Getting Weddy: Choosing Our Location for the Dinner Reception (Part 1)

So before we got down to deciding on party size, etc, we looked at a couple of venues to see what options were available. No point planning a party size of 200 only to find out the venues you liked can't accomodate it.

We did some reseach (and by research I mean out of 2h on the internet, I spend 1.5h on pinterest and maybe 30mins on google) and had a long long long list of restaurants. From the list, we shortened the list to 13 based on super simple criteria.

So our criteria for the dinner location is:

1. Food has to be good - we'd prefer restaurants vs hotel banquets
2. Our budget for food only is $20,000, including any external vendors we'd like to bring in
3. There has to be room for a dancefloor and photobooth
4. It has to be pretty! 

 Then we emailed and/or called these locations (I've included some basic information if it was made available to us during our preliminary search):

1. The Chapel @ Sculpture Square, Middle Road

sagg

Cost: $1,800 for the venue from 3-11pm. Food must be catered separately.

Capacity: 60pax comfortably with a dacefloor

Notes: Sculpture Square is now defunct so I'm not sure what's going to happen to the venue. It was my dream venue for the longest time, though.

Overall: Well, obviously not. haha

2. 22 Dempsey, Dempsey Hill

22 Dempsey

no information for this venue

Notes: There's a tender open for this venue, so I'm not sure if they're going to retain the place. Why all my venues like that ah. Anyway this restaurant used to be Oosh! and it's where we had our first date!

Overall: Since they can't confirm whether they're retaining the space until next February and the wedding is in May, we'll have to say no.

3. HOUSE, Dempsey Hill

via the HOUSE facebook page

Cost: $20,000++ minimum spend

Capacity: 120pax seated, 300pax standing

Notes: Food here is really good - brought Daryl here for his birthday!

Overall: Favourite option so far!

4. The White Rabbit, Dempsey Hill

Julien + Theora via theweddingscoop

Cost: $25,000++ minimum spend

Capacity: 120pax seated indoors, 60pax outdoors

Notes: Lots of people do their wedding here so I guess they must be quite adept at handling weddings!

Overall: The minimum spend is over budget, and too many people have had their weddings here so we'd rather not anyway.

5. Burkill Hall, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Dinesh + Janani via theweddingscoop

Cost: $4495 for the venue from 1-10pm. Food must be catered separately.

Capacity: 80pax on Level 1, 100pax on Level 2

Notes: Only classical or light music is allowed and dancing is "discouraged".

Overall: No dancing??? nuuuuup.

 6. Halia, Singapore Botanic Gardens

journalisticmoments

Cost: From $108+ per person for food only

Capacity: 200 people for the entire venue. Any less and you may not get the entire venue.

Notes: The events executive is super nice. If your party size can't fit into 1 dining area, they'll separate your guests into 2 dining areas. I've not eaten at the SBG branch, but the food at Halia Raffles Hotel was really good!

Overall: Not too keen on separating guests so we'll have to say no.

7. Food For Thought, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Kenneth + Karen via Wedley

Cost: $10,000 minimum spend, from $70 nett per person

Capacity: 180pax

Notes: The outdoor grill must remain open to public - a regulation from NParks.

Overall: Menu doesn't look suuuper interesting but it's not too shabby overall!

8. Boathouse, Fullerton Road

Beven + Jennie via theweddingscoop

Cost: $16,000++ minimum spend for both indoor and outdoor areas (or $8000++ each), and $3000 for use of the patio area. Buffet at $98++ per pax.

Capacity: 60pax indoors, 150pax outdoors

Notes: The food looks amazing if you like French food (which Daryl, sadly, doesn't)

Overall: No, parce que c'est français (I would've looked into it further if not for that haha)

9. Da Paolo BistroBar, Rochester

jeraldinephneah

check out their wedding brochure here

Capacity: The total capacity is 199pax but they're all separated into different areas

Notes: I've heard rave reviews of da paolo weddings from my colleagues and food at da paolo itself is pretty good!

Overall: Not too keen on separating guests so we'll have to say no again.

10. Nosh, Rochester

Katrina + Isaac via Samuel Goh

 Cost: $15,000++ minimum. Buffet from $60++ per pax, set menu from $65++ per pax.

Capacity: 220pax for entire venue and 150pax for the alfresco area

Notes: The food looks good enough but the venue is goooorrrggggg.

Overall: Definitely will consider this for the sake of photos! I am superficial and proud of it.

11. Spruce, Phoenix Park

chope

no information for this venue

Notes: the menu looks pretty good!

Overall: Location a bit out of the way and there are prettier venues on our list... So we'll say no.

12. Shangri-La Hotel, Azalea Room

mysolitairewedding

 Cost: $1,588++ per table, minimum 150 guests

Capacity: 150pax minimum, 200pax maximum

Notes: The food fairly okay. I actually contacted the Shang with the garden terrace in mind but they proposed... this.

Overall: Noope.

13. Masons, Gillman Barracks

Lu + Kat via theweddingscoop

 Cost: From $8,000++ per 50 guests

Capacity: 120pax seated, 150pax standing, separated into indoor and alfresco areas

Notes: The menu looks suuuuuuuper amaziiinnngggg.

Overall: Sadly, it's a bit too out of the way and, again, we're not too keen on separating guests so we'll have to say no yet again.

And there you have it. One dozen PLUS ONE (lol wedding pun) venues that we (or I) considered.

Don Draper is my spirit animal right now

It was actually REALLY DIFFICULT to find and shortlist venues that suited our party size, budget, and food preferences. Some venues were too big, some too small, some took FOREVER to answer my emails, some of the locations were too out of the way...

But we've finally decided to shortlist

HOUSE, nosh & Food for Thought

And based on this, we're going to work on a party size of about 120pax.

I'll do a more detailed post about our 3 shortlisted venues soon!

xx,

Miss D.