Down to Two

I had a hard time looking for a designer for my gown. I know there's a lot of designers doing bridal gowns now. But because I'm the type of bride who wants a nice gown but who doesn't want to spend much on it, I had a hard time looking for one that fits my budget. I inquired from about ~10 designers, met up with 5 of them, and now I'm down to 2 choices. I loved both their designs. I loved how my meetings with them went. They helped me visualize the gown I vaguely have in mind, gave me a few ideas, and told me what would look good and not.


The first one is a young designer. He's new but he's really good. He dresses the stars and is now making a name in the fashion industry. He gave me 4 designs to choose from, all of which I loved. He kind of followed mostly the pegs I sent him. And the rate he gave me was just about my budget. We instantly clicked, he's like the gay friend I've always wanted to have.

The second one has done more bridal gowns than the other. I saw some of his work from a bridal magazine we bought. I have a feeling that his rate is higher than the first though (he hasn't given me his rates). But he gave me an offer I just couldn't resist - he's going to lend me not just one, but three dresses for our engagement shoot. I was initially planning to have one nice dress made for the engagement shoot, now I don't have to do that if I decide to get him. He's the sweetest designer I've met, and like the first, he's the kind of gay friend I'd love to have.

I still don't know how I'm going to make this decision. They both gave me great designs and they both became instant friends to me and Dale. The only thing that will make this decision easier is if the second designer's rate is outrageously higher than the first. So let's see, I have til next week to decide. After which, I'm off looking for a designer for my female entourage and for a hair and make up artist.

P.S. Look at the ticker!! Grabe ang bilis, 2 months have passed already. 10 months to go!!

Tailored vs Off The Rack

There was a time once when the groom's attire was an afterthought. A mere side dish to the main course that was the bride's wedding gown. For suits, RTWs would be the norm, as long as the tie matched the motif. And for the barong, altered off-the-rack pieces from Onesimus would be just fine. Anyway a suit is a suit and a barong is barong. Right?

I remember my first tailored barong (more formally know as the barong tagalog). It was for my Kuya's wedding and I was a secondary sponsor. It was tailored in Lucban, Quezon where residents claim is the birthplace of the Barong Tagalog. I'm not sure about that, but if it were then I won't be surprised. That barong had, what I believe, a classic barong fit: a little bit long and a little bit wide. Nowhere near the slim fit pieces preferred by the younger generation nowadays.

I've had a couple of barongs tailored since then, mostly by the tailors of the groom having the wedding I'll be wearing the barong to. And each time I had a barong tailored the more I would appreciate a tailored piece vs. off the rack. It may be because of my (limited) height and wider than usual shoulder that off the rack pieces don't really fit me.

Now, my first tailored suit was made last year. It was always so difficult getting an RTW to fit me that I always had it altered anyway, so I thought I might as well just get a tailored one. Not only did it fit me better, it also cost less! It was tailored at Anicete's tailoring where I'll have my male entourage's attires tailored as well. You may contact them at 0918 3181238. Look for Mr. Anicete.

Now, for my own attire, I'm again looking at getting a tailored suit. Some may say that getting a known suit designer would cost a lot, but after doing the math, it's not far from what you would pay for a nice suit at Zara. A suit at Zara costs about ~8k and matching trouser would cost ~3.5k. A nice inner shirt would be about ~3k, and  a vest if you could get one to match your suit would be about ~3k as well. A tie at Zara would set you back ~2k. Now that's almost ~20k! If you were to contact some of the more well know designers you'll be very surprised that their pricing isn't that far from this number. With a tailored suit, you'll be paying almost the same but will be assured of a better fit.

I've already met with three designers and I'll be making my decision soon. All of their designs were great so it just comes down to pricing and the rapport I had with them.Of course going for Mr Anicete is cheaper, but I want to stand out from my entourage hence a proper designer is in hand.

Hopefully, when our wedding day comes, my suit won't merely be a side dish to Yeng's gown, but something that would compliment her gown. It can be the puto to Yeng's dinuguan. Complimentary yet the star is still the dinuguan. 

Yeng, if you reached this point, I know you've just cringed at my analogy. Hehehe.

Contract Reviews

Here comes the hard part. After choosing the suppliers and paying their reservation fees, its now time to pour over the contracts. This is hard work!

What's difficult is the need to balance how to protect yourself and your supplier from anything that could go wrong during your wedding day (you can only marry once) vs. appearing as a pushy and demanding client. Too much or too little of either could bring forth a disastrous and expensive event.

To all the married couples out there, did you even review your supplier contracts in detail or did you just sign and hoped that professionalim and etiquette will protect you from all possible blunders that could happen?

Still No Caterer

The church, reception venue and caterer are the so called holy trinity of wedding planning in the Philippines. Miss one and you have no wedding (well technically the church is all you need but a Filipino wedding just won't be complete without a festive program and a meal).

Yeng and I have already booked our venue and church but are still on the lookout for our would-be caterer. We've already tried a couple but we haven't really decided which one to go for.

The safest one, one we could consider in the bag, would be the catering services provided by our venue. We've already completed our food tasting and while there were some culinary keepers in the menu we tried, there were a couple that we don't mind swapping with other items in their menu. The advantage of having the reception catered by the resort is that we don't have to spend additional OOT fees and we the rent of the resort would be include the package. That saves us money, time, and the number of people we have to deal with.

One other option we are looking at is a well known restaurant from the metro. If we end up choosing them, they would completely complement our theme of having a Santorini sunset-inspired wedding reception. They would also be able to offer us additional items that would add to the grecian look that we are hoping for, FOC. They will be coming out with their quotation on Wednesday and hopefully we could go for some food tasting during the weekend.

Another option that was originally at the top of our list is another well known metro restaurant famous for its pastries, cakes and french macaroons. Yeng worked tirelessly to get a quotation from them and finally we now have one from them. Just getting one from them almost made us give up! Good thing Yeng persisted. We hope we can tweak it a little bit more to negotiate a cake or a dessert bar. Hopefully we could schedule our food tasting with them within the week as well.

Finally, the last but not the least, is a Batangas-based caterer that has managed to successfully break into the mainstream wedding catering business. The good thing about this catering group is that they would be able to provide us with free lights or a three tiered cake FOC. Also since they are based in Batangas, they have a no OOT per se. We've had our food tasting with them and though not super WOW, they compete quite well with other mainstream wedding caterers. Plus their desserts are a notch higher than most. I would say that with this caterer you get the right value for what you pay.

One thing we've learned through all this is that it's actually a lot harder to find catering for a small wedding than the more standard 150plus-guest-wedding. That combined with our out of town venue makes it doubly harder. Hopefully even with these challenges, we hope to get the best caterer that we can. One that will be able to feed and please our small gathering of hungry guests.

Where's Yeng?

You'll probably notice that for the past couple of days all the posts have been made by me. Well apart from what Yeng calls as my being a "groomzilla" which I still am contesting, the main reason why Yeng has been missing is because she has to do 15hrs additional OT this week. She also did 12hrs last week.

Even though she hasn't been posting, she accompanied me last weekend to meet up with a potential designer for my suit. We also went to a bridal fair last Saturday where we managed to book our Discovery Weekend. This week we haven't really done anything yet, though I'm meeting up with another designer this evening. This coming weekend were meeting up with Yeng's designers naman.

So yun, while she's working hard (and tweeting away - see far right), I've been grromzilla-ing for the past couple of days. Woot woot.

RedSheep - Video

RedSheep (http://www.redsheepphotography.com/blog/) is currently one of the hottest wedding photography outfit in the country today. Their photos have that unique look, their packages are well priced, they deliver well against their schedule and the photographers are very professional and yet very barkada-like in terms of their relationship with their clients.

Of course, I have to admit that Gujel, Puy and Chie were friends and colleagues of mine well before they entered the industry, so I may be biased. So just drop by their website to see for yourself. Also the fact that they are almost fully booked for 2010 says something about this group right?

Anyway, having said that, RedSheep is relatively new to videography (vs their photography ). But such is my faith in the creativity and professionalism of Gujel that by January of next year, Redsheep would be a household name in wedding videography as it is now in photography. Who knows our wedding might be a launchpad for their video outfit right (if they aren't video stars by then, that is)?

But as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. And hopefully this lamb pudding would be one of our favorites come January 2011!

Acuatico Beach Resort - Reception Venue and Hotel

Yeng and I went to Acuatico this Saturday for our food tasting. Yeng and I had a fantastic time chatting with the owner Ms. Monet Gusi. We had such a good time that by the time we finished our lunch, it was almost 3PM.

I found out that like me, Monet was also a "promdi" (she was from San Juan, Batangas and I was from Bay, Laguna) who attended UP as a full scholar (she had STFAP and I had DOST). We also found out that just like Yeng, she experiences the same "inconvenice" when she travels to really cold countries. Hinde ko na tuloy mainis si Yeng na weird siya kasi may kakampi na siya haha. We also met her son, Rafael. He was so funny and cute! I can just imagine him being the PR Manager of the Gusis by the time he reaches his teens. We also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Noli Gusi.

It's quite inspiring that this very beautiful resort is owned by a young Filipino entrepreneur couple. Just goes to show what we Filipinos can do if we put our hearts and minds into something. World class talent talaga.

Here's a picture of Acuatico I took during our visit. This was taken from their dining hall. Nice noh?


For more info about acuatico, you can visit their website here.

5 Items off our To Do list

I never realized how big the wedding industry is in our country until we were faced with so many choices from one supplier to another. As Dale previously posted, we went to our first bridal fair last January, and boy was I overwhelmed with the number of options to choose from. After much research, debate and consideration, we've trimmed down our choices and booked the following suppliers:

1. Church:San Juan Nepomuceno Church - I had to give up my church-must-be-air conditioned requirement since this is the only church near our chosen resort. I will just have to pray that it's breezy during the ceremony. I'd hate to look oily and sweaty in our pictures!!

2. Reception:Acuatico Resort - Of all the resorts around the area, I would have to say that Acuatico is one, if not the nicest, resort there. Plus, the size of the resort is perfect for our intimate gathering. The only thing I don't like about Acuatico is it has a very small beach front. One step to the right and you're at Balai; one step to the left, you're at another resort. I hope there's not much guests in the other resorts on that weekend, hehe.

3. Photo:Pilar Tuason - After much consideration, we decided to go with Pilar. Don't get me wrong, she's great at what she does. She's famous for making brides look stunning in their pictures. The only thing that was kind of holding us back was, well, the fee. But see, having a great photographer is one of Dale's (a.k.a MyGroomzilla) non-negotiable. I'm sure this is a great investment.

4. Video:Guj of Redsheep - We've seen a couple of his work. We've seen him improve at his craft. He offers a high-definition video package with a fee no other videographer can match. He's Dale's friend. No more questions asked.

5. OTD:Rhona and Jets Battung - It wasn't easy looking for a coordinator. There's just way too many of them out there. After reading good reviews from fellow W@Wies and a good chat with Jets, we decided to get them as our OTD. I hope they'll make our preparation as stress-free as possible.

We still have a loooooong way to go. But having booked these 5 major suppliers is a big accomplishment for us. Hoping to get more done in the next few months.

Next on the list - caterer, stylist/florist, designer, HMUA (hair and make up artist).

Any suggestions?

My First Wedding Expo - Groom's POV

We just spent the whole weekend attending wedding expos. We went to the Weddings and Beyond expo at the NBC Tent last Saturday and the Island Exhibits wedding expo at SM Megamall yesterday (Sunday).

As it was my first time to visit such events, I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't even know that there was free lunch care of the caterers if you cared enough to listen to their sales pitch. Unfortunately, Yeng and I only found out after eating lunch at Gourdo's, where we ordered three (3) whole pizzas. Their pizza was great, though it gets to you after the 3rd day of eating it.

Going back to the wedding fair, the event at the NBC was packed. They had everything from invites to aircon rentals. There was even this exhibitor that specialized in preserving gowns! I thought you just had to put it inside a box with moth balls then stick it inside your cabinet. Then add a little bit more of moth balls. Hehehe.

One thing I realized was the reason why some photography and videography studios can offer (relatively) cheap packages is because they have multiple teams that can cover multiple weddings at the same day. So you're not really sure who and what you'll get during your wedding day, though I'm pretty sure that all their photographers are trained sufficiently and experienced. The difference though in getting the Lito Sys, Pat Dys, Pilar Tuasons, etc. of the industry, is that with these guys you know who you're getting and what skills they bring to the table. Of course they come with a higher price tag.

The Sunday event at Megamall was smaller. Most of the photog and videog vendors at the Fort were also at Megamall. We got a couple of vouchers from some of the hair and make up exhibitors as well as some from event stylists. Yeng actually had a free trial make up done which i found to be so-so. I think the make up put on her nose was quite over the top. She thinks so too.

At the end of two days, we didn't book any supplier but at least we had a ball park estimate of how much each supplier would cost. We also found some invitation ideas that we might try DIY. Anyway were thinking of having a relatively small wedding so we might be able to do it.

There will be two (2) more wedding expos on February, and hopefully by then we should have already booked a couple of suppliers and if not, at the least we should know which ones are worth booking and which ones are just good enough to get a free lunch from.