I know, I promised to update this page as much as I can but its been months since my last entry. Reason? I GOT MARRIED.
Yes. You read that right. After (literally) 10 years, we finally got married. And we got super busy these past few months. That's why I had to pause updating this blog.
Anyhow, its been 2 weeks since our dream wedding. And this entry will center mainly on our reviews and ratings for our chosen suppliers whom helped us to fulfill our dream wedding.
1. Primary Hotel - Crosswinds Resorts Suites ★★★★
BJ attended a wedding and the couple had this hotel as their prep hotel. He immediately told me that it will be perfect if we'll have it as our prep hotel as well. So I booked 2 2-Bedroom Suites months prior our wedding through Agoda. I had it at almost half its published price.
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| Photo c/o my FB Page |
I wasn't able to get the actual photos of the suite (syempre excited). But the whole place was super worth your money. The suite is bigger than a standard 2-bedroom condo unit plus you can bring cooked or raw food 'cause, unlike normal suites, these units has its own kitchen and utensils (Note: if you will be needing additional utensils aside from the ones already provided, you may ask the front desk). We got the upper ground and 5th floor units. Though the area is not on the Taal Volcano side, the view from both rooms are amazing (of course view from the 5th fl is better than the upper ground).
I would have given the place a perfect 5 rating if not for their extra charge for aerial shot. Yeah, I know its not mandatory but come on you're already in Crosswinds of course you'll maximize the place. If you're a hotel guest, you are allowed to take photos within the hotel area but not allowed to take aerial shots since the hotel location is within a residential area. You will be needing to pay an extra for them to allow you to take aerial shots and photo shoot within their Alpine Village.
2. Secondary Hotel - Cafe Julita Guest House ★★★★★
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| Photo c/o Willie Gatpandan's FB Page |
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| Photo c/o Willie Gatpandan's FB Page |
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| Photo c/o Willie Gatpandan's FB Page |
I wasn't able to go back to the hotel when our guests arrived and took photos (this is mainly because of the Filipino tradition that the bride and groom should not see nor talk a day (it should be a week but it was impossible in our situation) prior their wedding). But based on the feedback I got from our guests, the place was fantastic. Taal View, check. New facilities, check. Clean, check. Though the place does not include breakfast, you may reach several restaurants within a stone throw away.
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| Photo c/o Willie Gatpandan's FB Page |
3. On The Day Coordinator - K's Events Management Team ★★★★★
Being in purchasing for more than 5 years, I thought I won't be needing a full time coordinator for our wedding. But upon attending several weddings prior to ours, we realized that we cannot go without at least an on-the-day wedding coordinator. Reason? One, you don't want all the hassle to figure out everything on the day of your wedding. Two, you don't want to hassle your friends and family to do that as well. Three, you don't want non-professionals to coordinate your wedding day (trust me on this one, it won't be pretty). Lastly, you just want to relax and forget all the troubles happening and just be a princess, a queen rather, on that day. Thus, OTD Coor is a must.
I've been searching, reading reviews, and contacting several coordinators prior my visit to Kuya Willie. He recommended multiple Tagaytay based coordinators and his top recommendation was K's Event. Luckily, they are the ones who coordinated BJ's friend's wedding. He was able to see their execution and saw how Ms Kris emceed (which was a major tick in our checkbox).
I was only able to meet Ms Kris thrice prior our wedding. First was 2 weeks prior our wedding for final detailing, next was 2 days prior for materials turn over and the night before for detail checking. We were, however, already communicating through email, text and FB messenger months prior. Though we only booked her as an OTD Coor, she managed to help us on some details of the wedding. Her pink book (her checklist) is a life saver. We almost overlooked some details if it wasn't for that book.
On the day itself, I felt like a queen. They had me locked in a room so I won't be able to see all the hassle and bustle outside. Down side of being locked out? I did not know that the groom's side needed help organizing our lunch food and we could have get some people down stairs. But aside from that, everything was smoothless. I had my own assistant (Jane) wherein she was able to cater all my needs. She even forced me to eat when I needed to eat but can't due to mixed emotions (BJ was jealous about this though; he hoped he got one for himself. Haha). She even coached me on how to properly enter the church (Yes, there are proper steps on entering the church if your the bride. Haha).
4. Hair and Make Up - Robin Medina by Styletech ★★★★★
This was a no brainer. Robin is my friend from High School. He did most of our friends' make up in almost all events (all our friends' debut, early weddings, and the likes; except for prom, cause we don't have that) that we needed to attend since high school (non-professionally of course; but regardless, they were passable). We're Facebook friends since the beginning and I was able to see his BoW. Let's just say his BoW made me not look elsewhere.
Being his friend, I was able to get some freebies and discounts. I won't mention here what freebies and how much discount I got from him because it might ruin his pricing. Hehe.
Anyways, I don't want to further discuss how good he is. Just judge for yourself.
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| Photo c/o Robin Medina's FB Page |
5. Photo and Video - Photofarm Digital Collaboration ★★★★
Tristan and his team is as professional as can be. When you tell them to be in Los Banos at 7am on a holiday they will be there. We had our prenup shoot last Labor Day and boy we had all the troubles we could have. First, we weren't able to get a permit to shoot in UPLB (guess whose fault is that?). Second, traffic the day before and on the day itself was terrible (worse than its norm). Third, since I only got an OTD Coor and my sister just got her baby, we don't get to have an assistant. Lastly, we were so fixated on having our prenup in UP that we did not bother to get a plan B.
All thanks to Photofarm, we got to have a successful photoshoot. They informed us beforehand that we cannot have the shoot in UP because, since 3 years ago, the admin required permit to perform photoshoots inside the campus (go figure; we graduated way past 3 years). Good thing, we stayed in Trace College's hotel and the team told us that we'll be able to get the concept we opt within the allowable vicinity. Their assistant and crew helped us wipe our (mostly mine) sweat and hold our things (umbrella, tissue, etc.) during the shoot. They even gave in to our request to take photos in the campus. Props to you guys.
On the wedding day itself, similar to our prenup shoot, they came in exactly 7am. Ready to shoot whomever is ready. Unfortunately, Tristan was not there but his team delivered more than expected. Similar to my HMUA, I won't further discuss on how great they are. I'll have the photos (All uploaded photos of this entry were taken by the team, unless stated otherwise).
I won't be discussing about how great our SDE turned out. See for yourself.
Video c/o PhotoFarm Digital Collaboration on Vimeo.
You might be wondering, why didn't she gave a perfect 5 if they're that great? A major throw back was their projector. They provided a low lumens projector which wasn't visible during the high afternoon sun. Guests were not able to see some video presentations prepared by the team since they were played using Photofarm's projector. We (I mean K's Event) had to get an alternative projector to properly show their beautifully edited SDE.
6. Bridal Car - Don Robert's Bridal Car ★★★
I'm a bit torn about this one. Why? They were easy to talk to, but there were several problems that occur during the course of the event. They were able to deliver, but the damage and hassle has been done.
So, originally we reserved for their new Bettle. But, a day prior to the wedding, I was informed that the aircon compressor of the unit was busted. We both agreed to have that unit. Darn. So they gave us a free upgrade to get either a Chrysler, Jaguar X, or Camry. I chose Chrysler, since its our second option anyways. Day of the event, we're about to leave Crosswinds when we realize that instead of cool air, the car was giving us hot air. So, since there's no time, I decided to push through with an open window going to church and transferred to Sese (BJ's Fortuner; good thing its white) once we arrived. To compensate, the driver exchanged his Chrysler with a similar model with working aircon (good thing the wedding before us which they also handled was using the same car model) and promised not to charge us with extra hours. Thus, we were able to get this photo.
7. Church - Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Church ★★★★★
The admin of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish is probably the easiest parish to talk to. Unlike most parish that give a lot of traditional and strict rules, Lourdes' just provided us with a list of requirements and things which are not allowed to be done inside the church and everything else is ok with them.
I was even surprised that the don't care that all our guests will be in black. Their response? "Nakapagpatahi na kayo. Wala naman na kaming magagawa."
They even allowed BJ's cousin to hold the mass for us.
Bottomline. Our Lady of Lourdes Parish is the coolest parish ever.
8. Wedding Band - The Sweet Blends Music Ensemble ★★★★★
The biggest mistake I made on our wedding is probably forgetting to thank Sweet Blends during the actual program. I was so engrossed with the program and they were so good people who weren't on their side of the stage were not even aware that a band was actually playing. They thought everything was recorded. That's how good they are.
My entrance cannot be that dramatic if it weren't for the very beautiful arrangement of the bridal march.
My sister (who sang with them during our first dance) informed me that the pianist just asked her to sing the first few lines of the song and he was able to get he right key and tempo for our first dance even without prior practice. I promise I will link a video of the song once I received the videos (though I'm not sure if there will be a shoot of the band. Again, Sorry).
9. Reception Location - Casa De Corazon Events Place ★★★★★
After booking our church it was a bomber that the events place I envisioned our wedding reception to take place wasn't available due to time constraint. So, we had to check multiple locations and to no avail, the only location we were able to go to that has the perfect Taal View background has a very limited space. Good thing, one of BJ's officemate who got married few months prior to ours, recommended L&J Catering (more of L&J Catering later). Sir Willie, the owner of L&J, showed us a contraction site of the soon to rise Casa De Corazon. It was literally just dirt and walls (walls was not even finished yet since it was rainy season). He showed us the architectural plan of the building (good thing I can read architectural plans) and their design pegs and plan not just for the building but for the garden as well. One thing is for sure, the Taal view is to die for.
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| Photo grabbed from Kuya Willie's FB messenger conversation |
So, even with BJ's skepticism of the construction turn over, I decided to book the place. Reason? Price was an all time low. Good call though. After the construction was finished the cost of renting the place sky rocketed. Based on Kuya Willie's feedback, we got it on the best price pretty much because we took chance on them. We only saw dirt and walls but we took a chance and got the place at a third (or even lower) than its current published price. Not bad for taking chances.
10. Caterer - L&J Catering Services ★★★★★
As I've said earlier, Kuya Willie Gatpandan of L&J Catering is probably the best super supplier a bride and groom will ever have. If I could give a score higher than 5, I might have given that to him. He wasn't just a caterer. He was a friend recommending us the best suppliers their is within the area and even provided us with not just discounts and freebies from his catering, events place, and hotel. He also gave us tips on getting good deals and discounts from his recommended suppliers.
Food was superb I cannot say anything bad against the food prepared. There might have been some small misunderstanding when it comes to serving (our fault mainly for not mentioning the type of serving to our guests) but everything was wonderful.
Cake was what was agreed. Even if he kept on insisting that the design we provided will be very hard to execute, they still managed to deliver.
Set up was superb. They indeed transformed the place to Japanese spring. I love how they did not over do it. It was subtle but elegant.
11. Florist - Kuya Edgar Erni ★★★★★
This person transformed Lourdes to a Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival. Contrary to the reception's subtleness, the church was amazingly wonderful. If he would have given me a heads up that he will put a lot a those things in there, I would have stopped him because I might think that it may look overdone but he did the opposite of overdoneness (not sure if this is even a word). It was fabulous.
Flowers used were all beautiful and fresh. I even asked for an extra 7 flower crowns for my female entourage 2 days prior. He did not just deliver 7, he delivered 8.
Super easy to talk to. I gave him my design pegs and he delivered more than what we agreed. As I've said, as long as its to further beautify the wedding do whatever you want.
So, there you have it. These people made our dream wedding came true. You may ask me for any additional feedback regarding their work and turn around times if you need them.
I will be uploading a separate entry for all the detailing we got for our wedding.
Ciao for now.
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