Wedding preps progress..

With 1 year and 3 months to go, we have booked our major supplier. December being the peak wedding month in the Philippines, it is only wise to plan ahead. You have the luxury of time to choose among the best suppliers, haggle for discounts and enjoy the price lock.

Here's our progress so far..

·         Chruch – Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Newport City, Pasay (with flowers, soloist, pianist, lector and priest)

·         Chruch Flowers – Casa Fiore Manila

·         Reception Venue – Blue Leaf, Silk Pavilion

·         Caterer – K by Cunanan

·         Bridal bouquet & Entourage Flowers – Vatel Manila (Dylan Gozum)

·         Photo – Paul Vincent Photography

·         Video – Phoeben Teoson Video (PTV)

More suppliers to book.. 

• Wedding coordinator – torn between Kutchie Zaldarriga (Getting Married Phils.) and Erika Bergara (Detalye). I have met them both and I plan to meet more: Chi Abarquez (Once a Bride), Laurice de Jesus (Making It Happen) & Jody Liwanag (Events Experts).

• Bridal wear – met Veluz, Marc Rancy, Shannon Pamaong/John Herrera and Chito delos Santos. This is the hardest supplier to find for me. Somehow, I’m hesitant to spend a lot for a gown that I will only get to wear for one day. I’m looking for quality workmanship minus the expensive tag price.

inside FIP, waiting for Shannon and John..

Out of all the designers mentioned above, Veluz stands out for a lot of reasons: her  workmanship is superb, her design very elaborate but soft and light, she is very generous in giving tips on everything about weddings.. But her quote.. a whopping Php 150,000.00!!

You can tell who I like the most but I’m choosing to be practical. Ferdie suggests that I use the money on jewelry instead. My fiancé is so smart! 

Veluz encounter.. the very popular Ms. V..

the 150k wedding gown..

phoeben teocson – our videographer

Phoeben “Bim” Teocson, is being tagged as the heir to Jason Magbanua’s throne. His work is indeed getting better and he keeps on outdoing himself wedding after wedding. He is an engineer (ECE) by education but pursued his passion for film making instead.

http://phoebenteocson.com/

I first chanced upon one of his videos last January, while browsing for potential wedding suppliers, and was hooked from then on. I like his style because it’s has little bit of drama, edge and fun.

Everyone says that Paul Vincent & Phoeben work very well together. They say that Bim's same day edit video complements Paul’s photo slideshow, as opposed to just repeating the angles.

When I first checked with Gen, Bim’s lovely wife, she told me that they are already booked for our wedding day. After double checking her email, I noticed that she wrote 2010 instead of 2011. I called her attention and to my relief, they are still free on our date. After haggling for a discount, she suggested that we book them during the SMX bridal fair where they will include freebies (crane & projector). So we did, and now we’re booked.

Bim and Gen are both very nice to deal with. I only have nice things to say about them. 

paul vincent - our photographer

An online poll via facebook was conducted to let our family choose among the shortlist of our choice photographers. There was Pat Dy, Mimi & Karl, Paul Vincent and Oly Ruiz (Metrophoto).  We did this because Ferdie is leaning towards Paul Vincent's unique and wide range of techniques, while I was so in love with the old world glamour of Metrophoto's portfolio. I just added two more experts, whose works we love too, to spice up the poll, hehehe.

And the winner is.. via unanimous decision.. Paul Vincent delos Reyes of Paul Vincent Photography.

http://paulvincentphoto.com/blog/

I'm happy with the result as I realized that technique and consistency in the output will win over just glamour shots with a lot of post processing. I have nothing against Oly Ruiz, hey he's my bet! But Ferdie knows better when it comes to the technicality of photography. 

I emailed Paul the next day for an appointment and Ayvih, his wife, promptly responded. Paul then apologized and requested to meet us earlier as something came up (they will participate in the upcoming bridal fair at SMX). We will meet on a Friday night.. in Quezon City (traffic horror!). 

Off we went to their office cum residence at Veteran's Village with a dinner stop over at SM City North EDSA. Being creatures from the South, we decided explore SM North first. Paul was still coming from Manila so we have plenty of time. 

Of course we got lost finding Paul's address, hahaha! With google map in hand, Ferdie patiently guided me towards our destination.

We didn't expect Paul to be bubbly, down to earth and easy to talk to (thanks for the free same day edit slideshow!). And his smile.. it was contagious. We love him sobra! We didn't mind that his rates are higher than the average. Photo & video are our non-negotiables, second to food. I'm glad we booked him. 

He just have a few quirks: 

He's very OC about the projector to be used for his SDE slideshow. It has to be top notch, so as not to sacrifice the brilliance of his photos. And that's understandable, I'm an OC too.

He does not allow back up photographers.. :-/ He explains that he has a 7-man team (3 photographers, 4 lights & sound assistants). Add to that the videographer's team of 5 (I think), and we have ourselves a happy chaos. My cousin is a wedding photographer and I want him to be our back up sana. I hope he does not get offended. I'm sure he'll understand. Right Kuya Alvin? 

We bumped into him the next day at the wedding expo. He introduced us to his wife and his good friend Phoeben Teocson.. who is the topic of my next blog.

vatel manila's dylan gozum

Ferdie and I are so lucky to have the luxury of time to prepare for our big day. A major advantage is that most of the reputable suppliers are still available for our wedding date which falls on the peak season of December. The early bird catches the worm, as they say.

Dylan Gozum of Vatel Manila is one in demand florist/stylist. With his unique and tasteful creations, many brides would want him to execute their dream bouquet. Note that he doesn't repeat any arrangement twice. 

http://vatelmanila.blogspot.com/

I first got in touch with him last July through email. He immediately responded and gave me a form/checklist so he can customize a proposal for my entire entourage. He even posted a shout out on facebook: "is working on a black and old rose motif wedding with toile as inspiration. Cute!" 

I'm flattered that he liked my motif

After several email exchanges on the details (entourage head count, gown colors, barong or suit, etc.), he finally got back to me with his proposal. All I can say is "wow!". I immediately replied, "what a great proposal dylan.. i love it!  let's meet and talk about the details as the date approaches."

The quotation is quite reasonable too! I was expecting it to be expensive, coming from a premier florist.

So there, we got ourselves a deal for our flowers. 

blue leaf + K

The Blue Leaf Pavilion at Mckinley Hills, Fort Bonifacio is our first choice for our reception venue for a lot of reasons: it's 10 minutes aways from St. Therese; it offers a very decent and reasonably priced wedding package; the pavilion is already beautiful in itself, even without the drapes and decors; most of all, it is just beside the site of our future home - The Venetian Luxury Residences.

me.. signing the checks and contract..

We initially chose the Jade Pavilion, but immediately switched to Silk after a week. The former can house 150 guests while the latter can comfortably accommodate a party of 200 guests.

Silk Pavilion

We are trying our very best to keep the head count at 120 so there will be lots of room in the pavilion to go around and mingle. This is the reason why I changed my mind about Splendido in Tagaytay. The space (main dining area) which they recommend can hold 100 guests, is so tight, you will bump into the chair of the person behind you everytime you get up. I pictured this out as a nightmare come dinner time when everybody will go to the buffet table.

With all these considerations, we will be serving plated dinner. A little bit more expensive but definitely organized, just the way we like it.

they gave us free truffles after booking :-)

Among Blue Leaf's accredited caterers, we chose K by Cunanan, for their traditional food with a twist approach and tasteful event styling. We have yet to schedule our first meeting and food tasting, but i'm sure they will not disappoint.

http://kbycunanancatering.blogspot.com/

we have a date..

the shrine can accommodate 1800 people

After going around Tagaytay, Silang and Makati, we finally decided to book The Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus as our wedding church.

It's not the small chapel we were eyeing for earlier on. But we felt right when we stepped inside the first time we visited. It's huge, but not intimidating.

I'm very particular about the door (of the main entrance) during our church hunting. This is because I want the perfect shot as I enter the church (this is my moment!!). And I'm happy that this church met my OC standards, hehehe. The stained glass doors on both sides of the church are works of art. And I like that the aircon vents are discreetly tucked in the ceiling. They use Bose sound system and speakers, which Ferdie gave a two thumbs up.

stained glass doors

Casa Fiore Manila is their exclusive, in-house florist. Meeting Robert (the florist) was a breeze and I'm pretty sure that we will work well together.

super simple flowers - Holland baby's breath

Save the date.. December 4, 2011.. 2PM, Sunday..

We prefer a Sunday wedding as everything seems calm in Metro Manila during this day (read: no traffic!!).

We are on a roll.. Next in the agenda: reception venue..