Thursday, June 23, 2011

My Attire

My Inspiration Board
This is the look I'm trying to achieve. Counterclockwise.

  • The gown. It's a Maggie Sotero creation, but of course, I won't be buying it from her. I'll just have it patterned by a local couturier. You'll notice that it still sticks with the Grecian theme, having an elegant yet simple silhouette. It's accented by a jeweled single strap. I was never into ruffles and bulky gowns because with my petite build, it might overwhelm me.
  • Next is the hairstyle. I want pulled up curls, emphasized by a hair embellishment. I don't want it too clean for it might make my head look ridiculously small.
  • For the bouquet, I want yellow calla lilies. Plain and simple. I love how the yellow just pops out!
  • Bangles. No, I won't be flooding my arm with those three. I think I'll just have one, a little something to go along with the gown.
  • Shoes. I'll be searching for the perfect ones. Something with a gladiator feel but in an elegant, wedding-y way.
  • Pouch. I do not want those spherical ones with rope handles. I want a simple white purse, small enough to fit a phone and some cash.
  • Garter. I don't want those fancy, itchy-looking ones.
  • Veil. I have no idea yet. But something like that in the photo would do.
  • Earrings. Dangling ones preferably. It would be nice if I found pretty blue ones, they could be my "something blue".

I don't seem too excited at all... right? Right?? Hahah, who am I kidding here.

Photographer

It was night time as me and my boyfriend found ourselves hanging out at a local coffee shop in a local mall. We never really drink expensive coffees just to kill time because, believe me, we know way too many better things to kill time. We were there to meet with someone. It was our photographer.


He was just supposed to be one of the prospects, like I still need to choose after meeting up with other photographers too. But at the back of my mind, I know, I already chose him.


His name is RV dela Paz, creative director of the Seekers. He is a very young photographer from Angeles City with a booming career. We found his site while googling local photographers and to my shock, he really has potential. He's good actually! Well, not to mention, he fits our budget.


As he arrived our meeting place, he started showing us his portforlio. It was on his phone! Nothing that I haven't seen online though. I'm glad he never bad mouthed competitors, even though I intentionally provoked him to. Thats a sign of professionalism. This is his offer:


Sevice Only Package
Service of Seekers (3 Photographers)
Engagement Session
100 pcs 4R Processed Prints
High Quality Images on DVD
Php 15,000


It's crazy affordable! To judge from their previous works, they're far above from so-so. I also liked the way he gave us a cushion for our decision. We'll shoot the engagement session early, without any payment whatsoever, no strings attached. Meaning, we can back out anytime if we weren't satisfied with his shots. That is a good deal and we can't wait for that engagement shoot! Time to prepare the outfits and location!


RV dela Paz
seekersphotography@gmail.com
0915 781 6843


*** I still need to look for an independent videographer though.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Some Updates

June 12, 2011
Me and my mom went to Marquee mall to hear morning mass (yeah, masses are held on malls too nowadays). We met up with my 2 of my favorite cousins to tell them "the news".  They kinda knew what it was about but they still both gushed about it non-stop and never actually heard mass. They accompanied me checking suppliers in a bridal fair inside the same mall. The fair wasn't a huge help after all since I just ended up with a pile of calling cards from vendors and suppliers. Calling cards containing information already available online.
A pile of brochures and calling cards.
June 13, 2011
Monday morning, we went to the Municipal Hall to know the requirements before getting married. They only required two documents - Cenomar and copies of NSO Birth certificate. Both of them are available on NSO Office. So off we went to San Fernando in the middle of a sunny afternoon on an open-air vehicle.  Accomplishing government documents (or any other documents) is and always will be my least favorite activity ever. I know a lot of people would agree to me. And to think we'll still be coming back after 4 days to have those papers printed.


Anyway, after that rather unenjoyable errand, we went home to prepare a massive dinner. His family (and then some) will come over to officially ask for my hand in marriage (pamamanhikan). It was very touching since they arrived with a jeepney full of aunts and uncles from his mother's side of family. Our relatives, both mother and father side, also came. It was a feast! We talked about the wedding's date, venue, theme and principal sponsors. We were kinda uncomfortable being the center of it all, especially a crowd led by elders, but we made it a point for our voice to be heard. It's our wedding after all, right?


Some food that me and my mom prepared. They brought a lot of food too!


June 14
After we had our whole family's blessings, we proceeded to the church to book our date. Unfortunately, Dec.27 is no longer available. We looked at their calendar and saw an opening - December 30. It's a holiday, perfect! They handed us a piece of paper containing their requirements. I realized two things afterwards. First, getting married in a church really has a price, literally! I didn't expect the church's fee to be that expensive. Second, it also requires a whole lot of tasks to accomplish! Have I told you accomplishing documents is my least favorite activity ever?
Where will we begin?
June 15
It was holiday (Mt. Pinatubo day) so we both had a lot of time in our hands. We had our strategic plan of scouring the whole city of possible reception venues. We're eyeing for somewhere decent yet not-that-expensive. We will be hosting 300 guests and for our budget, that is a HUGE number of people to feed. After seeing (and rejecting) the first venue on our list, we landed on to our second one which is Batis Asul. It was love at first sight, only that we fell inlove with different options. I loved its indoor function hall, he loved its outdoor garden set-up. We can only choose one and no, we didn't tossed a coin. Instead, we went home, had some rest and went back to that place with his and my parents. It was a landslide vote. We chose the indoor venue. I'm kinda excited to dress that place up!
Indoor - it has some potential from what I see. I hope I'm right.
Outdoor. It's pretty with all the pool and garden stuffs going on. But I don't know why it didn't had my vote.
So there, our little advances on this dream wedding in the making. We already shed some blood out, and by blood, I mean money, on some down payments. I know it's just the beginning, but so far, I am completely enjoying this journey. And yeah, I'm also freaking out a bit*.

*this darn website keeps on sending me countdown of days before our wedding. It makes my heart jump every single time I receive it. I can't unsubscribe though, along with the countdown are helpful tips. So yeah, I must face the reality - it's getting nearer and nearer, two-hundred-days-nearer to be exact. 

Friday, June 10, 2011

Our Dream Wedding on Our Dream Destination (figuratively, that is)

I just can't contain my happiness right now. This is a huge milestone in our wedding planning. I thought we can get by without having a theme just because I can't think of any. But now, I'm glad.. so glad I figured out something. I'm gonna set my previous palette aside because no one actually agrees on black being our motif anyway.


After a series of brainstorming, I had an epiphany. There is this one place where I really really wanted to get married. But of course, due to ridiculously expensive airfare, I accepted the fact that it is not yet possible (we can renew on our 10th wedding anniversary there perhaps, lol). I just fell in love with that place. I even bugged my boyfriend to watch several documentaries about it. And of course, he loved it too! What is it? Are you ready??


Santorini. 


And since we won't be able to bring the actual ceremony to Greece, we'll just bring Santorini into the celebration. It will be the theme where every little details revolve. I designed an inspiration board just to have, well, an inspiration. It doesn't necessarily mean we're going to use the exact things there. Here it is:


Inspired by the distinct blue and white houses of Santorini, turquoise seas and Oia's magnificent sunset.
Gowns will have Grecian cuts. Royal, or should I say Santorini blue, will be the primary color. Yellow, of course from the famous sunset, will be the secondary color along with white and turquoise. Flower girls will have wreath-like headdresses. Men will have olive leaves on their heads. I was kidding on the latter. OMG! It will be fabulous! I can even wear a sexy Greek toga for the reception! Can't wait!!!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

The Quest for the Perfect Black

I'm still sticking with my initial palette, I want black, turquoise, and happy yellow. Yep, black! I want it to be different, elegant and chic. Problem is, my boyfriend thinks black is pampatay. I understand. But maybe... maybe if he'll see the perfect black I'm imagining, he'll also understand. So now I'm on a quest to find that dress. A dress good enough to convert him, along with my conservative mother and his even-more-conservative mom. 

I thinks it's because I'm showing him knee-length dresses. Maybe flowy ones are more wedding-y? I'll look for some now. 

Knee-length black dresses - rejected
I can't believe planning can be this stressful. To think I'm still on minor stuffs! I still need to decide on the venue and suppliers. 

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Some Baby Steps

I haven't had some decent brain rest since our sudden decision of "getting married in 6 months" yesterday. I just keep on thinking and talking and browsing the internet, trying to figure out how am I supposed to do it! I knew sooner or later we'll gonna do it anyway, but it never occurred to me that it will be this soon. 


What's the rush anyway, you may ask? Well, this year is supposed to be my brother's wedding year. But then something came up with his gf's work, so they stalled it until next year. I don't wanna be haunted by a random ghost just because we got married the same year (I'm referring to the Sukob movie, duh!) and I don't want to get married in 2013 just to be safe (13 is malas, right?), so we jumped right in the opportunity. I never knew I was superstitious, but hey, I don't want to risk it.


The date. We're eyeing 27th of December. It's a weekday but within the Christmas vacation so I think guest's attendance won't be that much of a problem. It also happened to be our monthsary, hahah! We'll be 6 years and 4 months by that time. It's not yet official though. We need to book the Church first, I think. We'll gonna do that tomorrow. After that, I can start coordinating with suppliers so they can already block the date. 


I'm glad I am not alone with all of this. It's such a happy journey knowing I got all the support I need from families, friends and of course my boyfriend. Only few people had known it though, well at least for now. There's our parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my boyfriend's family, one close friend and a previous colleague. I don't know when and how am I going to announce the news, but I'm pretty confident it will spread itself out. 


Early stage planning is a hard phase I guess. I'm still a little clueless. My mind is still battling with itself when it comes to deciding what kind of theme I am looking for. It changes every now and then and it's not helping. It also battles with some opinions and suggestions thrown by my (and his) mom. Don't get me wrong, it's not that they're unsolicited, but it just mixes up with my already mixed up judgement. I get it, they're as excited as I am. Well, I don't know if that should please or scare me. 


** 06/18/2011 update: 
Official date will be December 30, 2011. See why.

Monday, June 6, 2011

OMG OMG OMG

Yeah, that's what I kept chanting after making up our minds. I will be ditching my 2011 2nd half goals altogether because I'll be shifting my priority into something bigger. We will be GETTING MARRIED in 6 months! 


Again. OMG OMG OMG! 


For most brides-to-be, being down to 6 months is already crunch time! Me? I'm exactly at point A. How will I even begin? I'm starting to freak out!


This is a dream wedding in the making. I'm ecstatic, nervous, excited, hopeful and thankful. 


This will be fun!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Off He Goes Again

It was the longest time I've been with my dad, well, me as an adult that is. He stayed home for 6 months this time. I never got to know him that much since he always work overseas for as long as I remember. During his recent stay, I got to know him better. I am fascinated how similar we are to each other. Yeah I may look like my mother's clone, but I got some attitude from him, some are good, others bad. My mother had some complaints on how stubborn I am. She says I got that from him. Hahah! No wonder when he tries to discipline me, I feel like a teenage rebel talking back on every sermon he throws. I also got my obsession with lotions, perfumes and Vicks from him. And of course, everyone know's how we both love pets. 

I love how he spoils everyone rotten. There was this one time when I said I liked the spiced vinegar he bought. After a week, he went back to the supermarket and came home with 4 different kinds of vinegars. He recognizes even those littlest things! He also had this dog who now wouldn't eat fish and vegetables just because he always gave her meat for the whole 6 months. He didn't want her eating bland foods. Such a literal spoiled bitch!

This morning, he left for Vietnam, again. I'm glad I got to know him better. Surely I'm gonna miss him. 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Goals for the 2nd Half of 2011

It's has been officially 6 months since I took this grand vacation. Now, I am happy to say I am completely rested and up and running again! I know it's already mid year and it's kinda late to make a list of this year's goals but I'm gonna do it anyway. Let's just name it my "2nd half goals" (my 1st half goal is to rest). Without further ado, here it is:
  • Run a Marathon. I hate the fact that's its so "in" nowadays that it may seem like I was just joining the bandwagon. But if you know me well enough, you knew that track and field has been my only sport ever since. I can't play volleyball, basketball, heck I can't even play a freaking badminton - but weirdly, I have competed on odd games like shot put, long jump, 100m dash and 400m run. Well, that was way back in grade school. And now I couldn't even stay on treadmill for an hour. So this goal will test my discipline not only on the marathon itself but also with the trainings before it. Let's prove that this lazy ass hasn't completely taken over me yet. 
  • Do Some Charity Work. Aside from giving away several cellphones, jewelries and 10 units of computers to the needy (aka robbers), I can't recall the last time I did a charitable work. I always have something in mind but I can't seem to execute them. So this time, I really hope this won't be pushed aside for the nth time. Maybe I'll do it on my birthday, or maybe Christmas, or just any random day. All I have to do is find a recipient first.
  • Trek Mt. Pinatubo. I sooo wanted to do this a long time ago. At first, I can't seem to figure out how to do it since I do not have some buddies to join me so travelling in pair would be expensive. And then I saw some legit and affordable tours but suddenly something happened to the crater's lake. Its color changed. The majestic turquoise-colored water became dark blue just when I was about to go there. I asked some people and they said that the color usually comes around. I hope it does soon because I really really wanna go there already. Oh Mt. Pinatubo, you're so near, yet so far! Hey, you scared the shit out of me when I was younger (you know, with all the earthquakes and ashes), the least you can do now is be pretty again!
  • Climb Mt. Pulag. I'm eyeing December for this one. I wanna be well-prepared to experience the zero degrees temp of Luzon! Brrrr.. Just the thought of it excites me!
  • Trip to Puerto Princesa. This is more of a wishful thinking now. I got the plane tickets last year for this trip and booked them in accordance to my boyfriend's schedule. I never thought I may be having a new job now and taking a 3 day leave may be impossible. So let's just see. 
  • Complete atleast 40% of our wedding budget. Yeah, pretty self-explanatory. 
  • Keep a Job for More Than a Year. This goal is good until next year. Whew, toughest goal for me!
**Updated 6/3/2011 I just learned that Mt. Pinatubo's lake is actually back to normal. I'll be there ASAP. I mean it, I've already booked us this coming Saturday. Excited!!

**Updated 6/4/2011 We won't push through, again, for the nth time. Gosh darn it.