Hotel Preps: Ocular and Booking at Diamond Hotel

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After my first fitting with Hana, on our way to our reception venue, we called Diamond Hotel and checked if can do an ocular that day despite being informed the day before that there's no available room. By some twist of luck, the girl on the line said that there's a vacant Executive Suite and we can do visit that afternoon. 

We finished a few more wedding errands first and had afternoon snacks. By the time we got to Diamond Hotel, it was already dusk. We approached the manager on duty and shared our agenda, and so she happily accompanied us to the available suite for an ocular. As we entered the room, she shared to us the room size (88sqm), booking inclusions (breakfast for 2), check-in/out policies, and the like. Since we said that we're considering it as our preps venue for our wedding, she shared to us the bridal packages they're offering at the moment.

Since I've already done an extensive research beforehand, there's not much questions from us at that point so I just took some snaps of the room. 

The living room - from the main door

The living room - from the bedroom door

The bedroom - from the living room

The bedroom - from the inner bath room

The bath room

Since we'd like to know more about the Diamond Indulgence membership and how we can leverage the benefits for our hotel bookings, the manager (sorry I forgot her name) endorsed us to the Kath, the Diamond Indulgence specialist. 

Kath explained to us the benefits of being an Indulgence member and the annual membership cost. It will set us back by Php6,500 but that is a meager amount compared to the perks and room discounts we can get just for our wedding preps booking. Kath was nice enough to do a comparison computation so we can appreciate the advantages better. And then there are also the dining and wellness benefits for our taking. So it's really a no brainer that we avail of the membership.

After signing-up for the Indulgence card, we proceeded with the booking order. Kath noted the dates for our reservation so she can already do an advance booking. We can pay on another date when we already have the card and the vouchers. Probably we'll just do the payment once we avail of the complimentary buffet at Corniche on my birthday [Update: Corniche Birthday Dinner]. Will share that experience to you too, so stay tuned! =)

Cheers!

Prenup Supplier Rating #1: Styling by Aira Franco with Fritz Mortel

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Okay, this is my first time to rate a supplier so I'll try to give as much info as I can remember, and as accurate as my memory serves me. I'll use a scale of 10 for more leeway on minor items impacting the ratings. 

Rating Scale: 1 - 10 (10 being the highest)

Service: Prenup Styling with HMUA

Peso Power: Php 7,000 (but became Php 1,400)

Rating: 9

We booked Aira as our prenup stylist last March. Shortly after the booking, we had our pre-production meeting to discuss the concept. It was a short meeting since Adrin and I do not have a specific theme in mind. Our only requirement is to have formal and fun sets. She asked for our venue and photographer and then started showing us pegs. Right then and there we were able to agree on the overall feel of our shoot. 

Exactly a month before our pictorial, Aira sent to us our lookboard. We requested for one month lead time so Adrin and I have enough time to shop and gather our wardrobe. Fast forward to 3 days before the shoot, I received an urgent call from Aira. I was told that there seems to be a double booking for our shoot date and she's saying that it started when her phone (and calendar) crashed. It so happened that the other couple booked her in January so they are the priority. She was very apologetic as we talked and gave us three options:

• Proceed with the shoot BUT only her styling assistant and HMUA will come with us; Remaining balance to be waived.
• Reschedule the shoot so she can be with us; Remaining balance to be waived.
• Cancel the agreement with full refund of payment made.

With those options, I told her that I'll just get back to her within the day for our decision. The next hours were full of panic on my part especially that I was only able to talk to Adrin after lunch.We decided to try rescheduling the shoot with all other suppliers, and luckily they all agreed to move our schedule. In that same day, Adrin was able to fix the glitch and set a new schedule, while I was in back to back meetings. Haha.

Fast forward to the day of the shoot, we were late for our call time with Aira and Fritz. I was expecting that they'd be a bit irate but I didn't sense any of that. Aira agreed that we'll do the HMU at her place before we do our studio shoot, then we'll just meet her and Fritz at Jardin de Miramar for the outdoor part later that day. I've split my comments into 3 sections and are outlined below:

Hair & Make-up (Fritz Mortel)

• Fritz really did a great job on all of my 4 looks - both hairstyling and make-up
• She was able to hide well my pimple marks, eyebags, and blemishes 
• Make-up is fresh looking and not overly done. A lot of people who saw our pictures liked my make-up that day.
• Hygienic: sponges, powder puff and brushes used on me were all clean and/or new. She doesn't even let her hands touch my face. It's always with a sponge, brush, puff or cotton tips.
• She works fast on styling my hair
• She's also nice to talk to, although a bit shy at first
• Fritz patiently retouched my make-up and styled my hair as I eat or as I chat. I know she had a hard time doing that but I kept on forgetting that she's tinkering with my face. Hahaha. 

On-the-day Styling and Assistance

• Aira and Fritz doesn't have any qualms being our personal assistants for the day
• Our clothes were meticulously sorted out and paired together
• Once it's on us, Aira checked for loose or ill-fitting areas and she'll put binder clips to make the clothes fit better.
• Aira even folded Adrin's shorts and assisted me when I changed into the gown.
• While shooting, they frequently fixed my hair (almost after every pose) and kept our faces dry from perspiration (lots of tissue on hand)
• Since it was raining, they dutifully carried the umbrellas for us and ensured that we stay dry and clean
• Dutifully wiping out our face and arms of water droplets from trees
• They bugged us to eat snacks in between shoots
• They carried drinks into the shoot area for us and for the photographers as well
• Aira reminded me constantly to walk carefully ang slowly because I might trip on the muddy garden or slip due to the puddles of water. She'll even grab me when I'm walking ahead of her just to support me as I walked.
• Aira coordinated with Jardin when she learned that the venue offered their picnic props and native hammock for our use.
• For added detail for the picnic setup, Aira plucked out flowers from Jardin de Miramar's garden. Hahaha.
• Since we're already 1 hour overtime at Jardin de Miramar, while shooting the last layout, Fritz packed away all of our things so we'd just quickly change and leave the premises immediately after the last layout.
• Aira was true to her word of waiving our remaining balance for their services. We were intending to still pay, and actually offered it before leaving Jardin the Miramar, but she just wouldn't take it.

Gaps

• Of course the panic and stress we got after learning of the double booking issue. I believe she already addressed the concern of mixed bookings by getting someone to fix her calendar for her.
• I forgot my belt for my shorts and was banking on Aira that she has belts with her as part of the accessories. No belt. I had to un-tuck my blouse and just tie it in front.
• My bra straps were always peeking from my dress but it wasn't fixed while we were shooting. It's such an eyesore in the photos.  

 All in all, it was still a good experience working with Aira and Fritz. They did their job beautifully on the day of our shoot and were attentive to our needs. However, a miss is still a miss hence I can't award her a perfect 10. But the good thing about her is the humility to accept her booboo and willingness to rectify her miss by providing us all possible options that we can get. In Adrin's words "at least she's not like our local airlines who do not give anything to the passengers whenever they inconvenience them". =)

Hope this helps!


Styling by Aira Franco
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Makeup by Fritz Mortel
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Cheers!

Morning Surprise from Boudoir Le Blanc

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Today I woke up to another good news. As soon  as I opened my eyes and turned off my alarm, my attention was caught by a message from Heather of Boudoir Le Blanc. She was telling me how she and Tooney ran across our blog posts (mine's, Aiza's, Nat's and Cris') about our boudoir soiree with them a couple of months back. They were so touched with our good words for their team and were overwhelmed also with the influx of w@wies wanting to go under their lenses for another fun fun fun group boudoir. Because of that, they decided to give all four of us a 30% discount on ANY of the boudoir sessions that we will have in the future (no expiry!) -- we can use it for any of the following: solo boudoir, couples boudoir, and maternity boudoir! Wow! Just wow!

It was over the weekend when I finally mustered the courage to share to the W@W community my boudoir soiree experience with w@wie friends. A lot of the ladies in the forum really liked the teaser photo I shared and took interest in Boudoir Le Blanc. Realizing that they don't have to undergo boudoir shoots on their own, they were really happy that ours was a group shoot and that they too can avail of it. Not long after I started the thread when a w@wie started rallying other interested girls to do another w@wies boudoir sesh! Haha. They must have inquired with BLB the past days and shared that they learned about the soiree package through us. 

Honestly I wasn't expecting for anything like this from BLB. I just really wanted to share the experience in the community as my way of giving back to them and inspiring them to pursue an experience such as that. Just as I have been inspired and convinced by fellow w@wies who've done it before me. I didn't know that such good intentions would warrant me and my friends a prized reward. =)

Kudos also to the lovely ladies of Boudoir Le Blanc -- Heather, Tooney, and Tina -- for their kind gesture of appreciation towards us. We were really grateful for your offer and we'd love to work with all of you again in the future! 

To end this post, I'm sharing with you some of my favorite photos from my boudoir session. :)

Grateful!

The Hotel Choices

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For me, preparation venue is just as important as the reception venue. As early as last year, I was already on the lookout for the best hotel that will suit our needs. It was only recently though that I turned the research into an active and serious hunt.

Our ceremony will be at Intramuros so naturally my shortlist comprises of the hotels nearby (Intramuros and Roxas Boulevard area). I checked their rooms and published rates online for initial comparison and even went as far as placing a dummy booking online (I'd cancel before the payment part) to get more accurate figures. Some would clearly standout from the rest in terms of aesthetics, but they were equally matched with skyrocketing rates.

Not one for a compulsive booking, I then consulted our coordinator for some feedback. I also turned to the ever reliable W@W to read on reviews. Here's what my list looked like after.

So you see, booking Sofitel will not only make a huge dent on our budget, it will also be more difficult for us to bring in lunch for the family and suppliers. Lest we resort to sneaky tactics, which are not fool-proof by the way, we run the risk of getting hungry and surly even before the ceremony. Handing out supplier allowance is not a good option since we don't want the suppliers to still think of how to get their food when they should be focused on doing their best for our big day. And of course another major minus point is for the outrageous fee you have to pay just to be allowed for some snapshots around the hotel! No way will I shell out that amount just for that. Thus, even if I like Sofitel best, I had to let it go.

Manila Hotel is a good contender except for the same concern of bringing food up the hotel rooms. Plus, I'm not really into its Filipiniana aesthetics. Its interior looks too old fashioned for my liking so it's scrapped off the list. Pan Pacific Manila got average feedback so I took it out also knowing the Diamond and Hyatt Hotels have a better standing.

Seriously considering Hyatt and Diamond, I had an extensive inquiry with their respective reservations specialists. I inquired about room sizes, late check-out policy, maximum guests allowed inside the room, and the like. I learned that Hyatt only has 1 or 2 renovated rooms for each room type. I asked if they can give it to me, but I was told that they can't commit on that and they'll just learn of room assignments days leading up to the actual reserved dates. That is a blow to my scoreboard so I decided not to do an ocular with them anymore. 

For Diamond Hotel on the other hand, I explored the Diamond Indulgence membership and looked into the possibility of getting that to save up some bucks for our stay. I was sent the list of privileges and when I computed, it really resulted to some savings for us. Interesting right? After learning that I asked if we can visit the hotel and do an ocular of the rooms. I was told that I can inquire a day before my prospected visit to check if the rooms we'd like to see are available. Now, this we have to squeeze in our schedule real soon. Can't wait!

Cheers!

DIYs for W@W Grand EB

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Okay, let me start by saying that W@W is not limited within the confines our desktop, laptops, tablets or mobile phones. It is an actual community! And a testament to that would be the occasional gathering of its members or what is usually called an EB (stands for "eyeball" - a colloquial term used when friends or acquaintances from the cyberspace meet in person). In my 1.5yrs of stay in the group, I have never attended these so called EBs due to several reasons. This year, aside from the "summer lakwacha" they had in Quezon, a Grand EB is poised to happen at Le Parc on July 7.

I'm sure an EB of this scale has already happened before, but not in past 18 months. The event will be delivered by w@wies or its so called members with the help of suppliers who were generous enough to sponsor the event. There's an appointed w@wie lead coordinator, and there are several committees under her. Each committee also has an identified lead. 

During the registration, we were asked which committee we'd like to be part of. Not one to eagerly pick out a designation, I just chose "Any". After several days, I learned that I was assigned to the Decor Committee. Our group was tasked to decorate 4 photo corners and 1 message board. Initial brainstorming of the members led to the high level design of each photo corner. Since we do not have readily available design pieces, the idea they came up with is to DIY our way to decorating those little stations.

When the DIY items were already identified, I signed up for items. The circular pinwheels and the windmill pinwheels. Last Saturday I met up with the leads of these decors to talk about our assigned tasks. We bought the materials and had snacks together while talking about each other's wedding preparations.  

As soon as I got home, I started with my loot. Here's what I have accomplished so far. Aren't they the cutest? Imagine if it's an entire wall of those lovely paper wheels. Oh I can't wait to see the fruits of our labor!

Circular Pinwheel Tutorial: Here

Will share to you our dressed up photo corners after the EB. =)

Cheers!