Orchard Hotel

[cajoof]

Hihi silentelf,

You can check with Priscilla if the UOB promo is still on?

My UOB promo includes 2 nite stay. I'm not sure if it's still applicable now coz I signed up quite some time again. As for the day room, had tried to request but they can only offer at a discounted rate. Suggestion is that if you do not have a big entourage, your helpers can actually use the living room in your suite. Have you seen the bridal suite? You can ask Priscilla if she can show you the bridal suite or send you pix of the suite?

Some hotels I asked previously also have 2 waiters to 3 tables. Understand that it's because they use the "family" style of eating. Which is they place the food in the centre and let the guests take the food. For this kinda serving, 2 waiters to 1 table is sufficient. If the food is apportioned by the waiter, then 1 waiter to 1 table is preferable. I personally prefer the "family" style of eating... more cozy... So 2 waiters to 1 table is alright for me.

haha, we all have to start from some where...Maybe you can take a step back and look at what's important to you and your FH? I also wanted alot of things and was more impressed with some of the hotels. Luckily for me, the UOB promotion was available and it helped in getting more perks. So dun fret!

 

[cajoof]

Hi ffbear,

My AD is on 2nd Jan 2006. Just realised it's just 8 more weeks! Time really flies. Now starting to check with friends and relatives on their availability. So far, the response has been positive. Yeah!

More and more stuff popping up! No wonder brides can slim down so fast and look good during their AD! Hope I can slim down and look good.... have to control my diet and exercise!

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi ffbear,

i had signed up with YC. Agree tt SWC is good with heavy gowns with lots of embellishments, their imported OTRs are quite breathtaking, but they are pricey indeed. I figure set urself a budget & work within in.. Topping up pix shd also have a limitation within the budget

 

[ffbear]

Hi, silentelf,
Welcome to the thread.. my AD oso NOv 06.. I hv checked with some other hotels, most of them oso offer 2 waiters to 3.. according to my BF who used to b a part-time waiter during sch days, tis should be sufficient... sometimes, it is not the no. of waiters, it is the service attitude.. I oso tried to get a day room for my helpers, oso din managed to do so.. but then hor, @ my fren's recent wedding, realise tat actuali, not alot of the helpers like to stay over, most like to go home & change etc... so, u may wish to reconsider tis as 1 of ur priority.. juz my 2cents worth..

Hi, Jacquelyn,
I can understand tat anxiety when more & more stuff pop up last min.. u sure ll look good on ur AD..

Hi, Mehmeh,
wow, u do know alot.. yah, tat shall be wat I intend to do... muz ask ppl to remind me when I start choosing pixs...

 

[silentelf]

Hiya ffbear..

thanks for your advise... i absolutely agree with u.., its really about the attitude..

I'm still waiting for Priscilla to get back to me about my special request..

Another thing to worry is about the food.., some frens suggest us to try it out at the restaurant.. but then will it help? Becoz the quality of the food varies rite? hmm.. i dunno leh..

 

[silentelf]

Hi Jac..

sure i will check with Pris again about the UOB promo..& I have not seen the bridal suite.. still waiting for her to get back to me....

Me too prefer family style eating...

I will sure update u gals once I receive her reply.. hopefully I can sort things out soon..

Btw, is it true that all hotels only allow duty paid alcohol? Govt law? (sorry I dunno..)

Wah.. your wedding so soon.. very exciting leh..

 

[ffbear]

Hi, silentelf,
for the food part - I quite daring, in a way... cos I din try the food before signing, neither hv I attended wedding @ OH.. it's all based on word of mouth... alot of good comments re. Hua Ting, award-winning etc... mayb wait for food tasting time to suggest improvements..

I hv oso checked with Serene re. duty paid hard liquor. Apparently, they r rather strict on this requirement cos custom ppl may come to check...

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi silentelf,

Pris & ffbear are rite. All hotels are supposed to follow the regulations of opening duty-paid alcohol. All bear, alcohol & hard liquor u get outside are all duty-paid, which is why prices are higher than what u purchase fr DFS

Duty-free items are supposed to be for personal consumption & not at mass events. the same regulation is held by other hotels as well..

hi ffbear,

heheh, i wun dare say I know alot. But i figure overspending on pix which are meant to 'show-off' at ur wedding, is a brief moment to the amt of money which u can better spend/invest elsewhere with higher returns

 

[silentelf]

Hi ffbear & mehmeh...

Thanks for the info.. no wonder most hotel package indicate 'duty-paid' for corkage waiver.. *nod nod*

Pris replied me liao, not too good in giving complimentary stuffs that I requested.. (got to pay for projector sia...) Maybe I should try see if she will do 1 to 1 exchange? Or should I press her for more first? (aiyo..like very pasar malam leh..) hmmm...

Did anyone exchange the dummy wedding cake for something else? Maybe extra beer or wine? How to make them throw in more complimentary alcohol leh?

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi silentelf,

yah, usually u also gotta pay for the projector. Prob the only way out of this is if u use all 3 BRs, so u've got more bargaining power.

If u're going to exchange the dummy wedding cake, u not going to have a cake altogether? Apparently the cutting of the wedding cake has some significance. Moreover the wedding cake doesn't cost much, probably at most another bottle of red wine

 

[silentelf]

Hi mehmeh..

i am in the midst of considering another hotel..and some hotels do provide free projector...(if can save better still rite? )

only the alcohol portion still trying to see how much i really need.. i heard we need probably 1.5 or 2 bottles per table..??

the other hotel is giving me more complimentary wine.. so still comparing..(Jac! I took your advice, compared with other hotels & ask if OH can provide..but not so good yet..)

ffbear girl.., i asked my jiemei ler.., most said dun wish to go home so may need a day room.. thus far OH still dun want..

although other hotel have leh..

hehe.. i dunno leh... cutting a dummy cake like no meaning leh.. (maybe i dunno what it represents lah..) i will see how bah.. ya mehmeh u are rite.., cake doesnt cost much..probably exchange for a supper also can..

 

[cajoof]

Hi silentelf,

sounds like you have a lot to consider. How does your FH feel about the shortlisted hotels? Maybe u can list down in priority your preferences for the perks and do a grading of the hotels?

The number of wine bottles per table will depend on whether your guests drink red wine usually and also whether your AD is on a weekday or Sunday (usually if people need to go to work the next day, they wouldn't drink a lot). So for me, I'm estimating about 1 to 1.5 bottle per table coz the next day is a working day for everyone. heehee

For the weddings I attend so far, I usually see the younger generation drinking red wine instead of the older generation. If you're inviting a lot of friends whom you know drink a lot, it'd be better to budget more. One way you can control the number of bottles is to only allow wine to be served during the dinner and inform the hotel waiters not to top up the glasses until the wine in the glass has been finished. Or replace the wine glass only when the guest has finished his/her glass.

For the projector, I've read some videography packages that they include the projector. But of course, if the hotel can provide for free, it'd be great!

Does your jiemei mind sharing the room with you? Normally there are 2 toilets in the bridal suite. So if your jiemei doesn't mind, you can consider sharing the bridal suite with them? btw, how many jiemei do you have??

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi silentelf,

oh, if the other hotel really offers u a better deal, i think u might as well take it up. Coz like what Jac has mentioned, u seem to have a no. of things u want modified & negotiated. If there are only a couple of items, maybe OH can still work out sthg for u.. But if u've got a long list, then u might get frustrated tt u can't get ur ideal package yah?

Dun spend too much in bargaining, if u really do like the hotel alot too, spare urself such agony. heheh, must enjoy the preps process, coz it's going to be once in a lifetime!

Yupz, actually dun quite need a day room. The bridal suite is huge enough for ur jie-meis to lounge ard & have a big make-up & changing room. There are 2 toilets, one in the MBR & the other for the MU & other guests

 

[silentelf]

Hi Jac..

ya i do have alot to consider.. thus far we shortlisted 3 hotels..FH likes the hotel which provided more things than OH.. But I'm still trying to bargain here bargain there, see if I could get better deal. This is becoz the other hotel is 5star (per table more exp)..

I even did a comparison on the perks on these shortlisted hotels.. oh ya good idea, maybe I should grade my priorities beside the perks... hehe..

Mine AD is a friday.., I forsee ppl will drink like hippo on my wedding nite mann..
*nod.. nowadays younger generation do drink more red wine than beer.. drink red wine slowly sip still ok.., if drink beer, mostly ppl will 'yum seng!' & all gobble down! I scared beer will finish faster..then the additional top up of the beer will make me puke too (hehe..)

ya i 'niao', trying to bargain for free projector..

I believe my jiemei dont mind sharing room with me, I also dont mind.. but then.. i have 9 jie mei ah!! hahahaha.. imaging all of us queuing to bathe.. so comical..

*confused sia..

 

[silentelf]

hi mehmeh.. i oso want to spare myself from such agony.. ..if only i marry a prince, no need us to plan liao.. hehe..(heng FH not here to read..) didnt know plan wedding so tedious.., ..as i just started planning only.. still trying to enjoy the process & preps..

thanks mehmeh & jac.. i will really give a serious thot whether OH is my ideal pkg.... One thing I like OH BR3 so much is their long long aisle for march in.. so nice & romantic..

 

[cajoof]

Hi silentelf,

Agree with mehmeh that if the other hotel offers a deal more to your preferences, you might as well take it up. After all, wedding is once in a lifetime occassion and should enjoy as much as possible!

Whenever I get torn between choices, my jiemei always tell me this - Follow your heart! Money can be earned but memories cannot be bought. This is YOUR wedding so it should be catered to you.

 

[brink_79]

Hi silentelf,

I am new to this thread am actually considering OH as my wedding venue, could you kindly share your wedding dinner packages with me

My email is [email protected]. Thank you in advance

 

[ffbear]

Hi, Jac,
I oso live by tis philosophy re. my wedding preps - Money can be earned but memories cannot be bought. Afterall, I believe tat very very few things in life are forever, so memories r there for u to relive tat day's events...

Hi, silentelf,
the last time I was debating among OH & another hotel which is cheaper... though heartpain to choose OH, but 1 of the topmost priorities then among my FH & me was tat we do not wish our guests to leave the day with comments tat the food sucks... so, tats y we choose OH... so, its reali like wat the other ladies hv said, set ur topmost priorites, & take the hotel tat offers u tat...

 

[silentelf]

Hi ladies...thank u so much for your thots & consoling.. seems like a lot of ppl include u gals told me the same thing..money can earn back.., memories cant.. *nod nod*

Even if i did not take up OH in the end..I really wish all of u well & happy on your AD..will keep u gals posted

Hi Brink, you have got mail!

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi Silentelf,

U're most welcome! Wedding requires a lot of costly decisions, which u want to be sure of & not have a bagful of regrets, so go with ur heart w/o burning a hole in ur pocket at the same time.

Sounds like ur bridal suite might be a 'madhouse' if all ur 9 jie-meis were to adjourn there. heheh, shd be quite interesting for ur photographer to take some candid & spontaneous shots

All the best!

 

[cynfei]

Hi all,
just like to share our experiences with OH at the request of my Fiance.

OH is very stringent on additional perks, even when there are confirmed bookings of 50 - 55 tables. They rather forgo the potential biz of over 40k than to accomodate request for additional perks. in comparision, other hotels have better services by readily giving us additional perks due to our large no. of tables.

The service of OH is bad too. leave voice messages with whoever pick up the phone many times to ask the coordinator to call us back and well, the return call never come. the coordinator also did not call me even after opeing my email. i knew she opened the email coz i put return receipt. i waited for hours before i decide to try my luck again by calling her. the hotel does not make us feel wanted. maybe they have many other biz and do not need to earn our $

 

[cynfei]

felt that the coordinator at OH is overworked.

My fren oso does not like the attitude of the staff too when she went down for site visit last yr. she loves the ballroom, but rather forgo OH than having to deal with attitude staffs.

Juz sharing our experiences so that potential customers of OH will be more alert and do their own evaluation.

OH's new package is not exactly cheap. there are other hotels in orchard (within the same range, or even cheaper) who offer better service and are more negotiable.

 

[khim23]

Hi All,

My AD would be in Nov 06 and I'm considering OH. Haven view the BR yet but shld be getting BR1&2 since I have ~35 to 38 tables. I know they have uob perks but ended in Oct 05, anyone who booked after the promotion but managed to secure the perks? Anyone care to share on BR1&2 decor? Is it nice? How bout the service and food? Thanks alot!

 

[silentelf]

Thanks mehmeh for your wishes..

Hi cynfei, thus far i have no problem reaching the co-ordinators.. so i guess it is just OH unfortunate to loose your biz.. Good luck on your searching!

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi Cynfei,

Were u liasing with only one catering sales personnel? Coz usually they wld provide the HP no. when they give u their biz card, so u shd be able to reach them, though no guarantees

On the otherhand, i think sometimes some coordinators can't provide the perks becoz tt wld 'spoil the market' for the other coordinators? Hmm, maybe also got to look at the seniority of the coordinator, prob those more senior cld readily agree to the perks having known the extent to provide to the couple

I think at the end of the day, take heart tt u didn't sign up & then get disappointed, hope u get ur ideal banquet venue soon

Hi Khim,

I had posted a pix on the stage deco for my wedding which was 2 mths ago & my post comes together with some reviews.
Do check out my post, Posted on Thursday, September 08, 2005 - 4:13 pm (Under Archive thru September 25, 2005)

 

[khim23]

Hi mehmeh,

Thanks for the photo. I'll going down to view the ballrooms w/o the wedding setup though as a D&D is going on. Hopefully, I won't be disappointed ;>

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi Khim,

Hmm, i guess for D&D u wun get to have real feel of the deco for the wedding, but u still get to see the BRs original ambience.. Also hope u wun be disappointed..

 

[silentelf]

Hi jac, mehmeh, ffbear & all...
thanks for the advices & information for the past few days....today i have confirmed my deal with another hotel.., like u gals said..choose the best pkg which suits me & so i did...
May u gals be pretty & 'xing(4) fu(2)' forever

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hihi Silentelf,

U're most welcome! All the best in ur preps.. Comfy enough to share which hotel u secured?

 

[faithgurl]

Hi Lissa,

U have mentioned that yr videographer is Gerald Yeo. Do u mind sharing the package with me? My email add is "[email protected]".
Thanks

 

[ffbear]

Hi, silentelf,

no prob, din reali advise much though...
anyway, Thanks for the well wishes... glad tat u hv made up ur mind & chose the one tat u reali liked... the one which will helped to create the most beautiful memories for u & ur husband...
Wishing u a smooth wedding preparation, blissful marriage & a totally memorable day...

 

[silentelf]

Hi mehmeh..

Sure, I have confirmed mine with Regent Hotel.

Thanks ffbear for your well wishes..

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi Silentelf,

Congrats on getting Regent.. All the best in ur preps!

 

[cajoof]

Hi silentelf,

Thanks for ur well-wishes... congrats and here's wishing you a great wedding and may you be pretty and 'xing(4) fu(2)' forever too!

 

[cajoof]

Hi Ladies,

Just had my food tasting and I enjoyed the food! The dessert wasn't what i expected so i'll be changing that. Other than that, the standard of the food was good. Hope that the standard can be maintained for my actual dinner.

 

[apuppy]

Hi Ladies,
Can anyone tell me Orchard Hotel accept 30 tables and tell me the pric of the weddin package cause couldnt find in website.

thanks in advance

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi jacquelyn,

Wat was the dessert u supposed to get in ur Menu? Why did u say tt it wasn't what u had expected? And changing to??

The banquet's quality was also met, just as great & huge portions for all my guests.. now when i meet my aunts on my ILs side, they still rave abt the gd food, compared to an experience they had at Raffles Swissotel

 

[bride_sept05]

Hi,

I'm 2005 OH bride. My wedding over already on 20sept05.

Really want to thanks Orchard Hotel's staffs for making my wedding so wonderful and grand, epscially to Christopher and Serene. Also to their florist JiMei Florist for decorating the hall look so romantic and jazzy.

When I stepped into Orchard Hotel lobby in the afternoon, there already staffs standby there and bring us up to our suite for check-in, the suite....wah...very big and nice. Compare to other hotel's suite that I've been to, OH's suite really very big, there's another separate room for me to do my make-up, at least no need to squeeze with my hubby and our inlaws.
There's 2 shower room, so at least if your inlaws coming for make-up or wat, they may use the other toilet.
There do also provide another room for my jiemeis.

In their suite, they do provide free fruit cake, trust me, that fruit cake really really very very nice, before my wedding starts, my inlaws and friends finished all the cakes.

The Captain Christopher and Serene really very helpful, they even coordinate very well with our jiemeis and brothers for the seating arrangment, make sure there isn't any empty seats or tables.

Before my first march in to the hall, the captain Christoper kept talking to us and try to make us feel stressfree and relax. After the first dish, he came to us to bring us up to our room for our second outfit, with him he brought along 2 blows of shark fin soup for us to eat while we on the way to the room.

Come to our table to table phototaking, he also coordinate very well with my brothers and photographers and very fast my photoshootings can end within 30 mins for 70tables.

After everything, when we outside sedning our guests off, Christopher even bring 2 bowls of desserts for myself and my hubby.

We really thank them a lot, without all their coordinations and helps, think we will be in a mess with so many tables.

And our guests commented that the dishes all very nice.

Not long after our wedding, I saw in the news that OH Chinese Restuarant Chef awarded champion, forgot what award liao.

Anyway all the best to OH, and thank you very much! Well Done!

 

[ffbear]

Hi, Janice,
ur personal experience sure puts us OH brides-to-be @ ease...
hope tat mine (Nov 06) will be jus as well done... my co-ordinator oso Serene...

 

[lollypop]

Hi Janice
Really comforting to hear all the gd reviews. thanks for sharing.

Hi Jacq
May I like which dishes you have decided on? I'm having my food tasting 2 wks later. Can pls drop me an email [email protected] if not convenient to reveal them here? Thanks.

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi Janice,

Congrats on the wonderful experience u had with OH.. I feel so much better tt there's another OH bride who used them in 2005. I was the lone ranger here for awhile..

 

[lissa]

Hi there,

Just wanna check, what is the printer that OH uses? Think some gals mentioned T-dragon issit? Any others or just 1? And what does their wedding card look like? Does it have the OH logo on it?

I'm now deciding if i should forgo the OH cards altogether and get my own cards. Cos my church ceremony is much bigger than the dinner and I will need more cards for that. Dun wanna give 2 cards to those coming for both church and dinner... so now thinking of designing my own church cards and just using an insert for the dinner invitation. Anyone done this?

If i forgo the OH cards do you think they will let me bargain for other stuff?

Lissa

 

[bride_sept05]

Hi Jocester,

Try their fry udon mee, very nice but a bit spicy, you may ask them reduce some pepper.
The dessert red bean with the "tang yuan" nice also. Overall the dishes all very nice even though i dun have much time to eat. Almost all our guests commented nice.

Lissa: OH using T-dragon for the invitation card. There will use OH logo instead of T-Dragon's logo. Their design nothing much to chose, if you can afford then will advise you to use your own printer, since you need to print for your church wedding. If you have a lot of tables then better use OH's cause can save a lot of money. If you use OH's, you will still need to pay for printing the insert details. I can't remember how much they charge for printing the insert. You may want to check with them first before you engaged your own printer.

 

[lissa]

Hi Janice,

Thanks for your advice. I dun have many tables... around 26 only. Wheras I've got a guest list of 400 - 500 for my church wedding! So i think it might be cost effective to just make one card and add inserts for those invited to the dinner.

Do you have any idea what is T-dragon's website? I've been to focal-ad's website and really like the cards i see there. Wondering if T-dragon will have just as much choice.

Lissa

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi Lissa,

I didn't use T-dragon to print my banquet cards. I did get the cards fr them & got an external printer to print directly onto the cards. I also had another design for my church invites. Same here, more cards required for church

U cld do as what u had mentioned. Have the inserts for those u're inviting to both church & banquet. If so, u can try ISuccess at Bras Basah to do the proper church invites & they can also do the inserts for u.

Another gd place to do inserts is at Hi-Tech in AMK. There's a thread dedicated to cards for more info on gd printers

I doubt u can get any other perks in replacement, but def no harm asking too! heheh, maybe wine or rm for ur helpers..

 

[cajoof]

Hi Jo,
Have sent you an email separately on the dishes I chose.

Hi mehmeh,
We had initially selected the chilled beancurd with mandarin orange for dessert. My hubby had tasted it before somewhere and thot it was going to like the longan beancurd just that it's sprinkled with bits of orange instead of longan. But it turned out that the mandarin orange was in whole pieces instead of sprinkled bits so the taste wasn't appealing to us. So I had it changed to mango pudding instead.

Hi Lissa,
I used an outside printer to print. I knew from the start that i may not be using OH's printer so I had requested for OH to give me the option to exchange for extra parking coupons instead. No harm trying to bargain for other stuff like more bottles of house wine?

Hi Janice,
I'm glad that you shared your experience with us. Definitely makes me feel more assured of what's to come.

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi jacquelyn

ooh, tt dessert tt u had changed sounded quite interesting! But i guess maybe the taste wasn't tt great.. heheh, but u def know tt mango pudding is a very safe option tt wun go wrong. Did u get to try the mango pudding though?

How did u find the presentation of the food? I thot during the food-tasting, the presentation wasn't too well done. But on the AD itself, it turned out quite great! Cld also be due to the feedback we gave to the chef tt we had hoped for more elaborate presentation

 

[lissa]

Hi All,

Thanks for your tips on printers. I'll be going down to T-dragon tomorrow to look at their card designs. If they have some nice designs that are suitable for church as well then we might take complimentary cards and just top up to buy more of the same design. But the website for T-dragon didn't look like they had a lot of choices and i didn't really like the cards i saw on the website. If really can't find anything i like at T-dragon then i'll give up the comp cards and bargain for more parking coupons.

How much more did you manage to bargain for Jac?

Will consider I success & HiTech for my printers. Isuccess is very near my office so i might just pop by to get some quotes.

Btw... any idea if OH has 'Or Nee' for dessert? It wasn't in their dessert choice but that's me and my hubby's favourite dessert. Wonder if can specially request leh?

Lissa

 

[mehmeh_lim]

hi Lissa,

Gd morn! Do hope u wld be able to get nice cards fr TDragon, rem to bargain if u intend to get more cards fr them even for church k?

I used this cream card with bride & groom, cartoon-ish, & they go "We Do!" Quite a different sort of banquet card. I think it cld suit very well for church too. Very contemporary looking, but not elegant if tt's what u're looking for

ISuccess has fairly gd rates, so no harm asking too.. Hope u wun be disappointed, my fren has great reviews of them.

Dun think OH has Or Nee, but again if u really do want, can ask, at most u're expected to top-up?

 

[bride_sept05]

Hi Lissa,
sorry i dun have the T-Dragon website.
But think my reply too late liao, you going to T-dragon, happy choosing.