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Wedding Preparation (II) - Looking for a Venue for Wedding Banquet

Finally I managed to organize most of the wedding banquet venue in a table. The most important information you should have on-hand before you choose view the venue to hold your wedding banquet:

Date of your wedding banquet
Number of guest
Your budget for the banquet (per table, be aware some offer 12 persons per table instead of 10)

Information provided here are only for references. After you decide which one you interested, you need to either to call or email the service provider to get your quotation and to check the availability of the date.

Be sure to ask whether you can view the venue (with or without the wedding settings) and to meet the coordinator. This is important because you need to know whether you like the venue and also the atmosphere. Meeting with the coordinator is a must because he/she will be the one that coordinate your wedding banquet. You must be pleasant and comfortable with the coordinator. He/she will guide you for the preparation of the wedding banquet, such as where to print your wedding invitation card (if hold in hotel, usually they will provide certain percentage of the invitation cards and envelopes; you only need to pay the price of the inserts), choosing theme and deco of your wedding banquet, songs/music to use during the banquet, etc.

FOC things usually included in the contract (for hotels and resorts):
- one night stay at Bridal Suite
- VIP carpark for bridal car and helper cars (usually 1-2 only; you can try to get complimentary carpark tickets on the actual day from the front desk)
- Wedding favors (usually decided by the theme)
- Wedding guest book
- Certain percentage of wedding invitation cards and envelopes (not the inserts)
- Deco of the reception and venue
- Champagnes for the toast

During the reviewing period, you can negotiate with the service provider either FOC/lower charges on:
1) soft drink/beer
2) wedding cake (usually FOC)
3) white screen and projector (some with extra changes, try to negotiate to be FOC)
4) wine/hard liquor corkage fees (try to get wavier)
5) extra night stay (usually FOC for big banquet)
6) GST (try to get the service provider to absorb)

I guess if you have take note on the above tips, you are almost set to your wedding banquet. The last thing is to sign a contract with the service provider. Be sure to double check the details on the contract which both parties agreed before signing. Another thing to remind for the couples is usually you are asked to put some deposit (20-30%) for the wedding banquet to secure the date.

Alvin and I have chosen The Oriental for holding our banquet as we like the atmosphere and we have a good coordinator to help us customize the banquet to our need. Our wedding will be a casual Western buffet dinner with minimum number of guests from relatives and close friends. We both can enjoy and chit-chatting with relatives and close friends.