Hi everyone! Just wanted to share my experience with Paul Manuel, as I see some have been asking about him. I found out about him through this forum and was really interested in hiring him to make my wedding gown (I'm a 2017 bride), since so far most (if not all) feedback on him has been positive.
True to form, he was very pleasant and fun to chat with, and seems like a genuinely hardworking person. As it turns out, he works a full-time job and is still able to commit to designing on the side, which is very admirable. I had an initial meeting with him recently to get to know him and to see how he envisions my wedding gown based on the designs I showed him. I enjoyed that meeting with him and even my MOH and our best man, both of whom I invited along to the meeting, agreed. Just like what everyone else said here, Paul really values his relationships with clients and will go out of his way to please them. He strikes me as someone who does fashion design not because it's a profession/job, but as something he loves.
HOWEVER - this is where a concern came in, at least for me personally. I asked him for a copy of his contract after the first meeting so that I can look it over before I officially sign him on. He came prepared and gave it to me. We ended that meeting well with me being very clear that I was definitely going to get him to do my wedding gown, and would even recommend him to my entourage, who are having their dresses made separately.
Upon reviewing the contract, I noticed that it was very pro-designer. Not one clause there indicated any concern for client should things go wrong. Now, I wouldn't have minded as much if this was someone personally recommended by a friend, or if I had already been friends with Paul to begin wit, but this wasn't the case and I didn't really want to take the risk of signing a contract that I thought was quite one-sided.
Because I respect Paul and felt comfortable with him, I asked his permission to revise the contract with some of my comments and feedback, and for him to review it after to share his thoughts. He agreed and gave me a soft copy. I consulted with our best man, who has had experience in fashion design, and just added in some clauses concerning refunds/cancellations/action steps in certain situations wherein the dress gets compromised while in the hands of the designer. I then sent it to Paul, showing him where the revisions were made and asking him for his insights and how we can come to an agreeable arrangement.
I was surprised when he got back to me and seemed very uncomfortable that I made the contract more specific and detailed. Actually, he felt that the contract was too "meticulous". He defended his work and said that none of those scenarios (I only put in 2, one of which involved the dress suffering damage at the last minute while still under his care, and the other involving the designer not being able to submit the dress on the committed date) which I had detailed in the contract, had ever happened to him before and it seemed that he felt off that I would even suggest that it could happen. I gently explained to him that though this was the case, there is always a possibility in every project that things could go wrong and this is why having a contract is important. It's for the protection of both the designer and the client. I told him that it was not because I did not trust in his talent and his ability to do the job well. We ended with us agreeing that I would revise the contract based on his feedback, some of which I agreed with naman so I modified those clauses - and that he would review it again and see if the arrangement suits him better. It seemed though that he was still uncomfortable with this but I was hoping that he would really evaluate and think about it.
Since I emailed that revised contract, Paul became less consistent in communicating with me. Mailap na siya, compared to the first time we spoke wherein he would initiate and even volunteer helpful insights to me even before our first face-to-face meeting. I was the one who kept following him up for the next few days, and he would tell me that he was so busy and had no time to review the contract. Respecting his busyness, I told him that I would wait for his response.
After reminding him again today to give me his feedback because I'm hoping to finalize all my major suppliers this week, Paul texted me tonight saying that he had a client meeting yesterday and that because of this meeting, my wedding month is now booked (in his sched) so he will no longer be able to accommodate me. I just find this quite disappointing as I was expecting him to be more professional about this - meaning give me, as the client that he was dealing with first, the courtesy of being informed that he was about to be booked by another client, knowing that we were in the middle of negotiations and that I was very clear from the beginning that I wanted to get him. I sent the revised contract Friday night and he had the weekend to review it - and knowing that he had a client meeting the following Monday that could result in a booking, he should have read and responded to the contract I sent him.
I have no doubt that Paul loves what he does and that he would have done a great job on my dress, but I sense that he is the type of designer who treats this as a fun hobby that he is passionate about so he is not comfortable with contracts (the first time he handed me his contract, he said "chos lang 'yan"), especially when they become detailed and talk about his responsibility as a designer should he be unable to deliver the quality expected of him. I understand that he operates on relationships, but at the end of the day this remains to be, first and foremost, a business transaction, and so negotiating contracts (when necessary), being open to discussing them with a potential client, and not taking it personally, is a completely standard procedure.
If you are not particular with contracts, then I think you would have no problem working with Paul. He's a really really nice person.
But if you're like me (I personally hold my suppliers accountable to doing their job well - which includes going through the process of ensuring the contents of legal documents are agreeable to both parties) I would say hold off, unless you have a friend who can personally vouch for his work.
I don't take it against him that he declined to accommodate me as this is really his call - I just didn't appreciate how he responded to the process.
On that note, time to move on and look for another designer/mananahi... who can match Paul's unbeatable price for my dress!! Hahahaha.
