Thanks ladies! And congratulations too, Maxim04
Here's part 2:
Bridal Gown & Entourage: Coca Couture *
(I will not provide a rating because I know Andrea personally.)
I really liked my gown and felt like a princess in it! I initially didn't plan on a chapel veil nor a train but the overall effect was lovely. Plus, I was so happy that the lace and embroidery done was 'dainty' which was the look I was going for. (In the end, though, parang napaisip ako -- hmm, sana I asked for more beads pala para mas kita sa camera. Hehe!)
My entourage's gowns were also beautiful but in hindsight, I think I should have gone for powerknit instead of silk chiffon. The former is easier to drape kasi but Coca Couture did a great job nonetheless. My mom's and MIL's gowns were figure flattering and very classy too.
Hair and Makeup: Jasmine Mendiola (5/5)
They were the first to arrive for preps and while we had some issues trying to find a mirror (for some reason, my 1-BR suite in Ascott did not have a single mirror except in the bathroom so we were trying to figure out the hair station), her team worked really fast. She did me, my MoH, mom, MIL and 2 SILs and we were all finished before lunch time!
Not only were they efficient, I liked that pulido yung work. Not a curl out of place and everyone's makeup looked good. I unfortunately had a pimple that morning but Jasmine covered it up well and it didn't show in the photos.
Our makeup even if there was a lot of crying in our wedding ceremony.
I also think Jasmine has got to be one of the most versatile makeup artists around! For those who feel that her makeup is too light, I can personally attest that she CAN do smokey and dramatic eyes WHILE making sure you still look like yourself. It's her philosophy to keep brides looking fresh and pretty but if you want a little more oomph, she's more than happy to oblige and perfectly capable. Case in point: my mom, MIL and SILs had heavy eye makeup (which they requested) while I went for the (natural) blushing bride look. Then for the reception, I asked for smokey eyes.
Lights and Sounds: Sensitivity (4.8/5)
Initially, there was some delay in getting a reply to my emails but when MeAnne took over our account, everything was smooth sailing na. I asked them to also do the drapes for Enderun's Tent and I was pleased with the outcome. No glitches with the music either. I gave them a list of songs to be used for various parts of the ceremony and reception, then for cocktail hour and dinner, asked them to just use their usual lounge set. My friends LOVED their songs! It wasn't the usual bossanova/jazz/acoustic music you hear at weddings. The music was light, fun and easy.
The only regret I had was that parang kulang yung lighting but that's probably on me -- I wish I had known lang so I could have added more.
DJs: Mike Ong and Franco Lukban *
(No rating because they agreed to DJ for us as a gift!)
They were GREAT. We wanted disco dancing and that's what we got.
The guests had so much fun dancing that at one point, we had a conga train!!!
Invitations: Written in Ink (4.5/5)
Seamless, hassle-free and on-time printing. I wish they had more options in terms of paper type, envelope color, etc. but it's not a huge deal. Took out 0.5 from their rating though because one invitation set had double entourage cards instead of the main invite + entourage card + RSVP. It's a good thing we ordered extra invites.
Bridal Car: A Perfect Day Wedding Car (5/5)
We didn't plan on getting a bridal car but 2 days before the wedding, the car we were going to use got into an accident and so I had to scramble for a supplier. The owner of A Perfect Day answered immediately and even gave me a substantial discount! Then on the day itself, siya pa nag-drive para sa amin.
He was very nice and accommodating.
Cake: Karen's Kitchen (5/5)
Yummy cake! Karen's staff was very hands-on with the design of our cake and even sent us samples of their icing to check if they got the color marsala right.
Flowers/Styling: Natural Art (4/5)
Working with Natural Art was very easy because Abhie always replies. She doesn't respond immediately but she gets back to me within a week at most. We had so many changes to our contract (because of me) and she was ever so patient in taking note of everything and accommodating my requests.
That being said, I was sad to discover that because of typhoon Lando, they had a hard time sourcing pink roses for my wedding and had to spray white ones instead. There was also a miscommunication with regards to my bouquet - it was supposed to be semi-cascading but her staff gave me a round bouquet instead. To Abhie's credit, as soon as my mom called her up and asked about the flowers, she had them fixed right away. I guess I was just expecting bigger and a more lush set of flowers but there was a typhoon...
As for the setup - was really happy with how she styled the Atrium. For the Tent, she had to make some modifications to the stage which I wish I knew about because I would have given my input. Aside from that, everything else was OK.
Supplier Meals: Sherwin Modesto (5/5)
My MoH took care of ordering these for me but it seemed like she had no problems coordinating with Sherwin. I got a glimpse of the food that was delivered to the hotel and the ulam was proportionate to the rice. (I hate it when people scrimp on the ulam tapos dinadamihan lang ng rice!) Mukhang nasarapan naman yung mga suppliers.
We paid Php 100/pack for 2 viands, rice and water plus Php 300 overall delivery fee.
Final thoughts about the wedding:
- - If you're doing buffet, try to manage the pictorials with guests. We had silent queuing as suggested by our coordinator but doing that for 28 tables really took a long time and I felt bad for the guests who were at the tail end of the list. I don't know how else you can do photos at dinner without inconveniencing the guests unless you have a sit-down setup...
- - I changed to flats right after the ceremony and it was probably one of the best decisions I made that evening. I got to dance and my smiles were genuine. Hehe. My bridal shoes were very comfortable naman but nothing beats wearing flats!
- - If I were to get married again, I'd do a mock-up of my bouquet. Lol. It hit me rather late that the bouquet DOES matter especially in photos. Then again, it's only flowers...
- - Practice smiling at odd items because your photographer/videographer won't always ask you to look at the camera. It was so unnerving for me so what J did was he asked one of his associates to pretend he was shooting me so I could smile at a different direction.
- - May fallout talaga even on the wedding day itself. So brides who are stressing about the guest list (the same way I did) -- don't! It's okay to over-invite by about 10-15 pax because for sure there's a 5-10% minimum fallout on your day. I was worried that we wouldn't even make the 5% fallout because our wedding fell on a Sunday and our venue was easily accessible but I ended up with a few half-filled tables pa rin. (Hooray for leftover food! Haha. And I was happy our suppliers got to sample the buffet.)
- - One of the best tips a former bride gave me was: it's only 8-12 hours and it will go by so fast. Don't focus on the problems or stress out because things are bound to get messy at some point. Instead, try to relish each moment. <-- So true. Up to the last minute, there were problems but I really let it go because I couldn't enjoy the wedding day if I was too consumed thinking about how to fix them. I let my MoH, mom and OTD help and I can honestly say I really had fun!
