Comparison Chart of Wedding Banquet Venues

Image by hochit via Flickr

Addy and I have been looking around for places to have our wedding. There's this pressure to get a location fast because of constant reminders from friends and relatives to settle this part. Despite understanding their point of view and good intentions, I still don't think there's a hard rule to book a place a year beforehand. I get a little peeved when some people giving me the "tsk tsk" look when I told them we were still looking. Will jot down my reasons why later on.

To move on.

We did our due diligence by hunting for several locations. We visited them, looked at reviews, listened to hearsay and researched on their prices. There are so many places to choose from. Perhaps we are not that picky hence the relative ease.

I have compiled a table of comparison of the places we considered. Some of which we visited. Those who followed closely on FB and Twitter will know which venue we chose. The list below is not comprehensive as you have to look at more factors like reputation, quality of food etc. What I have put there is what is given by the venues themselves. There is definitely room for bargaining at some places.


The main categories for comparison are:

1. Type of Food/Cuisine
2. Setting and Themes
3. Size of Venues
4. Price Range
5. Free food tasting
6. Beverages/Cocktail/Snacks
7. Wines, beer, hard liquor and whether there are corkage waivers
8. Wedding cake
9. Champagne toasting
10. Wedding collaterals and gifts
11. Carpark
12. AV system
13. Changing/Rest Room
14. Accomodation
15. Transportation/Accessibility
16. Other Perks

I believe the above are the main factor/consideration any couple will look at before selecting their venues. If I have the time, i would elaborate on each point as well - pros and cons which I have personally considered and was advised upon.

The list embedded list below is a dynamic file which I will change as I can. Do let me know if you would like to be an editor of it as well.

For a better look at it in another window, click here.

Mendelssohn's Wedding March

Got this email from a friend sometime back. Just only managed to listen to this and I thought it was worth putting up as well.

A bit of history here:
Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March", written in 1842, is one of the best known of the pieces from his suite of incidental music (Op. 61) to Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is one of the most frequently used wedding marches, generally being played on a church pipe organ. At weddings in many English-speaking countries, this piece is commonly used as a recessional.

NB:
Do not confuse this with "Here Comes The Bride". "Here Comes The Bride" is the tune of Richard Wagner's Bridal Chorus..

Mendelssohn's Wedding March (Japanese - Addy will love this)

Mendelssohn Wedding March Shrewsbury String Quartet

(The usual we always hear)

Taiwan photography

Since we are going to take our wedding pictures in Taiwan, got some information from this website about the romantic spots there..
http://www.welcome2taiwan.net/eng/Download_01.htm


Romantic Spots –

1) Mt. Shamao and Yangmingshan National Park (Historic Architecture in Taipei)
- Red house in Ximending

Image by Harry‧黃基峰‧Taiwan via Flickr

2) North Coast . Northeast Coast
- Yeliu Geopark
- Feicuiwan
- Longmen riverside park – suspension bridge
- Fulong beach

3) Jiufen Jinguashi's Old Streets
- Jinguashi
- Jingming pavilion
- Golden waterfall
- Gold ecological Park
- Romantic highway
-
4) The Qinjing Veterans Farm (European feel)
- grasslands
- Small swiss garden


5) Hualien (very nice!)
- Qisingtan Beach

6) Sun Moon Lake Scenic Area
- lalu island
- Shuishe lakeside trail

7) Twin Hearts Stone Weir, Qimei Township, Penghu (beach) – with hearts
- Qimei Island

8) Kaohsiung, Love River
- True love ferry pier
- Love river (night)

Image via Wikipedia

9) Kenting
- baisha
- nature park

Cashflow and Cost for a resale $400,000 flat

Image via Wikipedia

A friend recently asked me about buying a resale flat around his fiance's place. Thought it would be a good time to do some maths and see whether the workings for our own flat is correct as well.

For young starters of a family, the most important factor is cashflow. This is largely because we don't have much to start of with in the first place as we only would have started working for a couple of years only. Buying a flat should be a prudent move that should not weigh us down in the long run. That's my opinion - start small then move up.

Without further ado, let's make some assumptions of this resale flat we are buying:

Market Value of a 4rm flat (east example): $400,000
COV: $40,000
Housing grant for couple staying near parents: $40,000
HDB loan taken at constant rate of fixed rate of 2.6% per annum.

HDB says that the loan taken can only be up to 90% of the selling price or market value of the flat (whichever lower). In this case, it is a $360,000 loan. The 10% or $40,000 left, half can be paid by the grant and the other half to be paid in cash or by CPF.

The COV must be fully paid in cash or financed by a bank loan. No CPF allowed.

Do note that there are various costs like stamp duties, conveyance fees, administrative fees etc to take care of. Most of these can be settled through CPF. The largest amount will come from the stamp duties which is estimated to be 2% ($7000) of the selling price/market value of a large flat. 

So basically to play safe, the couple must have these upfront:

1. $40,000 in cash savings
2. $30,000 in CPF
   

In terms of financing a $360,000 HDB loan in a 30 year time period, it will cost the couple $1,441.22 for monthly installments. This translates to a combined monthly income of $6,266.17 if the couple wishes to finance the installments via their CPF ordinary accounts only. (note that these are estimates and applicable for Singaporeans only).

Do note that in the above example, $20,000 is left over after paying 5% out of the 10%, hence this goes to offset the HDB loan as well. This effectively reduces the monthly installments by about $80 for 30 years.

HDB Flowchart Humor

Courtesy of www.H88.com.sg

http://www.h88.com.sg/images/content/bunnies/56-241109_full.jpg

Visiting Fr JJ in IHM - Church booking

Post dating this entry.

I visited Fr JJ in IHM way back in October I think. It was to ask some questions with regards to booking our church wedding. At that time, I was a still a little bit sua ku and did not know what to do with regards to booking the church. The church form was generally clear enough but we wanted to ask how we can get another priest and whether it is possible to hold a wedding on a Sunday too. Then, we were still looking for 10Oct10. ;p

The trouble we had was to settle the date for the wedding. Issues arose where:

1. Sunday wedding?
2. Sunday service in lieu of wedding?
3. Signing of marriage cert in church or do we ROM first?
4. ROM and Wedding dates are good dates for the chinese calendar?

It does seem very straight forward but with all the 4 confounding each other, it was quite hard to come to a decision as one depends on the other.

Fr JJ advised that we can always ROM first on a good date. For the church wedding, we can hold it separate if it is not a "good date" i.e. 10Oct10.

After several weeks of consideration, we decided to hold our ROM on 24Sep10, Fri, and our wedding on the 30Oct10, Sat.

For church booking in IHM for wedding, you can find the forms here:
http://www.ihm.sg/formsdownload

HDB Hunt 4: Blk 231 Serangoon Avenue 2 - 3rd Nov 2009

Visited on 3rd Nov 2009

Can't remember the details. Not too interested in the unit.

Lift level facing the main road. Quite a high storey.

Kitchen Toilet - they all look the same. Yucks.

Kitchen looking out to the living room

Kitchen - looks a little cramped

Bedroom - quite spacious and the windows are large

Living Room - Looks cramped due to the many furniture

Living Room looking out to the corridor

Corridor in - A lot of space outside the corridor. Just next to the corner unit

Corridor

House Renovation

Came across this website from a Facebook Ad. Thought I ought to bookmark it here for reference for the future.

Hope renovation will not cost a bomb next time. COV is a killer on its own already.

http://home.icompare.sg/interior-design

Hunting for Wedding Venues

Addy and I have been scourging the island for suitable wedding places.

Our intention is not to have the usual hotel kind of setting because it is quite boring and common. We hope to have something more fun and fantasy like; something more "children" and sweet. We were never the "elegant" kind to begin with so we'd thought we'd stick to something more to our character.

• Stewords Riverboat 
• Bottle Tree Park  
• The Singapore Zoo
• Hort Park
• Prima Revolving Tower Restaurant
• Fort Canning Park
  
• Other Outdoor Resources by Aaron and Peiying 

We went to Stewords yesterday. Will post more about it. :)

HDB Hunt 3: Blk 224 Serangoon Ave 4 - 24th Oct 2009

Visited on 24th Oct.

Blk 224
13th floor, door-to-door.
Area: 93sqm
Price: $330,000 (valuation) + $35,000 (COV)


This house gave me quite a good feeling.


This is the view from the front door. The house appeared really neat looking.



This place is the kitchen. I don't fancy these kind of tiles as they make the house look old. It looks cosy though and isn't too long like the previous house I saw. If it's too long, it makes things a little inconvenient.



The master bedroom.



I keep feeling that the odd window at the top makes the room a little scary.




These are the other 2 bedrooms. Paul thinks that they look a bit small and squeezy, which I agree.. But the views out from the windows are not too bad..



This is the view towards the door. The living room is larger because the owners extended it. I like the open space of the living room and could imagine how I would like to make it nicer. :)

HDB Hunt 2: Blk 221 Serangoon Avenue 4 - 14th October 2009

This flat I visited myself.

Blk 221
4th floor, door-to-door, lift level (newly installed), facing a street junction
Area: 91sqm
Price: $320,000 (valuation) + $30,000 (COV)

This flat has a very odd shape. Did not have a good camera hence I did not capture the overall looks of it. I cannot envision how to put my furniture unless I break down one of the bedroom walls to create an ultra big living room.

The flat is a little scary as well as there is an old lady staying in one of the rooms. The owner is staying in a flat nearby and came to open the door for us. The place is not very clean as well (I hope just physically).

The toilet at the kitchen. Quite eerie.

Viewing into the kitchen. The furniture is in disrepair.

 This is from the kitchen entrance facing the entrance to the flat and part of the living room.

Facing the door from the living room

From the entrance of the flat to the living room and kitchen.

 

From the living room (next to the storeroom) to the bedrooms.

From the living room to the bedrooms.

HDB Hunt 1: Blk 335 Serangoon Avenue 3 - 2nd October 2009

This was the first flat we visited on 2nd Oct 09 in the evening.

Blk 335 Serangoon Avenue 3
7th Floor Corridor Flat (lift level)
Area:  97sqm
Price: $320,000 (V) + $40,000(COV)

The owner renovated this house about 10 years ago. Quite a good condition.

This is the master bedroom. Room is quite pleasant except it is quite squeezy. There are quite a number of mirrors. We don't really fancy the wardrobe as well.

I think this master toilet is actually quite decent after seeing the 2 houses after this.

Same master room

This room is quite spacious actually. It faces the corridor and you can see that if you leave any valuables at the cupboard, confirm will get stolen one. This will be the "OCBC" room or a study best.

The other bedroom is quite nice as well. A bit of space and the sills are not as oh-biang as outside or like most other flats.

Kitchen not too bad. Not exactly spacious and little cooking area.

A lot of living room space but hard to plan how to arrange the stuff around.

The corridor to the flat and me wearing my shoes to go off. The space there is huge.

The corridor facing into the flat. Just next to the corner flat.

Hunting for HDB

Image by krisdecurtis via Flickr

For the past month, we have been calling up and visiting some flats around our area.

This is just a short record of what we have gathered so far. If we have the time, we hope to post the reviews of the flat up so we can get a better and clearer idea of what we hope our future home would be.

Serangoon Central Area

Blk 335
Area:  97sqm
Price: $320,000 + $30,000

Blk 221
Area: 91sqm
Price: $310,000 + $30,000

Blk 224 (NG)
Area: 93sqm
Price: $330,000 + $35,000

Getting a HDB Loan

Addy and I just got our Housing Loan Eligibility letter yesterday after sending in our letter and relevant documents recent Tuesday (20Oct09). It took only 1 working day to process. I even got an sms from MyECitizen that my loan has been approved. Great!

With our combined income, we are entitled to a maximum loan of about $510,000 over 30 years with monthly payments of about $2,100. Our maximum eligible loan is based on our combined income of about $5,400 if you are keen on a ballpark figure. You can calculate your own figure from the HDB website. Link here for convenience.

I have an excel spreadsheet that calculates that the optimal loan we ought to take (from our current income) is about $260,000. This is based on a loan period of 25 years (till i am about 55 as advised by HDB) and a monthly payment of about $1,472 that does not require us to pay more outside our CPF contributions for now. Once I have made the excel file more "readable, I hope to upload it for reader's use as well.

Do note the following HDB guidelines and notes (I gathered for simplicity):
The maximum loan amount that may be granted depends on:-

(a) maximum repayment period;
The maximum loan repayment period is 65 years minus the buyer’s age or 30 years, whichever is shorter.
Buyers can fully redeem or make a partial capital repayment of the loan by giving one month’s prior written notice to HDB. For redemption after complete disbursement of loan, the buyer should pay the whole of the Principal sum then outstanding and all other monies due including interest up to the date of payment. Each partial capital repayment of the loan shall not be less than $500.

(b) applicable interest rate;
Computation of the maximum loan will be based on the prevailing interest rate which may be revised from time to time. The interest on the HDB loan will be computed on a **monthly rest basis or such other basis as the HDB may decide. The HDB concessionary interest rate is pegged at 0.1% point above CPF Ordinary Account Interest Rate. It is revised quarterly in January, April, July and October each year, in line with the revision of CPF interest rate.

(c) monthly instalments; and
This is capped at 40% of the gross monthly income.
You can use your CPF savings and /or cash to service the monthly instalments of the housing loan. The monthly instalment is payable on the first day of each month. If the instalment is not paid within the month, a late payment charge will be imposed based on the outstanding instalment as at end of the month. Any payment received by HDB will first be used to settle the outstanding late payment charges. Any balance will then be applied towards the payment of the other outstanding charges.
Buyers paying the monthly loan instalments partially or fully by cash, must pay them through GIRO.
If paying using their all their CPF, buyers must use all the available savings in their CPF Ordinary Accounts [after reserving an amount required for (1)payment of stamp, (2)registration and (3)conveyancing fees and (4)CPF Home Protection Insurance Premium (if applicable)] for the purchase of or taking over the flat before any housing loan is granted by HDB.

(d) loan ceiling.
The loan that can be granted for the purchase of an HDB flat is subject to:

Sales Type	Loan Ceiling*
Direct purchase flats	90% of the purchase price
Resale flats	90% of the resale price (market value + COV) or 90% of the market value (sometimes owners sell below valuation), whichever is lower

**monthly rest basis - Your loan interest for the current month will be calculated based on the previous month’s outstanding balance (which consists of principal and interest not paid, if any). The advantage of monthly rest is that you do not have to worry about making instalments at a certain date, as long as the payment comes in at month end.


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Visit to a Bridal Studio - Divine Couture

Addy and I went to Divine Couture Designer Bridal Studio on recent Tuesday (20Oct09) to see some gowns because Addy love the gowns there. I put some designs up from Her World Brides Mag (which is a damn good magazine i realised!) which I think Addy said are nice.

They seem to have 2 main package - $4288 and $3388 I think. Can't exactly remember the details they had but i think it is the standard 1 wedding gown and 2 evening gown sets plus the usual. The biggest difference between the 2 is that the wedding gown for the more expensive one is custom-made. Designs are pretty neat! But it's to my untrained eye that is.

Service at Divine Couture was good too and they let Addy try out one gown which was fabulous. :)

The price is a little high even without a lot of other things like the bridesmaid's and bestman's wear. But i guess you are paying for the quality and design.