Wednesday 24 December 2014

Meet the In-laws Session!!

*nervous* Finally the day for both our parents to meet has arrived. After sourcing high and low for a venue, we settled for Whole Earth as my parents happened to be Vegetarian for that day and we wanted a informal yet cozy place to dine.
 
Whole Earth is one of the more well-known vegetarian restaurants in Singapore, they serve modern Peranakan-Thai vegetarian cuisine and they are located at:
76 Peck Seah St
Singapore 079331
Tanjong Pagar MRT exit A
Tel No: 63233308
Daily Opening Hours: 11.30am to 3pm and 5.30pm to 9.30pm
 
You can check out www.wholeearth.com.sg for their extensive menu. As they are highly popular, it is advisable to make a reservation before heading down.
There were 7 of us and we ordered:
1 Cold yuzu orange (S$4.50 each)
6 Lemongrass drink (S$5.50 each)
6 Brown / white rices (S$2 each)
Medium steam jade wrap (S$19)
Thai mango tamarind fish (S$18)
5 spice nhor hiang roll (S$12)
Oatmeal tofu with curry leaves (S$15)
Penang rendang (S$19)
 
Total bill: S$149.85 after Svc charge & GST
 
The oatmeal tofu with curry leaves and penang rendang are two of their Top 12 dishes. We felt that the price was slightly expensive especially $2 for white rice, but we were highly satisfied with the food quality that we swear that we will be back for more especially the penang rendang, super yums! :D The tamarind fish wasn't my cup of tea as it was really sour in my opinion, my tolerance for sour food is really low so I won't be a good judge for that dish but the family said it was nice haha.  
 

The restaurant was bustling with people and the staff were very polite and efficient :) recommended for any gathering. Except for meet the in-laws session hahaha, because they only had long tables so it was a little tough to talk and hear the conversation at the other end. J and I weren't able to hear what my parents request for, for the guo da li items and pin jin (dowry) and was worried if his parents are ok with the requests and all. But we could see them laughing and chatting so we assumed all was fine and focus on our food haha.
 
At the end of the lunch meet, my parents actually told me that they did not request any pin jin and table money from J or his parents but 四点金 (si dian jin) is a must because we are Teochew and about 10 boxes of cakes for our relatives. Hiphip hurray to my parents for loving us and understanding that couples nowadays need the angbao money received from guests to offset the banquet costs :) I'm feeling truly blessed. And I'm glad our parents seem to have gotten on fine :)
 
Credits: Photos taken and edited by Sis
 
PetiteFreckles ♥

Sunday 14 December 2014

Wedding Venue Confirmed: Marina Bay Sands

Last but not least, MBS!

Address: 10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018972

In the midst of a desperate search for a wedding venue in Singapore, I chanced upon MBS' brochure while clearing my room. We actually went to check out their wedding show earlier in the year and liked it a lot but didn't think much about it because the price for Saturday was slightly out of our budget (that was before we decided to have 2 wedding receptions). And lo and behold, few months back we decided to have 2 separate receptions and the Singapore reception so happened to fall on a Sunday! Since Sunday's dinner price was within our budget, I quickly contacted MBS and made an arrangment for a discussion before deciding whether to sign the package.

Aih Kim, our wedding coordinator responded promptly and after meeting up with her, we made a few enquiries before signing up on the spot. We also chose the Simpor Junior Ballroom on the 4th floor with the reception area overlooking the promenade. Nice!

2015 Weekend Wedding Dinner:
Saturday- $1388/ $1588 ++ per table of 10 persons
Sunday- $1288/ $1588 ++ per table of 10 persons
  
Pros:
  • Awesome bridal suite (based on photos on their website haha)
  • Accessible via Promenade MRT
  • Good reception size, especially the 4th Level that overlooks the promenade
  • Arrangements for changing room to be very near the ballroom
  • Pillarless for all ballrooms
  • Flexible and prompt wedding coordinator
  • Acceptably nice themes
  • Wedding invitation cards includes printing
Cons:
  • Low ceiling
  • Require quite abit of walking from MRT to convention and from the hotel room
  • Expensive parking
  • Not many nice wedding favours to choose from
  • $8K for deposit
 
 
After signing up, they had a wedding show 2 months later, so we decided to go down and take a look at the venue again :)

 
 
So there you have it, our wedding venue have been selected. Awesome much! One more worry settled :D
 
PetiteFreckles ♥

Saturday 6 December 2014

Selection of Wedding Venue: Swissotel The Stamford


My friend had her wedding at Swissotel and the food wasn't bad with no complains so we decided to head down to their wedding show to check out the venue and packages.
 
Address: 2 Stamford Road, Singapore 178882
 
They have banquet halls that can cater to the following numbers:
  • Fairmont (min. 100 tables, max. 190 tables),
  • Canning (min. 70 tables, max. 100 tables),
  • Padang (min. 35 tables, max. 48 tables),
  • Stamford  (min. 45 tables, max. 60 tables) and
  • Atrium (min. 20 tables, 30 tables max).
2015 Weekend Wedding Dinner:
Saturday- $1238/ $1638 ++ per table of 10 persons
Sunday- $1188/ $1638 ++  per table of 10 persons
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
Pros:
  • Awesome bridal suite
  • Centrally located - near City Hall MRT and shopping malls
  • Good reception size
  • Pillarless and high ceiling for most of the ballrooms
  • Unique wedding favours
  • Ice sculpture with salad dips
  • Generally nice themes
Cons:
  • Average service from service staff
  • Low ceiling for the smaller ballroom
Reason for not selecting: Due to overwhelming response, there wasn't any available ballrooms for our big day :( So they recommended Equinox which was very nice but wasn't able to cater to our table requirement. So we had to search for other venues -.-
 
PetiteFreckles ♥

Sunday 30 November 2014

Ah Hoi's Kitchen @ Trader's Hotel

Ah Hoi's Kitchen is relatively well-known for their seafood dishes. We are so lucky to have won a S$50 meal voucher at a wedding show! So one evening after work, we headed down to the restaurant for a sumptious meal. Oh by the way, Trader's Hotel had a change in management and is now called Hotel Jen.

We ordered some appetizers: Paper chicken ($9) and crispy squid ($10). And other dishes such as shimeiji beancurd ($15), deep-fried eggplant with chicken floss ($14), Indonesian crab with some special sauce ($32) and a young cocont ($6.50). Total cost was $103.

Verdict:
  • The food was excellent- very fresh and flavourful
  • Prompt service and all their staff were very polite
  • Ambience felt like a nostagic country club
 
PetiteFreckles ♥

Sunday 16 November 2014

Selection of Wedding Venue: Traders Hotel

I have heard many good reviews for Traders' Hotel's banquet food, so we decided to register for the wedding show and it was a pleasant experience!

Address: 1A Cuscaden Road, Singapore 249716

They have 3 banquet halls- The Gallery (min. 22 tables, max. 30 tables), Temasek  (min. 15 tables, max. 19 tables) and Malacca room (min. 12 tables, 16 tables max)
Weekend Wedding Dinner:
Jan to Aug 2015- $1238/ $1318 nett per table of 10 persons
Sept to Dec 2015- $1299/ $1399 nett per table of 10 persons
 
 
 
 
 
Pros:
  • Excellent service staff- prompt and friendly
  • Food quality is excellent and super delicious
  • Relatively large reception area for the smaller ballroom
  • Pillarless for the smaller ballroom
  • Reasonable price
  • Polite service staff
  • Pretty candybar
Cons:
  • Even though it is located in Orchard but you will have to take about 15 mins to walk in
  • Pillar for the grand ballroom
  • Small reception area for the grand ballroom
We couldn't decide on the spot as J wasn't too keen as he said the feel of it was too old so we didn't sign up. We KIV-ed Traders' and visited other hotels. We didn't get to see the bridal suite, like many hotels they claim that they are on 100% occupancy so we will only be able to see their photos. I prefer to see the physical bridal suite to gauge the condition of the room though.
 
So happened while visiting other hotels during the next few months, Traders' had another show again so I persuaded J to go with me and decide if we should shortlist Traders or not. But after the 2nd visit we decided not to select it as the sales person/wedding coordinator had very poor attitude - can't really be bothered to answer our questions and in addition the Temasek room we wanted was slightly odd if we have 19 tables as one of the table will be blocked by the door when we do the march in. It will be more comfortable to have 18 tables which will not be enough to cater to our expected 190 guests.
 
    
PetiteFreckles ♥