October 2011

I and Bf spent last Saturday and Sunday busy from Hotels to Hotels searching for venue. We eliminated hotels that are too expensive, which include Kempinski, Mulia, and Shangri-La. So we went to these hotels:

Saturday :
1. Sari Pan Pacific Hotel
2. Sultan Hotel
3. Ciputra Hotel

Sunday:
1. Swis-Belhotel
2. Went back Ciputra Hotel to see real wedding
3. Borobudur Hotel

Review:
Sari Pan Pacific location is very strategic, but sadly their ballroom is too small, it will be very crowded for 600 guests.

Sultan Hotel has a very large ballroom, but the ambiance is dark and gloomy. There are lots of big tree, and the lighting doesn't really help.

Ciputra has 2 ballrooms that can be used. One is for 500 guests (standing), and the other one is for 1500 guests (standing). The first one has low ceiling, and the bigger one has 9 meter ceiling.

Swis-Belhotel has operated for only 2 years. It looks new and nice. It also has 2 ballrooms. The one in 3rd floor is smaller for 550 guests (standing), and 6th floor is the grand ballroom for up to 2000 guests (standing).

Borobudur has lots of ballrooms. From small, medium, poolside, and large. The small one has low ceiling so we don't like it. So as the medium one. The poolside we didn't get the chance to see because it already closed at 8 PM. The large one is the grand ballroom which can handle up to 1500 guests (standing). The grand ballroom is very nice, and the selection of food is better that the other hotels I went yesterday. Too bad the price is out of our budget.

Out of the five hotels, we consider to choose either Ciputra or Swis-Belhotel. We made a pro-contra table between the two:
- The ballroom size is almost the same.
- Ciputra is an older hotel, and connected to mall so it will find to find parking spots especially on Sunday!
- I also looking at the empty decor of the room. The colour of carpets and walls, one is red and gold, the other one is darker gray.
- And the fact that Swis-Belhotel has higher price.

Eeny meeny mineey moo... which one to choose?

Ciputra Hotel - Dian Ballroom

Swis-Belhotel - Jasmine Ballroom (6th floor)

My bf took a day off yesterday and he went to the church. As agreed before we chose the Chapel than the church. The ceremony will be held at 10 AM. The thing that worries us is that the guests will have trouble to find parking spot due to the Sunday mass which is held at 9 AM and 11.30 AM. Hm... what can we do, we just have to deal with it if we want to have the ceremony on Sunday.

We were thinking of having lunch buffet after the ceremony in the Church's auditorium. The rent costs IDR6.5 mil (2011). I think it covers electricity and air conditioner.

Here is the list of documents need to be submitted:
PS: I have to post it in Indonesian, because I do not know most of the term in English (sorry).

u/ KPP (Kursus Persiapan Pernikahan) :  
1. Foto 4x3 3 lembar  
2. Fotokopi surat baptis  
3. Membayar biaya administrasi

u/ Kanonik : (max 6 bulan sebelum pernikahan karena expired setelah 6 bulan)  
1. Foto 4x6 berdampingan 3 lembar  
2. Fotokopi KTP  
3. Fotokopi KK katolik 
4. Fotokopi KTP saksi di altar  
5. Fotokopi sertifikat KPP  
6. Surat Permandian yang diperbaharui
 

Before, I have two options for the wedding date. One in September (Saturday) and one in October (Sunday). After surveying on the venue, apparently the one in September is mostly booked. So we chose to do it on October. Besides, Chinese culture said that Sunday is a better day to have a wedding. Also our relatives that live outside Jakarta do not have to rush the flight on work-day Friday. October it is!

I purchased 'Weddingku' magazine. It contains quite complete vendor advertisement: bridal, photography, catering, make up, venue, decor, invitation, etc. Just what I need :)

Hello I'm back from Hongkong. The trip was Hongkong - Shenzhen - Guilin - Macau - Hongkong. It was exhausting.

Back to wedding prep-stuff. With date and time of the wedding in hand, the next thing on the list is to determine the size of the wedding. We were OK with 300 guests seating dinner held in Semarang.

We went to visit the church. It is our usual church. Unfortunately the the church schedule is booked for September 2012, but the Chapel is still available. So we looked at the Chapel and we fell in love with it. It was small but enough for 200 persons. It is more modest  compared to the big church building. So we decided to have the matrimony at the Chapel.

One day after our church visit, I received news that my bf's parents wants to have the reception here in Jakarta! What a change of plan. This means that the size of the wedding will change and both parents need to re-calculate the invitation list.

His parents still want to have a sitting dinner while my parents think that seating dinner is troublesome. Reasons are:
1. Number of guests are limited (max 300)
2. Number of guests have to be fixed for the table arrangements
3. The duration will be too long for the guests (minimum 2 hours seating)
4. More expensive!

My parents worried that their invitation will be more than 300 persons, while my bf's mother kind of insist of having a seating dinner. Wew.. So These 3 days we were busy searching for venue.

I found 2 venues which could hold up to 400 persons with reasonable price. So tonight we will visit the venue, and check if the date selected is available. Hopefully the in-laws agree with the price and location *finger crossed*

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I didn't have time to write before, so I will review the place now.
The place is Shang Palace Restaurant in Shangri-la Hotel.
The food is very nice, and it already has nice decor so we don't need to add much. The down side is for 400 guests we have to separate the guests table. Some in the main restaurant, some in VIP room, and others in an another room which could fit 10 tables. Also for that reason, not all tables could see the stage which blocked by pillars and walls, so we have to place LCD or projector all over the place.

Overall we will keep this place in mind, just in case we decided to have a simple dinner party instead of big wedding reception.

Shang Palace Restaurant

As I browse around trying to find a good pic for last post I found this cute picture of bells, which I think really nice as souvenir. It's never to early to think about every details, isn't it? :)

Today my mum called on my usual local church to ask if the my chosen matrimony date is still available. The admin person told us to come to the church secretariat in person to talk about it because there will be a list of item that need to be fulfilled. Since my family and I are going to Hongkong tomorrow for my cousin's wedding, so we're afraid that we have to postpone it until next week. But my dad seems so excited about all this and said that he will go to the secretariat today.. we'll see what happens.

• Choose the wedding date and time
• Determine the size of the wedding 
• Reserve the venue for reception and matrimony
• Determine wedding theme and style
• Choose colour and ambience (romantic/classic/traditional/etc)
• Plan the budget
• Guest list! Start to write down names and address of the guests
• Start to survey and choose wedding gown
• Survey and start to order wedding ring
• Survey and start to choose caterer
• Choose photographer and videographer
• Survey and start to choose MC
• Survey and start to choose florist and decorator

I actually have an older blogger account Melissa Susanto but I haven't access it for years that I forgot the password. It link to an email address which I also cannot access. So, if you want to know me, just click on the link above. :)