Real Life Wedding & Events – The Oman Restaurant Awards
This was quite simply one of the most amazing gigs I have ever had the pleasure of being involved in. Is was also one of the most tiring!!!
We jetted out the night before and made the 8 hour flight from Heathrow to Muscat before being taken to the Shang Ri La Resort in Muscat to see the beautiful seaside setting for the awards ceremony. A sound check, spot of lunch entailed before we caught up on some shut eye before show time.
With 400 guests to entertain from all over the world, Kerry Maddock from APEX International chose the following set list for The Best Singing Waiters:-
Crazy Little Thing Called Love Don’t Stop Me Now
Mack The Knife
Brown Eyed Girl
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
You To Me Are Everything
Nessun Dorma
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
With the amount of guests they had they also went for the 3 Singing Waiters package, with Duncan & James statring things off before Jamie interupted and came out as the chef.
The whole set went down extremely well, ending with 400 guests waving napkins in the air to the finale of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, this is what some of the guests commented:-
“Just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for organising a great event on Thursday – really was one of the best yet! Thanks again”
Janet Turner – Director of Sales and Marketing, Crowne Plaza Muscat
“Congratulations on an absolutely outstanding Tenth Anniversary Oman Today Restaurant Awards event on Thursday evening. I thought the event over-delivered on several platforms throughout the night (venue, food, entertainment, originality – judges photos!) and overall”
Sean Hennessey – General Manager, African & Eastern
“I would also like to congratulate you both on a great show and exactly the right mix between entertainment and the actual awards.”
Mark Kirk – General Manager, Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa
As the event moved from the tables to a more chilled out area we performed our Rat Pack tribute as a sumptuous selection of desserts were served, some of the songs we performed included:-
Can’t Buy Me Love
Ain’t That A Kick In The Head
Bad Bad Leroy Brown
Lady Is A Tramp
Mr Bojangles
Mr Brightside
A Foggy Day In London Town
That’s Life
For Once In My Life
Feeling Good
Fever
Moondance
Me & My Shadow
Jump
That’s Amore
My Way Medley
When we arrived back to the UK, Kerry Maddock from Apex International gave us this glowing testimonial:-
Dear Jamie,
Apex Press and Publishing has been conducting the Oman Today Restaurant Awards for the past ten years. An annual event that was launched in 2002, the awards are considered the ultimate recognition of the best and most popular restaurants in Oman. The Awards were instituted to provide an opportunity for the public to recognise, appreciate and reward the best among the restaurateurs and hospitality industry. Since then, these awards have become a benchmark of excellence for the sector.
Over one hundred restaurants participated in the 2011 awards, all hoping to be one of the finalists. Their customers played a big role in deciding the final three in each category; a record 390,000 public votes were received between September 11 and December 07. The public chose their favourite restaurants across 12 different categories and the top three in each went on to be judged by a secret panel.
The winners of the Oman Today Restaurant Awards 2011 were announced at a gala black-tie event on March 01 on Turtle Beach of Shangri-La’s Barr al Jissah Resort & Spa attended by over 400 of the leading names from the hospitality industry and the business community in Oman.
I wanted to write to thank you for your contribution to the final ceremony. The awards took place over a period of eight months and the final event was by far the most exciting and talked about to date. The Singing Waiters added to the surprises of the night and now, two weeks on remain the most talked about.
I have personally organised the Restaurant Awards for the last five years and your contribution to this event made it so much more fun than previous years. This is the first event that we have had guests up dancing and singing; everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. Ordinarily the dinner is filled with anticipation about who the winners will be and after the awards we have 50% of the audience disappointed at their loss and 50% ready to celebrate their win. This year everybody stayed around after the awards to dance and sing the night away with The Singing Waiters.
From the outset I found your company to be extremely professional with a willingness to meet all of our requests. Throughout our eight months of communication you were happy to change song choices, dates, timings and accommodate whatever was asked of you to make sure our evening was the best it could be. In the initial stages I contacted approximately fifteen companies offering similar services to yours but we stuck with you, as you were by far the most professional.
At least 80% of our guests return every year and have done so since the beginning in 2002, every single person I spoke to on the evening was absolutely impressed with The Singing Waiters and the entertainment you provided. I would be very surprised if you do not hear from other companies here who also want to work with you. I will definitely be in contact again for the Oman Today Restaurant Awards 2012, although we will have to rethink the element of surprise, as our returning visitors will remember you from the outset! I have absolutely no doubt that however you decide to entertain us next year everybody will have just as much fun.
I have copied a couple of emails received below; they will give you an idea of how much our guests enjoyed the event as a whole.
Many thanks once again, it was an amazing event; The Singing Waiters were the icing on the cake.
Regards,
Kerry Maddock – Marketing Manager, Apex Press and Publishing
We had an absolute ball over there and can’t wait to go back again and visit Muscat, 24 hours in that country was not enough.
If you would like to find out more about The Best Singing Waiters then please call 0161 452 0014 or get some information sent to you by filling in the form below..