Yes! We've finally settled on our wedding date and venue. *jumps around & wave hands in the air*
The past 2 months was very tiring because we initially though we'd have ample time to choose a venue and date that we like. But hell no, we were so wrong. We engaged Master David Tong to help with our auspicious date selection process and we only managed to get hold of the dates in late November. He mentioned that we have to get a move on and book our wedding venue soon as the 'nice venues' should be getting snapped up already. We thought it was ridiculous, even though there were many others that advised us to book our wedding venue at least a year in advance. Boy, were we wrong!
Throughout the past few weeks, we were furiously emailing hotels that we are keen on with the auspicious dates that were given to us. I believe we have emailed at least more than half of the hotels that are available for wedding banquets. And all the emails that we received back, were all disappointing replies. Due to this, the both of us went back and forth on the decision to hold separate customary wedding with Sunday lunch. But I didn't quite like the idea of that as I've always expected my wedding to be a grand dinner.
Anyway, below are the hotel ballrooms that we inspected and our reviews on them:
1. Sheraton Towers Singapore
One of the plus points for us about this hotel is that they are offering tables of 12 instead of the usual tables of 10. The wedding banquet themes were impressive and the packages offered were pretty standard. But, the ballroom was in an 'L-shaped', meaning tables from opposite ends were totally blocked off. Anyway, the wedding dates given were also not available.
2. Orchard Hotel Singapore
Angie was the coordinator for us and I liked her warm personality, plus point for offering us solutions and ideas about our wedding. (I'm a sucker for nice people. if you seem genuinely nice, I'd buy any crap from you. Hahaha.) But unfortunately, the fiancé did not like the ballroom that our estimated guest list (25-35 tables) could hold. He said that there was an 'off feeling', like it wasn't a ballroom for a wedding. He was more interested in the bigger ballroom, but the minimum required were 40 tables, something that we were not sure we could achieve.
3. Hotel Jen Singapore (formerly known as Traders Hotel)
On the same day of inspecting Orchard Hotel, we decided to take a quick peek at Hotel Jen's ballroom on our own, even though we registered for their wedding showcase the next weekend. I was totally appalled by the ballroom! The ceiling was incredibly low and there were two giant pillars right smacked in the center that blocked off the view for some of the tables at the side. No matter how incredibly cheap and awesome their wedding packages were, I would not choose that as my wedding banquet venue.
4. Selected Hotel
Well, since the fiancé did not reveal the selected venue himself, I shall keep it a secret for now too. This hotel was perfect in my standards, we'd have the whole area for our wedding only. The environment was to our liking, and the coordinator was really helpful too. The only disadvantage was that we'd have to cut down on our guest list as the maximum number of tables the ballroom could hold was way lesser than what we had estimated. But other than that, we were pleased with the wedding package that was offered to us.
Just last night, the in-laws met for a dinner together with the rest of the family to give their blessings and confirmations for our wedding. Thus, we are so excited to finally be able to announce our wedding date to our relatives and our selected wedding entourage!
Here's a big thank-you to the greatest person of all time, to be able to withstand my stubbornness throughout the tiring process of the selection, my fiancé. You are the most forgiving person, and the most thoughtful person. Thank you for easing up this process, especially when you are juggling with studies at the same time. I cannot wait for you to graduate so we can continue on this once-in-a-lifetime journey together. xx