Yay, AstroBanana will be collecting their AD photos tomorrow! Hopefully, they will turn out to be okay. If they are nice, they will be shared on this blog. Watch this space!
Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Planning Your Wedding Dinner 101
On the road towards AstroBanana's wedding, Eric Banana alluded to a separate blog entry about wedding invitation and the banquet guest list. While the wedding is over, he has not forgotten about the outstanding entry.
Save The Date: To avoid, or rather, minimise having people who *could* have attended your wedding if they have known about it earlier (how early? maybe 2000 B.C. or something), it would be ideal to send a save-the-date mailer to all the people you plan to invite at least six months before the wedding date. It doesn't need to be a physical mailer - it could be in electronic format (e.g. SMS or email) or communicated verbally. This will help them to mark down the date and plan their supremely hectic schedules around it. Of course, things do sometimes crop up at the last minute, making them unavailable all of a sudden. And some people may conveniently forget because the time interval was too long. But at least, nobody can accuse you of not telling them earlier.
Plan The Guest List Way In Advance: The guest list is the first obstacle to the wedding dinner. In order to find a wedding venue, the wedding couple needs to estimate the number of tables they need. To do that, they need a preliminary feel of how many people they want to invite. The number comes from the guest list.
Ask First Before Sending Wedding Invitation Cards: It's polite to ask someone whether he or she would be able to attend your wedding before giving him or her an invitation card. Many people have received invitation cards for weddings they are unable to attend - and following practices, still give the wedding couple an angpow (often in reduced amounts) as a token. This can be avoided if only people ask first. A good way to ask is via instant messaging - reach out to a wide audience of people at different times.
Avoid Red Envelopes: Red envelopes may seem like a good idea... right until you try to write on them. They also tend to nearly double the postage cost. The local rate for standard mail is 26 cents. If the envelope is of dark intense colours, the rate goes up to 50 cents. In fact, SingPost recommends using white or very light-coloured envelopes and avoiding (dark-)coloured envelopes.
Avoid Lunar 7: The seventh lunar month is a black-out period for wedding invitation cards. The elders believe that it's inauspicious to dispatch invitation cards during the Hungry Ghost Month. It's prudent to take this into consideration especially if the wedding date falls right after the seventh lunar month.
Mail The Invitation Cards Two Months Before The Wedding Date: To avoid people being double-booked on your big day, it's better to be kiasu (read: afraid to lose). This will also allow time for mail delay, unlikely as it is in Singapore.
Dispatch In Batches: The wedding guest list will never reach a perfect state. If you plan to have a complete wedding guest list before you start mailing the invitation cards, it may lead to unnecessary delays. It is probably better to mail the invitation cards in batches and work on a percentage-of-completion basis.
Write Your Return Address On Back Of Envelopes: This may be cumbersome but it's a good way to see if the wedding invitation cards reached the intended recipients. Sometimes, the guest may have given the wrong address. Or you may have copied it wrongly. Running a postal code check helps but is not fool-proof. It can detect errors in street address but not in unit numbers.
Try To Confirm Guest Attendance: After sending the invitation cards, it is good to check whether the guests will be attending. To be more indirect, you can start by asking whether they have received the invitation cards.
Be Prepared For Last-Minute Changes: There will definitely be last-minute changes. Things happen. And they are not always controllable. Instead of getting frustrated, just try to roll with it.
Save The Date: To avoid, or rather, minimise having people who *could* have attended your wedding if they have known about it earlier (how early? maybe 2000 B.C. or something), it would be ideal to send a save-the-date mailer to all the people you plan to invite at least six months before the wedding date. It doesn't need to be a physical mailer - it could be in electronic format (e.g. SMS or email) or communicated verbally. This will help them to mark down the date and plan their supremely hectic schedules around it. Of course, things do sometimes crop up at the last minute, making them unavailable all of a sudden. And some people may conveniently forget because the time interval was too long. But at least, nobody can accuse you of not telling them earlier.
Plan The Guest List Way In Advance: The guest list is the first obstacle to the wedding dinner. In order to find a wedding venue, the wedding couple needs to estimate the number of tables they need. To do that, they need a preliminary feel of how many people they want to invite. The number comes from the guest list.
Ask First Before Sending Wedding Invitation Cards: It's polite to ask someone whether he or she would be able to attend your wedding before giving him or her an invitation card. Many people have received invitation cards for weddings they are unable to attend - and following practices, still give the wedding couple an angpow (often in reduced amounts) as a token. This can be avoided if only people ask first. A good way to ask is via instant messaging - reach out to a wide audience of people at different times.
Avoid Red Envelopes: Red envelopes may seem like a good idea... right until you try to write on them. They also tend to nearly double the postage cost. The local rate for standard mail is 26 cents. If the envelope is of dark intense colours, the rate goes up to 50 cents. In fact, SingPost recommends using white or very light-coloured envelopes and avoiding (dark-)coloured envelopes.
Avoid Lunar 7: The seventh lunar month is a black-out period for wedding invitation cards. The elders believe that it's inauspicious to dispatch invitation cards during the Hungry Ghost Month. It's prudent to take this into consideration especially if the wedding date falls right after the seventh lunar month.
Mail The Invitation Cards Two Months Before The Wedding Date: To avoid people being double-booked on your big day, it's better to be kiasu (read: afraid to lose). This will also allow time for mail delay, unlikely as it is in Singapore.
Dispatch In Batches: The wedding guest list will never reach a perfect state. If you plan to have a complete wedding guest list before you start mailing the invitation cards, it may lead to unnecessary delays. It is probably better to mail the invitation cards in batches and work on a percentage-of-completion basis.
Write Your Return Address On Back Of Envelopes: This may be cumbersome but it's a good way to see if the wedding invitation cards reached the intended recipients. Sometimes, the guest may have given the wrong address. Or you may have copied it wrongly. Running a postal code check helps but is not fool-proof. It can detect errors in street address but not in unit numbers.
Try To Confirm Guest Attendance: After sending the invitation cards, it is good to check whether the guests will be attending. To be more indirect, you can start by asking whether they have received the invitation cards.
Be Prepared For Last-Minute Changes: There will definitely be last-minute changes. Things happen. And they are not always controllable. Instead of getting frustrated, just try to roll with it.
Monday, November 2, 2009
A Great Wedding Speech!
While AstroBanana were having dinner with DGT last Friday, Eric Banana managed to obtain a hard copy of DGT's draft speech during their wedding dinner. They felt that it was a sincere, wonderful and humourous speech and decided to share it with the readers of this blog. Although DGT said he improvised during the actual delivery, the draft captured the essence of the content. An improvised line that was not in the draft went something along these lines... "I don't know whether it is my bow-tie or my jacket but some of you mistook me for one of the hotel's staff. I would like to clarify that I am not part of the hotel's staff!" Poor DGT - it was a newly-tailored jacket too.
--------------------
What a wonderful evening! There is absolutely nowhere else in the world I'd rather be tonight than here in this moment with all of you. I have the honour - as Eric insists it is - of giving a speech tonight. I have had the privilege of spending some time with them - this speech is my report.
Let me start briefly with Eric. Eric gained notoriety in The University for: (1) his unique collection of dragon and skull rings which are always on display on him; (2) his infamy as a fearsome critic - he has an unnatural talent for poking holes in any presentation or document and driving said author to tears; and (3) his incurable sense of corniness. But whatever you say about Eric, he is a loyal and well-meaning friend. He is unstinting in his concern for his friends in need and has been a great help to me, together with Astro, when I started my own company. I have come to realise that Eric thinks in binary when it comes to friends - you are either a friend, or on what he affectionately calls his "hit list".
I remember the pre-Astro Eric as he struggled through so much personal difficulty with his family in coping with the loss of someone very dear to them. I vicariously felt his loss, frustration and uncertainty as he also struggled to find his professional direction at first. I did not sense a personal peace in Eric, not even after he was offered by The Corporation and sped through its ranks - not until he met Astro. I have never seen a more content, radiant and sure Eric than when he is with Astro.
Enough on Eric - Vincent would have spent enough time blowing Eric's horn (probably under duress). And so I will speak of Astro. I must confess that I wasn't sure what to make of Astro when I first met her because we spoke little. But I found myself liking her more and more every time I met her. My admiration for her (and my admiration for Eric, for that matter) has grown over the time that I've known her.
Astro is at once beautiful, unassuming and gentle. She is always dignified, kind, generous and thoughtful. Astro also has an amazing achievement none of us can ever put on our resumes - taming that deranged madman we call Eric. And to her credit, she has put up with Eric's strange cast of friends (self-deprecating gesture to self) with an uncommon grace. She is in every sense of the word, to me, a lady. They say that a man marries a woman for who she is and that a woman marries a man for who he can be, or rather, who she wants him to become. I'm sure Astro has some grand future value in store for Eric.
With the two of them, 1 + 1 > 2. They are beautiful as a unit. They have a quiet and subtle understanding between them. And tonight, we - we happy few - have the great privilege of starting the two of them on a special journey.
I want to close with a wish and a toast. I wish, deeply and truly, that everyone of us here tonight has found - or will find - the unity, understanding, affection and love that Eric and Astro have for each other. A toast - let us with all trueness and sincerity, toast a long and happy life to Eric and Astro. God bless you both.
--------------------
What a wonderful evening! There is absolutely nowhere else in the world I'd rather be tonight than here in this moment with all of you. I have the honour - as Eric insists it is - of giving a speech tonight. I have had the privilege of spending some time with them - this speech is my report.
Let me start briefly with Eric. Eric gained notoriety in The University for: (1) his unique collection of dragon and skull rings which are always on display on him; (2) his infamy as a fearsome critic - he has an unnatural talent for poking holes in any presentation or document and driving said author to tears; and (3) his incurable sense of corniness. But whatever you say about Eric, he is a loyal and well-meaning friend. He is unstinting in his concern for his friends in need and has been a great help to me, together with Astro, when I started my own company. I have come to realise that Eric thinks in binary when it comes to friends - you are either a friend, or on what he affectionately calls his "hit list".
I remember the pre-Astro Eric as he struggled through so much personal difficulty with his family in coping with the loss of someone very dear to them. I vicariously felt his loss, frustration and uncertainty as he also struggled to find his professional direction at first. I did not sense a personal peace in Eric, not even after he was offered by The Corporation and sped through its ranks - not until he met Astro. I have never seen a more content, radiant and sure Eric than when he is with Astro.
Enough on Eric - Vincent would have spent enough time blowing Eric's horn (probably under duress). And so I will speak of Astro. I must confess that I wasn't sure what to make of Astro when I first met her because we spoke little. But I found myself liking her more and more every time I met her. My admiration for her (and my admiration for Eric, for that matter) has grown over the time that I've known her.
Astro is at once beautiful, unassuming and gentle. She is always dignified, kind, generous and thoughtful. Astro also has an amazing achievement none of us can ever put on our resumes - taming that deranged madman we call Eric. And to her credit, she has put up with Eric's strange cast of friends (self-deprecating gesture to self) with an uncommon grace. She is in every sense of the word, to me, a lady. They say that a man marries a woman for who she is and that a woman marries a man for who he can be, or rather, who she wants him to become. I'm sure Astro has some grand future value in store for Eric.
With the two of them, 1 + 1 > 2. They are beautiful as a unit. They have a quiet and subtle understanding between them. And tonight, we - we happy few - have the great privilege of starting the two of them on a special journey.
I want to close with a wish and a toast. I wish, deeply and truly, that everyone of us here tonight has found - or will find - the unity, understanding, affection and love that Eric and Astro have for each other. A toast - let us with all trueness and sincerity, toast a long and happy life to Eric and Astro. God bless you both.
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