Our Wedding Experience in Golden Bay Fresh Seafood Restaurant

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I read (or heard) somewhere that wedding reception is more memorable than the (more important) wedding ceremony. Having experienced attending weddings as a guest and a groom, I can say that that observation was correct. This is the reason why we spent a lot of time searching for the best wedding reception venue.

My Beloved Fiancé Lei and I wanted our reception venue to be classy and affordable at the same time. We realized that renting the venue sans the caterer is more expensive than booking to a restaurant. So, instead of renting venue-only sites, like SM MoA’s The Venue, we decided to hold our wedding reception in Golden Bay Fresh Seafood Restaurant.

Golden Bay Restaurant is located along Macapagal Boulevard (see map below), which makes it very accessible.

I remember being impressed during our first visit to Golden Bay. Lei, on the other hand, immediately liked the big stairs. Lei told me that she want our wedding photos taken on those stairs.

(Source: Golden Bay FB page)

In short, Golden Bay Restaurant already got our approval at our first visit.

The Reception Set-up

Golden Bay Restaurant has one of the largest banquet halls in the country. Located on the second floor, their banquet hall can accommodate up to 1,200 persons. It is too large a venue for our wedding reception with only about 100 guests. Good thing that they can accommodate us in the restaurant area on the first floor.

Golden Bay's restaurant area. (Source: Golden Bay website)

Since I was busy being a groom, I was not able to take photos of the food and the whole reception area. But I can say that the place looks good. Our wedding coordinator friend and our florist made an excellent job decorating the place. Ms. Dina Araneta, Golden Bay’s assistant marketing manager, was also present to make sure that everything is flowing perfectly.

Our venue is at the inner end of the restaurant. Golden Bay just placed a divider between our venue and the rest of the restaurant. Thus, other patrons heard what’s happening during our wedding reception. What’s horrible is that they heard my sintonado voice when I “serenaded” My Beloved Wife. I hope that my singing didn’t ruin their dining experience.

Our "stage" during the reception.

The space given to us was ample enough for 10 tables with one extra table, photobooth, a space for Lei’s especially-requested chocolate fountain, and a stage for me and Lei.

Ms. Dina was generous enough to give us one of their function room that served as our holding room where we relaxed and retouched before facing the guests again. Good thing that no one was using the function room and another good thing is that they allowed us to use it without charge.

Menu for Our Wedding Reception

With the help of Ms. Dina, we managed to get a customized menu that almost fit our budget. I said almost because we went above our initial 60,000-peso budget for the food. Ms. Dina convinced me to upgrade to 72,000-peso customized menu because the food is much better.

Golden Bay charged us per table and each table can accommodate 12 persons. This means that even if less than 12 people are occupying the table, we still have to pay for the whole table. They allowed us, however, to squeeze excess guests (of up to 6 persons) to other tables.

This is our menu for the wedding reception: Steamed Suahe, Minced Fish with Three Treasure Soup, Beef with Broccoli Flower, Yang Chow Fried Rice, Steamed Fish Fillet in Garlic, Sautéed Sze Chuan Diced Chicken, and Patatim with Bun. The dessert is Almond Fruit Cocktail. This customized menu already has Bottomless Iced Tea.

Steamed suahe

We also ordered one set meal for a guest who couldn’t eat pork because of religious restrictions. Ms. Dina also helped me to arrange set meals for the florists, photographers, and our make-up artist.

The comments made by our ninongs and ninangs, and all of our guests warmed our hearts. They liked all of the food in the menu. Everyone enjoyed every dish but star of the day is the Sautéed Sze Chuan Diced Chicken.

Patatim with bun (Source: Golden Bay website)

Golden Bay allowed us to bring our own wine without corkage fee. The same goes with our wedding cake and the chocolate fountain.

Commendable Service

Our wedding reception became great not only because of the delicious food but also due to the good service provided by the Golden Bay crew. The wait staff were always on their toes during the whole event.

Most commendable, for me, would be Ms. Dina who helped me since day one. She gave good suggestions during the planning stage, which made our wedding reception more enjoyable not only for me and my wife but, more importantly, for the guests.

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A ninong told me that he’s impressed that I was able to hold our reception in an “expensive” restaurant. I am very happy with that compliment. It means that Lei and I were successful in our plan to book a classy reception venue that still fits our budget. Well, I guess I have to thank Golden Bay Restaurant for that.
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Wedding Reception Venues around Metro Manila

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My Beloved Wife Lei and I spent plenty of time searching for the wedding reception venue that fits both our budget and requirements. Our visits to the PAF Aerospace Museum and SM MoA The Venue were unsuccessful. Max’s Restaurant was another option but Lei didn’t like it.

Before we found our wedding reception venue, we visited these venues:

Enderun

(Source: Fort Global City)

Enderun College was recommended by our florist because it is near our church. Enderun is a school that specializes in culinary arts, hotel and restaurant management, and international hospitality courses. We were told that students serve as kitchen and wait staff during the wedding reception as part of their training.

The Tent at Enderun (Source: Restaurant 101)

Unfortunately, no one entertained us during our visit because Enderun’s Banquet Sales Associate is only available during weekdays. We made no further inquiry.

For more information about their wedding venues and facilities, visit Enderun’s website. You can also visit them on weekdays at McKinley Hill, Taguig City. Refer to the map below for the location of Enderun.

Park Metro

There was an event hosted by a cockfighters and pigeon breeders club when we visited Park Metro. The whole venue was filled with sabungeros and pigeon racers, and their roosters and pigeons.

Park Metro is located at EDSA corner Roxas Boulevard, just beside Toyota Manila Bay branch.

Park Metro has two fully air-conditioned function halls that, when combined, can hold 250 guests for banquet arrangement and 350 guests for cocktail arrangement. Function Room A costs 28,000 pesos while Function Room B costs 40,000 pesos for 5 hours. Rooms A and B combined costs 68,000 pesos.

Park Metro offers parking space, air-conditioned suite that can serve as holding area for the newly-wed couple, and back-up generator that can be used when there’s a power blackout.

Like what happened at Enderun, no one entertained us since we visited the place during a weekend. We didn’t made further inquiry.

For more information about Park Metro, just call telephone nos. (02) 856-4148 and (02) 898-8965 local 8965, or e-mail at leasing@federalland.com.ph.

Villamor Golf Club

(Source: PAF)

Villamor Golf Club is another Philippine Air Force facility that we checked for our wedding reception venue.  It is located at the corner of SLEX and Sales Road at the “Gate 3” of Fort Bonifacio (check the map below for details).
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I was not impressed with the function hall of the Villamor Golf Club because I saw that some parts of it were dilapidated. I also thought that the place was too bare. My thoughts were wrong, however, since some weddings reception held in Villamor Golf Club (particularly the weddings of Scott and Claire, and Kirk and Reika) looks elegant especially because of the chandeliers and drapings. A good florist and venue designer are vital for couples who’ll be booking this venue.

Villamor Golf Club's Ballroom Area (Source: PAF).

There are plenty of rooms in the function hall of the Villamor Golf Club. We saw a college reunion and a birthday party being held at the same time during our visit to the golf club.

The cost of renting the Ballroom Area (Villamor Golf Club's largest function room) is about 45,000 pesos, inclusive of the food.

Lei wanted to rent the place but the problem is that the manager can only give us the latest menu about 2 months before our wedding. This means that the 45,000 pesos price is not yet final. We thought it would be a hassle to wait for the latest info from Villamor Golf Club so we searched for another wedding reception venue.

Couples who want to try the Villamor Golf Club for their wedding reception may inquire through their telephone nos: (02) 853-4977 and (02) 853-4988.

Enderun, Park Metro and the Villamor Golf Club are good wedding reception venue but the one that we booked is Golden Bay Restaurant which is a Chinese restaurant located near SM Mall of Asia.

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Checking Out Max’s Restaurant's Wedding Celebration

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After talking about finding our wedding cake and the wedding ring supplier, I guess it’s time for me to share our adventures in finding the “perfect” venue for our wedding reception.

I previously posted about SM Mall of Asia’s (SM MoA) The Venue. My Beloved Wife Lei liked the place but we didn’t book it because its price is way above our budget. Booking The Venue also meant booking a caterer since The Venue is just a space for events. I’m sure that catering services don’t come cheap, thus The Venue became less appealing to us even though Lei wanted to have our wedding photo taken at their stairs.

Booking our wedding reception venue and a caterer separately is more expensive than booking a restaurant that already has space for special events. So, instead of looking for events space like The Venue, we decided to search for restaurants instead. Max’s is one of the restaurants that fitted the bill.

(Source: Wikipedia)

My Max’s Experience

I am yet to attend a wedding reception at Max’s but my parents dined at Max’s for a cousin’s wedding (more about that later). What I did attended a few times are meetings, specifically with my friends from Filipinos for Life, at Max’s Ermita.

I enjoyed the food at Max’s Ermita, particularly the fried chicken (their specialty) and the sinigang na hipon. Max’s Ermita has dedicated space for events and can hold a hundred or more persons. Their crew are attentive and provided us with good service.

My parents’ experience with Max’s Restaurant during my cousin’s wedding is not too good. They commented that the food are already cold when they reached the restaurant. And the time allotted for the wedding reception is too quick, merely two hours.

Ayen Gomez left a comment on this blog saying that they already visited three branches of Max's inquiring about their wedding packages. Ayen said that the managers of the said Max's branches revealed that they cannot replicate the set-up that is shown in the brochure. I guess the real thing is different from promotional photo/advertisement. Couples planning a wedding reception at Max's should take note of this info so as not to be disappointed on their wedding day.

For other experiences or comments regarding weddings at Max’s Restaurant, please read The Twisted Wedding planner blog.

Max’s Restaurant Wedding Package

Max’s Restaurant offers three wedding motif, namely, Modern Filipino, Classic Glamour, and Enchanting Romance.

Modern Filipino wedding motif set up

Modern Filipino wedding motif are for those who like to mix traditional and modern accents. Based on Max’s wedding package brochure, Modern Filipino motif is white accented by traditional Filipino items like capiz lamps.

Classic Glamour wedding motif set up

Classic Glamour motif is red. It is for couples who want their wedding to have that classic accent.

Enchanting Romance wedding motif set up.

Of the Max’s Restaurant wedding motif, Enchanting Romance is the least “serious”. This motif is accented with bright garden tones and flowers.

Each of Max’s Restaurant wedding motif offers the following amenities:

1. Free use of the function for two hours
2. Event coordinator and event host
3. Choice of 2-layer cake
4. A bottle of wine (for the couple’s first drink)
5. Guestbook with pen

Max’s Restaurant offers 3 set menus with prices ranging from 22,625 pesos (30 persons) to 127,045 pesos (150 persons). Max’s also allows couples to customize their menu with the “Create Your Own Feast”. Here’s Max’s wedding menu from their brochure:

Most of Max’s Restaurants only have indoor function hall for special events but I read in Pinoy Exchange that Max’s Restaurant in Sucat has outdoor space suitable for garden weddings.

Why We Didn’t Book Max’s Restaurant

We didn’t have problem with Max’s food (in fact, I like their fried chicken). The reason that we didn’t book Max’s is that Lei wanted to try a restaurant that we haven’t dined in yet. That’s the only reason why we didn’t chose Max’s Restaurant for our wedding reception.

Many comments around the Internet says that Max’s offers elegant wedding reception at budget price. The good thing is that Max’s will set up the place (thus less hassle for couples) and their crew are experts when it comes to weddings and other events (so you can expect good quality service from them).

For those who are looking for good wedding reception venue with delicious food, I suggest that you inquire about Max’s Restaurant wedding package. Visit Max’s Restaurant website for more info.

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Images of the three wedding motifs were lifted from Max’s Restaurant wedding brochure.
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Wedding Prep: PAF Aerospace Museum

Who would have thought that a museum can also be a venue for wedding reception?

I know that museums are good for educational trips or as stop-over for tourists but never as a venue for parties. So I was surprised and little bit excited, when a photographer that we met in the Wedding Summit told us about the Philippine Air Force (PAF) Aerospace Museum.

I scoured the Internet for information about the PAF Aerospace Museum and my mind was blown away by beautiful pre-nuptial photos that I found. An example would be a prenup shot in Makeup Artists Philippines. Cool photos posted by Anton Diaz on Our Awesome Planet blog enticed me more to visit this museum.

So, one Saturday, me and my Beloved visited the PAF Aerospace Museum to inquire about renting the place for our wedding reception.

I felt giddy the moment we entered the museum. Warplanes welcomed me!

These planes will be good for photos and I bet that our guests will be delighted to see this.

We were immediately informed that the function room of the PAF Aerospace Museum is not allowed for civilian use. To sidestep this prohibition, we were told to look for a backer in the military. The backer or sponsor can be an officer, enlisted man or even a retiree.

What actually enticed us to check this museum as venue for wedding reception is its 5,000 pesos rental fee for 5-hour use. This is quite cheap as compared to other places that we checked, like SM MoA's The Venue that have astronomical price. Another thing is the presence of the old warplanes, which will give our reception a unique feel.

The fee is OK. The presence of old airplanes great. Too bad that I have second thoughts in renting the place because of the horrors that I read on Maqui's blog. I read that the museum admin cancelled her reservation 27 days before her son's birthday party. What's worse is a commenter saying that their reservation was cancelled a week before the event.

Such last minute cancellation is scary and I don't want to experience that. I can't imagine the stress if PAF Aerospace Museum will suddenly cancel our reservation.

We went to the museum despite our knowledge of these horrors. We were hoping that the cancellation policy was already scrapped.

Our hope was dashed to pieces because I read in their “Revocable Permit”, and I quote:

“The PAF Museum Management reserves the right to cancel prior arrangements and to reimburse payments including reservation fee made by the renter for reasons of Command Requirements/Activities. Likewise, the management shall immediately inform in advance the renter of such cancellation at anytime the requested event come into conflict with the Command Activities”

This is disheartening. My decision was final the moment I read this condition in the permit. I will not rent the function room of the PAF Aerospace Museum.

I'd rather forego this unique setting for our wedding reception venue than take the risk of last-minute-cancellation.

Our second attempt to book a wedding reception failed. At least I got the chance to see old warplanes and I will talk about it in the next blog post.