Hello everyone. I just had my Boracay wedding 6 days ago, and it was so fun. Destination weddings are the best! Here's a review of my suppliers, if they can be of help to anyone visiting this thread.
1) Videographer- 5/5. Marcelo Tolentino of the Fourth Project
We developed instant rapport with him, from the time he did our save-the-date in Dec 2012. He's Iloilo-based, and therefore just needed to take the bus.
2) Photographer- 5/5. Amos Bermio of Reality Box.
3) Invitations- 5/5. Written in Ink. Cindy Mesina was very allowing with my numerous revisions, and we were thrilled with the final outcome.
4) Hair & Makeup- 4/5. Victor Ortega was available to do our save-the-date, and he was excellent. But on our actual wedding he was in Manila, so he turned us over to Jesy at the shangrila Boracay salon, and he had quite heavy hands. My mother and mother-in-law both complained.
5) Airline carriers- 2/5. PAL and Cebu Pacific and AirAsia and everyone else! Lots of delays and even cancelled flights! Please INSIST that everyone arrive on the island the day before the event. Twelve of our guests planned on flying in the day of the wedding. Two of them fell asleep in their hotel room,& were late for the pick-up. Four arrived well into the reception. and 2 never even made it.
About Cebu Pacific, I must commend them though for their careful handling of our baggage. My gown was in a big, white box, and it was really handled with care. We checked in as a group,of 15, and only had to pay excess baggage of P1,500. Hubby handcarried the barongs in a garment bag, hung them in a closet at the back of the plane, and forgot all about it! Until a flight attendant came looking for us at the Caticlan airport baggage carousel.
6) Gowns- 5/5. Kat Corpus. I loved my beaded and ruffled gown. Entourage dresses were also well done.
7) Barongs- 5/5. Kingsmen at the Podium mall. They even agreed to do a rush job. Hubby and best man also bought their footwear at the same mall- espadrilles from Sueno, for P350. :-)
Venue- 4.5/5. Shangrila Boracay. I'm really thankful I chose this venue over the others. Suzenne Borra was a pleasure to work with, and answered her emails promptly. Our Mass on Punta Bunga Beach was very romantic, according to the guests. A tent canopy was erected, w/c is a good idea whether rain or shine, to keep the group comfortable. The cocktail set-up was very pretty. It was showering intermittently that afternoon, so Suzenne made the last-minute decision to transfer the reception from the garden to the ballroom. I was in hair-&-makeup when I was informed, and was about to go ballistic, but Suzenne was so calming that I just let it be. And the party turned out really well.
The reason why the rating is a 4.5 is because of time management. I wanted the Mass to start at 4:30 pm sharp, but the guests milled around the lobby for so long, and then had to wait for the buggies. My elderly father-in-law also needed a motorized wheelchair. We ended up starting at 5. I would suggest to future shangrila brides, to just have the younger guests walk to the beach.
We chose a barbecue buffet for the food, and it was delicious. We had a menu for mixed drinks, and after that was all consumed, we paid corkage for each subsequent bottle of Scotch that was opened. We also had free corkage for 3 bottles of wine. I chose not to pay extra for flower centerpieces for the tables, so they placed little white lamps with tea lights inside, and they looked really nice. I also refused to pay 20k for a cake, and no one noticed that there wasn't a cake; they were so busy drinking & dancing. I splurged instead on led desk lamps as giveways, and they were wrapped and beribboned in the same colors as the entourage dresses.
Service was stellar throughout, and that's what you expect from a Shangrila.
One little detail- the Sinta changing room has a defective aircon. Check before you book that room.
9) Band-5/5. Everyday People. Very impressive mixed repertoire. They kept the guests dancing.
That's it, girls. It was a lovely experience. Enjoy your preps, especially writing your own vows. Be open to last-minute changes, and just go with the flow. By the way, we saw a wedding at Willy's while we were there, and it was also beautiful. Just goes to show that you don't have to spend so much to have a Boracay beach wedding.
