On Merdeka Day, my fiance and I took the opportunity to meet up with the hotel lady in charge of weddings, since it's extremely hard to meet up on weekdays, and she not necessarily work weekends (unless there's a wedding).
So there we were, running through our list of questions in the car, thinking of what else to ask her. I thought the list the hotel provided was a good basis of our discussion, and we decided to head along that path.
After a brief introduction and a quick overview of the existing layout of the wedding dinner to be held that night, we headed to the lobby for our discussion. It turned out that she was using the list as well, which worked pretty fine for us. Or at least we thought so.
Here's a gist of our conversation that took place (there are around 20 items to be discussed altogether) :
Item #2
Lady : So now we come to food presentation. We have the 'standard' or the more 'kua cheong' presentation.
Me : Wah, what is the 'standard' vs 'kua cheong'?
Lady : Standard is blah blah blah. The kua cheong one we will use blah blah blah. But of course, if you have your own ideas, please let us know and we will see if that's possible or not.
Fiance : Wah, I like the 'kua cheong' concept. How about the music? Do you have this song blah blah blah
Lady : We do have a selection, but not the song you requested. I will have to look for it.
Item #4/5/6
Lady : Le'ts go to the wedding cake. We have few options available (flicks photos on laptop). Got dots, got square, got round, got pure white, got ribbon, got pink. Which one do you want?
Me : Oh, so many choices!
Lady : Yeah, then once you chosen the cake, we will decorate it with flowers to match your theme. You see, (showing photos) this one and this one is the same cake, but different flower arrangement.
Me : I kinda like this option, but this one also not too bad. (Looks at fiance)
Fiance : I prefer the 2nd one. But choice is yours.
Lady : You can choose first, and change later on if you decided you prefer a different cake.
Me : OK
Lady : Now we come to the wedding backdrop. As you can see, we also have a few options available (flicks more photos on laptop) but if you choose your own design, show it to us and we'll get the artist to handle for you.
Me : Must choose now? What if we settle for our own design?
Lady : Preferably if you can choose another, in case as backup.
Me : ...... (I definitely don't plan to use their standard backdrop!)
Fiance : I kinda like the one blah blah blah. What say you?
Me : Let's keep it as the backup first.
Lady : Ok, next we have the ice carving. We have five design altogether - double swan, double dove, the 'hei', love and vase.
Me : (stares at pictures for a while). I kinda like the vase one.
Fiance : (frowns) I prefer the swan.
Lady : Never mind, you choose both first la. Once you decided on which one to use, let me know.
Item #9/10
Lady : OK, you now need to choose the colour of the tablecloth for the main table. I'm afraid we only have two colour options, but if you insist, we can add this colour as well.
Me : (Flips through photographs, a bit stunned at the limited colour options). Can we have both colours?
Lady : It can be done. Look, you can also do a 'scallop' as well.
Me : Why are the photos showing only gold, no one uses red?
Lady : I don't think we have many photos here, even though red is used as well...
Me : (Thinking very hard, still stunned)
Lady : The chairs are white, and you can co-ordinate the tiebacks (flips photos of chairs with tiebacks). We have 5 colours for tiebacks.
Me : Why is that photo having yellow chairs?
Lady : Oh, that's because it's for royalty.
Me : Oh....
(After pondering a while)
Me : So, based on our theme, what is your recommendation?
Lady : It's up to you. Depending on what you want.
Me : Let's go with red with 'scallops'.
Fiance : Can mix colours for the tiebacks?
Lady : Of course! The choice is yours. Anyway the guests tables have different colours so not to worry.
Fiance : What about this colour and that colour?
Me : I'm fine with it (still thinking though...)
Lady : Ok, noted. Now how about the colour of the napkins?
Me and Fiance : Napkins?
Lady : Yeah, you need to also choose the colour of napkins.
(At this point of time, I think Fiance was already getting quite weary)
Me : Ok, how about silver?
Lady : (frowns a little)
Fiance : How about pink?
Lady : If looking at the combination, I would recommend pink over silver because when there is lighting, the effects on the napkin and tablecloth will be different.
Me : Ok, make it pink then.
Lady : Great. Now for the table arrangement (flicks through more photos). Do you want this, this or this?
Me : No other choices ah?
Lady : It's on the florist's website. I can provide to you later.
Me : Ok
Lady : Meanwhile you just choose one first, later can change if you see something else you like.
Me : I think I prefer this arrangement.
Fiance : I'm fine with it too.
Lady : Ok. Will take note of it.
Imagine the things we had to consider throughout the entire session! There's still the guest tables, the other flower arrangement, the music, the corkage and drinks, the menu, the cocktail planning, etc etc. By the time we ended after 1 1/2 hours, my fiance and I are practically brain dead from all those decision making! We didn't know there's so much decisions that needs to be made!
However, I felt that the hotel lady wasn't being too very helpful with suggestions. One reason I suspect is that she's new to the company. The other person whom we dealt with moved roles, which was why we had to quickly speak to this new lady in charge. I think if the previous person was around, it would have been more productive as I'm sure she would have a lot of ideas for us since she's so experienced with wedding planning.
Nevertheless, we felt it was a good discussion as it set certain expectations of us on how planning for the venue decoration should be. Besides that, we managed to negotiate some better deals that could help us manage the wedding budget better. All I need to do is to wait for her email to confirm the colour combination, and then search for wedding boards to ensure the colour combinition does not clash!
So there we were, running through our list of questions in the car, thinking of what else to ask her. I thought the list the hotel provided was a good basis of our discussion, and we decided to head along that path.
After a brief introduction and a quick overview of the existing layout of the wedding dinner to be held that night, we headed to the lobby for our discussion. It turned out that she was using the list as well, which worked pretty fine for us. Or at least we thought so.
Here's a gist of our conversation that took place (there are around 20 items to be discussed altogether) :
Item #2
Lady : So now we come to food presentation. We have the 'standard' or the more 'kua cheong' presentation.
Me : Wah, what is the 'standard' vs 'kua cheong'?
Lady : Standard is blah blah blah. The kua cheong one we will use blah blah blah. But of course, if you have your own ideas, please let us know and we will see if that's possible or not.
Fiance : Wah, I like the 'kua cheong' concept. How about the music? Do you have this song blah blah blah
Lady : We do have a selection, but not the song you requested. I will have to look for it.
Item #4/5/6
Lady : Le'ts go to the wedding cake. We have few options available (flicks photos on laptop). Got dots, got square, got round, got pure white, got ribbon, got pink. Which one do you want?
Me : Oh, so many choices!
Lady : Yeah, then once you chosen the cake, we will decorate it with flowers to match your theme. You see, (showing photos) this one and this one is the same cake, but different flower arrangement.
Me : I kinda like this option, but this one also not too bad. (Looks at fiance)
Fiance : I prefer the 2nd one. But choice is yours.
Lady : You can choose first, and change later on if you decided you prefer a different cake.
Me : OK
Lady : Now we come to the wedding backdrop. As you can see, we also have a few options available (flicks more photos on laptop) but if you choose your own design, show it to us and we'll get the artist to handle for you.
Me : Must choose now? What if we settle for our own design?
Lady : Preferably if you can choose another, in case as backup.
Me : ...... (I definitely don't plan to use their standard backdrop!)
Fiance : I kinda like the one blah blah blah. What say you?
Me : Let's keep it as the backup first.
Lady : Ok, next we have the ice carving. We have five design altogether - double swan, double dove, the 'hei', love and vase.
Me : (stares at pictures for a while). I kinda like the vase one.
Fiance : (frowns) I prefer the swan.
Lady : Never mind, you choose both first la. Once you decided on which one to use, let me know.
Item #9/10
Lady : OK, you now need to choose the colour of the tablecloth for the main table. I'm afraid we only have two colour options, but if you insist, we can add this colour as well.
Me : (Flips through photographs, a bit stunned at the limited colour options). Can we have both colours?
Lady : It can be done. Look, you can also do a 'scallop' as well.
Me : Why are the photos showing only gold, no one uses red?
Lady : I don't think we have many photos here, even though red is used as well...
Me : (Thinking very hard, still stunned)
Lady : The chairs are white, and you can co-ordinate the tiebacks (flips photos of chairs with tiebacks). We have 5 colours for tiebacks.
Me : Why is that photo having yellow chairs?
Lady : Oh, that's because it's for royalty.
Me : Oh....
(After pondering a while)
Me : So, based on our theme, what is your recommendation?
Lady : It's up to you. Depending on what you want.
Me : Let's go with red with 'scallops'.
Fiance : Can mix colours for the tiebacks?
Lady : Of course! The choice is yours. Anyway the guests tables have different colours so not to worry.
Fiance : What about this colour and that colour?
Me : I'm fine with it (still thinking though...)
Lady : Ok, noted. Now how about the colour of the napkins?
Me and Fiance : Napkins?
Lady : Yeah, you need to also choose the colour of napkins.
(At this point of time, I think Fiance was already getting quite weary)
Me : Ok, how about silver?
Lady : (frowns a little)
Fiance : How about pink?
Lady : If looking at the combination, I would recommend pink over silver because when there is lighting, the effects on the napkin and tablecloth will be different.
Me : Ok, make it pink then.
Lady : Great. Now for the table arrangement (flicks through more photos). Do you want this, this or this?
Me : No other choices ah?
Lady : It's on the florist's website. I can provide to you later.
Me : Ok
Lady : Meanwhile you just choose one first, later can change if you see something else you like.
Me : I think I prefer this arrangement.
Fiance : I'm fine with it too.
Lady : Ok. Will take note of it.
Imagine the things we had to consider throughout the entire session! There's still the guest tables, the other flower arrangement, the music, the corkage and drinks, the menu, the cocktail planning, etc etc. By the time we ended after 1 1/2 hours, my fiance and I are practically brain dead from all those decision making! We didn't know there's so much decisions that needs to be made!
However, I felt that the hotel lady wasn't being too very helpful with suggestions. One reason I suspect is that she's new to the company. The other person whom we dealt with moved roles, which was why we had to quickly speak to this new lady in charge. I think if the previous person was around, it would have been more productive as I'm sure she would have a lot of ideas for us since she's so experienced with wedding planning.
Nevertheless, we felt it was a good discussion as it set certain expectations of us on how planning for the venue decoration should be. Besides that, we managed to negotiate some better deals that could help us manage the wedding budget better. All I need to do is to wait for her email to confirm the colour combination, and then search for wedding boards to ensure the colour combinition does not clash!
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