[marie313]

my boyfriend is chinese and i am english. He wants to have the traditional big banquet and i want to have dancing and drinking after. it sounds so simple but apparently it is impossible!
we dont have a huge amount of money to spend. does anyone know a venue where we can do both?

[ariellioncub]

There is a Chinese restaurant in the old Western Market around Sheung Wan which has a large space that you are looking for.

[carang]

i, too, married a local... we had our "party" at the happy valley race track. the settings on the tables were beautiful. we chose a "surf'n'turf" buffet that had MANY of the traditional chinese wedding foods. it worked out really well as probably only 65-70% of attendees were chinese.

i'm pretty sure that you could set the place up for a dance as well, if i remember correctly, there is a small-ish dance floor.

the only trick to using the race track is that it can't be on a race night(even if race night is in shatin)

the food was AMAZING, the service was FANTASTIC and the price was fairly reasonable...

now, this was back in 2000, so i'm not sure what it would be like now.

back then, you didn't need to be a jockey club member, anyone could rent the place

[beachball]

Originally Posted by carang

i, too, married a local... we had our "party" at the happy valley race track. the settings on the tables were beautiful. we chose a "surf'n'turf" buffet that had MANY of the traditional chinese wedding foods. it worked out really well as probably only 65-70% of attendees were chinese.

i'm pretty sure that you could set the place up for a dance as well, if i remember correctly, there is a small-ish dance floor.

the only trick to using the race track is that it can't be on a race night(even if race night is in shatin)

the food was AMAZING, the service was FANTASTIC and the price was fairly reasonable...

now, this was back in 2000, so i'm not sure what it would be like now.

back then, you didn't need to be a jockey club member, anyone could rent the place

Many venues, including most hotels, will be able to provide something along these line, i.e., start with a "Chinese style" dinner/banquet (buffet or served courses), followed by "western style" dancing (say with a band or DJ).
All depends on the budget.

[Nova]

Myself and husband to-be are overseas Chinese planning to have our wedding in HK next year. We would like to incorporate Western and Chinese tradition/customs too and have looked at a few venues. It is difficult because most places do not offer a dance floor which we definitely want as most of our guest will be coming from abroad and would like have a boogie after the meal
Most of the venues we've looked at so far have been quite good about organising a dance floor (by reducing table numbers), although we have only looked at venues in hotels.
Some venues which look quite good but we haven't viewed yet is Aberdeen Marina Club (Marquee style), and The Verandah at Repulse Bay. However, I don't know what their min charge/price per guest etc.. but likely to be pricey.
If you decide to have a Chinese banquet at a nice restaurant you could try to negotiate a dance floor? A few months ago, we went to a chinese wedding at the House of Canton (Taikoo), if I remember correctly there was a dance floor, however the bride and groom didn't use it (only for tea ceremony and speeches).
Alternatively, you could organise an after party by reserving a place at a club? We're looking at doing this.
Good luck with your wedding plans!

[Alby]

Originally Posted by beachball

Many venues, including most hotels, will be able to provide something along these line, i.e., start with a "Chinese style" dinner/banquet (buffet or served courses), followed by "western style" dancing (say with a band or DJ).
All depends on the budget.

My good friend had a western-sino wedding at Disneyland Hotel but had to pay extra for dance floor - as they apparently did not have one as their wedding was one of the first - plus loads of other stuff they tried to add on. In th end it was gorgeous but far from cheap. So to say most of the 'local hotels' and even 'international local hotels' would do it - almost all do not as another friend tried at mid to high end hotels and they too did not have the items and wanted her to bear the cost.

However try the social clubs do like Hong Kong Club, Craigmore Cricket Club (I think), Chinese Recreation Club as they tend to. As well as the Convention Centre (but not sure of the price).

[Elau]

Hi there, i just got married in October 2008, we are both overseas chinese, and it was extremely difficult to educate locals here of what a western wedding is supposed to be like, find western vendors. Since then i have actually begun to set up a wedding planning business targeting expats like yourselves. I did everything from invite design and print, floral arrangements, band, string quartet and photographers etc etc. I also incorporated chinese and western traditions. Feel free to contact me if you want to find out more.

Cheers
Emily

Originally Posted by Nova

Myself and husband to-be are overseas Chinese planning to have our wedding in HK next year. We would like to incorporate Western and Chinese tradition/customs too and have looked at a few venues. It is difficult because most places do not offer a dance floor which we definitely want as most of our guest will be coming from abroad and would like have a boogie after the meal
Most of the venues we've looked at so far have been quite good about organising a dance floor (by reducing table numbers), although we have only looked at venues in hotels.
Some venues which look quite good but we haven't viewed yet is Aberdeen Marina Club (Marquee style), and The Verandah at Repulse Bay. However, I don't know what their min charge/price per guest etc.. but likely to be pricey.
If you decide to have a Chinese banquet at a nice restaurant you could try to negotiate a dance floor? A few months ago, we went to a chinese wedding at the House of Canton (Taikoo), if I remember correctly there was a dance floor, however the bride and groom didn't use it (only for tea ceremony and speeches).
Alternatively, you could organise an after party by reserving a place at a club? We're looking at doing this.
Good luck with your wedding plans!

[Elau]

Hi there, i just got married in October 2008, we are both overseas chinese, and it was extremely difficult to educate locals here of what a western wedding is supposed to be like, find western vendors. Since then i have actually begun to set up a wedding planning business targeting expats like yourselves. I did everything from invite design and print, floral arrangements, band, string quartet and photographers etc etc. I also incorporated chinese and western traditions. Feel free to contact me if you want to find out more.

Cheers
Emily

Originally Posted by marie313

my boyfriend is chinese and i am english. He wants to have the traditional big banquet and i want to have dancing and drinking after. it sounds so simple but apparently it is impossible!
we dont have a huge amount of money to spend. does anyone know a venue where we can do both?