Marina Bay Sands

23 Aug 12 Thu
We made an appointment with MBS's coordinator to look at their ballrooms. MBS is one of the better class hotels priced among the lowest among its same level competitors. It's $1,188++ ($1,398 nett) and minimum table requirement is 20. It's very attractive as a lot of the hotels require at least 40 tables for Saturday dinners. Our struggle was between Hilton ($1,118 nett, min 40 tables) and MBS ($1,398 nett, min 20 tables). We need about 35 tables, and MBS would be a better option because there would definitely be some who are not able to make it out of the 350 pax. We do not want to definitely lose out from the empty tables. So with that rationale, we are going to give up on Hilton already. Moreover, there was an unfortunate wedding event 3 years back at Hilton. That could also be a reason why their tables are only priced at $1,118 nett. It's very low for an Orchard Road hotel (Orchard hotel is already $1,298 nett!). So think here think there, and eliminating old looking hotels like Furama, Holiday Inn and the likes, we are pretty sure that we only want MBS, haha!

We like MBS's high ceiling and pillarless ballroom. There are also chandelier lights along the corridors (but not ballroom) and it gives the grand grand feel when you walk in. The ballroom that we are interested in has an outdoor bay area, where you are able to walk out and admire the view of the sea, majestic CBD buildings, Fullerton Hotel and the likes over at Raffles Place end. There aren't many hotels that can offer this view for guests during the cocktail reception. And also, MBS being a new hotel, all its facilities are new. There are also many others who have not attended weddings at MBS before - it would be a refreshing experience for them.

But the thing about MBS is, being a Convention centre, there are many many ballrooms at MBS in the 5 storeys. You wouldn't feel as exclusive as when you are the only one holding your wedding at a hotel. Your guests may get lost looking for that 1 ballroom out of so many. After talking to the coordinator about this, to our comfort, we were told that they will only accept up to 4 weddings on a single night. He tried to give me a good reason why they only accept 4, but our sense of the underlying reason is that they don't have enough manpower to do more ha.Good good, 4 is a lot already, I wouldn't want more. There are only 2 ballrooms which offer bayview, and the one we like most is already taken a few months back. The bayview ballrooms are also located more privately away from the other ballrooms, another comfort to us. So as of now, there is only 1 other wedding that will be held on 14 Dec 13. So other couples, please don't book MBS on our date.

The above pictures are courtesy of a bride who has previously held her wedding over at MBS. Yea, have been  doing research on MBS, and reading forum reviews. But it's very hard to get a lot of information as not many have held their weddings at MBS before. There are some complains of MBS - like delay of the printing of invitation cards, slow response of the coordinator, and that they are sticky on corkage charges and giving freebies. But I found that these complains mainly stem from liaison with the guy. The guy was the one who showed us around the ballrooms that day, but I have since changed our coordinator to the lady, who is much more prompt and sincere in dealing with us. But then again, usually bad reviews go up online more easily than good reviews right. So I shouldn't be so affected, just take note of what others have gone through and avoid it.

Apart from the standard MBS package, I have since been able to negotiate with her, in black and white, to provide us with free flow of beer, 5% more free parking coupons and a bigger LCD screen. She is still very sticky on corkage charge --> $50++ corkage for hard liquor, or $57++ for their additional bottle of wine.  Oh well, we hope people like beer more than wine. We will be going down to MBS to sign the contract with her on 3 Sep 12, Monday :) First deposit is $8,000.