Hi
Leng,
I'm having around 25 - 30 tables, so if I want a weekend wedding and a ballroom to myself without having to share the foyer space or risk being moved to a 'conference' room cos I don't meet their minimum requirements, then these are the only possible hotels :
- Orchard Parade (25 - 30 tables)
- Goodwood Park (one ballroom for 22 -30 tables, no other ballrooms)
- Four Seasons
Others like Pan Pac, Westin etc require say 35 tables to have it at their main ballroom. If you read Pan Pac's discussion, those with less than 35 tables find that the given room is not nice as compared to the ballroom. Also, I find the foyer space to be important. I hope not to share the same breathing space with another bigger and grander wedding beside me
Regarding discounts, well, I'd say FS was very cordial about it, merely said times are bad and they'll only have the 2003 prices in January next year. What I asked was if I book now, do I lock the prevailing price, what if the prices do go down or if they suddenly have some promotion next year, am I still entitled for it.
Their answer was that I could book it now and lock the price, or I could just book the date, and leave the price open till they come out with the 2003 price. In this case, then I'm eligible for any promotions, but they wouldn't let me change my date. In another words, lock the date, not the price. Then we talked about the bad recession, and he just cheekily mention that who knows, there could be a 5% discount from current price, or the price could go up. But their schedules for 2003 is very empty! So the likelyhood of it going up is slim. But to be safe, do call them before they decide to adjust prices.
In fact, most hotels I know are almost fully booked on weekends till Dec 2002. But they hardly have anything for 2003, maybe 1 or 2 dates in Jan 2003, not even Feb 2003. My inquiries were to Westin, Conrad, Four Seasons, etc... Isn't that rare ? By now, they should be hearing for 2003.
Hence I felt I could wait and book much later since there's abundant dates.
Meimei,
The bridal houses are trying to increase, but they might increase then give sudden promotions ? It's very hard to say. But I think Bridal houses are more or less fixed, so I wouldn't mind signing that one early.
But dinner is tricky, cos you never know

I guess most hotels will try to throw in perks like free chair covers which were once unheard of or free beer, room upgrade etc...