Wedding banquets

Hai..thats so true ....

The Electric New Paper :
S'PORE WEDDING COUPLES HIT BY BANQUET BLUES

Couples feeling the pinch as prices of hotel packages soar but hongbao gifts remain the same WHEN you attend a wedding dinner next year, think twice before you seal that hongbao.
By Tay Shi'an 31 December 2007.

WHEN you attend a wedding dinner next year, think twice before you seal that hongbao.The money you put in may not be enough for the bride and groom to recover the cost of their wedding celebrations, let alone have a little extra for their honeymoon. Yes, young couples planning their dream weddings are finding themselves priced out of their dreams.For example, the going rate for a year-end Saturday wedding dinner next year at the Mandarin Oriental is $1,088 per table.Add to that the 10 per cent service charge and 7 per cent goods and services tax, and it's a whopping $1,280 for a table of 10 guests. So your $100 hongbao, while considered generous this year, may fall a little short next year.Many young couples, who have already felt the pinch of sky-high property prices, are now facing a squeeze on another front - ever-rising wedding banquet prices.

Checks by The New Paper on Sunday found that the 2008 weekend prices for most of the five-star hotels exceed $1,000 per table, with prices at dream venues such as Shangri-La,The Fullerton Hotel and Ritz-Carlton starting from over $1,200.DREAMS COMPROMISED The daunting combination has pushed some couples into abandoning dream homes in developed estates to take up available units in new towns like Sengkang.Now, they must also make compromises - or even set aside - their plans for a dream wedding.

Ms Jaslyn Chew, 27, wanted to have her wedding banquet at the Marina Mandarin. But theprice of a weekend wedding at the hotel - $988 nett per table for Saturdays, and $958 nett per table on Fridays and Sundays - was too steep. So the couple will hold their wedding dinner on a weekday in October instead. The cost? $788 per table. Said the civil servant: 'We decided to take a weekday because the weekend price is out of our league rather than (have it at) a hotel we don't like.'

Similarly, MsLynnette Chia, 28, had planned to have her March banquet at a top hotel. Now, she and her husband will hold their wedding banquet at the Pioneer Springs restaurant at Mount Faber Safra. As they had booked early, they will pay only $599 nett per table for a Saturday wedding. Said MsChia: 'My dream was one of the bigger hotels like the Marriott or the Hyatt, but after I saw the prices, I thought, forget about hotel.'The couple, who have a combined monthly income of more than $5,000, are also paying for their executive condominium at La Casa in Woodlands, which they bought for $380,000 two years ago. Said Ms Chia: 'I keep telling myself, don't end up in debt. If a one-day wedding makes me suffer three to four years of loans, forget it.

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Still searching for their dream home and wedding are Mr Christopher Chew, 29, and his fiance Ms Michelle Law, 26. The couple, who have been dating for six years, are holding off their customary dinner as they are unable to get a HDB flat. Said Mr Chew: 'We've been trying to get a flat since early this year in all the HDB balloting.But the results are so disappointing.' He added that prices on the resale market are 'a bit crazy' now, so they are not considering buying a resale flat. In the meantime, the couple are planning a special venue to register their marriage in March next year: Onboard the Singapore Flyer. Said Ms Law: 'We aren't planning to hold the customary so soon because we can't get a flat. So we wanted to make the ROM memorable.' They are hoping to hold their dinner around December next year, or even in early 2009.But, as they wait, prices are sky-rocketing.

The New Paper on Sunday checked with 11 hotels about their wedding package price changes from this year to next. Hotels like Marina Mandarin, Holiday Inn Park View, Furama Riverfront and Ritz-Carlton Millenia have raised their prices by about 5per cent or less. Chijmes, Shangri-La and Furama City Centre raised their prices between 5 and 10 per cent.At hotels like Pan Pacific, Swissotel The Stamford and Marriott, banquet packages have increased on average by more than 10 per cent.Only InterContinental Singapore is not changing its wedding package prices next year. But that's because it had raised prices by about 15 per cent in April after relaunching its new ballroom.The reasons the hotels gave for the increase are the higher cost of food, labour, rental and oil. The GST hike and exchange rate fluctuations were also taken into consideration. And many of the hotels would likely be raising prices again in 2009.Ms Lydia Lim, director of marketing communications of Holiday Inn Park View Singapore, said the hotel has seen couples who do away with extras to save money.'For example, we have couples who might not wish to have free-flow of beer during the banquet and ask for a discount,' she said. Still, there are couples willing to splurge - in particular, those who go for luxury hotels. Ms Melanie Teo, senior events manager for weddings at the Shangri-La, said the hotel's two ballrooms are already fully booked for wedding banquets between September and December next year.Bookings for next year started as early as 18 months ago.

Ms Evelyn Yo, director of public relations at the Ritz-Carlton, said weddings at the hotel have been getting more lavish.But are guests' hongbaos keeping up?Hotels say that most guests are aware that prices have gone up.But Ms C Yang, marketing manager of Starworth, which runs events at Chijmes, said some couples have told her that the value of red packets have not risen to match the increase in banquet prices.Added Ms Julie Lock, assistant marketing communications manager at Furama City Centre: 'Many are not aware of the rising 'market rate' for red packets.'Ms Teo of Shangri-La Hotel said she knew of a couple whose relative gave a $100 hongbao, but took four family members to the wedding.'There was another couple who received an $8 red packet for the banquet they held at the hotel,' she said. 'My advice would be to call the hotel where the banquet will be held and enquire. This will give you a better gauge of how much to give.'

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