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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