We happened to chance upon their roadshow in Singapore Expo last year and bought a package from them. There are only 2 Taiwan bridal companies with physical shops in Singapore and I thought it would be easier to communicate with the Singapore branch in case of any concerns. Do check out their Facebook pages here – Bluebay Wedding and Cangai Wedding. l decided to choose Bluebay (the Singapore in-charge is Maggie) as my friend complained that she was not satisfied with the photographs from Cangai Wedding and there were many rounds of editing to correct it. I always dreamt of having my bridal shoot in Taiwan and thanks to my fiancé for fulfilling this wish.
My Bluebay package (no actual day package) cost $2280 and consists of:
- The 12″x18″ album – l bargained till 39 photos
- 1 album of behind-the-scenes shots without edits – 60 photos
- 2 desktop photos (actually it was only one but l converted the 100 Thank You cards to another desktop photo as I feel it’s not suited for our culture here )
- 20″x30″ canvas mounted photo with frame
- 1 ferris wheel consisting of 6 small photos
- 1 guest book
- Photo album suitcase
- Electronic file of selected photos
Gown fitting
The weather everywhere is quite extreme nowadays. March was supposed to be warmer but when we arrived, it was raining. My friend who also went Taipei for her bridal photo-shoot 2 weeks later, on 21 March, told me that the weather was super hot and sunny! We decided to have our photo-shoot in March so that we can take photos of the cherry blossoms. Xiao Wen (a sweet, young lady) assisted me with the gown fitting and l selected 2 white gowns and 3 evening gowns. There was a huge selection of gowns to choose from but some of them look rather worn out, like it had been used many times. There were some newer gowns/designs as well, so do ask for the newer gowns if you prefer it. The gown selection area was comfortable, private and spacious. There was another bride choosing her gown at the other end of the room as the area could cater to 2 brides at the same time.
Photo-shoot
It started to drizzle later in the afternoon and was quite cold at 15 degrees that day. There were a total of 4 Singaporean couples departing for their photo-shoots on the same day. It seems like Bluebay is a popular choice among Singaporeans. We had Kiwi (photographer), Mei Zhen (Make-up artist), Xiao E (Lighting Technician) for that day. For the additional fees, l paid NT4000 for a box of serum to Mei Zhen and another NT4800 to the driver in cash.
Before we depart for the shooting destination, there was a brief communication with Kiwi to let him know our preferences. He asked me what “feel“ l would like for my album. Frankly, l have absolutely no idea and had not researched on that. I would advise couples to do some research and think about the “feel” you want, whether you prefer something romantic, young & bubbly or Korean style, etc. Actually, it would be better if Bluebay could provide some bridal magazines for me to browse through before he asked me this question.
Kiwi was rather humorous and cracked jokes to lighten the mood to make me smile naturally for the photo-shoot. Xiao E is a helpful and pretty girl, who helped to take care of me and assisted Kiwi with the lighting and equipment.
Mei Zhen managed to give me a natural make-up that did not look too thick. I got praises from my friends when l showed them my photographs. However, l found her to be rather fierce when she was applying make-up for me in the morning. She told me to give her a response so that she knows l understand her instructions. I tried but l really do not understand some of the mandarin she used and therefore could not give her any response! However, it was such a long, tiring day that l quite forgotten about what happened in the morning.
I experienced taking photos in the rain, pretending to pose and smile like it was a sunny day. It was freezing cold but l still managed to smile wearing so little! Fortunately, they quickly came over to wrap my jacket around me whenever l finished a shoot. I also had to changed my gown in a makeshift tent in public as l did not choose those thematic locations with entrance fee where they had proper toilets and changing rooms. I saw a bride from another bridal company changing out of her gown in full view of the public eye! It must be difficult trying to wriggle out of a gown with another gown on top to cover you! We finished the shoot at around 8.30 pm that day. It was a long, tiring but fun day.
I added another 16 photos to make up to a total of 55 photos for my album. Each top-up cost around NT1600. Overall, we were still satisfied with the photos but feel that the poses were not very special, it was just “safe” and normal shots of us holding hands and standing next to each other. The weather that day was also terrible which was why we couldn’t wait to leave each destination and that could have affected the quality of the photos. I like to stress that they did not pressured us to top up more photos as they knew we were going to buy some anyway. I heard of horror stories of some Taiwan Bridal shops not allowing the couple to leave or held them hostage till 1 am unless they bought more photos. But Bluebay is nothing like this, I found Bluebay to be professional as they have a reputation to uphold. Vicky also provided us with good advice on choosing the right album cover and frame.
Post Photo-shoot
We are now still waiting for the final edits to the layouts. I am really afraid that the album would not come in time for my wedding in July. I left all the email writing to him (directly to Bluebay Taiwan) as I wasn’t good in writing Chinese. They had gotten our instructions wrong once and l hope that my 5th layout edits will be the last one before l finally received my album (fingers crossed).
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