RIVALS COMING “FAST AND FURIOUS”
The practice of hiring foreign vendors for local weddings has been around for a long time, said Ms Tan Weiwei, 37, who was a wedding planner for more than a decade until the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the recent advisory, couples who hired foreign vendors for their weddings were “frantically” looking for local replacements, said Ms Tan, who now runs online wedding industry publication Wed&.
“Local boutiques who have been able to provide all-in-one services at competitive prices are also affected as they might have been using foreign vendors from neighbouring countries who are willing to be paid lower (fees) for their work,” she said.
Wedding photographer Annabel Law, founder of Annabel Law Productions, said that by early October, she had received about 200 calls from couples looking for another photographer after their foreign vendors pulled out of their weddings because of the advisory.
Like Kevin and Rachel, lower costs are what motivate most couples who choose foreign vendors, said the wedding industry veterans.
Ms Law said that foreign vendors in Singapore can charge as little as S$300 for photography and videography on the wedding day, while local vendors charge from a figure in the upper S$3,000 range to S$6,000.
“We are unable to compete with the prices and the standard of living that the foreigners have in their own countries,” she said, adding that the difference in economic levels allowed them to charge lower fees.
“The market is very saturated already. And now, if we add in the foreigners, we are dying,” said the 33-year-old.
Low prices by foreign competitors have kept Ms Law’s own rates constant for the past four years, although she would prefer to increase them by 5 to 10 per cent each year. This also slows career progression, she said.
When Ms Law got her start in the business as a teen 17 years ago, she charged S$1,800 for photos and videos on the wedding day. Now, an associate in her firm charges S$2,100 for the same – a S$300 increase over 17 years.
Ms Law said that the situation in fact improved during the COVID-19 pandemic, when heightened border controls meant foreign vendors could not enter Singapore as easily.
“In the last two years, the foreigners came back, and they are very aggressive,” she said. She added that when she sees foreign wedding photographers advertise services in Singapore on social media, she reports them to MOM.
Ms Hellen Lie, founder of wedding planning and decoration firm Rosette Designs, said that competition for wedding planning is also “coming fast and furious” from Malaysia.
“They can easily plan and contact the vendors and do (the) site visit, as the proximity is near,” said Ms Lie, 42, who has been in the industry for 13 years.
Her firm’s wedding decoration services are not as badly affected because venues like hotels require permits for decorations, and this means they have to work with Singapore-based decoration companies, she said.
Ms Lie was worried that the completion of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link would create an “influx of overseas freelancers” coming to Singapore. The RTS Link is targeted to start service in December 2026.
Heeding the advisory, her own wedding planning firm stopped engaging foreign vendors and deterred clients from doing so, she added.
VICPA said that local freelance creative professionals have also raised concerns about the broader impact on their industry’s sustainability and professionalism.
“These include lost job opportunities, financial strain, and frustration that their contributions through MediSave, taxes, insurance, and legitimate business overheads, are being undercut by individuals who do not operate under the same obligations,” said VICPA.
The significantly lower fees charged by foreign freelancers may appear attractive in the short term, but “ultimately distort the market, erode client trust, and make it harder for legitimate local professionals to maintain fair pricing and service standards”.
The association also said that without proper regulation or accountability of foreign freelancers, customers risk poor service delivery or even fraud, with limited recourse if the freelancer has left Singapore.
In contrast, local freelance creatives with verified credentials bring “experience, proper equipment and a commitment to professional standards”.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/wedding-foreign-freelancer-work-pass-illegal-mom-advisory-5409816
