We Did Our PWS in Taiwan! 💍💐

Hope that this post will be helpful to those who have bought packages from France Paris / Blue Bay, or who are contemplating to buy packages from them 🍀

For those who may not know, France Paris & Blue Bay operate together - they share the same staff, gowns, operating structure etc! not sure why they have different names though, maybe they went through an acquisition / merger / are sister companies 🧐

Here’s a summary of the pros & cons of them:

💡 Pros:

1️⃣ Photos are beautiful!!

I’ve shared some photos that we got - we had 290 to choose from and most of them were really beautifully taken! we were initially concerned that some might look unlike us, but the photog team did amazing

2️⃣ Solid photog team in France Paris tw

They made us feel really comfortable despite us being awkward potatoes who don’t really know how to do couple poses! 成哥 would instruct us how to pose, and 小 P would help to adjust our poses in person. our shoots were also done at a rather slippery waterfall and thermal area, and 小 P went down to recce for us before guiding us down to ensure our safety

Ruoxuan also helped me to change and would look out for me when my gown drops a tad too low oops 😹 they were also really friendly which made the experience 💯

Disclaimer that your experience here may differ if you do get a diff photog team!

3️⃣ No hardselling from france paris tw

Upon selecting photos, our coordinator (funian / angel) shared with us some packages we could consider (e.g., selecting x more photos would cost $y less). we decided that the package was already a little costly and didn’t want to take any add-ons, and she didn’t push for it

Disclaimer that experience may differ if you get a diff coordinator!

4️⃣ Blue Bay sg’s staff are relatively more helpful

This is in relation to con 1! we found out that the photos they had edited and sent back were different from the ones we had selected, and france paris had been insistent to not let us repick. thankfully, bluebay was more accommodating in helping us fight for our cause (although it DID take a bit more effort, but beatrice from bluebay was definitely much more customer-first)

5️⃣ Largely fuss-free shoot-wise

I like that we didn’t have to really plan where to shoot, bc we weren’t locals to begin with so we didn’t know where the good spots were. the photog team was very gung-ho and took the lead to bring us to all the different spots, so many that we practically explored the whole yangmingshan! it felt like a guided tour tbh 😹

Disclaimer that for us, this was really appropriate bc we wanted a shoot with nature-y vibes!

‼️ Cons:

1️⃣ Outdated selection system & inflexible staff

When we informed them that we had been returned the wrong photos, france paris was insistent that their selection system since 1980s has never failed them 💀 i did do an online search on their reviews and did encounter around two reviews on people who were given wrong photos too - maybe we are very unlucky! we were very certain that we were given the wrong photos (we did a blind test on the photos we thought were wrong and it was almost a 100% match!) bc we had shortlisted based on a balance of gowns and suits

The selection system is also messy bc they jumble up all your photos - you don’t get to look through in chronological order so tbh it kinda messes with your mind bc you have to go back and think whether you saw a photo in the same gown / suit / location 😮‍💨

BUT! They have since updated their selection system by giving you a printed copy of the photos for you to sign and confirm, so hopefully that makes things much more transparent!

2️⃣ Inconsistent pricing

I encountered two friends who bought packages from france paris & blue bay, and we had slight differences in our prices. the most frustrating was how one of my friend got the package at $1,888 for 36 printed copies, but without the wedding album! the rest were the same 😨 that’s a whole $800 less! i don’t think a wedding album would cost $800?!?! … right?

3️⃣ Limited gown designs

ngl i had a HARD time picking my gowns at france paris! most felt very flamboyant (not sg-style, might be a tw thing), i was lucky to have found something i felt i could settle for!

4️⃣ Challenging experience if you do not speak mandarin

If you do choose to do your shoot in tw, the photog team and staff are mostly conversant in mandarin. not knowing mandarin might pose some inconveniences for you!

5️⃣ Lack of transparency

Funnily, France Paris was the first wedding booth we encountered, and after seeing from photos how their wedding gowns looked sort of tacky and flamboyant, we decided to give it a miss!

We went to Blue Bay’s booth afterwards and decided the gowns their models wore still looked fine - imagine my horror when i realised we would take our photos in FRANCE PARIS in tw 😨💀 and true to my horror, the gown selection WAS limited! was absolutely appalled at how i was deceived 😭

📌 𝓔𝓷𝓭𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓮

All in all, i would say it was a good experience bc the photos did turn out well! if we hadn’t experienced the hiccup of not receiving the correct photos, we would have been MUCH happier, but all’s well that ends well 🙏🏼

For those that may wonder whether to do an overseas shoot, for us we did it bc:

1️⃣ tw was a special place for us - it was where we first travelled together

2️⃣ The weather beats sg hands down! it was like aircon weather throughout and i wouldn’t have wanted 👦🏻 to go around sweaty bc he’s the one in layers of clothing 💀

3️⃣ The scenery in tw is unlike what we could have gotten in sg! we are people who appreciate nature-y experiences so we were all for it

hope this helps! 🤍💐✨

📌 𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓦𝓮𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰-𝓡𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓒𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓽

- Lessons from Purchasing our PWS

- We did a 2nd PWS in NTU

- My Thoughts from Studio Hopping

- Affordable Gown Rental Alternatives

- Wedding Planning Challenges

- We did TWO Weddings!

- Ultimate Wedding Vendors Review

- Planning a Friends-Only Wedding

- DIY for our Wedding

- Ten Things to Try Differently for Your Wedding

- Survival Tips from My Husband

#preweddingshoot #weddingguide #weddingtips #WeddingInspo #wedding #weddingsg #GirlTalk #lemon8recommendations #Lemon8SG