Bridestory - The 1 app all brides will need!

Hey girls, here’s a little update on my wedding planning.

I’m right down to the last 2 months before the big day and I’m tying up all the loose ends. The wedding invitation cards were just collected but there are some things that I’ve yet to finalize though. Like my hand bouquet designs, hairstyle that I want to go with each gown and some other tiny details that I can’t even think of now but I’m sure will pop up nearer to date.

So I was really happy to know of this app – Bridestory.

It is somewhat similar to Pinterest, if you are a user of, you’ll know is an amazing place to draw inspirations from. But, Bridestory, on the other hand, is fully focused on all things bridal. 

And the one reason why I started using the Bridestory app was because it actually allows you to connect with the vendors behind those inspirations. I’ve always hated not knowing where I can get the exact same items/looks from the images that I’ve saved on my Pinterest and having to go round to source on my own. It is a really tedious and time wasting process which is now no longer an issue to me when I’m using the Bridestory app.

The Bridestory available for all iPhone and Android users and best of all, it is free for download!

www.bridestory.com/app

& so user-friendly!

Let me share with you some of the main functions of the app.

I love how I am able to find the most suitable vendors by using the filter search, which I can choose based on category, budget, country, etc.

The above are the many categories which you can pick to look into, if you would like to be more specific and go through each category one at a time.

Or you can also actually select multiple categories to browse at one time..

These were the categories that I needed more inspirations on so I wanted to look through all of them at the same time. 

& after selecting the categories, you’ll be able to browse through and save your inspirations like this..

Browsing inspirations..

Checking out the vendors, and I spotted Choo Yilin, which I’m a huge fan of and are going to wear some of their pieces on my wedding day.

I really like this simple up do, definitely adding it to my moodboard!

I also came across my wedding florist – Flowerstory! Haha, yes, that’s me & my fiancé in the above picture.

Let me share with you how your page will look like after adding all the inspiration pictures to your moodboard.

So this is my Profile page, where I have created my own categories for my mood board for all the inspiration pictures that I’ve saved. This way, I can always refer to this page for easily whenever I need help in deciding what flowers color themes I should have, what hairstyles to go with that particular gown or how my dessert corner should look like.

I was also able to just search by the vendors for each category, for instance, in the above picture, I was looking for decorations and a long list of wedding vendors who specializes in decorations were there for me to pick from. & I saw another wedding vendor that I’m also working with – Midnight Sparks! They will be helping me set up the lightings on the stage. 

After spending several days being totally absorbed in the bridestory app and adding so many inspiration pictures to my mood board, I can now have a better picture on how my wedding would be like! & I think it is going to be a really simple and beautiful wedding, if I may say so myself. Haha.

Another section that I like looking on the app is their Real Weddings and Blog page.

I just really enjoy reading about other couple’s wedding’s experience and seeing how their entire wedding turn out. Each and every wedding is so special and I feel so happy for the couples even though I don’t personally know them. It also helped me be more prepared for what to expect on my actual day.

So brides to be, go on and download the Bridestory app (www.bridestory.com/app) because it WILL be your life savior when you are doing all the wedding planning.

You can also visit their website at - www.bridestory.com.sg.

All the best and good luck! 

Xoxo.

Fitbit Alta

Hello everyone!

It is no secret that I'm trying to lead a more active lifestyle these days and for good reasons. 

1. I'm growing older and my metabolic rate is declining.

2. I want to be in the best shape & health condition.

3. I want to look good on my wedding day.

I used to work out weekly for a year back in 2014 when I was introduced to the gym by my fiance. It was easier to be motivated when you have a gym buddy. I definitely noticed changes physically, as well as internally (health), a couple of months after I started to work out regularly. 

Right now, I'm trying to incorporate more fitness into my current lifestyle and I'm so happy I found a new "workout buddy" to keep me on track - my Fitbit Alta.

You see that black slim band I'm wearing in the above picture? 

Guys, meet Alta.

Alta, is the latest addition to the Fitbit family and to put it simply, it is an activity tracker.

Just wear it on your wrist and go about your day as normal and you can just glance down at this device to find out your current activity status for the day.

You will be able to tell the following just by tapping on the screen of Alta or the motion of "rotating" your wrist inwards:

- How many steps you've taken 

- How many km you've walked

- How many calories you've burned 

It also displays the time and date at first glance which means, you don't have to wear a watch if you don't want to. 

If you want to know why I'm such a fan of Fitbit Alta, it is because I used to own a Fitbit One! I got this around 2 years ago and used it for so long. It is more basic and has less functions compared to the Alta so I'm really glad I have the Alta now because it is so useful in keeping my healthy lifestyle in check.

So the first thing I did after getting my Alta was to charge it and also download the Fitbit app on my mobile phone. The setting up was really easy, which I really appreciate because I'm not good with anything technical. 

Selected the Alta tracker for set up.

These are the accessories that came in the box.

- A charger

- The Alta

- Wireless sync dongle

I was shocked by the celebratory vibrations that the Alta gave when I reached my first 10K steps. Let's be honest, it is a little difficult to hit 10K steps per day if I'm just going to work and heading home after work. So I will always try to take walks after dinner with my mom or my fiance whenever I find myself lacking behind in the number of steps per day.

I like how it keeps me motivated to "move more" and not just be a lazy couch potato at home.

What a smart device.

I wore the Alta the other day when I was on the Elliptical at the gym and it really did track my workout. 

I was really excited about this function! Able to see who is calling or texting me? How cool is that!

There's other features on the Alta that are really interesting too. Like tracking your daily sleep progress, setting fitness goals with your Fitbit app & collecting victory badges and managing & selecting your music choices via the Alta.

So needless to say, I am in love with my Alta. I wear it everywhere and almost everyday. The design is so sleek and fashionable, I can wear it from day to night occasions. The only time I don't wear it is if I'm attending a formal event that requires me to be dressed to the nines. But for 95% of the time, the Alta goes really well with my outfits.

I wore it every single day when I was in Japan and I'm not lying when I say it goes really well with most of my outfits. 

& just in case I'm feeling a little girly that day, I can just switch up the bands to match the color of my clothing.

I got the Blush Pink Leather bands to match my girly outfits.

Removing and changing the bands is really easy and effortless.

Doesn't it look so feminine now? I really love this pastel pink shade and I'm also torn between getting the Graphite leather or the stainless steel band. 

They look so gorgeous too!! 

Can I collect them alllllll?

There are also classic colors for the bands too.

My night routine is to sync my Alta with the Fitbit app on my mobile to find out my daily activity.

Another thing that I love about the Alta is the long battery life. I only have to charge my Alta like once every 5-6 days?

Am showing you my BEST day ever since I got the Alta. 

I walked 18K steps and burned 2.4K in calories!! It was during my trip in Japan, as if you've been there before, you'll know that taking taxis is a no-no there because it is so expensive so we walked and take train everywhere. I shopped a lot that day which explains why we walked so much. *laughs*

Really love how the Pink Leather band looks when paired with more feminine outfits.

Thank you Fitbit for being my partner in achieving a healthier and fitter lifestyle.

It is retailing at S$198 and you can find the retailers here: https://www.fitbit.com/sg/retailers

More on Fitbit: https://www.fitbit.com/

& their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fitbitsg

Just feel like typing..

Hello there,

It has been awhile since I last wrote my thoughts here. I don't know why but I've just been too caught up with dayre (www.dayre.me/lianmeiting) and it just feels easier to write my immediate thoughts and ramblings over there instead. Ahh, the thing about social media, too many of them to keep up with!

Twitter - used to be all the rage but now is dead (omg it rhymes).
Instagram - still going on really strong but everyone (including me) just stopped being spontaneous and so much goes on before posting 1 picture.
Blog - the blogging world is filled with advertorials now. I'm guilty of it as well and I can't remember how long it has been since I wrote a proper post here like I used to.
Snapchat - I'm not fully committed to it because sometimes I like taking a break from social media and so I only post things like once every 2-3 days there.

So here I am, back and it just feels so weird to be putting my thoughts into words without having any pictures. I guess I just got used to putting up quality posts (lengthy ones with tons of pictures) here instead of ones with just my voice.

Now now.. where do I begin.

Where did I even left off?

my last proper blog post here was my Maldives trip. Woah, that was pretty long ago. I'm currently planning a series of blog entries on my recent Japan trip. There are soooo many pictures so do bear with me for awhile before I post it all here :)

I guess I will just update you guys on my life right now, since it has been awhile since we had something heart-to-heart.

I'm currently working full time at the same company for the past 2 years and when I knock off after work, I will either be attending events or going for yoga or my weekly pole dancing class. & that is on top of meeting my different group of girlfriends and weekends are always for SX. So you can tell how packed my schedule is & that's why I haven't had time to blog "quality" posts here because editing pics and all that just takes up too much time so I'm always writing on my dayre instead. But I'm going to try to fix things around here (been saying it for the longest time), to just f*cked it with the quality posts and just write my thoughts here whenever I have verbal vomit. Ok?

Wedding planning

So as you know, SX proposed to me last year around august and we are planning to get married in 2016. How far along are we with the wedding planning?

Almost zero.

We only just gave our "八字" to the master and will for our appointment before I find out our wedding date. So before that is done, I couldn't really start looking around for hotels, can I? I know both SX and I wants to get married in the later part of 2016, we are looking at the months of September to November. So let's hope that there is a weekend in there that is auspicious for us. I'm not really super superstitious but my fiance is pretty much of a believer.

I have a few hotels picked out and my top choice for now is The Fullerton. I do not want the huge ballroom at the basement but rather the one on the higher floors. But I'm not sure if it is big enough to fit like 18 tables? I attended a wedding lunch there once and it was so pretty, ceiling to floor glass windows and it was all white and best of all, my favorite - high ceiling!

Oh yah, speaking of that.. I made a head start on the wedding guest list!!
So proud of myself lah. I spent like 1 hour plus trying to list family members from the Lian (dad) & Chin (mom) family and my close group of friends + tentative friends that I will invite. I even help list down SX's friends and so far we have around.. 150 guests? I went online and did some research and it seems like most hotels need a minimum of 18 tables.. hmm.. so we will see how.

I didn't put down many friends on my list because I didn't want our wedding to be a big show or anything like that. I only want friends who are truly happy for us to be there. So, I will not be inviting any primary school or secondary school friends that I'm not really in contact. I also am not inviting any colleagues or my bosses. I just want an intimate wedding!

So... besides hotel, guest list, and wedding date... the other important big items to settle is pre-wedding shoot and bridal gown package. I'm pretty interested in Zwedding and Digio but seems like quite a few friends of mine have used Digio so maybe I'll go with Zwedding. Some other on my list that I'm considering is French Wedding as well. But I think most important of all, I gotta head down and try out the dress and feel which one is THE ONE. Haha.

As for our pre-wedding shoot, we are planning to have it in Japan and are in talks with a wedding photography company in Osaka, we even met them on my recent Japan trip and are still in discussion on the collaboration. If it doesn't happen, I will still go ahead with Japan for my pre-wedding shoot lah, it just happened that they contacted me so if can save some $$ on this also good!!

Okay, this post is getting pretty lengthy.

I will be back soon with more personal posts ok. Thank you for bearing with my advertorial-filled blog, I am trying to find a balance and hopefully I can stick to it!
 

Collecting our wedding bands at Michael Trio

Its been almost 2 months since I sent in the final ring design to Michael Trio..

 

and..

 

We finally got our wedding bands!!!

 

 

Please appreciate the beauty of it.

 

& also because I spent 3 mins trying to get the rings to stay put on this tiny branch but it kept sliding off due to the weight. LOL

 

If you haven't read about the 1st part of my Michael Trio experience from choosing what ring I wanted.. please click here:

http://lianmeiting.blogspot.sg/2014/10/picking-our-wedding-bands-with-michael.html

 

So yeap, back at Tanjong Pagar to collect our rings.

 

91 Tanjong Pagar Road

Singapore 088512

 

WE WERE SO EXCITED!!

 

Shunxiong checking out the huge variety of rings because we noticed so many new designs from the last time we visited. 

 

I really like those that have a little bit of rose gold.

 

But my Fiance is superstitious and his feng shui master told him to stay away from gold/rose gold. -_-

 

A selfie while we waited for our rings to be retrieved.

 

The feeling was so surreal.. like.. WHAT?! We're here to collect our WHAT?! Wedding bands?!?!

 

We were seated facing this wall with a huge TV screen and this write up of the 3 brothers behind Michael Trio came up.

 

& I also saw my own blog entry on the screen, along with Yina's!

 

Wah, got a sense of pride leh when I saw my entry there. HAHA.

 

 

&..

 

here it comes!!

 

First time seeing our wedding bands!!

 

Seated so prettily in the box.

 

This was my 3d design for the ring..

 

& this was SX's ring.

 

&

 

now,

 

here's

 

the

 

real

 

deal

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TADAH!!

 

It was EXACTLY what I envisioned.

 

I just went "Omg so nice" x5 when I saw it.

 

The entire design came from both SX and I, but of course, Gin from Michael Trio, was there to give us advices along the way to better improve our design.

 

I love how our rings have depth to it and the borders of the ring were slightly thicker than the usual.

 

Mine was pretty simple, just a normal eternity ring but not as plain.

But SX's wedding band is really unique! Encrusted with 6 diamonds okay! & yet it still looks manly.

 

 

Yes, we got inscriptions done on our wedding bands..

 

"Always have" on his

&

"Always will" on mine.

 

After snapping a few close up pictures of the ring, we quickly put on the wedding bands and took a selfie with it. Haha.

 

Paid the remaining amount for our rings and off we went for X'mas eve dinner party!

 

Yes, we paid for our rings!

 

So I'm not writing & praising about Michael Trio because I was paid & got the rings free okay. I really do love the service and quality of the products at Micheal Trio. The bosses at Michael Trio were kind enough to give us a discount off our wedding bands and we paid the remaining. An estimation of both our wedding bands is about S$4.5k because of all the diamonds used.

 

 

 

Happy couple with our wedding bands.

 

Come with a certificate/warrenty, cushion pillow for wedding solemnization, and a very classy looking box.

 

Okay, prepare yourself for a wave of cheesy ring shots with cheesy captions.

 

"So here's our promise for a lifetime"

 

"To have and to hold"

 

Okay, that's all I can think of.

LOL.

 

& here's my favorite shot of all.

 

 

This one also quite nice.

 

Another close up shot of the ring..

 

& this is how it looks like when I wear my wedding band together with my proposal ring.

 

SO PERFECT.

 

I really can't wait to wear it!!

 

So guess what?

 

 Instead of keeping the wedding bands in my cupboard until 2016 when we get married, SX and I decided to just wear them now and then remove it and bring it for cleaning/polishing before our wedding day and then use it to exchange our vows and continue wearing it again.

 

#YOLO.

 

"The circle of the wedding band is also a symbol of eternity. The circle has no beginning or end and is, therefore, a symbol of infinity. "

 

Right now, there is a Valentine's day exclusive deal!

Really attractive discounts for a pair of anniersary rings for married couples.

 

1-4 years of marriage: S$100 off.

5-9 years of marriage: S$150 off.

10-14 years of marriage: S$200 off.

15-20 years of marriage: S$250 off.

20 years and above of marriage: S$300 off.

 

Couples will need to proof their wedding date though, so maybe a picture of your wedding cert or something?

 

Promotion period is from 1st Jan - 28 Feb 2015.

Terms & Conditions apply.

 

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Michael Trio

http://www.michaeltrio.com/

91 Tanjong Pagar Road

Singapore 088512

Tel: 6299 0110
(appointments preferred)

Mondays - Saturdays, 1200 to 2030

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Or you can visit them on their Facebook as well:

www.facebook.com/michaeltriojewels

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