Wedding Prepration Programme

"Thank you for your feedback. We are happy to know that you and your girlfriend are keen to attend a marriage preparation programme to be prepared for married life. You will be eligible for the $70 rebate if you attend and complete the programme, which means that you and your partner are attending the programme for free. Do note that you will have to pay aLife upfront while the rebate will be reimbursed back to you thereafter.

Feel free to contact us if you have further enquiries."

The Orchard Hotel Wedding Open House

The solemnization room layout

The wedding lunch favour

The wedding theme
The Celestial Charm theme

The Intimate Indulgence theme

Dazzling Dreams theme

Dear and I went to the Orchard Hotel wedding open house today and we finally booked our wedding lunch packag. I find that it's still a good deal despite the fact that we could have save $1250 if we book about a month ago.

Dear was very amazed that Orchard Hotel still serve finger food for the visitors despite it's a free open house. Dear and I won also won a lucky draw but the prize wasn't practical for us. This is the first time we wasn't happy winning a lucky draw.

We found a very interesting wedding favour (not shown in the pictures) at one of the booth, hopefully it is still available during our wedding. I will upload the photo of it if we eventually get it.

Dear and I paid $5000 as deposit and Orchard Hotel should be contacting us with more details in the next few weeks. : )

Wedding Fever - Wedding Lunch Open House

The wedding fever is heating up once again as dear and I will be going to the Orchard Hotel wedding open house this Sunday. It is likely that we will book our wedding lunch on the open house for the perks – free flow of beer for 3 hours and 1 wine per confirm table, though we could have save $1000+ for it if we have booked it during the TNP wedding show in January.

I vetted through the Yvonne’s Creative and Orchard Hotel package and edited the wedding financial plan to include more details.

I will upload the photos of the Orchard Hotel wedding theme on Sunday. : )

Register of Marriage

Time factor
The earliest and latest date you may solemnise your marriage is after expiration of 21 days and before expiration of 3 months respectively of notice given.

Licensed Solemnisers
To invite your Solemniser personally. As a gesture of appreciation, please ensure that he/she is warmly received, entertained, and reimbursed for transport to and from your wedding venue.

Wedding Lunch Pre-Invitation

Dear send me these lunch pre-invitation cards and told me that we may consider sending these to friends to invite and confirm their attendance for our wedding lunch.

Almost

Dear was saying that we should set up a wedding blog but she is too busy to do it. I almost wanted to tell her i have set up last week but i kept the secret. Hope she likes it when she sees it next month anniversary.

Renovation for My Current Room

Since dear and I will have to move in and live with mummy for a year before Fernvale Palms is ready, we have decided to make up the room a little to make sure that the wedding photo shoot looks presentable during the big day.

We enquired about the price of the Vinyl Silk paint and the shop keeper at Hougang 680+ was kind enough to give us the paint catalogue for reference. Dear was drawing up the decoration plan for the room. We will be throwing away the study table and the single bed with bed frame. I am the practical one who calculate and plan for the wedding budget for 2011.

We will be visiting the Orchard Hotel wedding fair next Sunday 28/2/2011, will post more pictures of the hotel wedding themes. After some delibration, we are likely to book for the wedding lunch, for the free flow of beers and wine.

Fernvale Palms with Fernvale Ridge

Fernvale Palms - View From Home

I was analysis the orientation and view from our home next time as dear has to work this Saturday morning. Our living room, bedroom and master bedroom will be facing the fitness corner and pavillion. : )

Our Wedding Bridal House - Yvonne's Creative

The bridal house that we have engaged is Yvonne's Creative. http://www.yvonnecreative.com.sg/

We have yet to meet up for our first appointment. Our plan is to have the first appointment in June and photoshoot in December. The sales manager advised to take in December with the Christmas lighting.

Plan & Book Early Strategy

Dear and I attended the The New Paper Wedding Planner 2011 on 9 January 2011. We wanted to look for hotel for our wedding dinner/lunch but we ended up booking our bridal package. We should have book the wedding dinner too on that day because the price for Orchard hotel has rised up $50 more per table now for the wedding fair next Saturday. They also replied to me that they were not willingly to offer me the TNP package anymore but dear felt that she can convince them to offer us the same package on the actual day.

Based on the rising inflation and commodative cost, it is always good to book everything way ahead to save cost.

Fernvale Palms Surprise 2

Main bedroom = 16.5 m^2
Bedroom 1 = 11.55 m^2
Bedroom 2 = 11.55 m^2
Living/ Dining room = 31.77 m^2
Suggested study = 9.9 m^2
Household shelter = 4.86 m^2
Service yard = 3.185 m^2
Kitchen = 8.82 m^2
Bath/WC = 1 5.13 m^2
Bath/WC = 2 4.77 m^2

The interesting thing that I found out today is that the masterbed room toilet is slightly smaller than the other toilet. : )

Fernvale Palms

I always get to realised more interesting things about Fernvale Palms everytime I read about more details about it. I realised that Fernvale Palms seemed to be the only BTO project released lately for Fernvale that includes a eating house, mini mart and shops. : )

The Proposal

The HDB fever continues with dear and I going down to the site to observe the construction progress of our flat in every few months.

After due consideration, I decided to propose to dear on Christmas Eve 2010. I have placed 2 cameras to record the proposal process.

The proposal ring. I bought dear a 0.70 carat diamond.

The Heart Shape Candles with Dear Wearing the ring

I am getting married in 2012. : )

My proposal promise to you -

I promise I will love you with all I have,

I promise I will always be there to share your joy and sorrow,

I promise I will always make you happy,

I promise I will take good care of you for the rest of her life,

I promise,

If I ask you to marry me, will you say yes?

Info
1) I think most decent diamonds that you buy from all the reputable jewellery stores are Hearts and Arrow Diamond. The sales person will introduce you the 4C of diamonds - cut, colour, clarity and carat. My own recommendation is to get a colour less than G and your desire carat size. For clarity, one can hardly see the difference unless you use a scope. By the way, my current gf and wife in about a year time commented that caret is the most important to her. The bigger, the merrier. The difference in colour and clarity can hardly be identifed by naked eyes according to her, something which I am starting to agree.

2) When purchasing the diamond, be sure to verify the diamond number with the certificate number just to play safe although Singapore reputable jewellery stores should be trusted seller.

Notice to Sign Agreement for Lease Flat

Dear and I received a letter dated 09/04/2010 to purchase the flat that we selected. The AHG given to us were good enough for the 5% downpayment. We selected our flat on 3 May 2010. : )

Info
1) First timer are eligible for staggered downpayment scheme, which means you need to pay 5% when signing the agreement of lease and 5% at the time when you collect the keys.

2) The price reflected in HDB excludes lease stamp fees and conveyancing fee. Thus, young couples must have slightly more than 5% in their CPF when signing the lease or else you will have to pay up with cash.

3) All young couples like me thought that there will be grant for first timer or stay near parents. This is only 50% true if you are buying re-sale flat. BTO flats as claim by HDB are heavily subsidized, thus are not eligible for any grant except AHG. Thus, my recommendations are apply for flat early, especially for fresh graduates and get married early, have kids to boost Singapore falling population.

Standard & Premium Flats

The difference between Standard and Premium Flats.

Standard Flats
Standard flats are perfect for those who prefer to install their own choice of finishes and fittings in the home. Here, freedom of expression, creativity and individuality is maximized as the flats come with only minimal fittings in the kitchen and bathrooms. For example, matching wall/floor tiles and quality sanitary ware. For the rest of the areas, the home owner can exercise his choice while selecting floor tiles etc. for his private sanctuary.

Premium Flats
Home buyers who wish to save time and effort in renovating their home would appreciate Premium flats. These flats provide buyers with great value for money. This is because they are fitted with quality floor finishes such as Glazed porcelain ceramic floor tiles for the living and dining area, Timber strip flooring to the bedrooms and Quality sanitary ware With some furnishings and built-ins, owners of premium flats can move into their dream home in quicker time.

Our home is a Standard Flat.

AHG

AHG is given to lower income familes. Although both dear and I were graduates, we were still given AHG as I only started work for about 3 months. : )


Guess how much AHG dear and I were given?

HDB Selection - Fernvale Palms

Dear and I applied for the Fernvale Palms BTO project in October 2009. It was our 4th BTO application. Due to the previous disappointments, dear and I didn't went down to HDB Hub to look at the model.

I am a year late to start blogging about application to HDB. Thus, I will record as much as I remember.


We received a letter dated 8 Jan 2010 that we were invited to attend the selection on 19/1/2010 and our queue number is 21. : ) We are getting our flat. The sad thing was that I have to fly to China to conduct the Downtown Line escalators First Article Test. Thus, dear and I came up with 21 choices of flats as dear needs to make the decision on the spot at HDB without me around.

We were checking on what are the remaining flats through HDB website everyday before 19. In the end, dear and I got our first choice and we were like the 6th or 7th to choose. The 2nd good news - dear and I are eligible for Additional Housing Grant(AHG).

Info

1) It cost $10 for every BTO application.

2) Only 1 owner is required to attend the flat selection, although a couple attending it will make it sweeter and better.

Love Blog

I am setting up this blog to record all to plan for a marriage and a present for my dear as our 7 years anniversary.

Hope it can provides info for young couples preparing for marriage too.