Finally! Here’s our supplier review for our very successful and memorable wedding. Till now were still buzzed about what happened because it was exactly what we imagined. Even more! Thanks to all our suppliers who really delivered on the day. With the limited budget that we had, we still managed to pull-off a classy, elegant and well-organized wedding. And im really proud to say na lahat ng gastos namin came from our own pockets, out of our own hard-earned money. We did not solicit from our ninongs/ninangs, let alone our parents (except for our florist who gave us a huuuuge discount kasi relative sya ni groom). We also made it a rule na hindi kami mangungutang tapos negative ang balance ng bank account sa simula. We knew our budget limit and and we stuck to it.
Ok, enuf chika. On to the review. Installment basis muna mga sis. Ito pa lang ang kinaya ng powers ko:
Church: St. Benedict Church, Ayala Westgrove, Silang, Cavite
Rate: 10/10
SBC was our dream church. I mean, “dream” sya in the sense na I never expected na dun kami ikakasal. When we started planning, I knew I just want a simple wedding. I don’t even have a non-negotiable church in mind. Ang only request lang ni groom ay aircon dapat. So we scouted for churches around laguna na aircon. Admittedly, walang masyadong aircon churches in our area. So finally, we decided to visit SBC, just for the heck of it. As soon as we stepped inside, we fell in love with it na. immediately, andun yung this is it feeling. It also reflects our personality so much, simple lang kasi sya. Pero because of its simplicity, dun lumalabas ang ganda nya. So even if mejo mataas ang rate nya comparatively to other churches in the area, we settled for it because we knew there is no other church for us.
PROS:• Simple, quiet surroundings, solemn ambience
• Isolated area, so no risk of having gate-crashers or mga usisero
• Transactions are smooth and organized
• Staff are nice and accommodating
• Airconditioned
• Church design and overall feel is very nice already, so no need for over the top styling. In fact, even the church staff encourages not to have flowers anymore during the wedding. Maganda talaga yung church, even our guest priest was raving about it.
• They conduct a walk-through or orientation to acquaint you more about the Do's and Dont's inside the church.
CONS:• VERY VERY STRICT – if you’ve seen the wedding brochure, mas madami pa dun restrictions compared sa requirements haha. There are restrictions sa p/v, sa flowers, sa time, sa missallete, sa damit. Tapos if the resident priest is celebrating the wedding, bawal ang personal vows. (we didn’t have personal vows either, but I think there are couples who really want this.) As in! umabot sa point na may list na sila ng banned p/v, even banned choir! We were scheduled for the afternoon, yung 2:30. 2:30 means start ng wedding mass. So we started the march around 2:15 pm. Exactly 2:30, andun na kami sa altar. If you are late, there are consequences kasi, like wala ng homily, etc. So we really went there early. The entourage was there ng 2pm. Tapos the readers were also required to come early because they needed to be briefed by the volunteer marshalls.
• The horror stories you’ve heard about the resident priest are true. You’ve been warned. Haha! We initially wanted him to celebrate our wedding mass but thought about it at the last minute. Good thing we decided to bring our own guest priest. Mas nakabawas ng stress level. And I think our wedding turned out nicer because of the heartfelt homily. Friend kasi ng family ni groom yung guest priest.
Side kwento: our florist told us after the wedding na while they were placing the flowers sa church, the resident priest was there overseeing everything. Kahit hindi sya yung celebrant namin. Tapos when he saw na natatakpan yung daanan ng pews, he immediately told our florist to rearrange it. Bawal daw mablock yung daanan. Bawal din ang flower arches, twigs, branches, basta anything that impedes the line of sight to the altar. Wala naman kaming arches or twigs, we just had a simple arrangement of white flowers na nsa floor lang. but still, the resident priest made pakealam. Sinunod naman sya ng florist. Of course hehe
PS: meron nga din palang banned song sa church. Yung “A thousand years” and “panalangin”. Even if the resident priest is not officiating the wedding, if he hears the song playing, he will come inside daw and order the band/choir to stop.
• The church fee is on the pricey side. Plus its indicated that if you’re bringing a guest priest, you have to take care of his stipend pa (hindi sya kasama dun sa wedding package so additional expense ulit.)
• At the time we booked the church, they do not conduct precana seminars yet. So we had to find another church who will adapt us for the precana seminar. And it wasn’t easy! We went to about 3 churches who all turned us down. Finally, may tumanggap naman samin after we explained our situation. Good thing magiging parish na yung SBC by july ata. So baka magkaron na sila ng precana seminar that time.
Reception/Preps/Prenup: Alta Veranda de Tibig
Rate: 11/10 After booking SBC, we asked the church staff about reception venues nearby. May nakapag mention ng alta. So we decided to see it na since its just around 10 minutes away from the church. When we first went there, hindi pa sya tapos gawin. Madaming pang construction. Wala pa yung casitas and the big pool area which they recently opened. Ang meron lang is yung main house and silong which is open for events nga plus the garden. They had a special introductory price that time na sobrang mura talaga (I just recently confirmed that they increased na, as in bonggang price increase, 3x than what we initially paid). Package already includes an overnight stay plus free prenup for four hours. We were sold. Sobrang ganda ng place, kahit hindi pa sya tapos that time. Again, we fell in love with it. We really love old Filipino Spanish architecture, like yung sa Las Casas. So tuwang tuwa kami na may same na events place dito sa south. We paid the DP agad and even met the owners of the place who are very down to earth. Our contact there is Ms. Lyn and she really helped us every step of the way. Lahat ng tanong namin nasagot nya ng maayos. She's also very nice and accommodating. Lagi nyang pinapaalala sa amin yung mga inclusions sa package namin. Were it not for her, di namin maalala na free yung prenup sa kanila. So bawas na sa gastos kesa maghanap pa ulit kami ng ibang prenup venue. Ito talaga yung isa sa pinagpapasalamat naming na na-book namin ng maaga during their introductory rate. Otherwise, hindi naming maafford sya ngayon dahil sa bonggang price increase.
Nagamit din naming ng husto yung overnight stay. We used that and stayed sa casitas as preps venue. So the night before the wedding, andun na kami ng families namin. We just got another room for the groom’s family naman. I was upstairs, sa baba si groom. Para hindi kami magkita kuno haha. May bfast na din na kasama yun. Nag-add na lang kami kasi 2pax lang ang included per room. Ok lang din kasi since we booked really early, we were able to lock their price.
In terms of amenities, kumpleto din sya. The casitas had everything that you need, much like in a hotel room. May minibar, coffee and tea making facilities, bath towels, aircon, toiletries. Mas kumpleto pa nga sya sa hotels eh. Also, each room is uniquely designed.
PROS:• Value for money – package already includes overnight stay, reception use of the silong (the space underneath the main house) and the garden area beside it, plus use of the venue for prenup. I’d say nasulit talaga namin yung binayad for all the inclusions. Even when they increased the rate, theyre still one of the cheaper options sa silang, cavite area. Compared sa monochrome nuvali or even sa the hills.
• The place is already beautifully designed. Very romantic yung feel especially during the night pag nakabukas na lahat ng lights. No need for too much additional design and styling kasi maganda na sya.
• Nice and accommodating staff, especially the owners.
Side kwento: during our prenup, na-late kami ng one hour. So inabot na kami hanggang gabi. Nakalagay dun sa prenup restrictions namin na four hours lang sya, and then after that, we need to pay an additional amount. Plus if we will use the lights, additional na bayad din. Nung pagabi na at lampas na ng sunset, nararamdaman ko na nagexceed kami ng 4hours. Pero tuloy lang kami. Dumating din yung owners and saw our photog team struggling sa light, kasi mejo madilim na. What they did was to turn on the lights sa buong garden area. Yung mismong owner pa talaga ang nagbukas ng ilaw para samin. So natakot na naman ako kasi they might charge us for the additional. After the prenup was done, I asked Lyn if we need to settle anything. She just smiled at me. So I guess it was already on the house.
di naman na talaga kami nila chinarge for the excess and use of lights. Yey!
• Place is fairly new, mga one year pa lang. so well-maintained pa ang facilities. Especially yung new pool area nila which was recently finished.
• The location is very isolated, mahirap hagilapin. So again, no gate-crashers or mga usisero during the reception.
• The location is quite near Tagaytay, so the weather has the Tagaytay feel. The silong is actually not airconditioned. Open air lang yung venue namin, pero may bubong naman. And since it was January, sobrang lamig during the reception. no need for aircon.
• Walang masyadong restrictions sa bringing in of food. Although they have an accredited caterer, nakapagpasok kami ng meals for the suppliers and our lunch during preps on the day. Nagpaluto na lang kami sa family friend namin and they delivered it sa alta. No corkage.
CONS:• Wala akong maisip except for the location. Mejo mahirap hanapin and you really need your own vehicle to get there. Walang taxi, trike or jeep sa area. maganda naman yung daanan, cemented. kaso pag gabi, mejo madilim na talaga ang daanan at wala masyadong kabahayan.
Caterer: Town's Delight - The Caterer
Rate: 10/10
As I mentioned, may mga accredited caterers lang sa alta. If your caterer is not accredited, you need to pay a higher amount when you book the venue. At the time we got them, town’s delight pa lang ang accredited nila. We initially did not get towns kasi we were eyeing another caterer. Ok side kwento muna ulit. This other caterer talaga ang mas gusto namin because yun yung pasok sa budget namin. So we scheduled a food tasting with them. And sa sobrang excited namin, we already paid a DP of 5k agad. pag uwi namin, parang nagkakahiyaan pa kami ni groom na magsabi na hindi naman talaga kami masyadong nasarapan dun sa FT. as in parang ordinary food lang sya, na pang fiesta. so anyway, dahil hindi na nga mapalagay ang loob namin, we called again the owner and scheduled another FT, for our peace of mind. Pumayag naman sya. So nag FT ulit kami. mas ok na yung lasa nya compared to the first FT. pero parang wala talaga yung this is it feeling. Don’t get me wrong, kasi maganda talaga yung package nila, kumpleto and with styling. And affordable. Long story short, we opted to forfeit our 5k DP and just went with the accredited caterer of Alta which is town's.
Mejo masakit para sa amin yun because switching to town's delight meant stretching our budget way, waaaaaay more than we expected. Nag-balloon talaga biglang yung budget namin. although i've seen mixed reviews here sa GT about town's, in the end, hindi kami nagsisi na sila ang kinuha namin and that that we shelled out a little bit more for food. Ito talaga yung hindi nakkapanghinayang na magsplurge on. Why? Because till now, we are getting rave reviews about the food sa wedding. My whole family (who are not easily impressed) were all saying na sobrang sarap. Even my tita said the salad was good. Imagine that, who says masarap ang salad?! Haha. Although hindi namin masyado nalasahan ni groom yung food, dahil wala kami pareho sa sarili during the wedding, I can confidently say na the feedback of our guests will suffice.
PROS:• Masarap ang food!!! We didn’t expect that we would get so much compliments from our guests because of the food. Nakakatuwa lang at the end of the day because we know it was really successful when the guests tell you na nabusog at nasarapan sila.
• Package is complete, madaming inclusions. The Love Taste package they offer, sobrang dami ng choices. Plus yung menu nila is not the ordinary menu lang. More extensive yung menu nila compared to other caterers
• Free use of crystal chairs (no need to upgrade).
• Maganda ang styling, especially the VIP tables. Nasunod lahat ng gusto namin in terms of styling.
• Our AE, Ms. Lourdes was prompt in replying to our emails and texts and other inquiries. She was also very patient in explaining everything lalo na dun sa final detailing namin when we had a lot of changes.
• They’ve been around in the business for more than 30 years na ata, so they know what theyre doing.
CONS:• Nag additional kami sa cake, because the design we wanted is an upgrade daw. So we paid another Php 3500. Hehe yun lang naman.
• They charged us an additional 1k kasi nawala daw naming yung doves nung pinakawalan sa church. We didn’t know na wala palang humuli sa kanila. So yun. Nainis lang si groom.
Dito na lang muna. Mejo mahaba na kasi. Sa next batch, hopefully mas madaming suppliers na ang maisama ko sa review.
