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Wednesday 15 June 2016

UPDATE: Grand Hyatt Our Choice For Wedding Venue Part 2

June 15, 2016 0 Comments
First and foremost, I've got to apologize for the long hiatus from blogging and an even BIGGER apology to those that have emailed/commented on my post on choosing Grand Hyatt for our wedding. Life has been busy busy busy, earning money for our upcoming house and what not. On top of that, I've been suffering from some slight health issues. (not life-threatening ones but well, serious enough for me to not focus on putting my life out on social media)

In any case, I think I owe many poor couples a reply at least, on this post in particular. So here I am!

I think that post http://esthan.blogspot.sg/2015/11/grand-hyatt-our-choice-for-wedding-venue.html is hands-down the post that channeled most traffic to my blog. I've been bombarded by emails and comments asking me to further elaborate the details of what went wrong at our wedding. Initially I did reply some people super lengthy emails and went into every single details. And then, I just couldn't keep up with replying the emails anymore.

So I've decided to create a new post which everyone will have access to.


This post will not reveal every single nitty-gritty detail of how my wedding screwed up, because you know, that's just ugly lah.
Let's not be that woman in the foodcourt who went berserk and railed nonstop in public at something she couldn't let go off.
I'm definitely over this so going public about this now makes me seem damn petty.
But the numerous emails that I've received made me realize the concern and anxiety of many engaged couples who are genuinely concerned about making the right choice in their wedding venue.

I know that feeling. Especially when you are paying this price, you need that piece of mind that you've not made a wrong decision for your big day.

Overall I had an awesome wedding, because of my helpers and all the loved ones who attended.

What I was disappointed in was the way the staff handled us and the service rendered to my guests on that day. 


But please take note, my experience was purely a personal one and it definitely was/will not the exact same for another couple. I've had friends who held their wedding there and were perfectly happy with the way it turned out.



This post will be aimed at couples who are planning their wedding to look out for issues that could potentially go wrong. Hopefully it will be of some use to you guys!


FIRST THINGS FIRST, CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING ENGAGED AND MOVING ONTO THE NEXT STEP IN LIFE! MARRIAGE IS BEAUTIFUL AND I'M SO GLAD FOR YOU THAT YOU'VE FOUND THE ONE. :)

I just had to congratulate you guys first right?



Ok, so basically after our wedding was over, Simon and I sat down and talked about it. We decided that we had to highlight our displeasure about the way things were handled to someone. And that person would be the Director of Events at Grand H****.

DIRECTOR. Apparently the biggest shot I could find.



DIRECTOR FAILED TO SHOW UP AT ARRANGED MEETING


We rang him up and scheduled a meeting with him 2 days after the wedding so he could address the hotel's mishandling of our wedding face-to-face. It was on our checkout day and we deliberately checked out early in order to accommodate his schedule. He didn't show up. You can imagine our disappointment.

Our co-ordinator did though, and said he wasn't feeling well. Ok, give him benefit of doubt. We're humans, we fall sick. Especially when dealing when tough situations at work.

But Hello? I'd have the decency to inform you BEFOREHAND that I couldn't make it, and ask if it's OK that I send my subordinate to meet you. And schedule another meeting if that's not OK.

BECAUSE IT'S REALLY NOT OK TO NOT TURN UP AFTER SOMEONE SPECIALLY demanded REQUESTED TO SEE YOU AND YOU SEND YOUR SUBORDINATE INSTEAD.

I could have slept in, or had breakfast, or go for a morning swim.
But I did not.
I checked out early to meet YOU.  *rage*


Since I couldn't meet him personally, I sent him an email directly. There's no siam-ing now.

And guess what? No reply on the first email.

Sent another one and he replied saying he didn't want to disturb us on our Honeymoon. (ok, this one I give it to you but you still could have replied saying we'll arrange after we are back from our Honeymoon?)

Thank Heavens he finally met up with us and came back with "findings" about what went wrong. But there really wasn't any point in those "findings" because we didn't want anyone to blame for those mishandling since our wedding is already over. Most of his findings were defensive even though he did try to appear not defensive of his staff.



So here are the "findings" which he returned with, and like I said, I'm not being nitty-gritty about things now. But I honestly think these are good pointers for couple to take note of during their wedding, no matter your venue.
I hope you guys find them useful!




Briefing for Banquet Flow Prior to Banquet DID NOT START ON TIME


Ok, We were the ones who were late. We were at fault.

But given the circumstances the groom and the bridal party is overwhelmed, and very likely suffering from lack of sleep, this very well could happen to any other couples.

Honestly, my groom fell asleep and I was busy with my MUA, and the entire bridal team simply lost track of time. They were exhausted.

The service captain could have called us to remind us of the briefing to ensure we have ample time for the briefing before the solemnization.

She said she waited for us. (I'm sorry we were late, but why didn't you call us dear?)





Details of our contract were mixed up, dragging the briefing due to confusion

During the briefing itself, the service captain mentioned that we will be serving canapés and cocktail drinks. 

No we did not select canapés and Simon was honest and clear-minded enough to point out that we do not have canapés. 

So if we hadn't said anything, would the kitchen have been able to whip out the canapés there and then?

Honestly, at that point in time, we were started to doubt if she really got everything under her control. 

I suspect this could have been the fault of our co-ordinator who drafted the details of our contract wrongly. I can't remember now and don't want to pin-point anyone too.

A mistake is a mistake. 

The briefing dragged. And dragged. 



Solemnization could not start on time

At 630 pm sharp when our JP arrived, there was no one to receive him as our bridal team were still in the midst of the briefing. The bride, myself, welcomed him and reminded those involved in the briefing that the JP was here. The briefing continued on. The JP waited. 5 to 10 minutes later, I had to step forward and stop the briefing so the solemnization can get going.

Yes we allocated someone to receive the JP. But he was at the briefing, listening intently. Because the briefing was still on-going.

The Service Captain should have taken charge and paused the briefing for the solemnization to begin. The briefing can resume after the ceremony. I came up with a schedule with exact timing and sent it to the hotel days ahead of the Wedding.

Everyone knows it's rude to keep the JP waiting.

In this case, we were all there.

But the briefing was still on-going.

The Service Captain did not have it under her control.


How to prevent this: 

Do allocate a helper and remind him time and again, to receive the JP and ensure the set-up is ready by the time the JP arrives. 

We did allocate a helper for that, but our mistake was involving him in other banquet duties, thus involving him in the briefing that ate into our Solemnization start time.)





Wrong Info on Microphones for Solemnization


During the AV testing 1 week before the wedding, our co-ordinator told us very clearly that microphones were not used in the room as it was too loud.

I conveyed this exact same message to my JP and photographers.

Microphones were however, present on the day itself and it had to be my JP (who arrived on time and had nothing to do) to inform me that microphones were available.

Just imagine the embarrassment. Didn't start on time and still give wrong info. :(

After which I asked my co-ordinator how come there are microphones when she said there weren't. And she kinda went blank and asked me if I'd like them to be removed.

Ok, I forgive her. She made a mistake but she tried her best in recovering from it.


How to prevent this: 

Double confirm, triple confirm and confirm 10 times. And if still wrong info, too bad you are just suay. (like me) haha







AV Station Located on Different Side

Again, wrong info given!

During the AV testing, it was on the left facing the stage. We checked with the soundman and confirmed the placing of the AV station.

We took that into consideration and deliberately arranged our AV coordinators to be seated nearest to the AV station. So the poor fellas will have lesser distance to run and hopefully, eat more food!

On the wedding day, the AV station moved to the right side, complete opposite end.

So we not only made unnecessary arrangements, we also inconvenienced our AV coordinators who ended up being further away from the AV stations.


How to prevent this: 

Double confirm, triple confirm and confirm 10 times. And if still wrong info, too bad you are just suay. (like me) haha

(This is a small matter but during the rehearsal before doors were opened, the AV personnel told my emcees that sound could not be heard from the outside so my emcees spoke into the microphones loudly and freely. However, it was loud and clear according to my guests who were waiting outside. Kinda spoilt the show but well, small matter lah)



MISSING GUESTBOOK

Do you call it "missing" if it never even appeared at all?

We were supposed to have a Guestbook provided by the hotel, as in our contract. 

But it NEVER showed up.

Thankfully, we had our own guestbook. 

Upon asking them, they admitted that that they'd overlooked that.  

I'm sure they'd be able to quickly find a guestbook if we had pointed it out on the spot. It's not a big issue, but it honestly adds up to their mistakes!


How to prevent this: 

If the Guestbook is important to you, prepare your own. You could just be damn unlucky and have the hotel run out of it on your wedding day. If it's not important to you, then I guess it doesn't matter at all.






Lack of Professionalism from Servers

At the VIP table, this particular server who brought us our 1st dish, actually put my father-in-law's plate down, took a look at it, and took it away within seconds. 

She returned later and placed the plate back down nonchalantly. 
There was no explanation from her as to why she did that. 
She didn't even make eye contact or looked sorry. 

We were all puzzled by her action and kinda looked at each other at the round table awkwardly. I didn't know to laugh or cry at that, honestly.

Mind you, this was the 1st dish served at the VIP table.
I can only imagine the service at other tables!!!

The Director later on identified the server so they could address this more directly.
But really, it's my wedding banquet at THIS particular hotel, which is what, 5 stars?
And the last thing I should be worrying about is what these servers are doing.

I'm not faulting the poor young girl cos I know this is a part-time job for her but seriously?!
Couldn't you have sent a more experienced server to the VIP table??? 





Drinks were not actively refilled. 




Servers were unstable when presenting heavy dishes. 

As mentioned in my previous post HERE, some of my guests mentioned that hot claypot dishes were served over baby chairs/strollers. 


How to prevent this: 

Unfortunately, nothing you can do about this. If you have an idea, do let me know.







Lack of staff to offer Assistance, Confusing Locations of Ballrooms

Ok, The Gallery which on paper, is on Level 1.
But you actually got to take the escalator one level up from Ground level. 

The other ballrooms, on paper, are on Level 2. 
So that's taking 2 floors up from Ground level. 

Now that is just confusing. 


I mentioned during the Food Tasting about how confusing it is for guests to locate the correct ballroom and they reassured me that there will be staff around on the actual day to assist guests.

On the actual day, however, guests for the other ballrooms kept walking into our ballroom and my helpers ended up redirecting them upstairs.
It happened so constantly that it was actually frustrating.
My reception table helpers were not the hotel's ushers. 

Where are the staff she previous reassured me? Even if there were, I guess they lacked so much initiative that people could not spot them at all.


How prevent this: 

IDK, tell the Hotel that this is just silly? Why call it level 1 when you gotta take the escalator up? 
Erm, nothing. It's the architecture of the Hotel. 

Apparently, giving feedback in advance didn't help much. But this is a small issue lah. Your guests get confused for a while but they'll find their way. 







Confusion on which door to be used for my 2nd March-in

My 2nd March-in was more like a Dance-in which was in the middle of a song.
Hence, the timing and which door to enter from is of absolute importance.
We had to dance in! Simon and I met through dance so we had to do this RIGHT.

You CANNOT start the music or draw the curtains at the wrong timing for any sort of performance.

We were specifically told prior to the 2nd March-In which door to be used.

However, at the exact timing that we were supposed to enter, the OTHER door opened and naturally, we went for the other door.

Then the staff inside got confused and the door closed as we were going towards it and had to ran back to the original door, which opened slightly later than it should have.

Simon and I regained our composure despite the running back and forth behind those doors and continued with our March-in.

It's amusing when we think back about this, and we always have a good laugh.
But the amount of stress that day - Higher than my grandparents and parents' blood pressure combined.

They later on explained that they couldn't lock the door in case guests needed to exit. That I understand. But better co-ordination should have been in place. what if someone wanted to exit as the moment that we were doing our 2nd March-in?

I honestly don't know what went wrong at that moment. 

They could have just ensured the other door remains closed momentarily. 




How to prevent this: 

We rehearsed this with the Service Captain and staff 1 hour before the banquet, and made clear that only 1 door would be used. We thought they understood. 

How else could we have done it better?








Couple Told Very Bluntly Not to "Jump" On Stage


We danced in and naturally ended it on the stage. This is prior to champagne toasting.

During AV testing, we were explained very clearly how the stage set-up would be.

We are well aware of the podium on the stage right and the champagne fountain on the stage left.

We even managed to rehearse the actual dance THRICE before the  doors opened, in my huge ballroom gown and with the music.

The Service Captain was was there, she saw how the dance would be like.

During the wedding, after our dance, while handing the champagne bottle to us (who were onstage), she told us very matter-of-factly not to jump.

She was concerned about the champagne fountain, I understand. But if this concern of hers has to be brought up, shouldn't it done earlier and not during the dinner itself, in front of 220 guests, and as I'm about the pour the champagne?

We had finished dancing (jumping, as she calls it) when she told us to be careful of the champagne fountain.

My guest who witnessed this asked me later on what she said to us because she didn't look like she was saying something nice to us.


I hop you understand where I'm coming from.

At this point in time, I really don't care how she put her message across to us. But it's the fact that she witnessed our rehearsal thrice prior to doors opening, yet she seemed taken aback when it was the actual performance!

Let me assure you we were nowhere close to breaking the champagne fountain, since we managed to rehearse it in advance. Isn't that what rehearsals are for?




How to prevent this: 

If you are going to do something that's not usual, highlight it multiple times to them in advance. And ensure they get a good look of what exactly will happen.

But then again, lots of people dance at Weddings nowadays.








Lack of Carpark Slots For Guests

On paper, we were not promised us availability of carpark slots. 

 But I must say when we brought up this concern at meetings prior to the wedding, we WERE given the impression that parking would not be much of an issue since there are approximately 500 parking slots. 

TWICE. We were told that parking is usually not of an issue. 

Unfortunately, it was a problem to many of my guests, who arrived late due to parking issues.

Apparently, there was a big group of people from elsewhere that used the Hotel's carpark and it was completely unexpected.  

My sister, who was my decision maker on that day, decided to bring this up to the attention of the hotel. The Director, then told my sister to take note of how many guests failed to park at the Hotel, and they will give parking coupons for a later date as a form of compensation. 

The coupons were unfortunately, not for collection on the Wedding date. We could only collect it later and give it to our guests later as well. Imagine the trouble, please!

Not very helpful since the coupons were for a later date and also not readily available on that day. 

But better than nothing.




How to prevent this: 

Always look for a back up for parking, and inform your guests in advance.  Even when the hotels tells you parking is not a problem with them. Just in case, you know. Because stuff happens.



Last but not least, here comes the highlight!

Welcome Card in Bridal Suite with Misspelled Last Name

We went back to the room after a long day and was in a good mood thanks to the blessings of our guests, despite the hiccups and bad service.

Tried to log in using the wifi password which was supposedly our last name and failed. Then we realised that our last name was misspelled on the welcome card.

CHIU. A fairly common surname in Singapore but they spelled it as CIU.

This is a major disappointment.

In fact, I was absolutely appalled.

Are we really in the bridal suite at Grand Hyatt?

As newly weds who just held their wedding at the hotel, we felt so small, so unimportant.

We signed the package months ahead. Yet I feel like I checked into a motel last minute who could not be bothered with my last name.




How to prevent this: 

Well, find a hotel that cares?







SERVICE RECOVERY After Meeting the Director 

High Tea buffet (the remaining 1 hr of the buffet timing during which we had our discussion with the Director) and
2 extra nights stay within 1 yr at the hotel. (just a normal room, not suite)

But they did upgrade us to a corporate suite when we checked in for Valentine's weekend though.



Many thanks for the upgrade though! :)

Overall, I think their staff are really inexperienced. Our sales coordinator quit 2 months before our wedding and the one that replaced her was nice, but inexperienced. Our service captain at our wedding day did not handle our event and stress well, and I thought she was quite rude too.

But still, the venue is amazing and food is out of the world. But at my cost price of 1,800 sgd per table, I'm not too sure the service is up to this price at all. My pictures were beautifully taken at their ballroom though.


Our Wedding is over. There's nothing we can do to turn back time and correct any of these mistakes. If good food and ambience was the only thing I could say about this hotel, then we might have been better holding the wedding at a restaurant.


I don't know after reading this long post of rants, you might perceive me as a very unhappy and not easy to please lady? Perhaps being the service industry myself, makes it more difficult to forgive these mistakes?


We confidently placed our trust in Grand Hyatt and its team to hold our wedding. But all of these just accumulates and it's upsetting when there were so many things surprised us at our Wedding. Really testing the bride's limit leh.


We're over it now and I've contemplated allowing this to go public because it has never easy giving bad reviews. But the number of emails I've received regarding this is honestly quite a concern. I wouldn't want other couples to go through the same experience on their big day.

Again, I'd like to highlight that we've had other friends who held their Wedding there and had absolutely positive things to say about them. So it could just be our bad luck.

It has been an ultra lengthy post and I hope some of it was useful to you guys, Mr & Mrs-to-bes!

Congratulations once again and may you have a wonderful Wedding!



Friday 22 January 2016

Travelers Planet Hostel Seoul

January 22, 2016 0 Comments
Super overdued post!

If not for my cousin asking me about where to stay at while in Seoul, I doubt this post would ever see the light. Haha.

But since she was looking for a place to stay and didn't want to spend on Hotels, I decided to recommend her Travelers Planet Hostel through my blog. I figured it was the best way to show her pictures of the place without having to upload and then download them.

First and foremost, location! It is located in the famous Hongdae area, where Seoul's nightlife is. Situated near Hongik University, you'll find the place brimming with youngsters who dress their best, many clubs, food places and shopping, even till late at night.

Direction by Subway:

Take Subway line number 2 and get off Hong-ik Univ.station and exit by Exit number 2.
From the exit,Travelers Planet is only located 5 minutes way by walk.

For other information, check out their website here http://tphostel.com/tp/

For more review by other travellers: TripAdvisor - Travelers Planet Hostel Seoul

Husband and I stayed at Travelers Planet Hostel in 2014 after our pre-wedding shoot with Ido-Wedding.

It was a crazy tiring day because we checked out of our hotel (hotel was part of the pre-wedding shoot package) at Kangnam area early in the morning, did our shoot for the entire day, and then checked into Travelers Planet.

I was so shagged by the time we arrived at Travelers Planet but upon seeing the place, my tired eyes immediately lit up! It was so bright and cheery and the girl at the reception was super cute. She was wearing these geeky specs that didn't have any lens and though she didn't speak english very well, she tried so hard to be friendly towards us. >.< She saw my "wedding" makeup and got excited when she asked me if we just had our shoot done. Also recommended tons of good food around the area because we were starving and even volunteered to order food for us in case we were too tired to head out!

Really excellent reception we received. :D





Our double room. Kitchen with crockery, stove, water dispenser, fridge, and washing machine! <3

I can't remember what that machine beside the washing machine was. A humidifier maybe?



Husband taking a selfie of himself. haha



Our double bed. Yellow, bright and cheery. Felt happiness instantly. haha



Table next to bed, which we mainly used for eating our take-out suppers.
FRIED CHICKEN AND BEER EVERY NIGHT. SO DAMN YUMZ PLEASE. <3



There was even a TV connected to a PC which you can surf the night and research for your itinerary!



So happy I didn't want to get off the bed and husband threatened to take a picture of me. I was like "GO AHEAD". hahaha


Still not moving!


You're not the only person who knows how to threaten someone by taking pictures of them.



As you can see, we are completely satisfied with our room for the rest of our trip. :)



Also, Travelers Planet is super near to 팔색삼겹살, which I recommend as my favourite BBQ meat restaurant in Seoul. We ate there twice in a row and that never happens when we're overseas because we always want to try all types of food. So you can imagine how amazing it was! Check out my entry on 팔색삼겹살 HERE.

We had a private bathroom too but I forgot to take a picture of it. Very decent for a cleanliness freak like me though!

Sorry I can't remember how much we paid for our accomodation but it was definitely WAYYY cheaper than hotels around the area.

If you're planning to stay in Seoul, I think most of their guesthouses/hostels are good enough. I liked the coziness and homely feel to them, as opposed to hotels. Of course, you don't get free amenities such as toothbrushes or shavers, but you can always bring those with you on your travels.

They provide towels too but I brought my own. (told ya, I'm a cleanliness freak)




Travelers Planet Seoul, highly recommended! ;)

Friday 4 December 2015

Today's Topic: Rambling

December 04, 2015 0 Comments
As usual, I disappear for a good number of days but hey, today I am randomly super inspired and full of thoughts waiting to burst out of my head. These thoughts are most likely not gonna be coherent. But I just felt like writing today. Let's see what brilliant inspiration comes out from this writer's block.

Today's thoughts are all jumbled because I'm running on my 26th hour lack-of-sleep record after coming back from Dubai, and being superhero enough, I decided to chiong to my in-laws place straight away. I really think I'm quite a superhero because we went sightseeing in Dubai, hence did not sleep before working home. Upon touchdown at the airport, I bumped into a friend and drank tea with him before going home to put down my bags. And now, I'm on the train to my in-laws.
26 hours since I slept.
No wonder I get acne all over my face. T.T

On the train at 130pm now and it's been mad packed with people from Circle line to East-West line to the feeder bus. I keep staring at them and wondering who on earth these people really are in real life.

WHY aren't these people at work???
What do they do exactly???
What is their secret to being able to take train in the mid of a weekday and look as though time doesn't matter at all???

I stare and scrutinise, from their face to their dressing, to what they're saying...
And I still couldn't make much sense why SO MANY ADULTS are free on a weekday afternoon.

This is Singapore leh.

I miss those days when I was a primary/secondary school kid and going home at mid afternoon was my favourite activity of the day. Because it meant taking long bus rides that were empty and I always choose the longer route so I can sit by the window and just let the bus take me on a mini-tour. I could enjoy the quietness and coolness of my ride while watching the busy day go by. It's really quite therapeutic!

Sitting by the window helped me to absorb the scenery but also, you see your own reflection on the screen and helps you to reflect on yourself.

Look outside to look into yourself.

But these recent years, I can barely make it from one destination to another without having my personal space being invaded by some gorilla with swinging arms, some lady's ponytail in my face, or people watching drama on their phones jabbing their devices into my face.

The social aspect is ironically going against our technological and infrastructural advancements. Some kind of First world people's problem huh?

There's a advertisement these days about taking public transport more to help save our earth by reducing carbon transmission. It's quite a good advertisement but really? All this money pumped in to advertise a message. From those who own cars (perhaps even more than 1) telling the masses to stick to public transport so our earth can be a better place for everyone.

Thanks leh.

On a separate note, these days I find it increasingly difficult to express myself. I find myself losing my language ability and I'm not sure if it's because I've left school for quite awhile, or too much trash tv, or just my brain aging and therefore degenerating. :(

What's becoming of me?

Aging is such a scary process. Sometimes when I'm lying in bed and doing nothing, the sound of the clock ticking is so loud it rings in my head. I'll watch the clock move and it scares the shit out of me. I feel so helpless watching time go by and there's nothing I can do about it.

And then I continue staring at it and wasting my life away more.

Every second that goes by, is every second less of time left in your life. How much time is left? I need a clock on myself that tells me how much time I'm left with.
Geez, it's really really scary when you think about it that way.

I want to learn a new language.
I want to go back to dance.
I want to exercise.
I want to binge myself on good food.
I want to learn about childcare.
I want to earn lots of money.
I want to see more of the world.
I want to spend time with my family.
I want to spend more time with my husband. 
I want more rest.
I want to catch up with all my friends.  

I guess I need to prioritise but everything that I want to do is of equal importance to me! Choosing one thing means having to sacrifice another and it's frustrating. 

Any time I have outside of work is spent shuttling between my own home and my in-law's place. Yes I am tired, physically drained from travelling two places but I am grateful that I get to spend time with them. 
Once our own place arrives, we have 3 places to go and even more time and energy would be wasted. 

Life and time are such precious things. 

Why do people do stupid things like killing others.  

The recent events make me feel like we are  back to the war era. 

It's no longer history. It's not film.  It's real. It's very real. 

Maybe that's why no one's at work now and everyone's taking the train on a weekday afternoon. 

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Food Tasting for our Wedding dinner at Grand Hyatt

November 18, 2015 0 Comments
We did our food tasting about 2 months before our wedding and it just so happens that 2 months before was also my birthday. So I very shamelessly fixed the food tasting on my birthday and got both families to celebrate our upcoming wedding, but also my birthday!

One stone kill two birds. 

So we arrived and saw our names on the screen. It was exciting knowing that our big day was drawing nearer.





VIP Table with Floral Centrepiece (we went with baby's breath)


Guest Table with Floral Centrepiece (also baby's breath)



Took a picture of the chair too. Rather comfy and I liked it that it doesn't have that seat cover over it. Seat covers tend to shift as you sit on the chair and I personally get quite annoyed by that.


4 types of wedding favours.

We selected the 1st and 3rd one after trying them, which is the Green Tea and Raspberry Truffles, and Rose and Raspberry Macaroons.

I personally prefer food item for wedding favours because they are a good way to feed your guests before the dinner starts. While other hotels typically give coasters or whatnot and these usually take up space in the house, so I won't take them with me. But these macaroons and truffles, I can just pop them in my mouth!



My dad, sis, uncle & aunt (who was obviously very pleased with the pork belly)

Husband and both our parents :)


Didi and the soon-to-be newlyweds.





Below is our 8 Course Wedding Dinner Menu (Weekend)

Dish 1: Grand Hyatt Delights

Drunken live prawn shao xin wine wolfberries
Braised pork shank garlic chilli
Marinated jelly fish head vinegar, chilli oil
Canton roast duck breast plum sauce
Deep fried almond crusted seafood
Lemon grass chilli dip








Dish 2: Double boiled chicken broth, dried scallop, fish maw, matsutake mushroom (individual)


Dish 3: Braised duck, chinese herb, opal leaf wrap



Dish 4: Steamed live garoupa, Cantonese style

(On food tasting, the portion was huge. However, at the actual wedding, my VIP table did mention the portion didn't seem as big)




Dish 5: Braised whole abalone, sea cucumber, brown sauce (individual)




Check out the size of the abalone!



Dish 6: Wok fried deep sea scallops, asparagus, pine nut 





Dish 7: Slow cook kurobuta pork belly, fragrant fried rice in lotus leaf (individual)





Dish 8: Sweet yam paste, pumpkin coconut cream (individual)




Overall, Grand Hyatt's Chinese dinner menu is one of the best in Singapore. Premium quality ingredients and portion is huge too. We have attended a friend's wedding held there and despite being full at the 5th or 6th dish, we continued to eat because each dish was just too delicious! Similarly, at the food tasting, we were not disappointed.

However, at my own wedding, a handful of my guests mentioned that some food was cold but majority were very impressed by the menu. 

At $1860 per table, it'd better be impressive. 

Do take note that the 5th dish, which is served in a claypot, was EXTREMELY heavy for the (rather inexperienced) servers. They were unstable in serving the dish and many of my guests feedback saying that they were quite worried about it. I mean you can't blame them if the dish is super heavy but what's scary is that these servers served the dish ABOVE baby strollers/chairs with babies in them. >.<

Of all edges of the round table, you had to go above the babies??? 

The menu at Grand Hyatt really deserves to be much raved about. However, if you are considering holding your banquet there, I think the service team needs a lot of supervision. Either that, or we were just suay enough to have many things go wrong on our big day. :(

To learn more about their package, check out my post here Grand Hyatt Our Choice For Wedding Venue.

Most of our guests were unaware of the screw-ups and many were very satisfied with the food. So if you are looking at pleasing their tummies, then Grand Hyatt would definitely not disappoint, as long as Chef Low is there.



Nevertheless, we have wedded and I am happy and so proud to have all these people in my life. <3


Grand Hyatt - Our choice for the Wedding Venue

November 18, 2015 0 Comments
My apologies for the extremely extremely late post. Should have posted this way earlier together with my post on The Search For Our Wedding Banquet. Grand Hyatt was the choice and I never got to share their wedding package. But well, never too late! Here's there's package for 2015. At this stage, this package might be a little late but 2016 the package for shouldn't be too far off.

But I just want to highlight for those who are interested in Grand Hyatt, yes, the food and ambience at Grand Hyatt is awesome. But you might like to reconsider.

For I DID NOT have a good experience holding my wedding banquet there.

That I shall elaborate further only after meeting their Director of Events so he can follow up on service recovery. I have no intention of slamming them publicly but for the sake of other couples who are genuinely considering Grand Hyatt and are sincere in finding out more, do drop me an email.

Grand Hyatt











Address: 10 Scotts Road, Singapore 228211
Nearest MRT Station: Orchard

Price for 2015
Weekday Dinner:

SGD1388 ++ per table of ten persons

Price for 2015
Weekday Dinner:

SGD1588 ++ per table of ten persons

Cost to break-even: SGD1860 per table

Minimum Tables Requirement:
  • 18 tables (weekday) / 20 tables (weekend) for The Gallery
  • 20 tables (weekday) / 25 tables (weekend) for The Grand Salon

Perks:
  • Complimentary food tasting for a table of 10 people valid only from Monday - Friday
  • Parking coupons (based on 30% of guranteed attendance)
  • Wedding invitation cards (based on 70% of guranteed attendance)
  • Free-flowing soft drinks, orange and guava juices, lychee iced tea and pink lemonade
  • A bottle of champagne for toasting
  • Specially decorated wedding cake with genuine top tier
  • Pre-wedding snacks for couple
  • Two nights stay in a Grand Suite with Club access
  • S$280 nett credit to spend during your two-night stay
  • Use of four high-definition LCD projectors and screens for video presentation at The Gallery
    Use of two high-definition LED screens for video presentation at Grand Salon
  • Valet parking for bridal car

For every booking of 25 tables and below:

3 wedding wishes to be selected for Mon - Thurs
2 wedding wishes to be selected for Fri - Sun, including eve of PHs/PHs

For every booking of 26 tables and above:

4 wedding wishes to be selected for Mon - Thurs
3 wedding wishes to be selected for Fri - Sun, including eve of PHs/PHs

  • One 30-litre barrel of beer
  • One bottle of house wine (choice of red or white wine) for each confirmed table
  • One night stay in out Grand Deluxe Room for helpers on wedding day
  • Two types of welcome canapes during pre drinks (for an hour)
  • The Martini Bar Experience during pre drinks (for an hour)
  • A Berdua-dua Spa Experience



Pros of Grand Hyatt: 
  • Known to serve one of the most delicious food among all the wedding banquets in Singapore 
  • Ingredients used for Chinese menu banquet are superb quality.
  • Good location, ideally located especially for weekday dinner for friends to come after work. About 5 minutes walk from Orchard MRT
  • 1 ballroom per level with spacious reception area, not easily confused if there are other functions
  • Changing room just beside ballroom, no need to go to bridal suite for changing of gowns
  • Function room available for solemnization

Cons of Grand Hyatt:
  • Too much to be mentioned. We are so disappointed with the service. 
  • Welcome card in Bridal Suite with misspelled last name. Only goes to show how much attention is given to the newlyweds holding their wedding there. 


Our Verdict: 

NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.

Grand Hyatt's food and venue and ballroom was amazing. We had nothing to complain about with regards to that.

But the service provided to us on our big day was a huge letdown. It was beyond disappointing and definitely unworthy of being 5 stars, not to mention the hefty amount we paid!


Grand Hyatt is absolutely beautiful and I'm certain our pictures turned out well. The food was beyond amazing but for the sum that we paid for, that was just about all that was worth. My husband and I went through a very stressful night thanks to the Service Captain who was in charge of our event. I shall not go into details for now as I'm still giving them a chance to do service recovery. So let's see how they perform from here.

My friend who held her wedding there on a different date had no major complains though. Either her event turned out well, or my husband and I are difficult to serve. But if you were to hear about what happened at my wedding, I think you'd agree that the hotel really screwed up our wedding.




*** UPDATE***

http://esthan.blogspot.sg/2016/06/update-grand-hyatt-our-choice-for.html