No. of Guests: less than 70 pax including kids
Date: December 2014
Shanghai Bistro - food (lunch) and venue
Overall Rating: *****
Ease of Communication: *****
Punctuality (on the day): *****
Professionalism: *****
End Product/Service: *****
Price vs Quality: *****
Will Hire Again? yes
Comments: Special thanks to our contact person, Me-an who took care of our needs. She's always accommodating and so nice to talk to. It was a stress-free transaction with her. Food-wise, Shanghai Bistro has delicious food. Be sure to try their Shrimp-Mayo and Pancit! So yummy! The venue is spacious for the number of guests, the ceiling is low and lighting a bit dark, so take that into consideration. They also helped put up my DIY decor on the day itself (paper pompoms, additional tables for my DIY candy/dessert buffet with table cloth, etc). Waiters were all courteous and refilled bottomless iced teas promptly. Though they didn't serve water right away, which was kind of weird so people kept asking all throughout the party.
Prime Photos - photo booth 2hrs unlimited printing
Overall Rating: *****
Ease of Communication: *****
Punctuality (on the day): *****
Professionalism: *****
End Product/Service: ****
After event (online posting of photos): *****
Price vs Quality: *****
Will Hire Again? yes
Comments: They are proof that not all good quality services need to be very expensive. Studio lights were a bit too bright on the day and too near our faces, but everyone loved the photo booth!
Bar of Treats (Regina Larissa Lim-Caedo): dessert treats (cake pops, mallowpops and cupcakes)
Overall Rating: *****
Ease of Communication: *****
Punctuality (on the day): *****
Professionalism: *****
End Product/Service (taste and presentation): *****
Price vs Quality: *****
Will Hire Again? yes
Comments: Her treats were the first to run out during the party. Affordable and stress-free transaction :) Her red velvet cake pops had cream cheese filling which were sooo good! Even got some freebies! Extremely easy to talk to.
Reese Gummy: candies for candy buffet
Overall Rating: *****
Ease of Communication: *****
Meet-up Transaction: *****
Professionalism: *****
End Product: *****
Price vs Quality: *****
Will Hire Again? yes
Comments: Delivery person was late for meetup due to weekday morning traffic, but was in communication the whole time, greatly lessening the hassle. Got my order complete and some freebie paper straws which were a nice touch.
For my DIY Candy Buffet, kindly view this post :)
Yrene Lcm (Elysian Studio): photo coverage
Overall Rating: ***
Ease of Communication: *****
Punctuality (on the day): (please see comment below)
Professionalism: *****
End Product: ***
Price vs Quality: ****
Will Hire Again? maybe
Comments: A couple of minutes late on the day of event but only because of a horrible taxi encounter on the way. She still risked finding a way to get to the event and was professional the whole time.
We received a DVD of the photos via courier around 2 weeks after the event. Mostly due to the low light in the venue, most of the photos were not that good. A lot of the photos had weird color due to the lighting and some of the flash were too harsh (which, honestly, is one of the things I hate in photos). During the party, the photographer had to take the photos more than once (sometimes 3x) to adjust her camera's settings, but some of the photos still did not come out very nice. She captured a lot of posed and candid shots, but missed on some nice parts of the party (such as the popping of the balloon burst).
No regrets, as this was a budget photographer. It was good enough. But I will probably try other photographers next time.
Daniela Creative Prints and Party Needs: balloon burst
Overall Rating: *****
Ease of Communication: ***
Punctuality (on the day): ***
Professionalism: ****
End Product: *****
Price vs Quality: *****
Will Hire Again? yes
Comments: They reply faster via SMS compared to FB messages. They were couple of minutes late. They ended up setting up the balloon burst in front of guests -- a bit disconcerting. Balloon burst was as expected, with lots of mini balloons inside. Request for some balloons to have letters written on them (for the prizes) were not followed so we had to compromise. They need better communication with their other product attendants (in this case, the sorbetero cart -- I kept asking them where the cart is, but they had no idea why the cart is an hour late!).
Daniela Creative Prints and Party Needs: sorbetero cart
Overall Rating: ***
Ease of Communication: ***
Punctuality (on the day): **
Professionalism: *****
End Product: *****
Price vs Quality: *****
Will Hire Again? maybe
Comments: More than an hour late due to traffic, which meant additional stress for me. Attendant was professional and sorbetes was enjoyed by adults and kids alike.
Bento Mommas: kiddie meals
Overall Rating: *****
Ease of Communication: *****
Punctuality (on the day): *****
Professionalism: *****
End Product: *****
Price vs Quality: *****
Will Hire Again? yes
Comments: Very smooth transaction, very easy to talk to. Nicely designed bento boxes and yummy meal for the kids. Delivery fee (500php) a bit too high for bento boxes, compared to other bulkier products delivered. If you order more boxes, I think the delivery fee is the same, so delivery fee is more worth-it if you have a bigger order.
Dulce Alegria: birthday cake
Overall Rating: **
Ease of Communication: *****
Punctuality (before event day): *****
Punctuality (on the day): **
Professionalism: *
End Product: **
Price vs Quality: **
Will Hire Again? maybe -- only for simple cakes
Comments: Most tardy of all suppliers -- an hour and a half late. This meant an hour and a half of stress for me during the event.
Worst: The cake focal point (a big cupcake on top) did not look like anything like a cupcake. Extremely disappointing. Reason given: the long travel deformed the cake. Client's comments on cake and tardiness were well taken by the baker, apologies were given. She remained nice and professional all throughout even when client calmly expressed disappointment (via fb message).
A lot of the design in the cake were not followed closely like: ribbon too small, letters in front not the same, dots too few, top look like a bunch of flower swirls, design around the bottom of both layers is different. This is after specifying that I want the design followed as closely as possible and any visible changes should be mentioned to me first so I don't get surprised on the day itself (no communication happened). Cake looked unfinished and not nice in the photos.
Lesson Learned: Do not scrimp on cake cost, it's one of the main focal points of the party. If going with an untested baker, find a way to get back some of the cost for these kinds of failures.
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| Requested Cake Design |
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| Delivered Cake |
Maria Rosa Santos: letter standees (2pcs 12", 4pcs 8")
Overall Rating: *
Price: 560.00php
Ease of Communication: *
Punctuality of delivery: *
Professionalism: *
End Product: **
Price vs Quality: **
Will Hire Again? never
Comments:
- End product has hello kitty stickers (not part of design request at all). No excuse or apologies given for this, even after client asked about it upon delivery. So now, I can't even reuse them for decor at home without looking tacky.
- Took more than 4 weeks and delivered only at the repeated insistence of the client.
- 1st Red Flag: always vague when asked when is the optimum time for meetups (seller agreed on meetup)
- On the day of agreed meetup date: no communication.
- When client got impatient after getting stood up on meetup day, seller sends sms: "disappointed ako sa mga clients na ganyan (scammer) tingin sa seller" -- (eventhough client never said seller was a "scammer") it seemed that I wasn't the first one to become impatient with them after weeks of uncertain delivery date and sporadic sms replies. But all throughout the 4 weeks, seller kept posting completed orders (some are even life-size) standees for other customers. Conclusion drawn: priority given to bigger orders while smaller orders are practically ignored.
- A day after standing up the client on the supposed meet-up date, supplier tells client that 2 of the 8 ordered letters were not yet finished.
- Became suddenly polite after I told them that I post honest supplier reviews online.
- Amidst all the negative communication, she kept on insisting that I also order sweets from her. I had to politely pretend that I had to check the budget first.
Other suppliers:
Baby Love Studio - kiddie and family photo shoot for baby's birthday
Overall Rating: *****
Ease of Communication: *****
Punctuality: *****
Professionalism: *****
End Product/Service: ****
After event (online posting of photos): *****
Price vs Quality: *****
Will Hire Again? yes
Comments: More affordable than Baby Company and other similar vendors, but end product is comparable (or even better). He knows how to work with babies (mine is high need and gets grumpy easily :P ) He was able to work with my ideas for the sets for the shoot. His new packages will give you more edited large resolution photos per set, but smaller resolution raw files for review. Definitely recommended. (FB Page here)
Kindly contact the suppliers directly for quotes on their products and services. :)
This review was written not as a favor to the good suppliers nor to get back at the not-so-good ones. This is to help people like me, who are looking for suppliers in the Events and Party needs jungle, where first-hand reviews are invaluable. :)
I wrote this review a few days after the event to ensure that I will write an objective review. I tried my best to exclude emotions from this review. I believe that not all suppliers are perfect and can make mistakes. They are also subject to unfortunate circumstances. But ALL should be professional throughout the transaction because working with someone with good work ethics is part of what we are paying for.
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Thanks a ton for sharing reviews about Birthday Party Supplier! I am making plans for my father’s surprise birthday party and would love to hire this Party supplier. I have already booked a local space Miami events venue.
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