You are currently browsing the suppliers category.
Typhoon Ondoy has sidetracked many people, and many plans. That weekend, we were supposed to have a family pictorial! Obviously, we had to cancel it.
Since that weekend, and through the other typhoons that have blown through the country, we’ve been busy with relief efforts here and there. Also, Oneal has a new job, and I have two new projects that keep me busy. So you can understand how our wedding planning got sidetracked.
Now we’re gathering our wits again, and going through all our wedding checklists to see what else needs doing. Fortunately, there’s not a lot left. All the major suppliers have been booked:
- Ceremony and reception venue – Fernwood Gardens, QC
- Caterer – Shangri-La Chinese Restaurant
- Florist for the church – 15-58 Flowers and Styles
- Florist for the entourage – Go4Flowers
- Photographer – Pat Mateo
- Videographer – 30fps
- Cake artist – Our friend, Reitch Calabia
- Couturier – Our friend, Jenny Rojales
- Rings maker
- Bridal jewelry – Our ninang, Ruby Bayan
So now, here’s what we need to do next:
- Book the hair and make-up artist
- Complete our wedding documents
- Draft and finalize the missalette
- Design and finalize the invitations
- Decide on the music for the ceremony
- Decide on the music for the reception
- Decide on the preps hotel
- Finalize the reception program
- Attend a pre-cana seminar
There’s more that needs to be done, but these are the most urgent. We’re working on some of them already:
- Some of the documents have been obtained while a few others need to be requested.
- We’ve canvassed 4 hotels in Quezon City already.
- I know which HMUA I want to get.
- Jovan is working on our invitations.
Some things need more work than others, obviously. 
But we’re getting there. Wish us luck! In the meantime, it’s my birthday on Saturday, and we’re flying to Bora for a much-needed vacation. Yay!
– rej
well, at least the priorities are done. we’ve given downpayments for the venue, caterer, ceremony and reception flowers, photographer and videographer.
just today we signed the contract with the Manila String Machine.
the funny thing is that we never tell any of them about the theme of the wedding when we initially meet. we only inform them about what we have planned right after we sign the contract and give them the check. fortunately, none of them reacted violently when we tell them what we have planned. they all seem to get really excited when they find out it will be a Star Wars wedding.
they can’t wait to be a part of it because it is something different from what they usually have to do, which can get tiring after a while.
the best part is that they can play the Imperial March! 
5 months to go and we are ahead of schedule.
- oneal
Imperial Palace Suites, at the corner of Timog and Tomas Morato
Since both our families live so far away from the wedding venue, we need a hotel nearby for our preps. There we can all get ready, get made-up, leave our other things, and probably stay for the night before and/or after the wedding.
Since the wedding is in Fernwood, we need a hotel in Quezon City. We were originally considering Sulo Hotel, but naturally we wanted other options too. So today, we checked out rooms and rates at Hotel Rembrandt, the Imperial Palace Suites, and the new Torre Venezia. The only problem with this area, Timog and Tomas Morato, is that you have to cross EDSA to get to Fernwood. But it looks like there are SM Advantage Card perks for the Imperial Palace Suites and Hotel Rembrant! That’s certainly a plus. Stay tuned for our reviews!
We’re also going to visit Sulo Hotel, since we heard it’s been renovated. We’d also like to see PCED, Balay Kalinaw and the University Hotel in UP Diliman. Those hotels would definitely be closer to Fernwood.
We met Ted Amper a few weeks ago.
The best gauge we have for booking any of our suppliers is how well we get along with them. Naturally, we canvass different suppliers first based on price, availability, and the quality of their work. But sometimes their personality is more important than that.
Take for example one account executive from one of the florists we met with. She was polite, yes, but she also didn’t seem very receptive to our ideas, and was even correcting us on several points. It’s our wedding, not hers, and if she thinks she can improve on what we want, she should be able to phrase them such that we’d be inclined to agree with her.
Suffice it to say, we didn’t hire that florist, and instead we went with the one with very helpful and effusive account executives. So what’s this got to do with music?
From the start we knew we wanted strings for the ceremony, and possibly for the reception too. We asked around for contacts, but never really got to get in touch with the musicians until recently.
Our friend Zuri told us about Manila String Machine, which was the group that played at Issa Litton and Tiger Garido’s Star Wars wedding last December. I sent an SMS to the cellist, Ted Amper, and he gave us their website URL. The repertoire was all we needed to see.
It was full of movie themes by John Williams, and lovely, lovely music from Ennio Morricone, as well as a few other gems. There were links to YouTube videos of their performances, and one of the videos showed them playing Ennio Morricone! *swoon* I fell in love.
The price was also good, and their terms very reasonable. So we decided to meet with Ted.
Ted was really, really nice. He was very amusing, very warm and friendly, and quick to answer our questions and dispel any doubts. After he left, Oneal said, “You like them na, no?”
Indeed, the repertoire, the price, and the terms were great, and it sounded like Manila String Machine was a group that really loved to play music, and they already knew the music we wanted. What’s not to like?
So today, we booked Manila String Machine. I hope they can learn a few more new pieces for the wedding, like my bridal march. We’ll meet them in about two weeks for the downpayment and the contract-signing.
– rej
From the start we decided that we want to have a photographer with at least two cameras shooting at once and that goes the same for the video. this is so that they can take multiple angles at once as well as get shots of us and the crowd simultaneously.
we selected and booked the photographer so now we were choosing from a shortlist of videographers who have the right number of cameras for reasonable prices. some of the ones we wanted were already booked on our date so we asked one of those our photographer recommended, 30Fps we looked at their website, checked out their rates and watched a few sample videos. they seem to have the right equipment including a glidecam setup and glidetracks for more stable sweeping and panning shots.
we asked for service only because a friend has volunteered to edit the video the way we would like it. i spoke to Paul Macasaet and told him they were referred by our photographer. he originally asked if we could drop by the wedding fair at the PICC to sign a contract and give the downpayment, i told him we didn’t like going to wedding fairs anymore and he said even though they don’t do pencil bookings, he’ll take our word and put us down as confirmed for the February 20, 2010 date and wont take any more clients on that day.
we are meeting them on Wednesday to finalize things.
on that note, we seem to have all the suppliers done and ready.
- oneal
Other people keep telling us we have everything worked out for our wedding, but it still feels like there’s so much to do!
For instance, we have yet to meet our priest, Fr. Clod Bagabaldo. We’re finally meeting him for the first time tomorrow night. I hope our ideas aren’t too outlandish for him!
Second, we have booked neither videographer nor musicians! We have some shortlisted, but nothing final yet. Eek!
– rej
Our first wedding gift, from Mario and Tricia
It makes me so happy that our wedding has brought out the thoughtful and helpful streak in so many people. Many friends have volunteered their time and effort to help us with all the things we need to do, the stuff we need to plan, decide, book, canvass, design and even edit. It’s so touching, and the best part is that they really just want to help! Most of them say, “Just tell me what you need. And please don’t feel obliged to invite me to the wedding, just because I’m helping you, okay?”
I really wish we could invite everyone. But alas, budget and venue constraints! I don’t think Fernwood could hold all the masses we want to invite.
Speaking of thoughtful, it was so sweet of Oneal’s high school barkada, Mario, and his wife, Tricia, to give us our first wedding gift: the cord for the wedding ceremony! They had a cord made out of beautiful beads, and in the colors of our motif, and with our initials! It’s so beautiful, and they’re so thoughtful, and it makes me so happy that people are being so wonderful.
Thanks, Mario and Tricia, and thanks to all the nice, generous friends we have.
– rej
Hair and make-up by Ms. Rose of Watercolors salon, Shangri-La Plaza
With my first hair and make-up (HMU) trial session, my hair stayed beautiful until the wee hours of the morning. I was happy with the make-up too, but in retrospect it seemed a little pale.
With my second HMU trial, my make-up was gorgeous! But my hair was only nice for two hours. That wasn’t so great.
My third trial seems to have worked out the best. Grace M recommended Watercolors salon, which her sister Marilyn and their event company, EventLab, patronize frequently. Marilyn recommended Ms. Rose.
So I scheduled an appointment, and got my hair and make-up done. So far, I think I like Ms. Rose best.
Today Oneal and I went to a small parlor on Sikatuna Road called Alter Ego. Beng introduced us to her friend’s suki’ng bakla, Pinky, so we could try his hair and make-up.
Things he did differently (from my first test HMU):
1. Pinky used curlers on my hair instead of a curling iron.
2. My color looked more natural: browns, bronzes, instead of pinks and beiges.
I’ll post the pictures soon!
UPDATE: Photos are up!
– rej
We finally have a photographer! A few weeks ago, we were finally able to confirm our booking with Pat Mateo.
Pat was recommended by Oneal’s cousin, Carlos, and that’s already a point in his favor. We met with him at Eastwood, and we like his style, his photos, and his personality. We were really comfortable with him, and without our prompting, he said that he doesn’t like to get in the way of the festivities. He shoots what he sees, and doesn’t like to orchestrate the shots. We really like that.
We asked for service only, no album, no prenup AVP or shoot, just Pat and a back-up photographer. So he gave us a discount, and we got ourselves a photographer. Hooray!
Now we need videographers!
– rej
