Dinner or HDB


In that case, I rather not hold any
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these days few make money from dinners and couples end up with debt even before the honeymoon period. the dinner is only a few hours of hosting people are largely strangers to you....
 
before i started to hang out at this forum, i had in mind a conventional dinner with all the typical works.

now, i start to think differently.

i agree with clipperjunk that the dinner is just a masquarade before many people you hardly know.

if my budget had no constraint - eg. i have S$50,000 cold hard cash lying around which has genuinely no other use, i will happily dive into wedding preparations organising the banquet and the dinner.

but the fact is that i have no such luxury. if i had $50,000 spare cash right now, i will invest in the stock market. after i reap some returns at the stock market, i can save it up for the property market downturn when i will start to invest in a condo or something. nowadays a condo easily costs more than a million and the downpayment is 20%.

or i can pay for a holiday to Europe with my entire family. that would give us a chance to interact with one another, experience another scenary and culture, and come home with nice memories.

go for the HDB first lah, if budget is an issue. if budget is an issue, do you want to undergo the banquet with a mental calculator at the back of your head, hoping in vain that the angbao collections can cover everything? i can tell you 70% of the people who will turn up at your banquet won't care if they are there. perhaps even 30% would wish they had not been invited (the dreaded red bomb). why go through all these just to be the typical average singaporean couple? and remember the typical singaporean couple ends up quite broke after the average wedding works

but plan for your HDB flat carefully. don't pay too high COV.
 
hdb is for forever (for some people)...dinner is tomorrow (digest liao becomes sh**, for all people.

People remember how nice your HDB is...people won't remember how nice your wedding dinner is.

people don't care how spartan your HDB deco is, but people remember long time a lousy wedding dinner....

enuff said
 
Hi,

I agree with powder. Who say you can't have both?

My hubby and I got an EC and had a restaurant dinner at OCC.
The Angbows collected more than covered for the entire wedding.

Choose one of the following :

1. HDB and no wedding dinner,no honeymoon.
or
2. HDB and free wedding dinner, free honeymoon
 
its a very dangerous mindset to expect the expenses to be covered. Honeymoon is something that be done without. Focus on what is important and be flexible with the rest.
 
albee means that she collected enough angbaos not only to fully pay up the wedding banquet, but there is excess to pay for a honeymoon.
 
She did it with flying colours doesn't mean the option is available to other people mah. Besides, how many years ago was she married? Times are so different now!
 
yah... it could turn out the other way round with debts from spending beyond their limits.

And I would say her agreement with Powder somehow distorts his intended point.
 
Yes, it's a dangerous mindset to think that angbaos can cover all wedding expenses. For me, I lost at least 30k but then again, I didn't expect to gain to cover any expenses so financially we could still manage (phew).

Between HDB and dinner - of course HDB! What were you even thinking of, TS? The only thing I recall of my dinner was...I was truly glad when everything was over! I only enjoyed the hotel stay though because you would be so stressed up and tired that u don't really enjoy the banquet and entire wedding dinner (photo-taking fr table to table is no joke with that long train). On the contrary, you'll be truly glad to have a roof over your head for many years to come.
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it's funny for me to attend a wedding with intention to help cover losses, when it's supposed to be a celebration of the union. whether i go to hotel or restaurant or void deck wedding, regardless of race... i give $200. if u go for $300 a table packages, dress up the tables in holland-imported flowers, pay for expensive MCs etc... i dun think i need to help u pay for all that rite?

your choice, your loss. i think we should learn to take some basic responsibility for our choices.

reminds me of parents who buy homes near top schools then lament when they can't get a place... everyone seems very keen on guarantees which they have assumed themselves.
 
Hi,

Is it possble to find a dinner table for 10 pax for less than $500 in this day?

If you can, propably you will be in profit instead of loss, provided each guest gives at least $50 or more.

As my hubby intended to set up business after wedding, we were very budget constraint and yet we still like to have a wedding dinner for memory sake and for our parents sake.

Luckily, we managed to find a chinese restaurant in OCC for $380 per table and include all the freebies like OCC 1 night stay, wedding march dry ice effect, free flow beer etc. and the food was quite good too.

Then again, we married in the so called "bad" year plus economy crisis year, maybe that's why we easily got a weekend date at a cheap price with lots of freebies.

The dinner cost: $7000. Ang bow collected: $14000 (ranges from $0 to $100 per person)
Overall profit : $7000.

My bridal package cost $2900 and honey moon tour package (7day Korea) cost $2500. Still have some money left for holiday shopping.

My situation maybe different from other couples in that both sets of parents didn't want to keep the angbows they collected and instead passed all to us. That's why were in profit although we had a wedding dinner.
 
"Is it possble to find a dinner table for 10 pax for less than $500 in this day?"

You say leh?

If you are not sure, why do you keep citing your example of nine or 12 years ago (there were two economic crises that affected S'pore before the 2008 world economic crisis: One in 1998 and the other 2001) like it would also work in 2010 as well?
 
I pick the HDB over the banquet anyday. I have to face the HDB daily and how it is furnished / renovated affects my lifestyle and comfort. The relatives at most will grumble but what do I care about them? It is not as though I have to face them daily :p Housing definitely comes first for me.

We had our wedding recently and managed to cover the banquet dinner and make some too.
We booked the banquet 2 years in advance at a wedding fair. They usually have better deals at such fairs? Free flow of beer, 1 free bottle of wine/table, free 2nights stay and some hotel F&B vouchers etc. Must always negotiate for stuff that you want. The hotel rep may not give u a better price but they can throw in more freebies or exchange for other stuff that you want. Good luck searching...
 
thanks you for all the replies.. My HTB thinks that we should apply HDB first then go for dinner.. But flat also need time to find and renovate it... we might be taking dinner package at some resturant costing about 700 per table.... Hopefully it will cover the cost but it's very hard to say ...
 
Coco, are you looking for resale flat? If yes, it probably won't take more than six months to find a suitable one as long as you roughly know what you are looking for in terms of location, size, floor level, and that you know your budget, etc.
 
"She did it with flying colours doesn't mean the option is available to other people mah. Besides, how many years ago was she married? Times are so different now!"

Fully agree with doLL here. Perhaps Albee was lucky, but cannot use her case to apply to everyone here. Besides, the angpow amount ppl give 20yrs ago is very different from what they are giving now. Banquet prices have also risen considerably since then.
 
coco> is there any rush to hold a dinner? If not, you can settle your HDB first, then hold a dinner later on. It's very taxing financially to be settling both at the same time. Especially now with the high COV for housing
 
$500 per table is not possible unless u and your mum to cook all the dishes yourselves lol.

Even at restaurants, each banquet table costs $700 now. Friends around me have sisters getting married.
 
Hi coco,
Getting HDB is probably a more practical choice. Especially if you need a place of your own for your new family.
 
Do consider that even now if the dinner breaks even & u got excess from angbao, next time still have to return favor to others. The more people u invite, the more u lugi in future.
 
coco, the price for a 4 room resale flat varies,depending on the location, condition etc, but generally, I believe resale HDB nowadays cost around $100k/room? If the owner ask for COV, it is payable in cash. I heard a colleague paying $450k for a resale 4room flat in Buangkok recently... As for us,we paid $540k for our 5room flat and have a 30years mortgage payable at $2k/month, partly offset by CPF and the balance payable in cash. If you are buying a resale flat, you need all the cash that you can save. COV, reno, furnishing etc.
 
Coco, the downpayment in cash for 4-rm can range from 20K - 30K or even higher, depending on location and other factors. My BF and I viewed a lot of flats recently and most of the COV they ask for are above 30K. And this is not even "prime" central areas lor...
 
ariel: central areas now asking for min cov 50k and above...some even low floors

any luck with ur househunting?
 
I had an agent hang up the phone on me because I thought the 45K COV for a Punggol flat (2nd floor) was utterly ridiculous....
 
Thomas, 50K is just pure madness! Thankfully, we manage to find a reasonable seller who wanted COV 25K. Really a rare find in these times! But of course, this is not in central area.

The only "bad" thing is that the flat's valuation is higher compared to the rest we've seen. But at least that we can pay with CPF and housing loan, so still okay.

AB, I think that agent is too much. I also feel 45K COV is ridiculous. There are better agents out there who are willing to go the extra mile to find reasonable flats for buyers.
 
Ariel: If you got lobang for good agents, please let me know.

A few I've called had laughed in my face because I wasn't willing to pay the >35k COV.

Anyway I would rather bide my time because there's not a single bit of negotiating power if I'm in a hurry to buy. I will keep looking and waiting until I find something that is reasonable.
 
AB, yes it's very wise to wait till you find a reasonable one. We refuse to pay anything more than 30K COV too, and we were already aiming the faraway corners of Singapore.

Are you looking for flats in central areas? The COV is very crazy for that area now. The flats we viewed that costs about 25K-30K COV are in north area. I can pm you a few agents but they work mainly for north.
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AB: 45k for a 2nd floor unit in Punggol somemore? Really ridiculous.

ariel: no choice, cov so high partly fuelled by our cash rich FTs also...I have flyers stuck to my main gate almost everyday asking me whether wanna sell my flat, some are China nationals. They are prepared to pay 50k cash upfront, no need to even neg! Saw the recent news on a super rich China national who bought the Sentosa Cove bungalow for 36 mil? its not even freehold, mind u!

where did u buy ur flat in the end? woodlands or yishun I guess since u say is north area?

AB: which area are u looking at? my agent specialises in central area, if u are keen I can pm u her contact =)
 
Thomas, we bought in Woodlands.
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Ya... the FTs are really rich. Now then I realize how cash poor many Singaporeans (me!) are, ha ha.
 
AB, do I click on the "Check new messages" for the pm? Sorry, first time using PM, ha ha. I click already but don't see anything.

Anyway I will reply you tonight because I left the agents contacts at home. :D
 

Thanks Thomas. Now my next headache is finding a JP. All those I contacted are all booked grrrr! I have everything planned out and my invitation cards are all ready, but didn't expect that JPs are booked so fast (I'm getting married in Oct).
 
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