Venue Hunting in Roxas Boulevard

After a somewhat disappointing time venue hunting in Intramuros, Aleq and I decided to check out Roxas Boulevard. Though the area is full of hotels, we decided to skip them. His mom already inquired at all the relevant hotels for us, so we already had their rates and packages. However, we decided to look for a blank-canvass-type venue that would fit into our budget and that we would also have the freedom to customize. And so, after doing research on the Internet, we hied off to Manila last July 8, a Sunday, to have a look around the area. Here's how the day went.

The day started at Pioneer Center, where he and I grabbed lunch at Tokyu before heading out. We made sure we were prepared for a tiring day on the road.

I had the sake (salmon) sushi and red iced tea!

The boy, driving.

Me, pouting.

The Manila Bay looked so pretty that day, as usual. The light was gorgeous, and look at those clouds! [Took this from inside the car, with my Blackberry. I was just lucky I got this cool shot.]

Our first stop was the Pergola at the BOOM Complex in front of the World Trade Center. We weren't expecting much when we went there, but we actually liked the place. It wasn't that big, but since we're aiming for 150 guests at the most, we appreciated the fact that it was cozy. We found the venue being set up for an event by Hizon's Catering so we got to see at least how it would look when it's filled up. What's great about it is that it had several areas we could utilize. There's the octagon hall, which is the main area; a small garden out back that would be wonderful for cocktails; a terrace for the banquet tables; a garden trellis on the side for who knows what we'll use it for; a restroom for guests; and a VIP lounge for the newlyweds to relax in before and during the reception, which comes with a couch, vanity, table, chairs, and a restroom. It was lovely.

The main hall

The rest of the table area

The banquet terrace

The garden

The VIP lounge for the newlyweds

Table and chairs, behind the wall is the door to the private restroom

The vanity area - for retouching!

The hallway leading to the guest restrooms

A closer look at the front of the hall

The trellis

How the place looks up front

That's Precious (hello LOTR reference) - Aleq's car, parked in front of the terrace

The Pergola

Our next stop was the Ramon Magsaysay Center, known as the RM Center for short. The building had two indoor venues - a small one in the basement and another one right at the center near the fountain. We found Tamayo's setting up in one of the rooms. They pretty much had the same decor they had at their main venue in Intramuros. We found this venue a little too dark and old skool for our liking. It had affordable rates, and you could do whatever you want with them, but it was a true blank canvass, with no amenities.

The basement function room

The upper function hall

The fountain outside

View of Roxas Boulevard from the building

The RM center

Aleq had to have his picture taken there because his mom used to work at J. Walter Thompson, whose office used to be in that building. The place brought back a lot of childhood memories for him. We had a mini-photoshoot before leaving.

He grew up in the area too. He's an Ermita boy. 

Me

Him

That's the story of our adventure in Roxas Boulevard. There were a few other venues in the area that we considered, such as One Esplanade and Palacio de Manila, but they were too expensive for blank-canvass venues, and didn't have the look we wanted either. It's hard finding a place near UST that's in Manila and not in Quezon City (hello, traffic and MMDA re-routing). Did we find what we were looking for this time? That story's going to be for another entry.