Even though there is a designated planner for our JP banquet, she does not do all miracles and magics for us. We still have to do any customised work in order to amuse our guests.
Thus, although there are not much we can innovate, there are some small items we need for showing our hospitality. Today was a day we did shopping for these kinds of items.
Oh btw, there are quite a number of updates at this point.
1. We went to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year 2009 and brought back the wedding dress.
2. Two drastic changes in plan. The first one is Carol's dress... Carol was not able to fit one of the dress because she has a new life in her tummy. So, we needed to search for a substitute.
3. After returning to JP, we did a quick search for availability of cheap dresses. We were very lucky to find a very reasonable yet high quality dress. The owner is even a Taiwanese! We thought this was another 一期一会 and quickly made our decision.
4. THe other drastic change is the HK Banquet date. Since the new life in Carol's tummy is expected for delivery in July, we will no longer host the HK Banquet in May. Thus, we have moved our banquet date to 12th Sept. We hope to meet you in our new banquet date.
5. We went to a trial dinner of the JP banquet the other day and they were pretty tasty and nice. Those who cannot come may miss ALOT :-P
As we slowly walk our ways to the JP banquet date, more and more ideas are made to concrete plans. We hope we will be able to host one that is very close to our ideal banquet (if not, really an ideal one).
Lastly, sorry for no additional pictures. We cannot show the happy items before the real event ;-)
Stay tuned!
Jin and Carol
Showing posts with label Banquet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Banquet. Show all posts
14 February 2009
18 January 2009
JP Banquet - Update after the second meeting.
It has been over 6weeks. Sorry for creating a gap.
The reason behind the gap is quite simple to guess. We were busy with keeping up with the assignments about the JP banquet.
There were already two meetings with our wedding planner. Some key points to share as below:
1. 06 Dec: Discussion about invitation.
a. Discussion for wedding gift (引出物), snack (引菓子), and petit gift (プチギフト).
It is Japanese cultural thing to prepare the wedding gift and the snack for each guest family (i.e. if Father, Mother, children came, then the must do is to prepare one set. If they live apart and invitations are sent distinctly, we need to prepare separately). Gift is some nice things (typically china ware, silverware, or recently, it is common to provide present catalogue so that guests can choose their items they wish). We can choose from the stack of catalogues provided by the banquet venue (there were over 20 books they gave us!!!) or we can decide to order at major department stores which have a special contract with the venue. In the later case, the organisation has to be done by ourselves, but if we decide to pick from the items from the venue, the planner will take care of the logistics.
b. Discussion for invitation.
So, although the wedding planner takes care of the logistics, we still have to choose who to invite. Thus, it is our duty to make the invitation list. The wedding planner provided us an xls which we can use to fill out the guest list. Very useful.
We decided the paper items which contains the decoration of the invitation. We also made the decision of other paper items such as guest table chart, name tag, and menu.
c. Other topics we discussed.
1) Q&A about dresses.
2) Q&A about Profile Video.
3) Discussion of who is going to do the speeches.
4) Discussion of who will be helping at the reception area.
5) There was a survey which both the bride and the groom was asked to fill out. This was to help the MC understand about the couple. We turned that in.
6) Decided the style of the ceremony to be in a chapel.
7) Q&A about Photo shooting.
2. 10 Jan: Discussion about ceremony details.
The second meeting was about the runthrough of the ceremony / banquet details. By this time, most of the guests have been decided and now, we can think of the entertainment and the details of how we want to make our big day big and fancy. The wedding planner brought us a blank paper with only the start and end time stated. From there, it is by our discussion to fill the detail one by one.
This discussion was very detailed. We laid out what we want to do, by whom, when, where, etc.; one by one.
With this discussion, we decide the overall framework of the ceremony and banquet. Now, there are more assignments given from the wedding planner. Things are becoming busier and busier!!!
Upcoming discussions
1. Discussion about food.
2. Discussion about flower.
3. Discussion about overall MC.
4. Tasting dinner.
5. Rehearsal.
The reason behind the gap is quite simple to guess. We were busy with keeping up with the assignments about the JP banquet.
There were already two meetings with our wedding planner. Some key points to share as below:
1. 06 Dec: Discussion about invitation.
a. Discussion for wedding gift (引出物), snack (引菓子), and petit gift (プチギフト).
It is Japanese cultural thing to prepare the wedding gift and the snack for each guest family (i.e. if Father, Mother, children came, then the must do is to prepare one set. If they live apart and invitations are sent distinctly, we need to prepare separately). Gift is some nice things (typically china ware, silverware, or recently, it is common to provide present catalogue so that guests can choose their items they wish). We can choose from the stack of catalogues provided by the banquet venue (there were over 20 books they gave us!!!) or we can decide to order at major department stores which have a special contract with the venue. In the later case, the organisation has to be done by ourselves, but if we decide to pick from the items from the venue, the planner will take care of the logistics.
b. Discussion for invitation.
So, although the wedding planner takes care of the logistics, we still have to choose who to invite. Thus, it is our duty to make the invitation list. The wedding planner provided us an xls which we can use to fill out the guest list. Very useful.
We decided the paper items which contains the decoration of the invitation. We also made the decision of other paper items such as guest table chart, name tag, and menu.
c. Other topics we discussed.
1) Q&A about dresses.
2) Q&A about Profile Video.
3) Discussion of who is going to do the speeches.
4) Discussion of who will be helping at the reception area.
5) There was a survey which both the bride and the groom was asked to fill out. This was to help the MC understand about the couple. We turned that in.
6) Decided the style of the ceremony to be in a chapel.
7) Q&A about Photo shooting.
2. 10 Jan: Discussion about ceremony details.
The second meeting was about the runthrough of the ceremony / banquet details. By this time, most of the guests have been decided and now, we can think of the entertainment and the details of how we want to make our big day big and fancy. The wedding planner brought us a blank paper with only the start and end time stated. From there, it is by our discussion to fill the detail one by one.
This discussion was very detailed. We laid out what we want to do, by whom, when, where, etc.; one by one.
With this discussion, we decide the overall framework of the ceremony and banquet. Now, there are more assignments given from the wedding planner. Things are becoming busier and busier!!!
Upcoming discussions
1. Discussion about food.
2. Discussion about flower.
3. Discussion about overall MC.
4. Tasting dinner.
5. Rehearsal.
06 December 2008
JP Banquet - The preparation starts HERE!
Dear loyal readers of our blog,
We are very sorry to have kept you all eagerly waiting; we know it has been quite some time without any updates. If you have a facebook account, then you might have seen our recent statuses through Carol's updates. But just in case you haven't, let us summarise what had done.
2nd Sept: Carol came to Japan. Carol had successfully arrived with her spouse status visa for long term stay in Japan.
19th Sept: Carol went back to Hong Kong to take care of errands.
30th Sept: Carol and Jin met in Taiwan. Our Taiwan trip!!!!! Yey!!
7th Oct: Jin went back to Japan alone.
8th Oct: Carol went back to Hong Kong to take care of more errands.
11th Oct: Carol came back to Japan and our long term living had started.
We have bought lots of items to refurbish our home sweet home. Carol also bout lots of items to prepare for Japanese winter. At the same time much items were bought, lots of old items were thrown out. We still have just a bit more re-organization and cleanup, but overall, living is comfortable and smooth.
Coming back to the topic. JP Banquet.
Since some of you loyal readers want to attend, please open 29th of March. We are currently working hard to prepare for our big day.
The preparation is much smooth. We have an organizer booklet which contains all information about the wedding preparation, and our designated banquet planner gives us requests to prepare from time to time. We can just reactively prepare one by one (although for some preparation items, we have already become proactive, hehehe...).
So today is our first meeting. The agenda is about general items:
1. Decision of Wedding gift and snack.
2. Master list creation for invitation.
3. Top level discussion about MC (survey).
4. Top level discussion about overall wedding banquet style.
5. Top level discussion of speeches.
There is still lots of items we need to discuss and decide to prepare. Please look forward of our big day!!! (^-'v
We are very sorry to have kept you all eagerly waiting; we know it has been quite some time without any updates. If you have a facebook account, then you might have seen our recent statuses through Carol's updates. But just in case you haven't, let us summarise what had done.
2nd Sept: Carol came to Japan. Carol had successfully arrived with her spouse status visa for long term stay in Japan.
19th Sept: Carol went back to Hong Kong to take care of errands.
30th Sept: Carol and Jin met in Taiwan. Our Taiwan trip!!!!! Yey!!
7th Oct: Jin went back to Japan alone.
8th Oct: Carol went back to Hong Kong to take care of more errands.
11th Oct: Carol came back to Japan and our long term living had started.
We have bought lots of items to refurbish our home sweet home. Carol also bout lots of items to prepare for Japanese winter. At the same time much items were bought, lots of old items were thrown out. We still have just a bit more re-organization and cleanup, but overall, living is comfortable and smooth.
Coming back to the topic. JP Banquet.
Since some of you loyal readers want to attend, please open 29th of March. We are currently working hard to prepare for our big day.
The preparation is much smooth. We have an organizer booklet which contains all information about the wedding preparation, and our designated banquet planner gives us requests to prepare from time to time. We can just reactively prepare one by one (although for some preparation items, we have already become proactive, hehehe...).
So today is our first meeting. The agenda is about general items:
1. Decision of Wedding gift and snack.
2. Master list creation for invitation.
3. Top level discussion about MC (survey).
4. Top level discussion about overall wedding banquet style.
5. Top level discussion of speeches.
There is still lots of items we need to discuss and decide to prepare. Please look forward of our big day!!! (^-'v
03 June 2008
JP banquet confirmed - 2009.03.29
...............friends asked: "How about Japan?"
In fact...this has been confirmed long ago...in April during our photo-shooting trip.
Oh! It's almost time! guests move to the Chapel and inside this purely white peaceful place, Carol's father handed over her to Jin after march-in, for their eternal vows (Oops, although after 1 year) of confirmation and blessed by the guests...
ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)メ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)メ Yey! JP banquet confirmed as:
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 29, 2009 (Sunday)
Ceremony starts: 10:30 AM
Banquet starts: 11:30 AM
Venue: Bayside Garden Club
日本国神奈川県横浜市西区みなとみらい 5-1-5
----------------------------------------------------------
As briefed by Jin in his previous notes, there are a few styles of JP banquet, depending the ceremony type.
After balancing all pros and cons, we decided to go with GUEST HOUSE with western style chapel wedding.
(To be correct, instead of "decide", we were fallen into the super fantasy...and perfection of GUEST HOUSE)
A few snapshots of Bayside Garden Club:
Imagine...
In a sunny new spring morning, you walk with birds' songs and showered by sakura peddles brought by the mild wind...gradually you arrive at the entrance of Bayside Garden Club...
Two very polite "housekeepers" come to open the gate for you and you enter the main building, which is actually in front of a pool. The blue color of the pool matches with the sky, making the main building shiny white..so warm and glory.
More and more guests arrive and some of them are standing along the pool side, chat over drinks.
Oh! It's almost time! guests move to the Chapel and inside this purely white peaceful place, Carol's father handed over her to Jin after march-in, for their eternal vows (Oops, although after 1 year) of confirmation and blessed by the guests...
A short break after emotional fulfillment (from the ceremony), it's time to fulfill our stomach! It's banquet time!
Chef is serving French cuisine today. Guests take their time eating slowly, enjoying some performances...
Oops! wake up!
It's still too early to tell the whole story!
What we had done is to book this perfect scene to prepare for everybody's enjoyment, and you need to experience it in person!
Or if you wish to continue the dream...http://www.kekkon-taiken.jp/ click "enter site". haha..
One happy side note - our wedding banquet place is just next to Anpanman Museum!!!!! Happi~
31 May 2008
HK banquet confirmed - 2009.05.17
Yo! Hong Kong banquet confirmed, as :
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: May 17, 2009 (Sunday)
Time: 12 pm to 3 pm
Venue: Grand Marquee, Gold Coast Hotel, Tuen Mun
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an easy conclusion against our well-defined criteria, including:
1) "Good days" (吉日) for us: Mar 29 (chosen for JP banquet), Apr 19, May 17, June 20.
Overseas friends' schedules was sought and May 17 is of convenience to the majority.
2) Time: lunch is preferred as i) all "good time" (吉時) picked are in the morning; ii) respect Japanese guests as Japanese style is more for lunch; iii) start early & finish early, avoid making it a tiring day for all; iv) a bright day in spring, with plenty of sunshine. AND!!! v) my super good friend xx is having her wedding on May 17 as well - we can rush to her dinner banquet after ours!
3) Venue: We want to make our banquet a cozy get-together, with natural light to add to the warmth & green + flowers to add energy and new hopes. A pure white marquee inside a garden is the best option!
A quick research of available marquees in HK:
i) Repulse Bay (out - renovation in Q2 2009);
ii) Harbour Plaza Metropolis (Marquee+harbour view= city feel and a gorgeous night view, better for night event);
iii) Aberdeen Marine Club (looks nice but could not manage to make a visit after several attempts..give up)
iv) Gold Coast Hotel: (Marquee in a garden!) in terms of "concept", Gold Coast stands out immediately! We made a visit there on May 1 (as an outing activity during Jin's stay in Apr for registration) and had a wonderful experience:
The whole Gold Coast area is a resort! Pace slow down once your enter the area. Less populated and most of the people there are in relax (tourist)/ casual (residents) mode. Going to Gold Coast itself can make a day trip - bring additional value to our guests especially when we can finish early. The outlook of the hotel is just so-so, but the marquee itself is super - surrounded by the garden and a cruise area. In terms of environment it is almost perfect!
The sales manager we talked to was a nice guy, too. Easy going and helpful. He even advised us to keep shopping around and confirm during wedding expo in order to get more discount....haha...
-------------------------------------------------
Here comes the day - May 31.
I went with XX and her fiance for the Wedding Expo to confirm the package with Gold Coast Hotel. XX also confirmed a few packages for her wedding preparation as well. Tired but very fruitful day.
OK. The defined banquet date also serve as a kick-off for the project. A series of logistics need to be prepared and booked shortly. The first thing I did was confirmed Helen, my make-up stylist of her assistance again for next year's party! yeah yeah!
-------------------------------------------------
p.s. Both Jin and myself love traveling a lot. Today he made a new section at the bottom of this blog - "Cities we have visited together".
19 April 2008
Banquet Briefing ver. 1
We had the first briefing today (19th Apr.).
Until now, all we have was a verbal communication of "We're gonna do our wedding on that day!!!!!" and no confirmation. Today, I went to the banquet place to do the actual "reservation" along with getting further information.
The person in charge of us (they call themselves "wedding planner") greeted me and first thing she told me was "oh, yappari if you're alone, you look samishii", which is a indirect complement saying we are lovely being together... Honestly, I being alone does cause some furiousness around. When I was approaching the banquet hall, and I see people staring at me with a big big question mark over my head...
Well, so I don't fit in this kind of atmosphere, mmm... But I came for a reason.
1. Make the official reservation of our perfect wedding ceremony.
2. Get further information from the venue so that we are absolutely sure of what we want, can be done.
Original plan was that we talk for about an hour and be done with. As such, I had made some errands immediately after then. What it turned out, was that the discussion went on and on, and by the time I left the hall, it was already the time for the next errand. I had to cancel my errand... (>___<; Well anyway, this is more important and is of the top priority.
I truly think what we have decided is indeed the correct choice. The planner is sooooooooo nice in her detailed preparation for us. She made a handmade schedule (nicely colored and due dates marked) which is essentially the master schedule for our upcoming preparation milestones. I'm sure this takes some time, and she was soooo happy (I mean, she had a big smile in her face when she handed this to me) to provide this information to me. I really thank her of making this step for us.
We were quite frank and discussed lots of items. I think I may have been too detailed and too focused, but I kept the integrity and was also looking at the big picture to make sure all of our care abouts are clarified. The discussion went on with no room for chit-chat.
However much I requested for lots and lots of answers, I did teach the planner what Carol's guests will be expecting from this "big event of life". Photo shooting is a very important event which we value alot. And she was quite frank about taking in our request. Her kind-hearted "listener" attitude made my conversation go smoothly and this is something to be appreciated.
All in all, we now know clearer of what they can do for our big event. From now it's going to be our turn to make the ceremony one-and-only perfect one. Tanoshimi danya-!!!
Until now, all we have was a verbal communication of "We're gonna do our wedding on that day!!!!!" and no confirmation. Today, I went to the banquet place to do the actual "reservation" along with getting further information.
The person in charge of us (they call themselves "wedding planner") greeted me and first thing she told me was "oh, yappari if you're alone, you look samishii", which is a indirect complement saying we are lovely being together... Honestly, I being alone does cause some furiousness around. When I was approaching the banquet hall, and I see people staring at me with a big big question mark over my head...
Well, so I don't fit in this kind of atmosphere, mmm... But I came for a reason.
1. Make the official reservation of our perfect wedding ceremony.
2. Get further information from the venue so that we are absolutely sure of what we want, can be done.
Original plan was that we talk for about an hour and be done with. As such, I had made some errands immediately after then. What it turned out, was that the discussion went on and on, and by the time I left the hall, it was already the time for the next errand. I had to cancel my errand... (>___<; Well anyway, this is more important and is of the top priority.
I truly think what we have decided is indeed the correct choice. The planner is sooooooooo nice in her detailed preparation for us. She made a handmade schedule (nicely colored and due dates marked) which is essentially the master schedule for our upcoming preparation milestones. I'm sure this takes some time, and she was soooo happy (I mean, she had a big smile in her face when she handed this to me) to provide this information to me. I really thank her of making this step for us.
We were quite frank and discussed lots of items. I think I may have been too detailed and too focused, but I kept the integrity and was also looking at the big picture to make sure all of our care abouts are clarified. The discussion went on with no room for chit-chat.
However much I requested for lots and lots of answers, I did teach the planner what Carol's guests will be expecting from this "big event of life". Photo shooting is a very important event which we value alot. And she was quite frank about taking in our request. Her kind-hearted "listener" attitude made my conversation go smoothly and this is something to be appreciated.
All in all, we now know clearer of what they can do for our big event. From now it's going to be our turn to make the ceremony one-and-only perfect one. Tanoshimi danya-!!!
In search for our perfect wedding ceremony venue in Japan
Time is limited!!!
When Carol was in Japan for the photo shooting, there was another mission. In fact, there were two missions, but here, we will disclose only one. It is to search for the banquet hall for wedding ceremony in Japan. It is typical that the banquet halls get filled about 12~18 months in advance. Since our scope is next Apr~Jun, we had to start looking for the banquet halls. And in some cases, it was even too late as the slots were already taken.
□■About wedding market in Japan
Wedding market in Japan is quite interesting. Japan is known for a Buddhist (Shinto-ist) nation, but quite frankly (especially generation after WWII), the nation has become more atheist. On top of this, the nation's westernisation created an "idolisation" of the western practices. Wedding market in Japan has indeed been influenced by such "idolisation". Especially, the Christian style chapel wedding with white dress and veil walking on the red virgin road has become one of the "must-do" item for recent Japanese generations. I think Japan is the only nation which the citizen cares about Western wedding but does Buddhist funeral.
Wedding in Japan can be chosen from one of the three styles: Western style chapel wedding （教会式）, Japanese authentic Buddhist shrine wedding （神前式）, and Non-religious wedding （人前式）. Amongst all, the Chapel wedding is the most popular. Chapel wedding in Japan is done by a Protestant priest and thus, anyone can request to hold the ceremony in this style. However, the vow made is not as strict as the Christian vow, but it is a vow. In this way, choosing the wedding style in Japan is quite free.
What is interesting is that after the big wars in the mid 1940s, Japan has become a pacifist country. Since then, the generations who lived through the wars feel that a "happy wedding ceremony" is a big desire for their children. This raised an awareness and more importantly, the focus of the wedding ceremony venues to be service oriented. Furthermore, the way this "service oriented-ness" comes true is consideration to the minor details.
As "holding the happy wedding ceremony" is the main focus, there are lots of variety of entertainments which these wedding venues can provide. The ceremony can be formed into as much customization as possible, but at the same time, there are "packaged" ceremonies to avoid the couple putting much efforts in the ceremony. In most cases, most of the items which I found in HK ordered one by one, are included in the basic package, and all the couple needs to focus is the originality of the show, which is the entertainment. As much options are available, each will end up in quite a lump sum of total fee. However, the wedding market expects the parents of the couple to pay a portion, and the red packets called 祝儀袋 pay up quite a percentage of the fee, the venues don't consider their product "expensive".
□■About the information gathering for wedding ceremony.
In order to retrieve information about the wedding venue, there are various magazines which contain information of the wedding venue. Moreover, there are homepages which accompany the magazines, so that the readers can easily access the pages, register, and become a loyal subscriber of the information the publisher provides them. Smart idea...
Of such a market, an impressive one is called Zexy. Zexy had established about 10+ years ago, and now has become the biggest bridal magazine publisher. Just look at the size of their magazine.....
Mind you, this is only 1640 pages monthly magazine which is only 500 JPY (roughly around 40 HKD). It contains practically everything: from banquet venue information to dresses, rings, after party, photo and DVD shooting, to even manners and budget management tips. Quite a fully fledged information package which hardly anyone can catch up every month... (Just as an fyi, the supplementary site is http://zexy.net/).Each venue has an open house events called "Bridal fairs". Of course, anyone can reserve a slot at any time to get an overall information from the venue if they cannot attend these fairs. What I found interesting is that it is typical in Japan that these "Bridal fairs" are scheduled by the venues, and the couples find what they want. We hardly ever have any expositions where these venues come at once (which seems to be popular in HK).
Bridal fairs take up quite some time. Typically, they ask us to spend roughly 3hrs. Our attendance involve the following items which take up the entire 3hrs...
- Filling out survey for the venue to learn our care abouts, preferences, desires, concerns, and needs.
- Checking out the venue in detail - from external appearance to even washrooms...
- Get our concerns after looking through the venue, and get the quotation according to what we want to do.
- Chit-chat.
All in all, the bridal fairs take up quite some time and barely can fit 3 fairs in one day (this will make our day schedule so tight that we cannot even have a decent lunch...).
□■Searching for our perfect wedding ceremony venue
As stated in the first line of this post, time is limited. We had soooo many options to consider, but we narrowed down to several and filled our our schedule while Carol was in Japan. Below are the venues we went. Looking at the list and recalling what we had accomplished, I want to give both of us the "Yokudekimashita" chop!!!
6th Apr:
センター南：パルティーレ横浜ウエディングビレッジ
日比谷公園：フェリーチェガーデン日比谷
有明：パルティーレ東京ベイウエディングビレッジ
9th Apr:
新横浜：アクアテラス迎賓館
12th Apr:
白金台：八芳園
青山：コルディアーレ青山
13th Apr:
横浜バスツアー(Cancelled)
横浜みなとみらい：ベイサイド迎賓館＆ベイサイドガーデンクラブ
横浜元町：山手迎賓館
And just to give you a sneak peek, here are some shots we allow to disclose for your "imagination" :P Only those who are invited and can come to Japan can see the real thing... Hope YOU will be there ;-)
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