#siryweds - Yikeshu Bridal & Photography Studio

It's been almost a year since #siryweds and I guess I shan't procrastinate further on the posts I've promised myself to do any further.
So now let's get to (one of the) most important vendor (the other being my wedding banquet venue, duh) for #siryweds and that's our Actual Day (AD) bridal package, with Yikeshu Bridal & Photography Studio.

Without doing sufficient research on this whole bridal package thing, we settled on our overseas PWS in Qingdao, China. And it was only after the PWS is done with, when I was finally doing my research for bridal AD packages when I realised that bridal studios actually do not really do AD packages, meaning it's actually so much cheaper to go for all-in packages instead, as the price difference with and without PWS wasn't as significant as I've expected it to be.
And that seriously threw me off.
For months, I've been dreaming of wearing a lacey, Pronovias (style lookalike) gown during my AD, but after looking through the pricing of bridal studios like TWC and Rico-A-Mona, and even Queen of Hearts....

I decided it's better for me to abandon this financially impractical idea. 

Sorry, bridal vendors out there, no chance for you to take my money. 

I'm not the kind of girl who would spend big money (even if I can afford that sum of money comfortably) for a fancy dream wedding; my dream wedding, sans that Pronovias gown, is just supposed to be as simple and as no-frills as possible. 

I mean, I didn't even think I needed table-stylist, photobooth or even AD videography, even though I did ended up having them all because of the HB. 

I eventually found Fleur D'sign that does seem to have some pretty good deals for gown rental (apparently from SGD $388 and up), but ultimately with the need to get everything else (groom's suits, father's suit, AD make up, AD photography, bridal bouquet and etc) one by one in ala carte method just doesn't make sense to me. As I'll most probably be paying almost the same amount as I would, with a local bridal studio's AD package, but with twice or even thrice the headache from all the sourcing and liaising individually. 

And so, I switched my focus to over the causeway to JB. But found out that situation there is just the same as for our local bridal studios (not much price difference between all-in and AD packages), and with just barely SGD $1K price saving doesn't justify all the hassle of the drive-ins (recce, actual signing, 1st fitting and choosing of gowns/suits, final gowns/suits fitting & collection, returning of gowns/suits) and high chances of horrible jams every single time). Plus, getting a package with a bridal studio in JB means I got to find my own MUA, as they typically do not provide on in the package, and topping up (or rather, getting one ala carte from them) for one is ridiculously expensive, for you have to account for them travelling across the causeway. 

And then, I found Yikeshu through Facebook ads. Basically, every sponsored page FB showed me during that period if time were everything bridal related. Sometimes, getting stalked by FB algorithm isn't wholly a bad thing. HAHAHA....

What caught my eye was that they're having their 6th anniversary wedding sale with 25% discount off all their bridal packages, which are already at extremely competitive pricing compared to other bridal & photography studios. I shan't get into the exact details of how much we paid in total to Yikeshu for our packages, but for our AD Essential Package: 2 Bridal gowns, 2 Groom suits, 1 Father's suit, Makeup & Hairstyling (Morning & Dinner), Bridal hand bouquet, 6 corsages, Bridal car decoration + ribbons for following cars plus AD photography (10 hours), only chalked up to about SGD $1.7K (after the 25% discount), which is a great, great deal! 

And here's (probably) the most important part of Yikeshu's package; the thing that's either making or breaking the deal for many brides out there. Their gown selection!

While they do not have a large selection of gowns (there's only 1 rack of gowns with a few pieces of kua that have very obviously seen better days), they're still relatively new-looking and in very good condition. 

And the very first gown that I went for was the mermaid; a style I always wanted to wear but was unable to do so for my PWS in Qingdao. 

This was also the HB's favourite, but in the end I still decided to abandon mission as it's so restrictive and hard to move around in. I'm still going to be practical and stick to my topmost criteria for gown choosing: COMFORT (lightweight, easy to move around in). 

And so, after taking roughly 1 hour to try out another 9 more dresses, I decided to go with two white gowns (1 for morning, 1 for dinner reception) instead of the usual 1 white + 1 evening gown as I planned to wear kua for my 2nd march in during my dinner reception. Can you guess which are the two gowns that made my list?

It's 4 (for morning) and 7 (for dinner reception)! 

Other than being simple, I chose this gown for the morning schedule also because it's so lightweight! 

The length of the gown aside (I wore The Kate Spade x Keds Wedding Collection, no heels!), this gown is so light that I could have easily ran or jump around in it. HAHA!

The wedding reception gown, though slightly heavier, is still quite light and easy to move around in. I actually have a thing for satin gown (number 5) but they're SO HEAVY. 

And on their kua selection, I'll highly advise that you do not rent from them. Even if they've renewed their selection of kua by now, having to pay $100 - $120 for rental is really not worth it. It's so much cheaper to get yours off taobao instead. 

I bought a bright red one at around SGD $50 for my tea ceremony. 

And the fancy pink one, which I wore for my dinner reception was around $100. 

Both fits me really well and look EXACTLY like pictures. Just make sure that you go through the users' reviews and check through for the actual photos they uploaded along with their reviews. 

Makeup & hairstyling was good as well, especially my hair. But it's a shame that everyone was simply too busy to help take a clear shot of my hairstyles. The MUA did take, but apparently her phone had some problem and nothing was saved. T.T

So this candid shot ended up as the "best" hairstyle photo I'm left with....

Till then,

Mia Foo