I've always wanted to pen down the journey of my wedding but I never really got to it because when you're planning a wedding all by yourself, you tend to be alot more pre-occupied than planning a birthday party and one month before the actual DAY, you tend to get a little paranoid about things that might not happen and end up being insane, mostly.
After 3 months and 19 days, I can finally sit down and begin. As I was wondering where should I even start, I thought to myself, it should be the very first thing that comes to my mind when we've decided on the date. The Venue. We began searching for the perfect place after we've decided on the date, 25th May 2013 which falls on a Saturday. Why that date?, people asked. Just cos our anniversary is on the 27th and we couldn't have that because it was a Monday, so 25th it is!
Plenty of time spent in front of the laptop, googling one after another potentially suitable venues but at long last, it was down to how much we could afford and it has to be a place where we both wanted.
Cyberview Lodge Resort & Spa came to my mind when I was looking through the list of places with a garden option and I remembered that one of my friends had her wedding there but at that time, I didn't really know her so I didn't have the opportunity to attend her wedding. I had a chat with her about it and decided to make an appointment with the lady in charge seeing that the wedding package that she sent me was really all-in-one for something that was within our budget.
After a month or two, we decided that Cyberview is the place we would love to have our wedding at. Although I couldn't have a garden wedding (they used to have that option but they've discontinued that) but I did have a garden wedding ceremony which turned out to be exactly how I pictured it on that day. The ballroom holds a maximum 300 pax and it was really spacious when we only had 200 pax. The decor was lovely, ambience of our dinner reception was perfect, and we couldn't have picked a better place to celebrate our biggest day!
Thought it might be great that I add some tips for those who are choosing their wedding venue :
- KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. First rule in every single thing in life.
Many brides are putting themselves in a position where they want EVERY SINGLE THING and they try to fit every single thing that they want, into their wedding which only ruins a potentially beautiful wedding unless you are extremely creative to match every single thing together. When I say every single thing, I meant every single thing from colors, flowers, decors, theme, western or oriental or both..etc
- Google is your best friend.
Anything you need to know. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and be prepared to Google every single day until you've shortlisted a few venues that you want to check out. 5 should be the most you'll ever want to check out. Always cross check the budget with how many people you are planning to invite and see if the place can hold more, for any last minute invites. Just in case.
- Make room in your budget.
Find a place which really gives you room in your budget where you can be flexible with additional things like for example, you need to order more food or drinks for your guests.
- The more the merrier.
Things which are incliuded in the wedding package that will help you save alot of money. Floral decoration, a room you can spend the night after a tiresome day, soft drinks and liqour corkage waived or at a minimum cost, wedding door gift, a choice of mocktail or soft drinks which are bottomless that night, no cover charge for bands and djs.
- Observe the hospitality of the person you are dealing with.
Whoever that you are liaising with for the arrangements of the venue, service has to be top notch. Look for these traits in the person you are dealing with : professionalism, patience, and who is happy with their job because you are trusting your entire dinner plans with her/him.
Once you have decided on the place, make your necessary payment and then get on with other things you need to do for the wedding. DO NOT Google for more wedding venues you think you MIGHT have wanted instead because once you've decided on something, JUST SETTLE WITH IT. Move on to your gowns, decor if you need to, flowers, wedding invites and so much more (I'll definitely blog about that).
I had so much fun planning mine. Surprised to say that it went really smooth actually. I had no hiccups except for the Videographer that I wanted to lock down bailed on me a week before my big day. But that was instantly settled. Oh, one more tip. Plan a year ahead. You'll have so much time, it'll feel like you're cruising along instead of planning the biggest day of your life.
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