Wedding experience: The venue

Now that you and your partner have more or less settle down on what you guys want in your wedding, its time to look for a place for them all.

Generally there are 2 type of venues. The ROM venue and the banquet venue. You could also combine these 2 into 1. Its entirely up to you.

For me, my ROM venue would be at my Church. The solemniser would be a priest. And this would be held 1 day before my banquet.

For the banquet, it would be a dinner event at a hotel ballroom catering to a few hundred guests.

We gotten a day separation as we are unable to book the banquet venue at the date that we wanted. (Its a hot date and everywhere else has been booked) In prospective, this allows us to have a more relaxing wedding.

Lets start with the ROM venue first. The choice for mine was based on family and religion. Yours could be something that relates to your family and your religion as well. Alternatively you could do a neutral one as well.

Just so you know, you could settle for the rooms at the ROM itself. This may be challenging if the date you choose is a popular date. There is limited rooms there and you are given only a short buffer for your ceremony. Not to forget, the registration start 3 months before your Actual Day (AD) and you should go online the midnight before to stand by.

For those who aint having their there. You just have to e-file at their website, between 3 months to 22 days before your AD. Yes it sounds like submitting your Tax. Dun forget you need to fill in your solemniser details and the venue.

There are plenty of places you could hold your ROM. Ideas, like a yacht, botanical garden, hotel ballroom, outside your ex's house, etc are all available. Do note that most of these places do not come free. You may want to decide on your budget as well.

As for the banquet, the most popular choice is to hold it at a hotel. The reason is simple. You get a nice ballroom, with ample parking, with good hotel food, a suite for yourself and more. If you were to choose some other locations, you may need to plan for your own table decorations, wedding menu, cards, etc etc etc.

But of course, if you were to find a non-hotel location, you are given the opportunity to make it a unique event. Like a wedding by the pool. (there is some risk here, if you know what I mean)

Please note that in any of the options above, you need to know just one thing, that is you must act fast. Wedding location fill up rather quickly and you may have to settle for less if so. Do give yourself at least a whole year of time to shortlist the places you want. We went down to several hotels just to sneak into the ballroom to look at their layout. We also went to "boi" the venue when there is a wedding going on.

Once we shortlist a few places, we send out emails after emails to gather their availability and to arrange for a meet up. We would then meet up with their wedding coordinator whom presents to us their wedding packages and bring us about viewing their location. I must say, that I am dearly impressed with Fullerton and Intercontinental. Too bad both arent available.

Just to let you know, if you happen to choose a date that falls in the 4th or 7th month, you wont need to rush much. Hotels will entice you with packages just so you would sign with them. You would get free lunches and endless supply of pastries and drinks during your meet up. Not to forget, your package will be cheaper with more perks.