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.