♫ Lenardily .

♥ Love is

patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7(NIV)

Monday 24 December 2012 @ 23:20

Our search for our banquet venue!

❤

If you have any friends who are getting married or have gotten married, or if you are a Singaporean, you would have heard about how wedding banquet venues need to be booked as early as a year in advance! Anxious that we actually have in fact less than a year, we began an insane amount of emailing once our date was fixed! One website which I had found really useful was the Singapore Brides Wedding Banquet List 2013. Not only do they list down the hotels/ prominent Chinese restaurants/ country clubs in alphabetical order, they include details such as the max/min number of tables for each venue and even the estimated prices (: Looking at that website allowed me to narrow my range of hotels!

During the process of finding our venue, we actually needed to make some changes to our preferred dates. We had considered having the banquet on the day after the solemnization as we had thought of having celebration a close-friends-and-relatives-only dinner + party. However, after we had changed forgone our very initial solemnization plan of having it at Lenard's place, we decided that it just might be better to have our banquet on the same day so that we can just have a one-day-long celebration! Plans really do change very often in wedding planning but I am just really glad that we are all rather positive about all the changes and options available. And it IS true, that with 9 months to go, quite a number of banquet venues have already been snapped up so early planning is essential indeed.

To cut the long story short, after about two to three weeks of emailing, we are blessed to have shortlisted our three favourite venues and coincidentally, they are all at Sentosa! So after corresponding with the wedding managers at each venue, we made our way down to Sentosa last Friday to have our site visits. Although Lenard had to work and was not able to make the trip down, we were very fortunate to have his entire family (Lenard's parents, his brothers, Darryl and Alvin and Alvin's girlfriend, Samantha! Loves!) to provide support and go down with me! (:

The first venue we visited was Capella. Capella's service has been impeccable and their wedding manager, Shierly is attentive and efficient in responding to our queries and needs. Other than the great service, Capella itself is breath-taking. Every bit of the hotel's decor exudes colonial charm and one can easily forget you are in Singapore when you are there. It is almost like we are away on some private island on our own. If you are looking for a rather intimate romantice wedding, I think this will be the perfect place to hold it.

Lenard's mum at the patio of Capella.

The first floor which will be entirely booked for the couple on the wedding day.

The view from the room used for solemnization,

Alternate solemnization venue: The Portico

Love the tall doors to the ballroom!

The only round ballroom in Singapore.

Part of Capella's thoughtful package for wedding couples - Separate dress-up/ preparation rooms for the bride and groom. With Capella's wonderful wedding coordinator - Shierly (:

The bride's preparation room - spacious with lots of thought put into catering the bride's needs in one room.

Next, we have W Hotel Sentosa. It is a very new hotel that only opened in Sept 2012 and hence, we are very excited to check it out as well. The vibe of this hotel really contrasts with that of Capella. If Capella is vintage romance, W is new-age trendy. From the moment we stepped into the lift with red leather walls to the lounge music at the hotel's lobby, the entire experience is almost like we were in a hip and new club. However, the Great Room (their ballroom) is classy and has a touch of whimsy in it with the flower sculptures hanging at the ceilings. W's coordinator, Lynnette has been trying her best amidst this bust period for the hotel and we are thankful to have her assistance in this matter (:

W Sentosa's Great Room! We will be here on the 14th of September 2013!(:

The cocktail area outside of the ballroom.

The enchanting ballroom with its flower sculptures (:

Deck area outside of the ballroom and cocktail area.

Function room to be used for solemnization in case of rain.

W's lawn, with a huge candy sculpture. A sweet beginning?

Solemnization at the lawn (: help us pray for good weather!

Our final destination is Amara Sanctuary Sentosa, which is almost next to Capella. Famed for its beautiful Glass Pavilion where many held their solemnization, it also offers a relaxing and resort-like feel to its guests. Amara's staff were very efficient in making arrangements for our impromptu site visit after they realized that the original staff who had been corresponding with us had left the company without a proper hand-over of our case.

One of its kind Glass Pavilion at Amara Sanctuary.

Glass pavilion complete with clear chairs.

Ballroom of Amara.

So all 3 of the wedding venues above had their own uniqueness and appeal. However, our decision came down to the size of each banquet venue. After coming up with a draft guest list, we estimated the number of guests to exceed 40 tables. Of all 3 hotels, only W Sentosa's Great Room was able to accommodate our desired number of guests comfortably! With the support of our parents and God's favour, we will be confirming the banquet date at W Sentosa with Lynette once she is back from her leave!

0 Holler here! ♫

Credits : layout by noturcupoftea . background image by fivepointsapart . &hearts