Supplier Review: Venue/Caterer

It's been 53 days since our wedding and until now, we're still in the process of establishing routines. Now, I'm getting acquainted with a lot of things especially the wifey side of me that it's been a busy time ever since. Initially, it was really my plan to write reviews about our suppliers days after the wedding but everything else took over.

Now, I finally decided to put some reviews up thinking that maybe I could give out help to whoever might need it. I'll be using a 10-point grading system with 10 as the highest and will be dividing my reviews in a per supplier basis. So, here we go ;)

VENUE/CATERER: Bella Ibarra/Ibarra's Catering
GRADE: 9/10

When we started to look for venues we never initially considered Ibarra's party venues. Looking back, I really don't know why but maybe it's partly because the venue is tied with a caterer and somehow, we wanted freedom. When we decided to book Bella Ibarra, it was after we realized we wanted to prioritize the food more than the venue. Ibarra the caterer has been around for years and judging from the way their business grew, you could say they were doing something great to have grown that way.

The deal with Ibarra was really more of a hassle-free package. When you get them, you get catering, place setup, bridal car, cake, photobooth, LCD projector, mobile and other such details. O and I decided to book them because they're sulit. For people who are too critical about details, they'd probably advise you to avoid hassle-free packages for weddings as you would end up sacrificing the quality. Ibarra's hassle-free package is no such thing except for one outsourced supplier thus, the grade of 9.

We had the ceremony at the rooftop of Bella Ibarra while the reception was held at the 2nd floor function hall. On the day itself (and looking at the pictures after), the place was elegantly setup that you could actually say that weddings are really their business. But maybe, for these, I think pictures could articulate it more.

Ceremony Setup

Reception Setup

The food was without a doubt, masarap. All our guests craved about it even weeks after the wedding. O and I liked this fact very much as we were very particular about this. As wedding guests before, it's really the food that you would remember (good or bad) and hearing the good feedback was a breather. This made the sulit package of Ibarra more sulit.  

Some of the food during the reception

The Misadventures of O and J : Surigao

We just came from our supposed-honeymoon from Surigao. Supposed, because it never pushed through right after the wedding due to bagyong Pablo. As a background, we elected Surigao as our supposed-honeymoon destination because of this deal. We wanted to experience the over-the-water bungalows ala El Nido but didn't want to splurge thus, Surigao. 

The trip to Surigao was a pleasant surprise. We ended up exploring Sohoton, which is actually, a national park. In truth, we didn't know what to expect from the place until about a week or two before we got there. The experience was all about eco-tourism and admittedly, it was quite new for both O and I. While it would be nice to share every experience we had, this is not really why I wanted to write. 

The trip to Sohoton is composed of a 2 hour van ride from Surigao Airport to Hayanggabon Port and a 40-minute boat ride from Hayanggabon Port. The site going to Sohoton was very much a disappointment as opposed to when you are actually in Sohoton. About 2 or 3 kilometers from the Hayanggabon port, you'll start encountering muddy roads with the coastline surrounded by brown waters. The rivers you'll be passing by are also brown in color. The mountain was stripped bare of trees that you'll actually mistake it for a rather large heap of reddish brown soil. O and I were curious about the sight but innocently enough, I thought the sight was simply because of the rain.

On Hayanggabon port, we boarded our boat to Sohoton and our tour guide satisfied our curiosity. He told us (without our asking) that the waters and the land is as what we see because of mining. I'm not much of an environmentalist but hearing what our tour guide said, I could not help but think about what's the government actually doing and if the government knows this large of a damage. It was really a bothersome sight that on our way home, I wanted to write about this before anything else. Hoping that in this way, I could do my share (no matter how little).

  

The so-called Red "Mountain"

The water in Hayanggabon Port