Tag Archive for Celebration

The Mad Hatter Christmas Party (12th Dec 2014)

12 December 2014 Entertainment, Food No comments

It is towards year-end, so it is always customary to enjoy a festive party with the work colleagues.  This year, the team planned a party at Una Restaurant at One Rochester.  It was a bit of a way out from the MBFC office.  Luckily for me, it is not that far to my ‘other home’ – so it was easy to get home after the party (unless there is an after party – which is very unlikely in the current set-up).

The theme was ‘Mad Hatter’ (remember the Disney movie – “Alice in Wonderland”?) – well it basically meant HATS HATS and HATS.  With the customary theme comes the challenge of trying to locate something appropriate for the Party… Last year, I tuxed up, and won the “best dressed man at the party” – but this year, I thought I just go with the flow and dress modestly…haha! 🙂  I decided to go with a cheapish hat, and managed to get a red top hat from a shop that had lot of glitter (yikes) – at least it had a Christmas-y feel!!

Also part of the celebrations was the classic ‘Secret Santa’ – the person I picked opted with the easy option of selecting what they wanted…hmmm…spoils the fun a bit, don’t you think.  I always go with the ‘anything’ option, to see how creative the gift-bearer is.  So anyway, my option wanted a Gift card – so I decided to buy them a $30 Robinson gift card.  That will do – quick and easy, as I hate trying to find some suitable – very difficult indeed, when you don’t really know the person.

The buffet food was actually very tasty, the wine was nice, and the service very attentive – I really enjoyed the place, and it turned out to be quite a nice party.  The only downer is that is it should be a party – e.g. people should be letting their hair down, having fun, and partying hard…but here the ones I’ve been too, is that people just eat, drink, do their stuff and then leave.  And when I say ‘leave’ – I mean the party ends around 9-9.30pm – hmmm…isn’t that meant to be the start of the party.  Anyway, I opted to go with the group, as I wasn’t aware of any of the folks I know were interested in staying or going somewhere else, but managed to join a colleague and we went into town to continue drinking and having more fun elsewhere.

Una at One Rochester
1 Rochester Park
Singapore 139212
Tel: +65 6773 0070
URL: http://www.una.sg

PQs and RQs Wedding (13th Sept)

14 September 2014 Entertainment No comments

Rong Quan (RQ) and Pearly had already had a long life-time together and we all knew it was only a matter of when, rather then if they will marry. After 10+ years of having a relation, it was great that the lovely couple decided to make the plunge and agree to marry.

The wedding ceremony was held at Capella in Sentosa – a delightful location away from the hustle and bustle of the Singapore life. It was calm and relaxed, and it was great to see so many people come to celebrate this delightful occasion. There were 3 Amex tables that were created – and it was also great to see some faces of ol’ (old Amex days, and old GNS days) appear…everyone looked so well, and I am glad that the post-Amex life are treating these folks very well indeed (yup, there is life after Amex!).

The ceremony was very scripted, and you can tell these types of ceremony are like a well-oiled machine…a bit too process drive to my liking – but the event was fun and enjoyable. It was a 6 course banquet, with various events held between the courses, the classic cutting of the traditional Chinese “yum seng” (drink to success), cutting of the [fake] wedding cake, the champagne flute fountain, the first dance, the toast from the best man and brides maid. It’s still quite interesting to observe having now attended 3 Chinese-style weddings and receptions. What was weird is that after the wedding most people made their own way home, there was no party/dancing or similar, there was no post-dinner celebrations / drinks etc – but that’s seems to be the custom here.  It was more of a lunch/dinner banquet and that was it.  Still find it strange that there was no wedding ceremony as such, but I guess that’s a private event for the family and close friends only.

Now the big question was around the Ang Pow – and to determine how much is appropriate for a wedding function here in Singapore. After asking around, most thought that $150-200 would be appropriate, so I did a bit of research and noticed that there was even a website dedicated to Wedding Ang Pow’s – it seemed to different between on the year and the location of the wedding function – so I located Capella’s rates, and that prescribed what was appropriate. It looked like a wedding table would cost around S$1588 here at Capella (about £800) and the weekend dinner Ang Pow was outlined to be $187 (about $90), so I gave precisely $188 (as 8 is an auspicious (lucky) number in Chinese).

Post-Function Drinks

Post-Function Drinks

After the drinks, I managed to find a location for some post-wedding drinks.  I went with a fun colleague to Boat Quay, and we decided to go for a few more drinks and chatted about the day.

The only challenge was that we were both still wearing our suits from the wedding – and it unbelievably hot and humid – totally uncomfortable, but luckily we had some beers to keep us cool 🙂

It was also good to chill post-wedding, and decide what to do for the rest of the day…ergh eat and drink more … that is!

Overall, it was a great occasion and I am glad to have been fortunate to spend it with the great couple and some great friends and colleagues, and toast to their success and many years of happiness together.

Capella Singapore
1 The Knolls
Sentosa Island
Singapore 098297
Tel: +65 6377 8888
URL: http://www.capellahotels.com

 

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