hi jo, here's my post after my wedding..
Hope it helps!
Posted on Thursday, September 08, 2005 - 4:13 pm: Edit Post Print Post
Hi Ladies,
My wedding was just over the recent weekend, and I had a tremendously gd experience with & at Orchard Hotel.
Like you gers, I was worried about service & the quality of food, but my fears were unfounded.
I'm not sure why, but my husband & myself nor my guests experienced the problems mentioned. It could be because of the coordinator I signed up with?
Just a brief history, I signed up in Sept 2004 for my 4 Sept 2005 dinner. Back then till my AD, I was served by Shirley, who has now left OH. She saw to our every need & gave us the following:
1) 2nd night stay at the bridal suite
2) Free flow of beer
3) Waiver of wine for half the number of tables (ie, 40 tables = 20 bottles of wine waived)
4) Cards for 70% of expected guests
5) Complimentary parking for 30% of expected guests
6) Alternating wedding favours
7) Complimentary parking for our vehicle at the carpark for the 3 days we were at OH
As I went around the tables mingling with guests & taking pix, I made sure I asked all of them how they felt the food & service was. All gave positive comments to the food & service. In fact I only heard 1 complain, that was the Chinese Muslim menu had some dishes which were abit salty.
The waiters/waitresses were quick to serve & a really value-added service was with my long train for my WG, a waitress actually followed me around helping me with the train. I had not request for this, but the banquet captain saw the need I was in & highlighted to tt staff to assist.
For our banquet, we had several perculiar items in the programme which both my coordinator & the banquet ppl saw to their success. Instead of having additional pax as Muslim menu, we converted tables with Muslim guests to Chinese Muslim menu. We requested for a dance floor, and they gave us one suited to our demands. Instead of playing CD music for the march-in, we sang acapella using their cordless mics, which they provided. We did sound testing with the AV technician, and it was smooth during the rehearsal & the actual execution. We also requested for 2 carpark lots as my Granddad's mobility wasn't the most convenient to get around in normal conditions.
In terms of the deco, we had selected this design done by this florist, S. I was most impressed that though OH no longer tied-up with S, they still delivered the design I wanted. Attached is the deco of how the stage was like that night.
OH
I love sharksfin soup, but had to return to the suite when it was served. So I requested for it to be delivered to the suite. And soon after I returned to the suite for the change into the EG, my sharksfin soup was delivered! It even came along with the bottles of pepper & vinegar.
I'm thinking why my guests, husband & myself had a good experience with OH, was how detailed I went thru my prev experience with OH during my org's anniversary dinner. I rem during the event (which was bigger than my wedding), service was rather poor & the AV technician actually played the wrong music for a pair of professional dancers. So with tt in mind, i reminded my coordinator umpteen times that these are things I am taking great care.
In addition, a couple of days prior to the dinner itself, I emailed my coordinator asking if there would be feedback forms on each table, for guests to comment & for the couple to be aware of what went on during the dinner. While there wasn't going to be the feedback forms, my coordintor assured that there would be some form of 'compensation' should there be any areas where guests felt negatively.
Shirley my coordinator actually left OH on 31 Aug, but she continued to serve my needs till my big day. I wasn't informed that actually her colleague, Siew Li, was liasing with me from 1 Sept - 4 Sept, till the day I checked out. For tt matter, I got to commend Shirley's professionalism, as she turned up during the time where we were running through the programme & special needs before the actual banquet.
Just FYI, the package I signed for the banquet at OH for weekends is priced at $698+++, which comes up to about $815 or so.
This is my first-hand account of OH & I do hope that couples who have signed up would not be overtly worried by some experiences others have had. I guess, for many banquets, there probably are positive & negative experiences. Thankfully mine was positive!
For current OH brides & those considering, you can sure post ur enquiries here & I wld surely answer to the best of my knowledge
So dark n old!
