It all started with the idea of having a solemnisation at the poolside...
We first visited Goodwood Park Hotel.
The poolside location was fairly nice (somehow it looked nicer in photos), but unfortunately the hotel only had a slot in the evening at 7pm. It would be all dark and kind of defeats the point of a poolside wedding..
We then visited Marriott Singapore, which had a pool also.
The hotel is located in the middle of Orchard, hence the pool has a nice view of the iconic buildings in Orchard (eg. ION, Tangs etc). We even made a tentative booking with the hotel! However a few days later, the hotel called again to say that all their (backup) function rooms are all not available and asked whether we want to consider another date. I was quite annoyed. If there were no rooms available, then maybe you shouldn't have let us make the booking. Kind of defeats the point of a booking right?
After searching for quite a bit on the net, we found that Changi Village Hotel has a pool and does weddings quite frequently there. The photos that we found on the net looked gorgeous too!
However when we visited the hotel itself, it was a big let down. The hotel had a crumbly and not-so-well maintained feel. The poolside while having a nice view, was unimpressive at best. It really is much smaller than it appeared in the photos. Another strike-out.
The internet searches revealed Grandcopthorne Waterfront Hotel as a possible venue for a outdoor wedding. This was what we found on the net:
Looks really nice right? But it looked so different in real life. The Singapore River that ran beside the outdoor promenade looks like a big longkang (drain). The promenade itself looked dirty and there was rubbish in the surrounding "moat". It was immediately crossed out of our list. On the other hand, the staff appeared to be quite experienced in handling weddings and the function rooms were quite nice.
We then discovered Crowne Plaza Hotel (Changi Airport Terminal 3)
This hotel had a rather chic and modern feel. We were quite impressed with the pool too! We both felt that we quite liked the place and thought it would be THE location. However, the function rooms are a bit unimpressive. Nevertheless, we made a tentative booking and thought we'll look around some more first..
We then visited Swissotel: Merchant Court.
This is a fairly popular location for solemnisation/weddings as well. However the function rooms are really disappointing. The back-up room shown to us felt claustrophobic, and if I daresay, ugly.
We then checked out Fullerton Hotel.. the hotel had really nice function rooms of differing sizes. This is the Boardroom:
And this is the Straits Room:
However due to availability and the size of our function, the rooms that were recommended to us seemed a little claustrophobic. We were also looking for more of a outdoor location..
After some more searching on the internet, looking at photos, videos and forums, we discovered Fullerton Bay Hotel.
The hotel was very new and was really really beautiful - from the Lobby, to the Bar, corridors and the rooms.. And they had a rooftop pool with a killer view of Marina Bay..
This was the place where we could have our solemnisation.
The rooms have absolutely beautiful views of Marina Bay and the Singapore Skyline as well..
We were thoroughly impressed by the magnificence of the place and immediately placed a tentative booking. However, the service and professionalism of the staff there let us down. We are not sure whether it is because the hotel is new and the staff are inexperienced with weddings and or they genuinely couldn't be bothered much with us, but our experience with them really left us feeling very uneasy. And uneasiness isn't a feeling you want to feel in the lead up to your wedding...
Prior to our first site visit, a floor/seating plan was sent to us. However during the visit itself, the staff attending to us was actually surprised that we need chairs. Yes. When we asked how will the tables and chairs be positioned, the reply we got was, "you need chairs?" We were quite taken aback. We thought maybe she is new and thought we will clarify with the lady who has been corresponding with us via email.
The reply we got from the email was basically "what floor plan?" (The plan was sent to us initially by another staff). We were then asked to forward the floor plan to her. Come'on. Do you guys even communicate with each other? If you don't have a floor plan, you should ask your colleague who sent it to us for it, rather than asking your customers for it right? I felt that was a bit unprofessional.
Throughout our exchange with the staff, we just felt that they lacked enthusiasm and seemed not very interested in our event. It was like we are just some side attraction they can do with or without. There were also a lot of restrictions, like prohibition of use of AV equipment. No way we are going shout our wedding vows over the din of the adjacent bar.. Very very reluctantly, we resumed our search..
At this point, we were getting kind of frustrated and tired.. We thought of just going back to Crowne Plaza. Then the search on the internet turned out Mandarin Oriental. We actually had considered this place for our actual wedding banquet, but somehow didn't think of it at all for ROM. Our reaction was "why didn't we think of it right from the start!"
It has a awesome rooftop pool:
And the indoor venue has a awesome view of Marina Bay as well:
Most of all, the staff were very professional and experienced at handling weddings. They were very helpful and replied our emails very promptly. Within 2 weeks, we made a deposit and confirmed our booking.
And so ends our long and arduous search for the perfect ROM location... Excited and looking forward to the actual day :)
We first visited Goodwood Park Hotel.
The poolside location was fairly nice (somehow it looked nicer in photos), but unfortunately the hotel only had a slot in the evening at 7pm. It would be all dark and kind of defeats the point of a poolside wedding..
We then visited Marriott Singapore, which had a pool also.
The hotel is located in the middle of Orchard, hence the pool has a nice view of the iconic buildings in Orchard (eg. ION, Tangs etc). We even made a tentative booking with the hotel! However a few days later, the hotel called again to say that all their (backup) function rooms are all not available and asked whether we want to consider another date. I was quite annoyed. If there were no rooms available, then maybe you shouldn't have let us make the booking. Kind of defeats the point of a booking right?
After searching for quite a bit on the net, we found that Changi Village Hotel has a pool and does weddings quite frequently there. The photos that we found on the net looked gorgeous too!
However when we visited the hotel itself, it was a big let down. The hotel had a crumbly and not-so-well maintained feel. The poolside while having a nice view, was unimpressive at best. It really is much smaller than it appeared in the photos. Another strike-out.
The internet searches revealed Grandcopthorne Waterfront Hotel as a possible venue for a outdoor wedding. This was what we found on the net:
Looks really nice right? But it looked so different in real life. The Singapore River that ran beside the outdoor promenade looks like a big longkang (drain). The promenade itself looked dirty and there was rubbish in the surrounding "moat". It was immediately crossed out of our list. On the other hand, the staff appeared to be quite experienced in handling weddings and the function rooms were quite nice.
We then discovered Crowne Plaza Hotel (Changi Airport Terminal 3)
This hotel had a rather chic and modern feel. We were quite impressed with the pool too! We both felt that we quite liked the place and thought it would be THE location. However, the function rooms are a bit unimpressive. Nevertheless, we made a tentative booking and thought we'll look around some more first..
We then visited Swissotel: Merchant Court.
This is a fairly popular location for solemnisation/weddings as well. However the function rooms are really disappointing. The back-up room shown to us felt claustrophobic, and if I daresay, ugly.
We then checked out Fullerton Hotel.. the hotel had really nice function rooms of differing sizes. This is the Boardroom:
And this is the Straits Room:
However due to availability and the size of our function, the rooms that were recommended to us seemed a little claustrophobic. We were also looking for more of a outdoor location..
After some more searching on the internet, looking at photos, videos and forums, we discovered Fullerton Bay Hotel.
The hotel was very new and was really really beautiful - from the Lobby, to the Bar, corridors and the rooms.. And they had a rooftop pool with a killer view of Marina Bay..
This was the place where we could have our solemnisation.
The rooms have absolutely beautiful views of Marina Bay and the Singapore Skyline as well..
We were thoroughly impressed by the magnificence of the place and immediately placed a tentative booking. However, the service and professionalism of the staff there let us down. We are not sure whether it is because the hotel is new and the staff are inexperienced with weddings and or they genuinely couldn't be bothered much with us, but our experience with them really left us feeling very uneasy. And uneasiness isn't a feeling you want to feel in the lead up to your wedding...
Prior to our first site visit, a floor/seating plan was sent to us. However during the visit itself, the staff attending to us was actually surprised that we need chairs. Yes. When we asked how will the tables and chairs be positioned, the reply we got was, "you need chairs?" We were quite taken aback. We thought maybe she is new and thought we will clarify with the lady who has been corresponding with us via email.
The reply we got from the email was basically "what floor plan?" (The plan was sent to us initially by another staff). We were then asked to forward the floor plan to her. Come'on. Do you guys even communicate with each other? If you don't have a floor plan, you should ask your colleague who sent it to us for it, rather than asking your customers for it right? I felt that was a bit unprofessional.
Throughout our exchange with the staff, we just felt that they lacked enthusiasm and seemed not very interested in our event. It was like we are just some side attraction they can do with or without. There were also a lot of restrictions, like prohibition of use of AV equipment. No way we are going shout our wedding vows over the din of the adjacent bar.. Very very reluctantly, we resumed our search..
At this point, we were getting kind of frustrated and tired.. We thought of just going back to Crowne Plaza. Then the search on the internet turned out Mandarin Oriental. We actually had considered this place for our actual wedding banquet, but somehow didn't think of it at all for ROM. Our reaction was "why didn't we think of it right from the start!"
It has a awesome rooftop pool:
And the indoor venue has a awesome view of Marina Bay as well:
Most of all, the staff were very professional and experienced at handling weddings. They were very helpful and replied our emails very promptly. Within 2 weeks, we made a deposit and confirmed our booking.
And so ends our long and arduous search for the perfect ROM location... Excited and looking forward to the actual day :)
