Richie Ortega-Torres

(note by wifey: I had the same post on my heartstrings blog)
 
Finally, I had my wedding gown designs!! These are by Richie Ortega-Torres. When I saw her creations on the internet, I fell in love with them. And when I met her, the two of us just hit it off; the two of us instantly connected and established rapport. That connection turned out to be priceless I guess; I tried to contact 2 other designers but I lost heart to them because they didn’t have the professionalism, bubble and openness that Richie had with me.
Help me out on the decision-making, will you?
Gown choice A (front):
Gown choice A (back):
Image of the sheer-style shoulder of Gown A:

 

Gown choice B (front):

Gown choice B (back):
Lovely aren’t they?

Hizon’s Catering

I admit, I was already leaning on booking for another caterer. But as I haven’t contacted that certain caterer yet and hence still not sure as to their availability, I just can’t pass up the chance to join Hizon’s grand foodtasting at The Oasis.

In all fairness, I must hand it to them that they still accommodated me even when I only confirmed my attendance for the event a day before. Thing is though, when we showed up for the event and I looked for my AE, the certain AE wasn’t at the register table and nobody knew if she has arrived or not. Some even doesn’t know if my AE was their co-employee. The AEs (I assume they were AEs) in the table were convincing one another to take me up instead and finally they “bullied” (it felt like that to me) somebody to take me on because they couldn’t find my AE’s folder on the table. Good thing though somebody found my AE’s folder burried by the other folders, only to find that my name wasn’t on it. This was fine by me since I did just confirm the day before and I have my AE’s email and text confirmation that I am registered to join the event.

First impressions really matter with me and the “register table” incident certainly put their group down several notches on my standards chart (if not at the bottom). Yet, I let it pass.

Now the food. It was okay. Although I really wasn’t exclaiming delightfully how good it was (which I would have wanted for our wedding caterer), still it was good enough. There was only one dish that stood out though, which was their Roast Beef with Mushroom gravy sauce. It tasted like lechon. Delicious. But if only one dish was worth mentioning among several dishes, that would be a problem isn’t it?

They made it up with their dessert though. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g was just lovely. Especially the mango panna cotta.

After the event was done though, I know deep within that I still haven’t found our caterer that satisfied my palate.

Caleruega

Choosing the best wedding church location was quite a challenge for us. Atsushi’s family will come from Japan and mine from Davao hence we want a venue that would be most convenient for our guests. Fernbrooks was originally considered but my choice reception room was already booked and our company will be having our Christmas party there so somehow, the place has lost its magic for me. I was already considering some churches in Makati and Quezon City and Manila. But if truth be told, for safety reasons, I hesitate to have our wedding in the thick of Metro Manila.

When Maha and I met during my Japan visit last September, I told her about my dream wedding locations – beach wedding in an Island in Bohol and a solemn one in Caleruega – both of which I considered impossible because of the travel. But then Maha pointed out that Caleruega is actually the practical choice since guests can just directly drive from the airport to Tagaytay. Plus, it’s safer as compared to Manila area. The idea then got stuck on my imagination. Hence, when Hubby agreed, I was really happy!

Last Saturday, Kat, Rey and I then went to Tagaytay to do our ocular visits of the place as well as other possible reception venues and guests’ accommodations. The day started out as a rainy one hence the mist and fog were so thick we had difficulty seeing the car ahead of us. It was quite a dangerous drive and so I am really grateful to Rey and Kat for still pushing through with our trip.

When we got to Caleruega, it was like being in heaven after that foggy and dangerous trip haha.

Suffice it to say, I fell in love with the place.

(the back of the church)

(church grounds)

(the church front)

(the church altar)

(wifey by the church door)

Contact details:

Caleruega Philippines, caleruega_philippines@yahoo.com, +63921.270.9890 ; +63921.830.4226;  (+6343)706.0348