1 year and counting!!!

Today, December 4, 2011, it is exactly 1 year before our wedding day! Yes, I sound panicking, because I really am. I slacked off for several months from wedding preps, and now it'll be days before January 2012 but we still  have a lot of stuff and things to do. I promise to start extensive research again when the new year comes. Good thing I already booked major suppliers before, and we just have to focus now on little details.

Well enough for the wedding preps jitters, I wanted to tell everyone about my holiday gig last November with my family and James. Yes he's finally here and he'll stay for a year to help me with the wedding preps, yey! :)

My mom, sister, my sister's bf, James and I went for a 6 day trip to HK and Macau. We Stayed at Jordan ( Ate Rocel's place) and Yuen Long- Yoho Town ( Kuya Robert's place) in HK. We're in HK for 5 days and we had a day tour trip to Macau. Below is our 6 day itinerary:

Day 1: The Peak, Peak Tram and Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum ( with side trips at Nathan Road)
Day 2: Macau Day Trip
Day 3: Hongkong Disneyland Resort
Day 4: Ocean Park Hongkong
Day 5: Avenue of Stars, Kowloon Park and Hard Rock Cafe Kowloon at night (Yeah!)
Day 6: Flight back home

Below are some pics from our trip:

DAY 1: The Peak, Peak Tram and Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum

Peak Tram ride

 Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum

At the Peak!

DAY 2: Macau Day Trip

Inside the Venetian hotel

Fisherman's Wharf

DAY 3: Hongkong Disneyland Resort

 DAY 4: Ocean Park Hongkong

DAY 5: Avenue Of Stars, Kowloon Park and Hard Rock Cafe, Kowloon

This is my first out of the country trip with my family and special someone. I just hope my father and grandma can join us in our next trip.

More and more trips with my hanhan and family! :) okay so back to reality, 1 year to go before our big day!!! *screams* :D

My Dream Couturier

I already booked my wedding gown couturier and I'm well satisfied with his sketch. I'll just come back next year for some minor revisions to my wedding gown top design. But of course, like everyone else, I also have a dream designer that I can't afford hehe.

While browsing for my gown inspirations, I've ended up getting images from Vera Wang, Pronovias, and Alvina Valenta. I kinda mixed their designs so that I could come up with my dream wedding gown. I love those designers but just recently, I've discovered this great local wedding gown couturier named CARY SANTIAGO from Cebu city. Yes, he's not a foreigner, he's a FILIPINO! people like him makes me very proud of my nationality. I super looovveeee how he incorporate laser cutting and intricate pleating to his  gown creations. I saw laser cut wedding invitations before, but I didn't know that it can also be applied to fabrics :D

I really love his AVIAN wedding gown collection the he showcased in Shanghai, China for the China Fashion Awards 2010, wherein he won to the international designer of the year award . That day, the models looked like sexy swans walking the runway while wearing Cary's works of art. He also created a Barbie wedding gown collection that was auctioned for the benefit of Ballet Philippines. I'll post some of my favorites from his collection, and for sure your jaws will drop while looking at fabulous gowns!

Below are some of my faves from his AVIAN gown collection:

This is my most favorite gown, from this collection

 

Next is his Barbie wedding gown collection for the benefit of Ballet Philippines:

Aren't they jaw dropping? Someday, If I can afford to get Cary on my 25th wedding anniversary, for my future daughter or grand daughter's wedding, I'll definitely get his services :)

Photos from stylebible.ph

One lucky girl :)

11.11.11...one of the most much awaited dates, because it could only happen once in a millennium. A lot of couples got married on this date,  but  for others it's a different story, as for me it is one of the luckiest days of my life.

If you've been following my blogs lately, you would know that I've been having problems with my Photo/Video supplier. Changing wedding suppliers is a hassle.One, it's really a waste of time, two it's a waste of money, but for me, it doesn't matter as long as my wedding won't be sacrificed.

We booked 2 P/Vs before but we decided to let them go. The first one was recommended to me by a friend. My mom and I got their package in a bridal fair, and package inclusions are reasonable for its price. As the days go by, I've been hearing negative feed backs about them. I tried to ignore it but it kept bugging my mind, until one day I woke up and looked at their site and that's when I realized that I don't like their style, I was just blinded by their very appealing package with lots of freebies.

Because of what happened, we decided to change our P/V again. We attended one food tasting in our reception venue and that's when I booked our 2nd P/V. As usual, because James was not yet here, I'm with my mom and sister again. Our 2nd P/V supplier is a reputable one. They've been in the business for several years and also they are a "suki" photographer in our church, that's why I decided to get them. Their shots are not bad, but not too good either, but it's okay with me. I was contented with them until I've read again several negative feed backs about their unorganized administration. I just ignored these feed backs again and continued to research for other suppliers, until one day, that negative feed back happened to me. The owner of our 2nd P/V ( actually it was the owner's wife who emailed me and James) emailed James and told him I  haven't made the last reservation payment for the package. I was kinda pissed off when James texted me about it, because right after I deposited the down payment to their account, I emailed the deposit slip to them immediately, so why are they emailing us about it?! and they only emailed James, they didn't copied me! that incident woke me up, and I said to myself "They really have administration problems."

After that incident, I can't sleep soundly anymore because of worrying. I lost trust with our 2nd P/V and decided to let go again the down payment I made with them. This time, it's a big decision because the DP for this supplier is bigger than our first one, so I just kept my eyes shut hehe. I'm very thankful that James is so understanding and he supported me again to find another one. By the way, we have a backup videographer for our wedding, but because we let go of our 2nd main P/V, we made them our main videographer now. Our main videographer now is TheRockinDuo. They are really good, so I know we're still blessed to have them :)

I told James that this time I will shoulder all the expenses for the 3rd photographer,because I don't want him to carry all the burden because of changing the supplier again. I felt guilty about it, so I volunteered. I've listed and set a meeting to several photographers, I'm still waiting James to get back here so we could meet them, until  a certain event changed the whole scene :)

I'm a member of this certain wedding group and they held a private auction for some of the eligible members. It started Nov. 7 and will end on Nov. 11, 2011. I was eyeing on getting this certain photographer, but I was outbid (she got it near to the original amount,so no big deal, not affected hehe). Thank God my friend Roan told me that there's another photographer that is still available on our wedding date. She told me how good he was, and when I checked his site, whoah! lo and behold he is indeed great and well known :) I tried my luck to bid for his package and hoping to get it in a lower rate.Almost a few seconds left before the clock strikes midnight, I though I lost the bidding until a received a  notification email that I WON! :) :) :)

I got the package 44% percent lower that its original price! (Thank you God!) and I was so happy I won! can't believe it :D

Now, presenting our 3rd wedding photographer, and I assure you, no more 4th! :D

http://www.paolofeliciano.com/

He's also the photographer of the w@w 2011 Top 10 suppliers :)

I'm happy we'll be a PF couple! *wink* ;)

Wish (Part 1)

It's now October, and I'm starting my countdown for James' arrival. In 31 days he'll be here again (Yey!) and thank God he'll be working here in the Philippines for a year to be with me and help me with our wedding preparations.

 I've been researching and preparing for our wedding since February this year. I'm confident and happy with all of my chosen suppliers, except for one,I'm still having some doubts with our main photographer and videographer.They are actually our second P/V,we decided to change our first P/V because of the ultimate negative feedback I read about them in a wedding forum ( I let go of the non-refundable downpayment (DP) I had with them). I thought after changing our P/V I'm going to be okay, until I've read this another long negative feedback with our 2nd P/V (in this wedding forum again), that made my high spirits sink (again). This time, I can't just let go of the DP because it is big compared to the DP I made on our first P/V. So, even though I really wanted to jump into another supplier, I can't just do it anymore -_-

I'm really an art and photography enthusiast, I wanted to have my own DSLR and someday create my own photo and video business. Ever since I started researching about weddings, I really became an addict looking for wedding pictures,e-sessions (engagement sessions) and SDE videos ( Same Day Edit). Unfortunately, those high-end photo and video suppliers are waaaayyyy over our alloted budget. -_-

If given the opportunity to change our photographer (which will happen only in my dreams) and have the best one out there, below are my top favorites:

Pat Dy

I thought this photographer was a girl! but no, he's a guy hehe. I though Pat is short for Patricia, but then I'm wrong hehe. I fell in love with his wedding shots for the couple Anielle & Rapha. This is my favorite set among his works. How am I going to describe his shots? I can't describe it, because I just simply LOVE it!

Below is my Pat Dy's favorite couple shot:

Metro Photo by Oly Ruiz

What I like about this photographer is his classy and dreamy style. There's this sort of dreamy appeal whenever I visit his website ( maybe it's his website color composition), but whatever it is, it makes me wonder how it feels to be his subject.

Below is my Metro Photo's favorite couple shot:

 Paul Vincent

What I liked about Paul Vincent is when he captures sunny and happy moments. I really love seeing people's smiles, because it brightens up my day.

Below is my favorite Paul Vincent couple shot:

Blacktie project

I found this P/V supplier when they were just starting in the wedding industry. I like their shots and angles and they were pretty good for starters. I really wanted to book them before, but for some reason (actually it's not my reason), we didn't get them.When I finally decided to inquire and get their services, their rates became high :( 

I just wish I got them when their still affordable.

Below is my favorite Blacktie project couple shot:

TheRockinDuo

The Rockin Duo is the youngest supplier among my top favorites. They are really new but their talent spread like wildfire among soon-to-be married couples. I already booked our 2nd P/V when I found them, I just wish I have found them earlier. Thank God, I was still able to get them as our backup videographer(When Rockin Videographer is still independent and in its starting rate), so at least I have a piece in one of my top favorites. They have P/V packages like Blacktie so if you don't have enough money to hire for a separate videographer, you could check their sample SDE's, and they are really good. I haven't chosen my best couple shot from TheRockingDuo yet, I guess I'll just have to post it next time.

My tip for newly engaged couples? SAVE A LOT OF MONEY and CHOOSE YOUR SUPPLIERS WELL. If you want to have your dream wedding suppliers, you have to save more and book early so that you could still get their old rates.

I just hope that inspite of the negative feedbacks I've read regarding our Photo/Video supplier, they would still deliver well on our wedding day.

My next blog will be about my favorite videographers ( If I get the chance to write again, hopefully).

Want to know what is inside my head right now?I wish I have enough money (my own money) to change our Photo/Video supplier...but I guess I'll just put this off to sleep.Zzzz...-_-

String Quartet: Booked!

Today is special for me and for the Filipinos because one, it is my 1st year at my current work ( yehey!) and two, Ms. Philippines Shamcey Supsup won 3rd runner up at Ms. Universe Pageant 2011 ( Kudos and congrats Shamcey!). Anyways, I'm still at work but I'm kinda bored hehe. I already know the info I needed for my new task, but I'm just not in the mood to start yet :D So for some ice breaker, I'm going to share our latest wedding preps update, we already have a string quartet for our reception yipee!!:D

James really loves music. He knows how to play guitar, that's why he told me that he will be the one to choose who will be our string quartet. The string quartet we booked was my first choice, I told him about them before, but that time he wasn't that interested with wedding preparations yet hehe. So weeks have passed, while researching again for new suppliers, I came across another string quartet that plays modern songs, so I became interested with their services. I even emailed the team's manager and inquired regarding their current rates, and we decided to pencil book them. Unfortunately, because of some undesirable circumstances, we have to change plans because of our new budget. The current rate of the quartet I wanted to book was somehow expensive, so we decided to research another string quartet that plays well and within the price range we set aside for it.

One day, James sent me some links of string quartets to choose from. I checked the sites he gave me, and found one with good feed backs so I emailed them immediately. I called the team's manager, and asked for their rates,but when he found out that our wedding will be December next year, he said he's not sure if he could book us this early . Upon knowing this, I decided to look for another group until I remember that the first string quartet that I liked was within our new price budget, so I immediately popped their site to James.

Their site was reconstructed and with new video files. This time, their new videos are in HD format so you could hear their performance clearly. James loved their music and how they performed so he said to me,      "Han, okay na ito, i-book mo na sila kaagad." The string quartet that I'm talking about is the LEGGIERO STRINGS AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRA.

Last Friday, September 9, 2011, we had a meeting with Mr. Jack Yapchulay. He's one of the pianist in Leggiero and the other one is his wife, Mrs. Merlie Yapchulay. They are a family of musicians, his 3 kids play the violin and cello, how cool is that?:D We set the meeting around 7-7:30 p.m. at Figaro, Shang-rila Mall at Mandaluyong. I'm with mom and we got in the place early so we just bought hot choco and frap to pass the time while waiting for him ( Sis Ayeth didn't come because she has an early event to attend to the next morning). I texted him again around 7:30 pm, but he said I got the wrong number so I texted Mrs. Merlie for confirmation. He got in our meeting place around 8pm (kinda late from our agreed time, good thing we're really not in a hurry). He apologized for being late and told me that he didn't read my text message well, so he thought I texted the wrong person. He's a nice guy with a lot of stories to tell. He told us their performances on other events and weddings, mingling with celebrities and how intelligent and talented his kids are. By the way, their family joined the talent show contest on TV 5 named TALENTADONG PINOY because of their son who loves to join talent contests.

Good thing we decided to book them this early because they're going to increase around 2-4k next year. Another nice thing about them is they can also play modern songs like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars...etc. I really wanted to have a string quartet that can play both modern and classical songs in our reception so that's really a plus factor to me.

If you wanted to see their performances, here's their website: http://www.leggierostrings.com/

Hurry and visit their site now, so you could still avail their old rate for the year :D

Thank you :)

It's been months since we started preparing for our wedding. Though my hubby to be is still far away ( but in two months he'll be here yehey!), I was able to book all are major suppliers, and now I'm scouting for minor ones. We're going to visit them one by one when he gets back here.

Before,whenever I suggested suppliers, he will just say "whatever you like, it's fine with me". I sometimes feel that I'm just the one who's excited with the wedding preps. Well I can't blame him though, because one, he's too far away and two, he can't just browse over the net in the office, because clients might see him (his broadband connection promo expired, so he doesn't have internet connection anymore in his room). Maybe I'm just having the " alone b2b mode" that time hehehe :D

One day, I just panicked. Due to unpredictable circumstances, our original wedding budget was cut down to some amount. Because of this, I have to revamp our excel sheet and I informed him about it. When I was about to explode of worry (worrying that our wedding budget won't fit in anymore), he calmed me down by asking if I could send him the excel sheet I made, and he'll edit it himself. I immediately emailed him the excel sheet then minutes later, I got a new one from him wherein he added columns telling how much  is our new budget, how much did we saved from the suppliers I booked, how much is the exceeded amount ( in case there are exceeded packages we acquired from the suppliers we previously booked) in short he edited the excel sheet to make it easier for me. I suggested some revisions and emailed it back to him, minutes later he sent  the revised one and voila! come to think of it, we still won't exceed even though we reach the max amount of each allotted budget for our suppliers :) I'll just do my best to cut down expenses, and scout for the best but affordable suppliers :D

Maybe, somehow, he got worried to of my panicky attitude hehe. I'm just happy that he made things easier for me. Aside from editing our wedding budget excel sheet, he even chose who will be our string quartet for the reception. He researched some quartets over the net and gave it to me, but when I shared to him my first string quartet bet ( they are not the string quartet I initially wanted to book, but they are in my list because they are affordable), he fell in love with their music :). He even downloaded some of their video clips in you tube (They uploaded new HD video clips in their website, and oh boy, they are good indeed! Their clips before were blurry and the audio was shaky, that's why I didn't appreciated their performance that much). He pushed me to set a meeting to them immediately to avail their low rate promo, because it's indicated in their website that they will increase next year.

So next week Friday, together with our head coordinator Sis Ayeth, I'm going to meet our prospect String Quartet. It's none other than the LEGGIERO STRING QUARTET :) If I'm not mistaken,They are a family of musicians. My h2b is very keen with music, since he knows how to play the guitar. With his skill and love for music, I know he chose well who are string quartet will be :D

Thanks hannie, hoping for more help from you in the future hehe mwah! :-* see you soon! :D

A month of story :)

Lately, I've been very busy with work and a lot of other stuff ( not really about wedding preps). It's been more than a month since the last time I posted a blog, now I'm going to make up for a month of not writing anything :)

It's now August and I got a year older ( I celebrated my 27th birthday last August 4 and it was a blast! though I wish James was here with me, anyhoo it's still fun :D ). As the day goes by, I feel that our wedding is getting nearer and nearer. Yeah, I know it's exagg, it's still 2011, but once the BER months arrived, it'll be so fast that you wouldn't realize it's new year again- 2012!

So to sum a month of story about wedding preps, here's what I'm going to share:

• Wedding invites layout- I already started this one but I'm still having problems regarding dimensions. I'm not really good with measurements, so I don't know if the gate fold invitation I'm doing will have a perfect front closure ( please, please, I need a miracle -_-) Hopefully I could do all the layouts for our DIY stationery before the year ends, so that next year will be just for production and editing.
• Paid 50% down payment to our caterer- Last Sunday, August 21, 2011, we had another food tasting with our caterer ( I brought my family with me) and paid the promised 50% down payment to them. This was the first time I issued a cheque with huge amount, my hand was really shaking while writing down the details to the cheque (hoping without errors). The hardest part of preparing a wedding is to budget. After paying that amount to our caterer, I promise to research more about affordable suppliers so that we could fit our budget. I just wish we don't exceed! -_-
• Paid reservation fee for my bridal shoes- I already paid a 1k reservation fee for my customized bridal shoes today. I know it's too early, but I found this pretty lady shoe maker from Marikina to do my dream wedding shoes at a very affordable price.Thanks to Sis Jas for introducing me to her,at least I have to cross one again from my list :D
• Our wedding reception theme- A touch of Paris- I love Paris, ever since I dream of going there someday. Now that I'm getting married, I want to add a touch of Paris to our wedding reception :D It'll not be that extravagant, but of course you'll see some Parisian touch to it ;) Hopefully, someday, we could afford to visit that country ( well libre lang ang mangarap! ;)
• Changing our color motif (final one!)- Yes, after months of thinking what our color motif will be, we finally decided to have Dark purple and Silver with Gold accent.  If you have read my previous blogs, this is not our original color motif. I did most of the color decision part that time, but this time, James shared his thoughts and I liked it~ thanks hannie!)

Our Parisian inspired Royal color motif, Dark Purple and Silver with Gold accent :)

 Aside from wedding preps, I had another w@wie INC meetup again this month, now Sis Jas and Ryan were here (w@wie INC couple from SG). That will be the topic of my next post, that is If I finally downloaded the pics from their FB accounts hehe :)

 I think that's it for now. Come November and my hubby to be will be here. We're going to scorge for affordable but good suppliers so watch out for it. For the meantime, I'll just research for the things I want, nice to have or share about wedding stuff in the coming days.

To all bride to be's out there, happy preps! ^_^

Images from Dessy.com and Cecistyle New York

The first attempt-Wedding Monogram

This is my first attempt to create a wedding monogram for a  co-w@wie member. Sis Roan is also an INC bride-to-be next year January. I volunteered to help her with her monogram since I really wanted to enhance my designing skills again ( hopefully I can become a professional graphic designer someday). We have the same wedding color motif- Plum/Purple and Teal. But she wanted a Damask design with black and white accent, while mine is a Vintage Paris monogram theme with silver and carnation pink accent.

Here's her monogram, I hope she'll like it :)

Bridal Hair Do inspirations

Whenever I research about weddings, I always notice one thing, the bride is always stunning. Whether it's just a simple civil wedding ceremony or an extravagant one, the bride has this happy aura that makes a wedding really special. I have faith that our HMUA will deliver very well on our wedding day, but I wonder how he’ll be a fairy god mother to me :) So today, I decided to do a research about bridal hair-dos.

My hair has very fine strands so it looks limp. I wanted to have a volumize up-do look on my wedding day and I got these fine pegs below as inspirations :)

Nicole Hernandez

 Remember Carla Grasa?the pond's girl model? she's Nicole Hernandez in real life and these are her wedding  portrait pictures, she's such a site!:) 

 

Priscilla Meirelles

 Who doesn't know John Estrada's new apple of the eye? she's no other than Priscilla Meirelles.I love her hair-do, it's like a greasy-volume-up-wavy up-do, hehe whatever you call it,I really like it :) 

 

 

Anielle Santos

She's the coffeemate "ehem" girl that everybody loved. Like Nicole and Priscilla I'm also in awe when I saw her pics.

I wish I could look stunning like them too on my wedding day ^_^

Source: Metro Photo and Pat Dy 

w@wie INC b2bs meetup :)

As much as I wanted to book all of our suppliers this year ( so we can get lower deals), I stopped looking  for a while. I also wanted James to be here to book the other suppliers, so that we could experience the joy of couples booking their suppliers together. Well, I just have to wait for 5 months and he'll be here again ^_^

 Now lets go to the real topic of this post. This is a very late post, but like they say it's better late than never. I had a great time meeting my co-w@wie INC b2bs at the Celebrations bridal fair held last May 21-22, 2011 at the SMX Convention Centre. Before meeting the others, I met sis Karmi first at Trinoma, Mr. Donut. It was my first time meeting her and she's really nice. We got our wedding coordinator because of her and I'm very thankful for that. After some sharing about wedding preps and eating tuna turnover with ice cold coffee, we headed straight to MRT station to go to the bridal fair.

When we got in the bridal fair,we first met sis Ayeth. Sis Ayeth will be the head wedding coordinator on our wedding day. Even though we only got their OTD wedding coordination services, she still assists us in our supplier concerns. She's also willing to accompany us to meet other suppliers if she's available. When we're already inside the bridal fair premises, we went first to the Wink invitation booth. Karmi paid a reservation fee to them, they'll be her wedding invitation supplier. As for me, I wanted to create our own wedding invitation that's why I'm designing the layout this early. We roamed around the fair, looking for prospect bridal cars and cakes, until we passed by a Hair And Make Up booth offering free trial.

Minutes later, Sis Roan arrived. She's also an INC bride to be and she also got the Allianz sisters services. It's a nice feeling that I came to know several co-w@wie INC bride to be's. Sis Jas is still in SG, but we'll meet her soon when she visits here. Below our some of our pics in the bridal fair.

This is my trial makeup with Angelo Falconi team. The sissies forced me to do this hahaha

 Before

After! may pinagbago ba? hehe

With sis karmi (left) and sis Ayeth (right) at the bridal fair

With Sis karmi @ Chef D Angelo

With Sis Roan and Ayeth @ Chef D Angelo

Our group pic @ baicapture

Till next meeting girlies! I really had FUN ^_^