And so the supplier review continues.  While I’m pretty sure most of my readers come from North America, you might want to consider a Philippine wedding.  Seriously.  When you see the last part of this post, you’ll see just how much we spent and why you should consider the possibility of a destination wedding.

On-The-Day Coordinator:  MCC Events by Mayette Cinco
Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️
Cost:  💰💰
I had a hard time finding a coordinator mainly because of the date we’ve chosen.  Mayette was recommended by my first two choices and with that, I’m pretty sure I made the right decision.  And I did.  I thought we were doing so well already, until Mayette pointed out the small details that aren’t really so small after all.

For example, she was the one who found my lights, sounds and DJ suppliers.  I thought what Blue Leaf had would be fine and an app on the iPad would be enough to surround our event with music.  Boy, was I wrong.  She really did set me on the right path.  I loved meeting her, and she wa super organized.  Unfortunately, the team she sent to our wedding was not.  It seemed like they didn’t listen to her turnover because I had to reorient them from top to bottom the moment they arrived.  Good thing they arrived early.

I actually didn’t notice that there were misses during the wedding.  I was just elated.  I was pampered and every time a tinge of worry comes across my face, Mayette’s team immediately puts me at ease.  But my family gave some unfavorable feedback — like texting during the event while the hosts are asking for assistance, or suddenly missing when the hosts have a question that they can’t ask me — so I had to take down a couple of hearts.  Mayette though was still absolute perfection.  She had two weddings on that day and she still managed to swing by and check on ours.  I am so grateful for her.  So make sure you book her right away so you get to have the A Team on your special day.

Bridal Hair and Makeup Artist:  Makeup Therapy by Cai Guiang
Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Cost:  💰💰
I met Cai at a friend’s wedding in 2015 and I knew she’s the one.  Her hands are light as a feather, I swear I almost fell asleep on my chair.  It was just a relaxing experience.  I love that she knew right away what to do with my face.  Hahahaha.  My lack of eyebrows seem to be an inspiration to her.  Even Le Mari loved my makeup, to think that he hates makeup.  It was natural looking and it lasted all night.  Can you believe it?

Entourage Hair and Makeup Artist:  PV Dela Cruz and Kristine Viudez
Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️❤️ / ❤️❤️❤️
Cost:  💰💰 / 💰💰
These two are a great tandem.  Most of my entourage and some of our guests came from overseas so they didn’t have time to make arrangements for their hair and makeup.  So we covered that for them and well, they did amazingly well.

I gravitate towards PV more because she helped me with a special project.  More on that later, and believe me, it is an amazing more on that later.  HAHAHAHA.

PV’s work:

Kristine’s Work:

Flowers:  The Flower Boutique by Menchie Lumbang
Rating: ❤️❤️
Cost:  💰
This one was such a steal because my cousin bridesmaid and I went to Dangwa for it.  It truly is the haven for the budget warrior.   While I loved the bouquet she gave me and the church decor (truly divine and exactly what I asked for), her team literally went to the venue, dropped everything and that’s it.  We were even missing the bridal car flowers.  I felt so sad, looking back, because we used my mother’s new car as our bridal car and it would have been a nice photo to have.  But because it wasn’t as decorated, there was no reason to take a photo of it, especially because it looked like any other car on the street hahahaha.  But don’t worry, the bridal bouquet was amazing.

Bridal Gown:  Roxoanne Bagano Couture
Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Cost:  💰💰
And with that, we have come to the best part ever:  MY DRESS.  Hahahaha.  I know I know that was narcissistic.  But really, I fell in love with this dress.  Roxy turned out to be a friend of a friend, and I swear, she got me.  She delivered the dress to our hotel on New Year’s Day.  My niece Max saw it before I did, and when I walked in the hotel, she was just screaming, TITA CARLA, WE HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU!  IT’S YOUR DREAM DRESS!  And it truly was.  Le Mari held back tears when he first saw me in it, and he couldn’t stop raving about it to this day.  Roxy was such a gem, I could not have asked for a better designer.

Men’s Barong Tagalog:  Josie’s Piña and Jusi
Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Cost:  💰💰
This store came highly recommended by my cousin.  Their barong tagalog designs are a mix of traditional and modern.  Le Mari loved his barong and is actually one of the first things he asked for when we came to NJ.  Picture this, it’s the same classic designs from the malls but the quality and hand embroidery of Lumban.  It could have easily cost PHP 20,000, but Carlo the store owner gave it to us for even less than half the price.

 

Wedding Rings:  Mayfair Jewelry, Binondo Manila
Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Cost:  💰💰
Recommended by my college mentor, Ben Cu.  This is another steal.  They make quality jewelry for a fraction of the price.  The only thing I forgot to mention to them is to make sure that the gold is nickel free, because you might be allergic to it.  The engagement ring, Le Mari got from NJ.  We love our rings.

Another tip:  if you prefer the satin finish, might as well go for the brushed one so it doesn’t fade as fast.

Invitation Suite:  Printsonalities
Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Cost:  💰💰💰💰
Our invitations became a source of drama because our first supplier just flat out disappointed us.  I should have gone with my instinct and booked Printsonalities right off the bat because they were perfect.  Because of the previous supplier’s shortcomings, I had to cancel our contract with them, leaving us with just 40 days before our targeted date of distribution for the invites.  When it’s a destination wedding, you have to send out invites early.

I came to Printsonalities’ Makati office during lunch time, stressed and in a hurry.  My God, are they worth the buck or what.  First, they had me pick a design (if I hadn’t brought my own).  Then, color, which they assisted me with in terms of matching with our intended color scheme.  Then, paper and print quality.  I can definitely see our invites being framed for our future home.  The invites were laid out, proofed, printed, and readied for pick up in 30 days exactly.  FASCINATING.

 

Wedding Cake and Cake-In-A-Jar Giveaways:  Box of Sweets by Punky Porca
Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Cost:  💰💰
I love this girl.  Believe me.  I think she gave me a good price for our cake and giveaways because she knows just how much I love her.  I’ve seen this girl grow her enterprise from their kitchen to her own cafe.  From orders from friends to being featured in wedding blogs left and right.  Her talent will blow you over, and she is just the sweetest thing.  And her personality is in her end product every time, made with love, sweet, and just right, never overwhelming, and will always go with a good cup of coffee.

Photobooth:  Flash With A Smile
Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Cost:  💰💰
I fell in love with them the moment they agreed to make me FROM SCRATCH my classic photobooth.  Seriously.  I love them to pieces.  I can’t even believe that they charged me for the basic package when essentially they’re making my entire booth for our wedding alone.  It was amazing.  The props were tasteful, the photos were crisp, and there were two copies of everything.  They turned over the prints and the soft copy of files on that same day.  They’re a well oiled machine!  Get them.  Truly.  GET THEM NOW.

Almost done with the reviews!  Thank you for bearing with me.  These people really made our day special; they deserve some space in our world.

Stay tuned!