two steps behind

I am always on the planning side (the do this and that for the couple) of weddings, but not yet am I on the Bride and Groom’s side (the we want this, we want that, we think this is better than this, or actually that is better) to really understand what it takes have a wedding and create that perfect moment for the wedding day.

As a groom without a bride (physically here with me at the event)… I decided to become an interested customer. With my curiosity, I must have asked everything I could of what do you think a bride would want and I would say that 99% of all the wedding items and activities were made for the bride. The groom is just something to complete the image of the wedding.

Let’s get to the review of the Wedding at Conrad…. starting from the moment I drove into the parking lot and the time that I left.

Getting from the road to the parking was very easy, however, walking to the Conrad ballroom was a bit complicated for me (this is something that we must consider if we were to plan a wedding; how convenient is access to the event for the guests) .I was lost in the All Season Place mall for a bit and must have asked a few people, “where is Conrad’s event” If you say that it could be just me that doesn’t know how to get there while the rest of the attendee know somehow? Well, assume yourself to be the guest of a wedding, most of the guest would be coming to Conrad’s for the first time. Parking… is really something that we have to consider and be included in venue decision making process.

I started it off with the 2 smaller rooms on the 2nd floor. The setting is really interesting, a bit glamorous, a tad of relaxing and a touch of luxury. These 2 rooms are great for a cozy wedding ceremony as the setting, the lighting and the size of the room really create the coziness. However, my only comment would be (not relate to the setting), the use of the products that Conrad used to display at the wedding event, I know it wasn’t mean for real event but at least please use FRESH flowers… etc. I find everything to be amazing until I start walk up closer to flower and rose petals on tables only to find out that they are about to wither and die. Sure that the event were only meant as “examples” but the impression I got was that… but the example should really be “EXAMPLE” of how it would be at to have a wedding at the Conrad.

Let’s not focus on the cost saving side too much. Later on I was greeted with a PR (Khun Mu), she was great at assisting me and showing me around (Oh, I didn’t know that the main event was on the 4th floor, until she told me!) Khun Mu wasn’t directly dealing with the wedding planing but she has help me as best to her knowledge and tell me about the schedule of events to later introduce me to Khun Phee, a sales agent (room – not for the wedding). Okay okay,  I see… I guess that because I was flying SOLO without a bride at the wedding huh? So I guess they don’t take me seriously LOL. Anyway, I don’t blame them because the wedding planners are quite busy with other couples that they could really CONFIRM regarding their weddings. However, I’m not complaining… ^_^ Khun Phee was great… we discuss the pros – cons of wedding at different locations and how “PARKING + TRAFFIC” is really my big concern. *By the way we are not in the Grand Ballroom area… the ballroom can be equally partitioned into 3 rooms and that the stage would be set at the back of the 2nd room – creating a stage and the catwalk area. No No, I didn’t like that because I prefer a longer walk way. Can they do it? Of course they can! How many would be attending, he asked… approximately, umm roughly 500. (this number is nothing comparing to a wedding I am attending next week… the total number of guests is about 10,000!! WOOO!!) 500 is a great number, it seems to be the average number of guests that attend a wedding.

The different menus and setups were available such as, Buffets, Chinese tables, and Cocktails. Different types of set ups would result into the different size of capacity for the room. For Chinese table,s the maximum would be 500 guests because the setup would required spaces for tables and chair and to make sure that everyone have seats. For buffets… very similar to Chinese table but (I assume) the number of guests would have to be lower than 500 because they are going to need space to setup food stalls for guests to get their own food. (Except for the VIPs table that the food will be served to them right at the table) Cocktails allow for about 800-900 guests (if I remember correctly) because all it would need were a few tables for the Family while for the FRIENDS we could just let them wonder around the cocktail area. Cocktail and buffets are great for setups that involve more Friends than Family because it’s allow these friends to walk around and meet and greet with each other. While the Chinese table setup is kind of forcing you to not wonder around… SIT! So it’s all depend how would you like the setup to be. I went the “SIT” kind of setup… the Chinese table.

Um… let’s take a break for now. I will continue tomorrow on Conrad wedding planner’s partners.