This is very pleasant, preparing for the banquet. A nice silver lining amidst everything else. =)

We're now at the stage of preparing our guest list and subsequently searching for a hotel. Currently we stand at a minimum of 50 tables, according to my dad (he and his business friends etc etc), so there aren't many ballrooms to choose from - a blessing in itself! More or less we're thinking about Meritus Mandarin. We're doing a conservative budget of $1000 nett or so per table, it's just foolish and ridiculous to pay too much. (chances are, it might go beyond that.) Alas! I'm actually very interested in the Ritz. It has the capacity, and the look I want, but it's simply too expensive.

I actually don't want a traditional sit-down Chinese 9-course thing. How many times have you gone to such an event, gotten really full by the 6th course, tired by the 8th, and spent less than 5 minutes with the bride and groom? Eeeks. No, I don't want that. And I'm glad my parents are also all for getting rid of the ridiculous going from table-to-table photo-taking thing. =) We'll see how it goes. Yanxian actually had this really great idea of a themed party, like a masquerade. I'm pretty sure many of the younger folk will be game, but the problem will lie with the older ones, which unfortunately will probably take up much of the attendance.

More to come!