While in the midst of our wedding planning, we also decided to hold a Chinese engagement party to celebrate our union. It's already like a Chinese wedding, but it's more known as "Tinghun 订婚" or Tea Ceremony to honor the Chinese tradition of formally introducing each other to both families. Since we both have Chinese background, and at the same time we wanted to experience another special moment in our lives, we scheduled it on October 2019, 4 months before the wedding.
However, we will be spending quite a lot with our wedding already, especially with it being a destination one. So we decided to keep our Tinghun as simple and lowkey as possible, but still being able to celebrate it with our close friends and family, around 50+ pax. The solution? A package deal! Recently, more and more Chinese couples are embracing this tradition from simple ones being held just at the bride's home, to extravagant ones similar to a grand wedding reception. So, it did not took long for event planners and venues to offer Tinghun packages to provide couples with options and convenience of holding a memorable Tinghun without having to stress so much of the rules we need to follow, items to procure and other nitty gritty necessities of the ceremony.
We started looking for packages within our budget, and quite a number of hotels did offer fairly affordable deals. New World Makati Hotel, Shangri-la Hotel, Marco Polo Hotel, Conrad Hotel are some of our shortlisted ones. Most of their packages are similar. Alongside the Lauriat menus, they all come with inclusive of one night accommodation and breakfast, backdrop, simple styling and flowers, musicians, cakes, the Tinghun props such as tea and juices, as well as the misua and boiled eggs to be eaten by the VIPs. Almost everything's already covered except for the jewelry, fruits, clothes and personal items for showcase on the display table. The only difference? Price!
We contacted them almost the same time, with New World Makati Hotel being not just the most affordable of all the packages, but the contact person, Ms. Sapphira Chua, was also the most responsive. This was actually one of the unspoken factors in our search for suppliers: the responsiveness. It might just be our personalities talking since others might just be busy or in a meeting or such, but we were generally a tad impatient when we're waiting for feedbacks, so we often selected suppliers who tend to respond to us faster and provide us with all the necessary information with minimal inquiry,. New World has also been doing Tinghuns in the past as evidenced by their past clients and reviews we searched online. So as of the moment, they were our first choice.
Fast forward to mid-April, we scheduled an ocular with Ms. Sapphira on a Sunday morning to look at the venue. The first time she met us she already spoke in Fukien. She explained the package inclusions in detail and also offered herself to be the coordinator/consultant. Sweet! No need to hire a separate one. She seemed very knowledgeable since she was also the one handling all other previous Tinghuns, so she immediately gained our confidence and trust. She's a gem! After the meeting, she guided us to the 2nd floor venue, the Glasshouse.
Our initial impressions of the room was that it's cozy and intimate, just right for our 50+ guests. So far, it passed our requirements as we intend to just have a simple celebration. Afterwards, she toured us around the common areas such as the gardens. the restaurant and bar and shown us the allowed areas we can do photoshoots before and after the ceremony. For some hotels, they charged additional fees for photoshoot areas such as their grand staircases. Good thing, there's nothing like that with New World.
After the ocular, we did check other proposals from other hotels, but some were more expensive, above our budget, and others just took too long to reply back with a proposal. We did not have the luxury of time to wait as well, since the event's just about 5 months away. Therefore, it was not much of a competition. With a sufficient venue, affordable package and reliable account manager, we went ahead and booked New World.
Next up, Tinghun Photo/Video team!
***All my posts are in no way sponsored or paid. I narrate our wedding planning adventure like a diary, with only actual facts and experiences.***
Chapter 5: Tinghun Plans
Days to go: 9.5 months
Wedding Planning Progress: 20%
Wedding Planning Team:
1. Bride & Groom
2. Wedding Coordinator: Monina E Events & Marketing
3. Venue: Sunlight Eco Tourism Island Resort
4. Event Stylist: Monet Event Styling (packaged with coordinator, Monina)
5. Photo / Video: Mayad Studios
Tinghun:
Days to go: 5 months
Tinghun Planning Progress: 25%
Tinghun Planning Team:
1. Bride & Groom
2. Venue, Catering, Styling, Musician, Cake, Ceremony Snacks & Drinks: New World Makati Hotel
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