Post Nup Supplier Review: K by Cunanan

We chose our caterer because of two main reasons: we tagged along to our friends’ food tasting last year and we thought the food was great plus we’ve seen photos of their wedding setups and they were always classy, tasteful and elegant. Those two main reasons were enough to make us confident that things would turn out well food-wise and décor-wise for the wedding.

And we weren’t disappointed. So far, all of the feedback on the food is positive. In fact, I think it was just me that had a minor issue with the food --- the grilled lapu-lapu piece that I ended up with was not cooked enough. The upside to this is that none of the other guests seem to have had the same problem. As for the tables and the venue décor, when Allan and I first saw the centerpieces, we thought they were great. The flowers mixed with fruits and the cactus and yes, even lettuce had exactly the kind of colors and look that we wanted. Their idea of painting tin cans with copper instead of the original wooden box also was a success I think. It added to the “rustic” and homey feel as I didn’t really want the décor to be too stiff. I tend to think of high floral arrangements in glass as too formal --- so we wanted low, lush and approachable. Which is exactly what we got. If the number of people who brought home centrepieces are any indication, then I would say it was a success.


I only have two things that are not so positive (but not necessarily negative either) with K by C. First, during the planning process, my coordinator had a little communication problem with them. It took about two months from the time they met and discussed the layout and décor before I actually had the details on email (being overseas, I naturally had to rely on written descriptions and quotations). How it came about, I feel it really isn’t mine to say since all I have is second-hand information. Second, I was a little confused with some of the details for the décor. Specifically those that had to do with rental of Fiscus trees for the venue and whether or not we would have our dinner table separate from the sofa where we would have our photos taken with the guests. Our final contract, received a few days before the wedding (about a week maybe?) didn’t have the Fiscus trees and indicated that we’d have the couch first and then the table added later at the same spot after the photos were taken. Two days before the wedding I received a text saying that the trees should still be part of the décor. At that point, I didn’t want to change any of the plans anymore (primarily the Financial planning) so I asked if they were necessary. When I was told they were not, I decided to do away with them. If we didn’t need them, then why bother. They would be using the Top Shelf trees instead. I found out after the wedding that Ames had to have the Top Shelf trees switched out several times as she wasn’t happy with how things looked. Whether or not it was a major issue, I don’t know anymore. Maybe it’s also the reason why we had the couch separate from the dinner table, since they didn’t want the trees as backdrop for the photos? At this stage, I don’t think I’ll ever know. All I know is that I was very happy with the end result and I thought the venue looked intimate and cosy and wonderful --- just as I had hoped it would be.

Wedding Suit-up! (The Barney Stinson post)

Firstly this is a wedding supplier review and not a tribute to How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson, but I just couldn't resist. And besides, I looked good in that suit. So good that I had two made.

Ok, down to the business of the review. I've always said I wanted to get married (and buried) in a barong. But somehow, I forget, the discussion/decision was made that a suit would be more fitting. I initially wanted to go with an "unknown" tailor and just get the cloth from Divisoria or something. Then I was recommended to Kingsmen Tailoring at the Intercontinental Hotel. I've heard their workmanship before and I've of their prices as well. We were able to pull some strings and got a small discount on their prices. It did not seem to bad at the time so we decided to go for it.

Long story short, the suits looked great. I've been finicky about the suits after being introduced to Ted Baker and actually trying on some of their lineup. Unfortunately I've never really been able to find one that fit me well. I'm glad that Kingsmen was able to provide me with the style close to Ted Baker suits and that fit perfectly.

I am a little disappointed in how communication and timing was managed as I've provided all the information with a great deal of time before the wedding and yet some of the suits were only finished 2 days before the wedding. And for wedding preparations go, that is cutting it close and brings quite the stress on the client. Other than that for the price, workmanship and quality of the suits, Kingsmen is always a supplier that is worth considering.

Post Nup Supplier Review: Sy-Kat Couture

Everyone knows that proper work on my dress could only commence three weeks before the wedding.  I went to Kat the day after I arrived and kept coming back everytime she would ask me to for fittings and adjustments.  I was right in choosing Kat to design and create my dress -- she knew I didn't want a dress showered with beads or with any of the frills, bells and whistles that I've seen on so many bridal magazines.  I wanted a good fit, a good cut, good worksmanship and classy details and Kat delivered all of that.  Her draping and beadwork on the dress was done by hand (and she has the marks to show for it).  The beadwork was not overdone and she added in just the right amount of sparkle.  She even created a shrug for me less than a week before the wedding in a frenzy of church-restriction panic!

I never really knew beforehand what my wedding gown would look like, but I'm pretty sure what I wore is what I would have imagined if I had an image of the dress way before the wedding. My single regret is that I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the dress on the dress form :(  there was just too much happening on the wedding day, I completely forgot.

For any bride looking for a designer and who's willing to forego the usual bridal suspects, Kat Sy comes highly recommended!  Visit her site here:  http://sykatonline.multiply.com/

The wedding soundtrack

When Socs and I were planning our wedding, we never really entertained the idea of how to entertain our guests (pun intended). Going with a "show" band was not us. String quartets here are generally disappointing. So we were pretty much sold on the idea of iPod entertainment for the reception.

That made looking for songs the main task. No mushy romantic music for us. We wanted something new, edgy, and off the wall. Luckily while I was in the US for an assignment, my car had XM radio so I was able to tune in to the music industry and get the ball rolling. I also commissioned Beverly Marquez to send some recommendations of the sounds that I liked.

I also frequented the website www.weddingmusicblog.com (the website seems to be down, Google the link and look at the cached site) and got some pretty good songs from it.

Despite being ok with iPod music, Socs and I were open to having a "wedding singer". We have an officemate who belongs to a band but were not quite sure if he was the sound we were looking for. Then he posted an acoustic rendition of Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead, and we knew he could pull it off. So I hand picked a selection of songs from our seed of around 40 songs. We initially wanted only a single singer, but he said it would be better to have 2 singers/guitarists. He suggested a friend of his and sent us a "demo", he fit the bill so we gave the go ahead. Awesome duo, once I heard the first song play during the reception I knew they would rock it. They come highly recommended.

Even with a "band", I knew my initial cut of 40 songs would not do it. It lacked cohesion and order. Enter my friend Novis Lagunay. I knew he was a music buff and after attending his wedding, he was definitely the man to ask for help. I told him our concept, sent him my list of songs, he messed around with it a bit and provided me with pretty much the playlist that was played during the entire night. Excellent job Nobs!

So for those who might be interested, here is the playlist from our night:

Cocktails:

311 - Love Song

Afghan Whigs - 66

Alice In Chains - No Excuses

Better Than Ezra - A Lifetime

Better Than Ezra - At The Stars

Boys Like Girls - Hero/Heroine

Dashboard Confessional - Vindicated

The Fray - How To Save A Life

Incubus - Are You In

Lemonheads - It's About Time

Lifehouse - Make Me Over

Maroon 5 - Won't Go Home Without You

Owsley - Good Old Days

Powderfinger - My Happiness

The Script - The Man Who Can't Be Moved

Sister Hazel - Change Your Mind

Sister Hazel - All for You

Splender - Monotone

Splender - Save It For Later

Sugarcult - Memory (Acoustic)

Train - Drops Of Jupiter

Dinner:

Anberlin - A Day Late (Acoustic)

Anberlin - Dismantle. Repair. (Acoustic)

Anberlin - Inevitable (Acoustic)

Anberlin - The Unwinding Cable Car (Acoustic)

Athenaeum - What I Didn't Know (Acoustic)

Better Than Ezra - Desperately Wanting (Acoustic)

Boys Like Girls - Let Go (Acoustic)

Boys Like Girls - Two Is Better Than One

Counting Crows - Mr. Jones

Dave Matthews Band - Lover Lay Down

Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark

Foo Fighters - Everlong (Acoustic)

The Fray - Never Say Never

Gavin DeGraw - Follow Through (Stripped Version)

Gavin Rossdale - Love Remains The Same

Incubus - Drive

INXS - Afterglow

Jack Johnson - Better Together

Jack Johnson - Flake

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours (Acoustic)

John Mayer - No Such Thing

Matt Nathanson - Come On Get Higher

Newton Faulkner - I Need Something

Nixons - Sister (Acoustic)

Plain White T's - 1,2,3,4

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Your Guardian Angel

Rico Blanco - Your Universe

Sister Hazel - Best I'll Ever Be (Piano Version)

Sister Hazel - All For You (Acoustic)

Stereophonics - It Means Nothing

Sugarcult - Memory (Acoustic)

Toad The Wet Sprocket - All I Want (Acoustic)

Vertical Horizon - Sunrays And Saturdays

Zero 7 - Destiny (Acoustic)

The John Abrenica and Mito Romualdez band (not the real duo's group name heheh). Songs from what I distinctly heard they played

Ben Folds Five - The Luckiest

Chris Cornell - Thank You

Foo Fighters - My Hero (Acoustic)

Outkast - Hey Ya (Scrubs Version)

The list we sent them included:

Cynthia Alexander - Walk Down The Road

Dashboard Confessional - Even Now

Dashboard Confessional - I Do

Dashboard Confessional - Stolen

Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark

Evanescence - My Immortal

Evan Dando/Lemonheads - How Will I Know

Hedley - For The Nights I Can't Remember

Parokya ni Edgar - Your Song

Pearl Jam - Breathe

Rico Blanco - Your Universe

Rise Against - Swing Life Away

Staind - Zoe Jane

Train - If It's Love

William Fitzsimmons - Good Morning

Do I still have time to post?

Ok. A few more days before the wedding and we've got a lot of stuff done in the past few weeks, at the same time it feels that there's a lot more stuff to do!

Just a recap on what has transpired:

1. As soon as Socs got home we passed by Matus and got our actual wedding rings. These guys remembered us after all this time and we didn't even need to show them our receipts to get the rings! (although we did have to pay the remaining amount hehe). They also offered to refurbish our worn out silver mock rings free of charge (part of their service). We got them back over the weekend and they are like new. They have got excellent customer service and would recommend them without a pause.

2. A few days later Socs and I had our prenup shoot with MangoRed. This was quite stressing as the plans regarding the shoot location and the concept behind it all started disintegrate due to circumstances. Everything was back and forth but I eventually found a location near our house and we went with it. We were not really able to coordinate with the photographers regarding this so we just stuffed the car with stuff that might be useful and relied on the genius that is MangoRed to pull us through.

We were not disappointed. These guys have it. They simply blew us out of the water with how they easily rolled with it. And based on the few photos I saw, it is going to rock! To say that they are good photographers is a grave understatement.

3. Another SNAFU situation came about in getting our supply of wines. I thought I had it all planned out, get a whole bunch of wine (which I've already tried before) from Barcino. I even dropped by to confirm if they had stock and how much lead time I had to give them. Long story short, there was a miscommunication so I dropped that option immediately. Socs and I went around our neighborhood and visited wine depots and bought sampler wines for tasting. Our wine tasting with friends fell through due to scheduling, but we managed to choose a wine we liked (even the kids liked it.... yes Socs' nephew and nieces were our expert wine tasters). But as I said, situation: normal - all fucked up, the wine depot did not have enough of the wine we liked. They had another wine available (I made sure by counting the bottles) from the same winery so we bought one, opened it and tasted it right there. Luckily we liked it better than our first option. Sold. Done. Thank you!

4. One thing that was not so stressful was the final food tasting with K by Cunanan. Some minor discussion regarding the linen and centerpiece was involved but everything was in order. No hassle.

5. One current issue I have is with the suits from Kingsmen. I got mine done in around 2 weeks, from measurement to final fitting, with no problem. I even had 2 suits made. For some reason, the schedule all got mixed up so we are having to wait for a few items this late in the game. I would have preferred everything to have been done sooner as this has been in motion for months already but we dropped the ball so I really can't complain much. Kingsmen could improve on following up the status of the suits considering the amount of business their customers provide them.

I would just like to add though that the tailoring is quite good and that the cloth makes a lot of difference in how the suit looks. So investing in a good suit is always a good idea.

second wind.

For a time I didn't know how to proceed.  I knew what Allan and I wanted, but I didn't quite know how we could get things moving in that direction.  We had all these ideas, but somehow it difficult to make things concrete.  There were major things that needed to be acted upon and something had to be done.

So, act on them, we did!

First of the things we did was change the reception venue.  Yes, we've said goodbye to the lovely and cosy Filipinas Heritage Library.  It was one of the toughest decision we had to make.  We were back and forth on it, until we just said, yes, we're changing.  Our main reason really is that the weather is very difficult to predict, and having an outdoor venue may mean stress for everyone involved if we were to second guess how things will be on the day of the wedding.  We had the option of putting up tents, but that ruins the feel of the Courtyard for us.  We could move to the Reading room, but that would be too small for our guests.

So we booked Top Shelf at Fully Booked High Street. Yup, Fully Booked.  I've tried to google and search the usual sites for wedding held there and have found none.  That could be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on how you look at it.  I'd like to think of it as something fun and something different.

Then we had to change our Wedding Coordinator.  I am all for Polly, our original coordinator, but she has asked her former coordinator, mentor and future business partner to take over.  We completely understand and we have no issues with it.  Especially since I've spoken to Amy Gotianse (of Forever and a Day) and we're just as happy with her being our coordinator.   One of the first things she wants to do is check out our venue and then we'll take it from there.

My most recent talk with a supplier was with our invites, Katrina Valenzuela from Village Projekt.   I don't recall how I found her Multiply site but when Polly said I wouldn't go wrong with Trina, I didn't hesitate.  She has actually sent me two designs for our invites already but I've informed her of the change in venue, and given her a better idea of what we were imagining the wedding to be so she's taken that and will work on something else, just to give us options.

My main hurdle in the past was trying to put everything together and not fully communicating them to my suppliers I think.  And then I realized, whats the point in finding established and creative suppliers if I don't feed off of their ideas and their expertise?  So thats what I did, I spoke to them and told them what we were thinking.  In the end, I'm a lot more energized and positive about where the wedding planning is going.

Crunch time

With the sudden influx of friends proposing and planning weddings, plus the fact that it's less than 8 months until our own wedding, Socs and I are starting to feel pressured and get things done.

So during Socs' flyback for the holidays we've (well more of she) made a few more additions to the list of things that have been accomplished.

1. Coordinator - Polly Fong (http://missusbig.blogspot.com)

With Socs in Dublin and me currently freezing my butt off in Ohio, we definitely needed someone to help us out with the wedding preparations. We initially thought we could handle it or that Socs' sister or brother can help us, but they're busy with their lives so we decided to get a full time coordinator. Besides if we're paying for an OTD anyway, might as well pay for full time coordinator if the price is right.

Socs and I met up with Polly and she seemed to have the same ideals that we have for our wedding. She gave us a few good advices during our discussions and we seemed to get along pretty well, which is always good when deciding on a coordinator.

2. Wedding gown and female entourage - Kat Sy (http://sykat.multiply.com)

Socs had a hard time choosing the right designer for her gown and for her entourage. There where a few options and all had their good points and variables. I think I kind of persuaded her to go with Kat Sy for the main reason that she is not really a wedding gown designer. It may be a negative for most brides, but Socs is not most brides. Kat Sy was the perfect designer for what she had in mind for her gown and her entourage.

3. Suit and male entourage - Some tailor that Karlo knows

While Socs had a bit of back and forth between designers, I had no problems in deciding. We'll go with the tailor that Karlo got for his wedding. I googled for a suit design, found one I liked and sent it to the boys. I'll buy the fabric, the boys will pay for the labor. Done and done.

4. Update budget - 'nuff said

Things that are also keeping us busy:

- Prenup shoot details

- Video coverage

- Gaining/losing weight

Supplier Review: Matus Jewellry

When Socs and I were discussing our civil wedding, one item we had to consider was the rings to use in the ceremony. While I already had made reservations to Matus Jewellry for our wedding rings we were not quite sure if we can get them in time for the wedding.

We considered using Socs' engagement ring and borrow my mom's wedding ring for me. We also considered buying cheapo rings wherever and use that. On the last Tuesday of my single life, we dropped by Matus in Megamall to look at some potential wedding stuff and ask them if they can create the mock rings (free from the wedding fair reservation) before we got hitched.

To their credit they said they could have it Thursday at around 8pm, and there you go... instant wedding bands! Kudos to Matus for such great customer service.

Hopefully the actual rings will turn out great as well.