We did it, we signed with Thomson Wedding Collection! If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, you would’ve already known this a lot earlier.

I’m quite surprised that the process of signing with TWC was fairly easy and came quite naturally for someone as fickle, cautious and hesitant as me. I guess I’ve done my research well.

You see, since getting engaged, I’ve been trying to find a bridal boutique that will make me fall in love with them; not just fall in love with the dress, I wanted to fall in love with the photography too and most importantly, something that will not make me gag. I bought two bridal magazines. With every page I flipped, I just became more and more disappointed. Either the advertisements were too cheena and cliché (which is guaranteed to send shivers down my spine in a bad way!), the photography was beautiful but the dresses were boring or gaudy or the dresses were gorgeous but the photography was too posy or stiff. I just wasn’t feeling it. I kept going back to look at a photo of a Inbal Dror dress that I have in my Evernote but can never afford. “Why can’t Singaporean boutiques have dresses like the ones Israeli designers make?”, I asked myself so many times over. It took me awhile to come to terms that there may never be a Inbal Dror look-a-like in Singapore and that I may either have to settle for a pretty non-cheena-like dress or I’d have to tailor make one.

Once I got my Inbal Dror haze out of the way, I managed to find a few bridal boutiques (from Instagram btw, I ended up wasting money on the two magazines that had rubbish ads in them) that I liked that fit my taste. A few, which was only like five, lol. And out of that five, I managed to nit-pick; finding things I don’t really like about them till there was only two left. It was quite nerve wrecking to realise that I’m down to only two boutiques out of the many that are available in Singapore.

I made an appointment with the two boutiques. I decided to make an appointment with the one that both Shine and myself really liked – Thomson Wedding Collection. I have seen their ads in an old wedding magazine years ago and thought that they only sold dresses so I didn’t think much of it until I stumble upon their IG account and saw that they did photo shoots! OMG! I browsed through their collection and they still had that vintage whimsical look to their style. Shine was sold on it as well so I excitedly made an appointment. Our first appointment, yay! I was quite nervous though. “What if their dresses didn’t look as nice as they were on IG?” or “What if they don’t have the dresses I like at the store? *Gasp!” or “What if the sales rep cannot speak English to save their life?” or “What if they treat us like shit or are pushy?“. The horror. Because Shine wasn’t too keen about the second bridal boutique that I made an appointment with. However, I shall not name the mentioned boutique. I’ve seen their photography, they actually do a great job and their dresses are beautiful because I’ve followed my sister when she was selecting gowns for her upcoming wedding. But that was precisely the point; it is the boutique that my sister chose for her wedding. It would be so weird and awkward if I signed with them too. It would feel quite shitty for me to wear the dresses she wore, like wearing her leftovers. I do not want a ‘Who Wore it Better’ case. I don’t want Sales Reps to be like, “Oh, you’re so-and-so’s sister ah? So-and-so wore this and did that so you can/cannot wear and do this and that“, oh hell no. Not anytime and definitely not for my wedding! Shine didn’t like their photography style as much as he liked TWC’s. So we were both routing for TWC to please not disappoint!

When we went for our appointment, we were assigned to Gemma. First thing I noticed about her was her hair; it was dyed caramel ombre like mine! And she spoke well too! She’s Singaporean (YAY)! It was all off to a good start. We chatted on and off about our wedding plans and stuff that were totally not related to weddings which put me and Shine at ease almost immediately. She told me that I gave her the boho feels so she would love for me to try on a dress but unfortunately, it wasn’t in the store. That dress turned out to be one of the ones I saw on IG that I liked. I was like, “Omg, how did you know I’d wanted to try that?” and I showed her the rest of the ones I liked. One of it was in the store so she went to take it out. I was really excited to see it because that particular one really caught my eye on IG, I just couldn’t really see the bottom of the dress that well in the picture. And then she brought it out. My heart fluttered, I felt it dancing, really. Not many things can make my heart dance like that. And then, she told me to give it a try and something told me I would love it instantly. When I put it on, I felt like… a fairy, which really means at my most beautiful. I felt like me again… happy me, happy me marrying Shine. No barfing or sick feeling in my stomach. Just pure happiness. And the oddest part of it all was that it looked almost like an Inbal Dror! I am not shitting you; it was a lace mermaid with a wide train, sweet heart neck-line, very low back and that belt-like line a little above the waist except this one that I was wearing had thin flower embroidered spaghetti straps. But it really looked very much like the Inbal Dror! Or maybe I was hallucinating? But one thing’s for sure, I fell in love. Shine couldn’t speak. At first, I was worried that it may be a bit too revealing but he said, well, he didn’t say anything, he just lit up and gasped, lol. I wish I didn’t have to take it off. And then came the next surprise.

Gemma said, “If you wear this on your wedding, you should have a flower over here (she put a flower behind my left ear) and all your hair to the side with fingerwaves for the fringe“. OMG, HOW DID SHE KNOW? “How did you know that was the look I was going for?“. That was the look I’ve always wanted to wear for my wedding since I dreamt of my wedding as a child! No one really can figure out my style but Gemma got it on point! It is probably a skill she learned from the job but it was like some weird telepathy shit going on! It creeped me out in a good way. Then Gemma said, “Don’t fall for this one just yet, there are more coming up in July that are of the same styles, you would really love them“. What?! Nicer than my Inbal Dror-esque dress? Wow! But it might be too late, I really fell for this one. She said many brides like this one but either can’t fit into it or are not daring enough to wear it so I don’t have to worry about it being taken. Meanwhile, Shine was still gawking at how amazing the dress looked on me.

After, changing back to my regular self, I went on to look at the albums and photography samples. Both me and Shine loved them! They were so natural and beautiful, not cheesy and overly posy! I’m really in love with their studio set up and immediately know which two sets I’d pick! Even down to the album cover, rustic vintage.

There really was nothing about TWC that I didn’t like. I loved their photography, their dresses and Gemma will be our wedding co-ordinator through our wedding process! So Shine and I decided to put a deposit. And just like that, we’re one step closer to getting married and may have possibly seen the dress I’ll get married to him in.

• 1x Bridal Gown
• 1x Groom’s Coat
• 1x Tea Dress
• 1x Bridal Bouquet
• 2x Groom Corsages
• 4x Parent’s Corsages
• 1x Car Decoration
• 3x Bridal Makeup (Trial/Ceremony/Reception)
• 2x Father’s Jacket
• 2x Bridesmaids Dress
• 2x Bridesmaids Wrist Corsage
• Actual Day Photography (10hrs)
• Pre-Wedding Shoot (before 7pm)
• 2x Outdoor Gown
• 1x Evening Gown (Studio)
• 2x Groom Suits
• 3x Hair & Makeup Styles
• Accessories (Flower Crown, Tiara, Necklace, Veil, etc)
• 30x Photographs in Grande Album (10 pages)
• 1x Framed Portrait
• 1x 8 in 1 Framed Portrait
• 1x Table Top Portrait
• Selected 30 Photos in Soft Copy

I’m sorry that there are no photos of me in the amazing dress but I’d like to keep it a surprise till the Photo Shoot is uploaded. Meanwhile, here is a picture of the stunning dresses I’m loving but can you guess which two are the ones I showed Gemma?Let me know in the comments below, *kisses!

I’m finally feeling excited and I have Gemma from TWC, my very supportive friends, my fellow readers and my darling Shine to thank for that. I love y’all a bunch, I’m a lucky girl. Till the next update, darlings!

PS: This is NOT a sponsored post, I have done a ton of research based on my taste and budget and put a lot of effort into finding the perfect boutique for both Shine and myself. I am just a client sharing my experience. TWC has no knowledge of me owning a blog prior to signing the package so you can trust that their service and my review is 100% genuine. Please contact TWC for price of package personally as ours are according to our preference and budget. Thank you.

Reference:
The Wedding Story