I have some emails from brides who grumbled over how much money they have to spent on their wedding.

In fact, there are some items which we could do it ourselves.

If our designs are nice and unique, we can even sell them to friends who have money to spare but no time.

These few posts will be for those of you who want to DIY or you may want to make them to sell.

But be prepared, DIY needs time, effort, patience and creativity.

If your designs are common and dull, customers can get from any where.

Looking at the websites of some brides, there are in fact brides who are entrepreneurial and they sell their wedding ideas to other brides.

They have so many ideas and the key difference is they allow customisation.

For a start, I would like to post on placecards.

Many times our placecards come together with the wedding dinner package.

Most of them look plain and simple.

Whichever wedding dinner we go to, all the placecards look the same and boring.
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I attended a wedding at Sentosa Beaufort.

It was a wedding dinner and the ambience around the hotel was fantastic. Remember I am only mentioning only outside is fantastic and I will tell you why….soon

It was no doubt one of the very few hotels which can give you a nature view by the golf park and the sea. It was serene and tranquil.

The reception was enjoyable and pleasant.

Transport could be taken from Paragon in Orchard or from Vivocity. But the buses were only available every hourly.

The bus ride was smooth and fast and we reached the hotel from Paragon in about 20 minutes or so.

The scenic view outside the hotel raise my expectation of what would be happening inside the function room.

I was very disappointed. I thought my experience with my hotel was bad enough…

The romantic ambience was not there and the light were on to the brightest. Hey…we could all see the guests VERY clearly even though they were a few tables away.

The lights were like spotlights!

The service? I could only give a “below average”.

Despite one waiter or waitress attending to two tables, the attitude of them were poor. They stood them and gave me the feeling we were invisible.

My aunty waved at this waitress about 8 times before she could see us. She was facing us and so I believed she was day-dreaming.

Normally, the waiters will be kind enough to say “excuse me” if they need more space beside you to reach to serve from the dish in the center of the table.
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How I started off…

“Thank you speech:

Thank you very much to our relatives, friends and colleagues for sharing with me this joyous occasion. One of the principles that I hold on strongly to is: when I drink the water from the well, I must remember the source of the water.

If without the different guidance and support given by everyone of you here, I won?t be who I am today.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my mother especially, my relatives, friends and colleagues for helping me in any way in my journey from childhood till now.”

“To mommy:
Thank you very much for raising me up single-handedly. Father has built my foundation and mother has carry on where he left off. I know it is very tough for you to manage the house alone, plus to raise me up into a healthy adult and to educate me and see me through university days. And thank you for helping me in preparing this wedding too.

To relatives:
Despite I am the only child, I have sisters who adore me.
Despite the absence of my father, I have uncles who treated me like their sons.
Of course, not forgetting the aunties who protect me and take good care of me.

To friends:
Thank you for being there for me when I need you. Thank you for being so supportive. Thank you for providing a shoulder to cry on, to confide in, to learn from.
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A bubbly MC is important for your big day.

We were fortunate to have two very good friends of my wife who could do wonderful hosting. Remember, the guests are all watching and whether they have an enjoyable night, it is also very much dependant on the MCs.

As we had Hong Kong guests at our wedding dinner, it was very important and crucial that one of the MCs could speak Cantonese and the other MC must be able to at least understand Cantonese. Luckily both can speak and understand Cantonese.

MCs are important to run the whole show. The wedding night was just like a big production and the MCs must be able to know in details what will be happening throughout the wedding dinner.

Cues must be given by the Hotel coordinator to the MCs at different segments.
For example, cue is given when:
1. The guests have to be seated just before the march in
2. The guests have to stand for the march-ins of the couple
3. The guests have to stand for toasting and many more…

Not to worry for the Mcs as the experienced Hotel Banquet Coordinator will do a thorough briefing 1 hour before the wedding reception starts.

Here is the download for our Wedding MC script.

Around this time last year, me and my fiancee were desperately searching for the right hotel for our wedding.

We emailed about 50 hotels and only 25 replied and from these 25 hotels, we shortlisted them based on prices, accessibility and the number of tables they could accomodate.

I’m not saying the hotels’ ballrooms were too small to fit our wedding. The opposite is in fact the case. Not many hotels can accomodate to only 18 tables or less.

At that point in time, being new to the wedding industry, we were absolutely clueless of what to do in planning our wedding. Luckily, my friends were willing to help out.

They helped me to negotiate. They have strong negotiation skills.

Seriously, we were not very good negotiators and that was why we needed help.

These were the times I found it helpful to ask for more perks or freebies.

1. Before signing the contract, ask for more free corkages and any other freebies or special requests you have. If the sales manager is unable to compromise, just bring your business to other hotels.

2. There will be a time when you and the hotel coordinator will sit with you and your spouse-to-be to discuss the programmes in details. So this is time you can tell your coordiantor your requests…

Some requests that you can make:
1. More free corkages
2. More helpers room
3. More guest book
4. Free wedding cake AND bottle of champagne
5. In any case if the given helper’s room is not to be used on actual day, ask for the days to be shifted to some other days when you can come back for a holiday.