Wedding Events
Join us in our journey to create the most wonderful day of our lives!
Thursday, February 14, 2008 | 9:00AM-11:00AM
Securing our wedding date, place and church
BPI
City of San Fernando
After long debates and hard headaches, we have finally decided to go for the garden of our choice despite the fact that we will have to move the date of the wedding. July is a busy month and the only gardens open for the 16 is Coral Tree and Courtyard. We have decided to move the wedding October. Fernwood1 is still open for 4 and 11 (we really want the wedding to be a Saturday). Unfortunately, Jay's ate who lives in Saudi will give birth in September and won't be able to make it if the wedding will push thru on October. Okay...so back to the old drawing board. Called Fernwood again, pressure of all pressures, Fernwood1 is fully booked on November and December EXCEPT for November 9, a Sunday. We were coerced on taking November 9! hehe So the new wedding date is November 9. Now how to pay when we have a concert and other events coming up? Anna of Fernwood advised us to pay thru their bank instead of waiting for our schedule to open up and risk our venue being snatched up again from us. The next day, Tuesday, we immediately rushed to the bank. Another hurdle has presented itself. Since the maximum allowable withdrawal a day is P20K and we need more than P40K, we have to withdraw the money over the counter. Easy enough eh? BUT! My ATM, where we deposit our business' earnings, has been opened in SM Cagayan de Oro thus BPI CDO needs to send my signature card to BPI Guiguinto to allow the withdrawal. It's a Tuesday, BPI CDO is closed Tuesday and Wednesdays since it is a mall branch. Dang! We have to wait till Thursday. Come Thursday, I rushed to BPI San Fernando before going to work to make the simple transaction. Again, misfortune strikes. Since it's a mall branch it opens at 10AM not 9AM as with other BPI branches. And so I wait. Come 10AM, the darn BPI CDO branch is not answering its phones! After at least 15 minutes, alas, somebody answers and said they will fax my signature card. I wait again. Another 15 minutes elapsed. BPI SF's manager is getting anxious and really embarrassed that I have to wait this long. She knows for a fact that the money is going to be used for deposit for our venue. She started interviewing me since finally my profile has appeared on their network's database. She instructed me to withdraw P20K then she will authorize the cashier to let me withdraw the remaining amount over the counter. I did as told but our money suddenly had a floating status thus I can't withdraw P20K! I was in panic! I rushed inside and told the manager. She told me she earmarked my account thus the floating status. She needs someone from IT to undo the earmarking. I was crestfallen! I'm starting to lose hope that we will be able to secure our venue that day. Then the phone rang. Finally, it was BPI CDO sending my signature card! In 5 minutes I was able to deposit the needed amount to Fernwood Garden! I rushed out of BPI with the managers apologies. I can't wait to fax our deposit slip. I arrived at the office and rushed to the fax machine. After 2 tries, the line still gives a busy tone. And so I try again. They said the third time is a charm so on the third dial the phone rang and FINALLY, I was able to fax the deposit slip to Fernwood Garden! Fernwood1 this coming November 9 is ours! So is St. Francis of Assisi! We only have to go there one of this days to sign the contract and bring it to SFA and pay P4,500. At last, the most important supplier is booked! Our wedding is really this year!
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Bridal Fair Expo and Food Tasting
PICC
Looking forward in our food tasting with Josiah's, Center Table and Via Mare. Josiah's texted me the other day and offered me a lot of freebies. I'm hoping theirs is the best. The freebies are really great! Imagine, upgrade to dessert bar, free cocktail bar/coffee bar (we really are planning on having a cocktail bar even if it'll cost us loads), free 2 sauces for the pasta, free 10pax for the service crew, upgrade to tifanny chairs...the list goes on! I'm hoping tey are the best so we can book them on the spot. I no longer have the desire to try Shangrila's before booking our caterer. hehe We have to book them on the spot to avail of the freebies. Let's just see. We are also hoping on finally deciding on our photos and videos. It's a choice between Image Nation and Nice Print though I really am adamant on getting Mangored for our prenup pictorials even if both offers free prenup photos on location.
...................................................................
We just attended our first wedding expo! It was a nice experience. We arrived there just in time for lunch and our food tasting. By that time we really are leaning to Josiah's since they are so accommodating and the freebies are really great. Turns out their food is really yummy too. Jay really loved the taste of their food and being the pihikan that he is that says a lot so we booked them on the spot! We picked some food already for our menu like the Lengua Especial which I really loved and also the Chicken Teriyaki. So we will be having a salad bar, dessert buffet and a cocktail bar. We even got chocolate fountains! Yey! So we only have to think of a centerpiece design, over all style of the venue and other food to complete the menu. Jay and I will be making the menu cards, table numbers/names and sitting cards as our do it yourself project.
After booking the caterer, we busied ourselves in looking around the fair. We have no intentions of booking other suppliers. But we can't help but love the rings from Goldenhills Jewelry! We reserved a pair. A white gold with stones (I dunno what stones are those. haha) I dunno if that's the final design we will have but they sid it's ok if we will still change our minds since the wedding is still November. I really love the design we chose though it is way pricey. But it's worth it. The rings look so elegant and well, expensive. hehe
Nice Print is next. I really want to see their finished products. We have already seen their music video style videos and I love it so I am partially leaning on getting Nice Print. Was lucky enough to talk with Ms. Charisse herself, the owner of Nice Print and she gave us really nice freebies. We got the Centuria Package with Coffeebook with leather cover album for 70K. I think it really is worth it. She gave us the following freebies: AVP (12K) with LCD (4K) plus the raw video and a free bridal car! Super nice so again we can't help but book them on the spot. Jay really likes their videos. I can see he was really moved and touched by the videos showing on their TV.
Since we are there already, we decided to check Angel of Hearts. This floristw as recommended by a lot of w@wies. Their style and arrangements are really elegant plus their prices are really affordable. I like them but we still didn't book them since I still don't know if I'll go for roses or whatever flower. I am not fond of flowers that's why I don't know what will look really nice. We only are getting our flowers for the entourage there since Fernwood has their own inhouse florist for the church and Josiah's will take care of the flowers for the reception. Plus, I still have to finalize my gown color and design before the flowers so as to avoid them clashing.
We lasted there till 5PM. An hour more than what I set since we are still meeting Sis Imee and Mike. After a while, me and Jay got really overwhelmed and Jay started getting cranky due to sore feet. But the pain is all worth it.
Oh, and we met Toto too, Sis Ays husband. He gave us our Edsa Shangrila voucher. Thanks sis and Toto! Bait bait!
Sunday, May 25, 2008 | Lunch Time
Pamamanhikan
Salazar Residence
Jay's family arrived at our house at exactly 12 o'clock in the afternoon. The lock was chiming 12 when they arrived. His family brought food to be shared by our two families for this special occasion. Jay cooked Asado, Relyenong Bangus (because it's a fave of mine) and bought Casava Cake and Bananas. Even if we don't have to contribute anytjing on the table because it is really customary on Pamamanhikans for the groom to be to provide the food, we served Pinakbet, Fried Tilapias, Shomai and Silvanas. It was like fiesta in our house as my cousins and aunts and uncles also arrived for this event. For their brood they were composed of Nanay, his Uncle Ruben, his Ate Juliet, his Kuya Obet and some friends of his ate. I was really nervous and it was kinda awkward at first but it went well in the end. His ate even cried a little. I guess everybody was a little emotional. Afterall, im the eldest cuz and pamangkin and I will be the firts one to marry in our family and Jay is the bunso in his bunch.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Finalization of Floral Arrangements for the Church, Invites Design and meeting with F@b Occassions and Santi
Fernwood Gardens, Mt. Carmel, Starbucks G4 Makati
Finally had the time to do some errands for the wedding which is *gasp* 4 months or so away! This was set up since May but unfortunately at the last minute Jay can't come because of work so I have to go there myself. I have my dad drive me and my mom to accompany me. Since my now matron of honor is pregnant just after a month of wedding bliss I have to tug one of my bridesmaids (Joy) to be well, my maid for the day.
Our first stop is Fernwood Gardens. I have booked the venue since last February and it is only now that I will get our contract. It is also the first time my family will get to see the venue and church for the wedding and they all love it! Contract signing went well it's just that our idea of having a band is now officially shot. Oh well.
After our contract signing we are off to finalize the invite design since Claire of 15-58 Flowers is still busy with another client. My mom choise the design so quickly that I didn't even have time to process what is happening. I can't think! haha What I did is just took some photos so I can review everything again and slowly this time so I can really visualize if everything will really jive and look nice. So far our invitation design is square with embossed lilac roses at the borders with fushia pink letters! Good thing V Craft has this program in their website where I can play with the colors and design. It'll make my life easier.
Just in time, Claire finished with her client and we got to finalize our church floral arrangements to roses in our motif and callalilies. good thing the church is still set up from the last wedding in the arrangement and design we chose so we really saw how everything will look like come wedding day. My mom, once again, loves it.
Next is Mr. Carmel. We confirmed that Twinkle, our doggie, can attend the wedding. We also got our list of things/papers to accomplish which is a lot than I expected.
Starbucks G4 to meet with Cam of F@b Occasions. The meeting went well but I'm still not decided if I will get them. I'm still exploring options I think and there's this business thing that is kinda stopping me from getting them. It's too private to discuss here but it concerns money. After our meeting, I'm waiting or the last supplier we will be meeting for the day which is Santi, the wedding gown designer I'm thinking of getting. I'm having qualms with Santi because he is so hard to reach and when I do reach him it takes him ages to reply. Alas, he didn't show up in our meeting! He had the gall to stand me up! He confirmed again the meeting Saturday at 10AM so there's no way for him to tell me he didn't know we have a meeting (which is what he is claiming when he texted me at midnight! duh!). I can't even reach him thru phone. His celphone is off! So he is out of the list. I'm on the hunt for a new designer once again and this time I'm thinking of getting Glenn Canlas, a local designer in Pampanga that has been recommended by 2 brides already. We will be visiting Glenn's shop this Sunday.
Sunday, June 29, 2008 | 10:30 AM
Meeting with Glen Canlas
Geln Canlas' Shop in Mexico, Pampanga
I'm on a mission to finally find the perfect designer for me. Since I still dunno what I want, the making of the perfect wedding gown can take some time. This time we went to a Pampanga based designer since I don't have the time to go to Manila. I called glen for an appointment last Monday when a w@wie sis recommended him to me. Actually, she has been the 2nd bride to recommend Glen to me so I finally gave him a shot. He was really fun to talk to plus accommodating. He is earning points in my book already.
Come Sunday, we were in his shop at 10:30am. We talked about the things I like, my concept of how my gown will look like and the look I want to project. He came up with two sketches but the one I'm posting here is the one I like. I like the design because of the bolero top that use a material similar to the gown I really want if Jay would permit it. It looks really sexy and ethereal. Basically, that's what I want my gown would look like, ethereal. Iw ant to look like a dream, a vision, something that looks too good to be true. That would look perfect in my enchanted forest look for my venue. So the gown he designed has that element. It will also has a 4 meter train. The only thing I'm uncomfortable with is the sweetheart cut which I feel will look better in a woman that has big boobs (image of Roger Rabbit's flame comes in mind here.) So I still haven't approved the gown design. So what I'm gonna do is show him photos of gowns I like and it's up to him to mix them all together to produce my dream gown.
Now back to the old drawing board - literally! Hopefully, I find the right designer and gown design soon.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
The Epiphany (Finally finding the gown of my dreams)
Megamall
I still don't have a gown made. 2 months before the wedding and still no gown. I'm trying not to panic. Then one day, me and Jay are strolling at Megamall when we saw this gown. I just knew I have found my wedding gown! And it fits my theme!
