Chapter 3: Ocular Visit Turned Vacation

Looking for beautiful venues for events these days feels like we're playing Trip to Jerusalem game. There are thousands of venues scattered across many locations, but only a number of them managed to wow visitors. They're so important that if I may describe exaggeratedly, the overall look & outcome of the event also revolve around them. Because of that, popular beautiful venues are almost always booked, even years ahead, especially during weekends and peak seasons. Competition is also tough with so many of us having our own celebrations. It's not just weddings, birthdays and corporate events are also on the lookout.

Which explains why after we booked our coordinator, we immediately proceeded with securing a venue. As mentioned in the previous chapter, our hearts led us to Coron, Palawan as our venue. One good thing about this was that, unlike in Manila and other hot spots in nearby provinces like Tagaytay, we were quite relaxed with our venue hunt as it's not as intense and congested in Palawan.

Moreover, we also had a pinned top choice resort in our list, the Sunlight Ecotourism Island Resort, located at Bgry. Culion, Coron. They were a fairly new resort that re-opened their doors early 2018. They did open earlier, but encountered certain issues with DENR that paused their operations. We first saw their posts on IG, and immediately fell in love with the Maldives vibe. Seemed like a hidden gem. Of course, doesn't matter how lovely they looked in photos, we still needed to know if it's still available on our date and if it's within our budget before visiting the place, and thankfully, they were! At the same time, to make our ocular visit worthwhile, we had our coordinator look for more venues to visit in Coron.

Sunlight Ecotourism Island Resort captured by Mayad Studios

There were a lot of other beautiful venues, such as the popular Club Paradise and Two Seasons, but the first one was already unavailable, and the second one was way over our league. Other venues did not satisfy our requirements. But luckily, we found another potential venue for ocular, the Busuanga Bay Lodge (BBL). For a 3-day ocular trip to Coron, first night in Sunlight and second in Busuanga seemed like a vacation already. We also had the option of arriving in Coron via seaplane directly from Manila, but of course we did not do that. It wasn't necessary and it would only break our bank. All communication, negotiation and scheduling with the venues were done by our coordinator. All rates of the accommodation, transfers and meals we booked specifically for the ocular were generously discounted as well. What a big help they were!

Busuanga Bay Lodge

We visited Coron last Apr 27-29, 2019. Our coordinators arrived in Sunlight hours earlier to get prior details, get a good overview of the place and to have everything prepared upon our arrival. It was about 2 hours ride from the Coron airport via land and boat transfer. to Sunlight, already covered by the resort. We first rode a van to their branch hotel (Sunlight Guest Hotel) in mainland Coron, took a quick break, then rode a boat from there to the island resort. It was overall a pleasant experience.

Sunlight Guest Hotel in mainland Coron where we road a boat to the island resort

Upon arrival, we were greeted with lei over our heads, cold towels and juice in the docking area itself. We then rode a buggy, which was the main transportation in the island, to the reception to check-in, then proceeded to one of their restaurants for lunch. Our coordinators met us there, told us their initial impressions and laid out the itinerary for the day. Hearing our experienced coordinator say that for a relatively new and inexperienced resort, their hospitality and service was at par with top of the line 5-star resorts was music to our ears. That's one check on the list!

We spent the whole day roaming and touring around the resort, checking out rooms , restaurants, event spaces and facilities. So far, everything we're looking for seemed present here. Also, another big plus was that the managers were very flexible to negotiate with, accommodating all our requests as much as we can with minimal to no fee at all! The photos below did not do justice as to how lovely the resort was! We ended the day with a dinner in their event bay by the sea, discussing with our coordinators on plans and blueprints as if this was already the one! BTW, all the meals we eaten here were really good too, and they're all buffets.

Our ocular photos of Sunlight's rooms, beaches and event areas from my phone

After we had a lovely breakfast and checked-out the next day, the boat from BBL fetched us directly from Sunlight to their "wedding" island. The manager himself was on the boat to greet us. Felt like VIPs already! Also, we were surprised to receive a free upgrade to our accommodation that night to a more spacious villa. What a way to spoil us! Their set up was that they have the resort itself attached to the mainland, and a separate small island called South Cay Island to hold intimate affairs such as the ceremony and reception, surrounded by just the mountains, the sky and the sea. It was a lovely idea, but concerns on the number of guests and the transfer from the island to the resort before and after the event might be a bit taxing. They also offered their pool area to double as a reception area for our case, and with our number of guests, the resort would already be exclusive for us, with bunch of discounts. Like in Sunlight, we also spent the whole day touring around, looking at their different rooms, facilities and meeting their people. The manager also mentioned they have a Chinese speaking staff, which would be very helpful for our Chinese guests. Buggy was also the mode of transport within the resort.

Our ocular photos of BBL's rooms, island & facilities from my phone

Overall, it was also an equally lovely place. Both resorts had their own charm and equally enticing offers, perks and discounts for us. Both of the managers and staffs were also overwhelmingly friendly, flexible and hospitable. It was difficult to let go of the other., but we already had a choice in our hearts, which was still for Sunlight. They were just more capable of accommodating our event preferences and setup specifications than BBL, and the relaxed, Maldives-like ambiance of their place seemed to be more suitable for our theme and most of our guests. BBL won in terms of price though! But since both did fit our budget, we decided to just go with what we truly desired and prevented ourselves from overthinking and possibility of regretting later. Not a practical choice, but we believed there's nothing wrong as long we considered and adhered to our budget first. That's what mattered.

It was hard saying goodbye to Coron. We didn't expect to enjoy our ocular visit so much that is seemed like a surprise short vacation break for us. This was just the ocular, what more if it's the wedding? I could already imagine how our guests would feel. Totally chill vacation vibes was what we're after for our destination wedding in the first place, and Coron definitely gave us that and much more.

Captured by Mayad Studios

Hold up! Everything about our ocular sounded perfect, but like any plans, unexpected things are bound to happen. Our flight back to Manila was cancelled by Skyjet, after hours of wait. We were on the last flight of the day. It was not clearly explained as to why, but we were guessing overcrowding in the terminals. Good thing, my then-fiancé was chill. We immediately booked the next available PAL flight, but we will just be landing in Clark. We were compensated for the cancellation, plus, we would be getting the full refund after a few months. Not a totally bad outcome, I guess? We were already aware early on about this big risk we're taking with our destination wedding. Flight delays and cancellations can happen to us, and to any of our guests that can potentially affect the event. However, like the YOLO generation we were, we took up that risk with full acceptance and left it all to faith. Rains for outdoors and delays or cancellations for destination weddings, two of our natural occurring obstacles that any of us are powerless to beat. We just thought and agreed that if it's bound to happen, then let it happen. We would let it go no matter how much time and effort we planned for this, as there's no use stressing over something you obviously can't salvage. I guess we were clearly ready and prepared for that, which gave us the courage to still take the leap and accept the risks.

At the end of the day, we landed safely in Clark and went back to Manila via the shuttle. Tired and worn-out because of the wait and delay, but still very thankful and happy that we accomplished our mission and finally decided on that very special place that would change our lives forever.

***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.***

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Chapter 3: Ocular Visit Turned Vacation

Days to go: 10 months

Wedding Planning Progress: 15%

Wedding Planning Team:

1. Bride & Groom

2. Wedding Coordinator: Monina E Events & Marketing

3. Venue: Sunlight Eco Tourism Island Resort