Photo Credits: Royal Penguin Hotel
I am not a wedding planner or guru, but my little experience of negotiation and finding out stuff from the internet, I can give my thoughts on what to look out for in a banquet package. (Disclaimer: My comments are not exhaustive, if I missed something out, I will update again at a later time)
Now these are the things you will normally get for standard wedding banquet:
1. $XXX++ per table with minimum table requirements
2. Free flow of soft drinks and mixers for ~4 hours throughout the banquet
3. Choice of wedding favors
4. A specially designed X-tiered dummy cake for display on stage for cake cutting ceremony. A genuine cake will be given at the end of the dinner
5. Complimentary one night stay at the Bridal Suite or Hotel Room
6. Complimentary invitations cards for up to 70% of confirmed attendance
7. Complimentary cars passes for guests based on 20 – 30% of confirmed attendance
8. Wedding decorations of stage backdrops
9. Floral centrepieces for all dining tables
10. Wedding fanfare with misty effect (dry ice effect) for the bride and groom’s march in
11. Corkage charge waived (or a special charge is indicated)
12. 2 VIP parking lots in front of hotel’s entrance for your bridal and family cars
13. Stylish guest book (poster) for guests to sign-in
14. An intimate dinner at the hotel restaurant on your first anniversary
These are all the usual things, give and take, that you can obtain for a standard wedding package. I will speak briefly on item 1 – 2 and what I looked out for.
[1]: Do note that the table amount is with ++ and make sure you get the nett value to avoid miscomm. The ++ will normally include GST and Service charge… which will add up to an additional 1.1777%. So do your own necessary calculation. Depending on the size of the ballroom, there will be a minimum table number requirements. For the weekend, since it is more popular, they will be a higher number of minimum table requirements than the weekends. One of the first things to do before sourcing for a banquet location is to decide on the approximate size of your guest-list. Different hotels cater to different customers, with some handling bigger banquets while other specializing in intimate smaller banquets.
I intend to hold about 25 tables.. so my list of banquet candidates was already limited from the start. But rest assured that in Singapore, there are big and small ballrooms and there is definitely one that will meet your needs. Good big ones include Ritz-Carlton, Shangri-La, Meritus Mandarin, and the best mid-sized to small ballroom will be Raffles Hotel, Four Seasons. Conrad is considered mid-sized to me.
[2] Free flow of soft drinks is a bare minimum requirement and should definitely be there. If it is not, this is something you must get. I can’t imagine any package not having that though…
Due to the lack of time, I will update this again… adios!
