Last week we celebrated an important milestone in our family's life - our daughter's second birthday!!! :) That's two years worth of diaper changes, mommy-baby tactical negotiations, working part-time / full-time parenting, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, sneaking in sexy times (hahaha) and everything in between. As I always say, it's not always easy but it's definitely worth it.
What can I say, we may be far from being a perfect family but my two fellas right here make it bearable and a really enjoyable everyday living.
Of course you could obviously see more than 1 cake in our pictures and that's part of the reason we decided to celebrate in a restaurant to accommodate our guests. It was a 3-in-1 celebration for our not-so-little Z, Daddy A's upcoming birthday and my parents' wedding anniversary. So that's really a "happy we"! Am I making sense here?? Hahahaha :D
All these lovely and yummy cakes were Pinterest-inspired and tweaked a bit by our supplier, Sweet Home Bakeshop.
What started as a 30-person party quickly turned to 50-ish as we wanted to spend time with our nearest and dearest families and Z's godparents. This is, in comparison with Z's 1st birthday bash, a pretty much unplanned event, giving us 2 weeks give or take to book the restaurant and invite our guests. Really so glad that they were able to join us despite having it on an odd schedule - yup, a Monday dinner party hehehe :)
It was good that Guevarra's restaurant is located in San Juan (387 P. Guevarra cor. Argonne St., San Juan City) and it's like in the center too of Metro Manila so makes it a bit easier for our guests to locate and to come on time. Parking is very convenient too.
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| Daddy A's Badminton Cake |
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| My parents' anniversary cake |
What made us decide to hold our event here at Guevarra's is primarily their superb buffet offering - tasty Filipino dishes that are reasonably priced. With drinks na yan ah! Of course the ambience is so nice too! Feels like I'm transported back in time to the 20's or 30's in a hacienda having a feast after attending to town concerns. Hahaha #feels ba? [P.S. Thanks so much to Ina & Reggie for inviting us here for A's homecoming, such a great recommendation]
But I tell you, for us it is sulit na :) Dinner from 5-8 pm with the spread that they have....ahhhh, I just want to come back and feast on their buffet again!
Daddy A and his architect friends also appreciate the fact that this is an old house from that period that was preserved and repurposed for many things - Guevarra's restaurant is just the latest incarnation.
It helps too that the place and the over-all design was just pure understated elegance. Nothing over the top and not too zen minimalist. That's why even if we were not able to finish our DIY mylar balloons, carry na rin!
I was only able to take photos of some dessert spread. At this point there were may people lining at the buffet and dyahe na ako to take pics. Baka gutom na rin sila :p
What I was telling you earlier. These aren't all our guests, ah. They have several function rooms that can accommodate from just a table to 50 pax. The buffet spread is shared amongst all diners. No worries since they replenish almost immediately and the hallways area large and spacious so the buffet station is really still just a few steps away from wherever you may be seated.
I really like their angus beef tapa, lechon, kare-kare with bagoong and dessert. Almost everything, actually!
Yep, you definitely are in Mommy Meowmeow's blog! Hahahaha...obvious much? Hihi :)
Again these are Pinterest-finds that my hubby kindly (out of mercy sa kawawang DIY-er?!) reproduced for me. Thank you so much!
My grandma who travelled all the way from Quezon just to get here :)
Mommy and Baby Meowmeows! :)
My mother-in-law who helped me source balloons and lootbag contents in Divi-landia. Thank you so much po! :)
The kids ARE alright! Maybe a bit drunk looking here??
Guevarra's Mabini Function Room - can hold up to 50 persons, has male/female comfort rooms which are shared with the rest of the restaurant diners. If ultimate privacy and exclusivity is what you want, that might be a deal-breaker.
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| Mabini function room |
Rivera - Lim - Ang families
With Z's godparents
My uncle and my (pretending to be) drunk dad hehehe :)
Girlies represent! My friends from high school, Z and Ate J
Me with the birthday girl, in her party hat....which I totally forgot about until we were about to hand out the lootbags!! Aaaackkkk...hahahaha :D
The singing waiters.
Time for you two to make a wish! [Cause I already made a wish and you both came true! Naks!!]
The front porch is just as picturesque as the inside. I really wanted us to have a class-picture-style photo taken here with all our guests but, it's a logistical challenge.
I felt Mondays would be more relaxed with less people but look, not only did they have a wedding reception, they were also celebrating Guevarra's staff Christmas party right smack in January :)
This is a photo of the function room that's good for at least 10 pax, I think..
Good night! Sweet hugs and kisses to my two loves..I love you both so so so very much :)
Food & Venue: Chef Laudico Guevarra's
Cakes by: Sweet Home Bakeshop
Photo / Video: Mommy Meowmeow; also great shots by my bro Arvin in his album; as well as my in-laws Gen & Athan :)
Hello Kitty Photobooth prop: Daddy Meowmeow (Andrew Lim)
Lootbags: Super thanks to my mother-in-law mama Medy & my mommy Madeleine for taking care of this :)
Godparents' caramel apple: The Bad Apple
Hi, I want to host my daughter's birthday here as well. How was the process on booking this venue? Are you able to do a little decoration?
ReplyDeleteHello! Terribly sorry for the delayed response :( But I hope this could still help you :)
DeleteWhat we did was just to make the 50% downpayment (cash required at that time) for the # of pax attending the party. Since we were able to secure at least 50 pax, we were able to reserve the big room to the right of their entrance. This room has comfort rooms but we belatedly learned that it's not exclusive to us pala hehe..so there were other guests passing through our function room to use the CR :p
Regarding decors, they allow those which you can put on the tables, cakes and I think a tarp (which we didn't use anymore). Kindly check with them cause they might have a few changes with their decor rules :) Lucky for us it was still near the Christmas season so their decors were still up hehehe..we weren't able to use the balloons we brought (for lack of time) but we just made do with the Hello Kitty "photobooth" and some props :)
Best of luck with your party preps! :)
Hi, I want to host my daughter's birthday here as well. How was the process on booking this venue? Are you able to do a little decoration?
ReplyDeleteHello! We're planning to have my son's christening reception. How much is the rate per head if you booked for 50 persons? Was it discounted? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi, they did not offer discounts back then.
DeletePlease note that they have different rates for lunch/dinner or weekdays/weekends so it's really best to give them a call to get their updated rates :D
do they have rates for the function room or for the private area which can accommodate 50pax
ReplyDeletedo they have rates when you rent a room for 50pax?
ReplyDelete