For those who want beach weddings, Rasa Sentosa offers that option. It’s perhaps one of the pricier venues, but they throw in a free night’s stay and the menu looks really good. If you are planning for a small party, you might be out of luck with Rasa because they require a minimum of 80 pax (at least for this year). Nonetheless, Rasa Sentosa, being part of the Shangri-la group of hotels probably shouldn’t disappoint in terms of service and ambience.

For gardens and park settings, one can consider the Botanic Gardens, Bottle Tree Park or Sentosa itself. The Botanic Gardens grounds are generally free of charge, but you’ll have to check with them about that. I think certain areas are not. I didn’t go to Bottle Tree Park, but the imported Bottle Trees from Australia looks interesting. For those living in the North, this might be a good option, since the park is at Yishun. As for Sentosa, there are many venues on Sentosa to choose from, although I think the price might not come cheap.

If you want something more unique, consider either the Bird Park or the Zoo! The Bird Park has the world’s highest man-made waterfall (which looks pretty good in the pictures) and you can set a pair of lovebirds free after the solemnisation. I think it’s a pretty romantic idea.

Releasing lovebirds

Zoo Wedding setup

The Singapore Art Museum (former SJI) technically isn’t an outdoor venue, but you usually have your reception in their courtyard, which is a pretty nice place. I quite like the colonial architecture of the place. The plus point is that it’s located in town, so it’s convenient for everyone. You can choose to either do the solemnisation in the Glass Hall or the auditorium upstairs (which was the chapel in the old days, so the inside reminds one of a church setting) before proceeding to the courtyard for the reception in the open-air courtyard.

As with all outdoor venues, make sure they have some wet-weather plans in place. Singapore’s weather can be unpredictable at times. And of course, don’t be afraid to negotiate for a better deal! If you can’t get a deal you want, there’s probably someplace else that will fit your budget. The fun in it all is to hunt for the place that suits you best in terms of everything! Of course, it can be pretty tiring to run to all these places. It might sometimes be easier to pay more for a wedding planner and have them do everything for you.

Good thing about it being in such a deserted area is that it is far away from the noise and bustle of everyday life, which I believe we are all so sick and tired of. So why not celebrate and share our happy occasion in this serene and beautiful place?

Here are some photos of the garden, with a main theme on the wedding solemnization (so don’t expect too many photos of flowers! Hee..):

A quaint gazebo with white sash as decor…Quite pretty, but kinda small..This will be our wet weather alternative venue..

A view of the orchids on the hillside can be seen directly from the gazebo..

Through the sash decor…

The inside of the gazebo with the solemnization table…

…and chairs for the guests

The Arana Hall, a beautiful and air-conditioned room to get away from the heat of the day, but more for banquets really, or so I feel…

And THIS is our choice for our solemnization – the water garden…


Isn’t it soooo pretty?

And the water garden leads up to the Vanilla Pod – Mandai Orchid Garden’s restaurant. This is where we plan to hold our hi-tea reception after the ceremony!

And last but not least, here is the guest reception area (or I am intending to use it as that), which overlooks the water garden too… Ideal as not everyone can be seated down at the water garden level…

So that’s our choice for holding our solemnization, hope this doesn’t spoil the surprise of the place for my guests! Oh, and did I mention before that I luuurrrve this place?

The other thing about Beach Culture is that it serves really top grade food. The restaurant is actually an offshoot of the Swiss Culture restaurant at Suntec City, which apparently serves award winning food. The package includes a cheese and chocolate fondue station with a chef, which is really cool. Of course, fondue might not go down well with everyone, especially older folks, but it should be a hit with the younger people.

Since it is by the beach, the events planner we spoke to said it was possible to have a jet-ski style of wedding march-in. I thought that was really cool, although I wonder how to avoid getting completely wet in the process. Oh, speaking about the events planner, the guy we were liaising with, Raymond, was really great. I give him two thumbs up for service. He’s always accessible by phone, and he’s very willing to try and accommodate to our concerns. I also found the service to be very personal. If you want to have a chat with Raymond to explore the possibility of holding a wedding at Beach Culture, drop me a line using the contact form.

There’s a drawback to Beach Culture, though. The place is not very big, and according to Raymond, above 150 people will be too crowded. Therefore, the place is only suitable for smaller groups. That suited me fine, because if the crowd is too big, you can’t get to interact with everyone on your big day. Oh, that it is located at Pasir Ris might be a problem for people living in the western part of the island, so transport arrangements would have to be made.

It was a tough call between Beach Culture, Watercross @ Pasir Ris and Mandai Orchid Garden. Both of them are nice in their own right. More on Mandai Orchid Garden later.

2 venues in particular caught our eye after looking at a variety of places, and here I shall showcase the beautiful beach and garden setting we were considering. Out of the numerous tough decisions (which I realise just keeps popping up with every step we take) to make in planning our solemnization, this decision was one of the toughest. After weighing pros and cons, having slight arguments and long discussions, our final choice was the Mandai Orchid Garden. A beautiful place, I do love the Mandai Orchid Garden! A major consideration in sourcing for the venue was cost, and due to the rather expensive quote from Beach Culture, we decided not to have it there. Now I can only hope for good weather for this outdoor wedding in the garden…

This is the beach setting at Beach Culture Restaurant, Watercross, Pasir Ris:

A romantic and beautiful cabana, perfect for solemnization by the sea

Swaying ribbons with the sea breeze and good ambience with high chairs

A lovely place as well, which took my breath away when I was there to view what was possible for a solemnization, the Beach Culture restaurant is quite an ideal place for a romantic (but I guess hot, haha) wedding by the sea…

More to come on Mandai Orchid Garden, tomorrow…