Just for recap and for basis, here’s the price range-category table I made and shared in the previous post:

(CONTINUED)

AMONN VELASCO

The day after meeting Vidal Clayton of the Cecilio Abad Design team was the meeting with Amonn Velasco. It was a Tuesday, so I went to their shop in Laon Laan St. in Manila. The peeps there informed me before that Amonn’s Makati schedule is Saturday only, and by appointment pa. I just couldn’t wait to meet the designer that would probably slash half of my bridal gown expenses. *laughs*

I have shared in my earlier blog entries about how I booked my wedding gown couturier/designer last January. Now, I’m about to explain why I had to let go of him/them and search for a new one (and make kwento how). But before anything else, I’d like to share my real peg for my wedding dress. (Yes, I already have a peg now!)

Since husband-to-be (H2B) is much taller than me, I had to find ways not too look too tiny beside him, besides wearing high heels, of course. I did my homework and found out that the so-called serpentina or mermaid cut can give the illusion of height. The cut isn’t really my type at all, I’ve never really preferred wearing the cut unless someone made me wear it, but I’m now actually open to anything, just to look best on my wedding day. I realized it wasn’t too bad of a cut, and it’s actually something. Sabi pa nga, lakas maka-sexy! *laughs*

If you read my previous posts, you’d remember how I got my photo and video (P/V) suppliers in bridal fairs. Just for recap, I got Exige Weddings (of Niceprint Photography) sometime in January and got Studio1 Photography and Videography (Gladberg) sometime in March. Both suppliers offered me both photo and video service in each of the packages. In this post, I’d be explaining why I got each of them, and why I had to get two.

Exige Weddings

I am really impressed with the work of Exige (well, Niceprint in general) that’s why I got them. Since it was a premium line of Niceprint Photography, it comes with a lot of perks. Ms. Rhian, the rep I got to talk to, would be a dedicated concierge of Exige Clients. She’d be handling queries, schedules, and requests of their clients. Unlike in Niceprint, there are several employees to handle different clients. Maybe one employee would say one thing, another would say a different thing. In Exige, it’s centralized to Ms. Rhian. They also promise shorter waiting time for the albums and processed videos. You also get a free small digital frame TV with which you can play a slideshow of your wedding photos. That’s gonna be great to put in the living room, I think. You also get to enjoy a free delivery service if you’re within Metro Manila, a free family investment advice by a partner institution, access to a private lounge for their customers with wifi access, enjoy discounts in partner establishments and suppliers, and a gift box containing your CD of photos, personalized wine, and memo pad. Ain’t that cute?

It’s the second part of my bridal fair adventures! Yaay! In this post I’d be sharing with you my experience in another bridal fair which happened last March 8-9, 2014.

Themes & Motifs was the organizer of the bridal fair last March (LOL this time I remember na!). I had so much fun during that fair because that was the time I got to book a lot of suppliers I needed (and as of the moment, wala pa naman akong pinagsisisihan. Haha). There I got to book our florist and event stylist, lights and sounds (L/S), church and reception musicians, on-the-day coordinator, bouquet preservationist, second P/V supplier (I’d be having a separate post explaining this), and an invitation printer (one of two printers I booked, will explain that later in this post). It was held in SMX Convention Center again, so not much hassle travelling because the Mall of Asia was quite accessible from here in Imus, Cavite.

Before all of this happened (the wedding preps, that is), the idea of bridal fairs is just alien to me. I knew they existed, but only because I see billboards and posters announcing when they’d happen. I had questions like, “What happens in bridal fairs? Why do they call it ‘fair’ in the first place? Do you have to pay to join one?” Things like that. Doing research over the internet helped me partially understand, but not completely grasp the idea.

First, most of the time you could get in for free if you pre-register online. You’d be able to find suppliers and compare prices and works, get to talk to owners or reps personally and ask whatever’s in your mind, become aware of latest trends, and get discounts. Nobody ever told me it would be paradise. *laughs*

First off, I’ve deleted the details of my supposedly HMUA (hair and makeup artist) here in this blog, in my previous blog, and my other wedding sites so I wouldn’t count as another should-have-been-customer who bashes the supplier online. I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of being sued for online libel because first and foremost, what I’m about to write is true, though I admit this is only my side of the story. Who knows what’s really going on, on the other side, right? By the way, this is not a supplier horror story because the wedding is still almost a year to go, and HMUA did not make any abominable mistakes to destroy the wedding, or at least my vibe on the wedding. This is just my explanation and my account of a (somewhat common) instance which has helped me be a wiser bride prepping for the big day. Maybe this could help future brides avoid going through the same mistake that I did. So here it goes.

Even before King and I got engaged, mom was very vocal about the thought of us getting married. You would often hear her say "Pag kayo kinasal ni King..."  then a train of wedding details would follow. One time in 2012 when we were running errands in 168 Mall in Divisoria, we saw a designer's showroom. The name was Edward Teng. Mom went in and started asking the secretary about the dresses. One of the gorgeous dresses there when we inquired costs around 50-60 thousand pesos. I was overwhelmed. At that time, I dismissed the thought of having to spend that much, and besides I wasn't going to be married yet.

Fast-forward to December 2013, when wedding preps needed to be done already.

So I was thinking already, who would make my wedding gown? Yes, I don't want to buy ready-made dresses. If I'm gonna be dashing or ugly on my wedding day because of my dress, I'd like it to be more of my fault. LOL. Let's just say I really want it personalized. Being an online person, I took refuge to the ever glorious internetzzzz. I found out some names of famous designers in the wedding industry these days: Veluz Reyes, Cecilio Abad, Edward Teng (familiar name!), Jazel Sy, Kristel Yulo, Francis Libiran, Veejay Floresca, and believe me, there's a lot more. Apparently there's a trend today, wedding gowns with embellished laces that are seemingly just on top of the skin, whatever you call that.

Here are some of the works of Veluz posted in the net:

And here are some by Cecilio Abad and his team:

These are by Veejay Floresca:

And these are by Edward Teng:

Notice the trend? Embellishments and froufrou skirts. I wouldn't want froufrou (or ruffles, as it's commonly known by Pinoys). I think it looks bulky on me and I can imagine being swallowed by a froufrou skirt. I think it would make me look short. But I do love the embellishments.

So yeah, these gowns are gorgeous, but how much do they cost? With help of the internet (again), I've come up with these numbers:

Veluz Reyes- 200-400k
Veejay Floresca - more or less 200k
Cecilio Abad - Less than 200k
Edward Teng - Less than 100k

Note that these are just my estimates. These are just products of my imperfect averaging capabilities. Data only came from questions and conversation in the internet exchanged between brides. But you know what, even if these were OA estimates, you'd be surprised how in just a couple of years' time this might be either accurate or even below the actual rates already.

I did not bother asking about the other designers na, baka maiyak lang ako. But I knew I had to avail the service (and the talent) of one of them. Obviously, it would be Edward Teng--plus the fact that my mom was always raving about that time when we passed by his displays. Sometime before King went back to school (let's say SCHOOL na lang talaga), we were able to get in touch with Edward Teng. When we called, it was him who answered and talked to us. Mom appreciated that a lot, so we immediately scheduled for a visit on January 8, 2014. As expected, my fiance wouldn't be there that day.

Edward Teng's workplace is located in Santa Mesa Manila. It's in an old building, but when you go inside his workshop and office, it's actually neat and refreshing. He was there, but the one who accommodated us was Erwin, his assistant, perhaps? We were informed that in order for us to block off a spot, we were required to pay just 5,000 pesos as down payment. So we did, but that was just after Erwin made me a sketch. I really had no idea what I REALLY WANTED that time. Before going there I was just lurking around Pinterest and Google Images and would have screenshots of the dresses I liked. Parang, "Uy cute. SCREENSHOT. Uy ang ganda. SCREENSHOT again." I didn't have anything that I particularly liked for myself talaga. But I was just sure I didn't want a white-white dress. So I just showed him these two pictures:

I told him I didn't want ruffled skirts. I told him I wanted sleeves and embellishments. I told him I'd love it if it wasn't white, maybe a touch of champagne or blush. Then Mom added she wanted a long train, or buntot, for my gown.

Erwin sketched an initial design for me. But somehow I wondered, doesn't Edward Teng really do it anymore? I expected an Edward Teng sketch because we came there for Edward Teng, so why then? Somehow I just shook off the idea and just trusted whatever's happening. After all, while looking at what Erwin was doing, I was really impressed. I couldn't help but smile. I thought, "Okay then! I guess it's turning out great naman!"

This was the sketch he made in just a couple of minutes, together with cloth samples:

Hey, I really loved it! But since all of us in that room know that my wedding was a year and three months away pa, we all know din that there would be a lot of changes along the way. We just really went there to be sure that Edward Teng and his team would be able to accommodate making my wedding gown, and ask for quotation of course. Peso power, you may ask? I was quite right with the estimate I said earlier. It's less than a hundred grand, yes, still a whopping less-than-a-hundred-grand, but at least not two hundred. *winks* I was a happy bride. 

I also got to ask how much would it cost if they'd be the one to do the entourage gowns as well. Apparently, it wouldn't be so expensive pala because it'll be like a package already. Then again, the rates are still way higher than my usual dressmaker's, so I decided to get Edward Teng to do just the mothers and the maid of honor.

Here's a part of the booking agreement. No rates there, sorry. Wala lang, I just want to include it here. But I think I can say it here naman that when we inquired first over the phone about the rates, Edward said the minimum was 30k. Not bad nadin. But mind you, I think that that 30k would just be a very very very simple gown.

That's basically how I checked the Couturier item on my checklist. By January I already had four major suppliers--Church, Gown, HMUA, and (a sure but not booked, as I relayed in the previous post that we only booked it in February) Reception Venue/Caterer/Hotel Preps. Ay, if you sum it up pala that would be six major suppliers already. Talk about EARLY PREPARATION.

Just recently, I had this one peg talaga for the skirt of my gown. It's already here earlier in this post, but to save you from the long scroll (since you're already putting up with the length of this, LOL), here it is:

Surprise, surprise! (Actually, no surprise talaga.) It's a Veluz! A Veluz, for crying out loud. *laughs* She's very talented, but I just can't afford it. What I like here is the skirt, ha. NOT THE BACKLESS! Bawal sa simbahan ko! Haha! I'd like it higher, nearer the hips pa but just like that. I just love the way it looks like there's a lot of tela and is made of different shades of cloth, but neatly placed that way. As for the top of the dress, the award goes to....

Yes, Cecilio Abad! Because this is just so royal. So stunning. I just hope the skirt peg and this kind of top peg would match.... SOMEHOW. THERE HAS TO BE A WAY. THERE HAS TO. *laughs* Enough na nga!

I guess this is getting super duper long already. I'll be posting more of the preps real soon!

GV lang lagi! Hehe.

- Gero

As I have mentioned in the previous post, I would like to give Acacia Hotel the honor of a separate blog post because it’s our official venue for the wedding reception! This would be a three-day (not consecutive) journey and I want to warn you, it’s a long read. LOL. So here it goes. *winks*   January 9, 2014   Because we were not confident and not satisfied with the venues we visited when fiancé was still here for his Christmas vacation, my mom and I decided to go to Acacia Hotel for an inquiry and an ocular. We went there in the afternoon without any prior inquiry over the phone or email. It’s located in the business district of Alabang, and is very easy to find. It’s actually just along Commerce Avenue, beside the Filinvest Tent and the South Supermarket.

Being an Alabang bride after we booked Saint James for our church, it was only then that I found out that reception venue hunting in Alabang was a challenge. There were only few to choose from, and most of the good choices would be hotels—meaning, more expensive. So here’s our short but memorable experience.



Fernbrook Gardens

When we started talking about a wedding, fiancé and I both wanted an old feel to the wedding. We wanted a wedding that would take you back in time, back to the days when Rizal was still alive. *laughs* Husband-to-be loves that era, and I love things that are old (or let’s just say vintage, but not to dwell on vintage per se because I think lately it’s being a cliché). Because we both wanted it that way, we wanted our wedding to be held in Intramuros, Manila.

Intramuros offers two beautiful Catholic churches that are both very popular for weddings. These are the San Agustin Church and the Manila Cathedral. I ruled out San Agustin even at the earliest point because it was the most popular wedding spot in the country. And because it was that popular, it requires a lot from couples—and that may have included booking it even as early as two years ahead. Between the two churches, I was eyeing on the Manila Cathedral because it offered a more old-world façade, and it’s THE Manila Cathedral—the thought of it is just very prestigious. So the year 2013 went on until about its half that we were determined to go for an Intramuros wedding—until The Mother tried to talk us out of it.


Here's a picture of the Manila Cathedral: