FaB Cla
- Jun 8, 2020
- 10 min read

Chapter 16: Planning Our Postnup Reception

You guys have no idea how chill we were for this postnup reception. The extent of time and effort we exerted for this was not even a quarter of what we exerted for our wedding in Coron. Well, there were reasons why. This chapter's dedicated to all the planning we did for the postnup reception.

A quick backstory: It was around June to July 2019 that we decided to have a postnup reception for most of dad's business acquaintances and association members, as well as other friends that weren't able to attend our Coron wedding. I immediately started panic-scouring for venues because we decided to hold it on February 22, two weeks after our wedding which was a hot date because of the beautiful number combination 022220, and being on a Saturday. BTW, this was supposed to be our intended original wedding date for Coron, but based on Chinese astrology, zodiac sign and auspiciousness checking, February 8 seemed more favorable and suitable for me and my hubby. So going back, it was only months away and I was worrying we won't have a quality venue for the reception. Chinese seniors do have high standards and quite picky, so we couldn't just choose any venue.

We decided to limit ourselves to event places instead of restaurants or hotels because we had first strongly decided to book Tjioe the Caterer as our official food supplier. We had prior experience with them during our house blessing way back 2013 and we got rave reviews from our guests praising their delicious Chinese cooking. Also, they had the Lauriat service where waiters would serve food on round lazy Susan tables, typical Chinese Lauriat style. This was highly preferred over buffet. We availed of their Wedding Lauriat package already including simple styling, cake, wine for toasting, pretty much almost everything you'll need for a reception party. Lastly, we love them because of their ingenious menu. Their Chinese cuisine was a bit different from the usual menus you will see in major Chinese restaurants. They specialize in contemporary fusions which would be something new and refreshing for our guests. Needless to say, they passed our food tasting session with flying colors!

Above were the styling and cake preferences I sent to Tjioe, chosen from their presented options. They're partnered with Arc Interiors and Events for the styling and with Angelyn's Cakes for the cake.

Going back to the venues, I first contacted Blue Leaf Filipinas, but as expected all of their branches were fully booked. However, I thought I was going to go all out with inquiring, but somehow I managed to hit a jackpot on my second try with One Esplanade. They had just the venue size that I needed (Bay Ballroom; max 150pax) available for the date. I was like "Wow! Really?" One Esplanade, like Blue Leaf, is one of the premier urban venues out there in Manila and I can't believe I managed to nail one with time not on my side. I thought I just got extremely lucky. Of course, I booked them the soonest chance I got. We didn't even thought of doing an ocular! We just trusted the photos I researched entirely, and decided to wing it in case of problems. That's how chill and lenient we were for this event, since we also wanted to focus more on our Coron wedding. But please, don't do this. Always do an ocular with your venue to get an actual look and feel. We did encounter a few problems during the actual day, but somehow resolvable. Details in the next chapter.

The One Esplanade Bay Ballroom and the holding room

Since we already had styling from the catering package, we decided to add a simple ceiling decor just so it won't look too bare. We simply availed ceiling lanterns from One Esplanade as an add-on for only P10,000.

I was so much more relaxed after booking the venue. At least now we had a sure place to hold the event. The next supplier booked was the P/V team. This time we would lower our standards and expectations as it's going to be a rather simple event. Our budget this time for the P/V team was around 20k. I initially reached out to Peach Frost Studio who covered our Tinghun, but unfortunately, they're also booked for that date. You can't get too lucky! Then, I remembered One R Graphic Studio from the many brochures we got from the previous bridal fairs. They had very affordable packages and most already with video and photobook output. They had good client reviews, fairly good output, and were also responsive and the fastest ones to reply which persuaded me further to book them. They even gave us the bridal fair rate, which we very much appreciated.

This was a screenshot of the brochure I got from One R from the previous bridal fairs. I showed them this package we're interested in (Pixar) but instead of for birthday, it's for our postnup reception.

Next up in my alley was lights and sounds. I inquired to a lot of suppliers, and most have quite similar packages and pricing. Ultimately, I settled with the supplier that had good package, good price and swift responsiveness - Sensitivity Lights and Sounds. They had all the basics laid out, LED wall and smoke machine for that added effect. I also added an acrylic stage just to give us that elevation we needed when facing the audience.

So we were thinking we had all the suppliers set, but what would transpire during the party? We wouldn't want it to be too boring. Having majority of our guests belonging to the senior group, doesn't mean that we can just not care. Somebody had to take the lead to lead the audience from one segment to another - an emcee! And who else did we want to bestow this honor to but to our dear suki emcee, Ms. Carolyn Batay! I asked her right around early October before our Tinghun, and I was worried she might already be unavailable. But thankfully again, she's free! So, I booked her immediately. She was extremely happy and so were we. We didn't expect to have an excellent emcee like her all throughout our 3 important life events: Tinghun, Wedding, and Postnup! Grand Slam!

Didn't you notice anything missing? I knew what's missing, but I deliberately did not book, at least at first. I was aiming to not have any coordinators for our event, since it's a thoroughly simple one. We were able to do it wonderfully on our Tinghun, but there's just something different and harder for wedding receptions no matter how simple. Thinking about who would man the registration table, distribute the party favors, monitor and talk to other co-suppliers on the next agenda, assist the emcee, etc.? I just realized there's a lot more to do and we can't handle it on our won. I didn't really have many family members as well as my hubby's and we would surely prefer to enjoy the event rather than working. So I decided to attend a bridal fair and surprise our trusty coordinator, Ms. Monina, for another booking! This time, we availed just the OTD coordination since I already had all necessary suppliers in place (a piece of cake compared to planning our Coron wedding). It came with free 2 services too, a promo of theirs during the fair, so we chose guests table place cards and a wishing tree as the free services - an added touch to an otherwise simple registration table. As for flowers, we only needed a simple wrist corsage and boutonniere which Ms. Monina could easily provide.

Also during the fair, we once again booked our wedding invitation supplier Yanna's Printshop. They had proven their quality in output and service from our wedding invitation, so this much simpler envelope invitation would just be a walk in the park. Since it's a fair, we also got discounted rates for just P85 for 3-full page invitation with envelope, rose gold foil and monogram. I simply chose a default design available and that would be their basis.

As for our outfits, my hubby already had a 3-piece light gray suit that he bought RTW from Robinson's Place Manila Department Store, Rafael brand. He originally wanted to wear this for our Tinghun, but changed his mind and opted to wear this for the postnup instead. For his shoes, he bought a black leather shoes from the SM Store, Sledgers brand. He's pretty much all set. As for me, my mom and I went to Mara Chua for our gowns. Aside from good client reviews, we chose her because she specializes in curvy figured gowns for my mom, and also in unique, one-of-a-kind edgy designs that I'd like to try. Her price quotation was also more on the affordable side, Php 13,000 for my mom's velvet gown with corset, while mine's Php 12,000 using a holographic fabric. As for my shoes, I bought it from taobao.com because I was after the acrylic heels appeal and also the matching holographic strip that goes well with my gown. I tried inquiring to Waltz Manila, the one who created my bridal barefoot sandals, but apparently, acrylic heels were hard to come by for any shoe maker here in PH.

This was one of my fitting sessions posted by Mara Chua on her IG.

I was also wearing the actual shoes.

Since we were just having a reception party, we would prep ourselves in the holding room of the venue. For the quick prep shoot, I bought these classy couple robes from Shopee for me and my hubby. It's the last major event of our lives to commemorate our union, so might as well prep in style.

Of course, if you've been reading my previous chapters, you'll know who I'll always reach out to for my HMUA needs. She's no other than my reliable go-to suki Ms. Joyce Jimenez of Headstart Malabon. Just a text message to her confirmed our slot. She charged me and my mom the same rate as the Tinghun before.

Lastly, the reception favors. Again, we wanted it to be geared more towards the Chinese elderly. What would they possible appreciate? If you've noticed, we didn't hire the usual photobooth because we thought it's not going to be a hit for them. Plus, it's also too mainstream. They probably have a number of magnets and photos already stacked in a corner. In the end, we decided to go with honey bottles. Honey's considered healthy for them as a substitute for sugar in teas. As I was searching over the net, I noticed that most honey favors were really small, cute-sized, and the prices were not proportional to the size. I didn't feel it's satisfactory so I decided to DIY it instead. I went to Puregold and found just the perfect honey in a 250ml bottle with a justifiable price. Then, I simply went to the ever reliable Shopee for repacking materials. I bought these 2cm peach colored foam roses for just P79 for 144pcs already. Good buy and much cheaper than Divi! I also found a sticker printer, Breanna Design, to print 144pcs of shiny, full color labels for just P560.00. I designed the sticker myself, of course!

It's tiring, but I actually enjoyed repacking those 144 bottles of honey.

With all suppliers in place in just a span of 3-4 months from when I started, I set this aside and focused fully on our Coron wedding. Only after our wedding did I went back to check on our postnup reception. What's left was the program flow. We can't just have a stale reception where guests just eat and view our videos. They had to be entertained too. But what's fitting to the Chinese senior guests? Only Ms. Carol could sing Chinese songs. My hubby and dad doesn't want to dance again too, as they had already forgotten the steps, and my gown would be difficult for extreme movement as well. Plus, dances don't really entertain them too. So we set a meeting with our coordinator and emcee to discuss this, around a week before the event.

The meeting was funny. Instead of focusing on the postnup reception, we spent most of the time chatting and catching up with what transpired during our Coron wedding. Our coordinator revealed funny behind-the-scene stories as well as problems we didn't even know or notice. That's their job anyway, not to make us worry! Ms. Carol recommended a karaoke system supplier, Melvin Lim, since Chinese oldies are known for their love of singing. We took her suggestion but somehow we still felt it's lacking. It would just be pure singing all through the night which could be dull. We decided to end the meeting with that unresolved and took our time to think of other entertainment options. It's hard to please the oldies! They're very traditional and they actually despise loud music and segments they can't relate to. I realized at this point that it was just the right decision to have a separate reception for them. They would have not enjoyed our wedding in Coron if we happened to invite them as well. There were a lot of activities they would feel out of place, and we didn't really know them that much personally either.

Thankfully, I suddenly remembered a previous Christmas party held by our company building admin. They rented a Bingo equipment set along with a barker and a number of Bingo cards, and we all participated in a fun Bingo game with prizes at stake. My mind went "BINGO!" This was the one. Who doesn't love this easy, luck-based game where everybody can low-key participate? I inquired with the building admin and managed to get the contact info of the Bingo equipment rental. It's from Hephzibah Company Inc. I immediately contacted them and gladly they're available with just a week away. They quoted us around Php 12,000 if I remembered correctly, all-in with the lighting display, barker, ball popping machine and cards. Ms. Monina was actually surprised and pleased with my idea. She agreed it's good enough to keep the oldies hooked. It would be her first time handling a reception with this game.

As for the prizes, we just went shopping in Robinson's Place Manila department store. We bought an Asahi Oven Toaster for the 3rd prize, an American Tourister luggage as the 2nd prize, and TCL Smart TV as the first prize.

All set and ready to go! Details and what transpired during the postnup reception will be in the next chapter. Stay tuned!

***All my posts are in no way sponsored or paid. I narrate our wedding planning adventure like a diary, with only actual facts and experiences.***

Chapter 16: Planning Our Postnup Reception

Reception Planning Team:

1. Bride & Groom

2. OTD Coordination: Monina E Events & Mark

3. Venue and Ceiling Lanterns: One Esplanade

4. Catering, Cake and Event Stylist: Tjioe the Caterer, Angelyn's Cakes, Arc Interiors and Events

5. Lights and Sounds: Sensitivity Lights and Sounds

6. Photo / Video: One R Graphic Studio

7. Emcee: Carolyn Batay

8. Karaoke: Melvin Lim