Our wedding date would be one year from our engagement date. Not for any reason except that we felt we needed a year to plan our wedding.
We soft set two Saturdays in our minds and decided that the estimate would be a good enough gauge for the next few weeks when we would start talking to suppliers and booking big ticket items.
What are we talking about here?
ChurchOkay. So maybe wedding bands arrangement was not really something urgent, but it was something I wanted to look into early in the game.
Reception Venue
Photographer
Videographer
Wedding Gown (Custom vs. Off the Rack)
Wedding Coordinator
Wedding Bands
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I would probably write separate entries on the stories of each supplier. Who we booked first, which suppliers we contacted--maybe I will omit some names.
Maybe I will share a lot of back stories.
Maybe. Maybe.
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Going back to the story, we later took on a wedding date that was not exactly one year, but very close to the anniversary of our engagement.
As the only thing we were sure of was the reception venue. We immediately contacted the hotel. As we were early, we had a free pass to choose any date from the month that we selected.
We were so eager to get the paperwork done so the date would be ours. However, we were surprised that the events coordinator was being cool and overly relaxed to secure our deposit.
It won't be until we selected our wedding coordinator that we found out that things ran differently in Cebu. It was not as cut throat as far as booking places and suppliers go in Manila. People were generally more comfortable securing dates and bookings based on verbal agreements and personal relationships.
Long story short, while our reception venue was the first thing we wanted to book book, we had to rely on a verbal yes (not a contract, not even an email) that the venue was reserved for us.
If you know me, you would know how this would sit uncomfortably with me. But in planning our wedding, I needed to trust our suppliers.
Trust me, I kept insisting that they take our money. They wouldn't. Instead, they reassured me that we were pencil booked. And that was supposedly solid. I literally asked them if I could get it inked. They ignored me.
I was not too happy setting dates with the church and other suppliers with our reception venue not inked. But like I said, when in Rome....
Needless to say, the pencil booking in Cebu, truly holds.
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This is where a side story comes into play.
Conversations with my brother and sister in law brought about another venue in Cebu. It would be rare for either one practically beaming about a place that would suit the wedding they felt I had in mind.
They spoke of a quaint resort in Cebu that they had grown fond of.
As much as I trusted their opinion, I thought maybe to make things simpler, we should just stick with our first choice.
On a separate occasion, we were talking to our Wedding Coordinator (WC) about our vision of how our wedding would be. Eyes sparkling, she said that maybe we should also look into another venue because it seemed perfect for what we had in mind.
What venue? You guessed it. THE SAME VENUE my brother and sister in law were talking about.
At this point, my husband and I could not longer ignore the obvious. The other venue needs to be considered. We had to check it out.
Long story short, we loved the other venue. However, there were too many constraints. In the end, while it was a good contender, our first option won.
Note: In hindsight, I know we made the right decision.
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It was only six months later that they finally agreed that we were ready to sign a contract. Alleluia.
And that is as exciting as our wedding reception venue booking story could go.
Photos to follow.
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