Budgetarian Manila-based Chinese Host, Stylist, and Lights and Sounds Suppliers Review

Chinese host: Janelle Sy

Link: https://www.facebook.com/janellesyyyy

Peso Power (Booked October 2023): Php 25,000 (inclusive of 2-3 songs – mix of Chinese/English/Hokkien)

Full disclosure, Janelle is a family friend and I was very happy to support her in her hosting career. Leading up to the event, we only met once to discuss the program flow, but Janelle was easy to reach via Messenger. In fact, since I didn’t have a coordinator for the event and I’d never hosted an event at East Ocean Palace before, Janelle was SO helpful in providing feedback and suggestions on the proper placement of the photobooth, photoman and registration table para hindi crowded ang venue.

On the day of the event, Janelle arrived by the agreed upon time and got to work testing all the lights & sounds equipment + the AVP. Her English and Mandarin are flawless, and her singing is beautiful. Throughout the program, she’d also help keep us in check to make sure everything was going smoothly.

It was great working with Janelle and I’d definitely recommend her to folks looking for a host.

Stylist: Partyblast MNL

Link: https://www.facebook.com/PartyblastMnlPh

Contact number: Kenneth 0955 041 3103

Peso Power (Booked October 2023): Php 23,000

Inclusions:

• 8×12 ft. Customized styling backdrop (Chiara wall panels with different dimensions and style, tropical floral arrangement with a touch of wild flowers

• Stage side decors (Tropical floral arrangement, lamps, pedestals)
• Stage floor carpet (grass carpet)
• Welcome signage with minimal side decors
• 18 Table Centerpiece (Fresh floral arrangement of tropical leaves, and flowers, with table numbers, votive lights in cylinder vases, candle stick holder and other design elements)

For my 2^nd reception, I was really looking for cheaper suppliers in Metro Manila to defray expenses. I chanced upon Partyblast’s FB page and gandang ganda ako sa gawa nila. So I messaged them, and they were quick to respond. I felt their price was reasonable also.

~2 weeks later, I saw someone left a review on WAWIES complaining about them as they weren’t showing up to the agreed upon moodboard sessions/discussions. Syempre na-stress ako ng slight. I messaged them immediately and they replied recognizing the lapses they made with that particular client, but that, rest assured, they would handle my event with utmost care. So sabi ko, ok fine, nakapag-50% DP narin ako…

We scheduled the moodboard session for 2 weeks after at 5:30PM. The whole morning that day, message ako ng message to ask – saan tayo magmeet? Zoom ba? Messenger etc? No response! Nako, nastress nanaman ako. Finally at 5:35PM, Kenneth replied with a ZOOM link. At that point, iniisip ko na talaga magback out. Pero this was happening at the same time as all my wedding gown designer stress so I figured bahala na. We agreed on the moodboard, I requested for some changes, he told me he’d get back to me within the next 2 weeks. Pero wala huhu ako parin follow up ng follow up, and he kept pushing back the deadline. Anyway, finally on the first week of January (my event was on January 14), nacomplete na ang mga moodboard and welcome signage design. Also the week leading up to the wedding, they were finally a lot more responsive.

On the event day, they arrived early and were done with the setup by the agreed upon time. I appreciate their flexibility in setting up as the customized backdrop was too big for my stage (given my LED wall) – although to be fair, I told them the stage dimensions noong November pa (during the prep call), so I don’t know why they were shocked and were suddenly calling me the day before to tell me hindi nga kasya ang backdrop. In the end, my excess stage backdrop was used as a backdrop for my photoman instead (located at the Registration area), so ok din!

The flower centerpieces were alright. Comparing the flower centerpieces of Partyblast vs Chico (my wedding stylist), mas maganda talaga ang flowers ni Chico hands-down – although keep in mind Chico charged me 6x the price haha. So this was good for the price, although definitely less flowers compared to the peg I had sent. Honestly, most of the guests, tinatabi lang din ang centerpiece coz kain space sa lazy susan. So in retrospect, I didn’t need to have flower centerpieces pala

After the event, medyo nawawala sila nung egress. Unfortunately I had guests bring home the flower centerpiece (since all fresh), BUT they ended up bringing home the vases too. Ugh. Ended up having to pay for the vases guests took home. I hope they’re making good use of them, coz mahal ng vases huhu! Lesson learned: Bantayan dapat mga guests. Make sure they don’t bring home anything beyond fresh flowers.

Lights & Sounds: ALASS Media Entertainment

Link: https://www.facebook.com/Alassmediaent

Contact number: Mharvie 0947 366 8838 / 0956 586 8927 / 0998 273 9030

Peso Power (Booked October 2023): Php 16,000 (Lights and Sounds for 180 pax) + Php 14,000 (LED Wall 10×14)

ALASS Media caught my attention because they’re really SO cheap compared to other lights and sounds suppliers. I took a chance on them because I figured why not? There were limited reviews on them in WAWIES, but I saw my friend had gotten them for her wedding and she said OK naman sila.

Pre-DP, super bilis nila magreply sa Messenger. But after DP, parang silang naglaho (tbf, this was ber season, so I guess they were also quite busy). In the end though, I got Mharvie’s Viber number and she responds much faster there, TY Lord.

Super easy to request for add-ons (with corresponding price quote) with them. I also appreciated how Mharvie agreed to increase the manpower assigned to my event, given the tight set-up timelines. Overall they were accommodating.

On the day of the event, they showed up on time and finished setting up by the agreed upon time. Lights and sounds were good. BUT the LED wall wasn’t. It’s halatang old na, you could see the black spots on the LED Wall, and while my SDE was being shown, some of the LED pixels (?) turned yellow! The horror. The SDE being shown wasn’t very sharp too – walang sinabi compared to the LED Wall from Artuz 101 at my wedding. Keep in mind, their LED wall is also ~65% cheaper than Artuz too. So I guess you get what you pay for.

I think for small intimate events – ALASS is perfectly good as a lights and sounds supplier (very budgetarian!), but I wouldn’t recommend their LED wall.