How to look your best for your ROM?

This is always the most important thing on the minds of the brides-to-be. The easiest will be to look for a bridal shop, sign for a wedding package that includes ROM package. But don't be too much of a hurry to sign up for such packages, read up on them from the available wedding forum first. There are many who may provide excellent service just to get you to sign up but sing a different story once you have paid your deposit. Or you may first sign up for a ROM package as a test of their services. Here's what to look out for in an ROM package:

1. Flower bouquet - Is it provided? Can you choose the design?
2. Gowns - Made to measure(MTM) or Off the rack(OTR) gowns? For MTM, is there any limit to the design, eg laces, materials and are you able to keep the gown? For OTR, check out their range, make sure you can find something that you like and any additional cost for laundry ?
3. Man's suit - What is included? Shirt, tie, MTM or OTR pants?
4. Make up - Is the make up artist coming to your place? If not, what is the additional cost? Any additional cost for Ampoles or fake eye lashes? Is makeup provided for the groom as well?
5. Hair - Any loan of hair accessories or additional cost for doing curls?
6. Photography - Is photographer for ROM provided? Are they returning all the soft copies, and number of photographs provided and whether photograph touch-up and album is included. What is the cost of printing additional photos, or additional albums? Is there a limit to the hours of service, if not, check the price for each additional hour.
7. Accessories - Any loan of necklace, ear rings, etc?

Can you do without Bridal or ROM package? Sure you can, but you'll need to do spend more time shopping around. Here's what you need to do:

1. Look for your dream gown. There's many places you can find them, depending on how unique you want your gown to be. Spend a little more time looking at different places before buying, or you might end up buying more than 1 gown in the end. I believe most of us only wear the gown once, during the ROM. You can also get the bridal shops to tailor make the gown for you, but prepare to spend a few hundred dollars for a simple gown. If you don not intend to spend too much on the gown, search on the internet for the design that suits you and look for a good tailor to make them for you. There are many tailor shops at the Peninsular Plaza, Far East Plaza or even the heartlands shops that do not charge as much as Bridal shops.
2. After you have got the gown, next will be the shoes. I'm a pretty practical person, so I look for a pair which can be used for my bridal shots as well as my actual wedding. The type of shoe to buy will depend on your height (sometimes the groom's height), and your gown. Generally stilettos are hot favourites, as you can never go wrong with them. But if you do not want to tower over your hubby, you can either get your hubby a pair of shoes with thick soles, or get a knee length dress looks fine with lower heels. There are shops which design and make shoes as well, so if you can't find any that meets your requirement, check out the shops at Far East Plaza.
3. So you have got a great dress, and now you need matching jewellery. To save cost, there's usually cheap and good jewellery sets at the costume jewellery sections at the major shopping malls. For bridal accessories, you could look around Far East Plaza, which housed a few shops specializing on bridal accessories. My personal favorites are pearl accessories as they are elegant and look good on any dress. You can check out the shopping complexes beside Guanyin temple, there are many crystal shops selling cheap and simple pearl accessories.
4. As for hair, you can choose to perm or rebond before the BIG day, but remember to do it at least a month before. This gives you a chance to rectify any wrong decisions, I'm sure none of you like to have a bad hair day on your ROM. Or if you are not getting ROM early in the morning, you could pop over to a hair saloon to do setting. But hair stylist actually told me that they are better with hair cuts, then hair styling. I personally prefer to spend more by hiring a Makeup artist to do both my makeup and hair on the day itself. It saves me headache on what to do with my face and hair.
5. For makeups, you can choose to do your own, or hire a freelance makeup artist to do it at your home. But do start your makeup early, as you do not want a makeup disaster to spoil your BIG day. For freelance makeup artist, ask your friends to recommend the ones whom they hired from bridal shops, or you could search through the bridal forum for recommendations. If you do not feel safe having a stranger doing your makeup, request for a trial session, but of course there will be additional cost to it.
6. Last of all, you'll need someone to capture the memories of this day. If you do not have a budget, try getting a relative or friend to do it for you. All you need is to give them a token of appreciation(ang bao) at the end of the day. If you have a little budget, go for free lance photographer. Same as for makeup artist, get recommendations from friends or forums. There's also some part-time photographers who charge at a lower rate than full time photographers and they usually return all soft-copies. For those with much larger budgets, there's lots of studios providing ROM photography services, this would be a good chance for you to check out their skills before hiring them for your traditional wedding.

Whichever choice that you make, try to involve your other half, let him give his opinions on your choice of dress, hair etc. After all, I'm sure he feels proud to have the most stunning bride walking down the aisle with him.