Did you think the queue was for a table? That would be too good to be true. We stood in line for 30 minutes to – brace yourself – get a queue number. It was followed by a 90-minute wait for a table for two. Quite absurd, I know. We would normally have just walked away but thankfully we had a late lunch and our hotel was just up the street so we trooped back to take a nap and watch some telly.

We went back after the stipulated waiting time and were escorted to our table shortly.

The restaurant felt to me like a Brooklyn loft apartment (think the Humphrey residence in Gossip Girl) – wood-panelled floors, multi-coloured chairs, black railings, deliberately rustic with a huge crystal chandelier centrepiece at the entrance. Definitely got that right for me, I love chandeliers.

We ordered a plank of cured meats and olives for starters, a pumpkin and smoked mozarella nachos side, two pasta mains and an apple crumble for dessert. While waiting for our orders, we were also served a variety of soft, warm, freshly-baked Italian breads on the house.

I will be honest and admit that time has somewhat erased the memory of our experience (that’s what happens when you take too long with a travelogue) but I recall we were especially pleased with the nachos and blob of cheese on the plank. The rest of our orders were flavourful and actually did make us feel like they were worth the crazy wait. Service was brisk but not rushed, and the wait staff were all friendly and chirpy.

As I procrastinated on this post, Jamie’s Italian made its way onto our sunny shores and will be opening an outlet at Vivo City very soon. I look forward to checking it out and definitely hope the queue isn’t going to be as ridiculously long!

This time, we got second-row seats to the Freedman Jazz Concert, a public showcase of four of Australia’s best Jazz musicians to determine the winner of the Music Council of Australia/Freedman Jazz Fellowship.

The concert was brilliant. Each and every one of the finalists were amazingly down-to-earth and talented, and all the performances were captivating and stunning. I honestly think the A$28 per ticket we paid was a steal for the entertainment we got. Am so glad we caught it.

After it ended, we strolled back down the harbour in the quiet, chilly night and walked back to the hotel for a night swim.

A great night, indeed!

Photo credit

Came across this article and thought it’s funny that some of the ‘signs’ listed feels perfectly normal when I do it, but reads to me like the description of a MAJOR GEEKOID.

• You’ve dreamed of sitting in front of a typewriter/computer and pouring your heart out on to it ever since you can remember.
• Staying home on a Friday night with a glass of wine and a good book sounds pretty much like you died and went to heaven.
• You read the back of cereal packets.
• You read everything you can get your hands on, including the free leaflets from the supermarket or the book of coupons from the drug store.
• You can’t walk past a stationery shop without popping in, “just to have a look”.

Last Sunday after church, L and I had a two-hour breakfast at GRUB, which is near our place. Nestled in the idyllic landscape of Bishan Park, GRUB is the newest bistro to hit the heartlands. It is opened by the same people who started Cookyn Inc and is based on the premise of responsible ingredients.

At GRUB, we believe in eating responsibly. This means cooking with as natural ingredients as possible, without the addition of MSG, artificial preservatives, additives or flavourings. We also believe that responsible eating starts with good practices by the farmers, fishermen and artisanal producers that we work with.

It’s a lovely, lovely spot for a breakfast date. The standalone bistro had just started operations that weekend and the clouds were looming overhead so there weren’t many patrons. Could also be because we were there insanely early. We took a quiet spot by the window indoors and enjoyed a leisurely meal while chatting about random stuff, as we do.

Clockwise from top-left: Latte by Liberty Coffee ($4.50), Beef & Guinness pie ($12), Churros with dark chocolate and creme anglaise dip ($8), GRUB breakfast set ($15). Check out their inspired menu here.

Where do I even begin? The latte was smooth and fragrant; did it’s job to wake me up. The pie came with chunks of meltingly tender, buttery beef and was topped with a big dollop of freshly-mashed potatoes. The patty in the breakfast set was tasty and cooked to perfection, so was the huge portobello mushroom that came with it. We were already full but decided we couldn’t leave without trying what we went for, the churros (was seriously craving churros). I don’t know many places in Singapore that serve churros but these were the best I had, crispy on the outside, fluffy and warm on the inside.

We had the pie and breakfast set on sharing plates and the latter was delayed so we practically had our breakfast in courses. Between ‘courses’, they even had our cutlery and plates changed. How (pleasantly) ridiculous is that?!

Very delicious food, even more excellent service and all for a very reasonable price. If you’re looking for great breakfast in a relaxing setting in the Ang Mo Kio/Bishan area, then GRUB is the place to go.

P.S. How apt that I am writing this on the day of its official opening ;)

—

GRUB
510 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1
Bishan Park 1
Singapore 569983

Opening Hours
Tuesday to Friday: 5:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays: 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Closed on Mondays

Right after lunch at the Sydney Fish Market, we hopped back onto the Metro Light Rail which took us to The Star Sydney Casino & Hotel (formerly known as Star City Casino). Despite having been to Sydney so many times prior, this was my first time at The Star.

I was not exactly blown away by place; it looked and felt like any other mall; a little too sparse and empty, in fact. I was also not too enamoured with the casino because we almost lost our lunch at the Poker machine and I had to sulk L into winning some back, heh (gotta say I’m quite the sore loser). What impressed me was, of course… macarons. Zumbarons by Adriano Zumbo, to be exact.

The store’s concept was most fascinating, like a cross between a science lab and toy store; neon pink lighted signs and all shades of psychedelic within. We spent a good amount of time checking out every pastry they offered and every innovative flavour the macarons came in. With five little delicately perfect Zumbarons in tow, we parked ourselves at a sitting area nearby and sunk our teeth into the soft, sweet shells while sipping on steaming hot latte from Toby’s Estate.

Such luxury, to be able to while an afternoon away like that, nibbling, sipping, reading, chatting. Truly one of those afternoons you look back on and sigh wistfully at as you bang away at the keyboard rushing to meet a deadline. We’ll be back.

(Thanks, Sherwin, for the rec!)

–

Adriano Zumbo at The Star
Shop 1, Cafe Court
The Star
80 Pyrmont St
Pyrmont, NSW 2009
Sydney, Australia

My youngest sis, who also has a keen interest for scrapbooking, attended an intermediate workshop with me at Paper Market a month ago. It was three fun-filled hours of fussy cutting and assembling. We went away with three beautiful pages consisting of papers from Bo Bunny, Webster’s and lots of butterflies.

♥

After comparing the actual mood board with the one I did during our planning here, I was quite pleased to find that it didn’t deviate too much from my vision. So to the brides-to-be who care about sticking to a theme or colour scheme, my only advice would be to spend some time doing up a simple mood board with the key elements (venue, stationery, outfits, florals, etc.) and use that to guide you through your decision-making. You’ll see from mine that even though it didn’t turn out quite the same, I didn’t go too far off either.

And now for the list…

Gowns and Suit — It didn’t take much shopping for us to decide that Bridal Veil (BV) was the one for us. I am allergic to tacky gowns with feathers, sequins on lace and what-have-yous so when I came across the classy, clean, Swarovski crystal-detailed designs by Michelle Huimin, I knew this was it. BV specialises in made-to-measure (MTM) gowns, designed based on each bride’s style, preference and frame. I had a lot of fun working with Michelle on both the wedding and evening gowns.

The BV team is also the most professional wedding vendor I’ve engaged. They never fail to call up a day in advance to remind us of our scheduled appointments, shared extremely useful (but commonly overlooked) wedding tips, was always prepared for our appointments and never once overlooked our preferences/requirements no matter how minute they were. Truly your dream vendor. It had been an amazing experience working with them and I would highly recommend them to any bride-to-be who is going for great service, an elegant look and impeccable workmanship.

BV delivers just as excellently even if you’re planning your wedding from abroad – check out Rachel of The Pleasure Monger’s wonderful experience with them here.

Hair and Make-up — My actual day hair and make-up came with package that we took on with Bridal Veil. I never thought to look further because Cedric was praised by friends who were clients of BV. I also read a lot of good reviews and saw some of his works on blogs (and liked them) so even though the trial session didn’t blow me away, I wasn’t worried. Cedric wasn’t just my make-up artist, he was also our consultant and point of contact during our fittings. Throughout our encounters, he was always jovial, warm and professional. You could also tell that he’s very passionate about what he does.

For my actual day make-up, he managed to skilfully enhance my features while still keeping to the natural look I wanted. He made the effort to genuinely understand my preferences and delivered the look exactly the way I wanted. We worked so well together and, really, if you’re a bride-to-be who have already signed up (or have decided to sign up) with BV, I couldn’t recommend Cedric more.

Venue — Hotel banquet weddings are most common in Singapore but there are hotels, and then there are wedding hotels. Conrad Centennial Singapore is evidently a wedding hotel as much as it is a business hotel. In fact, it is so wildly popular with couples that we had to book a whole 14 months (!) in advance after being on a wait-list with three other couples in front of us. It definitely wasn’t because we were kiasu, I assure you (I never would’ve believed it if we weren’t actually experiencing it first-hand). That’s not surprising to us now though. It may not be the most luxurious in town, but it definitely has one of the most experienced and professional wedding teams around. Our coordinator, Janice, and banquet manager, Min, were most helpful, positive and meticulous. The food from Golden Peony, were served individually to our guests. Everyone who gave their feedback raved about how impressive each dish was and how generous the servings were. Don’t underestimate how much your guests value the food; serving lousy food can get them tsk-tsking for years. This was one of our top reasons for picking Conrad.

Another critical part of our selection was the ballroom which fitted our anal criteria to a ‘T’. We wanted an exclusive ballroom, no pillars, high ceilings, comfortably-sized, with a straight march-in aisle. We also wanted the reception area to be exclusive and not shared with another event. The hotel was also flexible enough to waive corkage for the night’s alcohol so we were able to bring in our own wines and liquor without paying extra. And then there were also thoughtful little gestures on the actual day like handing us hot towels to wipe our hands with as we were sending guests off for the night, anticipating our exhaustion and serving us hot tea at various points during the banquet. The ambience was lovely, and the standard florals filled the ballroom sufficiently so we didn’t need to spend more to add on. It was run like a well-oiled machine, and till today, we are still patting ourselves on the back for picking Conrad for our wedding venue.

Photography — I came across Gabriel Mendes Photography while doing some random surfing and stopped for a long time on his site to scroll through his works. I’ve long raved about how much I adore Paris so maybe it was a sign that right after we got engaged, Gabriel launched a promotion for wedding shoots in Paris. I dropped him an e-mail, we met up for coffee and before we knew it, we were handing him the cheque to what was possibly our biggest wedding splurge – an engagement shoot in Paris. Coincidentally, Gabriel has shot a couple of our friends’ weddings and they only have good things to say about him so that validated our choice. (I wrote about our pre-wedding photoshoot in more detail here.)

Gabriel is a warm, honest and funny guy, and he really knew how to help us loosen up so we had a lot of fun working with him. He has a real talent for capturing outdoor journalistic shots, which was exactly what I wanted. Anyway, I shall not rave any more than I already did… you be the judge.

Photo Booth — There are quite a number of photo booth vendors in the market but what made Live Moments our choice was that they were able to offer both the photo booth as well as roving in the ballroom. If you have elderly relatives whom you know wouldn’t bother queuing up at the photo booth during the reception, having the ballroom roving during the banquet will ensure that they also go home with a memento. Al, our photo booth photographer and contact person in Live Moments, was thoughtful enough to spend more time with the relatives (especially those at the VIP table) during the banquet roving so I believe most of our guests, young and old, went home with an instant print.

Live Moments also prides itself on delivering quality prints and it was one of the few photo booth vendors that had nice borders/designs even though I eventually did the design myself to match the rest of my wedding stationery. I also did the backdrop design and Al very kindly threw in the production for me at no extra cost. He was also very obliging in helping me put together a bunch of good quality, French-themed props because I requested for classy props, i.e. no clown noses and afro wigs. It was a pity I didn’t get to spend much time at the photo booth but everyone who did told us that it was soooo much fun!

Jazz Band — L is big on music and I’m a sucker for ambience. For our wedding, these two went hand in hand because having live music enhanced the mood of our banquet tremendously. After spending one lazy Saturday afternoon watching video clips on YouTube, we engaged Dawn Wong and Summertimes Hotshots from High Notes Music to perform at our dinner banquet. The follow-up can be improved but they are understandably busy with all the performances they are doing. What impressed me was that our rounds of changes to the band’s configuration and numerous questions were responded with good cheer by August and Martin. L told me later, and I agree, that the band performed beautifully. It was exactly as we envisioned the mood to be and we thoroughly enjoyed the music while tucking into the first two courses of the dinner, brief as it was. If I had to pick only one add-on for our wedding, it would definitely be the band.

Candy — I mentioned that I ordered personalised M&Ms for the cocktail reception so I just wanted to share how I got them. For Online orders, M&M only delivers within the U.S. so I used a freight-forwarder, vPOST (which gave me a virtual U.S. address), to deliver them to Singapore. M&M also accepts international orders but you would have to call the hotline to place your order and with the time difference, it’s a bit of a hassle, not to mention the exorbitant international calling charges you’ll incur.

The whole candy production, forwarding and delivery process would take about a month so be sure to order them early enough to get it by your big day but not too early such that it melts, especially in Singapore’s humidity. It is a little tricky but I would think a good timeline would be about a month and a half before your event. As for the quantity, I ordered the 5lb bulk bag and placed them in glasses scattered throughout the reception foyer. If you’re using it as favours you may need a bigger pack so just order accordingly.

There are other elements like stationery design and printing, videography, florals, pianist, etc. but they were all done by my extremely talented cousins and friends so I can’t be of help for these, but I do hope the vendor list above will help overwhelmed or confused brides-to-be in your planning and decision-making.

This post is already looking like a novel so I’m just going to end off with some sites which I frequented and found inspiration from:

• Singapore Brides (www.singaporebrides.com) – Has a lot of relevant information on hotel and restaurant banquet pricing; the forum also contains threads with a lot of helpful discussions.
• Wedding Chicks (www.weddingchicks.com) – Lots of pretty pictures and free stationery printables that saw me wasting spending hours playing around with text and colours. So much fun!
• Wedding Bee (www.weddingbee.com) – Blog posts on real weddings and DIY projects.
• Wedding Gawker (www.weddinggawker.com) – More pretty pictures.
• Martha Stewart Weddings (www.marthastewartweddings.com) – Enough said.
• Pinterest (www.pinterest.com) – A place you can consolidate all your wedding inspiration on. See mine here.

That’s all, folks. Enjoy the process because I sure did :)

HAPPY PLANNING!!!

Have been playing quite safe with the arrangements but am looking forward to experimenting a little bit more in the weeks ahead :)

It has inspired me to start this category to store all my little ideas and finds for our BIG project – a recurring topic of our conversations of late. It’s still early days but nonetheless, a project that requires a lot of thought. Will update as we move along.

I’ve also just started flipping the glossy pages of domino: The Book of Decorting last night. I know much inspiration can come from interior décor blogs, Pinterest and such, but a good design book is simply irresistible. This one provides the basics and breaks it down by room so that it is not too overwhelming, as it can get for most of us.

Just a warning though, this makes for a very bad bedtime read because it fills your head with such a kaleidoscope of ideas that you’ll find it difficult to fall asleep.

Photos in this post are from decor8 and Pinterest.

People who approach life with a sense of gratitude are constantly aware of what’s wonderful in their life. Because they enjoy the fruits of their successes, they seek out more success. And when things don’t go as planned, people who are grateful can put failure into perspective.

It came quite timely because just last Saturday morning, I woke up with a feeling of gratitude and happiness. There was no reason in particular. I was just happy to be awake and alive, with good health and a sleepy husband next to me. There are also many other aspects of my life I am grateful for.

Exactly two months ago, we got married in an unbelievably smooth wedding celebration and jetted off on the most amazing island honeymoon.

Our families get along well and we get along with each others’ families.

The husband takes me out on nice brunches every weekend.

We are surrounded by good friends whom we hang out with often.

We are gainfully employed and are both satisfied and fulfilled at our respective jobs.

We work near each other so I get a ride to work every day, allowing me to snooze an extra 40 minutes while he manoeuvres the crazy peak-hour traffic (after years of commuting to work on public transport, I am not taking this for granted).

We love to travel and do so a fair bit.

I don’t have to do household chores (yay).

I get a lot of me-time to do the things I love, like read, write, scrapbook, shop and sleep.

I think we are at a happy place :)

She knows me well. Daydreamer is me. Now that the wedding is done and dusted, I have all the time in the world to read and daydream. The thought alone makes me happy :)

Individual menu and floral stands

Wedding favour – the Conrad wedding bear

Our wonderful emcees for the night and my sister laughing about something

The first march-in

Cake-cutting

The ballroom and us sharing a toast with our families

Dawn Wong and The Summertime Hotshots

Second march-in and dramatic champagne-popping

Always thought this was fun

Even had time to have a drink with buds

Very unbecoming of a bride but this was how I felt – happy and relieved

L’s making his speech

Happy folks

My speech and stumbling when I tried to incorporate a bit of Teochew

My folks

My youngest sis tearing up during my speech

Happy faces all around

A toast to our helpers and guests

The evening passed by really quickly and before we knew it, we were thanking and hugging our guests at the door. The jazz band was awesome, the food was great, all our guests (relatives especially) had nothing but good things to say about the event. We are truly blessed to have had such an amazingly smooth and well-paced day. It was mostly because L planned and planned to make sure everything ran without a glitch – for that, I am enormously grateful. Couldn’t have asked for a better wedding (and husband, of course).

This concludes my series of posts on the wedding recap. Thanks for sharing this journey with me. Will try to find the time to do up a vendor review for brides-to-be soon :)

—

Full set of photos from our dinner banquet have been uploaded here and here.