Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Fix-the-Wedding Trip #1
For this trip, the agenda was to finalize the venue, and the date. The side goals were: find a priest, visit some hotels where our visitors can stay, check out the church, and meet Amsky, for our string quartet.
We had to finish the itinerary in 3 days. A big feat, but we were surprisingly very productive.
We went up with our good friend, Christian, and two of my cousins, OJ (our official navigator) and Jonna (who cooks some mean Adobo).
First off, we met up with Lovely, Le Chef's Events Coordinator who was really happy to discuss with us our Manor options.
Though The Manor is such a nice place, I was really keen on having a garden reception because well, the beautiful landscape is one of the reasons why we opted for a Baguio wedding. Going for an indoor reception would definitely defeat the purpose. Unfortunately, the Manor could only offer the CAP Garden Wing during the evenings. Since last year, garden receptions inside the Manor can be held only up until 5PM. We really don't want a luncheon wedding so that was crossed out.
Melvene and I then trooped over to the CAP Garden Wing, to check out if this can be THE venue. But it was huge and empty. Though Lovely pointed out that they can put drapes that will serve as walls to fit our desired sitting capacity. But still, it was just too big, and it needs a lot of work. And the gray overhead drapery, that's another story. Nah.
So we went to another venue: Cantinetta in Camp John Hay. We love the quaint resto's nice homey feel. And we thought, it would be easy to dress up the place. Everything's looking lovely and perfect, but the thing is, we wanted our guests to be happy with the food. We were not sure if going full Italian would make most of our guests happy. Melvene and I are not Italian food junkies. So we ended up putting Cantinetta on the 'Maybe' list. I'd say we were, 70% happy. But we wanted to be 100% happy. So, we were off to another location.
For the next stop, we went to neighboring AIM Igorot Lodge. Last December 09, Ate Hazel and I saw a wedding held here. So it was the first time I brought Melvene to check out the place. And we both agreed that it's too conference-y. Scrapped in a minute! But we thought the rooms would be nice for our guests.
Okay, at this point, I was getting a bit anxious. We haven't found THE venue yet. So the next day, we went to see Jonathan, Baguio Country Club Events Coordinator. I told him about what we wanted: an outdoor location, and we'd appreciate some privacy. He showed us the Ballroom Roofdeck and we were happy - a whopping 100%! We immediately took pictures and we were even talking about how we're going to decorate the venue. This was THE venue, definitely. We love the trellises and ths small stage. We like that we can have the venue to ourselves for the whole day. Yey! We made the reservations on the spot. Finally! Mark your calendars, we're sure of the date: December 17, 2010!
We had to finish the itinerary in 3 days. A big feat, but we were surprisingly very productive.
We went up with our good friend, Christian, and two of my cousins, OJ (our official navigator) and Jonna (who cooks some mean Adobo).
First off, we met up with Lovely, Le Chef's Events Coordinator who was really happy to discuss with us our Manor options.
Though The Manor is such a nice place, I was really keen on having a garden reception because well, the beautiful landscape is one of the reasons why we opted for a Baguio wedding. Going for an indoor reception would definitely defeat the purpose. Unfortunately, the Manor could only offer the CAP Garden Wing during the evenings. Since last year, garden receptions inside the Manor can be held only up until 5PM. We really don't want a luncheon wedding so that was crossed out.
Melvene and I then trooped over to the CAP Garden Wing, to check out if this can be THE venue. But it was huge and empty. Though Lovely pointed out that they can put drapes that will serve as walls to fit our desired sitting capacity. But still, it was just too big, and it needs a lot of work. And the gray overhead drapery, that's another story. Nah.
So we went to another venue: Cantinetta in Camp John Hay. We love the quaint resto's nice homey feel. And we thought, it would be easy to dress up the place. Everything's looking lovely and perfect, but the thing is, we wanted our guests to be happy with the food. We were not sure if going full Italian would make most of our guests happy. Melvene and I are not Italian food junkies. So we ended up putting Cantinetta on the 'Maybe' list. I'd say we were, 70% happy. But we wanted to be 100% happy. So, we were off to another location.
For the next stop, we went to neighboring AIM Igorot Lodge. Last December 09, Ate Hazel and I saw a wedding held here. So it was the first time I brought Melvene to check out the place. And we both agreed that it's too conference-y. Scrapped in a minute! But we thought the rooms would be nice for our guests.
Okay, at this point, I was getting a bit anxious. We haven't found THE venue yet. So the next day, we went to see Jonathan, Baguio Country Club Events Coordinator. I told him about what we wanted: an outdoor location, and we'd appreciate some privacy. He showed us the Ballroom Roofdeck and we were happy - a whopping 100%! We immediately took pictures and we were even talking about how we're going to decorate the venue. This was THE venue, definitely. We love the trellises and ths small stage. We like that we can have the venue to ourselves for the whole day. Yey! We made the reservations on the spot. Finally! Mark your calendars, we're sure of the date: December 17, 2010!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Eat at Oh My Gulay
Whenever Melvene and I go to Baguio, we always find ourselves hanging out at Oh My Gulay. The art gallery-slash-resto, owned by director, Kidlat Tahimik - really a feast for the eyes. A visual surprise awaits in every corner. Oh did we say that there's a boat inside the restaurant?
The food is vegetarian, but in a very good way. The pastas are great. The drinks, we love! Try the Dayap tea!
At times, you can catch artists perform on the Vocas stage. Gongs and drums for a very ethnic evening. Artsy indeed!
Oh My Gulay is on the top floor of La Azotea Building which is along Session Road. Contact 0918-6676025
The food is vegetarian, but in a very good way. The pastas are great. The drinks, we love! Try the Dayap tea!
At times, you can catch artists perform on the Vocas stage. Gongs and drums for a very ethnic evening. Artsy indeed!
Oh My Gulay is on the top floor of La Azotea Building which is along Session Road. Contact 0918-6676025
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Visit the Bencab Museum
National Artist for Visual Arts, Bencab, is one the most respected artists in the country today. And he has recently opened the BenCab museum which houses the artist's works plus the works of other well-known Filipino artists. Ang Kiukok has a couple of paintings here.
The museum owns a very rich assortment of granary gods, weapons and indigenous arts.
And aside from all the beautiful art, the Farm & Garden at the museum boasts of flowers and organic produce. We love the duck pond and indigenous houses.
And there's the quaint cafe, Cafe Sabel where we recommend you sit around, drink some coffee, BenCab's harvest for P60 a cup. For the adventurous, try the civet cat coffee for P100 a cup.
Then there's hot chocolate and eat some suman (P200) or the Classic BLT Sandwich (P160), that's a combo of bacon, lettuce, tomato with homemade mayo in kamote or saigon bread.
Get to enjoy the view. And if you're lucky, you'll get to see BenCab himself.
Entrance at P100, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9AM until 6PM. By car, it's at 15-minute drive from Baguio's center. If you want to do the jeep, go to the jeepney terminal near the Baguio Market. Take the Asin Road.
The museum owns a very rich assortment of granary gods, weapons and indigenous arts.
And aside from all the beautiful art, the Farm & Garden at the museum boasts of flowers and organic produce. We love the duck pond and indigenous houses.
And there's the quaint cafe, Cafe Sabel where we recommend you sit around, drink some coffee, BenCab's harvest for P60 a cup. For the adventurous, try the civet cat coffee for P100 a cup.
Then there's hot chocolate and eat some suman (P200) or the Classic BLT Sandwich (P160), that's a combo of bacon, lettuce, tomato with homemade mayo in kamote or saigon bread.
Get to enjoy the view. And if you're lucky, you'll get to see BenCab himself.
Entrance at P100, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9AM until 6PM. By car, it's at 15-minute drive from Baguio's center. If you want to do the jeep, go to the jeepney terminal near the Baguio Market. Take the Asin Road.
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