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Bridal Fair: MOA SMX Convention

A couple of months ago, while we were still based in Tarlac, my girl best friend and matron of honor extraordinaire, Kay Ann, told me that there was going to be a wedding fair at the SMX Convention Center on March 19 and 20. This was a weekend so we were able to go.

Now you have to understand that I am going into this blind, I have never gone to any wedding fairs before, and as fairs go, I expected that everything was going to be expensive, like everything was going to be marketed towards the sosyal.

I was going to bring Php 2,000 with me, I told Tim that I was probably not going to buy anything, and Kay and I will just be looking at possible designs that we can incorporate to our wedding. He insisted I brought money, just in case, he says, that I like anything.

Man, was I grateful he insisted. Future brides, oh my gosh, go to all wedding fairs! Everything is so affordable, and they have offers that are so incredibly unbelievable you would find them very hard to refuse! Everything was there, from invitations, makeup artists, wedding planners,  to cakes, even to the scent you want your wedding to smell like!

We got there at about 1 in the afternoon, and we didn't expect to be immediately overwhelmed by everything! Taking pictures were not allowed by the event coordinators, so when we took pictures, we would ask the ate and the kuya in the booths, I tell them that my fiancé is at home and I need to ask for his approval, I don't want to be the lone decision-maker, and of course, they know that makes sense.

So while Tim was on his way to Olongapo to visit his family, I was sending him pictures and occasionally calling him for decisions.

Disclaimer:
These pictures that I will be posting were some that I filtered as samples for this blog, but we didn't necessarily choose them for the wedding. I had more but had to get rid of them when we were moving.

Invitations

Tim and I have already decided that we don't think elaborate and expensive invitations were a necessity. But when we saw how affordable everything was, we were tempted. But no, our forces were strong.

They ranged from the normal plain invitations, to the laser cut ones, and the prices ranged from Php35 per piece, to maybe Php100, those ones are super arte already.

Make Up

The prices were so low! They offer as low as Php10,000.00 for up to six people, airbrush package! The only problem about make up, as well as lights, sounds, and bands, is that they charge extra for out of town weddings! So, we didn't really concentrate on make up and bands and lights.

Flowers

Same problem, we didn't get slash care for flower offerings (sorry!) but that's because we can't afford people from Manila to arrange flowers! Too much!

Photo and Video Coverage

This one we needed. Again, we realized early on that we don't need to get the expensive ones, because I've looked at hundreds of wedding pictures and they kkiiinnndddof look the same. I mean, the creative shots are different but it looks like, you know, pictures of guests, family, etc, so we don't really need those that cost a hundred to a hundred fifty thousand pesos. The ones in the province were kind of in the pricey side, even without SDE and drone camera haha. We also didn't want to be limited to where we will have the pre-nup pictures. There's only a few places we can go to in Tarlac.

There were a million photography coverages, and we were able to book one, with SDE and photobooth and aerial prenup! and very affordable! yay!

Cake

There's one cake design that Tim fell in love with and he wants it for the wedding. So I looked and asked people, but all of them said that only the bottom part is usually edible. so the other parts, just Styrofoam.

We finally found one who would do it, and would do every layer different flavors! It was the best day ever!

At the end, we were able to reserve our cake, and photo coverage! Yay! Thank you Kay Ann!!!

Restaurant Review 5: Central Park Hotel

Central Park Hotel

Central Park Hotel is very conveniently located close to our house. Since we are not going to do a church wedding, we were also looking for a place that can do both wedding and reception. Central Park is a very strong contender.

Unfortunately, when we went there, the person in charge of weddings was not available, but there was an ate who was helpful enough to tour us.

They offer three different locations: the garden, the hall and the gazebo area.

The Ballroom

The ballroom can hold as much as 200 people (crowded?), air conditioned, marble floored, and has the potential to look very good in night lights. It's rectangular though, so my worry is that there will be people at the back who won't know what's happening in the front anymore because they're too far back. Believe me, I've gone to weddings where I didn't even care to listen to speeches anymore.

Tim was impressed with the number of air conditioners in the room. He also liked that there were a lot of doors for people who want to go and walk around. That's Tim's requirement, the place has to be interesting enough to not bore people and keep them cooped up.

The Gazebo

The gazebo is this nice circular area with a fountain in the middle. It's very pretty and spacious, and at the time there was an event set up for Valentine's so we were able to see how it would look like set up. It's very pretty but very impersonal. It would be hard to involve everybody in the program because most will be too far to see. It looks very nice though. Nice and unique.

Also, it is only a few steps away from the garden.

The Garden

Is a garden, will probably seat maybe 100 people comfortably. It's open, and just a few steps away from the gazebo.

Now you would think that it doesn't matter, but apparently our wedding date is the HOTTEST (read: most popular) wedding date, since it's the last Saturday before Christmas Eve. So yes, unfortunately, there is a big probability that there will be other weddings or Christmas party happening on the wedding day. We need, slash want, exclusivity please.


** pictures of locations taken from their Facebook page

The Catering

Central Park's menu item is impressive. There are pages and pages of available menu set for a specific package price. It also comes with a lot of perks. Like, a lot a lot. Like, you will only need to buy your wedding dresses a lot.

PRICE RANGE : Php75,000-ish to Php95,000 for 100 guests

INCLUSIVE OF: a lot. Let me enumerate.

                             Three- layered cake

                             Bottle of Wine

                             Overnight accommodation in a deluxe room with breakfast

                             Table centerpieces

                             Emcee

                            Fog and Bubble Machine

                           Red Carpet

                           Doves

                           Basic sound system

SERVICE CHARGE FOR OUTSIDE CATERING: no information

FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/centralparkhoteltarlac/

OFFICIAL WEBSITE : http://www.luisitacentralparkhotel.com/

PROS: refer to perks above hahaha

Restaurant Review 4: One Buffet

You can see this on the By Pass Road

One Buffet Restaurant and Catering Services

Tim and I came here on our way to Saka Resort, and we decided to check the place out. There were no customers at the time and I wanted to stay in the car and just asked Tim to ask for the menu and prices.

He looks at me through the glass doors and does a 'come-hither' motion. I knew what that meant. TAGALOG problems. I get off and come in and sees why he asked me to come over. There were Tiffany chairs.

Now this was a big plus, because out of anything, I want these chairs please. None of that plastic chairs with covers and ribbons. I want Tiffany chairs, with no ribbons or anything. And this was the first restaurant that WILL give them to us with no extra charges.

We were brought to a cramp office with a nice friendly ate who asked us the usual questions: when is the wedding, where will it be, how many people in attendance. Everybody in Tarlac seem weirded out when I say that the wedding is in December (we went in March, a full 9 months before the wedding), but in Manila, they go, oh no! that's close na! Why are you only doing this now?

Ahhh slow province life.

I asked for the menu, and I looked at the food. They were mainly Filipino. And I really liked this one set but it had seafood kare kare and that might be very messy to eat at a wedding. They have a 20% service charge for outside reservation, and for me that was quite pricey. I asked to look at their sample catering services but they can only show me old ones, when it was... I don't know how to put it, managed by a different person I suppose.

Also, the prices that they gave me were going to change sometime this June (if I remember correctly), so although they're quite reasonably priced, I did not know how much the increase will be, and if we're reserving for 200 people, our budget might not be able to handle it.

But... Tiffany chairs.

PRICE RANGE : 300-ish to 650-ish at the moment, will be increasing soon

INCLUSIVE OF: decorations for buffet and guest tables with Tiffany chairs

SERVICE CHARGE FOR OUTSIDE CATERING: 20% within Tarlac City

FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/ONE-Buffet-Restaurant-Catering-Services-395825130584747/?fref=ts   last post was 2015

OFFICIAL WEBSITE : n/a

PROS: TIFFANY CHAIRS!!!!!!!

Because... Life

Back to Manila life after a year long hiatus

As much as I would have liked to keep this blog exclusive to Tarlac suppliers and everything,  Tim and I had to move back to Manila for new jobs.

This means the suppliers that we will be getting will not be Tarlac-centered anymore as I would have wanted it to.

Right now, Tim and I teach at different English Academies, his at Buendia and mine at Ortigas. We're still trying to get the hang of it, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we won't be together as much anymore.

Day 4 of roses when I took a picture

For the two years we were together, we were- literally- inseparable. And now we barely have five hours together on our separate rest days.

He tries though, which is nice of him, he brings me roses every day, and he wakes up when I get home at 11 pm (he gets home earlier) so we can eat dinner together, and we talk about our days some and he goes to bed.

It also helps that we have Skype and Viber available at work for us, and they're not as hard-ass as call centers when it comes to websites and phones at the office.

We had to bid adieu to our rest days together, and now we only have date nights at literally nights, so if you guys know places that are open 24/7 for dates, that would be great.

Carrying On...

The positive thing that came out of this is that I was able to go to different Wedding Fairs with my Matron-of-Honor, and we were able to get good deals, that I will also be writing about on different posts.

There will still be some Tarlac related posts, more caterers and places and all that, because we have decided to keep the wedding there, because man, wedding locations here in Manila are mahal, yo!

Will try to be more masipag the next few days I swear!

Restaurant Caterer Review 3: Primadeli

Primadeli Ristorante

Primadeli is a quaint little restaurant located at the bypass road near SM Tarlac. A lot of people actually go there, since they serve very good Western food, and Tim liked their lasagna. The only thing about this restaurant is they're a little bit pricey, and not a lot of their dishes come with rice, so it has a very niche market.

The chef. Photo grabbed online

I wasn't even sure if they did catering so I sent Tim out to ask if they did it, as we were in a hurry at the time.

Tim came back to the car with three pieces of paper and a calling card. I asked him what other amenities they had, and he wasn't able to ask. We eventually talked to the executive chef who was very knowledgeable about everything. Tim and I were impressed. Plus, their menu has pictures! It was a first! We did not need to imagine what the food look like!

Come on, let's face it, most restaurants fancy up the name of the food to make it sound posh, but really, they're just lumpias guised as "thai seafood spring roll"

How the restaurant looks online. Image from google

The normal questions:

Tiffany chairs? They can arrange it, but there's extra charges
Carving table? They can arrange it , but extra charges

Pluses: they offered a mobile bar, which I was ecstatic about, because I searched far and wide on the interwebs and have not found any in Tarlac.

PRICE RANGE : Php 500-ish per head, additional if other features are availed

INCLUSIVE OF: decorations for buffet and guest tables

SERVICE CHARGE FOR OUTSIDE CATERING: 10 % , plus 12% VAT

FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/Primadeliristorante/ , they're very facebook active, which is a plus for us who work and like transacting online

OFFICIAL WEBSITE : n/a

PROS: very accommodating and responds promptly to concerns online

Restaurant Caterer Review 2: La Maja Rica Hotel

La Maja Rica

Photo from their website

La Maja Rica Hotel and Restaurant has been the go-to reception venue and menu of a lot of weddings in Tarlac, since it has very very few competition in Tarlac. There are only 3 or 4 hotel restaurants in the city, and it is the only one that's located in the city proper.

It also close to the Cathedral, where a lot of weddings take place. My two married girl friends have stayed there for their pre-wedding preparations as well.

We went there on Valentine's Day and the area was dressed up really well. Tim and I were invited to sit at the bar area where a friendly lady talked to us about our wedding.

The first thing she asked for was the wedding date, and she pencils us in on their calendar. It scared me a little bit since I wasn't sure if we want to take them on yet. It's ok, she says, they do this to all possible clients so if in case we want hire them, then we can go back and we already have a record.

Amenities

If you want your wedding reception there, you can rent out the Function Room, Dining area or the Poolside. I think they all can sit 150 pax comfortably.

Photo grabbed from Google

You can stay for four hours at the venue and they will give you a free hotel room to change or touch-up or what not.

They also have a tie-up with Azaya garden resort for prenuptial pictures.

If you are going to avail of their more expensive package, they will give you a free overnight room with breakfast for two.

They have 8 choices of packages, and I asked if we can switch items if there's something that we don't want on the menu. They said that may be possible but they will have to check if we need to pay more if in case the food we want have more expensive ingredients than the original item.

Their food items per package looks very few, especially the ones in the A category. For example, B2 only has two meat items: Baked Chicken and Pork Medallion with mushroom. This, and the standard soup, appetizer, vegetable, rice, dessert and pasta.

The D package has more food items of course, unfortunately Tim doesn't eat carbonara or lengua.

The amenities are very good though, especially the free hotel room. That will be very handy for the pictorials, and a touch up room for the guests if they need to.

Backstory

Tim and I have attended a couple of receptions at La Maja Rica, and I asked him if he still remembers the food. He remembers the prawn crackers and the leche flan. Other than that, he says he remembers that it wasn't very spacious and he wants a place where people can walk around and not just sit uncomfortably during the reception.

PRICE RANGE : Php350 - Php600 pax.

INCLUSIVE OF: different amenities, see pictures

SERVICE CHARGE FOR OUTSIDE CATERING: 10 % , plus 12% VAT

FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/lamajaricahotel/?fref=ts , only posts during holidays

OFFICIAL WEBSITE : http://www.lamajaricahotel.com/ they also have an inquiry tab but it's empty

PROS: very close to the city, so when Tim's relatives come over, they can stay there

Restaurant Caterer Review 1 : Rustica Restaurant

RUSTICA RESTAURANT

Concepcion, Tarlac

Photo not mine

Some backstory

Rustica was my caterer on my 18th birthday, so coming in, I know I had my biases and this was a top caterer contender.

Unfortunately, time changes everything

My family and I had lunch, then afterwards asked for their wedding packages and they handed us a big hardbound book. I was going to be impressed until I opened it and saw pictures and nothing else. I mean, if I were planning a wedding and going to restaurants, I wouldn't ask for the pictures, I would ask for the wedding packages first.

After a few calls to the waiters, somebody finally gave us their wedding menu. (Pictures at the bottom).

We asked what was included in the package, and the guy went, "everything that you need in a wedding." He was obviously in a hurry so I asked for the person in charge of wedding preparations. The guy said that was him.

Okay I thought, let's give this guy a chance. We ask him to sit while we talk about things because he was just hovering and it was hard to look up at him.

Photo grabbed from the internet

By, "everything we need in a wedding", does that mean:

Tiffany chairs? No.

Table decorations? No.

Cake? No.

Emcee? No.

ummm... Wine? No.

Carving station? Additional fee for the table and the waiter.

Table for gifts? No. Additional fee.

I eventually gave up. Ok but maybe we can save this. I look at the menu and thought I really like this one set, but Tim doesn't eat one item so we ask if we can exchange it with a different item, unfortunately, the answer was also No.

My mom, who became friends with the owner of the restaurant on my 18th birthday tried to drop names for the Kuya to straighten himself up. He did not.

I wonder if he was just having a bad day, or if it was the end of his shift, or if he was about to go to lunch, but unfortunately, that kind of disappointed me.

However we are keeping their menu, maybe the reason why they're haughty is because they have the best catering menu Tarlac has to offer.

Anywho, this is their menu.

PRICE RANGE : Php350 - Php1500 pax.

INCLUSIVE OF: "everything that you need for a wedding"

No other details provided

SERVICE CHARGE FOR OUTSIDE CATERING: 10 % 

FACEBOOK PAGE: none

PROS: good food