Wedding Industry : It's Not All About Dramas and Cat-Fights.....

All The Vendors
Photo Courtesy of LiveStudios Singapore

When I was in the ad industry, I had thought that no other industry could be bitchier than this. Enter the world of weddings. I've certainly had my fair share of dramas and what-nots. There are plenty of divas in the industry - yours truly included :P and believe you me, I can most definitely be a queen bitch if I wanted to.

Over the last weekend, the 1st International Wedding Soiree in Phnom Penh, Cambodia finally materialized. Jointly organized by The Wedding Planners and Nagaworld Hotel, it was the first time ever a 5-star hotel hosted a Wedding Fair of such a scale. And we are proud to have been working with the team at Naga on this. I would first of all like to say a BIG BIG BIG Thank You to Romyr Libo-on from the Naga team for his unwavering patience throughout. The sweetest gay I've ever known in my life, he has my full respect just based on his level of patience :) Romyr and I often found ourselves sandwiched in between - him from the Naga's side and me from the vendors' side. Hahaha! Needless to say, we bitched about it to each other too! :P

It was no easy feat, co-ordinating between all these vendors from all over the region. Point-to-note : First Paragraph of this blogpost :P After a lot of chasing and screaming (Jason said I chased worse than Kris Wong. That is NOT POSSIBLE :P) and of course, some head-on collision with the team at Naga due to differences in viewpoints and ideas (the differences were not personal, merely that both parties were particularly passionate about their own POV! ), it all took place. The international vendors were all hosted to a full board 4D/3N stay at Nagaworld in exchange for their full support in putting up a fabulous show for the Soiree.

In support of me, my brother made it to Cambodia for the first time and offered himself at my beck and call. He was of course given a general overview of Weddings 101 : Of Dramas and Cat-Fights :) We had from Malaysia : Carven Ong Couture, Mohan Executive Custom Suits, Jason Victor Photography, Andy Wang Cinematography, La Flaire & Wishing Tree Couture Decorations, Hanna Liew Hair & Make-Up; from Singapore : Truly Harmony, Dazza Pictures, LiveStudios, Ichiro Films, Moomedia and Amanda Lee Weddings; from Vietnam : Hil & Jas Foto Concept, B&D Florist; from Indonesia : Dekko Photography, Marsio Timeless Productions and Rusly Tjohnardi Atelier. Our Thai friends pulled out at the last possible minute due to the on-going Thai-Cambodia border war. But we did have one rep from Thailand : Acadia Cards

I was eagerly awaiting everyone's arrival. Catching up with the old friends from the industry, meeting up with new ones and simply putting faces to the names after months of back-and-forth emailing :) And as it turned out - the wedding industry in Malaysia and beyond, isn't all about dramas and cat-fights :) When the push comes to shove, we are all able to put our differences aside and look at the bigger picture - in this case - to showcase ourselves at our best and put up a damn good show to WOW the local market. And they were WOW-ed indeed. So were the media who turned up in full force.

When the vendors arrived on Friday, it was a bit of a stretch for me when everyone seemed to be needing something from me - and I would not have been able to do this without my local team's support (I'm so, so, so proud of them) but overall, the vendors were all gracious and handled themselves very well. Jason Victor lost his luggage and with it - his stands, posters, cables, etc. Rather than sulking about it, he improvised with whatever he had and my team assisted in whatever ways we could. There was a slight issue with steam irons too initially, and instead of creating drama about it, Carven coolly said he will use the hot-water-in-the-bathroom technique. The vendors just basically went about doing what needed to be done and everyone made friends and in a crude and vulgar way - TCSS :) with each other. Of course, did I mention too that the moment I stepped away from Naga, my phone rang non-stop? :P

I personally had a great time with all of the vendors - especially my comrades from Malaysia. I took them out to dinner at a local BBQ joint and they were promptly introduced to the world of grilled snakes and crispy bugs. I never knew Jason could scream like a girl. I also took the Singapore team to visit the orphanage where I volunteer - upon their request - which was extremely big-hearted and kind-hearted of them. All in all, it was great that I was able to "welcome" them to Cambodia and introduced them to my life here in da Penh. This is part of my world and this is what I have to deal with. So, on certain days where I may sound extremely insane - they should now know why :P

The one thing which touched me the most was all the goodies that I got from all the vendors. Whilst some actually took the time to ask me if I would like anything (and I shamefully replied junk food to all who asked), some just came right up with a bag of goodies for me. I had really not expected this at all (I mean, "junk food" was really rather vague, no?? Except Uncle Mohan actually gave me a bag of Twisties and Nachos *LOL*) and what was even more noteworthy was the fact that they all had excess baggages, yet they still endeavoured to carry my "junk food" over. Aunty Debra said they were spoiling me silly. This stash of ration from everyone is precious and I shall take my time eating them :) Thank you, thank you, thank you to all!!

And so you see.......... no dramas, no cat-fights...... just gracious and appreciative vendors who know their Ps and Qs. And we certainly showed the locals how weddings are done our way!

I would like to express my humble appreciation once again to the show of support from all the vendors for me and for TWP, to the designers and HMU artists for bringing it on for the bridal shows, to the photographers and videographers who were sweating buckets while attempting to document the entire historical wedding soiree (1st ever in Cambodia!!) and to the florists and decorators who went all out creating new trends and styles for the Cambodians to see. On behalf of the vendors too - I would also like to thank Nagaworld for graciously hosting the international vendors to full board and lodging and offering the best you had to all of us.

I hope the vendors had a great time here in Cambodia - despite being stuck indoors for the most part and I hope to see all of them back again soon!!!

p/s : Withdrawal symptoms haven't tapered off much since the gang left.......

My goodies from industry friends. THANK YOU!!