Wedding Dress

I'm sure most girls have a vision of what their wedding dresses would look like long before the proposal or even before having a boyfriend. Come on, admit it =) My dream gown would be a white strapless A-line dress with train. I don't want a huge chunky train, coz I don't want to deal with the weight and the mess.

On January 31st, I tried a wedding gown for the FIRST time in a shop. The experience was awful…ya, you are reading it correctly…it was AWFUL! I thought I was gonna faint in that dress. Everyone in the shop said it's supposed to feel that way, so tight that you could barely breathe. I was also told by the sales that most girls wear at least two sizes bigger in a wedding dress. I finally understand why bride has to starve for the big day, not only to look skinny and pretty, it's also because fitting into that tiny dress (already two sizes bigger) requires major effort. All the moms walked over and told me how beautiful I looked in the dress, but still that didn't make me feel good at all. I know I have many pounds to lose. Now let's look at the price tag, the wedding dress I tried on cost £1,025 brand new, even the soiled sample dress full of black patches cost £800. I think it's totally insane to pay for a dress, even at £800, that I would only get to wear once. For sure this dress will sit in the closet or under the bed and never get to see the light again.

After I walked out of the shop, I asked BMM why weren't there any men in the shop? Then he reminded me the groom is not supposed to see the bride in the dress before the wedding. Ha, I have completely forgotten about it! Actually I prefer BMM to choose my gown with me because his opinion is the only one that matters. All I care is that BMM thinks I look pretty in the dress on our wedding day. So we have decided not to follow the tradition and shop together.

I spent several days searching on the internet to see if there are any wedding dress rentals in Vancouver. It seems rental is not at all a popular option; I could only find 4 shops for rental. Some brides mentioned rental cost at least a few hundred dollars, it's probably still a good idea to buy one instead. I found a few shops highly recommended by Vancouver brides for less expensive wedding dresses. Also, I found a few sites that offer custom made wedding dresses, the costs are quite reasonable. Fortunately my mother is an expert in textile manufacturing, alteration is one of her many talents. She has agreed to help me alter the gown for a perfect fit.

Shops in Vancouver that sell less expensive wedding dresses (shops in light blue have links to their websites):

MJM Wedding Services (requires appointment) - 17363 26th Avenue, South Surrey
Action Liquidators - 1850 Renfrew, Tel: 604-255-4577

Shops in Vancouver that have wedding dress rentals available:

Vancouver Bridals - 2677 W. Broadway, Tel: 604-518-6358
Lilianne's Bridal Salon - 250 W. Broadway, Tel: 604-873-4529
Lisange Wedding World - 8188 Granville Street, Tel: 604-263-1700
Tiffany's Bridal Salon - 3548 E. Hastings Street, Tel: 604-568-0599

Here are some of the styles that I like =)

Wedding Date

Traditional Chinese will look into the Chinese Almanac (通勝) to select dates for various occasions: wedding, relocation, traveling, business openings, signing important contracts etc. For weddings, many Chinese parents will hire a professional fortune teller/psychic/feng shui see fu -- no idea what's the equivalent English term for this profession (命理風水師父, 簡稱睇相佬) -- to select a "good date". For simplicity's sake, let's just call this person, See Fu.


The cover of a Chinese Almanac.



Chinese Almanac contains hundreds of pages. This is a sample page.

As far as I know, See Fu needs to know the precise birth time and date (時晨八字) of the couple and their parents to calculate if there are any conflicts, and to avoid a wedding date that may clash with them. Does it make any sense for non-Chinese readers out there? Oh well, this is my best explanation. I'm not an expert in Chinese traditions, neither are my parents…this is all I know.

My parents are not very superstitious, so we do not plan to hire a See Fu to select a date for our wedding. All I'm gonna do is to look at the Chinese Almanac, pick a Saturday in spring/summer 2011, suitable for wedding and with no conflict among our zodiacs (including the parents). It also depends on the availability of the venue, so it's most likely the choice of our venue that will pick the date for us.

Ideally we want the wedding to be in May/June 2011. The most worrisome factor is the weather in May/June, Vancouver at this time may still be a bit rainy. We want our wedding to take place on a warm sunny day, so we can take photos outdoor with our families and friends. It's easier to pick what to wear in nice weather. Also as a consideration for our guests who need to make travel arrangements, May/June is generally not a peak season to travel.

We are visiting Vancouver in mid-February to pick our venue and to look at other bits and bobs. BMM's parents will join us there for one week and our parents will meet for the first time. We are very excited about the trip and will keep our readers posted.

Pre-Wedding Photos

A close friend of mine (LMM) is getting married in Hong Kong in December. Since we’ll be making our way to HK, we have decided to do three things there for our own wedding: 1) take pre-wedding photos, 2) purchase wedding favors and 3) print our invitation. Personally I think the Chinese market is more creative with a wider selection of wedding ideas in many respect, so we might as well take the opportunity while we are there.

I looked into doing pre-wedding photos in Vancouver, but it seems less common in the western world. Usually photos are taken the day of the wedding only. I am not entirely satisfied with the studios that provide the service to do pre-wedding photos due to limited locations, only a few sets of clothing, and the number of shots that are included in the package.

After talking to several friends on the topic, they recommended to look into China because there are many pretty outdoor locations to choose from. Many studios in HK can arrange photo shoot in China. I’m not sure whether these HK studios send you to their subsidiaries in China or someone from the HK office will travel with you to China to shoot the photos. At first, I was very skeptical about the quality of the shots and the skill of the photographers. Judging by the samples on the websites, the shots look great. I know the studios must put their best shots online and sometimes photos can be deceiving. But who doesn’t do that to showcase their business?

The studio assigns three employees to follow your pre-wedding photo shoot: a photographer, an assistant and a makeup artist. Generally, the studio provides 5-7 dresses along with accessories and makeup for the bride; the groom has about 4-6 attires; 1 set of personal clothing is expected at the photo shoot. The package includes a combination of outdoor and indoor locations. There are many outdoor locations to choose from, some require additional admission fees. Indoor studio photo shoot has lots of themes to choose from too. Most packages include 200-300 shots, 1-2 canvas, a bunch of printed images, several albums and frames in different sizes, small crystal ornaments, and a CD with ALL of your shots. The thing I care the most is getting ALL of our images, aside from that everything else is just additional to our expectation. The more you pay, the more you get!

Queen Class – has both HK and Shenzhen offices. Out of the many outdoor locations the studio offers, there are two places that we find very beautiful.

Fei Cua Hu (Da Ling Zhen)













Xiao Ju Zhai (Shenzhen)









Futu Vision – office located in Shenzhen. Also, we are interested in two outdoor locations the studio offers.

Evergreen Resort (Shenzhen)













Yang Mei Keng (Shenzhen)














We are still unsure if we will take the pre-wedding photos in China, it all depends on the weather and if time permits. Until then we will continue to look for other studios in Vancouver as our fall back plan.