Vacation in the Philippines and Wedding Plans Accomplishments Part 1

The fiancé, me, and the soon-to-be Mother-in-law went home to the Philippines last February 12. The soon-to-be MIL's main goal is for a vacation. She'll stay in PH for two months I think. You know, my soon-to-be MIL is a very blessed woman. After all the hard works she had done in raising her son (my fiancé) and daughter, all she does now is relax and take vacations. She deserves it because she raised her children to be responsible and diligent. I admire her for that. Anyway, enough about the MIL, let’s go back to the topic. My fiancé and I went to the Philippines with the following goals: 1.) To do an ocular on the following venues: The Mango Farm, Alpadi Estate, La Huerta Estate, and Pinto Art Museum; 2.) To do a follow up food tasting at K by Cunanan, our chosen caterer; 3.) To attend my Lola’s 92^nd birthday; 4.) To hold an engagement dinner with my family; and 5.) To meet our chosen wedding coordinator, Lowell of 7ten5 Events.

At the morning of February 12, 2016, after getting the car to use for the ocular and having our breakfast at Jollibee, we went to do our first to activity of the day, ocular at The Mango Farm. Actually, I failed to take pictures of the venue because of who I am as a person. If you grew up in a farm, you would not really want to consider The Mango Farm as a venue because it only looks like that… a farm. The place is not really full of mango trees. Although, what I liked about the place was that it has an indoor venue for the reception. The fiancé and MIL doesn’t want it as a venue either because as they said it looks very common. We crossed it of our list already because our target was already booked. We already have a date and we wouldn’t want to reschedule it.

The second location we viewed was Alpadi Estate. Alpadi Estate is located in Sumulong Highway, the gate beside Padi’s Place in Antipolo. The Padilla family who owns the estate is also the owner of Padi’s Place. Alpadi Estate is a vintage looking garden over the hill with an overlooking view of the city. I initially did not want to include it in my venue list as it is an outdoor venue and I wanted to have a garden for the ceremony and an indoor reception. Howevaaa, when we saw the Alpadi Estate, we were mesmerized with the rustic charm of the place. The venue itself already has a character. We don’t have to spend much to decorate itself because the venue itself is like a wonderland. Here are the photos we have of the place:

The third venue we viewed was La Huerta Estate. I liked the place because it is big. Good enough for 150 people.  Also, the Tipolo Deck is a good place to have the ceremony as it is overlooking view of the city. Here’s the picture:

This is the whole look of the venue. Lakas maka-Haciendera ang peg.

We weren’t able to go to Pinto Art Museum because it was already 12 noon. We had a scheduled food tasting at K. by Cunanan at 1:00 pm. Anyway, I just really wanted to take a look at Pinto Art Museum not for reception purposes. Our chosen caterer are not one of their accredited caterer and we don’t want to pay a corkage fee just for that.

The Verdict: Obviously, the winner is Alpadi Estate. Here are more pictures of the place.

This is the chapel they were referring to us where they said we could have the ceremony. Although, I think it would be hard to go up here if you're wearing a wedding gown

I'm not really sure if 150 people could actually fit here. However, I'm flexible with the number of guests. I was thinking of cutting the number of guests to 120 only. It'll just be a number of close family and friends we would like to invite. However, the problem is I have a really big family. Haha. Anyway, our caterer, required us to have a tent because they don't want to risk having wet utensils and sheets. SHIT! It's also in their protocol that if the venue is outdoor they'll have tents. I don't want to have a tent. The look of the place, the ambiance would be compromised. However, the fiance still wants to have Alpadi. I have no choice since the only venue we liked among our choices was Alpadi Estate. 

I don't know how we will go around this one. Renting a tent is also quite expensive. I don't have any idea yet. I would ask the coordinator with that one. Although, Bea, our AE at K.byC said that they would be the one to book the renting for us. I'm scared of what it will look like, although she assured me the tent will look classy as possible. I just don't want to cover it up. 

I just can't imagine that this beautiful green veranda is covered by a tent. Nawawala un character! I really want to protest. Haha! I'll bully everyone so I could get what I want. Anyway, I'm looking around for clear tents. I just there is a supplier for that. 

So, before this post turn into a rant, I'll end it already. Up next, I'll  be posting about the food tasting at K. by Cunanan with the Floyd and Tita Tess.