UPDATED AFTER THE WEDDING:
We both agreed with My Dream Wedding was one of the big mistakes that happened - I was super quick to say yes to taking the package from them just because they looked really promising and their shop looked amazing with the dresses on display - only to find out later that whichever wedding gowns you choose that is on display is upon extra charge. Also, I pointed to a dress that I liked and asked if I could have that as part of the package and she gave me a yes. When it was our turn to choose the dresses, they told me that this dress has been off the shelf for so long already. Heh.
Not only that, we were not allowed to enter the "room" that keeps all their gowns. I only shared with them what some of my preferences were and they were the ones who will bring out the gowns one at a time. I remembered trying less than 15 pieces and they told me that was it.
Despite screwing with our travelling plans and time in KL, they didn't offer to compensate or add anything. Even when I needed to change a gown last minute, they went ahead to charge me about RM1,000. Customer service, zero.
Let's not get to the photography itself. Many times, we told the photographer the kind of photos we wanted and not want (like at the beach kind of photo), he insisted that we go ahead and take - wasted our time and energy seriously.
So, in summary, I will not recommend My Dream Wedding to any couples out there. NEVER.
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I'm starting to feel that we got a very good deal. I may be wrong though. They may have given more upgrades and complimentary items to other couples. Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I doubting this package? It's already too late now because we've paid for everything already! Oh well. We are happy with what has been given to us.
I hope this is helpful for all brides-to-be in the future. Something for you all to compare, and hopefully, also successfully demands for more upgrades/complimentary items :)
Also, I will be sharing with you on the overall comments and feedback that I've received since I posted on this. All from people that we know of personally and from our experiences of course :)
Later on that below.
My Dream Wedding @ Bridal Fair Gurney Paragon Mall, Penang
13-14 February 2016
PRE-WEDDING PHOTOSHOOT
Inclusions:
Kuala Lumpur or Penang or any overseas location (if my money grows on tree)
Service of a professional photographer and a make-up artist
3 Deluxe wedding gown
1 Selected Swarovski wedding gown
2 set of tuxedos
1 hand bouquet (artificial flowers)
1 bridal make-up with 4 hairdos
All accessories and hair veil available for photoshoot day only
Fake eyelashes (the only bridal shop at the bridal fair that includes this)
A selection of 40 poses from 150 shots
40 selected photos in digital file (soft-copy)
12' by 12' wedding album (10 pages - 40 poses) - Cover stand-alone album from HK
8' by 12' soft diamond album (19 out of the 40 selected poses)
24' by 30' printed photo with desired frame
10' by 14' table top photo with desired frame (2 pieces)
50 pieces of 4R (5 out of selected 40 poses)
Exclusions:
Transportation service
Toll and bridge fee
Entrance fee to selected locations (if needed)
Body Foundation
Ampoule (acts like a primer, to hold make-up for a longer time)
ACTUAL WEDDING DAY
Inclusions:
1 Platinum wedding gown
2 Deluxe wedding gown
2 set of tuxedos
2 set of accessories
1 set of car decoration
20' by 30' signature roll for guest
1 DVD slideshows (chosen 40 poses)
Exclusions:
Make-up and hair-do
Body Foundation.
Ampoule (acts like a primer, to hold make-up for longer time)
White bow shirt for groom
Nude bra for bride
It is the most common thing that people shared with us and that would be on the extra expenses that you will find yourself having to pay, that ranges from a higher category of dress that you want or the more photos that you would want to have. Something like that.
Be very careful with all the extra charges because before you know it, it could mount up to the same cost with the package original price.
However, we were told by Bennie on some of the things that is not given and will be charged if you choose to have it.
Extra soft-copy with touch up (RM100 per pose)
Request to change gown after confirmation (RM300 per piece)
Photo-shooting on Saturday, Sunday or Public Holiday (RM250) - waived for us yay!
Extra poses into album and soft-copy with touch up (RM160 per pose).
Early collection of photos in advance (RM500)
TOTAL DAMAGE: RM4,988 (GST included)
Now that you have known of all the items that is part of the RM4,988 package, I bet you also want to know if the "extra charges on everything" is really true or it's just something that only some people will experience.
Based on our experience, this is very true. I don't know if the consultants earn extra income by up-selling their dresses or photos and even if they don't, they sure seemed really pumped up to get people to pay more.
And I would like to believe that this does not happen to only My Dream Wedding because my sister was with another bridal brand and same case also. Friends using other bridal brands also gave the same advice so I guess this must be the standard "sales & marketing" tactic in the bridal industry.
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Number 1
My Dream Wedding:
Wedding gowns displayed on the shelves are free to choose as part of the package.
Friend:
All photo-shoot gowns are kept in a room and we're not allowed to go in to choose. They will take them out, batch by batch.
Me:
Wedding gowns displayed outside are only to be selected for actual day wedding, and not for pre-wedding photo-shoot. Extra RM1,000 will be charged if you wish to select from shelves for photo-shoot. We obviously did not choose any from the outside.
Summary:
They tend to be very general with the verbal offerings/deals. ASK MORE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS.
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Number 2
My Dream Wedding:
After all upgrades/additional items mentioned, they casually mentioned about an additional signature roll that they will give just for you.
Friend:
Yes, we have that.
Me:
Yes too. We realized that we didn't need the signature rolls (which by the way comes in either pink or purple) and asked to change it with a table photo frame.
Summary:
It's not just for you. Don't be naive, like us. Hah. IT'S ALL PART OF THE PACKAGE ALREADY!Change with another item if you don't need the roll.
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Number 3
My Dream Wedding:
We will upgrade the current big frame to a bigger one and two more smaller frame for table top showcase.
Friend:
They gave me one big frame if I remembered correctly.
Me:
We were given 1 big and 2 small table top ones, as promised.
Summary:
This one may be dependent on the salesperson that served you. I think in this case we may be given more from others? Again, it may be the same as others.
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Number 4
My Dream Wedding:
You can choose 1 Swarovski wedding dress for the pre-wedding photo-shoot, upgraded from Deluxe.
Friend:
They did not give me any Swarovski wedding gown.
Me:
They presented to us 5 Swarovski wedding dress options to choose from, of which I chose one, after trying all five.
Summary:
They may have again casually mentioned about it. So, you must REMEMBER WHAT YOU'VE BEEN TOLD AND ASK FOR IT.
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Number 5
My Dream Wedding:
In Malaysia, you can opt to take your pre-wedding photos either here in Penang or in KL. Discussion will be made in KL office if you wish to do it there.
Me:
Okay! As excited as we were, they did not mention anything about photographer and makeup artist having no transport. They only just say 'transportation service is not included' to which of course we understood as our own transport. Turns out, we actually have to fetch their crews around.
Summary:
ASK MORE QUESTIONS. DO NOT ASSUME IT'S PROVIDED JUST BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T TALK ABOUT IT.
I'm beyond thankful that people shared their experiences with me, because if not, we wouldn't have known about having to transport their photographer and makeup artist, using our own car yes.
This is actually not like a really bad comment. It's just they should have talked us through on this.
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Number 6
My Dream Wedding:
Try the wedding dresses and choose the one you like for the actual wedding day, and we will book it for you.
Friend's Direct Friend:
A week before our wedding, they called and told us that the dress we originally booked earlier has been booked by other couple and that we had to choose another dress, which also means additional costs. We ended up paying extra RM6,500 because it was a week before the wedding and we panicked.
Me:
This sounds insane. This is so not right and this is not the way to earn money okay. Now that we've been warned on this, we are making sure that we book our dresses earlier and make sure this doesn't happen by writing it out on the deal after choosing the dress. If not, I'm going to call all my lawyer friends on this. Hah. Judson, be on a standby okay? Heh.
Summary:
BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THEIR 'PROMISES'.
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Number 7
My Dream Wedding:
Promised that the exact location that we wanted to have our photoshoot at was available and need no prior appointment or entrance fee.
Me:
You can read the entire post on the incident here. Madness.
Summary:
I think they were taking things quite lightly and not double-check on these locations. You should make sure with the team.
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Number 8
My Dream Wedding:
Choosing gowns for actual day ceremony and dinner. 2 pieces from normal selection and 1 from Platinum series. Groom gets 2 sets of tuxedo.
Me:
I knew what color I wanted so it was easier to narrow down the dresses. I saw one that I realy really loved but was told that someone else have booked it. Boo! So, proceed to try on other dresses and felt that they didn't have a lot of choices. Most gowns were kept in a room and only staffs can enter the room. The gowns displayed outside is quite limited, especially the Platinum series one. I left the shop feeling like there should be more dresses that I could choose from. Maybe because of the color that I chose. Hm.
For the tuxedos, please do not expect to get the nice formal typical type of tuxedo. It's either long tail tux or patterned tux. Not many choices to choose from to be honest.
Summary:
You should maybe have other colors in mind when selecting the dresses as they really do have quite limited choices, and I wouldn't say that their designs are spectacular. I was not very impressed.
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Number 9
My Dream Wedding:
Making appointments for photo-choosing and gown-selecting.
Me:
It was quite difficult for us to make date/time appointment as we both only can go after 530pm on weekdays and they are usually full on weekends, but I was quite impressed on their service because they were very helpful to make it work for both of us, so win.
Summary:
I think their business is doing really well because there's always so many people in and out of the shop whenever we were there. However, their service is pretty good. I like!
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Number 10
My Dream Wedding:
Making appointments for photo-choosing and gown-selecting.
My sister:
You will find it very difficult to choose photos within the limit and they will sell to you per piece basis and offer you "special" package.
Me:
This was so funny. There were so many of you who warned us on this and told us that it's almost impossible to choose only 40 photos and once we both disagree, they will come out with special offers. Thanks to you guys, we were mentally prepared to choose only 40 photos. The consultant tried to convince us on some photos that we didn't want because we got chun-chun 40 photos. She even tried to sell us a special package of RM1,000 for a huge plain light brown wood frame with 10 extra photos. SIAU MEH! We were shocked at the price that she mentioned. She lowered it down to I think about RM300 but it was a no for us. We were not going to spend more money on this. Hello. We already spent RM5,000 on this entire thing so no thanks.
Summary:
Before you select the photos with your better-half, please discuss and agree on what you guys really want. It will really help with the entire process. It's like once both of you are on the same page, no one else can be featured in that page. Stand strong people! :)
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I guess if we could give a summary of it, we won't say we hate to the core of the services provided by My Dream Wedding. I think they are not perfect and they are probably not looking into becoming the best bridal brand in Penang. I think they have accepted too many clients that they should because their dresses seems to always be very limited due to the reason 'someone else have booked it'.
I don't know. I may not be fair to them by saying that.
I have people emailing me to ask on whether they should choose My Dream Wedding and it's the one question that I cannot give an answer to.
I feel that people will most likely be drawn to them because of the posh image that they try to portray. Just a look at their shops and you will feel like this bridal company confirm is famous/popular/well-to-do and with the price that they offer, you will feel like it's a good catch.
Is it really a good catch?
If I was given another choice, I would survey around more before deciding. They won my vote (in the beginning) because they took us to their shop and showed us all the fancy dresses and their 'quite-glamour' looking shop. Immediately I felt so princess-ish. Hah.
But all is good with us because we're not haters like that. Heh.
If you feel like this is the one, then this is the one. Despite all the negative feedback from people, you just need to make sure you do your part and be very careful because all bridal shops tend to have the same 'behavior'. Hah.
ENJOY EVERY BIT OF THIS PLANNING OKAY?
Fun times ahead :)
I decided to update on this post with more experience-sharing so you will not go through the same thing we did. Despite all the things that we went through with them, I think in the end it's where you stand and how you "take care" of yourself that will make all the difference. Heh. For our case, I'm thankful that we're not the kind of people who will demand for a lot of things when they screw something up or show angry faces whenever they sort of disappoint us.
