Major Tinghun Suppliers to book: What to consider and my recommended suppliers

As I was starting to prepare for my tinghun, I always felt a little bit lost on what exactly I needed to prepare. I thought this was pretty ironic actually because my whole family had a tinghun – from my parents, to their siblings, to my cousins.

But I was the first amongst us siblings getting married, the older generation (aka my mom and aunts) barely remembered what exactly happened in their tinghun, let alone what needs to be prepared; and many of my cousins just got a full tinghun coordination package – so their coordinator did everything for them.

So here I am, now that my tinghun has ended, this is the full list of suppliers/items to be booked . I hope this helps you in your planning journey, similar to how I wish I had something similar as I was planning mine.

Other tinghun blogs you might also find helpful would be the following:

Auspicious Date

Before you can start planning ANYTHING, you need to check for an auspicious date. If your family doesn’t believe in these stuff, even better for you, because you don’t have to go through the hassle of going to the temple and praying you’ll get a date you actually like.

Anyway, in my case, I visited the Linaw Temple because they were the nearest and easiest to get an appointment with

Supplier: Taishong Linaw Temple

Address: 73 Linaw Street (red gate directly pointing global south)

Viber number: 0917 567 8181 and 0922 828 6626

It super doesn’t look like a temple from the outside, but anyway, as long as you make an appointment beforehand (message the Viber number and look for Yolly), just knock on the gate, and they’ll let you in.

Make sure you already have the birthdays and zodiac sign of the bride, bride’s parents, groom, groom’s parents. This will make it vastly faster for them to figure out which dates are ideal. They’ll also ask you to make an offering to their gods, and it’s customary to leave an angpao for their service.

Note: Customarily, it’s the groom side who is in charge of checking the auspicious dates. So the temple people really do look for the groom when you go.

Alternatively, you can also check the date yourself! I used this one, then cross-checked against the temple, and it was correct. So I could’ve just skipped the temple really.

Coordinator: Tinghun Guru

Instagram: @TinghunGuruPhils

Given how few tinghun-specific coordinators are present in the industry, I suggest you book a coordinator AS SOON AS you have your available date. For me, I was really just choosing between three coordinators: Tinghun Guru, Tinghun Manila and Tinghun Tris.

Tinghun Guru is the oldest and most well-established coordinator. Most Manila Filipino-Chinese should recognize New Victory, a store in Binondo that’s been selling these Chinese auspicious stuff for decades. Well, New Victory is owned by Tinghun Guru. It’s a multi-generational family business started by their grandmother, passed on to their mother, and now handled by the sisters.

Tinghun Manila is also an old name in the industry, and their store is actually situated right beside New Victory. I only found out they were a family friend when I was visiting New Victory!

Lastly, Tinghun Tris is the newest of the bunch. But they’re very modern, and they were the ones who actually popularized the table styling and came up with all these pretty trinkets that make tinghuns suddenly a lot more fashionable and pretty to photograph. Having said that, they’re not the most traditional (clearly) so some ahmas pooh pooh and say Tinghun Tris tinghuns get some traditions wrong.

Anyway, taking all this into account, I decided to just go with Tinghun Guru for a couple of reasons:

We wanted to really respect the Filipino-Chinese traditions in our tinghun. Because my fiancé isn’t Chinese, and my family all conveniently developed amnesia as to what exactly needs to happen in a tinghun, I figured it’s a lot safer to go with a company that’s been doing this for decades and is clearly the expert.
There are many intricacies involved in preparing for a tinghun, not least of which are all the random Chinese stuff you need to buy like e-sit, sanghee stickers, sanghee paper bags etc. Super convenient that Tinghun Guru also owns New Victory because I ended up just buying everything (or most things) from them
My friend had gotten Tinghun Guru as their coordinator, and were all praises! I always prefer referrals, so this was great!

And that was that! Thankfully, Tinghun Guru was still available for my tinghun date. I asked for Achi Len specifically (she’s the one referred by my friend), but Achi Denise is the one who usually handles their tinghun events.

There are many packages you can avail of under tinghun coordination:

On-the-day coordination: Essentially, one coordinator (Achi Len in my case) will be present on-the-day to direct the tinghun ceremony proper end-to-end. They’ll check your items beforehand (we met with them one week before to run through the checklist), coordinate with your suppliers (need to provide them your list of suppliers, contact details, and everything you agreed on with them), ensure the backdrop and table styling are all appropriate (placed correctly on the table) on-the-day, and brief everyone of their roles. After the tinghun ceremony, she will guide both families on how to distribute and segregate the tinghun essentials
Bride package: You can get all the things the bride’s supposed to prepare from Tinghun Guru as well! This includes the satin set, 120 eggs, 8 pomelos, e-sit, pang-te, groom’s fabric, tea set, bowl set, candy tray. But, it excludes the cakes, backdrop, table styling, and gift bags
Groom package: Of course, you can also get all the groom stuff as well. This includes the pair of sinna (and contents), 8 pomelos, two 24-rose bouquets, corsage and boutonniere. Again, the gift bags are excluded from this
Tinghun Backdrop
Table Styling
Bride and Groom Gift Bags

In our case, I calculated and decided doing the bride and groom package + gift bags would be cheaper if we did it ourselves. Aside from that, the stuff they prepare in the package are all super traditional, and we wanted more leeway to place stuff we liked in the gift bags. If you’re planning to DIY your tinghun also, check out this link where I lay out everything you need to prepare: DIY Tinghun Planning Guide: What to prepare and where to buy tinghun items

As for the Tinghun Backdrop and Table Styling, I found I liked ARC’s designs better and they were also cheaper (because they agreed to give me a discount hehehe yay!)

So in the end, I got their on-the-day coordination and it really was such a blessing to have them. All throughout the prep, I would just Viber Achi Len whenever I have questions about so-and-so. Even though I wasn’t buying some of the stuff from them, she very nicely answered all my questions – including stuff like, how much should we put inside the angpao? Hahaha! Syempre you don’t want to give too little, but also, #budget!

Leading up to the tinghun, I only met with Achi Len twice face-to-face. The first time was for her to brief us on what to expect in a tinghun and what we need to prepare (I listed them here). The second time was one week before the tinghun, where we ran through her checklist to make sure we had everything we needed.

On the tinghun day itself, Achi Len arrived at 7:30AM and took charge. You can see Achi Len there at the side supervising the stylist and making sure everything would finish on time. Chop chop people!

She updated me of the backdrop and table styling progress, briefed all parties of their roles and what they had to do (all praises from both families! They said she was very helpful and clear in instructing), and messaged me at 9:50 AM to start making my way down to the venue. She also requested New World for a holding room where I could wait unseen while waiting for my grand entrance!

And the entire tinghun went off without a hitch! The only thing I would say was a downer was the aircon. Gosh, my venue was at New World Glass House which is beautiful because it’s all glass. Sadly, because it’s all glass, it’s also rather hot in the middle of the day! We needed to request New World to turn up the aircon several times. I think this is less of an issue for most people, but as all my male guests were in suits and very fond of the cold, there were some complaints on this front.

At the end, Achi Len directed our staff on how to divide the tinghun essentials also. I have no idea when this happened. All I know is when I got home, everything was there. So yay, thank you! Super recommend Tinghun Guru as a coordinator if you want someone who really knows the traditions and can instruct you on them, as well as an easy one-stop shop to buy everything.

Venue: New World

Contact person: Sapphira Chua

Contact Number: 0917 811 9031

Now that you have a date and a coordinator, it’s time to shop around for a venue. Some brides opt to hold the ceremony at home, then transfer to a hotel for the lunch reception. In my case, we decided to just hold everything in the hotel to minimize the hassle.

So clearly, we only considered the hotels with excellent Chinese restaurants. Alternatively, you can also look at Chinese restaurants themselves There’s a logic behind this – all these hotels/restaurants would already have existing tinghun packages in place, so it makes my life a lot easier. See below my logic as I assessed each option:

Edsa Shangri-la Hotel: My top choice personally, because I LOVE Summer Palace. But upon seeing the function rooms at a recent tinghun, I realized I didn’t like how dark and dim it looked.
Shangri-la the Fort: My fiance’s top choice because he loves Canton Road (hahahaha!). Unfortunately, their events manager is so difficult to get ahold of. Super irritating. We couldn’t even get their latest tinghun package!
Marriott Hotel: Love the interior of the hotel, and I also love their Chinese food. But when we did an ocular of their venues, the one that was suitable for the size of our tinghun had these clunky columns smack dab in the middle of the room. Such a shame!
New World: My friend had recently had his tinghun at New World Glass House, and he really raved about it. Great food, great venue. When we did an ocular, I really liked how the light streamed into the venue. The size was also just right – perfect for the amount of guests we wanted to have since we were thinking of an “intimate” tinghun event
East Ocean Palace: Food, of course the food – so impeccable at East Ocean. Unfortunately, they didn’t actually have a tinghun package, so you would need to rent your own lights and sounds, bring your own candy trays, tea cups, etc. Overall, seemed like more hassle than it was worth.

In the end, taking all the considerations into account, we decided to go with New World Glass House. There are many things to love about our choice:

Beautiful venue really. I love how there’s natural light streaming into the venue. I think it made our photos look extra nice, without need for harsh lighting. Also, the Glass House encompasses the outside area as well, which has these nice sofas and seats – perfect for guests who want to lounge around, and for extra staff to eat their crew meals
Package was inclusive of many things:
- Orange Juice for VIPs, Candy Tray (candy provided by bride), Tea set for VIPs
- Engagement Misua and Sweet Egg Drop Soup for VIPs + bride & groom: Their engagement misua is super good!!!! I didn’t get to fully enjoy it because we were taking photos and I was talking to guests. The sweet egg drop soup with dates was also delicious – although they need to cook their eggs better, because presentation-wise, I don’t think they peeled the eggs well haha!
- Complimentary One-Bedroom Suite (good for 2 pax) and Deluxe Room (good for 2 pax), with special rates if you wish to book additional rooms (we compared to Agoda, and the rates offered by the hotel really were better)
- 10-course Chinese Menu
- Two one-layered fondant cake by Cake Concept – I’ve provided a more detailed review below
- Fresh flower centerpieces for all table: I had requested for pinks, reds, and whites – but they gave me summer colors (yellow, orange, white). Well, they were still pretty, and I appreciated the fact that we could bring the whole arrangement home (even the flower pots!), so this was fine
Sapphira (the event manager) is really an old hand in managing tinghuns. She knows her stuff inside and out, and could provide suggestions on what needs to be done. The waiters and help staff on-the-day were also very courteous and went out of their way to help our guests.

Jasmine’s Chinese food is top-notch. I ate at Jasmine prior to the event to taste test and absolutely loved it. I still feel the same after my tinghun. Everyone raved about the food (some dishes more than others – see my comments below), and I appreciated how quickly the dishes came out (it came out too fast actually – there was no time for idle chitchat. Eat eat eat was the name of the game!). Also, the serving size was great – everyone left our event full, which is important!
- Suckling pig, barbecued combination platter: OMG Jasmine Restaurant’s dimsum and barbecue platter = so so so good. I can keep eating this forever
- Pumpkin with assorted seafood soup: Hmmm this is an interesting dish. I would have liked the pumpkin to be creamier, but this was refreshing
- Wok fried scallops, cuttlefish with broccoli in XO sauce: Good, but nothing mindblowing
- Steamed live garoupa in premium soya sauce: Firm flesh, light flavor. A Chinese menu staple.
- Braised abalone mushroom, shiitake mushroom in premium oyster sauce: Bah, canned abalone. Not good. I recommend switching out this dish
- Baked spareribs harbour style: Very yummy!!! I didn’t get to eat this during the event itself, but I had it afterwards and it was delicious
- Steamed king prawn with vermicelli and garlic: Bah, prawns were overcooked (or not fresh). I recommend switching out this dish
- Braised efu noodles with assorted wild mushrooms: OK, typical noodle dish.
- Chilled mango cream, sago: Yum! Always a staple in Chinese laureate
- Glutinous dumpling, milk chocolate, peanut: Unbelievable. I didn’t get to taste this at all, because super simot! Definitely get this
They allowed us to store our tinghun items at the Events Gallery the afternoon before. This was really a big deal because there was a LOT of stuff – e.g. gift bags, the eggs, the fruits, etc. It was good to be able to turnover everything to New World the day before, so that just in case we forgot something (which we thankfully didn’t), we would still have time to fix the problem. Very thankful for this. New World staff then brought all these items to the Glass House early the next day, and turned them over to ARC

Love the diverse hotel look – we were able to take photos in the room, hallways, lobby, garden and koi pond, and the swimming pool. This made for a wide range of backgrounds, which I’m quite thankful for

Cons

Parking is a huge con for me. New World doesn’t have its own parking, so they partnered with a parking space. This means, they can only provide up to 10% complimentary carpass (against my guest pax size). I don’t know. I’m super used to going to hotel events where a complimentary carpass is automatically given to ALL guests, so I was shocked when I found this wasn’t the case here. Anyway, in the end, none of my guests complained and they all happily paid the parking fee, so I guess it isn’t as big of a deal as I thought it would be.
New World as a hotel is a bit old, and it shows in their rooms. No bidet for the toilet, not-so-strong shower pressure, and really weird lights control function for the room. Overall, not a dealbreaker, and I still slept like a baby (their beds are so comfortable!) but just wanted to point this out. The lights especially was a bit annoying because we had our hair and makeup done in our rooms and we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the lights (in the end, apparently, the lights were broken!!!). Good thing our HMUA had brought their own kit – lights, chairs, everything!
The free breakfast isn’t that great. LOL, my dad and brother checked out the breakfast buffet and reported it was just ayt. Nothing to write home about. The alternative, which we did for me, was to get a packed meal instead, since I didn’t think I’d have time for a buffet breakfast (also what if my dress wouldn’t fit me anymore after the buffet breakfast LOL). But their packed meal is SUPER lame – two puny sandwich (hindi man lang puno ang container), a fruit (not even sliced!), and orange juice (but I had requested for hot chocolate). Gosh. Super lame. They should’ve just filled a tray from the breakfast buffet and brought it up.

I think the Glass House aircon isn’t strong enough, if you consider that your male guests are all wearing suits, it’s the middle of the day, and the heat transfer is real given the all glass windows design. I had requested they open the aircon as early as 8:30 AM (1 hour before my guests were expected to arrive). I don’t know if they did, or the aircon just wasn’t strong enough, but I definitely found it a tad hot
Crew Meal a tad expensive, but understandable that they don’t allow you to bring in outside food for your suppliers. I ended up getting a crew meal for my host, photographer teams, coordinator, and additional staff we had who helped out during the event. They all seemed happy with the food and the quantity of said food though, so that’s good!

Overall, I would definitely still recommend New World Glass House for your intimate tinghun event. You won’t find this glasshouse design at any other Chinese hotel or restaurant. Just bear my comments above in mind.

Other requests made to New World:

Holding room near Glass House for the bride
Nesting table with red cloth for the gift bags
Registration table
Technician present to control lights and sounds + stock list of Chinese instrumental music to be played

Stylist: ARC

Instagram: @arceventsph

Tinghuns used to be simple. You place a big sanghee sign behind you, and a long table covered with red cloth for the gifts, and called it a day. Nowadays, everything is so “extra.” So a whole industry around tinghun backdrops and table styling was born! At first I balked at the price. Seriously, you cannot believe how expensive these tinghun backdrops and table stylings can get. But in the end, I thought about it, canvassed, got cheaper rates (from ARC hehe. The other stylists were hella expensive – aka iMagic), and figured, pictures are worth a thousand words and I wanted to be able to look back at my tinghun photos and marvel at the prettiness. Yes, I know, I’m a bit shallow. But in my defense, I really canvassed for cheaper options!

So what did I end up getting from ARC?

8 x 16 ft backdrop, with sanghee design, flower edging, and ambient lighting

I actually wanted to get the smallest one at 8 x 12 ft! Apparently, this is only suitable for long red table setup, not for table styling, but dude, PHP 5,000 difference din ang 4 ft na iyan. So I stuck to my guns and insisted I would go with the 8 x 12 ft. Anyway, in the end, the design peg I wanted required 8 x 16 ft, so that’s that.

We only finalized the design 4 days before my tinghun. I was rather worried already at this point, because I really couldn’t decide on a design. They had given me a catalogue to choose from for the backdrop and the sanghee design; and I also scrolled through their IG page for inspiration. But I was coming up with nada.

In the end, I took several pegs from their IG wall and catalogue, and mixed and matched the backdrop and sanghee design, and customized the colors to my choosing. I wanted a pale pink backdrop, but wanted the sanghee to be a bright red, so that it would be a stark contrast to my blush pink dress. Then, I prayed it would look good and just trusted the stylist to do the work.

But, look at the outcome. It’s beautiful. I am SUPER happy with it. And when I saw the photos after, I was even happier, because the bright red sanghee backdrop really made all my photos pop!

Tinghun Ceremony Table Styling

I thought long and hard about this, because this is really just a “want.” You don’t NEED table styling. I could technically go with a long red table and no one would complain. But, look at these beautiful photos? Is it worth the money I spent on it? Errr… probably not? Am I happy I spent on it? Yes, very much so. I only get engaged once.

So what came with the styling were the following:

2 pcs big acrylic jewelry box: for my 4 jewelry sets
4 pcs small acrylic jewelry box: for the watches, bangles, and wedding bands
2 pcs fabric box rack: for my 12 fabric boxes
2 pcs birdcage for eggs: for my 120 eggs

4 pcs fruit containers: for my pomelos, apples, and oranges
2 pcs riser for gift boxes: for the gift boxes we would be giving away after. I also requested for 2 additional tables from New World as our gift bags couldn’t all fit

2 pcs cake stand: Obviously, for our 2 cakes haha
Decorative flowers and accessories (I requested pink, red, gold – so that it’s in-theme)
Table cloth: I requested for gold cloth, as I didn’t want my display to be too red

Corsage and Boutonniere

I requested for dark pink flowers, with pink ribbon and wrist corsage. Hmm I don’t know. The flowers were kind of droopy, and the wrist corsage wouldn’t tie properly on my wrist (although I think this is just a function of the ribbon). Overall, not a super big deal, just a bit annoying whenever the corsage falls out of position.

Overall, I’m happy with the outcome. My photos are beautiful, everything went smoothly on-the-day (ARC arrived at 5:30 AM and started setting up at 6AM, then everything was ready for photographer turn-over by 8:30 AM). Thankful the team is super experienced in these types of setup. If there are any points of improvement, it would be the following:

Holding a January tinghun is tough. I found it difficult to talk to ARC the whole month of December because they were so busy with back-to-back events. This was understandable, but I also felt quite stressed because I was worried about not having a final backdrop design yet. So I guess note to future brides would be: don’t hold your tinghun during or after peak event months.
Better to have clear pegs in mind already from your stylist’s previous works. It’s easier versus asking them to come up with a brand new design. Also, at least you already have a sense of what it will look like already
I feel like I could’ve gotten the corsage and boutonniere for a cheaper price. But in the end, I don’t regret getting from ARC, because I think it’s more hassle to get from a different supplier since it’s an additional supplier to track, and also these aren’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things

Photographer: Spectrum by Jeric Dy

Instagram: @dyjericphotography

I don’t think I realized how expensive photographers were until I started inquiring for photographer rates. I knew I wanted bright happy-looking photos, so I inquired with photographers who were known for this style and who had covered tinghuns before (because it’s quite important they know what to shoot): Ikigai Studio, Randolf Evan, Sunday Morning Studios, to name a few. I was really shocked at the rates! I knew a wedding was expensive, but I didn’t realize even tinghun rates were so expensive.

Thankfully, a friend referred Jeric Dy. We checked out his portfolio (website), scheduled a video call with him (he’s super amiable!), and looked at his rates (very affordable!). On this three basis, we decided to book him, plus one additional photographer (so we could have someone focused on the ceremony, and another one focused on the guests). Jeric ended up throwing in an additional photographer assistant too, so yay!

Leading up to the tinghun, I sent Jeric a list of shots I wanted taken (hello #TypeA)

Prep: Flat lay of accessories/invite/shoes, nice photo in robe, photo with family members
Entire set up + close up of each part of the set up
Each part of the ceremony: putting on, formal shot, candid shots
Candid shots of guests
Nice shots of Goldie and Josh in New World (lobby, koi pond)
Cake tour
Distribution of gift bags

I also told him I wanted natural lighting – nothing overly bright nor dramatically dark. I just wanted it to feel bright, happy and cheerful.

Jeric and his team also arrived promptly at 8AM. When they arrived, they got straight to work and continued working all throughout. I appreciate how amiable they were, and how they were super casual even with our guests (who all love to take photos!!). Another thing I super appreciated was their quick turnaround time. Within the day, they sent us ~50 photos of key parts of the ceremony, and some couple shots, which we could already use to post on Instagram/Facebook. I LOVE this. I’m always a little bit sad when I see events where all the social media posts are cellphone shots, then when the official photos come out, it’s months after the event, and all the hype has already died down. In our case, we could post immediately after the event. Super nice!

Final turnover of all post-processed photos occurred less than 2 weeks after the event. Diba? So fast!!! And intense, they sent us 900 post-edited photos. Normally, tinghuns would generate around 300 post-edited photos only, but I don’t know why, our event generated 3x as much. I guess we have a lot of camera-friendly guests hahaha!

Overall – would definitely recommend Jeric Dy. Super easy to work with, and output’s great. Here’s our photo box, with customized USB and prints. He even gave us a gift framed photo for our new home. So sweet!

Dress: Jerome Ang

Instagram: @jeromesalayaang

I was kind of hoping I could just buy a dress off-the-rack tbh, but in the end, was convinced by my sister (the major abettor in my life) to just spend for a custom-made dress that will fit me well and will have all the elements I want. I compromised by deciding on a maximum budget I was willing to spend (which shocker, RTW dresses can also cost as much!!!) and a request to the designer that I wanted the gown 2-way, so that after the tinghun, I could still rewear the dress given a different “design”

I started shopping around for a designer, but horror of horrors, they can’t give you a quote unless you provide dress pegs. So off to Pinterest I went. Non-stop scrolling. Finally, I decided on a design that hopefully would look good on me (why are all the models stick thin?!), and started sending it out to designers. Cost-wise, some were within budget, some were a bit over. What I learned here though was to NOT say it’s for a tinghun, because that automatically jacks up the price. I think because designers automatically assume a tinghun bride dress needs to be super extra – beaded, lots of intricate designs etc. I wanted none of that. So I just told designers I wanted a fancy gown, sent my pegs, and had them give me quotes.

In the end, a friend who had recently had Jerome make her gown (for her brother’s tinghun) referred Jerome to me. She mentioned he was super flexible, knew how to design for your body, and best of all, his studio (really his house) is quite near my house (around 20 minutes away). And that was it. My sister and I visited Jerome, he sketched out our dresses, and that was it (he didn’t even ask for a downpayment?!).

We had our first fitting a month after with the basic lining. After another 3 weeks, we had a second fitting (which I thought would be the final one already), but the dress was only partially finished (no detachable skirt yet, and no beading). Then three days before the event, a third fitting (which I thought would be the final one), but I didn’t like the beading so I requested he make some changes. Finally, that afternoon, I went and picked up the dress (without even trying it on LOL). In my mind, I have no choice anyway, let’s do this. I’m actually impressed at how chill I was.

So, the first time I wore the dress in its entirety was on the day of the tinghun! Okay naman! The corset makes me look thin (I think he could’ve shaved off another inch from my waistline bwahaha), and I really love the skirt (my special request hehehe!). My sister also had her gown made by him, and she looked great in it. Perfect, I should get thinner so I can rewear her dress too!

Overall, happy I had my dress made, because I can’t imagine finding a dress with this design that fits me this well off-the-rack.

Shoes: Love Heels

Facebook: Love Heels

I wanted comfy heels for my tinghun (which I would then repurpose for my wedding, so that it’s double purpose!), so I researched and all these brides kept recommending Matthews. But when I tried on their shoes (they have really limited designs), I didn’t really like how it looks on my feet. I always feel like my feet’s super wide (although shoe designers have said it’s not, and that the width is pretty normal actually hmmm), so I left empty-handed. I was getting a bit frantic actually because I had one month to go and still no shoes. I even considered having my shoes custom-made, but in the end, I balked at the price. There were cheaper ones, but reviews were inconsistent – some had complaints that their lead time was longer than expected.

In the end, I decided to just buy online. My friend had purchased heels from Love Heels and said they were super comfy, much comfier than brand named shoes she had purchased for her own wedding, so I was like, OKAAAAY, let’s do this.

I bought it, it arrived 2 days later, and that’s it! On the day, I wore it throughout the photoshoot and the tinghun ceremony. But for the couple photoshoot after, I gave up and switched to flats. My feet were killing me. I never ever wear heels. At most, I wear wedges. So I think Love Heels shoes are quite comfy if you were used to it, but me? My feet died! Lesson learned, definitely not wearing heels for my wedding!!!

Host: Trina Holds the Mic

Instagram: @trinaholdsthemic

In most cases, if your guests are all familiar (or mostly familiar) with the tinghun tradition, I think you can get away with not getting a professional host, e.g. just get a sibling or friend to host for you. In my case, since Josh’s family and guests have mostly never been to a tinghun, plus none of my siblings wanted to host, I had no choice but to get a professional host for my event.

I was introduced to Trina by a friend (you’ll notice how all my suppliers are really via referrals!), and when I scheduled a video call with her, she was super friendly and bubbly and really set my heart and mind at ease. Leading up to the tinghun, we met just once face-to-face to walk through the program flow together and get a better sense of each other’s styles (one of my biggest fear is the host will crack a joke that will offend our guests!)

On the day, Trina arrived at 9 AM and immediately went straight to the tech booth to test the sounds system. Her hosting style is super chill and friendly, like she’s just chatting with friends. I requested her to really explain the symbolisms of the different traditions as we did the tinghun ceremony and she really did. I think this really made it more enjoyable for my guests because they weren’t just bystanders simply watching us do xyz, but they actually understood why things were happening the way they were!

No regrets getting Trina! Smiles and praises all around from our guests after, which made it super worth it.

Cake: Cake Concept

Cake Concept is actually New World’s cake supplier. I was a bit apprehensive because I’ve never heard of them before, and when I checked their Instagram page, they didn’t seem to have any tinghun cakes posted! But what can I do? It’s already part of my package, and I didn’t want to pay for more cakes.

Maite, the owner, is quite difficult to contact, except early in the morning or late at night. It’s understandable though because she’s the one who bakes and designs the cakes. On my end, I usually just leave her a Viber message and she’ll respond within 1-2 days. I looked at other tinghun cake suppliers for ideas/pegs, chose one that I liked, and sent it to Maite to see if she could do the same design, just with some changes in terms of colors and sanghee/name placements. Happily, she agreed to my pegs BUT apparently the package doesn’t include the name topper! She was initially charging a lot more than I was expecting to pay for acrylic cake toppers, although to be fair, she was just buying from another supplier (Loft). But I was like no way, so much!?! Instead I went on Shopee, and ordered it for 1/3 the price. Pats self on back, ultimate grepa right here.

On the day, Cake Concept delivered! They arrived at 9AM, the cakes look beautiful as you can see. We chose their lemon flavor and orange flavor, as they said these were their bestsellers. I will say this though, it’s ALL fondant, so the cakes are super heavy. After carrying it for a few minutes for photo taking, I could feel my arms straining. Wala ng poise! Thank you Josh and his brother for bringing it around afterwards – super arm workout.

After the event, it was time to dig into the cake. I brought home the cake with Josh’s name and vice versa. Some trepidation slicing into it – will it taste good? The answer? A resounding yes! The fondant is obviously too sweet (you’re not meant to eat it!), the flowers were yummy (I bit off a petal hehe), and the cake was dense but moist and lightly flavored. Gosh, the only downside of a fondant cake is around 1/3 is fondant and just 2/3 is actually consumable cake. My family finished it in 1.5 sittings. Sad sigh.

HMUA: Kris Bacani

Instagram: @krisbacani

Hair and Make Up – the one I dreaded booking the most. I have ZERO experience with hair and makeup. No idea what looks good on me, no idea who are the good HMUA, have sensitive skin and scalp (I don’t do well with some products, I itch!) and also, I really didn’t want to spend a lot on it – because gosh, sayang in my mind! So it was really an uphill battle. I messaged so many HMUA and was shocked by their rates. I cannot believe how much they charge for a tinghun bride. And to be honest, I still don’t get why they charge a lot, because it feels like a normal HMUA experience – no retouch or anything, because I went straight from HMUA to photoshoot to tinghun ceremony already.

Days of scrolling through IGs of HMUAs made me want to tear out my hair. Everyone looked good, but will it look good on me? But I didn’t want to spend on trial makeup because again, it’s another expense. So I went round and round and round.

Until. One day, my sister sent me Kris Bacani’s IG page. She’s back from maternity leave! I have no idea who Kris Bacani was, to be honest, but my sister did and said she’s supposed to be good (she’s from her time LOL). I checked her page, saw she was my friend’s HMUA from her wedding 5 years ago (wow, long long time ago), so I reached out to my friend and got rave reviews. I asked for Kris’ rates, and she was charging the same price for the tinghun bride as compared to her normal HMUA rate. Ok, that’s it. I was sold. Only caveat – Kris’ transportation fee is pricey! Much pricier vs other HMUA artists, but phew go na.

On the day, Kris and Grace (her hairstylist) arrived at 4:30 AM on-the-dot, and started setting up. She started with my mom, followed by me, then my sister.

Her hands are super light, and she was super nice because I had so many questions throughout the process, like “what are you doing now? What’s that for? What are you putting on my face? Etc etc” End output? I feel so pretty, and I got so many compliments after! Hmm, actually I’m not sure if I should feel complimented or insulted because so many people came up to me and told me “you’re so pretty pala!” Like what, they just realized?! Haha just kidding. It was also my first time to wear contacts, so I think it came as a shock for the guests to see me without my glasses.

Grace, her hairstylist, was also great! I showed her my peg and my hair accessories, and she copied it and added her own twist to it. She even lent me hair extensions for free (yay!!). I just had to Grab it back to her after the event hehe.

Super no regrets with this Kris x Grace combo.

HMUA: Shayna Young-Rivera

Instagram: @makeupbyshaynayoungrivera

When I was initially looking for an HMUA, Shayna kept popping up, so I was pretty excited to book her. But, it takes her (well her assistant who mans her IG page and email) sooo long to reply, that I eventually felt disheartened and decided this was a sign that it just wasn’t meant to be.

But, 1 month before my tinghun, I saw my friend’s tinghun photos and liked her makeup. I asked her who was her HMUA, and she said it was Shayna. I was like ohhhhh. At this point, I had already booked Kris but was still looking for HMUA for my ama, aunt and cousin (three generations of women haha), so I was like, it’s a sign!

This time, when I messaged, the reply was faster, I booked her and tada!

On-the-day, Shayna arrived at 4 AM. OMG, 30 minutes before the call time haha. Better early than late. Shayna and her hairstylist were super bubbly and easy to talk to, and they ended early! Done by 8AM. Overall would recommend her, but just know that she might take awhile to reply.

Diet Program: YummyDiet

Website: https://www.yummydiet.ph/

My final supplier that I never knew I needed. I totally procrastinated my diet leading up to my tinghun, always convinced that I had more time to lose weight, until I didn’t. Also, note to self, never ever book events after Christmas, because seriously who’s in the mood to diet during Christmas season? Not me, that’s who.

So here I was, ready to just not be thin for my tinghun. BUT, super grateful for thoughtful friends, who sponsored my low calorie diet meals for 1 week! 1200 calories per day – will I make it?

I made it!! You can read my detailed review here: Yummy Diet PH 1200 Calories Diet Review

But in summary – Yummy Diet food is pretty good! Out of 10 Meals, I only really found 1 blah (the pork meatball). The sauces used kind of just repeat (except the hoisin, which was my fave. Sad). The red rice super blah – not repeating that. Wish there was slightly more variety to the veggies, but I guess iyan talaga mga veggies.

I found it helpful though because it really minimized temptation to overeat because literally, that’s it. Also wow, I never realized how little 1200 calories actually is o.o Gonna be more mindful of my serving sizes next time for sure (I hope)

Weight result: I lost 3kg vs my weight before I started this 1200 calorie program. And I am happy to say that 2 weeks later, the 3kg I lost has stayed lost. Wooohoo! Also, lots of people said I looked thin at my tinghun, so now I feel extra encouraged to diet for my wedding (which is months away, so I can start dieting…. closer to the date HEHEHEHE)

And that’s a wrap! Hope this helped you in thinking through the suppliers to get, and what to expect.

Goldie Goes Global