Destino is a designer bridal boutique I got to know in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
I guess nowadays, more and more Singaporeans are exploring bridal boutiques outside Singapore as package prices are really inclining.
Frankly speaking, I didn't had much time exploring many many boutiques for comparison, so, I will only share what I like from Destino so far.
They are located pretty near the custom, probably 5 min drive from Malaysia Custom, address: 27, jalan serampang,tmn sri tebrau, 80050 jb ,johor, 80050 .
They are made up of 2 blocks of landed housing size, one block for gowns fitting and consultations cum display, while the other block is made for indoor studio shoot and make up studio. Can you imagine they have the whole block for studio? They have about 20 themes and they change it half yearly or quarterly. I really love their studio. Unlike some Singapore ones where they only have backdrops and a some furniture for props or so. Every Destino theme have their furnitures, wallpaper and decorations, it's really happy to just tour around their studio. Hee.
Gowns.
Well, their consultant told me that their gowns are all designer's dress, how true is that I'm not sure, but what I'm sure is that their gowns are all very beautiful and appealing! They have quite a wide range of indoor shoot gowns, and the gowns they have are not those that are plain and common kind. They carry quite a number of mermaid gowns and very sexy ones as well. We are not allowed to take pictures during the gown fitting, thus I can't show much. But, I took a few shots of my selected gown for my indoor photo shoot though, hee hee. Their outdoor gowns consist of more maxi kind of gowns and some are more Koreany style. Basically their services are rather satisfactory. During my gown fitting, they consistently let me try on their gowns based on my expectations and requests. They are very friendly and easy to communicate with as well, something I like liaising with them. :)
The package I got with them includes 5 indoor gowns, 2 outdoor gowns and 3 actual day gowns, a total of 10 gowns! :) Further more, they don't categorize their gowns into vip/vvip etc, you can choose any of your favorite gown(s) without the need to top up further.
Above is one of my outdoor gown and below is one of my indoor gown.
Ambiance.
The first step in, there is this elegant and comfortable feeling, the place is clean and gives off a happy feeling. Haha. Racks of gowns, their showcase of photography and places they take their outdoor shoots. It's pretty cold there, haha, so bring a cardigan if you are not a fan of strong air-con...
Pre-wedding shoot.
I think they have packages for solely indoor shoot, solely outdoor shoot or both. I took both and it took me 2 days to finish my shoot, 1 day for outdoor and 1 day for indoor. I took my outdoor shoot in Desaru, an hour plus drive from Destino. We meet them early in their studio to make-up and do our hairs, change into our photo-shoot outfits and then head off in their car. At first i was a bit worried cause I obviously never did any proper photo shoots before, but I'm glad their photographers are indeed fun to work with!
They will do and say funny things to make us laugh, teach us how to position ourselves, they even tell us a story mode and ask us to act out while they professionally take our shots. My photos are not out yet thus I cant show, but I've taken a few pictures from their facebook to show you guys what scenes Desaru have.
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| This is the beach.. |
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| They have stone structures there. I think we had a lot of fun climbing up the rocks and posed. Lol. |
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| Another rock scene. |
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| This is the "Lalang" scene. |
You certainly can make a request if you have any ideal photoshoot you want, what kind of feel do you want or any props you want to include etc. During my shoot, we are unlucky because its the monsoon season, thus we missed the sunset and got caught in the rain. Imagine we played pillow fight in the middle of the beach and drizzles. Lol. BUT, they have equipments to create the fake sunset.. Hee hee.
I am going to choose my photos in Jan, and I'm so looking forward.
As for pricing, they are considered a little expensive in malaysia, but affordable for singaporeans though, the package I took was RM 5399 which includes
-10 gowns (5 indoor, 2 outdoor, 3 actual day)
(grooms suits are all included to match bride's gown)
2 father's suit
1 big album ( 35 poises, 24 pages)
1 mini album
1 large photo with frame
1 medium canvass photo
1 small canvas photo
pre-wedding shoot (includes make-up, hair styling is at RM30 additional, includes for both groom and bride's hairstyling, you can bring your own falsies to save RM20/pair)
Guest book
1 banner for display during banquet
100 hard copies of photosfor giving out to relatives
Car floral decoration
Hand bouquet
They had a promotion on going in October which is free metallic finishing for the big album and the poises we bargained, I forgot the original number the offered initially. Haha. There are some other small things I can't remember but I guess as usual, you need to bargain if you want more.
But what I like about them is their service, friendly staff, nice environment, beautiful gowns and their taste for photography. I do not have many experience with bridal packages, thus I'm only providing my comments for Destino which I signed up for. Hope I had been helpful with those thinking of going into JB to explore. Haha.
Signing off,
Missy Sylvia
xoxo
