Supplier Rating: Junnel Maranan Videography( Onsite Video Rating Only)

This is a long overdue post since our wedding happened 2 months ago(oh gosh, how time flies!) but it was kinda hard to bug hubby to help me in including the link in this post. Here goes:
Rating: 5/5(My first 5/5 rating!)
Peso Power: 33,000 (2011 rate)
 including
same day edit video
wedding highlights: 2  20-30 minute dvds of wedding highlights
2 videographers
1 editor
3 assistants

 The kwento: Sir Junnel was our second best option(financially speaking) and we met him july 2011 for the initial meeting. He was very easy to deal with and that time, we were undecided on which package to get (budget constraints) so we said that we'll just finalize everything a few months before the wedding. He was trying to convince us to get the package including the pre-nup video but we couldnt afford it so we just decided to get the package indicated above.

Pros:

They were right on schedule about everything! They arrived at about 9:45 when in fact, the call time was 10:30. Call me weird but I was dismayed that they had to come so early- I knew it would be harder to move around with cameras everywhere and I was right, I felt very conscious with all the cameras around. But, they were very discreet and it was still okay to move around despite their presence.

In showing the sde, they were also right on time. We told them that they'd show the clip after the dinner and they were able to deliver right on time. We're due to receive the wedding clips this july and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'd be able to deliver just as well as the wedding day.


They really know their craft. There were times when I was starting to get annoyed because I didnt feel like they were shooting anything during the preps but I WAS SO WRONG. I saw a lot of clips from the preps on the onsite video meaning they were just very discreet. Our guests were also amazed by Sir Junnel's efficiency- sabi nila, he was working relentlessly sa church and sa reception and he knew exactly the clips that he wanted to include in our video. I also commend the other videographer in the team. Kuya kept throwing jokes to lighten the mood but I found him really cheesy, but when the video came out, most of the shots that I remember were from him and I really liked how he did them.

Cons:

The only con I can think of is budget. Some teams offer as low as 15k for photo and video packages, including the albums, pre-nup pictorial and wedding coverage. However, I believe what one photographer said in his website: photography and videography, no matter how similar they may be, are two crafts that are quite different. Therefore, a good photographer may not necessarily be a good videographer and vice versa. Thus, I believe that even if sir Junnel's rate is higher since it is not bundled with a photography package, it is worth every penny.

Trivia: There's a woman whom I cannot necessarily call as a "third party" in the relationship. All the same, she caused turmoil in our life a few months before the wedding. it is through her that I first learned of our sde song. So there's some kinda sense in the saying that there's a silver lining to these things after all.

Happy viewing and hope ya like it! (I still watch this from time to time and it makes me all mushy and floaty again :D)
Arnold and April Same Day Edit from Junnel Maranan on Vimeo.

Supplier's Review: Sta Clara De Montefalco Pasig

I know this is called supplier's rating but I wouldn't give stars to them. I believe that the church is a non-negotiable supplier in the wedding and no matter how much we like or dislike them, at the end of the day, we still need to get married in a church. Unlike other suppliers, you have to bear with them more. So here goes:

The pros:
Sobrang mura! Their all in rate is only 10k!
To get married in the church in our village, the all in package is 8,500 and that's considering that the aisle is about 3 meters long.Wala pong nawawalang zero dyan, the church is hexagonal in shape so the aisle is very short(hence fewer flower arrangements). For Sta Clara, the aisle is much longer pero un nga, 10k lang

It remains as the tallest church in the Philippines.
I imagine sharing this with our offspring, na kinasal kami sa pinakamataas na simbahan sa Pilipinas. Not to mention that it is extremely beautiful, which makes it as the perfect backdrop to your special day. They also have a lot of parking space so it wouldnt be a problem.

They really put a lot of thought into their pre-cana seminar. 
It was a two day affair and I must say that my fiance and I really learned a lot. Their marriage "inventory" activity was exceptionally helpful

The cons


They wont accept your reservation until you have passed the canonical interview.
This caused a lot of stress on my part since I wanted to finalize things as early as possible and imagine the looming horror that they might not accept us in the end.

They also put a lot of emphasis on the orientation for the photographers. This was one of the reasons why we switched suppliers a month before the wedding- our original contact wanted to charge us their full rate for attending the orientation.

The sermon wasnt so good either. 
The priest didnt give any advice whatsoever, minadali talaga ung kasal namin. I was upset on this part a lot. The greater half of our entourage wasnt able to walk kasi we followed their rule- dapat 5 minutes before the set time naglalakad na para makarating sa altar at exactly 4pm kasi sabi nila the priest would cut the sermon if we're late. But the sermon was very short nonetheless- in the vernacular-masabi lang.

Final Say: It feels good to say that we got married in the tallest church in the Philippines. Our pictures also turned out fine but if you want a heartfelt ceremony in a church that wont give u that much trouble, I guess your neighborhood parish is still better :(

Pictures for your appreciation. Tah-Tuh!

Supplier's Rating: Quidos Grill

Rating: 4.5/5

Peso Power: 45,000 for first 120 pax

+ 10% service charge + delivery charge for tiffany chairs

inclusive of free fondue sampler + cake or backdrop

+ 380 for every additional guest

Kwento: I really, really, really wanted tiffany chairs. We found other suppliers who are cheaper than Quidos but since they were the cheapest among those who offer tiffany chairs, we decided to get them. We had our food tasting in Tribeca sa may Paranaque and their event that time was an office party kaya mejo iba ang setup, but we were impressed so we still decided to book them.

Pros:

1. For the food, what you see is what you get. Ms Gina and Sir Jimmy do their food tastings on their events, so you're sure that the taste would be consistent and it was! Our guests kept complimenting us that the food was delicious. My siblings are very picky with food but when we got home, each one of them ate all their favorite- inubos ng brother ko ang fish fillet, my 2nd sister ate the roast beef and our youngest ate the chicken barbeque. We really owe this to Quidos, because guests remember your food forever and we can proudly say na hindi kami napahiya. I even have a friend who admitted that he got 4 servings of leche flan- para daw isang llanera. hahahaha.

The infamous flan ^_^

2. Though they charge for the tiffany chairs, it is still very minimal compared to others. they charge 3500 and you can have a max of 150 chairs so 3500/150=23 pesos! That's a far cry from the 80-120 pesos that other caterers charge for every tiffany chair rental.

3. They are very understanding with money matters. Our funds got delayed so we were late in the payment schemes- we werent able to meet th 50% dp on the set date and we only paid the balance 1 week before the wedding(the contract says we have to pay 2 weeks prior), but Ms Gina never complained and we really appreciated that.

4. Some things exceeded our expectation. The backdrop was really nice and we didnt expect that many flowers sa pillars kasi 3k lang naman ang fee. They added a few details as well na wala naman sa deal- like the japanese lanterns and the cocktail tables which came in handy during the dance. Also, we already knew that lights and the bubble machine would be a bonus in the sound system pero it was still nice to see and have 'em in person.

Sorry friends and family for your exposure.. Just wanted to expose a shot of the setup

I was really pleased that there were three pillars with flowers. I was only expecting 2 pillars without flowers.(Our friend Mike on the side while giving his speech)

I loved the lanterns! They minimized the awkwardness of the stairs :)

5. Their waters are really nice. They are very observant and honest. We moved to a lower spot(than the couple's table) when we watched our SDE and the moment I stood up, they got chairs for us. My sister forgot my hard disk enclosure(it was 1 terrabyte, mind you, and it costs 5k at the time that I acquired it) and they took the initiative to give it to my Mom. I was so tired and bangenge already that we were about to leave- and leave behind the cake and our gifts! They approached us and packed the cake and brought the gifts to our car.

Cons:
I would have given them a perfect score if not for small details. Small details lang naman :)
Try to take note of the things that Ms Gina tells you. May small inconsistencies kasi sa mga agreements.

1. Initially, she mentioned that 175 lang ang suppliers' meal and buffet na yun pero yung 175 pala is packed, 250 ang buffet suppliers' meal.

2. Yung sa sound system, I asked her if san ko isasave yung songs to be played during the reception and she said that I can save it in either a cd, or usb, okay lang daw. On the day of the wedding, the technician said they dont have a laptop for the hard disk enclosure so the songs that we picked for the dinner were not played, good thing they have their own songs and our pick for the entrance song and first dance were available.

3. I forgot to mention it during our final meet up but I did tell her via text na wala kaming dove (ayaw ni hubby kasi kawawa lang daw ang mga kalapati) but there were still doves on the wedding day.
So, if you're very particular, do clarify small details na baka naoverlook or inconsistent with what you originally discussed.

Final Say:
The good points of getting them far outweigh the cons so I would still recommend Quidos Grill to future brides. I have scouted around for other caterers and their rates are very affordable considering that they are able to deliver elegant setup and yummy food. My sister is only 15 but we are already thinkin' about getting them for her debut. NO HORROR STORIES. Thanks Quidos! We hope we'll get your services again!

Supplier's Rating: Candy Rose Pastillas

Rating: 5/5 (1 as the lowest)

Peso power: 200php/basket of flower pastillas, 3php/stick(pack of 100 pieces)

Kwento: This should have been the first rating since she was the first to deliver but anyway, here goes:

I used to follow the blog of a newly wed who bought pastillas for her wedding instead of flowers for the flower girls and I liked the idea. However, I am familiar with the products that she bought and I wanted to find something cheaper and voila! I came across Candy Rose Pastillas on the net. I checked her products and I was very interested so I texted her and we did a meet up.

Pros:

Chai, the lady who makes the pastillas can meet you up and give you around 10pieces of samples based on what you asked for. She uses coloring for the products so if you have a specific color in mind, she can adjust it for you. Likewise, the pastillas can be flavored- I was able to try the plain one and the strawberry ones and though I liked the strawberry ones, I thought that not all kids would like them so I ordered for a combo of both. The basket was much fuller than I expected (my sisters and I "stole" a few roses from the baskets.haha) and the ordered roses on sticks were actually bigger than the samples she gave me. Also, Chai was very honest about the products and didnt want me to get them too early since they might get ruined because of weather conditions.

Cons:

Chai manages a smaller enterprise so she's kinda limited to the metro. When I say limited, what I mean is that if you wanna check out her products in a store or something or maybe meet up somewhere farther north or south, it'll be more complicated. Other than that, dealing with her was easy breezy- she promptly replies to text messages, her delivery fee is very minimal and on both occasions that I met her, she was right on schedule.

Anyway, enough with the blah and on with the munching. Kids and adults alike loved them! I was told that adults were asking if there were spares and I was witness to our kiddie guests( as a former teacher, kids were rampant in our guest list; none of that crap about not having kids) eating their hearts away. Here are some pictures to give you an idea:

See the hands touchin' em? Go and eat them girls!

Who'd say no to these? yummy!

My inaanak munching away :)

So, if you wanna avail of Chai's products(I see that she has expanded to cake polvorons and what have you), just look for her site on FB and ask her about the details. See yah soon!

Suppliers' rating: The legend villas

Rating: 4/5
Details: 4200/family room good for four, with complimentary access and usage of facilities, + buffet breakfast

Kwento on why we booked this hotel :

Prior to our wedding, we ate at the legend villas for the buffet breakfast and we loved it so we decided to book  rooms here for the wedding. I booked 1 room for 2 nights and another for 1 night(meiokoi's family). We booked their family rooms coz when we did the ocular:

The villa suite was not worth it for a number of reasons. The sleeping area was basically the same as their superior room, the only difference was the receiving area, which was too plain in my opinion. It was not worth the extra 2+++ for a receiving area that would only be used for a few hours. Second, The Legend Villas put similar rooms in the same corner and if I get different room types for hubby and I, we would be on different ends, hence, we just decided to get he family rooms for both of us.

During the stay:
Good points: The breakfast was great! I love omelet stations in buffets and theirs is no exception. I also loved the champorado, the croissants, the bistek tagalog and their palabok. The other choices were okay as well, but these were the ones that stuck to me the most.

The internet was quite fast and it was a good plus for my sisters who were staying with me.
The pool was decent enough and my cousins had quite a go and enjoyed taking advantage of it.
They have parking spaces that are very adjacent to the rooms. This was a big factor since we had to go back and forth the vehicles to load and unload stuff so it was quite good that it was very convenient for us.


Bad points:
There was "something" with the bathroom. I guess it was the fact that it didnt have an exhaust, but even on the first night when there were only 4 of us, it already had a pungent smell. I used the cr in the other room as well(which was hardly used since my in-laws) but it was the same.
The pool was sooooooo far away. I guess this would be a plus for people who really want r &r in the pool area but it was quite inconvenient for us, especially since we had to go back and forth during the pictorial.

Points for improvement:
Decor! We would have loved to book the villa rooms if we felt that they would add up to the "feel" in photos but they were way too bare. Good thing that our p/v team was very creative and found nooks and crannies that would serve as good backdrops to the frames.

Final Say:
I would recommend The Legend Villas for people who are looking for great value for money, especially guests who are merely looking for budget-friendly accommodation in a very good location. Compared to other hotels, this hotel is very lenient and you can bring in cooked food, accommodate as many guests as possible(such a pro if the room will be used for wedding preps/intimate parties). However, if you are looking for a more poshed and well-appointed accommodation, I guess you have better options in the Ortigas area.

Photo from our official photog:

This is way disappointing but I cannot, for the life of me, find our shots at the hotel :(. Sorry for a non-visual review. Tah-tuh!

After 4 days of Partying and sleepless nights :)

After almost a year.. we are finally married! It feels so good to start off a new month with this change.. I feel like we are experiencing many firsts and I am basking in the glory of love, takin' in everything and enjoyin' it.. Of course, I know that I would have to write suppliers' ratings at some point, but that would have to wait as I try to be more objective about how things went and not just on an emotion attached to a supplier. Cheers to us, to our families, the suppliers and everybody else who made this possible! Here are some sneak peeks into what happened:

I'm still asking for my husband's help regarding the link to the video.. I want it to play directly on this page but he's kinda busy with other stuff so it might have to wait for another post.. I'll upload more pictures as soon as we get them.. Cheers again and God Bless us all!

My mountaineering retirement and its indefinite date

I once mentioned that after our wedding, I will convert this blog into a travel blog, which for the most part, would include more posts on mountains that we've climbed. No, this will not be an attempt to follow the steps of Gideon Lasco. Rather, this blog will be more of on the kwento side- for those who are just about to get into the sport and needs a little cajoling to be convinced; and 2, for those who cannot do it for some reason and wish to be a mountaineer even just in spirit.

I have been deprived of mountaineering for 2 months. Though I barely had a facial and a few treatments as feeble attempts to look better on my special day, I dont want to jeopardize my current skin tone by hiking. That is why, this pent up energy of not being able to hike will most likely explode after the wedding, and as a prelude to what this blog would become in the future, I decided to collate information on mountains that I wish to climb before I "retire" from mountaineering. There was a time that I limited it to 5- Pinatubo, Mt. Apo, Kota Kinabalu, Mt. Asog, and Pulag via Akiki(I have done Ambangeg). Now, the list is becoming longer again, thus the title " my mountaineering retirement and its indefinite date".

1. Kibungan Circuit
In one way or another, I consider myself as one of the most prima donna mountaineers- I literally cross a mountain off my list if it is in Luzon and bringing private transpo is not an option. why? having a car eliminates a lot of hassle in logistics and if a vehicle's seating capacity is maximized, the transpo expenses is relatively the same. I havent included this mountain in my list because the old IT was only a traverse but with the new possibility of a back track, we will definitely schedule a Kibungan climb in the near future via Mt. Tagpaya.

(credits to promdicitygirl.blogspot.com)

2. Balingkilat
Mt. Pundaquit was the first and last mountain that I've climbed in Zambales because the scorching heat in Anawangin(which was contrast to the high waters we prepared for) was something I never wish to experience again. However, I'd like to change the statistics by adding Balingkilat to my list. Balingkilat is very much exposed just like Pundaquit but with God's grace, it can be a bearable trek in the last quarter.

(credits to http://zharnec.multiply.com)

3. Asog/Iriga
My husband is 100% Bicolano and climbing a mountain rooted in his heritage would be a great tribute. I would have loved to write and include Isarog but it takes so much to climb it- time(most of all), effort and money. Therefore, I prefer to put Isarog in this list since it is most realistic and includes a well-rounded schedule.

(meiokoi's shot when he was still staying in the ricefields)

4. Malasimbo
Malasimbo serves as a perfect backdrop to Puerto Galera and it would be nice to climb it vis-a-vis a trip to the beach. Before I became a mountaineer, I have always considered myself a beach bum and therefore such destinations are always high on my list.

(credits to mam joie)

5. Kota Kinabalu
It is a bit redundant to include this given that our honeymoon will be in KK. However, we booked their "extreme" package, which means that we have to be able to climb the mountain in a day. Therefore, there's always the chance that we will not reach the top,and hence I am keeping all fingers (toes even!) that we will reach the top successfully, despite the time constraints.

Low's Peak, the highlight of climbing Mt. Kinabalu

I would have loved to rave on about Apo, Pulag via Akiki and Pinatubo but mountaineering enthusiasts would know that the dream of climbing these three are self explanatory. I am excited about the future posts and am hoping that posts like this can help others in simple ways.

Till Next time!