B’s Supplier Rating Part 2 August 22, 2010

Rating scale: 0 to 5, with 5 being the highest.

Mang Boy Mahusay

Package details: Ecuador roses and tulips for the bridal bouquet + bouquet for 2 moms, 1 MOH, 2 BM, 4 PS + wrist corsage for 3 SS, + 4 pomanders and head dress for FGs + offertory basket and loose petals

He said: Mang Boy was one of the first few suppliers that we booked last year.  He had good reviews in w@w, and had very affordable rates, which fit perfectly to our search for the “bang for the buck” suppliers.  We went to Dangwa, looked for Mang Boy, and after finalizing the requirements, paid for our deposit.  Eventually, after Beej changed her mind about our motif (from tiffany blue to navy blue), we even went back to Mang Jon (Mang Boy’s “assistant”) to change the colors, and everything was fine up to that point.  And then things changed – we started hearing negative feedback, and it even came to a point when we considered foregoing the deposit to switch to a better supplier.  We should have followed our instincts and did that.  Most of the flowers delivered were wrong (wrong color, wrong type), the quality was poor (when we were about to start the reception, some flowers in Beej’s bouquet were already wilting), and we felt that sobrang tinipid kami (the headdress of our flowergirls were mostly just leaves and very few flowers; our principal sponsors, instead of getting bouquets, got only wrist corsages).

His rating: 1 out of 5

She said:  He was famous in w@w. WAS is the operative word. I should’ve checked first before I went to Dangwa. True, they give lower quotations but the hassle that came with it wasn’t worth it. First, they were pestering me 2 days before the wedding for the type of flowers that I wanted when I already told them that 1 week before the wedding. Second, they were calling on the day of the wedding for the hotel room number when our coordinator already told them the night before. They also came in late, I don’t know what time exactly but I remember hearing someone asking for the flowers and they said, “wala pa”, my make up was almost done by then. They did not follow the instructions on what my ento flowers should be. They asked me to pay additional Php500 to convert my PS flowers to bouquet from wrist corsage. Guess what? The flowers were still wrist corsages. There were more leaves than flowers on my FGs pomanders and headdress. I can go on and on but it won’t change the fact that they performed poorly.

Her rating:  0.5 out of 5

Sheah Designs

Package details: bridal gown, 2 pillows, secondary veil, cord, pouch, dress up assistance + gowns for the 2 moms, 1 MOH, 2BMs, 3 SS, 4 FGs

He said: The whole entourage’s gown was beautiful.  Beej’s gown was amazing.  Except for a few hiccups (Beej’s gown seemed too long during our wedding because she lost weight; and a few communication issues at times), I would highly recommend getting Sheah for couples who want that elegant dress, without spending huge amounts of money.

His rating: 4 out of 5

She said: We talked to several designers to find the “one”. I chose Sheah Designs because Sheryl was fun and easy to talk to. On our first meeting, she immediately sketched a design for me. After a few discussion, I liked what she came up with. Then came the quotation. I was surprised that it fell right into our budget. Benj was willing to spend a few thousands more so that I can have my dream gown but we didn’t have to. Btw, Sheryl’s original sketch of my gown wasn’t what I used for the wedding. My gown was totally different from the first sketch, it was better! I loved it! On a different note, I realized that nobody’s perfect. As much as I loved Sheryl and her work, there were minor flaws. Minor enough to ignore naman.

Her rating: 4.5 out of 5

Lalaine’s Bridal Shoppe and Fabric Center

Package details: 1 pure pina barong for groom, 2 pina cocoon barong for fathers, 6 pina jusi barong for ento, 3 pina jusi barong for kids

He said: We discovered this shop (located in Taal Public Market in Batangas) upon the advice of my friend Rommel, and our Ninong Dan.  You would be surprised at how cheap we got the barongs of our whole male entourage (less than half the price compared to if you got them in Manila), that even if we factor in the gas and the toll fare, we still saved a LOT of money.  And that’s not to say that it was of poor quality.  I’m talking here about custom-design, hand-made, pure pina barongs.

His rating: 4.5 out of 5

She said: Our friends, Rommel and Ninong Dan, were kind enough to accompany us to Taal, Batangas to look for cheap barongs but with good quality. It took us only 2 trips to Taal, first was to scout for the supplier, second was to pick up the barongs. We liked the barongs, they were of good quality, not to mention really cheap. It is still cheaper than the barongs bought in DV including the overhead costs like gas, toll fee and meals. We got a couple of lessons learned though – measurements should be taken by the professionals and don’t assume that they don’t deliver to Manila even if they are from Taal. And, they had one mistake pa pala – measurements for Benj’s papa and brother seemed to be exchanged.

Her rating: 4 out of 5

Heny Sison

Package details: 16” diameter, around 8” thick, only bottom layer is edible + cake stand

He said: We got a huge discount and was able to afford Ms Heny’s services thanks to our friend Cris.  I’m not sure though if it was because of the discount, but I honestly thought that our cake looked “so-so”.  The design was not detailed well, and our monogram was too small.  Although as far as the taste was concerned, it was awesome.  We received a lot of good feedback from our relatives who tasted our apple walnut cake – ibang level pa rin talaga si Ms Heny.

His rating: 4 out of 5

She said: When we got to know that our friend, Cris, can hook us up with a meeting from THE Ms. Heny Sison, we were ecstatic. We didn’t need a taste test. We knew the cake was going to be good. The only question now was the rate. Admittedly, it was a splurge. For the budget we set, we could’ve gotten a cake of the same dimensions but with more edible layers, or a smaller one for a cheaper price. But what the heck, it was from Ms Heny Sison. When we met her again for our cake design, we loved her sketch. It was simple and elegant. Unfortunately, her assistant (we assumed it was her assistants who did our cake) didn’t do justice to her design. The sketch wasn’t executed properly on the cake, our monogram was not in proportion to the cake’s dimensions, and the colors of the lines were not properly done. They were like the first coating of nail polish, with mostly white spaces pa. When it comes to the taste, the cake was very good. As expected out of a Heny Sison cake.

Her rating: 3 out of 5 for the design; 4.5 out of 5 for taste

Impress Prints by Calliope

Package details: main card, ento card, choice between RSVP card or thank you card (we chose RSVP card), mailing labels

He said: We had our own personal designer for the wedding – Beej’s cousin Cat – so we got Impress Prints purely for printing.  I think they’re one of the top suppliers we have – considering that their price is very affordable, the quality of their prints is top notch.  Or perhaps Cat’s design was just THAT good.  :)  In any case, I loved our invites, so what else is there to say?  :)

His rating: 4.5 out of 5

She said: We didn’t want to spend too much on the invitations, no one keeps an invitation anyway. We chose Impress Prints because they were the most affordable and easy to deal with. During the production, I haggled to have stickers seals included in the package. They willingly gave it. For the mailing labels, we thought that they will be simple sticker print outs of our guests names. We were surprised to receive mailing labels with a design aligned with our theme. It made our invites more beautiful and elegant. We got a lot of praises on our invites.

Her rating: 4.9 out of 5

Am Yapjoco

Package details: trial make up (used during prenup), bridal package (bride + 2 heads + 1 fg + groom’s grooming), retouch before reception

He said:  Beej got Am’s services for the first time during our friend Erly’s wedding last 2007.  I thought her make up was very good at that time, and compared to other HMUA’s that she had, Am does the most natural thing to highlight Beej’s natural morena beauty.  During our wedding, I think she even outdid herself.  Beej was not only beautiful — I couldn’t take my eyes off her!  (bola hehe).  Her assistant also did a phenomenal job with Beej’s hair.  Anyway, I also loved how Am did my Mom’s and our Ninang Amie’s make up.  Two thumbs up talaga.

His rating: 4.5 out of 5

She said: When I started looking for a HMUA, Am was first on the list and I was determined to get her. We even booked her without trial because I sort of had my trial with her last 2007 during my friend, Erly’s wedding. I was not mistaken. Am did a wonderful job on my makeup, just the way how I imagined it to be. I loved my hair as well. It was very well done by Ate Fe. Am also made my mom and mama glow in their natural beauty. My mom said to thank Am for her because she liked her makeup very much. Mama (Benj’s mom) who was resisting having makeup liked hers too. Galing talaga!

Her rating: 4.9 out of 5

Fly To Manila

Package details: 8 hours use of white Ford Everest + flowers on the bridal car

He said: Another “bang for the buck” supplier.  How can you go wrong with 8 hours of service, including the bridal car flower arrangement, and very courteous and friendly drivers.  If you’re on a budget, and are not very particular with the model of your bridal car, don’t look anywhere else.  Contact Ronnie now.  :P

His rating: 4.5 out of 5

She said: We got the lead to Fly To Manila at W@W. Comparing them to other bridal car services, they were the most affordable and had the longest hours. A few days before our wedding, I got to chat with one of my sisters in w@w who also got the services of F2M. She told me to remind Ronnie to provide nice flowers and not the one that’s “kalbo” na. Thank Sis Abby for the tip! The flowers on the bridal car were nice and not “kalbo”, plus the drivers were courteous and even held the door for me.

Her rating: 4.5 out of 5

Gen Lee Events

Package details: on-the-day coordination, turn over 2 months before wedding

He said: At first, one might be discouraged to hire Gen because she’s not as ma-chika as other coordinators out there.  Now (as you may have figured out by now), I was a hands-on groom during our preps (probably more than I should have been), and I’m quite OC myself, in addition to Beej.  In that aspect, Gen delivers.  She is very organized, she knows what she’s doing, and she anticipates possibilities early.  Beej and I practically spent every waking hour outside of work preparing for our wedding, but Gen still comes up with things that we haven’t considered or thought about.  She would give you a checklist and schedule for almost everything, and come August 9, I was confident that we would be in good hands.  My only negative feedback would be about her team though — she has a very good, and equally competent #2 (XXX), but the rest of her team were so-so.  Some of them seem to move lazily, and Beej’s assistant would falter at times — I especially didn’t like that my bride didn’t get that nice dramatic entrance to the church because the bridal assistant was in the way.  :(  However these are things that can be managed with a little extra instruction, so I’m still quite satisfied with their assistance, and would highly recommend them for other soon-to-weds on a budget.

His rating: 4 out of 5

She said: Gen Lee Events was a bridal-fair find. I think I am her first w@wie, if I’m not mistaken. We got her services because we felt that she knew what she is doing and gonna do on the wedding day, during our first meeting pa lang at the bridal fair. I had a couple of consultation with her via email and she responded to my queries almost immediately.  Between January and June, I’ve been reading a lot of raves from different w@wies about how proactive and maalaga their coordinators are. Im became worried. Why wasn’t Gen like that? Hubby said, as long as she isn’t breaking any clause from the contract we shouldn’t worry about anything. 2 months before the wedding came, we turned over the contracts to Gen. There we started seeing how she works. She came very prepared during that meeting and all other meetings we had. She didn’t miss any instruction that we gave. We even had an unconventional request to have 2 coordinators stay with us at the hotel to be the bride and groom’s assistant, she was able to do this. There were glitches in the wedding but none of it was of Gen’s fault. No family member or any other supplier complaint was heard on that day. Overall, Gen and her team did a very good job in keeping OC-me and more-OC Benj stress free on our big day. Btw, I am not in any way, not in the remotest possibility, related to Gen. Hehe.

Her rating:  4.7 out of 5

Dulce Amor

Package details: event hosting

He said: Dulce is a good friend, and offered her services for free.  With that, she still entertained our guests and we even got good reviews from some of our relatives and guests.  She’s been hosting for quite some time now, and she knows what she’s doing – and does it very well.

His rating: 4.5 out of 5

She said: You may say that I am biased because she is a friend. To be fair, I asked a couple of guest on their feedback on Dulce:

Mama – “Ang galling! Kung magpapakasal ako, kukunin ko sya.”

Tina – “Magaling sya magsalita at very articulate.”

Mito – “Ok naman, magaling sya magsalita. Areas of improvement: parang di nya masyadong kabisdo yung flow.”

Her rating: 4.5 out of 5

Boothilicious

Package details: 3 hours (1 hour was a freebie) use of photobooth, and tarp background

He said: Brymac is a good friend, and gave us a great deal in his photobooth business.  I actually already got a preview of his work when we did a photobooth at my office, so I knew that he would deliver.  In fact, he even upgraded his equipment and services, so it was a really nice bonus for us.  And by the way, one thing that sets Boothilicious apart from other photobooth suppliers, is the quality of their printouts – it’s very natural, the lighting is perfect.  I’ve been to a lot of photobooths, and I think Brymac’s set up and equipment produces the best printouts so far.

His rating: 4.5 out of 5

She said: We saw pictures from other photobooths, and Boothilicious had the best picture quality. Sayang nga most of the guests left agad kaya konti lang pictures sa photobooth. We had more than enough supplies pa naman.

Her rating: 4 out of 5

Souvenirs by Eden

Package details: Regular sized chocolate bar inclusive of customized label

He said: I can’t remember how we found out about Eden, but it was so easy to book her – the price was affordable, and her chocolates tasted good.  I have two negative feedbacks though – one, soon after booking, it was so difficult to get a hold of her.  She responds late to text messages, and rarely picks up calls.  Second, the printout quality of the cover of the chocolate was poor.  The design looked good in the computer, but the real thing looks different — I believe this is due to the type of printer she uses.  Oh, and there’s a third one – when we met her for the pick up of the products, she was an hour late.  Bad.

His rating: 2.5 out of 5

She said: Another supplier who made our heads hurt. At first we liked how she handled us as clients. Right after we deposited for the down payment sometime early 2010, Eden immediately acknowledged the payment and gave us our working timeline. We thought, good. This is our kind of supplier. We didn’t pressure her. We followed her timeline. Sad thing is, she didn’t. She was late in sending out the layout for the chocolate labels to the point that I was worried if she has disappeared on us. She said she was on a “seminar”, asked for an extension, and was still late in the submission. When we finally got the layout, there were minor revisions. So minor that if only I had photoshop on my laptop, I can do it myself. But the revision still came in after a few days. Come delivery date she was one hour late. Hay naku.

Her rating: 3 out of 5