How do i plan my wedding and photography if i am overseas?
Cyrus and Elaine had their wedding in Singapore but they were both based in the United States. Wedding Photos portal is delighted to have Cyrus and Elaine to share with us their thoughts on planning a wedding from halfway across the world.
Enlist an entourage of friends to help, or simply hire a wedding coordinator
Planning a wedding takes a lot of time and effort. The planning process gets a lot more complicated when you are overseas as you won’t be able to see and get a personal feel of things. We recently planned our Singapore wedding while studying in the United States! But this would not have been possible without the help of our friends, who basically became our eyes, hands and feet in our absence.
Ensure that everything which can be done in your absence is done before you get back
It’s important to get a head start on certain things, such as the booking of dinner location and church venue for your wedding ceremony. Do your research online first. Check out picture of hotel ballrooms online, contact those you like via email and shortlist those which have availability for your wedding day and also meet your table number and price range. After we short listed a few hotels, we had our friends visit those locations and send us pictures to help us in our decision making. Other things which should be settled before arrival include selection of make up artist and identification of your wedding day personnel, such as the best man, maid of honor, ring bearer, flower girl, master of ceremony etc.
Wedding day photographer
This would be another issue that should be settled long before returning home, partly because of availability as well as the time needed to select your ideal photographer (in terms of cost and style). To start the process, first consult friends who were recently married for recommendations. Chances are, they would have done their fair share of searching and can provide you with a list of good photographers out there together with a rough idea of their charges. Next, look through their portfolios to identify the ones you like. Luckily for us overseas couples, many photographers upload their portfolios online, making it easy for us to browse and choose. Once you’ve identified the ones you like, read testimonies online from previous clients to get an idea of his or her personality, as it is also important that the photographer can work well with you and your guest. Finally, contact them to check for availability and select the one you’re most comfortable with.
The wedding guest list
This was by far the hardest part in our wedding planning. As we were overseas, it was impossible for us to meet up with friends and hard for us to call to get tentative responses and mailing addresses. Hence, ensure to give yourself a 3 to 4 months head start in drafting out your guest list and consolidating their mailing addresses. To save on mailing cost, we had our wedding cards printed in Singapore and had our family members send them out.
Bridal gowns and grooms suits
The bridal gown can either be purchased overseas or rented after returning to Singapore. If purchased overseas, you would need to request for space in the airplane’s coat hanger so that the gown does not get crumpled on your journey back home. Alternatively, get a simple gown which would make handling a lot easier. We chose the option of renting the gowns and suits back home to avoid this hassle.
However, in order to pull this off, it is essential that you identify the few bridal studios which you want to rent the gowns from before returning. We had some friends help with our bridal studio shopping before we returned, and identified one with a good selection of gowns on top of having friendly and not pushy owners! With the bridal studio already decided on, all we had to do upon arrival was to select the gowns and suits. Ensure that you leave enough time for gown selection. We took a whole day to look at the available gowns and another day before we decided on which one to pick (with the huge selection of gowns, there were so many that we liked). Do not worry if the gown does not fit, bridal studios generally take less than a day to alter the gowns to your measurements. So in all, it takes a week to chose the gown, alter and dry clean it for your wedding day!
Pre-wedding photography
There is an increasing trend for Singaporean couples to have their pre-wedding photos taken overseas. And since you’re already overseas, make use of this location to have your pre-wedding photos taken! After making this decision, you would have to choose between an overseas and a local photographer. If you chose an overseas photographer, you would be able to save on the cost of having to fly him/her over. The photographer would also have a different photography style from local photographers, which may or may not be a good thing depending your style preference. However, many overseas photographers do not have much experience with pre-wedding photography as it is not in their culture to do so. Most photographers here in the States have portfolios that only consist of engagement shoots and actual day wedding photography. (Of course, this may not be the case for all countries!) A local photographer would have more experience in pre-wedding photography. Many even tie up with make up artist and bridal studios to provide the necessary make up and bridal gowns for the photoshoot.
Written by: Cyrus and Elaine
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