 |
| Chinese dinner banquet is the ritual
that is respected the most even nowadays. If you are having a
chinese dinner banquet, here are a few important reminders. They can
also be applied to western dinner banquet planning
too. Wedding Dinner Banquet Planning Checklist
Reservation This should be one of the first things you should do soon after you propose to the bride-to-be. Good restaurants get booked up very quickly particularly on the "good" dates. Location Selection When selecting a location, select a place where it is convenient to the most important relatives and friends, and where the restaurant has enough parking space. If most of your relatives and friends live uptown, don't select a downtown location. Make it convenient to your relatives and friends if you want them to join your celebration. Check out the parking space, the last thing that you want to hear from your guest is parking compliants. If it's paid parking, you may want to arrange a few reserved and free parking spaces from the restaurant or pre-pay them for the most important guests. Server Service Check out the service at the restaurant before making your deposit. Pay attention to how the cups and plates are placed on the table and if a server will remove a dish before you finish it. Ask how many servers the restaurant plan to send on your wedding day. Make sure that you have at least one server per two to three tables. Food Quality Everybody who comes to your banquet expect to have a good time with good food. You may want to try out your menu before the wedding, and provide comments to the manager. If there is a special sauce that you want to have with a specific dish, you can note and arrange with the manager. Master of Ceremony It is important for your guests to feel welcome and be part of your wedding. Find a good MC who knows the wedding couple well and who has a sense of humor. A good MC will help to bring climax to the wedding and make it lively to your guests. Decoration Don't forget to decorate the restaurant. A lot of your guests may not have attended your morning ceremony and the dinner banquet will be their first time to be at your celebration. Don't let them down. Show them your thoughts. Remember the signing book on the reception table and flowers on the head table. Music A lot of wedding couples tend to forget this part of the planning. Play some traditional chinese music when the wedding couple goes around the restaurant and toast with the guests. Play some light music when the wedding couple makes a speech. Check out with the restaurant to find out if they can plan and perform this for you. Most of the restaurants already have equipment to play music and show video. Make use of them. Request for the restaurant manager of the wedding evening to help. If not, arrange with a DJ friend to coordinate music for the evening. Lights Remember to discuss lighting with your restaurant manager. An experienced manager should be able control lighting for the evening. Use it along with the music to bring in highlights to the wedding. Timing Make sure you plan time for picture taking with your guests before the banquet. Remember that there are guests who did not make to your earlier wedding ceremony. These pictures are very precious, as this is your only wedding and your only wedding pictures with these guests. Seating Arrangement This is the hardest part of the whole planning. This task can only be finalized just days before the wedding. No matter how well-ahead you are in receiving guest replies, there will always be last minute changes. Be prepared to complete it just days before the wedding. It is important to have one if you do not want to see your guests wandering around and not able to find a seat. Another benefit of having a seating plan is that you can make special arrangement for this special guest that you have who happens to be, say a vegetarian. You can pre-arrange a dish for this special guest. |