Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Proposal

March 23, 2012, Friday. I will never forget that day. It's the date that I have been waiting and dreaming of to happen in my life, that is to be officially engaged.

I thought it was just an ordinary FriDate to us. I'm checking out Sureseats to reserve our tickets in Glorietta to watch Hunger Games. I texted him that movie seats are running out, so I wanted to get an online seat reservation. He told me not to reserve, but instead I should go out exactly 5:30 pm from work and go straight to his office. We'll just watch the movie tomorrow, so I should'nt be in a hurry. I packed my things, retouched, but I still logged out from work around 5:45 pm. Traffic welcomed me going to the MRT station, so I got in his office around 7:30pm. When I went to his room, he's not there. I just saw Sir Carlos and asked him where James is.

Me: "Ay hello po, si James po nasaan?"
Carlos: "Hello ma'am, nasa taas lang po may inaayos lang."
Me: "Ah sige po wait ko nalang po siya dito."
Carlos: " Sige po ma'am upo lang kayo diyan. Matraffic ba ma'am?"
Me: "Opo kuya natraffic ako papuntang MRT kaya ngayon lang ako nakadating dito."
Carlos: "Friday kasi eh kaya traffic talaga, lahat pupuntang mall."
Me: "Oo nga po eh, Sige po, CR lang po ako kuya..."
Carlos: " Sige po ma'am, diyan lang po sa tapat yung CR."

After refreshing up, I went back in the room and sat down. Sir Carlos approached me.

Carlos: " Ma'am, akyat daw tayo sa roof top sabi ni Sir James."
Me: " Ha, aakyat po tayo? hindi po ba bawal doon?"
Carlos: " Hindi ma'am okay lang po yun, andun naman sila Sir James eh."
Me: " Sige po.."
Carlos: " Iwan niyo nalang po bag niyo ma'am."
Me: " Naku dalhin ko na po hindi po kasi ako sanay eh na iniiwan..."
Carlos: " Iwan niyo nalang ma'am kasi ilolock naman natin tong pinto, nasa akin ang susi."
Me: " Ah ganun po ba, sige po, cellphone nalang po ang dadalhin ko."


We waited for several minutes before the service elevator came. While inside, I asked Sir Carlos about some building stuff and he answered me in detailed. Later on, we reached the roof top of the building, it's in the 36th floor.

Carlos: " Ma'am dito na po tayo."
Me: " Wow ang bilis ha."

When the elevator door opened, It was really dark! but the Makati Skyline served as a beautiful background in the darkness. A single yellow spotlight helped lit the area a little. It was pointing to the second level of the roof top, it's near the Maintenance room.

Me: "Ay bakit ang dilim naman? wala akong makita kuya. Han asan kana?! andito na ako!"
Carlos: " Ma'am nasa taas po si sir akyat po kayo."
Me: "Ay taas pa? dun sa Maintenance room na yun?"

Then I walked the stairs going to the Maintenance room.

Knock, Knock...

Me: "Han andito na ako, asan ka na ba?"

But the door is locked.

Me: "Kuya, nakalock naman yung pinto eh. Asan ba talaga si James?", I'm starting to get annoyed in this part.
Carlos: " Ma'am akyat po ulit kayo dito sa kabila, andun napo si Sir James."
Me: "Ha? aakyat ulit? tatawid ako diyan? nakakatakot kuya baka mahulog ako..."
Carlos: " Hindi ma'am mauuna ako aalalayan ko kayo."

So with Sir Carlo's help, I managed to get through the narrow ledge going to the higher part of the building, There you can see clearly the Makati Skyline. When I reached the other side, a man in green overalls showed up, holding a single red rose with green mums in a red wrapper.

Bernard: "Ma'am, pinabibigay po ni Sir James..."
Me: " Wow, thank you kuya. Han! asan kana ba?!"


Then the yellow spotlight turned off, and this time it's total darkness.

Me: "Waahh! ano ba ito bakit ang dilim naman!"

Then a background music started. Now, my hunch is confirmed, he's going to propose! The yellow spotlight was lit again.

Carlos: " Ma'am tingin po kayo sa kanan!"

Then when I turned right, a Will You Marry Me sign lighted up. James showed up from the corner holding a bouquet of roses. I was in awe when I saw the well lit words from below and James holding the bouquet. I never stopped saying, " Oh my God!, Oh my God!" as he walked towards my direction. When James went up and he's getting nearer to me...

Me: " Weh! Ano yan?!"

He came closer, knelt down, and opened the red box he's holding and popped the question...

James: " Hannie, will you marry me?"
Me: " YES!, of course I'll marry you!"

Then I helped him get up, kissed, and hugged him tightly. I can't get off the smile on my face, it was really magical and perfect! James called the crew who helped him make his crazy idea possible for picture taking. The Makati Skyline made it even more romantic. I told him before that when I was a teen, I dreamed of a proposal on the top of the Eiffel tower. It may not be on the top of the Eiffel tower like I always dreamed of, but what he did was more than what I have dreamed of.

Move over John Lloyd, James is the best actor in romantic flick this time :D Let the pics below enlighten you more on what happened that day :)

The Venue


The Makati Skyline in the morning

This is the exact place where he proposed. The roof top in the 36th floor of the condo unit where he is working. He's the building engineer there, that's why he has access to the forbidden places in the building like this one :D

The Preparation


Lunch time, they decided to lay out the xmas lights 

My very hands on groom to be :)


The best crew who helped James make his crazy idea come to life :D Thanks guys!


They made this ledge just for me, so I could go to the other side.

Setting the sound system

Kuya in green cleaning the area :)

The Event

 
The finished product:)

And he popped the freaking question! 

 
just so happy

  
The Makati Skyline as our background

Can't get enough of picture taking

Say, we're now officially engaged!:)

One happy bride to be :D


There you go, now I'm more motivated with our wedding preps!:D This is really is it! is it!! :D





Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Details, details, details!

I always dream of going to Paris. Aside from, of course, it is the city of love, I really like the place and its architecture. When I was a teen, I dreamed of my knight in shining armor proposing to me at the top of the Eiffel tower (sorry han, but that was years ago hehe). As I grow up, I've learned that not all your dreams will come true.Well, some may come true but in a different way or execution you never imagined. Since I haven't been to Paris yet, I didn't meet my boyfriend at the top of the Eiffel tower, and we're preparing for our wedding, I came up with this idea to incorporate Paris in our wedding. It shouldn't be that grand, but at least with a touch of french love.

I've been researching lately on how are we going to design our reception in a Paris inspired way, but the challenge here is, we're not going to spend a lot of money (definitely a big challenge!LOL) So I came up with this idea of D-I-Y stuff since it's the craze nowadays and we still have some time (OMG, it's getting nearer!!*panic mode*)

Below are some inspirations that I wanted to incorporate in our reception, but I still don't know what to start and where am I going to buy the things we needed for these projects. All these designs are Paris/french inspired.



images from elizabethannedesigns.com


images from greenweddingshoes.com

image from mydiywedding.com


 images from karentran.com

Wish us luck! we already have a stylist from our caterer, but we only opt to have their standard centerpiece design (cost cutting on floral upgrades haha) so now, I'm thinking of ways on how I can at least incorporate these styles to our reception tables :D 

If you can recommend suppliers where to buy some of these stuff here in the Philippines (specifically in Divisoria) , please do so, we'll highly appreciate it!:D











Monday, March 12, 2012

Honeymoon destination :BOOKED!:)

Before, we still have no idea where our honeymoon destination will be. I suggested going to Boracay since we haven't been there before ( yeah, we suck hehe). Two Sundays ago, that was March 4, James texted me to change our TV's channel to QTV 11. He said ANG PINAKA's topic was favorable to us because that time they covered the top 10 world class resorts that can be found in the Philippines. When I changed the channel, it was on number 6 already. Below is the list of the top 10 luxurious resorts in the Philippines.

10. Buri Beach Resort & Spa
Sitio Dalaruan, Brgy. Sabang, Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro

09. Plantation Bay Resort & Spa
Marigondon, Mactan Island, Cebu

08. El Nido Resorts
El Nido, Palawan

07. Shangri-La's Mactan Resort & Spa
Punta Engano Road, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu

06. Discovery Shores Boracay
Station 1, Balabag, Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan

05. Eskaya Beach Resort & Spa
Tawala, Panglao Island, Bohol

04. Misibis Bay
Cagraray Island, Bacacay, Albay

03. Shangri-La's Boracay Resort & Spa
Barangay Yapak, Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan

02. Bellarocca Island Resort & Spa
Barangay Tungib-Lipata, Buenavista, Marinduque

01. Amanpulo (Palawan)
Pamalican Island, Cuyo, Palawan

After watching the whole program, James and I automatically dreamed of going to one of these resorts. We know that the accommodations on these resorts cost a lot, but I told James, "Who knows? maybe one day we can afford to go in one of the top 5."  

Lo and behold,a miracle happened. After a week of day dreaming...we're very fortunate to have our honeymoon in one of the top 10 world class resorts in the Philippines!

Any guesses? Maybe the picture below could help you guess where we are heading :)




What a beautiful rock, isn't it? We're now more excited with the honeymoon than the wedding itself LOL =D

After our honeymoon trip, I'm going to share how we got this honeymoon package. I want to experience it myself first before I recommend our travel agency.They are just new in the industry, with no detailed online reviews so If our trip will be superb, I'll totally recommend them. 

Just wait for my review, Gad I'm really excited! :D

The last but not the least supplier to book, the wedding ring supplier, yay!:D


Monday, March 5, 2012

Entourage gown maker: BOOKED!:)

It's exactly 8 months, 4 weeks and 2 days before our wedding ( I'm getting scared as it gets nearer), and I can say we're nearly finished booking all our major suppliers. Last Saturday, March 3, 2012 we went again to Divisoria to finally meet Ms. Hazel Garcia. Of all the entourage gown makers that we visited in Divi, her assistant Ms. Jane has the lowest quotation on our gown designs ( Hazel was in CDO that time for a vacation). Check my post about our first Divisoria trip, to know more about the ento gown makers that we visited.


Ms. Hazel is a young wife and entrepreneur. She's only 26 years old  but you can see that she's happy and successful with her business. She's approachable and easy to deal with ( haggle lang ng haggle! tawad lang ng tawad! LOL) seriously, just tell her your budget for the gowns and she can adjust to it (of course the more intricate the design is the higher the price, so go for simple but elegant designs).


I know we're in good hands because I saw the entourage gowns she made for my friend and I can say she did well :)


Below is her Divisoria address:


Ms. Hazel Garcia
Pasilyo K-16 Ground Floor, Cluster Bldg. 2, Divisoria

Next to scout: Wedding ring maker and Honeymoon destination! :) 

Once we're finished booking all our suppliers, We're going to focus now on our prenup concept and D-I-Ys :)