keen on ended up not being the choice studio.

Wedding fairs are a good place to start, to have an idea of what is available.





We intended to drop by a wedding fair just to get a rough idea of what to expect. Infact, we allocated too little time to drop by more than two bridal studio booths and one photography. Absolutely zilch time to consider the rest.

In the face of flailing flyers of all sorts of material and sizes and people blocking your way just to get your butt into their booth, I braved that all to my first stop: The Aisle Bridal Studio. I favoured them over the rest because online reviewers highlighted they are the least pushy of the lot. Fair enough, they did not have people pedalling their works like crazy outside their booth and the lady was patient enough to go through the package with us line by line. Yet the discussion took its toll when it was heading nowhere and the freebies tossed in seemed a little too over the top. A basic package that included a ferrari for photoshoot within 2013, actual day photography and mom's and bridesmaid outfits all thrown in. Sometimes less is more and that's how we found our way to the next stop.



Amongst the flyers distributed, My Dream Wedding somehow came to attention and not long after, we were engaged in an hour long discussion with their ever enthusiastic wedding planner. I'm not sure if his Hongkonger descent had anything to do with the outcome of the talk but it was easy bantering in cantonese and we felt completely at ease. We worked through details and made the necessary exclusions and not long thereafter, signed the first deposit away!



Happy campers with the lovely folks from My Dream Wedding - Amy and Alex who made two hours seem like a breeze.

The thing about bridal fairs is, one has to know exactly what you need rather than be distracted by what is thrown at you. For sure there will be tons to look at and heaps of things going on at the same time but do have some fun haggling and...hopefully win some things!

 

The truckload of freebies that came in the goodie bag.






















Last but not least, fill up those coupons and wish for the best to win something!

** The following entry has been reposted here**

 Some would have known by now that the last staycation was lifechanging in the literal sense rather than the hotel itself. Nonetheless, here's a pictorial attempt at the most talked about Traveller's Choice Hotel of 2012.



The walkway from the carpark that links to most hotels except Equarius.



I have been quite curious about the string of hotels at Resorts World and Hotel Michael has had much said about their award winning designs....not. I thought the lobby was disappointing, more so the rooms that had expensive fixtures but space was not fully utilised within the room. The bed was incredibly comfortable but the pillows were a dampener.



Flowers arranged by the hotel which comes at a surcharge - no champagne nor scattering of rose petals even. How mercenary, Resorts World.



And then it was a yes. :) It has been a whirlwind of emotions since then and plenty of things to plan. It honestly did not dawn on me till the next morning that the next chapter was real. We could plan for the most perfect proposal, moment or ring even but all it actually needs is a sincere heart. Heartfelt and intimate, we both would remember that moment for the rest of our lives.While on hindsight a restaurant could have made it more pompous but it was suffice for me. :)

Should I just start one called theweddingchapter?

Here's a tour of their hotel room!



Incredibly comfy bed but pillows were causing some discomfort.



Tongue in cheek muses.



The couch we loved!



Cheated of a sea view.



The promiscuous statue at the entrance.



Leonardo DaVinci not but I was really interested in just the apple.



The rest of Resorts World celebrating my anniversary with me too!



And coincidentally or not, we had breakfast at Toastbox the next morning at the Vivocity outlet with a collaboration with Thye Moh Chan for wedding pastries. Perhaps they are going the way of G.O.D. and their heritage tie ups - I am so loving it! Just to sidetrack, prices of ToastBox RWS is expectedly pricier, 10-20% premium across so then the free rail pass we got saved us some moolah!



Pose-worthy props!



Spreading the wedding cheer.







The fiance's pile of eggs. 



I had the Yin Yang Pastry ($1.60) comprising of a bean stuffing, hae bee hiam filling and pork floss.



Massively delicious when I was just expecting a savoury pastry.

Toast Box
Vivocity

Hotel Michael
Resorts World Sentosa

Hi there!

The full time corporate slave and foodie from thefoodchapter.blogspot.com has embarked on another chapter called "Getting Married" and will be documenting this journey for all brides-to-be and maybe in future mommies-to-be/mommies as a reference. Maybe it is an inspiration to you or perhaps, serves as a reminder not to make the mistakes I did *choy!*

It has been a whirlwind journey since the fateful day of May 5. For a start, both our sets of parents are already good friends (*phew) and we have decided not to take on traditions like Guo Da Li and no geomancer's opinion was sought for the selection of our date. It was more of a looks good, sounds nice and church is available too kind of decision!

Sit back, grab a drink as you join me on my journey to transiting from Miss to Missus. :)