Bridal Affairs

Bridal Affairs is the second place I viewed and they operate at a rented HDB flat in Tampines. Appointment has to be made prior before you can head over to view their gowns. I found them when I was randomly surfing the website for alternative bridal gown rentals besides from bridal shops. I was also drawn by their simple and yet attractive website. At that point in time, they had just started their operations for a relatively short period and hence I thought maybe their prices would be quite competitive since they might want to get more clients.

I had a little surprise again when I met up with the lady boss, Christine, she turned out to be a ex-school mate of mine back in my secondary/JC days. I definitely feel much more at ease with her since we do kind of know each other back in the days and she is one who can build a rapport with easily. Even though the bridal rental business is still new but Christine has been in the wedding planning industry for a few years. 

Similarly as Bridal Closet, the packages start from S$398 for the basic items and top up for premium gowns ranging from S$300 - S$500. Grooms can also top up their suits to Italian suites at a premium too. 

Wedding dress 1

This Vera Wang inspired gown was my favorite from ALL the gowns I had tried from the 3 wedding vendors I visited. This was a made to measure gown for 1 of her clients and can be rented at an additional top up of S$500 but only for use in indoors/hotel venues. I had not lost some of my tummy fats at that point of time but as you can see from the photo that this dress was able to help contour the body shape. What I love about this gown was its petal shape like dress mixed with some champagne colored chiffon in between. The train was not long for this wedding dress but the WOW effect was just there. I simply fell in love with it.

Wedding Dress 2

This wedding dress also belonged to the premium gown category. I wanted to try something that had cape sleeve so Christine found this for me. It was made with soft French lace hence the soft look and different feels can be created with the colored sash tied at the waist. The dress fitted till the hips and flowed out with a medium length train. 

Wedding dress 3

This wedding dress also belonged to the premium gown category, made with duchesse lace with a tube bodice. 

Wedding dress 4

This belonged to their Korean collection hence the more princessy design (of course with a top up). This dress was really sweet in design in my opinion. At this point in time after trying on like at least 10 wedding dresses from 2 places, I realized that the design and cut for the gown is very important if you want to hide some unflattering parts of your body. Like for example, a corset waist dress works better for me since I have a pear shaped figured with 2 inches worth of love handles. 

Wedding dress 5

This wedding dress is included in their package with no top up. Dress design is more simple and no train (sorry for the blur photo, we were using our phone camera) Christine's suggestion was to pick a simple no train wedding dress for the morning activities so that I can walk around comfortably and top up to 1 of the premium gowns for the evening session in the hotel and to create the WOW factor during the march in. 

Evening dress 1

This belonged to their premium evening gown section too, the top up was S$300. I absolutely love the train at the back and the royal blue on me. The material was silky and comfortable to wear. 

Evening dress 2

This was part of the collection from their package, my first time with a yellow dress. I thought yellow looks not too bad on me but I did not like the tiered design. 

Evening dress 3

This was also from their collection with the standard package with no top up needed. This dress was unflattering on me as it was not the right size but free alterations would be provided during the fitting for the bride/groom. 

Truthfully speaking, I almost wanted to sign my bridal package with them. I like their gowns in general, their partnering pre-wedding photography was 8th Avenue (I have seen their works before), their pricing was within my budget even if I had to top up at least S$1000 for the gowns/suits I wanted. On top of it, I knew Christine so I had a certain level of rapport with her. Though, I had a little hesitation with their make up artist as theirs are mainly free-lancers and no trial is included in the package. I saw some of the photos of their works but I felt the make up/hair was a little dated. 

I eventually did not sign my package with them is because my other half wanted us to settle for a all inclusive package from a bridal shop and not a package which is almost ala-carte. This is because in his home country, Japan, almost everything comes in sets or packages so he was more comfortable that we had our bridal packages coming from a shop with everything included. He doesn't mind the fact that the photos might look all too similar or there is no flexibility in some of the package conditions. He cited that with all the top ups included, the pricing would be almost the same as if we had sign up with a bridal shop. 

So, there goes my chance to be alternative bride.....and therefore, let us go back to the Tanjong Pagar stretch........for the wedding dress hunt.