From the beginning, we planned the wedding to be small (10 tables) and hoped that the venue can be at least meaningful. After researching about 10 venues, we were down to Beaufort, Raffles and Fullerton.Â
Beaufort is slightly at an advantage because we had our first date and marriage proposal there. I was very inclined to this choice already but my then-fiancé agonized over value and impression of a particular hotel. I proceeded to make an appointment anyway with the event manager, Agnes Song at Beaufort.Â
Agnes was cool and calm at the appointment. We had a fruitful session with her, but thought the service was not the warmest that we have seen. As a skeptical person, I thought that the best of a salesperson is at the sales pitch, so I was not impressed.Â
Eventually, we signed up with Beaufort because of the meaning it held for us. Being a diligent bride, I had read about the perks to ask for, and did. However, Agnes was not very accommodating. I thought I played the over-zealous customer too well so Agnes didn't care to entice me with freebies or impress me as a customer. Â
But I was  wrong. In return for our bona-fide loyalty to Beaufort, Agnes has an undying sense of devotion to making our wedding a success, even though we are not big customers at only 10 tables @ Beaufort Ballroom.
For example, she took it upon herself to remind us of when certain milestones need to be completed, like card printing and florist choosing. She would call if emails were not replied. Her responses were always within hours, if not minutes. If I were tardy or piecemeal in my responses, Agnes sucked it up without a word. Whenever we requested to meet at the venue to mull over the decorations, she would be there and arrange for free entry at short notice (like 1hr).Â
But she didn't stop there. We would give her random comments and expect her to come back and say there was nothing she could do, only to have her return with options that required effort and co-ordination with her team at no additional cost. At the food tasting, she took down all our comments and communicated with the chef so that at the actual dinner, the food was mostly enhanced in the way we asked it to be. We asked for flower petals at the banquet tables as confetti and she arranged with the florist (Faye @ Audrey's Floral is also another darling) on our behalf.Â
2 days prior, the groom decided to give Agnes a challenge. The cocktail area was neat but sparse, so we asked if we could have a display of ferrore Roche chocolates like cupcakes. Within minutes, she had gone to her pastry department and worked out several options for decorations, and recommended what would work better than the others. I was terribly sick with stomach flu and had some other miscellaneous stuffs to handle for the family, so my responses were slow. It was Friday and well past 6pm, but Agnes stood-by her phone and replied whatever questions we asked. She was also there on Saturday when the groom went down to deposit the 150 pcs of chocolates at the hotel.
 What also deserved a special mention was that she worked with her banquet team so that the couple received special attention. They were also briefed well on the itinerary so they would be alert as to when the solemnization/banquet/march-in would commence and etc. After the banquet, she  arranged for in-room dining so we won't be hungry at night. The bridal suite was beautiful btw.
We had a good friend as overall wedding co-ordinator, but even then we still surprised ourselves by concluding that the most stress-free part of our wedding was the banquet. The following afternoon as Agnes came to send us off, we thanked her profusely for her exemplary sense of commitment and passion. She just smiled and said that she hoped we liked the personal touches she had done for us.Â
Secretly, we think she owns the hotel and played undercover as events manager for our wedding. How fortunate we are! ^_^
