Only a few steps away from where they sat, several visitors thronged a booth featuring wedding decorations. Equally busy were still other wedding vendors specializing in make-up, dresses, photography and entertainment, all under the roof of the Aryanusa Ballroom.

The Menara Danareksa Wedding Expo 2023, held in the Aryanusa Ballroom on July 22, attracted many enthusiastic visitors, mostly couples planning and preparing for their big day, along with their parents.

Menara Danareksa general manager Rika Rachmawati Rasyid pointed out: “The Menara Danareksa Wedding Expo, organized by Menara Danareksa in collaboration with top-tier wedding planner Estare Group, offers ease with its one-stop wedding exhibition, allowing each visitor to meet directly with a range of top-tier wedding vendors.”

Rika, who has 17 years’ experience in the hospitality industry at a variety of five-star hotels, including Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta, The Ritz-Carlton Pacific Place, JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta and the Sahid Group, has established a close working relationship with the participating wedding vendors.

Estare Group and participating vendors all meet the premium five-star hotel quality standard of Menara Danareksa, she says.

Alongside the display of wedding souvenirs from Alfriandra, other vendors also presented booths featuring a range of goods and services for planning the perfect wedding. These included wedding caterers such as Alfabet, The Dwi Tunggal Citra, Asri Indo and Sono Kembang, as well as wedding decoration vendors like Djati Dekorasi, Estee Concept, Dinda Sakato, Farah Dekor and Inovasi Decoration.

The line-up of make-up artists and wedding attire services featured Sanggar Liza, Aluira Kebaya, Beblooms Wedding, Dinda Sakato and Kyria Wedding.

As for wedding entertainment organizers, the exhibition featured Taman Music Entertainment and TAF Entertainment, while visitors could meet with representatives from East 9, AA Photography and Yourmates Picture to discuss wedding photographs and videos.

The exhibition also presented top-tier wedding organizers, including Sultan Wedding Organizer and Estella Wedding Organizer, while visitors could consult on seserahan (wedding and bridal gifts) with Beblooms Wedding and Pinely Seserahan.

Visitors, mostly betrothed couples planning for their big day along with their parents, sample dishes presented by participating caterers at the Menara Danareksa Wedding Expo

Themed “Traditional-National with Modern Touches”, the Menara Danareksa Wedding Expo 2023 was the first exhibition of its kind and was held at the premium office building’s luxury Aryanusa Ballroom. The expo was a testament to Menara Danareksa’s readiness to attract a wider market in 2024, following its success in becoming a top-rated wedding venue this year.

Menara Danareksa, a subsidiary of state-owned PT Pembangunan Perumahan (PP), was inaugurated on May 27, 2023 by State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir. The premium office building launched its wedding program in October 2022, with its iconic Aryanusa Ballroom featured as a premium wedding venue.

“The Menara Danareksa Wedding Expo was held by Menara Danareksa with support from Estare Group. The Aryanusa Ballroom, with a capacity of up to 1,000 guests and a pillarless 9-meter-high ceiling, offers a spacious, exclusive and luxury look. Located in the heart of Jakarta in front of the city’s iconic National Monument [Monas], means that the Aryanusa Ballroom is the right venue for our wedding expo,” Rika said.

“To meet the needs of a wedding, aside from offering a luxury wedding venue, Aryanusa Ballroom by Menara Danareksa, in partnership with Estare Group, helps soon-to-be married couples find a wedding concept by providing wedding packages designed with the support of the best wedding vendors. Traditional and international wedding packages are available,” she added.

Menara Danareksa also offers a luxury room for holding the akad (wedding ceremony) and other private events

Menara Danareksa also provides seven rooms ranging in size from small to medium for hosting more private events during a wedding. Ranging in capacity from 15 to 150 guests, these rooms can be used for the akad (wedding ceremony) or the tea pai ceremony.

“All of the rooms come complete with an audiovisual system, including an audio mixer,” said Rika.

Ivana Novida, senior marketing communication manager at Menara Danareksa, said: “Menara Danareksa excels in hospitality. With 17 years of experience working with five-star national and international hotels, Ibu [Ms.] Rika has brought her experience to Menara Danareksa, enabling brides- and bridegrooms-to-be to find a wedding package with the quality service of a five-star hotel.”

She added that the Menara Danareksa management had designed all in-house lavatories with beautiful interiors and full amenities, and it also ensured that their cleanliness was monitored on a regular basis.

“In terms of wedding banquets, we not only provide the space, but our Banquet Sales team can also provide a complete, bespoke package. To meet the couple’s needs, we also provide a wedding consultant who ensures that their important day is a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Ivana, who has 14 years’ experience in the hotel and hospitality industry.

Menara Danareksa offers a spacious parking space comprising eight floors that can accommodate up to 400 cars.

Ivana noted that the wedding industry had gradually returned to normal following the trying times caused by the pandemic, and that demand for wedding venues were showing an upward trend.

Furthermore, Menara Danareksa found this year that a growing number of clients wanted to hold larger weddings for more than 500 guests, compared to clients in 2022 who wanted smaller events for hosting fewer than 500 guests.

“We are confident that with the great support from Estare Group, we can answer the needs of would-be married couples that visit the wedding expo,” Ivana said.

Estare Group director Marcellinus Suryanto (left) poses for a photograph with Menara Danareksa general manager Rika Rachmawati Rasyid

Marcellinus “Marcel” Suryanto, director of Estare Group, emphasized that the shared vision of offering services equivalent to a five-star hotel had prompted the group to collaborate with Menara Danareksa.

“When entering the Menara Danareksa, you can feel the cozy and homey ambiance. The pillarless Aryanusa Ballroom, with its high ceiling and luxury carpets, represents the quality standard of a five-star hotel. That is the quality that most would-be married couples are looking for in their of a wedding venue,” Marcel said.

“Aryanusa Ballroom at Menara Danareksa, with is various facilities, has its own uniqueness in its grand, modern look and its prestigious location in the city center,” he added.

“What makes Aryanusa outstanding as a wedding venue is that it offers its concept of typical five-star hotel hospitality services to not only brides- and bridegrooms-to-be, but also to all guests attending a wedding reception at Menara Danareksa.

“That makes us confident in building a partnership with Menara Danareksa. That is also why we design wedding packages that meet the quality standard of a five-star hotel that premium clients demand today,” said Marcel.

Estare Group has contributed several prizes for couples who purchased the premium wedding package, including a honeymoon package for two days and two nights at a five-star hotel in Bali or Jakarta, LED walls with a high-resolution photo booth and digital wedding invitations.

“All these prizes are based on our clients’ inputs and needs. Besides this, in collaboration with Menara Danareksa, we will also be giving vouchers worth Rp 15 million [US$1,000],” he said.

“In collaboration with Menara Danareksa, we draw in our clients not by offering door prizes, but by offering our excellent services,” said Marcel, who helmed Estare Group when it organized a wedding reception for 6,000 guests at The Ritz-Carlton Pacific Place in the 2010s.

Networking

A good track record, decades of combined experience in organizing weddings and professional consistency have allowed Estare Group to build a wide network capable of offering weddings tailored to clients’ preferred styles, whether traditional like Minangkabau, Javanese, Sundanese and Balinese weddings, or international weddings.

“With our widespread connections across Indonesia, we can find the right vendors to accommodate clients’ different needs and offer a tailored-made package, since we always want to give our best service to our clients,” said Marcel, referring the wealth of diverse cultures across the nation.

Based on Menara Danareksa’s experience in 2022, Ivana said that larger weddings tended to be designed in a traditional style rather than in an international style.

“Wedding receptions in a traditional-national style was attended by a minimum of around 800 guests and at times, more than 1,000 guests. While an international-style wedding reception was attended by between 500 and 800 guests,” she said, though she noted that demand was growing steadily for international-style weddings.

Ivana added that, with Rika’s 17 years in the hospitality industry and Marcel’s experience in running a wedding planning company since 1998, the Menara Danareksa-Estare Group partnership could anticipate any unforeseen challenges and resolve them quickly.

Marcel noted that most would-be married couples agreed to some traditional elements when planning weddings to respect their parents’ wishes.

“But millennials are inclined to prefer practicality in organizing weddings, with minimalism in terms of decoration and other aspects,” he said.

“For practical reasons, a kebaya [traditional Javanese blouse] for the bride and a full suit for the bridegroom is more popular, especially among the millennial generation,” he said.

Marcel also said the use of digital technology for weddings was increasing, such as using LED video walls displaying rich digital content to create a contemporary, warm and fun ambiance.

It is hoped that the Menara Danareksa Wedding Expo 2023 will encourage more would-be married couples to host their wedding in the Aryanusa Ballroom.

“We are optimistic that the wedding industry, which experienced mati suri [suspended animation] for two years during the pandemic, has slowly risen back up amid the economic recovery,” Marcel said.