Caterer Review: Lina Vitan

In the past few weeks my fiance and I have been attending food tasting events and the last one we had was hosted by Lina Vitan at Oasis Manila.

Food. 4 stars out of 5. The dishes they served weren't as different as the other caterers we've been to, but they were tasteful and not dry. They also have a number of menus you can mix and match depending on what you like.

Service. I like the fact that Ms. Lina Vitan was present during the event. The other events that we attended just had account executives present and they weren't open to adjusting the menu. Ms. Vitan sat down with our friends who booked that day and personally gave suggestions on the garden set-up that they wanted. Having the owner around is always a good sign.

Styling. I wasn't that impressed though with the styling of the venue. The materials and look they used to present different themes seemed a bit amateur for me.

Equipment. Compared to other caterers the chairs and tables, plates and utensils they used for the event seemed to be fairly new. I've been mollified by some prominent caterers who used sub-standard equipment (i.e. rusty chairs, mantels with holes!).

Price. I find them a bit pricey for the value that they are giving.

What was noteworthy about the event was the attentiveness of the waiters and the food. I just hope though that they would be fast in replacing empty trays during a wedding.

The Canonical Interview

After the pamamanhikan we thought we would not experience any nerve-wracking activity again.

We were wrong.

When we went to book a church, the secretary immediately made an appointment for our interview with their priest. She said that the priest had to interview us and give approval before we can reserve the church. 

We had no idea what we were up to.

So, we asked a couple of friends what they were asked when they went through the interview. Most of them said that you had to be completely honest about everything and that the priest would usually ask about how you came together. We also tried looking for information online, but we did not find any.

We were nervous because we thought that if we failed the interview we would have to find another church to hold our wedding in. We discussed many scenarios before THE interview day and stayed up a bit late still discussing what we would say the next day. We did not want to make the mistake of giving different answers to the priest's questions.

We were that scared. Hehe.

Anyway, I didn't feel very nervous but when we entered the office my knees just began to shake. The last time I felt that way was during a panel interview for a job. I suddenly felt the pressure that I should not fail this interview.

The first thing we did was fill up a questionnaire and the priest even had Sweetie move to another seat so we would not be side-by-side (no cheating!). And then I had a one-on-one with him while he was going over my answers. After my one-on-one I was asked to step out so he could have a one-on-one with Sweetie. And then I was called in for our joint interview.

We survived!

I'm not going to say what was asked of us. Just be yourself. Be honest. And bring lots of love.