Wedding experience: The suit and the gown

The most fun we had pre-wedding is the photo-taking. We get to play dress up and pose like models in plenty of amusing settings and environment.

There are 2 ways you could go about it. The most common is to go for a package at any of the bridal studios. They would provide you with selection of gowns and suits to choose from, indoor studio for shooting and the giant photo album. The alternative is the ala carte method. You approach a standalone gown maker or the same bridal studio just for the gowns. Your photographer would be separately hired.

There are pro and cons to both. The all in one package saves you plenty of headache and you could bargain for some stuff as the competition is quite stiff. The ala carte allows you to choose a gown you fancy as well as a prestige photographer you want.

Price wise, the package will generally fall between 2K to 4K depending on the number of shots you have. The ala carte would be pricer. Gown rental may be in the region of 1K-2K and the photographer may charge from amateur rates of 2K to 5K for a professional.

So do weight your budget and the amount of headache you want.

We opted for an all in 1 package during a bridal fair. There were like 6-7 studios chasing for our attention. This allows us for a good opportunity to get a better deal. The only issue is that each one of them wont want you to go and you tend to spend an hour at each studio before moving on.

From experience, if you opting for the package, there are 2 main things to look out for. Firstly do check on their varieties of their gowns. If they have 200+ choices and allow for made to measure, you are fairly safe. (PS. Dun bother about asking for suits, we guys aint important here). Secondly, do sample their albums on the style of the photos.

There are some designers whose photoshopping skills is out of this world. You could stand in a crowded road and they make it like "I am legend". You could even be in Nardia if you want. Frankly this is not my style and I prefer something more natural.

After you decided on the studio you like, you must show the least interest in signing for them. Prepare to stand up and walk away like you are in Bangkok MBK. They will surely entice you with package deals that includes plenty of items. The things you need are,

1. Gown (3 sets) Morning, evening, tea dress
2. Bridal makeup
3. Album and number of poses
4. car deco
5. photo frame
6. guy suit

The things you may want to add are

6. suits for your parents
7. small photo album
8. rental of bridal car
9. actual day photographer
10. hand bouquet
11. Pants

During our negotiation, we were offered only 40 poses. We do know that this is too little. Which is why we insisted on upping the poses to 60 without extra charges. They refused of course. We then asked what is the cost for addition poses and after some bargaining we managed to secure a low fixed price for any add ons.

This prove a life saver for us as we choose a total of 80 poses in the end. Imagine the amount I have saved.

PS. I recall there are some studio that added a hidden charge, saying that they need to add a few pages to the album and it will be separately priced. Be wary and ask about everything. Do also make them write down this all in the invoice.

Ok now onto the fun part

We went to choose the gowns and carry out measurements 2 months prior to the shoot. It was a tiring event for my WTB to change each set of gowns. But the time is well spent.

During the phototaking day, we loaded plenty of cold drinks in cooler boxes and arrived at the studio for her make up. The make up takes 2 hours BTW.

The first portion are the studio shots and we brought our props to play along. I brought a gun, hat, glasses, photo frames and tees. You could bring what you like along. The first few shots you would learn how to stand and pose. It aint that easy and I guess models do have it tough.

The second part is the outdoor shoot. We managed to squeeze 3 locations and had a good fun there. The challenging part is that you need to plan the route and pray for good weather.

Oh and, night shots are pretty tough. Without ample lighting, there are plenty of places you cant shoot. My advise is to skip any scenic night shots and choose dusk shots.

Ok I think I written too much today. Now my fingers are tired.