Wedding Preps Venue Hunting Part 2

I've been very busy with work lately, that's why I haven't got the time to update this blog. I'm still at the office (bored of working), so here I am making a side step on blogging hehe :D

Last January 28, we went out again to scout more hotels in Ortigas. Good thing the weather that day was with us, it's not too sunny and with partial rain showers, so it's kinda cloudy walking around Ortigas between 11am-3pm :)

We visited four hotels. We inquired at Richmonde hotel-Ortigas, Linden Suites, Discovery Suites and Oakwood Premiere Joy-Nostalg Residences. These hotels are just one to two blocks apart, so it was a good exercise for us. I suggest, if you are going to bring a car, park it at SM Megamall or Shang-rila mall then walk towards San Miguel Avenue.

Richmonde Hotel-Ortigas

This is the first hotel we visited. It is not as big as the Eastwood Richmonde hotel, but the staff too are nice and accommodating. The hotel is kinda old, but the interiors, decors and furniture are really nice. It has a vintage feel like ambiance, unlike the one in Eastwood that has a modern and bright feel vibe (maybe because it is new). We only checked their junior suite,because that's the only available room that time for ocular. I must say that room is suitable for groom to be's. It has a mini living room, just enough for the groom's preparation and  picture taking with his groomsmen.

Richmonde hotel-Ortigas offers reasonable room rates. Money wise, it is cheaper to book here than in Eastwood Richmonde hotel,but if you are after the spacious lobby and modern design, you could extend some amount to go for the one in Eastwood. Their room rate ranges from 4000-21,000 pesos ( I think this is the largest suite in the hotel), not bad for a four star hotel.

Pros:

• Pretty vintage interior in the lobby and hallways
• It has a spiral wooden stairs but not as big as the one in Eastwood. By the way, the stairs in Eastwood is made of metal and colored marble.
• Nice and very accommodating staff
• No food corkage fees
• Can extend check out time ( just talk to the manager)
• Free picture taking in the rooms and lobby except in their pool and restaurant

Cons:

• The rooms in Eastwood Richmonde hotel are bigger
• Its lobby and hallways are not that big ( but not too small either)
• Small lobby area  (compared to Eastwood Richmonde)

I'm going to add Richmonde Hotel-Ortigas in my final choice list. Both Richmonde hotels got in, what's next??

Linden Suites

I've been hearing a few good feed backs about this hotel from w@w, since it's just a block away from Richmonde, we decided to take a look. I can't comment more about this hotel because that time they don't have any rooms available for ocular( they have a lot of tenants that time), so I'm just going to write here what I've known from their receptionist and also from my observations.

For me, it is a must to have a  nice hotel lobby for pictorial and video purposes. Linden has a small lobby and they don't have a staircase. I think they need to improve their lobby so that there could be a space where you can strike a pose for pictorial. I know they have minimal corkage fee if you're going to bring food outside, just verify it to them for sure.I've read in forums that they have nice and spacious rooms, so if you really wanted to check this hotel, better make a visit.

If I'm not mistaken, their room rates ranges from 7000-18,000 pesos. Also a good deal if you are not after the lobby design and just with the rooms.

Discovery Suites

This is the third hotel that we visited in Ortigas, unfortunately we had a bad customer service experience in this hotel. I don't want to spread bad feedback about this hotel, but I just want to share our experience so it could be a lesson to everybody.

Before we enter Discovery Suites, we are already warned that we are going to wait for some time before we get our turn to inquire. We saw through their glass doors that their receptionists are very busy accommodating a long line of tenants. We even saw tall basketball player imports in the lobby waiting for their turn to check in the hotel.

Upon entering the hotel premises, instead of the usual greeting that we get from hotels like "Hello Ma'am, Sir, Good morning/afternoon." we received this very rude greeting from their hotel lobby guard. 

Guard opening the door: "Saan kayo?"- (with matching taas ng kilay!  na napansin pala ni hubby to be)

Me: "Magiinquire lang kami ng room rates, kasi we're looking for a hotel where we can have our wedding preps."

I just ignored his rudeness because I'm not in the mood to react violently, but my fiance told me that he didn't like the guard's attitude. So, after asking room questions to their receptionist, we immediately told her what the guard did to us. The receptionist was nice and very apologetic to what the guard did, and she said that they'll have an immediate action for him.

We wore decent clothes that time ( my fiance was wearing slacks and long sleeves because he came from a meeting) and we don't look like beggars roaming around the hotel, so I just don't know why he treated us that way. I think if beggars are trying to enter the premises, they should still treat them with respect, unless they are going to cause a commotion. 

I can't say any nice words about Discovery Suites because one, I haven't seen any of their rooms because they are fully booked when we visited, two, because of our bad customer experience and three their lack of staircase in the lobby They are definitely OFF my final hotel list.

Oakwood Premier Joy-Nostalg 

Just a block away from Discovery Suites is the Oakwood Premier Joy-Nostalg residences. My office mate recommended this hotel to me, so we decided to pay a visit.  It is an apartment type hotel that's why it has the word residences to it. 

As of today, this is the newest hotel in Ortigas so its interiors are new (also smells new). Their lobby is big and nice, but they don't have a staircase. When the receptionist accommodated us to see their rooms, we were amazed to see that they have spacious, well lit, fully furnished rooms. The kitchen is very modern, there is an  oven where you can bake goodies. Their bathrooms have bath tubs with LCD TV so you can watch a movie while dipping in the tub. They have a pretty couch and big bed. All in all the room is very nice, so I suggest if you are going to stay for a week get Oakwood's long stay rate, you'll definitely enjoy it.

Their room rates are a little bit pricey, ranging from 8000-19,000 pesos but it is worth the stay. I really love their rooms but I'm really after the hotel lobby with staircase so I guess I'm not going to add Oakwood in my final list.

If you're going to ask, why we didn't visited Edsa Shangri-la hotel because one, the room rates are too expensive for us, and two you need to pay an additional fee to have a pictorial in their room and lobby.

Now for my final list, we're choosing between Eastwood Richmonde hotel and Richmonde hotel-Ortigas. I'll let you know what we're going to book pretty soon! :)

Bridal Car: Booked! :)

Before, we really wanted a Chrysler 300c for our bridal car. I even found an inexpensive white Chrysler 300c bridal car for rent last year, but I didn't book it because I wanted James to be here when we do that (I know how much he value cars, most specially on what I'm going to use on our wedding day hehe). Now that James is here, I decided to inquire again on our prospect bridal car supplier, but unfortunately their rates went up because of the new year. It already exceeded our allotted budget so time to find another supplier :(

So my quest for a cheap luxury bridal car rental went on, until I've read a supplier review rating from the wedding forum I am a member of and got interested with the good feed backs and rate the bride posted. I even googled his name and found his ad on Sulit.com. I saw the car in the pictures, and it looks good.

The owner of the said white BMW 3 Series 2006 model bridal car for rent is Mr. Jamie Lim. I called his globe land line number the other day, and inquired about his car rental rate. I was shocked to know that for a car like that he charges really low, which is a big help to couples like us, who only has certain budget for it so we immediately set an appointment with him.

James and I met him around 11:30 a.m. at National Bookstore, Quezon Ave.What I really like most in our conversation was, "Ayaw ko ng tulad sa ibang professional bridal car for rent na, lumagpas lang ng ganitong hour or ilang minutes eh magbabayad kana kaagad, kaya ifix nalang natin. I remember sa wedding ko, lumagpas lang kami ng 10 minutes, nagbayad na ako ng 1k!"

Yes, he's a generous, soft-spoken and sophisticated guy.The bridal car was actually his wife's old car that she's not using anymore, so they decided to rent it as a bridal car since it is color white. Well it's not that old either, 5 years is not that old compare to vintage cars right? And when we checked the car's interior and exterior, you'll see that it is well maintained.

Just contact him if you need one, I assure you the car is squeaky clean,classy and most importantly good air conditioning!:) To give you an idea he currently charges 5k for 3-5 hours, not bad :D

JAMIE LIM
09175660237
Globe mobile duo landline: 2116449
Email add: limjosemanuel@yahoo.com

Wedding Preps Venue Hunting Part 1

As much as I wanted to be on track with our wedding preps, I can't blog our progress all at once because of work duties and other responsibilities I've been juggling lately. Even though wedding preparations are very tiring, it's also fulfilling because you are doing it with the love of your life. ;-)

Last Saturday, January 14 2012, James and I went out to do a hotel ocular in QC, Eastwood and Ortigas. Yes it's three cities, but we only visited one hotel in QC, one hotel in Eastwood and two hotels in Ortigas. I'm going to share here what we liked and don't like about these hotels.

Sulo Riviera Hotel

Sulo Riviera lobby

This is the first hotel we visited. It is the nearest hotel to our church and reception and it is only located at East Avenue, Quezon City.

Pros:

• It is advisable to get this hotel for couples who will have their church and reception in QC area.
• Nice furnishings.
• They have a pool at the middle of the hotel for pictorial.
• Spacious rooms.

Cons:

• The place is small.
• No staircase (a major con for me)
• Their rates are a bit pricey. Their suite is as expensive as the ones in Edsa-Shangrila hotel, considering they are only considered as a four star hotel.
• The hallways going to the rooms are really dark, even though it already have orange lightings at every corner.
• It smells old.
• Food delivery is not allowed.
• Additional 3,000 pesos for the lobby and room pictorials.

With that enough cons, we immediately decided to visit the next hotel, off we go to Eastwood Richmonde Hotel :)

Eastwood Richmonde Hotel

Eastwood Richmonde lobby

I've been hearing good feed backs about this hotel, so even though it's quite far from our church and reception, we still decided to check it out. When we finally stepped inside this hotel, I liked it already!

Pros:

• It has a staircase! (Yey! Yey! Yey!)
• They have good air conditioning. It's cold even though we're just in the lobby.
• They have good lighting in the lobby, which is very useful for pictorials.
• Their lobby is big. We saw a group of entourage sitting in the lobby area, waiting for the bride to go down the stairs.
• The hotel is beside Eastwood Mall. In case you forgot something, you can buy it there.
• They have modern, clean, and spacious rooms.Also their room hallways are full of mirrors, really good for photo opp :-D
• The staff are courteous and nice. The bell boy who accompanied us to see the rooms gave us tips and suggestions on what room to book.
• No additional charges for lobby and room pictorials. (yey!)
• They allow food delivery with no extra charge (yey!)
• They can allow room stay extensions with no extra charge (another yey!)
• Their room rates are affordable, even if we book 3 rooms, it'll still be on our budget range ( a big yehey!)

Cons:

• We went there on Saturday so it's very traffic. Our wedding falls on Tuesday, so I don't know if the traffic would still be the same ( hope not ).
• It's far from our QC church and reception, but it can be manageable if you get out of the hotel early.
• I know if you book a room in Eastwood Richmonde, you'll get 1 free parking slot per room. Suppliers can park at Eastwood Mall, but I think it will be kinda costly. If I'm not mistaken, we were charged 50 pesos for just staying 1 and a half hour in Eastwood Mall parking.

At that very moment, I really wanted to make a reservation, but we opted to check other hotels in Ortigas so we could have many choices. 

Crowne Plaza Galleria Hotel

Crowne Plaza reception area

I can't comment much on this hotel because when we visited it, they have no rooms available for ocular. They just gave us their current room rates and some pictures so we could visualize how the rooms look like.

Pros:

• It is advisable to get this hotel for couples who will have their church and reception in Mandaluyong or Libis area.
• The staff who assisted us was nice and courteous.
• Their rates are reasonable enough.
• It's beside Robinson's Galleria, you could jump over there if you need anything.
• It's not hard to find because it is near EDSA. When you see Robinson's Galleria, you know you're on the right track.

Cons:

• No staircase (a major con for me)
• The lobby is small, no area for photo opp. I think they need to redesign it.
• Air conditioning is not that good. That time, It's kinda hot when we were talking to the receptionist at the lobby.

Holiday Inn Hotel Ortigas

Holiday Inn reception area

It's not really in our plan to visit this hotel, but since it's beside Crowne Plaza, we decided to inquire too.

Pros:

• It is advisable to get this hotel for couples who will have their church and reception in Mandaluyong or Libis area.
• The staff who assisted us was nice and courteous.
• Again it is near Robinson's Galleria. It is useful to be beside a mall in case you forget something.

Cons:

• The lobby is really small, no area for photo opp.
• Their rates are quite expensive, considering there is nothing special in this hotel.
• They have smoking and non-smoking rooms in this hotel, a big no-no for me. We wanted to check their non-smoking deluxe room but there's no available for ocular.So their receptionist offered us to check one of their deluxe smoking rooms because they look the same, and my Gad, it stinks! even if they frequently clean it, you'll still smell like cigarette butt.

Obviously, out of all the hotels we visited, we really loved Eastwood Richmonde. We're still undecided on booking them, because we will have another hotel venue ocular one of these days, but this time we'll focus only in Ortigas area. On our next ocular, we will be visiting Edsa-Shangrila hotel, Oakwood Premiere Joy-Nostalg hotel, Discovery Suites and Richmonde Hotel Ortigas. 

DIY addition- boutonnieres!

Now that I'm at the peak of researching about wedding preps, I encountered these unique and colorful D-I-Y buotonneires!

If you noticed, the boutonneires were made according to the couples theme, like the set above, it's a leggo boutonneire, and it's cute and adorable! :D Though we already have a florist who could provide as real flowers as boutonnieres, I think it would be more creative if we could create ours based on our theme.

Now, I wonder what kind of design I could create for our a touch of Paris theme...hmmmm...can't think of anything yet hehe, but this should be added in our D-I-Y list :D

Do-It-Yourself Projects:

-Monogram

-Save The Date Cards

-Will You Be Cards

-Invitations

-Guest Note Frame

-Table number cards

-Table number names

-Escort cards

-My reception fascinator and for the bridesmaids

-D-I-Y boutonnieres for my groom and the groomsmen

-Souvenirs for the guests

I just hope we could so all of these stuff hehe, now I need to think of a prenup concept *wink*

Our monogram: DONE! :)

If you've been following my blog, I recently posted our D-I-Y project list for our wedding. Last Saturday, I got inspired and started doing our monogram ( I actually made some samples last year but I didn't like it so I have to do it all over again hehe). Below are the 5 monograms I created, I still need to revise the colors because they are too light ( weird they appear dark in my monitor, so now it's time to buy a new one so I could design well).

Monogram 1

Monogram 2

Monogram 3

Monogram 4

Monogram 5

I love them all, but my favorite is monogram 4. Good thing before I asked James which of the designs he liked best, he immediately told me he likes monogram 4 :D A little tweak with the colors and we're all set :D

I'm done with the monograms, now off to do the rest in the list :)

Do-It-Yourself Projects:

-Monogram

-Save The Date Cards

-Will You Be Cards

-Invitations

-Guest Note Frame

-Table number cards

-Table number names

-Escort cards

-My reception fascinator and for the bridesmaids

-Souvenirs for the guests

2012 here we come!

Before I start, I wanted to greet everyone first a Happy new year! :D It's already 2012 and we are back on track. I'm very happy and excited because James is now with me (literally), helping me with the wedding preparations. FYI, it's exactly 11 months until our wedding day, yayks!

Yesterday he came by our house and we started filling up the form our wedding coordinator gave us. The form is an excel sheet with different wedding categories. It has a category for the number of guests, wedding suppliers, there's also a budget sheet tab and notes tab where you can write down reminders for your coordinator on your wedding day. I didn't answer this form before because I wanted James to be with me so that he would also know what's in it.

Now, I'm currently researching about monogram design ideas and on how to make a fascinator tutorial. We still have a lot of things to research, do and suppliers to book. I'm going to list them here so I could track it down next time:

Do-It-Yourself Projects:
-Monogram
-Save The Date Cards
-Will You Be Cards
-Invitations
-Guest Note Frame
-Table number cards
-Table number names
-Escort cards
-My reception fascinator and for the bridesmaids
-Souvenirs for the guests

Suppliers to book:
-Bridal Car
-Photo Booth
-Entourage gown maker ( for MOH, bridesmaids and mothers of bride and groom)
-Suits for the Bestman, groomsmen and fathers of the bride and groom
-Wedding Rings
-Honeymoon destination
-Hotel for the wedding preps
-Crew meals

Prenup concept/location/costume- By April or May this year


Condo or apartment for rent- This is actually an after the wedding project, but we need to research this early because we're going to leave our houses right after our big day- I'm really going to miss my family.


Wheww! that's all I can think for now. I know as the wedding becomes nearer, more expenses will come our way, but we're hoping to save more than to spend more.

So, help us God -_-