bridezilla tendencies

Lau & She School Chic Wedding Suppliers’ Ratings

I am happy to report that all our suppliers delivered well. So here goes our suppliers’ ratings!

Rating: 1 – 5 (lowest to highest)

Church – St Joseph The Worker Chapel 2 (Clark)
Rating: 4

My parents helped us with the leg work for all church related documents and requirement. Apparently the parish’s secretary was really helpful. The church is small and it was perfect because we wanted to have solemn wedding ceremony. It was also in a semi secluded place so it  discouraged any unwanted guests/vendors to roam around the church premises during the ceremony. If future couples are interested in booking this church, I recommend that they get their own choir since their in house choir is expensive and get their own priest. Our priest didn’t even pose with us for photos and he called my sister “tanga” during the placing of the veil because she didn’t know how to do it properly. Good thing he was away from the microphone when he mentioned “tanga” and the guests didn’t hear it. He also forgot that we have our own vows, good thing I knew where the personal vows part was so I was able to remind him. Overall the ceremony was not bad and he also  gave a very good homily.

 

Reception Venue – Grand Palazzo Royale
Rating: 5+++

GPR was not our first choice when it comes to the reception venue but after countless emails to the other reception venue’s sales department and not receiving a single reply, I gave up and decided we will book GPR. My parents also favored GPR when they did the ocular visits. I was initially assigned to a different AE that handled our wedding though I wasn’t really happy with the way she handled our account. Fortunately I was assigned to another AE and this time Valerie handled our accounts and she is heaven sent! She immediately responds to all my emails and is a very nice person in general. We finally got to meet her during the food tasting and she is very attentive and takes note of all our requests. During the reception, everything was really taken cared of and we received nothing but praises for the food. It was also my first time to see the waiters’ performance in person and I thought it was really cool.

 

Main Photographer – Jaja Samaniego Lifestyle Photography
Rating: 5+++

Jaja is a w@w find and I’m so glad we found her! It took me a couple of months to research our main photographer, I was looking for a photographer who is not into too much editing (no HDR please ugh!), produces amazing bright, sharp photos and somebody who is easy on the budget! I had a specific budget and I narrowed down several photographers who fit my requirements and showed them to my husband. Eventually we settled for Jaja and we’re so glad we did!! It was our first time to meet her during our pre-nup shoot. She had several photographers with her and she even brought along Nicolai Melicor and Toto Villaroel! What a treat! I was a little bit star strucked LOL!! I know I wasn’t really photogenic in the first place and I’m very stiff and uncoordinated during photo shoots but everything went well! We had three outfit changes and two locations (Claude Tayag’s bale Dutung and our elementary shool) and we were really happy when we saw the photos.

Prenup AVP
Prenup Photos

My friend and I also had boudoir shots with taken by Jaja! I thought it would be nice to “document” my body while it’s still doesn’t look that bad lol. It’ll be nice to look back at the photos when the time comes that my body has “deteriorated” (ouch!). I had an album made and gave it to my husband after the reception.

On the wedding day itself, Jaja and her team started taking photos as soon as they arrived. You could see that they are all very professional even at such a young age! We had a first glimpse of the photos that they took during the reception when Jaja arranged a surprise on site AVP for us. We were really surprised (in a good way!) that she did the AVP because it wasn’t included in our package. We’ve heard nothing but good feedback about the photos they took and we are very happy we hired her for our wedding! The only thing that they could have done better was to take photos of the food (there wasn’t a single photo) and more photos of the details (my DIY stuff, table centerpieces, etc) but overall we are overwhelmed with the photos. It’s really important to invest in a good photographer!

On site wedding slideshow

Lau & She Wedding Photos
Part 1 (Preps)
Part 2 (Ceremony)
Part 3 (Pictorial)
Part 4 (Reception)

 

Backup Photographer – The Seekers Photography (RV Dela Paz)
Rating: 5+++

RV is recommended to us by our friend who recently got married and had RV as their main photographer. They are just starting out but he is very talented and he also shoots for The Red Sheep. We saw his portfolio and I decided that we will hire him as our back up photographer. I already booked him when I realized that it was stipulated in our contract with Jaja that they don’t allow back-up photographers. It was very nice of Jaja to just let it go since we already booked our back-up photographer. RV even gave us free pre-nup shoot which we also loved. His photos have this nostalgic feel in them.

Prenup Photos

He was also the one who shoot our reception entrance video which was a hit at the reception. We even met him in Singapore to shoot the “dream sequence” part of our video.

Reception Entrance Video

My sisters organized a bridal shower photo shoot for me and the theme was “Vintage Floral” and it was also RV that they hired for the job.

Bridal Shower Photoshoot

Bridal Shower (Dinner)

During the wedding he was very careful to not get in the way of the main photographers but was still able to nice good photos. After the wedding, he proposed a post nup shoot, again for free! I’ll let the photos speak for themselves on how talented this guy is!

Back-up Photographer Wedding Photos

Post Nup Photos

 

Videography – GDO Multimedia Production (Gilbert Obispo)
Rating: 5+++

I didn’t meet Gilbert until the wedding day itself and I found him to be a real quiet and nice guy. He and his team were the second supplier to arrive at our villa. Prior to the wedding we already gave him the song that we wanted to be used for our same-day-edit video (Inevitable by Anberlin). I came across his name at one of the threads in w@w and I’m so happy that we were able to hire him and avail of his promotion. If he didn’t have any promo, his rates would be way off our budget. The same-day-edit video was also a hit at the reception and we received nothing but praises for it. Everyone just kept stressing on how good our videographers and photographers were. Yes my research paid off!

SDE Video

 

Reception Styling – Michael Badang Rueda Event Styling
Rating: 5+++

Ok when I found out that Mother Badang (yes I can call him “Mother” now since I’m officially a Badang Rueda bride!) is one of the in house event stylist at Grand Palazzo, I immediately knew I wanted him to be our event stylist but one thing that kinda held me back was the price tag associated with the name “Badang Rueda”. I also thought he wouldn’t really care about us since we are not celebrities or A Class clients (unlike what he is used to) so I really had second thoughts. But despite these, I still wanted him to be our event stylist so almost a year before our wedding I already started sending him emails and messages on facebook. I didn’t really want to call him because I thought he would be intimidating to talk to. All those thoughts vanished when I finally met him in person, two weeks before our wedding. Turns out Mother is very down to earth,  friendly and is willing to work on our limited budget. We talked about our theme and how we wanted our reception to look like and he instantly knew what we wanted. He made our reception looked simple and stylish just the way we wanted it to be!!

 

Bridal Gown & Groom’s Suit – Philip Dizon Torres Couture
Rating: 5

We love how my gown and my husband’s suit turned out and Tito Philip was able to work on our again, limited budget. I liked the fact that he suggested a not so white gown which is what I really preferred. I also like the beadworks and fit of my gown. My gown was simple yet it did the trick, it hugged and accentuated my body (or so I think? haha). My husband’s suit is also very nice. We like the material that he used, the color is the perfect shade of gray that we wanted and the fit was perfect (except for the sleeves, but it wasn’t that bad!). One stupid mistake that I did before the wedding was to forget to borrow the mannequin form from Tito Philip! I only realized it on the day of the wedding and we tried calling Tito Philip and my parents in law even went to his shop but it was closed. It turns out that he was overseas. Overall it was really value for money to have Tito Philip as our couturier.

 

Entourage outfit – Imelda Lansang  Bridal Boutique
Rating: 4

We are a “suki” of Tita Imelda when it comes to weddings. She was also my sister’s and my friend’s seamstress during their wedding so I already know that she delivers well. We had a hard time finding a color that exactly matched our motif so the gowns ended up with a more bluish color instead of  a little bit greenish but it still turned out nice! I also loved the flower girls’ gown! They were simple (just the way I wanted them to be) and she found the perfect shade of light gray that I wanted for the fabric. The male entourage vest and pants also looked great. We only had a problem with my mom’s, sister’s and brothers’ outfit because I think her mananahi made a mistake and used the wrong measurements. She was also not able to achieve the design that my sister and mom wanted but those are just minor glitches. One thing that was a bit of a hassle when dealing with Tita Imelda is that she lives in Mexico and we live in Angeles City so fitting and measurement taking is a little bit difficult to organize. I would still recommend Tita Imelda to future brides because she’s reliable and easy to talk to and the outfits look great!

 

Hair & Make up – Mariah Camaya Santos
Rating: 5+++

Mariah is the next big thing in Angeles City when it comes it hair and make up. She was recommended to me by a friend and upon seeing her portfolio, that was it, I was sold, I just had to book her! Her make up is magic! Unfortunately during our prenup shoot she wasn’t available so she sent one of her make up artists to do my HMU but it was just horrible. I told her I wasn’t happy with the make up that they did on me (specially the eyebrows!!) so she made it up to me by upgrading my trial make up to air brush for free. I used my trial make up during the shoot of our reception entrance video. I really liked the make up and it was even better during the actual wedding day itself. They were the first team to arrive at the villa. I also loved the second look that she did for me! I also liked the fact that I did not need to hire a personal assistant since she was also willing to assist me during the day and even stayed back until the reception ended! The entourage also looked great and their HMU was done by Danica her senior make up artist.

 

On the Day Coordination – Events and Concepts by Voltaire Zalamea
Rating: 5+++

Events and Concepts is one of Grand Palazzo Royale’s in house coordinator. I have read good feed backs about them before so as soon as we booked GPR, I immediately knew that we will book Event and Concepts to be our on the day coordinator.  All transactions were thru email prior to our first meeting a couple of weeks before the wedding. Everything from the preps venue up to the church ceremony and the reception went smoothly. We even received compliments from some of our guests and they mentioned that we really hired a good coordinator. Voltaire also helped me with my last minute request. I mentioned that I forgot to borrow the mannequin form for my gown from our couturier so I called Voltaire on the day of the wedding asking if he will be able to provide a mannequin for me. I was so glad to see him at the Villa and was relieved when he said that the mannequin is already there. Everyone in their team are very helpful and they really know what they were doing. I have to give myself a pat on the back for hiring them haha.

 

Church & Entourage Flowers – Bridal Blooms Flower Arrangement
Rating: 5+++

I initially wanted to hire the wedding florist of my friend during their wedding but when I tried sending him messages on facebook, I didn’t receive any reply and I really hate it when I have to wait for the supplier’s reply for several days specially if they are just new in the industry and haven’t made a name for themselves. My friend then recommended another florist – Bridal Blooms by Boiet and I was glad that he’s almost 24/7 on  facebook lol so I was easily able to communicate with him. His price is very reasonable considering I really badly wanted peonies for my bouquet. He initially told me that it might be difficult to source for peonies in June and we agreed on certin alternatives just in case he won’t be able to find peonies. On the day of the wedding I was so happy to see the peonies! My bouquet was super lovely – pink peonies, two toned ecuadorian roses and pink carnation! It’s exactly the bouquet that I envisioned. The church also looked stunning. Our moms and entourage also loved their bouquets plus Boeit is very easy to talk to and nice. He even gave in to my request that he bring all the entourage flowers at the villa so they will be included in the entourage photos. They normally don’t do it since it’s difficult to transport back the flowers at the church but I’m so glad he granted my request.

 

Photo Booth – Baicapture
Rating: 5

It was also very easy dealing with Baicapture. All communications were done via email and they contacted me a week before the wedding to finalize the layout. I didn’t have any specific requirements in mind as long as it would fit our theme of “school chic” and they came up with a really cute layout. They are a bit more expensive compared to other photo booth suppliers but it was ok since I didn’t really want to compromise the quality of the photos and experience other problems like slow printer, unexpected breakdown, etc.

 

Lights & Sounds – STL Lights and Sounds
Rating: 5

STL Lights and Sounds is GPR’s only in house supplier so we had no choice but to hire them. They were a bit on the expensive side but it’s worth it since they are already very familiar with GPR and they work well with our coordinator. Tita Weng is also very nice and explained to us the purpose of the lights, the band set-up, etc since we are not familiar with those equipments. We also rented the 4500 lumens projector from STL and I’m so glad we did (initially I planned on renting the 2500 lumens) because the audio visual presentations including the same day edit video of the wedding all looked crystal clear when we watched them at the reception.

 

Ceremony Choir – Coro Angeleno
Rating: 5

We booked Coro Angeleno at the last minute and I was happy that they were still available on our wedding date despite the short notice. I initially wanted to just hire the choir from St Joseph the Worker but when I found out how expensive it was, we decided we’d rather hire a really professional choir. We met Luis Manalili to finalize the songs that we wanted them to sing at the church and to settle the down payment. The transaction was fast and fuss free. On the day of the wedding I really made it a point to observe and listen to the choir and  can say that they were really good!

 

Reception Entertainment – Eye Candy Band
Rating: 5

Eye Candy band is my cousin’s band so we really got a huge discount! My cousin arranged everything for us. They were the same band who played at my sister’s wedding so I already knew that they were good. They are a show band that normally plays at bars but they did well on our wedding. They kept the dinner lively and fun. They also took the effort to dress appropriately for the occasion.

 

Cake – Cakes 2 U by Aida Roque
Rating: 5

Same with the other suppliers, I only met Tita Aida a few days before the wedding. I had a bit of a problem communicating with her thru facebook or emails because she mentioned she is not a “techy” person but she can easily be contacted via GPR since she is one of their in house cake supplier. I showed Tita Aida the photo of the cake design that we wanted and had to pay additional for the cake topper (school boy/girl version of us). The cake was lovely, simple and elegant. Tita aida is also one of our nice and ma “chika” suppliers. We were only able to taste the cake during the cake cutting ceremony and it was very moist chocolate cake, too bad we were not able to eat more!

 

Wedding Rings – Soo Kee Singapore
Rating: 5+++

Our rings are two-toned, a combination of white gold and rose gold with a non-traditional design. My husband’s ring is plain because he didn’t want any stones (I also didn’t like it when a guy’s ring is blinged) and mine had 22 pcs .08 carat diamonds. Both are engraved with our names which is a free service by Soo Kee. We wanted our rings to be a different shape and didn’t want the normal “round” rings. This pair fit our requirement, the “twisted” design is perfect and although we went a little bit over our initial budget it was really worth it. My engagement ring also has this “twist” design so it fit perfectly with my wedding ring.

 

Souvenirs – Jesthan Enterprises
Rating: 5

I didn’t have any plans to give out souvenirs for our wedding because usually the guests just throw them away but I really wanted personalized pencils for our wedding just to incorporate it with the school chic theme. When I started researching for a supplier, most of them have a minimum order quantity so I just decided to order the MOQ and give out personalized pencils at the reception. I wanted the pencils to be foil printed but it was expensive so I just settled for the normal printing. The pencils were really cool. I didn’t have any trouble communicating with Clarinda from Jesthan Enterprises and they immediately shipped the pencils to Angeles as soon as we remitted the balance payment.

 

Wedding Preparations – Fontana Villas
Rating: Villa – 3.5, Customer Service – 0.5

We booked two villas at Fontana for our wedding preparations, one three-bedroom villa for the bride and one two -bedroom villa for the groom. It was a gift from our dear family friend (thanks a lot!!) and my dad was the one who arranged everything. We specifically told them that the villas will be used for wedding preparation and we also requested that the villas must be away from each other since we didn’t really want to see each other during the preps. When we were about to check in at the groom’s villa, we found out it was right in front of the bride’s villa and I got really annoyed because we already requested it beforehand and they still gave us two villas that are very near each other. So we went to the office and requested for a new villa and good thing they had an available villa just a few blocks from mine. The villas were really nice and spacious and we didn’t feel cramped despite all the people an suppliers in the villa. The only problem was it was very humid, as if the air-conditioning was not working at all! It was the same with the groom’s villa, it was really hot.

My villa was booked for two nights and my groom’s villa was booked for only one night since they had no plans of staying there after the wedding. Understandably they must check out on the day of the wedding. The wedding ceremony starts at 3pm so they must leave the villa at only around 2:30 but check out time is 12pm. The thing is, Fontana knew that we were using the villa for wedding preps and they could have allowed my groom’s family to check out late at around 2:30pm. They could have gave us consideration since we booked two villas anyway. But NO, they insisted that they check out right then and there. I was having my make up done and my dad and groom were calling me non-stop regarding this check out issue. I was really so pissed off that I wanted to go straight to the office and give them a piece of my mind!!! That was my only bridezilla moment during the entire wedding preparations and it was caused by Fontana. I told my dad to explain to them that they will check out at around 2:30 since the wedding is at 3pm, but still, they insisted that they check out ASAP because apparently they need to clear the villa because somebody will check in. In the end, my dad paid around P3,500 (I’m really not sure how much is the exact amount) just to extend the check out until 6pm. The thing that made me really furious was they initially told us somebody will check in at the villa that’ s why they need them to check out ASAP but when my dad paid for the extension they immediately agreed to let them stay. I asked my dad to get the names of those staff who he talked to because I wanted to file a complaint, they are all liers and lacked consideration and don’t understand the words “customer service”. My dad being the nice guy that he is said he forgot to get the names and that I just let it slip so I didn’t really filed a complaint. Furthermore, it was just a gift to us and I didn’t want to cause any trouble to our family friend.

Pre-Wedding in a Nutshell

Wedding’s over, I’ve deleted all wedding related files on my lappy to make way for much needed space, I stopped browsing wedding blogs, haven’t posted in w@w for quite a while, we’re back to our old routine and now its back-blogging time!

We arrived in the Philippines two weeks before the wedding, I had my “to-do list” ready and appointments with suppliers (whom mostly we will personally meet for the first time) all set. Those two weeks were really busy but not as busy as I expected them to be. I guess planning the wedding a year ahead really did the trick! Although I used to think that if we planned a year ahead, we don’t need to do a single thing a month before the wedding but of course I was wrong. It turns out all the nitty gritty little details had to be settled at the last minute and surprisingly I wasn’t stressed out. I was a bridechilla, our suppliers also noticed how calm I was haha.

Our “costumes”

As soon as we got out of the airport, we went straight ahead to our couturier Tito Philip Torres to have my first fitting EVER. I was a little nervous on seeing the gown for the first time because it was the very first custom made clothing that I will have and I’m not sure how it will look like. I’m used to seeing and trying on things before I buy them so this is completely alien to me. I even contemplated on ordering a ready made gown in Singapore just to be on the safe side but in the end I decided to just have it custom made.

I was finally relieved when I saw the gown and tried it on. It was still bare when I fitted it but it was already beautiful. I guess I put on a little weight (I wasn’t surprised!) and they had to do a little adjustment before they put all the embellishments. I was really happy how it turned out and the color is the perfect shade of white that I wanted. My husband had to wait on the restaurant opposite Tito Philip’s shop so he wouldn’t be able to see the gown. Drama! His suit was due for fitting a few days after and of course I had to accompany him. The buttons and all the final details of the suit weren’t attached yet but we really liked the material and the fit of the suit. The pants also fitted perfectly, I didn’t know he has a butt! That was until two days before the wedding when we noticed that the fit of the sleeve (specially at the back) of the suit was a little off. It wasn’t that big of a deal but we still tried to have it fixed and brought it back to Tito Philip’s shop but it was too late since it will take a few days to have it done so we just let it off. I think nobody even noticed the sleeve and my husband still looked handsome anyway 🙂

School Chic Reception

We also met Mother Badang twice before the wedding day to finalize details at the reception. Mother Badang had to work around our limited “budget” and still be able to pull-off a “school chic” theme. Initially he planned to place a book shelf on the stage but later on said that he planned something else. Turns out he thought of hanging books as our back drop which was a nifty idea. I was really glad that Mother B was the one who styled our reception. I was initially “afraid” to inquire from him since he is a big name in the industry and the word “expensive” is already associated with his name but he is super flexible and very nice.

Do it Ourselves!

Mother Badang asked us to do last minute DIYs -VIP place cards and “notes” card for guests to be placed on the tables, which fortunately we were able to finish in a couple of days. Thanks to our “work force” comprised of my brothers and sister in law! We wanted to use colored pencils for the guests to use to write on the cards so we bought around 6 boxes of colored pencils and I had the idea of cutting them in half so we could save money since we don’t really need full sized colored pencils. My husband, brother in law and father in law had to manually saw the pencils in half and sharpen them. We were really glad we had the help we needed because if it was just the two of us, it would’ve taken us a few days to finish it all off.

My mom also helped me with the other last minute DIYs that I had to make like additional wedding wands, wrapping the principal sponsors’ presents and guests favors (customized pencils), arrhae pillow, missalettes and garter. My mom enjoys doing crafty stuff so she was happy she was still able to join on the whole DIY thingy since I already finished most of the other DIYs in Singapore. I also asked my “artist” brother to do the lettering for our “here comes the bride” sign which was supposed to look like chalkboard written on heart shaped black board. Doing the DIYs was a fun way to bond with our families.

Dream Team

Next thing that we had to tick off my list was to meet our other suppliers – coordinator, band, choir, church flowers, lights and sounds, cake, reception venue and entourage outfit fittings. Yes it was a lot to take in but we survived! I was really calm all throughout the final detailing process, I guess I just got a bit overwhelmed but I didn’t feel pressured or stressed out at all. All the meetings went smoothly and I had a good feeling all our suppliers will deliver and they really did! 🙂

I also needed to finalize the backdrop and layout of our photo booth pictures. I didn’t want to fret about the photo booth and it was the last thing on my mind and my least priority so I just mentioned that our theme is school chic and I sent them one of our pre-nup photos which we wanted to be placed on the layout. They emailed me the following day the draft layout. We only had two revisions, it was that fast! I loved the final output.

We also met up with our cake supplier Tita Aida of Cakes 2U. I was only able to finalize the wedding cake that I wanted a few weeks before the wedding. I chose a simple cake design just like the photo below but I asked her to do a gradient version of it in blue color. I also requested a caricature cake topper version of us in school uniforms but I will wear a veil and holding a bouquet and my husband will wear a bow tie.

The seamstress for the gowns and vests/pants Tita Imelda Lansang just dropped off all the outfits at our house. Our friends then just went there to try them on, no alterations were needed for most of the outfits and it’s such a relief because Tita Imelda wasn’t the one who took the measurements of the entourage. All measurements were just sent to her via email and she did  a good job with the fit. The only major alterations made were for my two brothers, sister and mom, the rest didn’t need any adjustments.

Church 

A day before the wedding, we were scheduled to have a confession and the priest also briefed us on what to do during the wedding day. We were required to memorize some of the passages and even our personal vows (gasp!). The moment he mentioned that we need to memorize the vows, I immediately knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. I know I’ll be a crying mess and the last thing  I wanted was to memorize my vow. The priest also discussed marriage life and all the works.

“Performances”

I didn’t expect my dad would agree when I pitched the idea of doing  a “mash up” father-daughter dance to him but surprisingly, he agreed to do it. During our usual chats over skype I will persuade him to do it and he would always say no. Things got a little different when I asked my brothers to join the dance during the “fast beat” part and we told my dad about it and this time he answered “bahala na”. I knew right then that he would do it! Haha!

For our wedding dance, I thought we should do a choreographed dance but since we didn’t really have time to practice, I brushed off the idea. Our wedding song was just a minute long anyway . I think it was two days before the wedding when we were at our house  doing a “jamming session” when I thought why not do a song and dance number at the reception. I mean my singing skills were mediocre but I think we could pull it off with my husband playing the guitar. We still didn’t have the time to practice and we were only able to do it the night before the wedding!

Night before the Big Day

We had two separate villas booked at Fontana for the wedding preparations and that’s where we checked in the night before. We had to ask them to replace the villa that was assigned for my husband because it was right in front of our villa. I was so pissed because what’s the point of booking two separate villas if we are just right in front of each other? That was first among the series of mini heart attacks Fontana has caused me. I badly wanted to complain but decided against it since our family friend was the one booked it for as their wedding gift.

Ideally I wanted to have my “beauty rest” the night before our wedding, but instead I was cramming on burning all the AVPs/videos that needed to be shown at the reception, finishing off a few missalettes and arranging all the things that need to be brought to the church. I slept at around 1am. I didn’t have any wedding jitters at all, I was just pretty excited. 🙂