Groom's Suit Maker and groomer

Groom's three-piece suit by Mang Renato

Rating: 5

Who would believe my suit was just fabric 7 days before our wedding? When we arrived the week before our wedding, we  headed to Glorietta 5 to meet up with Mang Renato, a retired tailor who did the suits of my bestmen and my dad. My mom was confident about his work so I wasn't worried about my photo-finish suit.

True enough, five days after Mang Renato took my measurements, I was able to do my fitting. He promised me during the measurement that everything will be precise and no more adjustments were required. I don't know what sort of magic he has but my suit didn't need any refitting. I took home everything except my suit which has to be stitched up permanently.

I'm recommending Mang Renato for his fast hands and very affordable and winning pricing. My three-piece suit is only P5,200. For that amount, I could only buy a jacket that I still have to alter.

I'm in the process of ordering more long sleeves and office pants from him. That's how I'm at awe of his work.

Groomed by Ronnie of Headzone Trinoma

Rating: 5

This wasn't supposed to be here but I want to tell this story. I was with my best man and he wanted to get a haircut. I wanted too but I didn't want my haircut to look so cut... I just had it cut a couple of weeks ago. So when I explained to Ronnie that I need my cut not to look cut, he understood. And since he only trimmed a few millimeters , and knew about my wedding the following day, he offered a shave on the house!

After the shave, he styled my hair and put some products. I knew the haircut and shave was worth it because my bestman complimented it and asked for my cutter's name.

I wasn't able to pull off how he styled it but my hair looked cleaner that Sunday albeit it didn't look freshly cut.

Easily a 5 for the free shave and suggested styling.

Flowers and Event Stylist: Full Blooms by Inah Anupol

Rating: 5

Full Blooms by Inah Anupol was referred by my dad. Because of the connection, we were able to get a good discount. Ms Inah was present during the food tasting so we were able to picture what our table setting was going to be.

Photo by Allan Nacion

She was very accommodating and tried to help us cut costs for the styling of the ballroom. Aside from helping us with the photobooth backdrop, she lent us her Eiffel tower structure that we used at the stage. The little details in the tables gave our wedding reception a cozy feeling.

Photo by Allan Nacion

Photo by Allan Nacion

Photo by Allan Nacion

The stage setup
 Photo by Allan Nacion

I contacted Inah one late evening for a favor to deliver 2 dozen roses for Liz while she does her preps. She told me to just pay for the flowers and she won't charge for the arrangement. Because of it, I upgraded the bouquet to 4 dozens. I initially requested for red roses but she suggested to use the blue roses that was the same colors of Liz' tulip bouquets because the red ones will be used for the centerpieces.

That bouquet was offered to one of the churches in Manila since we can't carry it back to SG.

Raymond Fortun and Zye for Raymond Fortun Photography

Zye, Liz, Louis, and Raymond

Rating: 5
Raymond Fortun is known as THE attorney for a lot of VIPs in the Philippines. Photography is his passion and has made a name for himself in the wedding biz as one of the top photographers in the industry.

There was no harm in trying to contact this seemingly busy man but he responds very fast. When we knew our date was still open for him, we booked him immediately.

We met RF in Sofitel for our prenup photo shoot. It was also the first time for me and Liz to be in a photoshoot so you can just imagine how tensed we were when we first met him. 

RF's most important asset is his expertise in encouraging his clients to be the best they could be in front of the camera. We didn't shoot right away when he arrived. He sat us both and talked about the process of getting married. And as a side joke during that pep talk, he also offers annulments, "just in case". He then proceeded on the process of the photoshoot: the flattering angles, the right lighting, the poses, etc.

The weather cut our prenup shoot short and so we decided to fly back the following month to do a reshoot. This was where we met Zye. She was the Yang to RF's Yin. A very bubbly girl and as encouraging as RF too. We totally felt more relaxed in this session compared to the first one.

Most of the shots we featured in our guestbooks came from this shoot. We didn't imagine it to be so magical but it really was:

And as promised by RF, he captured the essence of our relationship in our moment shots. It makes us happy when our photographers like Zye are excited for us. It pumps us to smile more and be natural.

During the wedding, the gloomy weather dampened our hopes for a shot outside the Sofitel premises. But still, they were able to deliver beyond our imaginations and captured our important day so wonderfully. I know you're just reading adjectives but here are results of that shoot.

A lot of photographers can create jaw-dropping images. But we think that RF's team delivers more than a photo service. They offer something we don't see in their package features. Outside the Lumens, unlimited shots, processed images, AVP fusion, RF offers COMFORT. It's an immeasurable feature that cannot be priced.

We're happy with Raymond Fortun and his awesome team. They gave us something that we can really look at years from now be proud of it.

As an aside, we decided to book RF and Zye to do an outside shoot in Sofitel using our wedding attires. We felt our attires in Sofitel's setting needed a closure from our prenup session in the Cobonpue pieces.... That, or we are just so excited to work with them as soon as possible.

Church and Our Solemnizer

San Agustin Church 

Rating: 4.5

San Agustin was the church that had an open schedule on September 16. The date was originally October 20 but after consulting for auspicious dates, we moved ours earlier. 

The church had a reputation of being strict but when we dealt with them (through Ma'am Belen), there was no evidence of the strictness.

We had our precana at San Agustin and it only took half a day to complete. Usually, these seminars lasts for two days and being non-residents, this half-day option is very much welcomed.

The rating is still highly recommended but the things that led it to not get the top marks are the not-so clean red carpets, and the pricey add-ons for opening the door and getting at the balcony area for the aerial shots. Both are priced at P1000 each.

Solemnizer: Monsignor Oracion

Rating: 5

Monsignor is a family friend of Liz and we decided to get him to officiate our union so we can tailor the rites to our liking. He also suggested on where to save time for more picture-taking opportunities.

Wedding Rings

First pair: Eternity Rings for special occasions
Second pair: Daily wear rings

Anthony and Christina Recio 5 (Special Occasion rings)

Rating: 5

Liz wanted eternity rings as our bands. It was the first time I heard about this all-around studded ring and again, we got lucky with getting this pair from Liz' side of the family. We got it at a special price too so it was a no brainer getting these rings.

However, we decided on getting another set of rings just so we can use this for special occasions. This is because I am afraid I might get the studs out of the ring due to carelessness when using it for daily wear. 

Meicel Jewellery 5 (Daily wear rings)

Rating: 5

Meicel Jewellery was referred by our Matron of Honor. With a connection so close, we were also given a good discount. I wanted something that wasn't too studded like our eternity rings. Liz also wanted something with half of the ring covered with diamonds. Meicel had the exact pair and with the discount, there wasn't much to think about other than getting our ring sizes correct.

Bridal and Entourage Gowns by Loretto

Rating: 4.5

During our short visit in Manila for one of our first rounds of wedding preps, we scheduled a meeting with three couturiers. One of them was Loretto. Liz has worked with Loretto because he was the same designer for her sister's wedding. He's also responsible for the red gown from our formal prenup pictorial. It was the gown worn when she was the maid of honor for her sister's wedding.

With that history in tact, both have rapport from the get go. I don't know what happens during a consultation with a couturier but two hours later, Loretto has drawn the bridal gown, the bridesmaid gowns, maid of honor gown, mother gowns, and even sketched a groom suit for me.

We cancelled our other appointments because Loretto's pricing was competitive enough to be considered. The only thing that bugged us was he hasn't jumped into the Information Super Highway... there isn't even a computer at his office. He's that oldschool.

I never saw her gown till Sept 16 but Liz' first fitting included only the body lining. The succeeding fittings added more details and beadings. By August, everything was 95% complete. When I saw the final product, I understood how Liz' mom was excited with the gown.

The entourage gowns were also made with great quality. Coming into the consulation, we were already decided to use Tiffany blue as the palette with only a hint of red. The cool shade of blue were assigned to the secondary sponsors, bridesmaids, maid of honor, and matron of honor.

The girls on the left are the secondary sponsors, and bridesmaids

A close up of the Tiffany Blue-colored gowns

The hint of red went to the mothers. The boldness of the red was diluted with the coolness of the teal by using it minimally with the entourage. That meant only two people are allowed to wear it, our moms.

Loretto earns a 4.5 because of the high quality gowns he provided with the entourage. He lacks an excellent recommendation due to the difficulty in dealing with him in terms of contactability. There were also instances when his assistants were overbearing and it turned us off. Their clients shouldn't go through stress that can be solved if things were communicated properly.

If you don't mind this lapse in communication management, Loretto can deliver the gown you will love.

10inch Lights and Sounds

Rating: 1.4

The Bane in the wedding. The Joker of the program proper. 10 inch was part of the Sofitel package that we didn't change. We relied on the feedback of our account exec. The night before our wedding, I was informed by our OTD coordinator that 10 inch can read MP4 formats and that I can just burn the videos to be used on our program. It turned out, they can read MP4 if the cd is burned as a DVD. We knew this an hour after a lot of our guests started coming in and nobody bothered to inform my mom or my brothers till me and Liz were already at the foyer readying for the grand entrance. 

The contingency was to use my mac and fortunately, Sofitel had the right connectors to rig my mac with 10 inch's equipments. 

During the program, their incompetence showed again when they couldn't figure out how to use Quicktime to remove the playback bar (you just have to remove the cursor outside the playback area). The playback showed during the showing of our prenup video before our grand entrance. The lyrics to our prenup video was blocked by the playback control because they couldn't move the freaking cursor.

That playback bar is annoying as 10inch

Another incident was when they didn't follow what was written in the program sheet. During the growing up videos, they decided to stop the video at mid-play. Thank god for Drei from Aisle 1401 who helped in telling them to let them play the rest of the video. It clearly stated in the program flow to not stop until playback ended.

And lastly, it was specified in the program that the music for my brother's song was a music video format. They played the original song/non-karaoke AUDIO version as if my brother would sing over it. His performance was moved to a later part of the program but the damage has been done.

Our first dance as a couple would have featured a mash up of Be Honest and Love on Top but because they do not read instructions where the song was marked as Bridal Waltz, they just played the unedited non-mashed up version of Be Honest. 

This was an oversight for us. We shouldn't have trusted the recommendations blindly. I tried looking for feedback about them but found nothing online. For an occasion with no proper technical rehearsals, 10 inch deserves its generous rating of 1.4. At least their 4 microphones worked flawlessly.

Wedding preps venue at the Sofitel Corner Suite

Rating: 5

We requested all of our rooms be situated on the same floor for our preps. Our account exec at Sofitel found this weird because usually, the bride and groom are placed in different floors to avoid an accidental meet up between them. For us, it's the ease for our coordinator, videographer, and photographer who will be shuffling between rooms as we move through our early 1am call time.

The corner suite was roomy and had a great view. This was where we spent the night after the wedding reception. Internet was free for the room and we had Hermes toiletries in the bathroom! Aside from that, we can access the Club Milleseime where we were able to refill unlimited drinks, and had our meals.

The groom's room was just the normal hotel room with a king-sized bed. This was one of the battle rooms when we were completing our seating plan, program, giveaways, and the rest of the little details for the succeeding day.

Our prep rooms were comfy and spacious. I heard from Liz most of the suppliers were able to move freely at the receiving area. Rating of 5 is well-deserved for our accommodations. 

This is where we held our gift opening photo op. We just cleared one corner of the suite and dressed it up from our portraits displayed during the reception.

Aisle 1401

Rating: 5

Aisle 1401 was one of the last suppliers we booked. If not for W@W recommendations, we wouldn't know about this team. We almost booked a different supplier even though their work samples were just on the ok side. We were already over our budget and we decided on scaling back on videography.

We consider ourselves lucky for chancing upon Anna and the boys of Aisle 1401. We got their Essentials package which featured an SDE and full coverage... the most basic but important videos needed for the wedding.

Fortunately for us, Anna extended their promo to us and we got ourselves a free prenup video!

The prenup video shoot was our first face to face meeting and we already felt at ease with the team. Prior to the shoot, Anna sent us a very loooong email as an assignment so that they could capture who we are as a couple. Her goal was for us to remember what it felt like when we started going out.

Corkulous

It was a fun exercise for us and it led Liz to buy her own iPad 3rd gen because of the Corkulous app. It's a cork board app that lets you layout pictures, text, and labels to make information overload simpler. We exported these cork boards to PDF and synched it to a dropbox folder we shared with Aisle 1401.

Anyway, we always wanted a light feel to our wedding. The songs we chose took a very long time to finalize. When the new Jason Mraz cd came out, Everything Is Sound  made an impression on us. We almost used it for our SDE but decided to stick with our chosen SDE song.

The result of the prenup shoot is nothing but awesome. When Anna said they will make something that will stand the test of time, they really meant it. We love the fact that our video is also "functional" as a karaoke clip.

Matt Nathanson's "Faster" wasn't our first choice for our SDE. We wanted something else but Anna mentioned that it will be used by one of their clients. Although it was ok to reuse a song, we wanted our song to be the first song that Aisle 1401 will work on. Liz suggested on using Faster and only  two SDEs used the song that we found in Youtube.

We knew Aisle 1401 during the prenup shoot that they were continuity junkies. As we are too, we suggested to continue were we left off during the prenup shoot. We suggested to continue from the Mraz outro and fast cut sequences of our prenup from the intro of "Faster". These fast cut sequences are our favorites... check out their videos on where they used We Found Love by Rihanna. Knowing how they're capable, we wanted those cuts in-synch with the beat of "Faster". The result was, again, amazing.

Outside the usual video shoots, Aisle 1401 posted in their Facebook page they wanted to do Gangnam Style video while the song is still hot. Liz volunteered our Sunday wedding if they were game to give us another freebie. We were actually driving to Lucena when the deal was finalized. So during our wedding preps, we shot sequences for our PSY parody. We were also blessed with family and friends who were brave enough to join us as our backup dancers. The video shoot became an after party for our close friends. There were no food served but everybody was entertained just by being silly and foolish. We were also able to get our other suppliers to join in the video.

We love Aisle 1401. The kind of love where you want to get married again just so you can get them to work with you... again.

Hair and Make Up by Trisha Mercado

Photo from the Facebook page of Kiss the Girl Events

Rating: 4

During the course of the wedding preps, we worked with Trisha three times. Once for the prenup photoshoot, then for the prenup videoshoot where she used her free trial, and during the wedding. The list of HMUA suppliers is our longest list and I asked Liz to decide on her own. It took about a week to finally settle on Trisha. What sealed the deal was her pricing and the recommendation by our KTG account exec, Abby.

Trisha does airbrushing and her assistant does the hair styling. With just the two of them at the helm, you can just imagine how slow the make up process had been during our wedding day.

I already messaged her on how I liked her makeup on Liz. It's not too thick and still looked natural. Liz recommends Trisha but keep in mind that her process can be very testy to impatient clients. Also, if the makeup or hairdo is not comfortable, let them know as early as possible.

The rating is still highly recommended. What can take it to a higher level is more consistency in communication, openness to suggestion of clients on hairdos, and work faster and still maintain the same quality of work.

Wedding Reception at the Sofitel Luzon and Mindanao Ballrooms

Rating: 5

We started with having 300 guests and booked Luzon Ballroom. A few days before the wedding, our guest count ballooned to 356. We tried reconfirming with guests and we were able to settle with 326. Since we already know we require two additional tables, we asked our Sofitel account exec to set it up for us. In turn, she opened up Mindanao Ballroom and threw in an extra room we could use. Opening up the other ballroom made our reception spacious and more grand. 

Despite the hiccups of our lights and sounds, which played whatever music they wanted instead of pulling the songs from a specified MP3 folder of carefully chosen songs from our wedding playlist, the cozy setup of the ballroom made up for it.

Photo by Allan Nacion

For arriving guests, the table was setup with biscuit and pretzel knick knacks that were loved by the children who attended.

The well-thought table setup also made the reception warm. With Full Blooms table centerpieces, lanterns, mood lights, and Eiffel towers, to the touch of details my mom insisted on with the blue menu cards, and nameplates for the primary sponsors... everything came around nicely. 

Photo by Allan Nacion

We got lucky Sofitel was able to come up with new glass lazy susans. During our food tasting, we would've had 10 tables with wooden lazy susans. In our final meet with our account exec, we were told that all tables will be glasses, and the primary sponsors will sit in executive chairs as the other guests use our upgraded silver Tiffany chairs.

Hosts Chico and Delamar

Rating: 4.5

The Morning Rush has been one of the staples when we were growing up since the 90's. We decided that they will be one of our non-negotiables if the price was right. For someone of their stature, their rate was competitive enough for consideration. 

It took awhile to get them to respond to our inquiries. It took Twitter to finalize our booking with them. Of all the suppliers, we met them last (in this case, only Chico because Delle was not in the studio that time). We met Chico six days prior to our wedding. They never asked for a reservation fee and preferred to settle everything on the wedding day itself. This lack of monetary assurance worried us because there was no second choice in case they didn't show up.

Come wedding day, Chico and Delamar were as professionals as they can get. No script and just a program flow, they made it look like everything was running as scheduled when in fact, we were already losing time.

During our meeting at the RX studios, Chico suggested to do a Top 10 on our wedding and we decided to give the top 3 entries a copy of their #1 book. The Top 10 Unusual Advices for Louis and Liz was one of the highlights of our wedding. It captured the light and relax feel of our wedding. Their ad libs were impeccable and both have very sharp minds to quip funny comments during the announcement of the top 10. This made the guests feel they are part of the program and everybody were laughing from the unusual and, sometimes, bordering obscene advices.

After the program, our friends made sure we were just ordinary again as they flocked to C&D to get their books signed. It was alright, we were as starstruck as them. We're just glad that we were the instrument to bring C&D and our friends together.

The 0.5 in the rating is just for the difficulty in trying to contact them. Since we're far away, it's hard to meet them up when we're in Manila. I still highly recommend them and they do an excellent job hosting.

Our Gangnam Style Parody

Aisle 1401 posted a random free giveaway to a couple who are willing to do a parody of the current "it" song, "Gangnam Style" by PSY.

Liz jumped at the opportunity and the rest is this:


Thank you to our families and friends who were open enough for us to get silly on a very solemn day. This one is for the books!

Prenup Session with Raymond Fortun

Everything is Sound (the prenup video)