Conrad Centennial Wedding Show

We were very interested in two hotels for our wedding lunch and Conrad is one of them. We met our coordinator a few weeks before the wedding show, and she was very friendly and responsive in the weeks we were communicating with her. We really liked Conrad's ballroom, the decoration, and we thought the location of the hotel would be great for our guests since it is right in the city center. So we were seriously considering signing our wedding package with Conrad during their wedding show.

Advice for future brides-to-be 

If you do not have time to read everything I have to share in the next few paragraphs, just remember this - if you intend to hold your wedding banquet at Conrad on a popular date, and you intend to secure your wedding date during the wedding show, you may wish to head to Conrad early in the morning and place your deposit even before the wedding show starts. We know this because we learnt the hard way…

So our proposed wedding date is apparently rather popular and we were told that it would be on a first-come-first-serve basis during the wedding show. Unlike other hotels which would share the wedding show perks before the wedding show and allow bookings with the perks before the wedding show, Conrad does neither and you would only know the perks and secure a booking with the perks on the day of the wedding show. 

As such, we asked our coordinator if we could meet earlier to place our deposit before the wedding show starts (registration starts at 11:30 am) and were told that it would be difficult as the sales team would be busy with preparation beforehand. Completely understandable so we decided that we shall be one of the first few to register when registration starts at 11:30 am in order to secure our proposed wedding date.  

We reached at 11 am and, to our utmost dismay, were told that another couple had arrived in the morning, placed the deposit, and booked the day we were looking at! I cannot describe how unfair and unpleasant I felt this was. We had made a similar request to meet earlier before the start of the wedding show but our request was rejected. Yet another couple, who did not have to take time to join Conrad for their wedding show and perhaps did not even have to pay for the wedding show, managed to secure the date even before the wedding show registration started!

For the sake of future couples who I hope would not suffer the same disappointment as us, I have written to the sales team and humbly suggested that for future wedding showcases, Conrad may wish to accept bookings of wedding dates only upon registration. Otherwise, if Conrad is going to accept bookings from the morning of the wedding showcase, this should be extended to all couples.

I am not sure if Conrad would change their internal policy (most likely not, but we shall see), but in the event they do not, future BTBs hoping to secure a popular wedding date should definitely go down early in the morning before the start of the wedding show and place your deposit. 

Why do we have a fixed wedding date?

The short answer is, the date was calculated for us and it was the only suitable date in the second half of 2018 for us. We could not have our wedding banquet in the earlier half of 2018 because of some personal reasons. To cut a long story short, we had to scramble and get another date in the middle of 2018. 

Wedding show

Eventually we did sign with Conrad because the food at the wedding show was great, the ballroom was beautiful, and service (aside from the glitch of booking wedding dates) was good. Our coordinator had been warm, friendly and approachable through the weeks and we really liked her. 

The LOVE theme with baby breaths and white hydrangeas, and a giant LOVE sign on stage. 

The HAPPINESS theme with the traditional red double-Xi sign on stage, and red roses with pink hydrangeas. 

The invitation cards.

It would have been a much better experience if we did not have to go through the unpleasantness and unfairness described above. But we trust that Conrad would deliver on the actual day and I would update our experience next year. 

If you wish to learn more about the package or my experience with Conrad so far, feel free to email me at toseetofeeltoeat@gmail.com.