info on wedding rentals, photography etc

[luukee 19]

Hello VJers,

I was wondering if anyone can help me out with some tips about where to rent wedding tux and dresses. My wife knows a few places, but seems like her info is limited to people she knows (her friend's recommendations for example). I'm just hoping if anyone knows any locations that she can check out too. Also, if you guys know/recommend any photographers who specialize in weddings.

Just wondering what the average costs of those things are if you guys don't mind sharing.

My wife is in Saigon, so if you guys knows any place/person there please let me know.

Thank you very much

[Chris & Trinh 15]

Hello VJers,

I was wondering if anyone can help me out with some tips about where to rent wedding tux and dresses. My wife knows a few places, but seems like her info is limited to people she knows (her friend's recommendations for example). I'm just hoping if anyone knows any locations that she can check out too. Also, if you guys know/recommend any photographers who specialize in weddings.

Just wondering what the average costs of those things are if you guys don't mind sharing.

My wife is in Saigon, so if you guys knows any place/person there please let me know.

Thank you very much

Well to answer your questions I need to ask a few questions first....lol With the wedding traditions and such in Vietnam, there are the pre-wedding pics taken to make an album BEFORE the wedding, also the BIG picture is made that is on display AT the wedding. If you are wanting info about renting dresses and tux, photographer etc for this then I can answer that now. However, if you are wanting clothing to rent and a photographer for the actual event, I will need to ask my wife as I have forgotten the names of the places. I do have some recommendations below.

For our wedding we used Milan studio. They had many dresses, suites, tuxes and photographers that did our wedding pics and albums and the BIG picture that was on display AT the wedding. Here is their website. (http://www.milan.com.vn/en/about-us.aspx). I believe you can rent their clothing to wear AT the wedding also but if I remember correctly it was a bit pricey so I think we got ours elsewhere. We also used a different photography service that came to the actual wedding to take photos of the event. If you would like that information I can ask my wife and get that info for you.

I also know of a good friend who also does the Pre-wedding album, the wedding photos etc....but I don't think they haveclothing to rent but I could be wrong. You can check out their website too (http://www.shellystudio.net/#)

I don't represent any of these companies. Just some that I have had personal experience with. I am sure others here can give you some more recommendations.

[luukee 19]

Chris,

Thanks for the info - I'll check out those sites. I'm actually looking at both the pre-wedding and wedding as well. Currently my wife has been checking out some places but I'm not sure if its because its Saigon or just that some of these prices sound pretty ridiculous considering that the cost of living in Vietnam is not as high as the U.S. So that's why I wanted to ask for some recommendations. how much do wedding dress rentals go for if you don't mind me asking Chris?

thanks!

[Pete82 5]

What are the cost are you seeing? We need to start the pre-wedding stuff as well.

Cost for pictures?

Cost to rent dress and tux?

[luukee 19]

Pete82:

I bought my tux, since I figure I'll be using it twice (and it was about $260 bucks from Macys)

For the rental, at one place, the wedding dress is about 4 million (about $200 USD). I don't know too much about it since my wife is the one dealing with them.

One place she saw on facebook for the pre-wedding, They're asking for 18 million ($900 bucks) it includes photographs at 3 or 4 locations, 2 makeup sessions, 2 wedding dress rental for the pictures and a suit for the guy. It also includes an album and a big picture (not sure how big, I'm assuming its at least a 16x20 or bigger- at least I hope so).

for the wedding, another friend referred some guy and I can't remember how much this guy wanted to charge, but he is going to do pictures and video, I want to say it was around $600, but let me get back to you on it. I'll have my wife check out Chris Suggestions too!

When are you going to head there Pete?

So far the cost of this wedding has skyrocketed over my budget. A lot of traditions involved, but I'm trying to keep myself upbeat about it because I'm doing this for my wife and her mom. She's the oldest daughter and the first to get married in the family. I also told myself that -- this wedding, its really her chance to have her friends and family come to it, when I do one in the states, she won't have any of them there.

[Pete82 5]

Mines is a little different. Hear me out.

After Visa is in hand then I will head over to vietnam so we can have the engagement party and a small dinner and then we both fly back together. We are not considering the small dinner (13 tables) as the wedding.

1) pre-party for her and me and with her friends (Close Friends) at a bar (I'm guessing around $700 here)

2) Local party in the neighborhood. This means a long table in an alley where she lives and hire a cook to come and provide food and beer. (Basically a pre-party but for the neighborhood to let everyone there knows whats up) ($500 here)

3) Engagement party (Hopefully in April 2014. Let see once we have the visa in hand) The traditional ceremony will obviously be at her house with nice decoration. Basically my relatives comes over to her house and talk and provide gifts. This is also where we deck her out with jewelry. We are planning to re-utilize the jewelry that I have been giving her (Diamond Ring, earrings, neck. , wrist, white gold around the leg, etc) to save money. No need to buy new jewelry. ($600 here for the decor and stuffs)

4) A small (13 tables) restaurant lunch for family only and very close friends of hers ( $2,500 here)

5) Fly Back to the US (flight tickets for us)

That is a total of about $4,200. Of course I will bring extra for the dress and tux and misc stuff so we will have a cushion just in case something comes up.

Now I told you that this is only an engagement party so that means no one will give us money. I just want her in the states ASAP and we will file the paper work to get marry and buy a house. We will work for about 2 year to save up and then have the "BIG Wedding" in vietnam and this is where we will get money back however i'm sure this wedding will cost us about $20K. I hope is to see about $8K back what it wouldn't be the end of this world if we loss the $20K. I make close to 6 figures so we can survive the worst case.

If you are wondering why we don't just have the Big Wedding now, its because i don't want to drop $20K right now. I rather use that money for the down payment for our house and plus a few month is not enough for her to plan out everything for the wedding so we both agree to go small for now and the important thing is for her to be here and to let her family know that i'm the husband "Officially".

[luukee 19]

Great plan Pete,

I'll give you info about the places once I talk to my wife. This way you'll have another place to compare.

Unfortunately, a lot of shops aren't on the internet (I was surprised that Chris' links were available hehe) - so everything is just word of mouth.

Looks like everything is going good for you.

Cheers!

[Chris & Trinh 15]

Hi guys....

Luuke, your comment, "some of these prices sound pretty ridiculous considering that the cost of living in Vietnam is not as high as the U.S." made me laugh People tend to think Vietnam is so cheap. However, here in Saigon atleast, there is nothing cheap about it. Sure you can find a cheap hotel room or some food but when it comes to houses, cars or weddings it equals or exceeds U.S. prices. Also depends on the quality of wedding service you are wanting. Just as in the US you can have a wedding for as expensive or cheap as you would like.

I checked with my wife about more of the specifics of the services and prices we had. Remember I am not associated with any of these places. Just passing on the information of what we did for our wedding 3 years ago. I am sure prices are different now.

Pre-wedding studio photos, album, big picture Milan studio (http://www.milan.com.vn/en/about-us.aspx) = $275

Pre-wedding outside photos - photographer friends took and made album for free

Wedding dresses - Included for the studio photos. For the ceremony my wife had 3 dresses made not rented.

Tux -Included in the studio photos and then rented from Milan studio for wedding = $125

Photos AND video of the whole household ceremony AND reception venue party = ($600) (http://www.quochuyphoto.vn/alphacms/en)

Wedding reception venue Gala Royale (http://galaroyale.com.vn/?lang=en) and 20 tables = $3500 - $4000

[luukee 19]

Chris,

Thanks again for the detailed info. It really helps to understand how much things are. You're right, I did notice things are quite expensive the last time I was there. And the worst part is that after you exchange everything into Dong, if you're like me, you'll lose sight of how much things are since I wasn't thinking in terms of U.S. money. I guess when I made the comment about the cost of living there, I'm under the impression that if you make $500 Usd a month, you're doing pretty good. So I guess I'm thinking that if people are making a certain amount like that, I keep wondering about renting a wedding dress for $200 bucks for 1 day (a few hours to be exact) wouldn't make any sense. Similar to your wife, a lot of people here always want to make dresses and suits over in Vietnam because the labor is cheap, so that's why I kept wondering why renting a dress would be so expensive.

But like you said Chris, you could make it very expensive or very affordable. I've seen some of the affordable ones, they're similar to what Pete was referring to - a catering company setting up some tables in front of people's houses or down an alley. I did attend one that I thought was just average, since I don't personally know the cost of the wedding, I was just basing on its location food etc. The one I went to was Dong Phuong (its located near the airport) -- it looks like they hold several weddings there at one time, so you kind of have to look for the couple that you know, or you might end up at the wrong wedding.

I wished I had posted this question earlier, getting a lot of good tips from you Chris. We've booked ours at Windsor. Going to have my wife check out Milan just as another option. Cam on Chris nhieu lam! (Thank you very much Chris!).

[blackspells 0]

Omni bridal is in saigon, I went to this one for archives +1 first, hi

[luukee 19]

Black Spells,

do you remember which district that one is located in?

thanks!

[luukee 19]

Chris and Blackspell,

Thanks again for the suggestions. My wife ended up going with KLM wedding house. (I guess I was too late posting on the forum and didn't get enough info, so she went ahead and already deposited with KLM)

here's their info in case you want to check them out Pete.

http://www.klmweddinghouse.com/

https://www.facebook.com/KLMweddinghouse