Chinese Banquet Pricing?

[SoonIHope]

We are going to be having a traditional Chinese wedding banquet in New York City a couple of weeks after our actual wedding (which will be upstate). We haven''t started thinking too much about the banquet yet (it''s for July 2007), but I was just wondering if anyone had any per person costs for what their banquets were, or what other restaurants had quoted to them? And if that number is affected by the number of people at the banquet, and/or if you have to pay extra to reserve an entire room.

For people in the NY area...can you let me know where you held yours and what you thought of it? I would like for the restaurant to be on the nice-looking side, and we''re going to serve about half of the food vegetarian (compromise between all-vegetarian and my-family-will-think-we''re-cheap-and-hate-us-forever-if-we-don''t-serve-the-traditional-meat-dishes) so they should have a few main course vegetarian options, or at least be willing to make them, if possible.

Thanks!!

 

[SoonIHope]

No one?

I''ve seeeen pictures, I know you''re out there!!!!!

 

[AmberWaves]

Sorry Albi, I know nothing. Just thought I''d say hi!

 

[SoonIHope]

haha thanks! Hi Amber! How''s being engaged treating you today?

 

[AmberWaves]

Great, as it has been all week. I have gotten NO work done lately. As I''m sure you can see.

 

[SoonIHope]

Haha, I''m more than three months into my engagement and I''m STILL not getting any work done!!!! Ring is too pretty...PS is too much fun.... life is hard.

 

[leeenie]

We'll be having one of those, but my FMIL will be planning most of it because it's really for my fiance's family in NY and not something we particularly wanted to do (something about the rest of his family thinking badly about his parents if they didn't provide X...which I think is silly, but nothing I can do about that). She won't be planning anything until after May when we get together and talk about it, so I don't know much now - sorry! If I find out later, I'll let you know, though I don't know when you need to do your planning (we're not getting married until July '07 - edit: I see you are too!).

From what I've heard so far it seems like $80/pp (800/table) is on the higher side. Most of the places are decorated in the traditional red/gold Chinese style, so if you prefer something more modern looking, unfortunately I think it's going to cost more.

Good luck! If you find anything interesting, let me know

 

[SoonIHope]

Thanks teagreen!

I would reeally like to spend NOWHERE NEAR $80 per person.

Do you think that''s feasible?? Was that price quoted for Manhattan or Flushing, do you know?

We are also doing it basically because his family expects it...so the wedding ceremony and post-wedding reception are exactly the way we want, and then we''re also doing a banquet tacked on to the end that we''re not being too picky about. I don''t mind the traditional red and gold decor, I just want it to be on the nicer end of traditional, and have nice bathrooms and things like that for my whole family which will have never been to a banquet before. So it doesn''t have to be FANCY at all...but just look, you know, okay.

But if your FMIL gives you any possibilities, PLEEEASE let me know!!!! So far the only place I know anything about is the one where my fiance''s cousin got married last year, and it''s that place East Lake in Flushing (do you know NY at all? Or is it just where your fiance''s family is from?) which seems like a big institution so I''m guessing would be on the pricier side of things.... I tried google searching and looking on citysearch and things like that, but NOWHERE has good information!!!!

I think we might end up just having to walk around and go into any restaurants that look nice and talk to people...which just sounds like a huge pain, and we can''t hear any reviews from people who''ve had banquets there if we do that.

 

[saturn]

Well, I''m no help with the New York part, but I think that the banquet for FI''s grandfather''s 90th birthday was about $40 pp.
That was in Atlanta, though. And the decor wasn''t particularly nice.

 

[leeenie]

Date: 4/4/2006 1:15:00 PM
Author: albicocca
Thanks teagreen!

I would reeally like to spend NOWHERE NEAR $80 per person.

Do you think that''s feasible?? Was that price quoted for Manhattan or Flushing, do you know?

We are also doing it basically because his family expects it...so the wedding ceremony and post-wedding reception are exactly the way we want, and then we''re also doing a banquet tacked on to the end that we''re not being too picky about. I don''t mind the traditional red and gold decor, I just want it to be on the nicer end of traditional, and have nice bathrooms and things like that for my whole family which will have never been to a banquet before. So it doesn''t have to be FANCY at all...but just look, you know, okay.

But if your FMIL gives you any possibilities, PLEEEASE let me know!!!! So far the only place I know anything about is the one where my fiance''s cousin got married last year, and it''s that place East Lake in Flushing (do you know NY at all? Or is it just where your fiance''s family is from?) which seems like a big institution so I''m guessing would be on the pricier side of things.... I tried google searching and looking on citysearch and things like that, but NOWHERE has good information!!!!

I think we might end up just having to walk around and go into any restaurants that look nice and talk to people...which just sounds like a huge pain, and we can''t hear any reviews from people who''ve had banquets there if we do that.

Hey Albi, I definitely think you can do it for a lot less than $80/pp. But I don''t know specifics about what the different restaurants look like. I''m guessing non-Manhattan would be more reasonable unless it''s a famous place or something. I''ll let you know if I find out anything.

Does your fiance''s family know anything about these restaurants or are they not really into this stuff?

 

[leeenie]

albi - I just learned about a website that might have info for you. www.chinabridal.com has a forum where chinese brides and brindes doing chinese things post. there might be banquet restaurant info there or you could post a message - i think many brides are in NY. hope that helps!

 

[SoonIHope]

Thank you so much teagreen!!! I actually know Chinabridal well and have been looking at them for invitations and favors etc, but I had no idea they had a messageboard!

Thanks for bringing that to my attention, I bet it will be a great resource!

 

[flopkins]

one of my coworkers is having a NY chinese banquet - I will ask her, I think in SF it is about $40-$80pp depending how nice the place is, and I imagine NY is about the same.