Bride-to-Be's Wedsites

Being a w@w member you will get to know a lot of bride to be's and aside from helping other w@wies, they also share their own wedding party, wedding suppliers, ratings on suppliers and everything wedding related through their wedsites.

Locally, top choices of wedsites are mywedding.com or weddingannouncer.com. Any B2b doesn't have to be tech-savvy to build their own sites because these wedsites are intuitive and very user friendly. This two popular wedsites has its own distinctive features:

My Wedding
1. You can assign a wedpass so only people you have authorized can access your wed page.
2. Lots of templates to choose from.
3. You can add at least 4 custom pages.
4. Very user friendly interface

WeddingAnnouncer
1. They have a counter til the day of your wedding
2. The planning tools is easily accesible.
3. You can add lots and lots of custom pages.
4. They also have password enable pages or whole site

As of now, I use both since I'm on the early stage of preps and I dont have a lot to put in the wedsite yet. But I assure you most of the Filipino wedsites is a really good reference in searching for suppliers, ideas also wedding tips. Continue to visit this site as I will keep on posting other wedsite links that can be of assistance to bride to be's.

A Delightful August

The month of August has been the most exciting and busy month for us. We were able to accomplished a lot of stuff for our wedding and for the after married life as well.

P/V

Aside from the church, we were able to booked our official P/V "Smartshots studio" during th Weddings and Beyong Expo last Aug 22. Before booking, I had to think really hard if this ok with me already. I know we don't have a big budget and we don't have the luxury to acquire different services for Photography and Videography but the freebies included is quite hard to resist, and so after dinner we went back to the event and paid the DP to officially book Dec 17, 2010. The senior photographers' works were presented to us, we chose the style of Ed Sermona.

Afterwards, I still tend to think if we really got a good supplier for P/V or I should have waited and asked the w@wies or GTs first. Eventually I said to myself that we will be ok, we got a good deal and a price that fits our budget.

VENUE/CATERER

Then the venue, we are close to paying the DP for our reception. We are finalizing some things in the contract and then we're good and can close this deal. I am so glad that even though I'm so OC and makulit on this kind of stuff our Sales Rep for the venue is still very accommodating. We will just have the contract reviewed this weekend, then off to booking by next week. Yey!

OTD COORDINATOR

Aside from the reservations of the major stuff, i still do some research of the rest of the things we will need. We have met with 2 OTD Coordinators and still looking for someone who can give a good offer of quality and cost. I told my h2b that for a coordinator, I actually want to see 3 things:

1. Good rates

2. Good reviews from GT and W@W

3. Good rapport with us. Someone who you can see as genuinely willing to help you and not that this is another business deal.

Hopefully, we will be able to book our OTD coordinator soon as I have 2 others scheduled to meet next week.

HMUA

H2b has a friend who does professional make-up and so he inquired on the rates. It's in the above average range on PF i think, and so I have not decided on it yet. What I like about her is the experience on the airbrush make-up which I want to try! I have done some research on other HMUA also, so I really need to meet and review.

GOWN MAKER/GOWN DESIGN

I am very fortunate to have friends who helped me research and decide on the perfect gown for my wedding. Since they know me so well, they have an idea what will suit me and what will be appropriate to our theme. They gave me really good options and its quite hard to decide which is which. I told my MOH that this is the next in line to book and so I have asked her to pool a list of couturier if possible with rates then visit them to check out their designs. OR with the handful of gowns that I have downloaded from the net from Monique Lhuillier to Vera Wang inspired we might look for a really good Mananahi in Divi. Go Girl...search for gown maker is on! Wuhoo!

Lastly Out of Topic: OUR HOME

After searching for almost a year now, we finally made a reservation of our first home ^_^. It's a 43.2 sqm 2-bedroom condo in Sun Valley Paranaque, south area is my soon to be new home. I am so excited and can't wait for us to fix and buy our home furnitures. It will just be a perfect timing, turn over is on 1st quarter of 2011 and the wedding is December 2010.

There goes my exciting August month, of course there are small stuff that were not posted since i don't want to spoil the surprise on our wedding day. I am very lucky to have a partner who is very supportive and cooperative with no complains whenever I set a meeting with supplier and when I drag him to a wedding expo. He is really on the practical side(and doesn't want me to splurge on even just 1 thing on the wedding which I hope he change his mind Hehehe) and he is the brains of the theme though its not rocket science, i still love it!

I know that the next months will be equally as busy, I'm glad that we have our patron/devotion to Mother of Perpetual Help who always always guides us in every step of the way.

One Tagaytay Place Ballroom

As promised to one of my fellow GT and W@W member here are the photos during our ocular in One Tagaytay Place(OTP). OTP is the hotel we are eyeing for the reception, we will also book them for our day before prep. For my family we will get the 3-bedroom Penthouse which is approximately 135 sqm with view of Taal Lake, kitchen, sofa and 3 bedrooms and even a maid's quarter while we will get a 2-bedroom suite for my h2b's family.

I just dont have photos of the rooms though I can assure you that it's really nice. Hope the pics will help you in your prep:

The Reception area is quite small but it has nice interiors.

The Aurora Ballroom: Capacity is 200 pax

Here's the bridge going to the ballroom, other side is the elevator. The ballroom is on the 3rd floor.

There... in case you want to contact them, they have a Manila office. Browse through their websites to check out the rates. The penthouse is not published just inquire on their premiere suites.

One Tagaytay Place Hotel Suites

Barrio Sungay, Tagaytay City

www.onetagaytayplace.com/

Happy prep!

Research research mode

I have been doing some research of wedding suppliers since the day we booked the church errr that's 17 days to be exact. My OCness is keeping with me so i was able to create my own xls file with timeline and suppliers list. (excited daw?? ok kinda but just with Project Management experience first part of project development is planning and of course tools to help you plan well, i guess i have justified myself here haha)

After seeing One Tagaytay Place (OTP) we were able to contact their Manila office and was able to meet one of their Sales Representative. She sent her initial proposal and after a few revisions, we were able to get our ideal cost for the hotel with the use of ballroom, food, use of bridal car, free fondant cake, the accomodation of both our families and the entourage. We are happy with the rates they gave and so we requested for the contract already, we will just have this reviewed and then off to 2nd booking. I'm so excited to book this place, it will be less hassle for us on that special day.

The church and venue is just two of the major things we have to think about and do some early booking. Right after this two, we will check out the P/V and Couturier suppliers. The other day though, I have this sudden feel to look for an OTD coordinator and so I have listed a few and met one of them yesterday. She was helpful and carefully listens to what we want for the wedding, she even mentioned that the budget we have in mind is reasonable for a December destination wedding. I then realized the value of having a coordinator, they will help you book suppliers and give you low rates to fit your budget, they have lots of ideas and recommendations and of course they make your life easier on the prep stage and the special day itself.

So now, i'm on the look out for a good coordinator. A coordinator who doesnt only have good rates but someone who has good rapport with us as well.

Weee....Coordinator hunt is on...

Our 1st Booking

When we have decided on our church, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Tagaytay, I wanted to reserve the date right away. Having a peak month and a destination wedding we might not be able to book the date and time that we want. So I called the parish office last Friday (Aug 7) to pencil reserve our preferred date: December 10, 2010 at 3PM, lo and behold the date was already booked by another couple just last Aug 5. I was really disappointed and tried calling h2b several times so I can let out my grumbling feelings but he was still in their planning session then. It had to take 2 cigs to calm me down and of course a few venting out from the people who knows the plan. When h2b had the chance to call me, my voice almost cracked because of the weak feeling and like a kid I told him “sabi sa’yo I book na natin ng maaga” almost into tears. Eventually I got over it, I had to! With a realization that it’s just a date, the wedding is still on anyway. Though it would really be nice if everything will work out as planned but anyway moving forward.

H2b and I went to Tagaytay to finally reserve a date, which we will still check what is available, we were really surprised on the number of reservations already for December 2010, as in couples are really planning 16-18 months ahead. Initially, he wants the 12/11/10 date unfortunately the only available slot is 9AM, which won’t fit to the theme that we want. So after several discussions on the dates: 12/3/10 or 12/17/10 we opt for the 12/17/10 to give us enough room to prepare. So the parish secretary, Haylene ink reserved the date and gave us the forms we should fill-out. There were questions like “Why do you want to get married” and “Why do want to have children?” which was pretty hard, hmm I wonder if the questions on the canonical interview will be harder. Afterwards, we paid the downpayment of Php 5K, while the rest will be paid 2 months before the wedding. She also discussed to us the requirements which we should start arranging 6 months before the wedding, mostly documents. The number of things to do is quite overwhelming but Haylene was accommodating enough and even gave me misallete as a reference, this is intended to be one of our DIYs.

So there it is our wedding date: 12/17/10, the feeling was like being engaged. ^_^ like we are really on the next stage of our relationship, this is it!

After the church, we went to One Tagaytay Place to check out the area, the staffs were friendly and showed us the ballroom and the different rooms they have. The grand ballroom looks pretty grand, the rooms are cozy and the price is pretty reasonable for couples who like us have a decided budget. Comparing to the other venue we have in mind, Summit Ridget, IMHO One Tagaytay has nicer rooms and ballroom while Summit Ridge has an elegant façade and receiving area. On the cost however there’s quite an x thousands difference which I will still have to really look into.

Then we had our lunch/dinner at Greek Taverna after the ocular in One Tagaytay Place. Of course we talked about the productive day and tons of tasks we should do, he felt overwhelmed ^_^ which is just normal. He wants us to decide on the venue already, now he knows that if we don’t book early we might loose the good and reasonable venues we have in mind hmm probably a lesson learned on the preferred date (teehee). So I’ll set a schedule with the sales rep of One Tagaytay and check the final package, if things go well we might book them already. I just really have to compare our two preferred hotels.

Next in my To Dos:

§ Prepare the wedding timeline so that h2b and I are always on the same page and we will know our next steps.

§ Consolidate the suppliers so we can better check the rates.

The Signs

Our first time in this Tagaytay church was quite an experience. After hearing mass, we got in the car and then an old dried leaf fell beside the passenger seat, it was so unique that we thought its a sign to get married in that church.

1^st Sign: But as we go along, there were some ideas of having a garden wedding and eventually a beach wedding. We are almost decided on having a Boracay beach wedding when h2b tried to fish the reaction of my soon-to-be MIL. The reaction was not that ok so we decided to scrapped the idea and go back to the original plan, that to hold the wedding in Tagaytay.

2^nd Sign: Since we are almost decided on the church h2b inquired about the rates, when I heard about it and comparing it with the rates of Churches in Manila, I thought it was pretty high. So I checked out other church in the area just to have an idea and maybe we can better weigh our options. I researched for Chapel on the Hill and Caleruega, and was surprised to find out that they have a much higher rate, around Php 15K that only includes use of the chapel. This made me think that our first choice still stands reasonably.

3^rd Sign: After being convinced on what I feel are the guide or signs, there was a 3^rd reason to really solidify the decision of holding the once in a lifetime event on this church. After the Sunday mass, my Mom went to this nearby store in our parish, she wants to buy an imagery of Mama Mary for my sister's house. There were only two imagery Mt. Carmel and Our Lady of Lourdes. My Mom chose the Our Lady of Lourdes and with amusement, I just said to myself, no more questions, no more hesitations.

We will go to Tagaytay(again) to have the ink reservation at the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. We will book the date before h2b leaves so we don’t have to worry if it will still be available.

I really believe that we are guided in all our plans; I feel that everything will work out fine. ^_^