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| *Taal Vista Hotel |
For the reception, Joyce and I entertained the thought of having it on a garden or maybe some place that's not a hotel. But since we had a large guest list, we kept our minds open for other possibilities so we contacted a number of options.
1. Ville Sommet - This is actually my early favorite because we would have the place all to ourselves once we book them. They have the Glasshouse for the reception, a nice chalet for the preps and the place seemed so peaceful and beautiful. Unfortunately, a guest list of 400 would be too much for their glasshouse.
2. Splendido Taal - From their website, this place seems lovely! But again, they were quite hesitant in squeezing 400 guests in their reception area. So we had to take a pass.
3. Taal Vista Hotel - Probably one of the oldest hotels in Tagaytay and probably one of the most famous ones. We considered checking this place out for the reason that it's a famous landmark in the area. Plus, they have a big enough ballroom that can accommodate our guest list.
4. Hacienda Isabella - Since we were considering garden weddings, this seemed to be a really good pick. If I'm not mistaken, the place is owned by famous singer Kuh Ledesma. Based from the pics, the place seems lovely as well. However, after asking for their rates, their prices seemed too steep for us, so we had to scratch them off our list.
5. Hillcreek Gardens - Hillcreek Gardens was a nice find. It wasn't as famous as Hacienda Isabella, but it has a really nice garden which according to the owner can hold around 700 guests for parties. This might be it!
6. Summit Ridge - One of the newest hotels in Tagaytay, we asked for their quotes but the ballroom could just fit 250-300 guests.
Our Ocular
Again, since choices were a bit limited we scheduled an ocular on the same day we booked our church. We first went to Hillcreek Gardens. We were quite surprised to see a small chapel inside the compound. But since it hasn't been accredited by the Catholic church, it can't be used for wedding ceremonies. The area is big, but our worry was guests might be too scattered that it's hard to interact with them. Also, the very unpredictable weather was one of our major concerns in garden weddings. We left Hillcreek, not really convinced that that was where we wanted our reception to be.
We then headed to Summit Ridge to see if we can squeeze in 400 guests. Unfortunately, their ballroom wasn't really that big and it will be a major risk to get them.
Then off to Taal Vista Hotel. Janet, the Banquet Sales Rep, showed us the new ballroom. Well, it was a ballroom! What more can I say? But Janet was a great saleswoman, she gave us a lot of freebies...flowers, cake, rooms, sound system upgrade, discounts. She then asked one of the staff to showcase their mood lights. She asked for the motif, and then showed us the purple (our motif) lights. Impressive! At that point, I think Joyce and I had the 'this is it' feeling already.
Our Choice
Before making the choice, we had to sleep over it. But we were almost convinced that Taal Vista was the perfect place. Oh, and the new ballroom had a cocktail area that has a great view of Taal Volcano! We were sold! We just had too many concerns for garden weddings and far too less for Taal Vista.
