Just got enagaged last month. Planning for a wedding maybe late summer/fall. Is it a bit too rush?
Any bride/groom to be here would like to share idea?
I guess the first thing to do is to set a date then look for venue (ceremony/reception).
We are still thinking whether to have Chinese banquet or western style. For us, we don't have many friends and relatives so it will be a small size (~50 to 80 guests? depending on if the overseas relatives will attend)
For the same number of guests, is it more cost efficient to have western style (ceremony/reception in the same place)?
Most of the guests are Chinese except our co-workers, so it seems a bit strange to hold western style. But the Chinese banquet may cost significant more as it count by table of 10, and I heard some restaurants do not show you all the hidden extra until you get closed to it. ( This is just my thoughts, and not sure if it is right).
Any married lyk would like to share their ideas/experiences are welcome too.
as for planning, I do think chinese banquet is cheaper than Western. Western banquet (I assume in hotel or golf club?) usually includes some charges (some venue charges for electric outlet, projector etc...) and 17% tip on top of HST. And you rarely find western banquet $60/head? But you can still find $600 / table in Chinese restaurant.
Also, for western banquet, you may want to spend some $ on center piece on each table, that costs as well.
And no I don't think it's strange for Chinese to attend western banquet, it's totally up to you.
Congratulation!
if you want to do it around Aug/Sept, u still have 8 or 9 months to prepare, so it is not rush. But u should start planning everything now. Like fibbi said, western style should be more pricy. You can always go check out the price first, compare both Chinese and western style, see which one is cheaper.
All good points from the rest of the posters so far.
I've been married for 10yrs now, so some of the info provided here may be out of date somewhat.
that being said, however, either 1 (chinese or western) banquets all have pros and cons:
Pros:
Chinese banquet: if you are careful, you can pretty much negotiate all the way towards better deals: from what comes along within the banquet (you want fresh steamed sea-fish, or substitute with fresh tilapia? etc., you want crab+lobster or crab alone, or you want to substitute sharks fin soup with something else, etc. choice is yours).
On top of that: with chinese seafood restaurant, you can also try to negotiate you way through by means of you provide the wines (as opposed to them providing/charging you for that, eliminate the charge on "bottle opening fee", complementary (all inclusive) softdrinks per table, etc. Also: all inclusive cash deal (all inclusive, including the tipping for waiters/waitress, etc.)
Western banquet: not so much wiggling space for you to negotiate. But then again: you also get the flexibility of either going "grand/fancy" or going "cheep".
Chinese banquet is not necessarily more cost efficient, cuz i mean what's the point of having chinese banquet if you can't have a better menu right, that's what your guests and your family probably would expect when you decide to go for a chinese banquet? Plus now you can't sneak in alcohol, the price difference in general is getting slimmer.
Western banquet for ~50-80 guests is pretty good guest size in terms of value. You will be able to book a nice room and probably just met their minimum charge. You can definitely control the alcohol consumption if you concern about the cost, that's the part making western venue sounds more expensive.
Maybe end up western venue still costs more, but the amount wouldn't be large as your guest size is rather small. I would say you should follow your heart to see which option you are more into.
"...Plus now you can't sneak in alcohol, the price difference in general is getting slimmer...."
Geesh! Where did you get this info from?! Most seafood restaurants that handles/offers wedding banquets have proper BC liquor license to offer alcohol. Whether you want to bring you own or you want to take advantage of them offering (obviously they will be marked up..), that can be negotiated and most seafood restaurants are more than happy to let you bring your own alcohol, period.
Have you ever hold any banquets of some sort in a Chinese seafood restaurant before? better yet: have you ever sit down and discuss the menu with a restaurant manager and find things that you like>?
"...Plus now you can't sneak in alcohol, the price difference in general is getting slimmer...."
Ge ...
Quest 發表於 2012-1-13 17:33
Actually, tsumorichisato is right, you cannot bring your own alcohol to restaurant anymore. It was on the newspaper a few months ago. Here is a link to a govt website. Look under "Bringing your own wine or beer to restaurant, and taking home unfinished bottles of wine". http://www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/lclb/LLinBC/basics.htm
Thanks alot for the advices! We porbably will go with Chinese banquet, as we are more familiar with it, and western co-workers seem like to see different culture as well.
I checked ceremony places online, the rental price went way up in the past couple years.
Also, some nice places like golf club need you to book both ceremony and reception at the place.
Haven't look into banquet places yet so no idea for now.
Any recommendations for mid-range ceremony venue?
Chinese restaurant for banquet in Lower mainland area?
For ceremony:
I considered Minoru chapel mid-range. I do know price goes up much more recent years but at least you don't have to pay for food unlike golf club venue.
But of course if you like to serve cocktail after ceremony it's different.
Btw, I LOVE Cecil Green UBC but it's getting too pricey now. View is spectacular though.
Banquet: Sun Sui wah, Kirin are popular choices.
I had mine in Kirin Richmond and it's good (both service and food). Venue is so-so as there are large column.
發表於 2012-1-11 16:27
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