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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Times are bad, many weddings put off...</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">8:08 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 2) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>4290.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Wedding feast transfers catching on
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Process now easier with more websites, forums as avenues for trading</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Melissa Sim
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE wedding was called off for personal reasons, but Mr G. Ang, 28, was not about to pay $10,000 in cancellation fees.
Instead, the marketing manager posted his wedding banquet details online, hoping to find someone to take over the booking.
The heading read: FOR IMMEDIATE TRANSFER!!!
Transferring wedding banquet bookings has become common for couples who have to cancel their packages due to financial difficulties or relationship problems, or because of plans to upgrade to a larger wedding venue.
And the process has become easier with more wedding websites and forums.
A wedding planner of six years, Ms Anna Lim said wedding forums have become very active in the last three years and provide an avenue for transferring banquet packages online.
'Before the Internet, it was definitely harder to do this because you have only a small collection of friends who might take over the package,' said Ms Lim.
Couples cited singaporebrides.com and styleweddings.sg as popular sites to list available banquet packages.
And it is turning out to be a win-win situation for all.
Take Mr Ang, for example. If he had cancelled his wedding dinner, he would have lost the $4,000 deposit and would also have to pay an extra $6,000 to Swissotel The Stamford to make up for its lost income. This would have come up to $10,000, or half the value of the banquet.
Instead, he found a couple to take over his booking. They negotiated, and he is transferring his deposit to them. So the new couple get a $4,000 discount on their wedding banquet, while Mr Ang loses no more than his deposit.
The hotel too stands to gain as the wedding is on - except for a change of bride and groom.
Wedding banquets in Singapore cost from $750 to $1,800 a table, depending on the venue and the food.
And deposits, which form a percentage of the total wedding package, can start from $1,000 and go up to $8,000.
In the event of a cancellation, some restaurants simply keep the deposit. But others will stagger penalties so that the closer the cancellation is to the actual date, the more couples have to pay.
But even after couples put down their deposits, plans can change, some of them told The Straits Times.
Ms H. Lim, 27, who works in the finance industry, needed a bigger venue to accommodate her ever-expanding guest list. She has already found a couple who are willing to transfer their banquet booking at Furama Hotel to her so she will not need to pay the $1,000 deposit.
Meanwhile, she is hoping to pass her booking at a restaurant in Clarke Quay to someone else. If there are no takers, she simply loses the deposit of $1,000, so she is not out of pocket in total. But she would rather 'pass on the discount'.
'I would rather someone else benefit than the restaurant,' said Ms Lim.
Most hotels told The Straits Times that transfers are allowed only on a case- by-case basis. Some said they had to be 'exceptional, unavoidable' situations.
Mr Ang recalled having some difficulty convincing his hotel: 'Initially they did not allow the swop, so I had to speak to them explaining my circumstances.'
Mr Heinz Javier Colby, general manager of Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay, said that his hotel has received five more transfers this year compared to last year. He added that there has been no spike in transfers due to the financial slowdown.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Process now easier with more websites, forums as avenues for trading</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Melissa Sim
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE wedding was called off for personal reasons, but Mr G. Ang, 28, was not about to pay $10,000 in cancellation fees.
Instead, the marketing manager posted his wedding banquet details online, hoping to find someone to take over the booking.
The heading read: FOR IMMEDIATE TRANSFER!!!
Transferring wedding banquet bookings has become common for couples who have to cancel their packages due to financial difficulties or relationship problems, or because of plans to upgrade to a larger wedding venue.
And the process has become easier with more wedding websites and forums.
A wedding planner of six years, Ms Anna Lim said wedding forums have become very active in the last three years and provide an avenue for transferring banquet packages online.
'Before the Internet, it was definitely harder to do this because you have only a small collection of friends who might take over the package,' said Ms Lim.
Couples cited singaporebrides.com and styleweddings.sg as popular sites to list available banquet packages.
And it is turning out to be a win-win situation for all.
Take Mr Ang, for example. If he had cancelled his wedding dinner, he would have lost the $4,000 deposit and would also have to pay an extra $6,000 to Swissotel The Stamford to make up for its lost income. This would have come up to $10,000, or half the value of the banquet.
Instead, he found a couple to take over his booking. They negotiated, and he is transferring his deposit to them. So the new couple get a $4,000 discount on their wedding banquet, while Mr Ang loses no more than his deposit.
The hotel too stands to gain as the wedding is on - except for a change of bride and groom.
Wedding banquets in Singapore cost from $750 to $1,800 a table, depending on the venue and the food.
And deposits, which form a percentage of the total wedding package, can start from $1,000 and go up to $8,000.
In the event of a cancellation, some restaurants simply keep the deposit. But others will stagger penalties so that the closer the cancellation is to the actual date, the more couples have to pay.
But even after couples put down their deposits, plans can change, some of them told The Straits Times.
Ms H. Lim, 27, who works in the finance industry, needed a bigger venue to accommodate her ever-expanding guest list. She has already found a couple who are willing to transfer their banquet booking at Furama Hotel to her so she will not need to pay the $1,000 deposit.
Meanwhile, she is hoping to pass her booking at a restaurant in Clarke Quay to someone else. If there are no takers, she simply loses the deposit of $1,000, so she is not out of pocket in total. But she would rather 'pass on the discount'.
'I would rather someone else benefit than the restaurant,' said Ms Lim.
Most hotels told The Straits Times that transfers are allowed only on a case- by-case basis. Some said they had to be 'exceptional, unavoidable' situations.
Mr Ang recalled having some difficulty convincing his hotel: 'Initially they did not allow the swop, so I had to speak to them explaining my circumstances.'
Mr Heinz Javier Colby, general manager of Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay, said that his hotel has received five more transfers this year compared to last year. He added that there has been no spike in transfers due to the financial slowdown.
[email protected]
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