Showing posts with label Wedding Reception. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wedding Reception. Show all posts

Friday, April 4, 2008

The Food

If there’s one thing I love about getting married, it’s the chance to get my hands on some really tasty food…for free! You see, right after the church and the venue for the reception, a soon-to-be-wed couple must then deal with the following questions: (1)” How many guests am I going to invite?” and (2) “Just what am I going to feed them?”

Some pretty tough questions, considering a meal for a single guest can amount to no less than five hundred pesos each, and that’s not even the best of the lot. You have to take time to list you’re prospective guests and make sure they are the type of people who would really attend your wedding when they say they will, otherwise, seats will just go to waste. I can’t help but look at all the empty seats in some weddings we attended and feel sorry for the couple, not just because they have to pay for these unused seats, but also because these seats were reserved for people the couple deemed important enough to invite to the most important day in their lives and they did not even bother showing up. There used to be a time when I would attend events like weddings and debuts and pay no attention to the amount of planning and logistics behind it, but that time is no more. Now, I can’t help but appreciate being invited to such occasions.

Anyway, when Leah and I decided to look for a supplier, we came across invitations to free food tasting events. Now, with the word “free” and “food” together in one sentence, it’s no wonder such notices were eye-catching. After calling the host supplier and confirming that all we have to do is show up, we saved the date, so to speak, and attended it with our good friend, Andrea. When we got to the venue, we signed a short information sheet, and proceeded to a nearby table. We didn’t even have to present any proof that we’re soon to be married. I always wondered about this, because with that kind of setup, any enterprising (read: unscrupulous) individuals can just drop by and have a go at the mouth-watering array of food available. Of course, most of the time after or during the meals, you have to listen to the caterer’s representative’s sales pitch, which I don’t really mind since that’s really one of the reasons I came there for. Usually they’ll give you a copy of their packages and then that’s that.

After that we went to one or two more food tasting events and found out that there are two ways of doing it. Either you help yourself to their buffet table or they just serve you a whole plateful of different samplings of their food. I enjoyed all this food with tasty but it took us some time to decide on what to get.

Then, Leah was invited to a wedding of one of her officemates and she was really impressed with the food, the service and emcee. After asking around, she found out the caterer was none other than Josiah’s Catering. We called up the supplier and found out they are still available for December 21. We wanted to book them right then but decided to wait until the upcoming bridal fair when they told us they’ll be participating. So we crossed our fingers and hope that they are still available for booking on our wedding day when fair day comes.

When we attended the fair and found out that we can still book them, we were elated. But when they told us about the freebies we’ll be getting for booking them during the fair, we were ecstatic! We got the dessert bar for free. We got tiffany chairs. And some other free stuff I couldn’t remember for the love of me. We even got to choose our emcee, and we decided on Ms. Marge Dizon, since she got good reviews in wedding forums.

We have yet to decide on the menu and we still need to attend another food tasting for to try out our choices, but hopefully, we made the right decision in booking Josiah’s and that our guest would think so too, on a full stomach!


Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Venue




I was so excited that we looked for the venue first before the church. My choice is to have a garden/outdoor-feel reception, but wasn't able to find the perfect place here in Manila.

The first one we visited with Andrea was
The Fernbrook Gardens in November 2007. But at that time, it was still being constructed. Based on what we saw, we couldn't decide to book it.

Then based on
W@W supplier's directory, we saw the ad of The Blue Leaf. We went straight to the place (McKinley Hill, Taguig City) from Alabang. The first time we saw it.. wow! It looks very promising, though it's new. The place is very elegant.. very sosyal.. hehe.., since it's being located inside the McKinley village. We were welcomed by Abbey. And Abbey was so accommodating. She assisted us with our queries and helped us look around the place.

We also visited
The Glass Garden but unfortunately, they did not meet our standards.. haha.. Mainly because of the person who assisted us, who I no longer remember the name. She's not a good marketer, she didn't know how to sell her products/service well as compared to Abbey (biased? of course, not!). Then weeks after, we went to Fernwood Garden for a sponsored free food-tasting of Center Table. We really enjoyed the perks of getting married. Free food.. what else can you ask for?

We've been to different wedding venues after that, I even suggested Arvin to have a Tagaytay-wedding instead. Well, based on my feasibility study, it will be quite cheaper since the number of guests are limited plus the sceneries are perfect for the photo and video shoots. However, since we want to share the special event with our families and relatives and having them travel from North to South is such a big deal for them, then we decided to just hold the wedding here in Manila.

Arvin and Andrea's choice is Blue Leaf. Arvin and I made a few discussions about it, and yeah, I finally gave in. Actually, the place is really nice and cozy, has an outside zen garden and the environment looks safe and secure. We booked the Silk Pavilion and it's one of the best decisions we've made so far.

 
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