A Dream Wedding Venue

Discovering Splendido was one of the highlights of our 2008. After getting engaged on 168 (January 6, 2008),we excitedly took a trip to Tagaytay to scout for a wedding venue. Since we both love the outdoors, we planned on having a garden wedding. I particularly wanted to get married in a lush garden fronting a sprawling golf course. We looked at possible venues the whole day, but were not quite satisfied with what we found.  
As we were driving back to Manila at dusk, a thought popped into my mind. Out of the blue, I blurted out to my fiance, “Sa Splendido na lang tayo (Let's get married in Splendido).” At that time, I didn't have an inkling what Splendido looked liked or if it was even open for weddings. The last time I saw the place was in 2004 when it was under still construction. At that time, some friends and I just happened to pass by Splendido on our way to Batangas and we parked near the sales office to stretch our legs. That was my only encounter with the place.

 It must have been It must God whispering a wonderful secret to us for the very next day, I surfed the net and was all too delighted to find that Splendido is actually a golf club and, more than that, it is fast becoming a popular wedding destination! I called their trunkline right away and reserved a date even though we haven't seen the place.

And when I asked if we could have a wedding on the golf course, assistant marketing supervisor Noel immediately informed us that they actually have a nursery just right behind the golf course where we could have the wedding.

The Splendido nursery is an elevated diamond-shaped garden beside a man-made lake. To go there,you have to walk or drive a golf cart through a path that would give you a stunning view of the greens. Then, you go up a flight of thoughtfully placed cobbled stones steps. The view is simply breath-taking. It was the perfect place for us--large enough to accommodate our 250 guests yet small enough to get that intimate feel that we wanted for the ceremony. Really a dream come true!

Another revelation was the food! Not only was it reasonable, it was a heavenly fare. Later on, I found out that the kitchen is headed by Chef Ed Quimson and Chef Tristan Bayani two of the most promising chefs we have in the country. When we requested for a customized menu to fit our budget, they gladly gave in. To be practical, we decided to get mini-cakes instead of the usual wedding cake with only one edible layer. Splendido's pastry bar baked such deliciously decadent and eye-catching cakes for us that made us wished we took a second serving during the cake-cutting.



During the course of the preparations, we called on Noel, Jonna, newly appointed marketing supervisor Cherry and restaurant supervisor Bomel time and again for changes and what-have-yous, and they were very accommodating. Noel was always on hand to answer questions. I appreciate how he listened and answered questions when my mom checked out the place two weeks before the ceremony. When I asked Cherry for help with the VIP place cards, she volunteered to do it for us, even though it wasn't part of the package. Bomel with his bubbly personality is just so conscientious and passionate about his job. He took very good care of us during all our meetings and went out of his way to grant our every request.He made us feel confident that everything would work out well on our day. I'm so glad he personally drove my wedding cart to the ceremony.

Our wedding day was such an answered prayer and a dream come true. A few minutes before the ceremony, it actually drizzled. Guests had to be transported back from the greens to the club house. Dark clouds loomed directly ahead and some of our guests and sponsors panicked. Despite the gloomy scenario, the whole staff believed and prayed with us that the weather would clear. A few minutes later, our prayers were answered. Not only did we have our wedding at the Splendido Nursery with nary a hitch, God even gifted us with a glorious sunset as the ceremony concluded Moreover, there wasn't a drop of rain the whole night as we partied away during the reception.

It's been a year since our October 2008 wedding. We still reminisce about the whole experience almost every day and we can't stop thanking God for Splendido. It's a place we know we will always come back to.

We received this note from Splendido's CEO last Oct. 8, 2009:

Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement....it really means a lot to me as I personally and painstakingly designed Splendido...that you appreciate it as much as I do bolsters my spirit!!!! 
Katrina C. Ponce-Enrile

The Will to Win!

While Michael and I were enjoying our 1st  anniversary get-away last weekend, he received an email informing him that he had won Php 5,000 worth of DK travel books and a premium item from the History Channel.

This morning I opened my email to find that Cebu Pacific had just picked me as the 7th and final winner of  round-trip domestic tickets for their Twitter Raffle promo!  Last Friday--supposedly the last day of the promo--Cebu Pacific discovered that one of those who won in the raffle was an employee and so they decided to  make another draw early this morning . :)

God is just amazing!  Not only did He let us  enjoy our  365th day of togetherness as husband and wife by giving us perfect weather on a supposedly stormy weekend, He also put in these little extras to delight us. We are in constant awe of His love and goodness.

I don't see myself as a competitive person, but I do enjoy joining contests. It started when my teacher entered me in a drawing competition in kindergarten. It was followed by a slew of other school-sponsored contests: a track meet, a choral declamation, a singing contest,  a crossword puzzle contest, to name a few.

I knew I had  found my match when I met Michael. Early in our courtship, we discovered that we were both fans of Cebu Pacific's in-flight fun games and  both cherish our collection of prizes from the said airline.


                                                            with Kooky of Mediacomm

Early this year, an ad in Multiply prompted us to join Whisper's online photo-story contest. Shortly after winning the grand prize, we discovered Boy Kuripot, a Filipino website that lists all local and foreign online competitions that Pinoys can to join. Boy Kuripot is run by Jeffrey Siy who himself has won a lot of prizes from online promos. (Visit his website at http://boy-kuripot.blogspot.com.) We have him to thank for the thrill his website gives us during our free time.

I remember declaring these words from the Psalms this morning before logging on and discovering the Cebu Pacific surprise: "You are my shield, and You give me victory and great honor. I pray to you and you answer from your sacred hill." Psalm 3:3-4 This is our heritage as sons and daughters of the Most High God.

Here is a list of the prizes we have won since we got married:

1. Nokia Cellphone from Globe Telecom-- Michael joined a spin-off of "Deal or No Deal" during a Christmas bazaar in Zamboanga. He chose bag number 3, because it is the date of our wedding.  (Dec 2008)

2. Asus EEEPC and Sumdex bag from the "Why Men Love Whisper" Promo-- This is an online contest by Whisper Napkin. We  won Best Photostory for the month of March. Thanks to  Mr. Nelwin Uy and Sir Lito Genilo for the photos. We were buying house plants when Michael got a call. We floated with joy the whole afternoon. (March 2009)

3. Macbook White and a bag from the "Why Men Love Whisper" Grand Finals--We both screamed our lungs out when we discovered that we won the grand prize. Thank you for all who voted in Multiply! We were overwhelmed by your support.  (May 2009)

4. Corel DVD software and Winner's Certificate from the Corel Digital Arts Competition--Our video won  4th place in the video editing category. Again, many thanks for those who voted. Some of you even voted everyday! :)


5. Garnet stone--the first jewelry I ever won.  I got this during a trip to  a Hongkong jewelry store last June. I was the first to answer that the store's diamonds came from South Africa. (June 2009)

6. Shopping Gift-checks from Singapore--Michael won 500 Singapore dollars-worth of gift checks from a specialty store in Singapore in July. Unfortunately, they couldn't send us the GCs as it was only available to Singaporeans, but we appreciate  winning,nonetheless. (June 2009)

7.Cebu Pacific Goody Bag--I was the first in the flight  to name the movie where the phrase "Momma said that 'Life is like a box of chocolates.'. . " came from. The goody bag contained Centrum vitamins and Chapsticks. (July 2009)

8. Sunsilk Package for the Style-in-a-Snap promo--My Lookbook entry received the "Kawaii Award" (Kawaii means "cute" in Japanese). Thanks, Nelwin and Michael, for the photos. Thanks also to those who voted and those who tried to vote. (It was hard to get through the contest's online registration).  I received the call from Sunsilk a day before my  birthday and since it was sort of a mini-online pageant for hair, I was flattered to receive the award.    (July 2009)

9. Cebu Pacific Pad and Pen-- Michael and I both won a practical and stylish pad and pen set from Cebu Pacific during  the "Bring Me" Game. I was laughing because the stewardess asked the passengers to "bring her" ten fingers and I was the first one to do so. I have my competitive and brilliant high school classmates to thank for that. Being in a class with them trained me to  have fast reflexes so I could  earn points  during recitation time. Haha!  (Sept. 2009)

10. DK Travel Books and History Channel Gift Item

11. Cebu Pacific Round-trip Domestic Tickets

Hope this encourages you to inject some fun into your life. You can help us  increase the items in this list by viewing our application video for the Ultimate Thailand Explorers here: http://bit.ly/qt0s  

Enjoy! :)