The Venues

Finding venue for your wedding could be such a stressful task. I had this agitated experience about a few months ago when we decided to tie the knot. Gosh...I never knew that KL people get married every weekend! There's no "wedding season" anymore in here... Last time it used to be around early or end of the year. But today, people get married every weekend, all year long! - It's true what they said.. these days, if you wanna book a venue for your wedding in KL,  you should book at least ONE YEAR earlier, to secure your date! Otherwise, say bye-bye to the place..or try booking it for another a year if you really want the location! O___o (I heard, some people have booked it even 2 - 3 years earlier!! Oh myy.... O__o  )

Because nowadays people no longer have kenduri at their homes...as having big events like weddings could be a really really hassle and tiring job for the family that's hosting it. Nak kemas rumah before the event, nak kemas balik after the event.. Nak hire people to do this and that lagi.. Nak angkat perabot, etc etc! Too much hassle for the family! So more people opted to hosting it outside, rather than at their homes...since some of the places may be much more cost effective too...and less work to do! - But the down side of this is....there's no more gotong-royong activities in our community/neighbours though... 

Anyways... we only decided to get married in April this year. Or was it May? I forgot already. haha so unromantic of me :p So since he asked me to marry him that time, I told him yes but I wanted to get married this year, kalau boleh. Because I don't want to be engaged or being in a relationship that's not halal, for too long. He agreed too. So I told my mom that we wanted to get married this year. She was so happy when she heard the news, and asked me to begin searching for our wedding venues. - Yes, we worked backwards... Instead of searching the venue for my engagement, we started with finding venue for my wedding reception first, then my akad nikah, then only we decided on getting engaged! Because my parents didn't want me to be engaged without knowing when is the exact date of my wedding, since finding the venue in KL could be reaaaaally such a pain! Takut nanti, dah bertunang..tapi tak tahu bila kahwin sebab tak dapat-dapat secure the venue. Then the next thing we know, we've been engaged for years and yearsss already! haha. So dad didn't want that. 

Hence last April, after the Merisik was done,  I went searching high and low for my wedding venue. Initially my parents wanted to host the wedding at the same venue as my sisters', which was the Dewan Perdana Felda. Since the hall is so big and can accommodate up to 1000 people or something like that... Plus, I have paid my deposit to book the place in 2011 too (don't ask why. LOL). So, we thought of using that deposit and have the wedding there. But like I said, finding a venue for your wedding is not that simple, especially when you only have about a few months away from your initial plan date/month. In my case, another 5 months! - I wanted to get married in October or November actually, so we asked Mr. Azhari the person in charge for the Perdana Grand Ballroom if he still have available slot for us in those two months. Unfortunately, they were fully booked until February.. And no, I didn't want to accept it, and wait for almost another a year more...simply because I really wanna get married as soon as possible, because that is the right thing to do when you're in a relationship. I don't want to be in a haram relationship for far too long! For me, one year is kinda long already... I just wanna get married and be his lawfully wedded wife! Even my parents agreed on this. They always say...benda baik, jangan dilewat-lewatkan. So yes, I refused to get married next year. But... we also couldn't just decide and pick any date when to get married, as my parents have a lotttttt of guests to invite. So of course, a lot of things need to consider and to plan well. Thus, we can't just get married without planning the reception, no? So..that was why my parents asked me to search backwards in finding the venue! - This is a tip to all bride-to-be out there! 

But unfortunately...Felda's venue was fully booked for this year. In the end, we decided to start searching for other banquet halls or hotel ballrooms for the wedding, and use that deposit money for my engagement ceremony in KL Tower instead - one of Felda's venue as well. Initially I wanted to do an intimate ceremony between families only at my house. But my mom said, doing an event at home would be quite "big" as we would need to invite all the neighbours and all of her friends which would then require a lot of time and energy to plan everything perfectly. (Not that we don't want to invite them..but that was what I want - to have an intimate/small ceremony this time). If we do it at home, the guests would probably be around 200 pax or more, and ultimately, the event wouldn't be as "intimate" as I wanted it to be - I just want it to be between families only this time (about 100 pax would be enough), being a second timer that I am kan...heh. LOL ;p 

So we thought, whilst hosting it outside would be less tiring and maybe more cost effective too as compared to doing it at home, since we're not gonna have a bigger guest list, and we're also not gonna rent a canopy, or the table and chairs, hire people to handle this and that, to hias the "bilik pengantin" some more, setting up the pelamin, to buy more carpets and some other deco stuff, etc etc. - There's just so much for us to do! So after taking so much time considering whether to do it at home or outside, we decided to host the event at KL Tower. After all, we can use the deposit money from Felda there! Their other venues like Felda Villa, Bilik Perdana, etc were not available too. Luckily, we finally got a slot in KL Tower! We invited only about 120 guests this time - Strictly family and tiny bit of my friends! - So sorry for those who weren't invited! It's just a small event between my families, honey! Will definitely invite you on my wedding day, inshaallah! :)

The KL Tower Megaview banquet hall can only accommodate about 300 guests, if I'm not mistaken. At first, I wanted to have my akad nikah ceremony there instead of the engagement. But because of the limited number of guests that they can accommodate, I decided to use the deposit money, and have my engagement there instead of my akad nikah. Cuz the size of my invited guests that time was only 120 but for the akad nikah would be a lot more than that, as my mom said. 

So... on the 6th of July 2013, I was happily engaged! 

Our initial plan date was 30th June actually, which was a week before that date. But unfortunately, the date was booked too...and other dates were fully booked as well sampai hujung tahun, except for that 6th of July which was 3 days before Ramadhan! I guess nobody wants to have a ceremony before puasa kot. haha..  So we grabbed it fast...akhirnya dapat jugak date to lock! Phewww...I told you, finding venue is harddddd! But alhamdulillah, dah selamat pun bertunang. hehe. 

For more info on the KL Tower banquet hall, you can contact Ms. Azrina at 03-2020 1082. I would love to share with you all brides-to-be, on the menu, the package, the price, the pelamin vendor they used, etc etc..since I have a lot requests on that. But I guess it'll be kinda a sensitive issue to the bitter ones here, who's not interested in wedding stuff. So I suggest you just call her and ask for quotation if you're really interested in having your ceremony there. Or you can just email me if you want to know the package and all..  One thing for sure though, KL Tower Megaview banquet hall is a lovely place to host an event! Especially at night! :)

Now...moving on to the wedding reception pulak.

Gosh. Ni lagi pening kepala nak cerita. hahah. I went to several hotels and banquet halls few months ago...but NONE of them were available! Yesssss...NONE! At that point, I gave up searching for venues anymore... It's hopeless! 

These are some of the places I've been to, to ask for the available dates..like Felda (which I already mentioned above), Setia City Convention Centre (SCCC), Sime Darby Convention Centre (SDCC), Putrajaya Convention Centre (PICC), Shah Alam Convention Centre (SACC), and some other hotel ballrooms..  

Can you believe itttttt? NONE of them has available weekend dates for me to have my wedding reception this year!!! Gila stress cari tempat/date in KL....tskkk 

T__T 

Well...ada la. But WAITING LIST! Sampai 3rd waiting list lagi! (The yellow paper was from Sime Darby Convention Centre, while the white one...err I forgot! haha). It's either too early like in May to September or too late like March next year or something like that. At that time it was already May! How can we plan a wedding in 2-3 months, if we were to accept any of those dates yang dah dekat sangat, right? The perfect months would be around October till December. But none of them were available at those banquet halls and ballrooms that I went to check out..

   

Oh god... At this point, I seriously gave up searching for venues anymore... It seemed hopeless. The next available date that are available at the places I wish to have my wedding at, are in April 2014.. It was like one more year to wait. Pffft.

It was soooo stressful when your dad assigned you to find a venue ASAP, but you couldn't just find not even one! The month of May/June this year, was reaaaaaally a stressful month for me! Sampai jerawat naik teruk on my face....and my period was not stable as well. tsk. Wedding is supposed to be fun, but with everyone in KL getting married everywhere, all year long, you couldn't find a place for yourself to get married, thus...it's not fun anymore.. - It's tiring and stressful when you just couldn't lock your date..and couldn't get married! haha. - Anyone can relate with this venue-hunting stress? haha

So please take note to all brides-to-be here, if you're planning to do your wedding at hotspot places, PLEASE BOOK ONE YEAR BEFORE, AT LEAST! Don't be like me, only 4-5 months to plan a wedding! Memang la susah nak dapat tempat! haha ;p 

(Well...blame my man, who took too long to propose, but too quick to plan to get married! hahahah ;p)

So these are all my researchs by the way.. Not including the ones I've emailed though! Yang tu...tak terkira dah berapa banyak. Semuanya jawapan, "Sorry, not available...blablabla..." 

-____-

But well....after praying hard.. FINALLY!  We got a place to lock our date for the reception.. Alhamdullilah. Err...well, we kinda took someone's date actually. haha. But it was a fair trade. So it's fine. ;p

Only God knows how relieved I felt that time when the Sales Director of the hotel told me, I could have the date! Phewwww... Lega sangat-sangat. (So darling, I realllllly need and deserve to have a nice relaxing honeymoon for all the stress I've went through, ok?! heheheh.. ;p) 


Now now nowwww, most of the important things have settled... So, let's get married! Less than 30 days to go! Eeeeeeek! O__o

I'm excited but worried at the same time. haha

P/s: For future brides out there, who haven't set a date nor a place for your wedding, maybe this diagram below can help you sort it out, what type of venue you'd like to have for your wedding! It's fun..try it! It can help you to narrow down your choices.. Click to enlarge! :)

Have fun planning, sweethearts! :)

P/ss: For those who are married for years, and not interested with wedding things, so sorry if lately most of my posts in my blog are about weddings, weddings and weddings! I'm aware that this is not a Bridal Blog/Wedding Blog, but this is MY blog...and I'M the one who's getting married! hehe. I'm sure you were as happy and as excited as I am last time when it was your time, alright? So chill, no need to be so uptight and bitter about my wedding posts ok?

Have a good day everyone! May Allah bless you! ;)


XOXO,
Shazzy.