Gathering and submission of the necessary documents was easy because we can always drop by anytime to submit the docs as we have it. Miss Cathy of the parish office was always kind to assist any of our queries, thru text or thru email. Even the new parish priest was very kind during our interview, and it was fun to learn that we (myself, my groom and the priest) came from the same high school, same university and same college and that made us at ease to tell him our love story.

You may want to watch the Onsite Video so you would know why we rated Fr Ramil with a perfect 10! The ceremony (particularly the homily) was very lively, it perfectly matches our (my and my groom’s) personality. Imagine being called “Little Miss Philippines” and “Going Bulilit” on your wedding day?

Father Ramil is a regular guest priest in St Alphonsus. He was “suggested” by Miss Cathy of the parish office, and by a good friend from our office. The interview with him (which he required so that he could make the homily personalized) was really nice. He really made it sure he knows us before the wedding. He even read the “Our Story” portion of our weDsite which he commented as “parang fairy tale” during his homily.

Le Pav is a perfect venue if you want to have that exclusive feeling for your wedding (and any event). We especially loved the privacy of the place; the ample parking space; the receiving area that’s appropriate for the cocktails. The simplicity of its interior also makes it ideal for personalization, suitable for themed weddings.

We honestly think they are underpaid at PhP25K! There is enough number of them during the actual wedding day and despite the number of guests, everything was in order. They have a dedicated staff for the bride, another for the groom, enough number to ensure the church ceremony will be orderly and enough number at the reception.

Everything went smoothly because of them – from their extensively detailed checklists, preps meetings, church rehearsals, conceptualization of the reception programme, to the execution of how we have actually envisioned our wedding day to be.

We particularly appreciate that they were all smiles during the day. You will never see anyone of them looked harassed. They were all dressed appropriately and all of them acted respectably. They were able to manage the people even the VIPs.

At the reception, everything went as planned. Registration was in order. Our guestbook was properly circulated for signing. They ensured all our specifications were followed. For the venue – layout, arrangements, table names, cake toppers. In the programme – seating arrangement, entourage entrance, our first dance, AVPs, song numbers, games and prizes for the games, giveaways, the toasts. Name it, everything went smoothly.

It was also surprising that we didn’t get hungry during the wedding day. They ensured we ate properly before the ceremony and before the program. During the entire reception program, there was a staff dedicated to cater to our needs – food, water, someone to hold the bag - we were really treated as the true VIP during our wedding day.

Every peso was worth it with Josiah’s. We booked them as early as March 2009 during the PICC Expo, so what we got was still their 2008 rate (and managed to have the VAT waived). As a promo during the expo, we also got Amande’s Buffet de Chocolat, perfect for our Chocolate and Caramel-themed wedding. Since we have Amande’s for the dessert, the food during cocktails was sort of upgraded (instead of getting the usual food from their dessert menu, we have instead asked for additional food for the cocktails).

Maui is our 3rd AE. Initially it was Nancy Soriano (she resigned and transferred to Likha), then Meanne Agasang (she later on moved to Marketing, still in Josiah’s). We haven’t encountered any problem with Maui, the only reason why I’m giving her a 9 out of 10 rating is that she is not the type who answers emails very promptly, though she executes what has been discussed and agreed upon verbally.

We were handled well by Maui. All our caterer-related specifications were followed – from the menu, (we had several food tastings by the way, and in some of those we even had our siblings and grandmoms tagged along) the floor layout, backdrops, table clothes (Josiah’s had the best lineup of table cloths), to instructions on when to serve the wines and beers, as in every detail.

Similar to cake, we were not so particular with the bridal car so we just got the one from the Josiah’s package without any upgrade. We got the Benz E-class (E220). The car was ok, I thought the aircon was a bit warmer than I would like it to be during our trip from Astoria Hotel to the church (the reason why I gave them just a 9 out of 10). But it got colder when we were already in the church (while I was waiting for my go signal to step out of the car).

The driver was friendly, and I think he was a fast driver. Though we were the ones to leave the hotel last, we arrived at the church earlier than my groom and my family. From the hotel to the reception, we arrived earlier than our photographer (Our videographer, Phoeben and his wife Gen joined us in the car from the church to the reception because they had a problem with their vehicle).

We exceeded the 3 hour max so we had to pay additional PhP1K.

Our Onsite Video: http://vimeo.com/12524365?hd=1

We have booked Phoeben as early as February 2009, thru w@w reviews and our own review of their past SDEs.

The onsite video can already speak for our high rating for Phoeben. Everyone was left awed with the SDE. It captured all the highlights of the ceremony and a glimpse of our first dance.

I especially loved how the video captured Bryan in tears during his vows, and the funny excited gesture of Bryan in the ‘You may kiss the Bride’ part.

We’re very satisfied with Focal Point – beginning from our free prenup, our official prenup, the guestbook, the flashback AVP, the onsite Photo AVP, and the pics that we have received so far (more than three thousand pics! That’s still excluding all the raw pics).

For the guestbook, we chose the specific photos to be included in the album, and we also requested to include some shots taken our photography-enthusiast friends. The layout was fantastic! And so is the quality of the printed album itself.

• GUESTBOOK: http://myfocalpoint.multiply.com/photos/album/194/Album_Proofs_-_Bryan_Tina

We already have the 4 CDs of all 3,000plus photographer pick pics, (that’s still excluding all other raw pics which was according to them about 7,000plus - who needs a backup photographer?!) and we loved viewing them all, particularly the candid ones.

Oh, and they forgot a little something – a hook that will be used to attach the end of my gown’s train (different of course from the detachable train) at the back of my waist, so that I could freely move during the reception, especially for our first dance. They didn’t forget about my request to put some flowers or ribbons at the back, but they forgot about the hook. Good thing our OTD’s team was ever ready and sewed it just in time before our entrance at the reception.

For my bridal bag, I didn’t want a white one, so I told one of the assistants that I want it with our motif, gold and brown, with a specification that they use the fabric used for the gown of my maid of honor. She was able to take note of the gold and brown, but not the latter detail, so when I saw the bag with all the fine beadworks 2 days before the wedding, it was in the wrong colors. I told them that it was wrong and they gave me the correct colored bag, complete with the fine beadworks…and they even gave me the ‘wrong one’ for my keeping as well :)

A few other members of the entourage had their first and only fitting the week before the wedding but all were still delivered on time, and in good quality. I say it’s good to have a designer with enough manpower so that even tight deadlines are met.

For all the other gowns, particularly of the 3 grandmoms and the 2 moms, perfect –all of them were happy about their gowns. The designs for the 2 moms made them look slimmer too, thus you would know how the moms would feel about their gowns.

He has the lowest rating among all of our suppliers. Not because he didn’t deliver well, in fact the suit was great – it made me look thin and it is not novelty so I can still wear it on other occasions. Main problem with Jerome is his professionalism – I had my measurement with him three months before the wedding, paid 50% two months before and have texted and called him daily a month before the wedding. My last fitting was two days before the wedding and it didn’t fit me at all.

We had our wedding rings done by my tito, a goldsmith. We just gave him the design and money enough for him to buy the materials (gold and little diamonds).

We saw good designs that matches our motif at their shop in Greenbelt. At the time, the number of pieces readily available wasn’t enough so ordered for more.

I am one of the many w@wies who booked Val without a trial.

What can I say, I felt so pretty during our wedding day because of Val! I think I looked pretty too  Well, you can judge thru the pictures.

Composed Band was recommended by Juancho of Sensitivity when we told Juancho that we intend to get a band who can play the not-your-typical-wedding-love-songs. No offense to those who are fans of mushy music but we didn’t want that for our wedding. We wanted the wedding celebration to reflect our personalities.

4 booth hours + 4 layouts to choose from + 100 pcs bagtags + custom tarpaulin + unlimited photo standees + unlimited pics… all for PhP 12K  And let’s not forget that the printouts were really of good quality.

All our guests had fun at the booth. We were surprised to see that even the lolas, bosses, and some let’s say not-the-game-type-people had their wacky pics with all the props lining up at the booth.

For the bouquets, they all looked lovely. We really appreciate that the day before the wedding, Rina (our AE from 15-18)even called to update us about the specific flowers that they got – some were I think smaller than the usual so she called to ask us if we wanted it changed.

All these for the price of PhP 15K, yes, PhP 15K (and the initial quote was PhP 22K)– thanks to my husband’s negotiating skills :)

When we were scouting for a drapes supplier, Sensitivity’s package was more on the higher end in terms of price but when we compared their works (thru pictures) with the other suppliers offering cheaper packages, Sensitivity stood out in terms of quality. Same is true in terms of lights and sounds as we have seen a themed wedding with Sensitivity as the lights and sounds provider – it was magnificent!

Back to Jay Cee Kay, they are not popular in w@w, the people manning the booth were not as professional looking as in the other booths. But their quote was reasonable. And their offices are in the right places – Forbes and Alabang. After a little discussion, we booked them and in the same day we went to their office at Forbes to discuss the specifications. When we got the invites, we were surprised! The quality of the output was more than what we expected – the material smelled fragrant, the same paper used for the main invite was used for the RSVP card & map, even the RSVP card with the map was embossed, our names in the envelop flap were embossed as well. We also liked the box where the invitations were placed.

When we got the misalettes, which we were not expecting much of quality since these are just freebies for booking at the expo (on top of the 10% discount), we were again happy about the quality.

Dealing with them was easy. The free stay should have been actually spent last 2009 but we requested that it be moved to 2010 in time for the wedding. We also requested that the 2 units be adjacent so that moving from one room to another (for us and for the suppliers) during the wedding day would be easy – all granted.

Unlimited ideas + help + supplier feedbacks + virtual friendships = Priceless!

A month after we got engaged, we immediately signed up for w@w. The number of emails was overwhelming. I say it was addictive reading the mails. A good number of our suppliers we knew thru w@w – Josiah’s, Mallory, Phoeben, Sensitivity, Val Vilarin – and all of them delivered well in making true our dream wedding.

We will forever be grateful to this community.