I met Joleen years and years ago through some friends in Singapore. She’s a pretty (and smart) lass hailing from HK whom I lost touch with and would randomly bump into now and again! Fastforward to 2009, and I discover via her facebook updates… that she is getting married! Wasting no time, TWG quickly emailed her an array of questions. I must say, this is one of my favorite interviews because Miss Joleen Soo is rather funny. Do have a read and a giggle :)
Joleen meets Adrian
Adrian and I met in the town of Cannes in the South of France. We’re both in the media industry and were in town for an international television conference. We found out that we had so much in common and also a lot of mutual friends. After a few months of friendship we wanted – MORE!! I moved back to Hong Kong where I spent many years of my childhood and we started our life together. Moral of the story: never turn down a meeting!
Wedding bells are ringing..!
After we got engaged… we sat down and started planning, and decided we wanted to do separate events for our friends and extended families. Since his family is primarily from HK and mine visits every Chinese New Year, the first thing we did was secure a date in what we think is the most beautiful hotel in Hong Kong – The Peninsula. Their Salisbury Room has that intimate vintage grandeur I was looking for and top notch staff that are reliable and knowledgeable. Mind you the Peninsula has one of the most expensive per-table banquet rates in all of Hong Kong, but the small size means that you can afford to spend a little more on each individual guest. As the wedding pricing includes almost everything plus lots of extras, I didn’t find the price to be too unreasonable. For dinner it’s around HK$1100 a head (max capacity 140 in the Salisbury Room) and for lunch it’s around HK$780 a head (Max Capacity around 70 in the Garden Suite) This includes taxes, open bar and food.
Why DIY?
We had an easy time with the vendors in Hong Kong who are pretty efficient. Given The Peninsula handles almost everything, I just didn’t see any positive cost/benefit to hiring a wedding planner to sweat the small stuff for me. I allocated tasks to my sisters and friends. I have to say this though, my fiancé is as involved (if not more) than I am in planning. Between him and his groomsmen, they got a lot of work done. So it would be completely untrue to say I planned everything myself.
Also, I’m a bit of a recycle freak, so any decorations we are sourcing I’m trying to also use them as my home and garden decoration! I like to keep wastage at a minimum so it was easier to select the various elements myself than have a planner do it.
Challenges – don’t DIY your destination wedding ladies!
Short-lived smiles..!
Once the family event was secured we turned to venue hunting for our vows ceremony and afterparty for friends. We literally visited 20 resorts in Phuket and talked to another 20 from Bali to Koh Samui to Boracay to Langkawi. The alcohol tax in all these resorts was KILLING ME! (more…)
