Amara Sanctuary

[faithz17]

erm, my two cents worth... this is a forum where anyone can air their views, but there is also the credibility of the users... i find it coincidental that shutch, grease lightning, and yoghurt lover all come in at about the same time and only have 1-2 posts so far and all just to slam amara... either you guys are so passionately anti-amara, or there's some other motivation behind ur posts...

for me, i know amara has been getting bad reviews, but to be honest, only impt thing to me is the ballroom... and i'm from events background, so i know worse come to worse i'm actually prepared to take over the coordination of my wedding... haha, but of cos that is very drastic and hope it doesn't have to come to that lah... but anyway from now till my wedding still got long long way to go... better hope that they improve!!! any brides having their wedding there pls post ur reviews ok!! thanks!!

 

[chouchouchboogie]

I dunno abt the other two posts but for myself, I was genuinely considering amara. Looking at an established city hotel now and AD not confirmed yet so didn't reply to rachelt. Anyway like I said each of us has our own experiences and I'm sure they'll vary based on our expectations etc. Just enjoy the wedding lah wherever it is. Anyway there's still a lifetime ahead that needs more of our care and thought =)

 

[yoghurtlover]

I have helped my friend with his wedding and have personally experienced their "impeccable" services. Well like what faith said, this is a forum and everyone is free to air their opinions. Then why did you put it like I am here to slam anyone? You mentioned you are in events so i reckon you work with amara thats why you put it across like my posting is a bogus one? I am seriously looking for a proper venue myself and am just sharing with those who are looking for a proper venue and would like to have a decent service. Not everyone is from events and can coordinate their own weddings. I see that you're very active in this amara posting so its either you work with them as a contractor or you're someone working there?

Sorry just stating my 2 cents worth of facts. No offence please.

 

[carebear_lover]

Hi all, i just had my photoshoot at Amara Santuary because i will be holding my wedding in Nov. I must say that their service have improved alot. One of the service guy actually hold my gown while i trying to climb unto the buggy to take pix. Overall, i am very happy with Amara Santuary.This is my experience with them so far.

 

[faithz17]

i'm having my wedding there in nov 09...

 

[rachelt]

carebearlover.. u hving urs nov 08? must let us know how it goes ya =)

my AD Dec 09.. so long ar.. hehehe..

 

[h2hm2m]

Hi Ladies, Juz wanna contribute alittle as I'm also Sanctuary Bride-to-be (Sep09). For those who have signed up at Amara, I'm sure there's something that drew you n HTB to the venue and therefore decided to hold ur special day there. That's what we call Chemistry i guess. So dun be discouraged by bad reviews bcos I believe the success of that day will depend on the cooperation between you guys and the coordinator as well. So juz look forward to ur big day at ease alrite? As for the ladies who had really bad reviews for Amara Sanctuary, we thank you for your pointers and we'll definitely take note of them. Lastly, happy preparation for ur weddings!

 

[faithz17]

ghost month over... they should be having more weddings... wonder if there's any more reviews?

actually i am concerned over the service... but luckily i do have 'back-up' plan... though hope that i won't have to use it... thus to me service is not that important a factor, which is why i dare to choose amara despite the service reviews... it's just the ballroom which i really like... and ballroom is the most impt factor for hubby and i... so weighing the pros and cons, we still decide to go for amara...

 

[pwincesssamsam]

Hi all BTB! I love Amara too! The ambience and whole place is just the perfect place for both of us. Despite the bad reviews, we are still gonna go ahead with it. Coz i also strongly believe that things will get better and we just need to put in some extra effort to make it right.

Anyway, we're going to sign the contract soon. Anything we should be aware of? Gonna bargain some stuff from Irene.

Thanks babe!!

 

[bitbit2318]

Dear ladies,

Can anyone sent me Amara 2009 menu list as i am interested to have my AD wedding there. Thanks
please sent to [email protected]

 

[jenjentay]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of using Amara Sanctuary as well. I wanted to use the glass pavilion for my solomisation and then the ballroom for lunch. But the glass pavilion has been booked by another couple already. Irene suggested that I use the Dream Pool instead. Has anyone here used the Dream Pool for solomisation before?

 

[justdropby]

Just want to share my own experience. Lousy service, cocky sales manager, crappy attitude and extremely unfriendly aftersale service. I regretted not checking the forum before signing the contract. It has a great potential to be one of the best wedding location. My point is that this is still a service oriented event, every bits count into making our big day an even bigger day.. that's not their philosophy and they are very explicit about it. Its a WEDDING event.. they think they are handling a corporate function......gosh..

Seriously, at your own risk..

 

[yanty]

can anyone recommend the good hotel and the food nice also.my wedding next year

 

[yanty]

Hi,all
If anywant want to sell the wedding hotel package plg email me at siaw_ikhotmail.com

tq for you help.

 

[yanty]

hi,
Actually my marriage is for next year i lookin for hotel around 20 tables can anyone recomen any hotel?

 

[bride__groom]

ttyl - when did u have yr wdg? I am thinking of having my ROM @ the glass pavilion

 

[gt1017]

I just had my solemnization ROM at Amara Sanctuary on 17th Sept 2008. Signed up the package on 2007 Oct Wedding show. Overall was a very good experience.

Irene took good care of us and we had a good impression of her for the whole thing, so did the banquet operations manager and other staff. Service was decent. Decoration / set up of the glass pavillion, buffet lunch area, verandah suite was very good, no bad comments about it. The courtyard suite even better, but we didn¡¯t chose to upgrade. From the verandah suite but cannot see into downstairs courtyard suite, so I think don¡¯t really need to worry about ¡°peeking¡± incidents ba.

I think Irene is very busy as she is handling many matters, but overall she is very professional and she had colleagues to back her up. She really helped us a lot on the whole event, from wedding flavors, etc to flower/color selection. On the day after we checked in, she also promptly came down to help out on little details, just as set up table for JP, the wedding pillow and rings. Also she followed up with us promptly after the day on 1 minor issue we brought up after the event, more than what we expected already.

I must say Amara is really very different from the other city hotels you find in Singapore, very natural and greenery all round and peaceful, with the peacocks and squirrels running around. I've being to many hotels in Singapore, but Amara is really very resort style and impressive in the setup/area. Food is decent too for the buffet lunch and chocolate fondue! (more towards western/modern cuisines though so old people might not be used to the food). Many locations in the resort to take photographs, like dream pool and bar counter, sky pool (have 2 swimming pools), spiral staircase at ballroom area, glass pavilion, the ¡°just married¡± buggy etc etc. It¡¯s near Vivocity, near the entrance to Sentosa so not as inconvenient as it looks, also near the monorail/beach carpark.

Bad thing is lack of parking slots if you have a lot of friends that drive, unless they park at beach carpark and you charter bus from there to Amara itself. My JP cannot find parking when he arrived, but luckily the operations manager immediately went to help usher the JP in when he arrived.

 

[uiliz]

dear ttyl, all hotels have their bad & gd reviews, its a matter of ur personal standard of service. i checked the forum before i signed the contact. yes i admit there were lotsa complains abt the hotel, but we still went ahead. and yes, we initially had prob with the contract (the AD date),how bad can that be already! but after making some noise, it's all sorted. so don get too upset.

 

[pwincesssamsam]

Yea...it's true. I also signed the contract after reading the forum, despite the bad comments. I guess we just have to put extra effort in to make sure everything runs smoothly.

anyway, my AD is AUG 2009. Long way to go!

One thing tho, anyone has any comments on their flower decor? Don't really have a good impression from the photos Irene sent me. And she said I cant engage other florist too. Bit worry about this part.....

 

[uiliz]

haha..mine is in oct 09,longer than u. i did ask her before, she did say can lei. anyway, i remember another postin sayin was gd, she din even have to top up

 

[pwincesssamsam]

i guess good doesnt really justify it. Coz different ppl have different standard of "good". hahha.... ideally, i prefer lots of grand flower settings but it'll cost a bomb. So i dun mind something simple but tastefully done up.

Fingers crossed then! She said they are looking into changing the stage decor as well....

 

[joyfulzan]

Hi,

can anyone send me d details of ur package signed during wedding show? cos i am interested in AS also.. thanks.. my mial is [email protected]

 

[elmove]

does anyone know how's the wedding food e.g. buffet?
pavilion looks nice but quite ex to pay almost 2k to use it..

 

[bonbonchow]

Hi, despite some negative comments on Amara Sanctuary, my fiance and I still decided to have our solemnization ceremony at the Glass Pavilion and wedding party at either their function room or Shutter Restaurant. We went there last weekend and found the staff there are quite friendly and helpful.

I agree with GT1017, "Amara is really very different from the other city hotels you find in Singapore, very natural and greenery all round and peaceful, with the peacocks and squirrels running around."

I like its Glass Pavilion the most, it's my second choice after the glass chapel in Guam... haha, but flying over to Guam is too expensive... elmove, i think 2k is a quite good deal for such a nice venue ^__^

 

[pooohy]

Hi all,

New to this thread... My hubby & I really love the place & ambience... Most likely we will settle for AS for our AD....

 

[pwincesssamsam]

Welcome to the club! I'm glad that so many ppl are feeling the same on AS as we are. It is very different from any other ordinary weddings.

Selina, i think the glass pavilion only cost 888nett if you hold your wedding banquet there as well. 888 is excluding the food, flower arrangements and stuff, which you wont need.

I'm using the Glass Pavilion for my solemnization and Grand Ballroom for AD. Staying at the Courtyard suite coz not enuff tables but i think its still nice. It'll be much nicer if we get the Villa, but its really not worth to have it just for that few hours of rest.

 

[tbnlkb]

Hi everyone, I just got engaged and I'm new here. My fiance and I are interested in holding our solemnization at the Glass Pavilion. Does anyone have the package and price details for it? It would be great if you can email it to me at [email protected]. Thanks a lot!

 

[crush]

Hi michelle,
I am letting go my solemnisation package...i got it during the wedding show hence the package is definately better than booking it during "normal" time.

If you are interested, pls email me at [email protected].

 

[bonbonchow]

PwincessSamSam,

888nett?? Their assistant catering manager Samual never told me there's such a big discount if I hold my wedding banquet there!

 

[crush]

yesh...is 888nett and just need 25 tables =)

 

[pwincesssamsam]

Hi PG,

Yes its 888nett. Coz if u hold your wedding banquet there, u wun need food, can recycle decor n stuff. So the price will be much lesser.

U can clarify with him again I guess. I've signed the contract ardy and is having 28+2 tables.

 

[evergreen_23]

yes, that's what irene told me..

 

[rachelt]

hi ladies.. it's been a long time since i last log in..

PG - Yes! I got the GP at 888nett with confirmed banquet on the same night.. contract signed oredi too.. love the GP.. so pretty.. hehe..

 

[i3nim]

I like to share my bad experience with Amara Sanctury - Rayston. I think you will want to be stress free when it comes to planning your wedding and last thing you want is to have a coordinator (even if the ambience is great) who is impatient, disorganised, unable to understand basic instructions and slow in responses which I've experienced with Amara Sanctura especially (of which I'm still terribly upset with). You get a feeling that they will screw it up somehow so even if the location is great, we have decided to go for another hotel with far better service.

Food for thought for Amara Sanctury management.

 

[carebear_lover]

Hi all,
I had a very beautiful wedding in Nov 08 held at Amara Sanctuary. Our guests reviewed that the food was very good. We also had a VIP that night and Irene attended to him. The mistakes made were the table arrangment of the table no. allocated in the ballroom was all messed up, it was not the same as what Irene had given to us. Thank God we had capable jie meis and xiong dis to help us through. Another thing is they actually put the reserve table right at the front stage, which was very ugly. But overall, we did had a beautiful memories at Amara and the villa.The villa was superb...

 

[faithz17]

thanks for sharing your experience carebearlover.. it's kinda weird for reserve table to be right in front?? thanks for highlighting... note to self: need to check table numbers when my turn comes...

haha, i can just see myself turning into bridezilla already... irene, if you're reading this, i apologise in advance!!! ;p

anyone else who just had their weddings recently?? nov and dec should be very popular for weddings so should have had a lot of weddings just past... pls share pics and your experience!!! thank you very much!!!

 

[faithz17]

rachel... was reading the old post realised i still owe you contact for cup cake cake... can call Sue at 97576533... i got the contact from a coordinator at another hotel... hahaha...

btw, my wedding is on 26 nov 09... it's the 7th anniversary of my hubby and i...

 

[2009bride]

Hi Carebear lover... tx for sharing with us. May I ask did you have a Chinese or Western banquet? Heard that their food is stronger for western than chinese. I'll be having a Chinese banquet and wonder how's the quality of the food.

 

[carebear_lover]

I had a chinese banquet. It was very good.

 

[2009bride]

Thanks Carebear lover. Good to hear that!

 

[i3nim]

This is exactly how i would picture the coordinator there to screw up. I don't need the extra stress on my big day. The standard of service is just not there. No amount of good food or ambience could make up for the added stress.

 

[meinu678]

I met the Banquet Manager, Jason from Amara Sanctuary. He looks young and professional. However,I was shocked by his behaviour when he suddenly use vulgar language scolding over his phone.
This turns me off. I don't think I would want him to arrange for my wedding.

 

[nfk22]

Hi,

Can anyone please send me the details of ur package signed during wedding show for reference.
my email is [email protected]

thanks in advance!

 

[purinne]

hiya

... i went to AS to check on the venue today ... htb and i love that place ... we actually like capella most but its sooooo ex .... so mite settle for AS ... however, im a tad concern abt the privacy of the villa (open shower @_@) ... and whether irene will b too stretched to provide adequate service to the weddin couples as she seems to b the onli weddin planner ard ... any comments/feedbacks fr u?

 

[princessvale]

hi purinne =)... i went to view the one bedroom villa as well. i was told villa 7 & 8 are specifically used for solemnisation as they have a bigger compound. looks not bad and quite cosy for intimate gathering of a size of 20 odd guests. but personally i wud love to solemnise in the glass pavilion... but then the rate offered is really shocking =| i'm kinda worried abt the service though and i find that other wedding planners other than irene might not be tat professional... btw u know capella rates already? i heard they are only opening in march...

 

[purinne]

hiya princessvale

ya its quite costly to hav the solemnisation at the glass pavilion but its really very nice haha

im goin onli for the weddin package coz will b havin mi solemnisation in church (church weddin) ...

capella has a very very very nice view ... but their packages are very ex ... 148 and 168 respectively ... and price is the same for both lunch and dinner ... so im givin it a pass ... also ... new hotel tend to hav teethin prob ...

i mite go for restaurant instead .... still in the midst of gettin quotes

 

[princessvale]

hey purinne, ya i love the glass pavilion lots... looks very modern in the lush greenery... haha.. haiz jus gotta pray hard there will be very good promotion during their wedding show bah. i'm actually looking into their solemnisation package only...i've more or less settled on my banquet already. yea i agree, new hotel tend to hv problems. so u went to capella for site visit as well? who did u contact? =)

 

[purinne]

hiya princessvale ... oh ... is AS havin weddin show soon? im hopin to finalise mi luncheon venue by feb ... coz weddin in oct ....

yeah i went to capella for visit ... went to capella, AS and rasa for visit on sat

.... for capella ... i liaised with alfred tan

... nice chap

 

[princessvale]

hi purinne, i called up amara sanctuary and was told there might be a wedding show in march... wah.. ur AD is less than 9 mths...excited? hee.. i emailed capella too. hope to arrange for a site visit soon... =)

 

[purinne]

arhhh .... but i dunno if i can wait till mar

...

yeah excited ... but stressed too coz soooo many things and details to work on ...

capella still looks quite raw coz not fully furbished yet ... so if u dun mind waitin ... mayb mid or late feb will b a better time to go ... but view is really very nice