Overall it was a great trip, especially having gile2 buddies as travel companion & good supir as Pak Rahmat. We took 5D4N package JKT-BDO including airport transfer + hotel + meal + transport with supir. Since we had supir, we didn’t mind staying somewhere downtown like Alia Cikini. It’s a 2-star hotel, so we requested the bucks to be spent more on good food! *Conversion 1juta rupiah = rm318 @ rm1 = 3180 rupiah*
For bridal laces, I prefer Pasar Mayestik (JKT) over Pasar Baru Bandung. Place was something like Jln TAR with plenty of textile shops around. We went nuts, and we sooo didn’t realize that overall we spent were just at 2 shops – Silk Route & Mega, haha! Pak Rahmat pun panic as we didn’t ring him for lunch, ya ampunnn....excited shopping la pak :P
French lace available @ ground floor of Silk Route, other laces (Japanese, Korean, brokat etc) at upper level. No such thing French lace could be bought below rm100/meter over there, but still the price cheaper than Malaysia. Unlike our Euro Moda/Jakel, they had mostly only one plain tone & you can only buy in “potong”(1 potong = 2.5m) Difficult to bargain with SA as already “harga pas”, but try with the boss (Mr. Gobin) finally at counter…he discounted overall for mine about 300k rupiah hehehe.
Bought 5m white French lace for KL reception @ rm800, and best part, it was last piece and extra 1m left, so I got 6 meters overall for the price :D And the most yippppieee part, I saw the same at Euro Moda (EM) KLCC selling at rm258 p/meter, except EM’s is Solstiss while mine tadak brand haha, but I can ensure material & jumbai2 by the border tu pun same….EM also had cheaper French lace (rm138 & rm198/m) but the material a bit kasar, and this type mostly you can find in Pasar Baru, but I personally don’t recommend this as it is as good as you buy other cheaper lace.
Tips about buying wedding kain is try to think how good it is when it turns into baju rather than simply choose because you like the design. Even better if you could bring sample dress pic so they could roughly advise which kain type look best for such design, lining color & how many meters required etc. For nikah outfit, I managed to grab 1 “potong” of Japanese lace as patchwork for total about rm86 (EM's price rm98/m). White based, with dusty pink flower line and bits of silver. Lace for my bridesmaid about rm44 (2m lace + 4m satin).
At Mega (beside Silk Route), I bought 5m silver lace (not French lace) to match with tiffany lining for rm78/m – just cheaper by few ringgit from Jakel. Considering I might not find the exact lace & color again, I agreed to pay – after the unsuccessful bargain attempt hish! Friends bought some kain here too but all of us agreed not to recommend the shop as the taukey is sooo pushy :P
Since we’ve slashed Tanah Abang from itinerary, all telekung & corset were bought at Pasar Baru instead. For Pasar Baru, just head to Toko Laris (Level 1 A1 7273) and just mention “kawan Kak Lina” for special price hehe. Based on my last year’s visit to T.Abg, I could say both were about same prices but a lot cheaper than Jln TAR. For telekung sulam penuh (cotton Paris), I just paid rm60++ while Jln TAR selling at rm250 for exact design. Bought both black & white Thai Silk corsets (Suci Jaya, Ground F) for rm30 each, which my friend said in KL cheapest selling at rm80 :P
For wedding cards, Pasar Tebet is the place. Go downstairs and you’ll find many shops next to each other. Dusty and quite panas, but I didn’t mind hehe. Most shops selling same design & price, what matter is your bargaining skill & luck. I prefer dealing with shops yang takde2 aircond, tak sombong. Bear in mind NOT all shops can be contacted through email for “proof-reading” and also some don’t provide courier to Malaysia. Earliest they could complete is within a week.
Bandung is a big NO for wedding card – more expensive & design are so outdated (i.e. Etnik Card, Pasar Baru). Roughly the comparison for min 1000 pcs hardcover is somewhat below :
- Pasar Tebet : cheapest 4000 rp for all-in with envelope
- Bandung : cheapest 5000 rp all in. for 4000 rupiah mostly blank material (polos)
TIARA Printing, Pasar Tebet (021) 83701124 or email here
Anyway in Bandung, we stayed at Wisma Dago (2-star hotel twin sharing), accessible to popular FOs of Jln Dago. Bring your own travel iron as these 2-star hotels type in Indon only provide pressing service (e.g. blouse 3000rp) – chargeable & only available at certain time only. For staying in Jakarta, no such hotel that close to T.Abg, Mayestik, Pasar Tebet & Mangga Dua as they situated at diff part of Jakarta – Pusat, Utara, Selatan. Just choose one of this part & you’ll win some & loose some, ok? I would recommend Ibis Arcadia for Jakarta Pusat – affordable (online booking about rm130++ w/out bfast) and easily accessible to T.Abg, food stalls, Gambir train station etc. If you choose to stay close to Mangga Dua , Ibis Mangga Dua is walking distance but the rate a little expensive than Arcadia. Personally, you can slash the supir esp in Jakarta which quite costly (rm220++, while Bandung rm140++/day) as you can opt for cab & the rate is cheaper than what we used to pay in KL for such distance. Consider only Bluebird taxi as they use meter.
In the end, I could conclude that Jakarta is more preferable for wedding stuffs – cheaper, more choices and up-to-date design, be it bridal laces or card. Hopefully coming May trip, mom could settle kain for family and i planned to get some beads too...aritu tak sempat hihi!