Busy busy busy... let's take some time to smell the roses :) 
Love Droplets will be taking a break from the 11th to 15th of June, as well as the 14th to 19th of Aug. really sorry to those who have approach us for your decor during this period. so if you do know of anyone looking for us as their florist, do let them know we are taking a break during these periods to avoid dissapointments. for any enquires, do leave us a mail at info@lovedroplets.com and we will get back to as soon we can.
The time of the year where it's warm .. warm ... warm! the weather is so hot... i've always love winters because i'll get to put on my favourite muffles or scarfs. in singapore .. no way! it's one of my dreams to be able to stay and experience life in a foreign country with winter for a year. China, US, Japan, Korea would all be great. for now .... i'll just continue to pray and dream about that. i felt warm last saturday.. but in a different way. i was kindly invited by the bride, Yvonne to stay for her wedding. it was really lovely to be invited by one of my customers. .. first time ! she had a small cosy church wedding at Bethesda Catheral where her guests are mostly her church mates. they are from a small church so everyone knows everyone. the mood was really warm and joyful. there was a point where the pastor asked "who gave the hand of the bride to this man?" and the father of the bride spontaneously raised his hand and shouted "ME!".. that was new.... i really like the family feeling of the whole celebration. the theme colour of the wedding was purple. 
          
i've also customised a hand bouquet for another bride, Shandy for her ROM today. i can still remember dicussing with her how to go about her hand bouquet few months back. her first gift from her husband was a star ketchain hence she requested if her bouquet could be in a star shape. she also like to have gerberas. initially i toyed wit the thought of putting the actual keychain into the bouquet but the keychain is blue so it didn't match. after much dicussion we settled on adding a star "center piece" into the bouquet. and this is it.. 
Thank you for all your support... Love Droplets is glad to have been of service to all of you. We understand that getting married is one of the times where it's really going to cost. However we believe that everyone deserves to have a beautiful and memorable wedding, hence we are going to give YOU a hand. We have introduced a budget section (under "Photos") where we'll offer great deals. Do check it out time to time for more great offers ! 
after being a wedding stylist for some time, i would say it can be a really fun and satisfying job but at the same time, it's not always a bed of roses... on sunday i met another couple to discuss their wedding decor. they were really easy going.. it was so nice of the them to even ask if i needed any food or drink. though it's a simple gesture, i really appreciate it. after talking for awhile the groom to be, he did a rough sum and actually mentioned that hey.. you (aka me) actually don't earn all that much. when i heard that i was soooo... pleased. it's one of the rare times where i feel that i'm finally being understood. often couples only look at the amount they are spending, and the time the flowers will last. though some may think, it's only going to be a few hours, wah .. very ex leh.. i understand from their point of view but the truth is there's a lot more that they do not see. the backstage work, from getting the flowers, arranging them, packing, transport, putting up, etc. not to mention the time we spend thinking of concepts, sourcing for items, emailing, etc. the time spend aside, how about the cost, flowers are never cheap in singapore and they only get more expensive... the transport, the manpower. ... so when he said that statement i was so happy. i read in Hannah, the wedding planner's blog about Singaporeans being kiasu. everything must be the best and of course CHEAP!!.. she also mentioned about being exploited sometimes.. i couldn't agree more with her. i've met customers that asked for very elaborate decor but it just can't be done with their budget. or they would compare to the cheaper florists around the market and wonder why should they pay that extra amount. Hannah mentioned that wedding planners, photographers, florists, etc are artists and i agree! you must know why are you engaging a particular photographer for example. it's because you like his style of work and you feel comfortable working with him. just like you when your order a plate of chicken rice. there are so many stores around so why this particular one? it's the taste or perhaps you like how the auntie always greet you with a smile. it may be the same thing but the feel is different. you must also know what you are getting like perhaps some florists would use materials like plastic ribbons while for me personally i would prefer satin ribbon. hence the cost difference. i'm not saying there's anything wrong with this, but it's just preference. the most funny inccident that i've encounter is getting a mail enquiring about catering services. hmm.. weird .. i feel really satisfied when my customers tell me how much they like the decor, bouquet, corsages i've done for them. i enjoy the challenge of thinking of new ideas .. and the best part comes when my customers are game for it! looking back there's so much to this job of mine and of course more to come.. today as i look out of the window at the fountain in bugis junction while having my breakfast, watching the water movement was rather relaxing. it was a treat to my hectic week :)
Another busy month with all the enquiries and work coming in ... busy busy ... Today is Han Rong and Pei Pei's wedding day at Grace Methodist Church down at Habourfront. It's a cosy and nice church .... they wanted a dreamy theme and requested no white flowers. Initially they settled for a champagne theme. I suggested to add a touch of pink. the colours used were all soft and sweet to bring out the dreamy mood. this is the reception table centre pc  
at the church's entrance the guests were greeted with flowers    a flower head piece for the lovely flower girl
  the sanctuary doors  finally ...the sanctuary...
    
Pei Pei's jie meis had corsages that matched the theme's colours as well  "thank you" bouquets
 
I got this joke from the mail... whoever that came out with this is good... 
Before Marriage
He: Yes. At last. It was so hard to wait.
She: Do you want me to leave?
He: NO! Don't even think about it.
She: Do you love me?
He: Of course! Over and over!
She: Have you ever cheated on me?
He: NO! Why are you even asking?
She: Will you kiss me?
He: Every chance I get!
She: Will you hit me?
He: Are you crazy! I'm not that kind of person!
She: Can I trust you?
He: Yes.
She: Darling!
After marriage - - - simply read from bottom to top.
What day is it today? friday? the 29th of feb? leap yr? of course ... and on this day i had the honour of playing a part in another couple's wedding. Hannah and Vincent are a really sweet and easy going couple. and it was really enjoyable working with them. their wedding colour theme is white, champagne, champagne gold.... it started with Hannah's wedding gown, one of champagne gold, designed by her designer. so from there we worked with the colours that would match her gown. so finally we decided on the final colours, white and champagne for her flowers. she and vincent had basically only one request ... to have everything simple and sweet. below is her hand bouquet.. tulips ... her fav flowers.. 
her flower girl's basket. i like the turn out of this flower pasket. the colours look vintage and classy 
the groom's corsage.. tulip as well, the same flower as the bride's bouquet 
the bestman's corsage 
and their VIP corsage 
for their car decor.. once again, to be simple. they prefer to have a smaller front flower arrangement. no big flowers, nothing too 'kua zhang" (too over) i thank God for holding the rain.. i was tying the car decor when it looked like it was going to rain anytime. phew.. and finally ... this is the end product ;) 
     after the car decor was done ... when i saw the smile on Vincent's face.. i know he's happy and so am i . . . . ^_^
tomorrow would be their big day .. May God bless them with a blissful marriage.
In the fast moving pace of Singapore, owning a HDB flat is no longer a easy affair as compare to those back in the 1980s. It is a life long committment. From a simple 3rm flat to build to order EC, the price tag accompany to the house lies alot of financial woes. Without proper ponder and thoughts, you will be weighed with a financial committment which may jeopadise your retirement planning. As a financial consultant, my advise to most of my clients in choosing the ideal house have always been the same; live within your means no matter it is a 4rm or 5rm flat. Do not get a repayment loan that you cannot service... Based on a $300k loan, 30 years repayment period and 2.6%, you will have to pay $1201 per month. Based on a $400k loan, 30 years repayment period and 2.6%, you will have to pay $1601 per month. All these are based on the calculator found in CPF website. If husband and wife are sharing 50/50 for the loan, they will have to earn a minimum of $2750 each in order to repay the loan for a $300k loan. And a minimum of $3650 each in order to pay off a $400k loan. If you don't plan well you will have to service the loan for 30 years. 30 years is not a short duration. This will means neither the husband nor the wife can afford to stop work. If they have plans for the wife to stop work and take care of the children in the future that will not be possible. I would recommend that they opt for smaller housing loan. For those who wish continue to get that kind of loan, my suggestion to them is whenever they have their 13th mth bonus or variable bonus, write a cheque to HDB. Same suggestion applies to those who take a smaller loan. The rule of thumb is to clear the housing loan in the shortest time possible. Another way to clear off the loan sooner is to invest your extra cash after you have settle all your protection planning and liabilities. If every mth you invest $500 with interest rate of 8% you should have approx $175k at the end of 15 years. By then, you shld more or less clear off your loan. A good measurement is to request from HDB the balances of outstanding repayment required every 5 years to figure out the outstanding amount. By doing that you can calucate backwards how much more is needed to clear off the loan. In order to achieve financial independence, you must have a House fully paid plus X amount of savings and an Income Generating Assert. Without a house fully paid, you are still in debt and you can't possibily retire well. *** I actually got this writeup from Mr Raymond Tan, a Financial Consultant. if you would like to know more about managing your repayment of your housing loan, you can reach him at raymondtanbk@yahoo.com.sg
Still as usual .. busy busy ... finally had some time to spare. it's been sometime since Love Droplets have new designs for her wrist corsage section. I just did these 3 and this time i decided to name my collection with various ladies' names. i know they are really not a lot but do stay tune for more.. must do and take picture lar.... if you would like to view last year's collections, you can view them at www.lovedroplets.com under the corsages tab.  Lavinia
 Jasmine
 Lynette
and just in case if you are wondering if the previous designs are still avaliable ... yes they are and i do have new colours not uploaded on the site. so drop me a mail for more details.
Have you heard of the saying that if you have been bridesmaid three times, you'll never get married? I was reading this interesting write up on the 19th of Jan from the New Paper.. so it talks about these 3 ladies, Ms Liau, Ms Ong and Ms Chow Seet Cheng that have been bridesmaid for 10, 11 and 9 times respectively. They kept their lovely bridesmaid dresses. dresses for different theme weddings, like Star wars, oriental, bling-bling, garden floral print, pool party, etc.  
(Top: Ms Liau, Bottom: Ms Ong) After reading the article ... verdict for the curse... nah ... Ms Liau has found her Mr Right and is happily married. While Ms Ong and Ms Chow are still single.. anyway the saying proves false. It's not that I believe in such things but I thought I'll just mention this article for those of you ladies who do. My personal take is that so what if you are single? No doubt there would be times you are lonely, and how you wish you have a companion but ... would you rather find a terrible man to live with all your life or maybe you can argue there's such an option as divorce (but then what's the point) or would you rather take a little longer to find a good husband that would love, care and protect you? For Ms Ong, who's 26, she's in no hurry to get married. same for Ms Chow Seet Cheng, 29 is also in no hurry. there was one funny part in the article.. Ms Ong's worst memory was having to push the bridal car under the sweltering afternoon sun with 3 other bridesmaid for 10 minutes. the vehicle went dead on the way to church. u know what .... apparently it was a "sabo" from the groom and brothers just in return for the torture the ladies have done to them earlier that morning ;)
Multiply is so much easier to use that I'm getting lazy to update my official site which is www.lovedroplets.com so most of the stuff are here except for corsages and other small wedding essentials. These are some new hand posies to start off this new year.  
Orchids.. beautiful flowers, and the most appealing in this tropical island. 
This kind of hand tied posy is actually rather popular in the western culture. The posy looks like they are picked straight from the garden .. and some really are..      
Can you still remember maybe about 10 years ago if you were to go to a banquet, you will usually take home little cakes as doorgifts? Today, the little token that guests take home have gotten more pretty and interesting. No longer are they just cakes, but the gifts can really be just anything.. from biscuits, keychains, candles to live plant, baking spoon, handmade gifts and more. I'm a person that values aestatics, so not just the favors alone but their packaging plays a big part. Simple ribbons, flowers.. can make a whole lot of a difference. Favors are the details of your decor, your big day, adding colours and making your guests go Wow... Below are some ideas to inspire u a little..                   
Have you been seeing such flower balls that comes with a ribbon or handle... wonder what are they called? I guess they are many ways to call them, one of which is "kissing balls".. what a cute and interesting name. They are an attractive option to traditional bouquets. They can be made up of small daisies, roses or any other flowers to leaves. Besides being a bouquet for your flower girl, bride's maid or the bride, they can be really nice decor to your venue. With different sizes, you can hang them on your door or suspend them over entrances, buffets, and head tables. I made this ball with a lace handle and by just simply adding a few butterflies, the ball just look perfect for your outdoor wedding. .. but of course they look great indoors as well :)
Just a glipse of the new range of favors that will be added to Love Droplets favors collection ( www.lovedroplets.com). Wedding favors to me personally is really more than a door gift per say. Though it's small, it's a thought to say a "thank you" for having your guests' presence. Give some thought to your favors.. how do you want your guest to feel when they receive it.. or how do you want them to remember the both of you. .. Besides that, wedding favors are actually rather good table accessories or decor! They add colours and life to your table setting. If your favor's colour doesn't match your wedding theme colour, you can work on the packaging... maybe just a small box with the right colour. things like these are often over looked.. but really ... they do make a difference ;)
This is the hand bouquet that I've done for Yuan Yuan. She was wearing a light champagne dress and she likes pink. I thought the light shades would match her dress and cater to her favorite colour as well.  These are other bouquets that i just did. This petite hand tied bouquet is cute at the same time sweet. Once again .. brown is really a nice colour. It adds an all different feel to the usual white weddings but at the same time still equally class.
 
This was the decor I've done for Yuan Yuan at Orchard Hotel. Seems like 29th Nov was a hot date. Lots of wedding going on .. 
 
Thinking of designing your own invitation? Weddings are special.. it's about the 2 of you and you would like to add a part of you in every aspect of it.. down to your cards. Times have changed... creativity is THE thing! Pop in your couple caricature, use a funky colour, have a unique wedding theme, or even send your invitation in a different form. If your budget allows, try thinking of interesting ways to present your invitation. I've seen invitiations in the form of CDs, scrolls, pop-up cards, box, even 3D animation! Scrapbooking is "in" these days .. the lovely papers, patterns, etc who can resist them. There's a lot of invitations been done with scrapbook materials recently. Or if you more IT .. you know the skills but you don't know the design. it seems like the more you add the more it gets worst. here are the tips.. 1. try to keep things simply if you can't handle it. have a main focus in your card., like if it's your wedding pic or an illustration or even the words. so whatever you do bear in mind the focus you want to higlight. 2. don't have too many colours unless you are realy good with the colour palette. have just 2 to 3 or maximum 4 colours. If you are not good with matching colours just keep the colours around the same tone. 3. this is one mistake people often make.. having too many different fonts or having fancy fonts for everything. no doubt they are nice but it can be to much for your guest when they receive the card. maybe just have 1 fancy font and the rest simple will do. the above points apply to craft cards and scrapbook cards as well. have you ever come across this... when you copy and paste images from the net and include them in your cards .. they look fine on screen but when you print them out they look pixelated or their colours just look different. that's becos the resolution for viewing on screen is lower than that for printing and your screen may not be colour calibrated. so after you have designed your invitatio, print a sample copy and compare the colours and readjust your screen. When it comes to printing it's always good to have the professionals lend you a hand. if you have pictures or drawing you want to include in, do remember to scan them in high resolution as well. hope these small pointers help .. have fun designing your cards !
Love Droplets is clearing favors for more to come.. so you can check out yahoo auctions for the clearing items and details ... http://sg.auctions.yahoo.com/sg/user/moks0003 these are the items .. Keychains-------  
Placecard stand/ Memo stand-------- 
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I really like the centre pc I arranged for her. She bought her own butterflies to be placed on her chairs, centre pc, etc. 
When I went back to collect some of the items she told me that everyone mentioned that the flowers were really nice. That really made all my effort worth it. 
Busy busy busy …. Those of you who knows me would be so numb to me saying that. Ha! Yap .. there would be more to come …may God see me through and jia you! 
