There I was, resting after my very first friendly pre-wedding photo. The Mall that we took the photo, unfortunately I couldn’t remember the name of the place, is opposite of the Crystal Park, Bangkok. Here, I felt as if I were in the U.S.A. again because, to be more exact, it’s reminded me of the Arcadia shopping mall, Arcadia, CA.
But anyway, what I love the most about this shopping center is… the light-up wall and semi transparent wall. It’s reminded me of SCI_Arc, Southern California Institute of Architecture, administration office and the design of the place is quite simple and modern. Make me want to start designing again, but perhaps not yet.
For now, taking it easy… slowly but surely, for once
how the cake would look, round – square – layer – cupcake ?
the arrangement of flower… the colors?
the color of the table cloth, red, green, blue, pink? or just plain white?
the location… Ballroom, island, beach, skydiving ?
the ice sculpture… oh yes, in Thailand it is very common to have an ice sculpture as part of the wedding decoration.!
the type of food that is served…
the guest of honor… dad, mom, … Mr President? ??? ??
the brides maid…?
the best man! ?
…
..
.
the list continues… on and on.
I too… have my dream… a dream to, one day, make others dreams come true.
One couple at a time.
In the end, I believe that that most important part of the wedding itself is not the wedding… but the one you love.
The answer to the previous post…
…the entrance to The InterContinental Bangkok.
Welcome to the InterContinental Bangkok!
Today is a very important day, at least for me because it is the last day of my training BUT… yes there is a BUT…. but it is not the last day that I will be coming to the hotel.
As for every ending… a new journey begins.
I’ll Be BaCk! (imitating the voice of Arnold from Terminator) which reminded me of a scene in the movie. Check the youtube.
He came back alright… with a BANG! And soon, will I… perhaps not the exact same way he did
After months of walking past what I thought was just a decorative statue, I came to realize that this is no ordinary simple statue. The realization came when I noticed people paying respect by “wai” to the statue
“The wai is the Thai greeting and show of respect, indicated by pressing your palms together near your chest and bowing…
The wai is a unique, graceful action practiced throughout Thailand. It plays a very important part in showing respect and is central to Thai etiquette. For the most part Thais do not want to touch your sweaty, grubby little hands, so it’s a good idea to learn how to wai. The European kiss-on-each-cheek-greeting will certainly alarm a Thai, especially if you are a man doing this to a woman who isn’t your wife or girlfriend!”
After much curiosity about this statue that everyone wai to every time they walk by, I asked around to find out that the statue is Narayana on garuda, aka Pra Narai Song Suban.
I have yet to find out about the historical significant of Pra Narai Song Suban, however, I will update with more details after a bit more research.
Problem: The majority of office employees rarely have the time or the capital to shop at the high-end luxury malls.
Solution: We bring the mall right down to you at very affordable price!
Many of the pavements along the street in Bangkok turn into a market from 5:00 pm to approximately 11:00 pm depending on the location and the foot traffic of each place. The market are filled with all sorts of things that you can imagine, from a pair of socks to a Rolax watch,.. no, it’s not a Rolex! It’s a Rolax! At certain point, the streets would be way too crowded for anyone to walk as everyone would be stopping at a vendor, buying their things. To some pedestrians, they see that as a problem because they can’t walk to where they want to, however to the vendor… the more the crowded, the more the foot traffic… the better because that give the vendor more chances to sell their product. How? Because heavily foot traffic – that come to a stop at some point – allow the pedestrians to notice the products more, hence a higher chance for the vendor to sell.
This picture was taken across the street from the Central World, Bangkok at 10:30 pm. You can notice the clock on the top right of the picture. Yup it’s late… but not for us, the Bangkokian.
“Bangkok, is trying to solve traffic problems by elevating all of its transportation routes above the original street.” a saying that I heard from many of my friends. The way they said it was more like sarcasm, as if it was a bad thing. In their understanding, which I also agree, that Bangkok should have solve traffic problem from the core of the problem which is… the way that people drive, the traffic lights, the law and regulation that should be enforced more strictly to keep Bangkok’s streets in order.
A taxi driver would stop their car anywhere to pick up a passenger,
a bus would stop anywhere and make a u-turn anywhere it see fits,
while a motorcycle-taxi and a tuk-tuk are trying to drive pass thru the gap between cars in traffic,
street vendor are taking up the space on the road, turning a lane into a street market.
Unbelievable ! It’s a good idea for us to solve from the core of the problem but how can we when what we perceive as a problem is the culture and the way of life on how people are living. We simply can’t tell them to re-live their life… but what we can do is, adapt to their culture… and renovate from with in.
“The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand is the supreme law of Thailand. Since the change from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional democracy in 1932,
…
1932 Constitution of Thailand
The People’s Party, facing an internal power struggle and opposition from the King, promulgated a permanent constitution in 10 December 1932 that gave the monarchy a significant increase in authority compared to the temporary charter. The day is currently celebrated as Constitution Day.
The constitution continued to state that sovereign power belonged to the people of Siam. However, unlike the temporary charter, the monarchy would now be the direct exerciser of that power, rather than the branches of government. This royal power would be exercised by and with the advise and consent of the People’s Assembly, the State Council (the cabinet), and the Courts. However, the monarchy lacked any say in the composition of any of the branches of government and the royal veto could still be overruled. The monarchy was also made “sacred and inviolable”, in contrast to the temporary charter.”
I’m back… just for a little bit, before I got to get down (back to work) again.
So, for most of the time that I have been gone are to “learn how to” handle wedding after wedding. FUN FUN FUN!
I love this theme very much… crimson red!
“Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will”
a very inspiring quote that keep me going days after days!
Love make you blind but…
wedding will open your eyes…
It’s a saying that most, if not all, people find it to be true… absolutely not all people because, not all lovers have their wedding, not yet anyway.
The wedding day is the happiest day of the wedding couple. It is the day that the couple taking their first step together, to create and start a family. By announcing to the world that they will spend the rest of their life as husband and wife, together from this moment on.
Wedding is not end result of love, instead it is the beginning of their journey. It is a journey of two people that grow up from different places, had different experience in life, born from different family, believing and seeing the world from different point of views…
…two people that has absolutely nothing in common to begin with
to make a vowed that they would spend the rest of their life together because…
they… forgot about all the reasons why something may not work and found one good reason why it will,
whatever that reason may be…
This picture was taken on the pedestrian bridge between the Central World mall and the Gaysorn Plaza a few nights ago. Normally, the street would be filled with cars so badly with traffic, that in order to get from the pedestrian bridge where I took the picture to the next pedestrian bridge that is about 400 meters away could take up to 50 minutes! That was from my own personal experience on a night where my co-workers and I were trying to go out for a game of tennis. That was the only time that I would ever go out for a tennis again because we must have stuck in the car for more than an hour for what could have been a 15 minutes trip.
That was one of the many dreadful experiences I had with Bangkok’s traffic.
After walking for so long, I have finally stopped to rest by the stepping pool in front of Siam Paragon, Bangkok, Thailand where all the lighting were fully decorated, ready for Christmas. The walkways were full of locals and tourists alike, taking pictures with each other for the other or taking pictures of themselves… by extending out one hand and turning the camera back, posing… and just take the picture. It was very enjoyable to be able to relax and just let everything become white noise and just let the time and space take over the mind.
While I was resting there, it reminded me of the time that I took the picture of a standing tree in the middle of the frozen lake in Northern Vancouver, Canada last year. Hum… It’s that time again already?
Santa Claus is coming to town!!! I am not worried if Santa would visit Canada, but I am concern if he would be able to make it thru Bangkok traffic! Good luck Santa. Here’s a few tips for Santa; learn how to take a BTS or MRT train.
According to this gigantic Christmas tree in front of the Zen mall (aka Central World, Bangkok) that is across the street from my wor place, apparently, Christmas is here already… Even thought I don’t get to see the sunset, I am able to enjoy the night simply enough with only 5 minutes walking. Listening to music and just relaxing at the water fountain was a very pleasing experience and peaceful.
Well, better start getting your hands on the tree… or it won’t be ready and nicely decorated, as if it wasn’t enough time, by Christmas!
In today’s world, is marriage still relevant? Unlike a hundred years ago, a couple today can live together without getting married. What are they missing? (This is not a theoretical question for me…)
Answer:
Marriage is more relevant today than ever before in history. Marriage used to be a given. Now it is a choice. All the old arguments for marriage have fallen away, and we are left with only one true reason to get married. We can finally get married for the right reason.
What were once good reasons to get married are largely irrelevant today. Here are four classic reasons to get married:
So we can live together. As you pointed out in your question, this reason no longer applies to the many couples who live happily together without getting married.
So we can have children. Again, it is possible to have children and be wonderful parents without getting married.
To make a solid commitment. That’s a charming one. We are getting married to make it harder to walk away from each other. How romantic.
To make our relationship official. You could achieve that by placing an announcement in the newspaper saying, “We are now official.” You don’t need a caterer to serve gazpacho soup in a ballroom just to make it official.
So what are we left with? If not to live together, to start a family, to make a commitment or to make it official, why get married?
There’s only one reason.
Marriage makes a relationship divine. Getting married means that something bigger than both of you is bringing you together. A wedding achieves something that simply can’t happen otherwise — G-d is introduced into the relationship.
Until they are married, a couple’s commitment to each other is a human commitment, with all the limitations of being human. We can’t see the future, we can’t know what may change and what may eventuate, and we make mistakes. The chuppah elevates the commitment beyond human limitations. The blessings made under the chuppah invoke G-d’s name upon the couple, and bring G-d into the union as a partner. You are married not just because you chose to be, but because G-d has said so.
Without a chuppah you can have love, commitment and family — but it isn’t holy. Only by standing under a chuppah and marrying according to tradition does your union become sacred. Only after the wedding is your love blessed with the divine imprint of eternity.
I find it to be a very interesting perspective… to make the commitment holy and sacred. Why? So that your love blessed with the divine imprint of “ETERNITY”
But who would believe in this kind of idea anymore?
*Photo taken … yesterday while the couple were rehearsing for their ceremony that about to start in an hour! WHY DO WE NEED TO REHEARSE a WEDDING?????? I just don’t get it!
My car broke down. Well, it wasn’t really broken but it’s DEAD because I happened to have left the headlights on all day. Well, what can I do? TAXI!!! But the night was still young, so I spent the time walking around my work place. After 4 months of working here, with the Erawan shrine across the street, I must have passed this shrine hundreds of time but never really stop there, not until today.
At the shrine, it is full of energy vibes where people from around the world come here to pray, wishing for luck and success in business and LOVE. Once their “wishes” came true… they would come back to the shrine again to make offering (Thai Traditional dance) as a tribute to the shrine. The Legend start with an old lady asked for success in her business and promised to dance to the shrine in return if success. As time passed, her business went prosperous… so she returned and danced to the shrine.
The shrine is at the intersection of Ratchadamri Road and Ratchaprasong Road in Pathum Wan district. The nearby shopping plaza would be, Central World, Gay Sorn Plaza, Amarin Plaza… you can’t miss it!
Isn’t this amazing!!! This is a “normal” sight to be seen here at Yaowarat street, Bangkok.
I AM SPEECHLESS!
But isn’t it fun to look at these cables going EVERYWHERE from roof to roof, window to window, inside to outside, ground to roof,… well, really EVERYWHERE!
This is an example of simply something that I love about Bangkok. The beauty in these mess and the ability to make use of the SPACES are just UNBELIEVABLE
You may kiss the bride…
NOT!!! Not a part of the Thai Wedding Tradition.
The wedding season is officially here! However, I wonder what makes November and December the wedding season? Because of the cold weather or simply to cerebrate the years end and the start of the new year together. Thai Wedding Tradition is much more complicated than any of those I can imagine. It involves many steps and processes that the couple must go thru before they get to start their life together. Here are a rough outline of the processes.
ขันหมาก: Khan Makk
ขบวนขันหมาก: The Khan Makk Procession
พิธีกั้นประตู : Barring the Groom from Approaching the Bride
พิธีนับสินสอด : Counting the dowry
พิธีรับไหว้ : Paying respects to the Elders พิธีหลั่งน้ำพระพุทธมนต์ : Water Pouring สวมมงคล : Mong Kol
การเจิม : Scahet Powder
พิธีปูที่นอน – ส่งตัว : The Nuptial Bed
The picture today represent part of the Water Pouring process.
“The pouring of water is the most important part of the Thai wedding ceremony as it is during this part of the ceremony that the couple officially become husband and wife . Traditionally, this was all that was required to validate the marriage, but nowadays the couple are also required to obtain a marriage certificate from the Amphur or local registration office.
Before the water pouring can take place the couple must seat themselves at the traditional water pouring tables (Tung Rod Nam), with the bride to the left of the groom.”
Anyway… the “You may kiss the bride…” process is after the – “พิธีปูที่นอน – ส่งตัว : The Nuptial Bed”. An FYI, just in case you were wondering about when does the groom get to kiss the bride… ASSUMING that she is not to tired from the ceremony.
If you think, planning for a wedding is hard? Think again! Because the hardest part is for the bride and groom to actually try to survive thru the ceremony!
It must have been weeks ago that I went to this restaurant with my family for a relaxing lunch by the river. It was really confusing regarding how to get to this restaurant, left here, right there, u-turn here, left again there…….. OMG there were TONS of TURNS before I get to pull up to the parking lot of the restaurant.
Once stepping out from the car, walking to the table… I knew that it worth the hassle of getting there because it’s so nice and quiet with the breeze of fresh air, remote from the busy world.
It was the first time after 10 years that I got to enjoy the Loy Krathong Festival in Thailand.
Location… at the Chulalongkorn University, Thailand… the University that I probably would have went to if I were to continue my studies in Thailand. I have realized how much I have missed out by not staying in Thailand. The fun, the food, and the friendships that are everywhere here at CU. Everyone seem to know each other like brothers and sisters, they always look out for each other.
I was going to float the KraThong as well, but there are so many “urban legend” about the “circumstance” that would have happen if one, or a couple were to Loy (float) a KraThong together. Who am I to challenge the legend??? That is why I ended up NOT Loy any KraThong for the nigth.
Disappointed…? NOT AT ALL.
The time I spent there for an hour or so was a blast! It was very memorable just by simply eating, drinking and listening to musics from different bands of different faculties. However it was one band… the CU Band I enjoyed the most because they mixed the marching band instruments with pop music! Amazing!
Chilling by the pool, watching the fireworks, listening to musics… and just wasted the night away
After a long day at work, where else would be a better place to spend the money that you just earned, than at this night market in Bangkok. In the day, Bangkok is well known for its amazing traffic where walking is actually faster than driving. By night, the foot traffic pick up rapidly and markets are likely the place that they will go for food, shopping, drinking or simply just walking.
I, too, am one of the ordinary Bangkokians who likes to spend my nights exploring Bangkok (whenever I get the chance) as much as I can because there are so many surprises in EVERY CORNER in BANGKOK. Victory Point is one of the night markets that I ran into accidentally while photography the Victory Monument. I focued so much on the Monument that I didn’t notice the market just around the corner until later on. Later on meaning, just minutes before I left the area.
Seriously… Bangkok is full of surprises…
well hidden… awaiting to be explored.
This is from another perspective since the last time that I visit Sao Ching Cha (The great Giant Swing of Bangkok).
As much as I would like to type, I couldn’t due to a very irritating cough I am having these past few days that has prevented me from having a decent conversation because I have had to stop, to cough every now and then (or stop typing every now and then)
You may thought that I am blogging this at 4am because I had so much work that I had to finish (makes me look dedicated and all.) In fact, I am blogging at 4am because after hours of trying to sleep, I have failed to succeed!
Why? The cough… that’s the reason! Any suggestions for cough medicine?
Listening hasn’t been this much fun! Well, some of us probably know how I am sometimes, if not all the time. I love to talk and talk. However I couldn’t talk much because of my sore throat, which I am trying to heal with… a cough syrup, cough spray… and Vitamin C. Beside those, I am currently taking another 3 types of anti-allergy medicines! Mix all of that together… I have never ever been taking so many medication in my life. LOL… BLAMEcGLOBAL WARMING!
Wasn’t being able to talk much wasn’t a bad thing as I get to… listen to the conversations that were going on tonight at Red Sky on the rooftop of Centara Grand Bangkok. The view from the Red Sky is amazing and that I am planning to get up there again for a few pictures.
Ahh Centara Grand is the tallest building presented in the picture. The display light change from red to yellow to orange to blue to … on and on…!!! Ahh!!! It’s so hard to explain with words! I guess I’ll have to find sometime to take the picture from the Red Sky to show what I am talking about!
The night ended, too early, with me knocking for security to let me out of a building… although I thought that I wouldn’t be able to get out of the building because the security may have been sleeping LOL, but when I arrived at the door – another security had just arrived! Just in time to let me out of the building. YAH!
I figured that, as long as we believe that everything is going to be fine, then it shall be… more than fine. So let us not worry and hope for the best… knowing that HOPE achieves the IMPOSSIBLE.
Humm… Sunset!!! The moment that I haven’t experienced for a while, because I only get off work after the sun… already SET Oh well… I guess I won’t be seeing many sunsets for a while.
On another topic… tomorrow is going to be the first day that I’ll be shadowing the Wedding Planner!!! THE BIGGG DAY! Yup!
—
Oh oh… I got this forward email… very interesting thought on FOOD and DIET!
what do you think?? !!! I sorta agree with him!
Q: Doctor, I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it… don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.
Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products. Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake? A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!
Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? A: Can’t think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain…Good!
Q: Aren’t fried foods bad for you? A: YOU’RE NOT LISTENING!!! ….. Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they’re permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?
Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle? A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.
Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another bean!!! Beans are good for you. It’s the best feel-good food around!
Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.
Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle? A: Hey! ’Round’ is a shape!
Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.
And remember:
‘Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways – Chardonnay in one hand – chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ‘WOO HOO, What a Ride’
AND…..
For those of you who watch what you eat, here’s the final word on nutrition and health. It’s a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
Ever feel like when the day is gonna be over so that the night can begin? I guess everyone must have one of those moments as I have been feeling that way for weeks now. Sure work is very interesting and I do enjoy working and learning new things but there are times to work and times to relax.
Each day… is about 12 hours at work then home for another 8 hours.
The gap between work and home is really something worth looking forward to.
Blogging has been really hard recently due to problems with the hosting server (dreamhost) that has been very unstable due to “unknown reasons” according to the DH representative. Most of the time that the problems occur, it happens just right before my bed time (the time that I normally blog)
So I end up only uploading photos to FLICKR and believe it or not… FLICKR was down the other day too, so I couldn’t upload the pictures or even blog on Flickr! Sigh…
All these uncertainties that seem to keep happening non stop are really driving me to the edge… of a river… to REST, and just fall asleep some where, with the breeze from fresh air, sounds of the chilling wind, and the soothing scent of the nearby flowers. I need a really good rest sometime these days!
Just can’t seem to find any opportunities for it yet.
As far as I remember, these were the partners that attended the Conrad wedding event.
Seasons Spa,
Pro Master Creations,
Cattleya,
Ganit,
Sirena,
Laura Mercier
and Dynasty Collection….
*update 3 Nov 2009.
Apparently, I have this post drafted!! (Did not notice that… until today now)
I started to wonder, after attended a few weddings of my friends and families, whose the wedding are for… really?
The Bride? The Groom? or their Families?
Because, feedback that I get from wedding attendees (guests, guest of honors, friends and families) are that, coming to anyone wedding are full of hassles that the guests are normally stuck with the traditional wedding routine which are…
Driving to the wedding and TRY and HOPE that they will find parking,
WALK and walk and keep walking to the function room, which they have absolutely NO IDEA where it is located!
Make sure that they actually enter the correct Wedding events (believe it or not, there are those that enter the wrong wedding)
Sign the greeting / congratulation book for the couple and receive the wedding souvenir…
If the couple are not too busy, you may get to take the picture with the couple and try to SMILE your best! This is the “one minute” that is the entire reason why everyone dress up so nice! Just for this… one minute with the couple.
And then… proceed into the room and look for the familiar face so that you could join them at the table
Start your mingling… blah blah blah… and stuck there for another hours or so
“Try” to enjoy the food and the music because you will be too busy to say hello to everyone that greet you.
Need restroom? better be prepare because it always a long line at restroom.
Once the ceremony is over, do not expect that you could just walk out… straight to the parking lot and just… DRIVE OFF! Because, there are so many people you are going to meet at this moment. The common phrase would be… “hey! you came, we didn’t see you! where did you sit? when did you arrive? who did you come with…” ON AND ON. This could take up to an hour of mingling outside the door of the wedding room.
Okay… off to the parking! Problems are they don’t normally remember where they park the cars! Well, this is a good time to burn out all those food we just ate!
Found your car? Good… and good luck getting out of the parking because there are many other like you that trying to leave the parking as well, so just stay chill!
Soon enough, HOME.
*These are simply feedback that I get from my friends and families and… myself from weddings that I have attended.
However, I find these facts to be fascinating because it give raise to a question,
HOW DO I PLAN a WEDDING that doesn’t BORE our GUESTs to SLEEP!????
I believe that a wedding shouldn’t matter on the size of the guests attending the event, nor its luxuriousness…
A wedding should be memorable for the BRIDE, the GROOM… and most important of all… for friends and FAMILIES because they are the witness to the vowed that couple committed to love each other.
WELL, well, well…., after all these FRIENDS and FAMILIES are the people that bring you $$$$$$$$ ^_^ so… better be nice to them! LOL
Continued from the previous post yesterday on Conrad wedding planner’s partners.
Ahh to clarify… why would my wedding in 2052 (AD) ? I don’t know? apparently, perhaps, maybe, it was foretold by a fortuneteller, palm-reader or a psychic. Or maybe it was just a number that was made up so I can look forward to… it’s only 43 years from now… I should be 70 and have EVERYTHING planed and ready for my PERFECT wedding! I wonder who made that number up… hum???… Oh wait or perhaps she meant 2552 (Buddhist Era or BE) which is actually equal to 2009 AD… which is THIS YEAR!!! Wooo! that’s quick!
Anyway, let’s get back to the review on Conrad wedding planner’s partners. As far as I remember, these were the partners that attended the event. Seasons Spa, Pro Master Creations, Cattleya, Ganit, Sirena, Laura Mercier and Dynasty Collection.
Um… may I continue this tomorrow kindna wanna sleep already. There is just so much to talk about that I wouldn’t want to rush into finishing it. Okay… Tomorrow it is
*The photo: Invitation cards and wedding souvenirs by Cattleya. Aren’t they amazing!
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.
Street vendors, tuk tuks, traffic cones, and traffic… a familiar sight to be seen here in Bangkok. Hungry or thirsty… you can find varieties of food along the street… tastes great but eat at your own RISK. LOL.
A simply great evening at the Suan Lum night bazaar… and then dinner… and then ice cream… and then… NO AND THEN! Actually and then… back to this traffic filled street… SIGH!
It was Sunday afternoon that I went to a temple, Wat Rai King, hoping to get some pictures of the Sunset. Unfortunately… it was starting to rain by the time I arrived. It was more of a storm rather than a normal rain. Thunder, lightening, strong winds and big drops of rain were pouring down heavily that afternoon.
I guess that was the end of the afternoon… no shots of anything, but I was so wrong. I passed by these lotus leaves just before it rained and I didn’t find it to be interesting… UNTIL THE STORM came!
Beauty is really… all around, especially in the worse case scenario where we often assumed that, that was it… the end of the world.
Open up… and we shall see that the world isn’t so cruel…
Oh well… I guess I won’t be seeing many sunsets for a while.
