Hotel Hopping

Gone were the days of wedding preppin' in the house. Well for most modern brides. Because apparently for some people this is still practiced. As for us, it is impossible. First, my house is too far from our church. Second, it is not big enough. So one sunday morning, we drove to Makati to do hotel occulars. At last!

The Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences
This hotel was the first on my list. I've been wanting for so long to go to this place because of Sis April's rave about it. The rates are cheaper as compared to other hotels in the area, considering that the floor area of the room is 88sqm (for the Barcelona suite).Their website is pretty impressive too. But as we all know, pictures can be deceiving so I better check it out first.

the facade

I was impressed by how Picasso looked like from the outside. The name is not like hotel-thingy so I'm expecting a simple condo-like look. Well, it looks like it but better! I'm particularly biased about it because I love everything white with a bit of colorful accents. Somewhere in the wall of each window are colorful abstract paintings. Love!

modern staircase

The farthest we got was only at the lobby. A bit small but the interiors are to die for. Huge fan of modern arts here, so no wonder I got mesmerized by their staircase (picture above). And did I already mention before that I love high ceilings and sunshine inside the room? :) As we were looking around the lobby, I was ecstatically narrating to D how beautiful April's wedding pictures came about, specially in Picasso. The receptionist apparently heard us so he said: 'You were talking about April, she stayed here about 3weeks ago. Beautiful wedding'. wow! Pres made an impact again! yay! :)
Since we went on a morning, we were unfortunate that all rooms were booked that evening so no room available for occulars. The guy from the reception asked us to come back around 1pm but we need to be somewhere else by that time! aww.

Hotel Celeste

Curiosity was what made me want to check this hotel. I heard from w@w that this is a 'Photographers' favorite'. So after Picasso, we drove to Arnaiz to visit Hotel Celeste. Ironically, we had a hard time finding parking space on a Sunday. My wedding is a Friday where most people take lunch outside. I can only imagine all the vehicles swarming to get a parking slot to taste the heavenly buffet offered by the hotel. argh. So a point off! First thing I noticed as soon as we stepped inside was the interior. OMG! Now I understand why they love it. The ambiance is so rich with I can't define what. I love minimal and clean interiors when it comes to structures but as a frustrated photographer my eyes were feasting on every details of the hotel. Yes including the bellboys! They dressed like matadors in Spain - the one who holds the red cape in a bull fighting arena.
They took us to a small room at the 3rd floor. The room was so good-looking. I love the windows and the bed's headboard. But I found the room too small for our wedding party.

D posing inside the room

We asked to see the biggest room, the one which clients book for weddings. We were ushered to a bigger room. So unlucky for us, the rooms usually used for weddings were booked that day. But the bellboy told us that it is exactly the same except for the room division. The wedding room do not have a partition between the living room and the bedroom. Oohh

1 - the living room; 2 - the bedroom; 3 - the restroom

Hmm the hotel is ok for me, just ok. Honestly, it didn't pass my taste. The hotel looked too gloomy for me.

New World Hotel
Since we were in the area, we decided to check out New World Hotel. This was where Sis Marie checked-in for her wedding last year. We were awed by the big-time hotel facade. Looks like it has ample parking spaces. Very good! The guards allowed us to just park in the farthest side of the receiving roadway instead of paying P75 for the basement parking. We just said we won't be longer than 5minutes inside. Upon entering the lobby, I was a bit intimidated by the interior. It was like a 5-star hotel and I'm only wearing shorts! haha. Plus the front desk was composed of a big number of receptionists! yay! We approached the one nearest us and asked for occulars. But we were not allowed because no rooms were available and we do not have an occular schedule. oohhh-K! Well it looked too pricey naman. We just took a shot of the hotel name outside then drove away.

see the name?

So far, that were all the hotels on my list. I just need to reschedule Picasso. I hope that is it. :)