Dam Hoi

[ScottThuy 140]

We are wanting to have a small Dam Hoi at the family home.. How much should it cost? Less than 30 people...

[ScottThuy 140]

Thuy said she wants me to see some youtube videos of Dam Hoi's.. who was in the first one she sent? Yep Big Brother himself.. Roger and Linh... small world...

[Dai. 7]

depends if you are doing it in the country side or in the city, it very much depends on venue and how extravagant you want it. Our was done at my wife's house with about 60 people I think and I don't think I spend more than $2000 ( i don't remember exactly, it might have been less) on the party including her dress and flowers decoration and food. I could have went more expensive and I could have went cheaper, it just depends on how you want to do it.

[ScottThuy 140]

she doesnt care if we do one or not, neither does the family.. the main purpose is to satisfy the CO.. Sounds crappy I know, but we both dont care about the ceremony only to be together...

[Dai. 7]

Then you can do it cheap way, spend about $200-300 on food and catering (usually comes with their own tables and Chairs), she can wear any formal dress she already owns, you can wear slacks and a button up shirt you already own, make your own decorations from color paper and scissors, hire a cheap photographer for $40-50 bucks, and if you want extra booze for the guests so they can do the 1,2,3 YO! in front of the camera. Max if you want everyone having fun for a cheap price $500 for everything.. More money on booze so everyone can nhậu and have fun to satisfy the CO.

[feelinglucky 1]

she doesnt care if we do one or not, neither does the family.. the main purpose is to satisfy the CO.. Sounds crappy I know, but we both dont care about the ceremony only to be together...

Hi, Scott. think of it this way, your trying to exceed CO expectation not satisfy them. The more people there and photos the better. Too small and the CO will use that as an excuse to denied your case. They will state that the ceremony was small and insunificant and no family members were present from the US.

[ScottThuy 140]

Dai

Thats what John said too... When we talked about it before she said "little money" and kept saying for months ... I dont know, I will talk with my mother and call some people... She called a service today and they said 2-3 k for 25-30 people... at the family home... I was floored since that isnt little money to me... and I know its not little money to her...

[ScottThuy 140]

she doesnt care if we do one or not, neither does the family.. the main purpose is to satisfy the CO.. Sounds crappy I know, but we both dont care about the ceremony only to be together...

Hi, Scott. think of it this way, your trying to exceed CO expectation not satisfy them. The more people there and photos the better. Too small and the CO will use that as an excuse to denied your case. They will state that the ceremony was small and insunificant and no family members were present from the US.

Dont have much family here... have plenty of photos of my son there in April so thats not a big issue... since its second marriage for us both, size was not an issue... it is not out of line for a couple in VN to forego a Dam Hoi on the second go round.. This is why her family doesnt think too much about it...

[Dai. 7]

Dai

Thats what John said too... When we talked about it before she said "little money" and kept saying for months ... I dont know, I will talk with my mother and call some people... She called a service today and they said 2-3 k for 25-30 people... at the family home... I was floored since that isnt little money to me... and I know its not little money to her...

Dang $2k-$3k that must be some extravagant food for the guest or something. I took my office workers out to eat at a restaurant (about 30 people too) in Vietnam and it only cost about $300-$400 USD for 4 different dishes times 6 for the whole office. It was a clean restaurant for office managers too. Beer I estimate about an average to get everyone drunk and happy, $300 USD.

[ScottThuy 140]

Dai

Thats what John said too... When we talked about it before she said "little money" and kept saying for months ... I dont know, I will talk with my mother and call some people... She called a service today and they said 2-3 k for 25-30 people... at the family home... I was floored since that isnt little money to me... and I know its not little money to her...

Dang $2k-$3k that must be some extravagant food for the guest or something. I took my office workers out to eat at a restaurant (about 30 people too) in Vietnam and it only cost about $300-$400 USD for 4 different dishes times 6 for the whole office. It was a clean restaurant for office managers too. Beer I estimate about an average to get everyone drunk and happy, $300 USD.

I brought booze with me last trip and a half a bottle of whiskey and a few bottles of wine trashed a bunch of folks fast...

[Anh map 2,098]

$2K? That's a lot more than we spent.

Glad you enjoyed the video clip. I can send you the whole thing if you want. LOL

[ScottThuy 140]

$2K? That's a lot more than we spent.

Glad you enjoyed the video clip. I can send you the whole thing if you want. LOL

she said soething about bracelets and a necklace... are these something of a special design or is it something that I can get in the US and take there?

[Dai. 7]

$2K? That's a lot more than we spent.

Glad you enjoyed the video clip. I can send you the whole thing if you want. LOL

she said soething about bracelets and a necklace... are these something of a special design or is it something that I can get in the US and take there?

I think she is trying to get extravagant on you. For my engagement party I of course got her a nice ring with a huge rock on it, because our whole family really did care about the engagement, but I got her regular a bracelet and earrings and all, my wife said I didn't have to get anything special. If you or her family doesn't care then it doesn't matter what kind of jewelry you get her, or maybe you don't need her to get anything at all, but if her parents care then you gotta bite the bullet and get her some nice jewelry.

[ScottThuy 140]

She has no idea how much her ring cost.. have to wait to get it resized when she gets here because she told me the wrong size and there are few people I trust there with something that expensive and none that deal in platinum..

I think I see what is happening.. same as at that restaurant in Vung Tau.. a 20 dollar meal for 200. she can be really naive and I think they saw her coming and are tryng to get over on her and oversell her... I think we need to make a list of what we need to address and then shop it and go from there... They went so far as to say if she did not decide this week, they could not be sure if they could have it done a month from now... BS..

[luckytxn 2,264]

We only spent about 200 dollars ourselves. Bought a bunch of food and beer and I had brought booze over. Her family pretty much did all the cooking and decorating. Not sure what she paid for the dress. She does have like 7 sisters though and they all chipped in with the cooking not sure who or what the other dozen or so ladies were but think they were cousins and nieces and stuff. As for pics we just did that ourselves. There were about 3-4 cameras and one was mine and I took pics and the others did so and even handed my camera to one of her 6 brothers to go around and take pics. We ended up with about 2000 pics. We never ever bought a ring till she got here.

After we announced the party we had two days to get it done and just in that times maybe 50-60 people showed up and all the kids so there were a lot of people. They have a big place though and they seemed to have tables and chairs from somewhere and even borrowed neighbors so even with the huge place there were even tables outside on the walk just plain everywhere. They were all family and many came in on bus and every type of transportation imaginable. Not long ago my babe and I was looking at the pics and I was asking about who some of the people were and she knew everyone of them. Amazing really.

So I spent about 200 dollars on food and many cases of beer. I am sure the family went to the market behind the house and bought stuff though like veggies and who knows what else. They are not the type to let caterers do this stuff though. They even refused to let me eat out anywhere and cooked anything I ate themselves. Sounds like her family is not the type to do this though so I am guessing they want it catered.