Our Wedding Planner: Revianne Sesante of Weddings by Revianne

So now, it's time for us to look for a Wedding Planner... Since we are overseas and this is our dream beach wedding, we are looking for a Wedding Planner that can make us feel important and priority, someone whom we really can 100% rely on, someone who's very much familiar with beach weddings in Batangas area and can effectively communicate well with us. Someone who can also keep her temper and patience dealing with us as a couple... I am not sure what kind of a "Soon to be Bride" I am and I cannot guarantee that I won't be a "Bridezilla" especially when it comes to our wedding preparation. lol :)

Due to limited sources/ knowledge, I asked my friends & relatives and even posted on my FB wall asking for Wedding Planner/ Coordinator recommendations but either we don't find them knowledgeable of what they are doing yet charging us a lot or some that cannot communicate well with Steve and for us, that is one of the most important things to consider in getting a Wedding Planner or some well-known suppliers that takes time to reply just for a simple inquiry which for us have a negative impact knowing that how can you deal with someone who responded to your inquiry 1- 2 weeks later and took couple of days again to respond to your follow- up inquiry? Is it because since the wedding is still more than a year to happen then they're not taking us seriously? Just can't imagine the feeling/ dilemma if you will get their service then few months or weeks before your wedding, they will suddenly not contact you or keep you hanging... I hate it!

I don't know if our standards are just way too high or we haven't find the right one... I almost give up looking and about to confirm the one who took time to respond when I called Acuatico Beach and asked for a Wedding Planner recommendation. One of the staff there mentioned that Revianne Sesante was the Event Coordinator during the owner's birthday recently but they don't have her contact details. I searched her name online and saw her FB page, Weddings by Revianne. The page is not updated but there's an email address so I tried and sent her an inquiry and to my surprise, she responded very quickly and that made us both excited to call her. To be honest, I easily felt comfortable talking to her plus the fact that she is familiar with our chosen venue since she had wedding events being held there. I also gave the phone to Steve to talk to her to let him explain what kind of wedding we both wanted and Revianne was very accommodating giving some of her ideas and letting us feel that she knows what we wanted and that she will help us make it happen. Steve also felt comfortable talking to her and I know... we finally found our Wedding Planner!

It was October 2013 when we first confirmed Revianne's service as a Wedding Planner. A year had past as it's now October 2014 but we never regret a thing. Not only we got a reliable Wedding Planner but we also gained a friend in her.  

Choosing Our Wedding Venue- Acuatico Beach, Laiya Batangas

We're officially engaged!

Once back from our holiday, we started talking about the wedding... the theme, the date and the venue.

Steve and I both wanted to have a beach wedding so we decided that we will definitely have one. We first planned of having it in Dubai since we're both residence here and near to his relatives in UK but thinking of the long procedures and expensive fees in getting visas plus the air ticket and accommodation for all my relatives just to attend our wedding made us decide to do it in Philippines and since it is an outdoor event, we chose to have it in Summer.

Philippines is surrounded by water so definitely, there will be a lot of beaches to choose from. We started looking for a venue online and most of the nice venues for an intimate wedding are in Boracay like Discovery Shore, Shangri-la, Estacio Uno, Asya, Sea Wind Boracay and Fridays but logistics' wise, it's not a good option for us knowing that all my relatives are in Manila and Steve's relatives need to travel almost a day from UK to Manila then another couple of hours from Manila to Boracay and at the same time, not all the guests we wanted to be present in our wedding can afford to shoulder the expenses. Though we wanted to have a beach wedding, we also need to consider our loved ones so we looked again for other options then I remembered something... Batangas also has nice beach resorts so we searched online. There are couple of nice beach hotels in the area but the one really captured our attention is the Acuatico Beach Resort in San Juan, Laiya Batangas.

                                                   http://www.acuaticoresort.com.ph/

According to their website, they only have a total of 21 rooms and villas good for 62 pax. In that case, the hotel is not that big to be crowded and to have a lot of in-house guests so it is just perfect for our intimate wedding!

We sent them an inquiry right after we got their email address on the website. Izel, the Sales & Reservations Manager was very accommodating sending us their wedding packages. The package options include the basic set-up of the venue, dinner buffet and overnight accommodation with breakfast for 62 pax which makes the hotel EXCLUSIVE for us on the night of our wedding! That is the type of venue/ package we are looking for... an intimate and exclusive wedding for us and our loved ones.

Now, since we are overseas, next is to find a Wedding Planner.

Prenup: Meeting with the Photographer and HMUA

September 2014, It was rainy season in Philippines but since we are overseas, this is the only time we can go back home (before our BIG Day!) to finalize everything and do our prenup.

With the help of our very supportive wedding coordinator Revianne, we set a meeting with Russel of Topshot, our Wedding Photographer and Khite Bautista, our HMUA to finalize the venue and set-up for the pictorial. Since I was so excited, I even preferred to have 2 venues; 1st is Wawa Dam in Rodriguez Rizal since our place now is just approximately 5 mins drive and my family used to go there every year when we we're still kids (ages ago) so it will be a nice feeling to go back there again and the 2nd venue will be Pan de Amerikana in Marikina as I was a native of Marikina yet never been to that place. We also chose Pan de Amerikana as it has an indoor- outdoor area just incase it rains.

It will be our first time to meet Russel and Khite so we still don't know what to expect though among all the suppliers we have; I was  the one who personally chose both of them due to referral of friends. Upon seeing them both for the first time and seeing their work, we both know that we are in good hands.

We really had a productive day. Sharing ideas for the styling according to the chosen venue, mix and match of the clothes we brought back with us. We're about to finalize everything until Steve knew that the call time would be as early as 5am in Marikina. He really freaked out and told us that it won't be possible... so he won! We ended up choosing Wawa Dam as it is only 5-10 mins drive from our place.