Updates to "Save The Date" Page

"Save The Date" page is up!

Though the theme for the banquet has not been confirmed, I have decided to update the page with the basic information. Do look out for any updates over here!

The More Tedious Path

Key says

After much considerations and consulting with financial planners/friends/seniors, we have decided to take matters in our own hands and take the more tedious path to plan for our own wedding...

We have a wedding planner in mind and if possible I would choose to engage them so that the wedding can be transformed and carried out to my expectations but financially we will be pretty constrained.

Now that we have made up our mind, I hope I can still plan an extraordinary (not the usual singapore style) wedding by ourselves. It may be tiring; frustrating and full of difficulties but I hope it will also strengthen our bond and bring us unforgettable memories.

For now I can only hope and keep my fingers crossed that it will be a memorable wedding just as how I hope it will be.

Pat says

Planning and organizing the wedding may be an up-hill task, but with the experience I gain, I might be able to be a wedding planner~! *beams*

On a positive note, it also means we will have more budget for house decorations and honey moon.

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Venues Confirmed!

As at now the solemnization venue is confirmed! The wedding is set to go and soon we will be busy with things like the decorations, wedding favors, photoshoot, guest list and many many more activities!

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Date is Set!

We have finalized on the banquet venue and though our first choice for the date was not available, but the date that we be having the banquet is still a very meaningful date (which Pat finally agrees to). In the meantime, we still need to source for a solemnization location and also do look out for the "Save The Date" updates!

Amara Sanctuary

"A 140-room boutique resort on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, Amara Sanctuary Resort has uniquely retained elements of Singapore’s colonial architectural heritage, and combined this with contemporary design, a tropical landscape and a modern, casual yet elegant style. The resort offers luxurious accommodation, several innovative dining concepts, a gym, a unique concept spa, a state-of-the-art pillarless ballroom that can host large-scale meetings and events, and an all-purpose-built glass pavilion."

5 July 2012

Key says

We heard many things about the glass pavilion of Amara Sanctuary and thought it would be nice to have the solemnization over there. However I guess we can say we have our hopes too high as the disappointment was really great when we saw the actual venue. The grass area is poorly maintained and the surrounding was not as beautiful as what we expect it to be. In fact, even the "waterfall" is just a mini-sized "waterfall"!

However, the ballroom and pre-function area was huge and exclusive. Sadly, not alot of customization can be done to the ballroom and even though one side of the ballroom is windowed, the view outside is not fantastic as there are grills and it is facing the traffic. A place with great potential to be an ideal venue but it does not match up to our expectations.

Pat says

After searching online on reviews on Amara, most of the people raved about their glass pavilion. Coupled with the beautiful pictures found on the glass pavilion, I was quite impressed on it and it was considered as my ideal place for solemnization.

We made an impromptu trip down to Amara and I found the area to be very pleasant looking and suitable for a weekend getaway. However I was apparently disappointed with what we found. Basically I felt that the environment surrounding the glass pavilion was not maintained properly. I saw bare grass patched and it was not actually very gardenish.

We did not managed to talk to the wedding coordinator, however because luckily for us there was a wedding to be held on that day so we could find a semi decorated glass pavilion and banquet area. I was quite impressed with the banquet area, high ceiling and super big space. There is a minimum requirement of 35 tables and I quite like the table decoration. Sadly, the ballroom is enclosed and the only wall that has windows had an unpleasant view of the road hence it is not possible to open the curtains. Could be an option if we didn't have other better choices.

Four Seasons Hotel

"Four Seasons Hotel Singapore offers over 1,565 square metres (16,855 square feet) of state-of-the-art meeting and function space, to accommodate gatherings of 15 to 500. The unsurpassed selection for a business or social occasion includes two elegant ballrooms, both with spacious foyers, two sophisticated self-contained meeting suites, four boardrooms and, on the 20th floor, two city-view function rooms, a private roof garden and a landscaped pool terrace."

3 July 2012

Pat says

Was searching online for banquet with windows and tadah~ out comes Four Seasons Hotel. Further reviewing of the awesome pictures found on their website made me certain that Four Seasons Hotel can be a candidate as one of our choices for our wedding dinner. Again, we are not into hotel ballrooms but this is not your usual ballroom where it is enclosed. Hence although Key was a bit reluctant to go and visit Four Seasons Hotel because he did comment that pictures could be deceiving, I insisted that we make a trip there.

Key arranged a meeting session with the hotel's wedding coordinator on a weekday night. As I stepped into the hotel, I was impressed with the reception waiting area and their dining and cafe area. The decorations and furnitures made it look very european style. We had a discussion with the wedding coordinator and since we already met with quite a couple of wedding coordinator, this was by far the best that we have seen with much confidence and assurance that the wedding will go well.

Next we went to visit the banquet halls. They had two halls, one that can accommodate 15 tables and another 35 tables. I didn't really like the smaller banquet hall because it was not the one that I was looking for, aka there were no windows and it did looked quite cramped. The bigger banquet hall was not bad. With windows at one side of the hall and mirrors on the other. It looked very cozy and the mirrors were european styled which also gave it a magnifying look. However I did not really like the chandeliers on top. Sadly, it was apparently true what Key said, the photos did look much nicer then in real life. And I think that the windows would look better if it was an afternoon event because night time you really can't see much outside. Nevertheless, it is an acceptable ballroom thanks to the european styled windows and doors. Also, we felt very positive with the hotel's wedding coordinator and hence it would be one of the choices we would be considering.

Key says

Pat wanted to take a look at the ballroom of Four Seasons Hotel and so I made an arrangement with the coordinator. As what Pat had mentioned, hotel ballrooms isn't really what we are into as it's restrictive, enclosed and a bit too rigid. Open-air garden wedding or layback chill out wedding was what we have in mind actually. As expected, the ballroom is as usual, though the chandeliers of the smaller ballroom is nicer than the bigger ballroom.

As we went through with the coordinator, we realized that even though it's a ballroom, Four Seasons allow certain flexibility in customizing the ballroom to fit into certain themes (though it definitely comes with a price). The pre-function menu is fantastic and I am very impressed with the confidence that comes from the coordinator. Never have I been so won over just by a conversation with someone! It really gives me the impression that things will go smoothly if we were to hold our banquet there and hence Four Seasons Hotel is definitely in my list of choices.

Swissotel The Stamford

" Swissôtel The Stamford, one of Southeast Asia’s tallest hotels, promises excellent accommodation, business and leisure experiences. Revel in 1,261 guestrooms and luxury suites, 16 restaurants and bars, Equinox Complex and Willow Stream Spa, complete with panoramic views of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia."

30 June 2012

Pat says:

We were actually interested in Equinox or New Asia Bar, but we chance upon the wedding package for Swissotel The Stamford too. A few things that I caught my attention was their peking duck carving station, a pastry chef's specialty (warm melted chocolate fountain with fruits and marshmallows), and their upgrading of Chinese desserts to buffet dessert. I never really look at hotel's wedding packages because we weren't very interested in having a tradition wedding. But because Swissotel had these amazing optional packages, I decided that we could take a look at their ballroom (just to give them a chance).

I guess I didn't really expect much of their ballroom, because I thought that it would be the same old same old. When we reached there, I was shocked to find 4 weddings held on a saturday night. It's either that the date was super awesome or there must be something else about Swissotel. Swissotel has several ballrooms that will cater to your different needs. I particularly like Stamford Ballroom because it has a private reception area, however it caters to a minimum of 45 tables (weekend), 40 tables (weekday). Key did comment about the huge minimum required tables and the manager commented that we could have the place if we meet their minimum spending. I didn't find the ballroom very fantastic, in fact I would prefer Amara or Capella instead. Solemnization would be held in smaller rooms, I especially like the one that had the view of MBS and Esplanade. I was quite amazed that the view from the rooms were quite awesome, since I didn't really wanted a solemnization in a room. Sadly, the view of the solemnization room of Stamford Ballroom didn't had such a fantastic view. But I guess you could chose which room you want to be solemnized in. 

Key says:

The customization of the menu is fantastic and I know Pat will love it, hence we decided to take a look at their ballroom. I was just as surprised as Pat when we find that the view of solemnization room is pretty good. As for the other ballrooms, I only prefer the Stamford Ballrom in view of the privacy but as what Pat has highlighted, there is a minimum spending needed. Of course it is still just a ballroom and so compared to other unique venues that we are looking at, this pales slightly in comparison.

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