Day 3: a 6 - hour Cebu sidetrip!

Ughh, it took me days to finally do this post. Blame my brain-dead brain and crazy schedule (feeling busy playing Wii). 

Recap: 
Day 1 - Panglao Island (the only day when we felt like actual tourists)
Day 2 - Bohol City Tour (time to get dirty, literally, by driving around Bohol in a tricycle)


We had a little discussion on what to do on our day 3. Remember, everything's unplanned. So it was a choice between Bohol Bee Farm (and Suislide) or a Cebu side trip. Cebu won! So Cebu it was. We quickly planned our route and itinerary that night and woke up early to catch the 8am ferry. We slept late with sore bodies, praying we'll be able to wake up that early.


8:15am, we were still buying our tickets. Obviously, we missed our target schedule. Oh well, we bought the next one which was 9:30 am with Ocean Jet Ferries. The last cruise will be at 5:30pm. Travel time is 2 hours. With that, you can conclude that we only have 6 hours of exploring eastern part of Cebu. 


It was our first time to ride a ferry. Expectation: Titanic -looking ships with plenty of outdoor room for ocean viewing. Reality: It kinda looks like a floating bus with at least 3x4 feet smoking area. 

It's not bad at all, I'm just so naive to expect more.

In all fairness to Ocean Jet, the ferry was clean and was on-time. We enjoyed sea watching and spent most of the 2 hours travel time outside, soaking all the sun's glory without any sunscreen. We ended up looking like moisted (from the sea moist and not to mention, sweat) chocolate cakes (sunburn!).

Totally worth it!

We arrived Cebu around 11:30am, it was lunch time already. We skipped it as we saw Fort San Pedro right outside the pier. Cebu was never short of rich history and this fort was one of them. It was built by the Spanish Government (in which one of them was Miguel Lopez de Legazpi), as a military fortress. 

We just figured using sephia tone will produce some Spanish feel. Or not?

An old Spanish Flag

The Founding of Cebu - in photos.

Good thing about Cebu Mactan Pier is that it's near to 3 tourist spots. First was the Fort San Pedro, the other one is the Basilica de Sto. Nino and Magellan's Cross. Three birds in one stone. One down, then we headed to the next one.

Getting ready for the Sinulog Festival. Too bad we didn't witnessed the actual festival.

Basilica's Facade

The amazing altar.

After stepping out of the Basilica, we immediately asked for Magellan's Cross directions to a kind-looking security guard. To our surprise, it was just outside. After few steps, a small kiosk housing the cross itself greeted us. It was said that the Portuguese and Spaniards planted this cross on this same spot, as commanded by Magellan himself as they landed in Cebu. Well, of course, this is not the actual cross, but relics were said to be inside this chapel.

The closest I can get to Magellan.

It was a hot humid day and we were walking around, asking for directions and commuting around Cebu. It was both tiring and fun! We managed to get to our last stop - the Regency Hotel. Nope, not to check in, but to get high - literally! I dreamed for so long to try their Sky Experience Adventure. Upon reaching the hotel, we immediately checked their schedule. They open up at 2pm, so we had our lunch first. Luckily, Regency Hotel is located right next to Robinson's Mall. I had to say, their food court's prices are crazy affordable. For only 49 pesos, the meal included rice, a deep fried crab, achara, soup and an iced tea. What a complete meal! And they're generous with the serving too! Yeah obviously, cheap foods excite me.

At last! It's time to test our marriage, lol. You see, my dear husband is afraid of heights. Not really acrophobia, but it's somehow close to that, hahah. I had to pull of my sad face just to make him agree of just one ride. That's good enough for me. I signed up for 3 rides (2 skyrides + 1 extreme) and he signed up for the roller coaster ride. His was 550 pesos (entrance of 250 plus 300 for the roller coaster ride). Mine was 1000 (they were on a promo, i think). 

The first stunt was fun! We got to ride to an actual roller with its tracks right on the edge of the building. We could even tilt the seats to have the 'falling' feeling. After that, I checked his pulse hands and they were cold. I commended him for the going all though that in the name of fun. The next stunt was the Sky Walk. I was on my own this time. I admit, it looked boring. I was strapped on a harness, and got to walk on a platform placed around the building's edges. Some of the platforms are transparent, so I got to see the height I were on. Then I was asked to stand on the edge with one foot raised (their signature pose) while having my photo taken. Hmmm.. strange. I felt my knees slightly turning to jellies. It was surprisingly scary. Anyway, I had a bird's eye view of Cebu. The person assisting me, showed some interesting landmarks like the dancing inmates' prison, Mactan Island and the on-going construction of yet another SM (he said it'll be bigger than MOA, let's see).

Taking photos is prohibited, souvenir photos cost 250Php each. Expensive? But they're too awesome to pass up?

My final stunt was interesting. From the package I got, this would be the 'extreme' one. I would be ziplining from one building to another. It was on the 40th? floor. I would then be returned to the original location by a Sky Lift. I had tried ziplining in Subic before, but this one feels different. It was said to be the first urban zip line in the world. Cool, but I was thinking of some worse case scenarios. If I fell from a superman ride in Subic, I will be landing on tress. Plus the trees below hid the actual height of the ride so it was less scary. While this one is pure height! You'll see cars and concrete below. I almost backed out. But wth, I paid for it, and surely, I will definitely regret not doing it. Plus I read they're into double redundancy safety, whatever that is, it sounded good. I went for it. Imagine being thrown away to another building 250m away, 473m above the ground. It was exhilarating! 

This is me, being brought back to Regency Hotel's 40th? floor, ganyan talaga akong pumanhik ng building, because elevators are too mainstream, bwahahah.

We barely noticed but it was already 4:30 and we were still in this hotel. We needed to catch our ferry for our hotel in Bohol was already paid for and getting another hotel here just because we were late is plain stupid. We rode the jeepney good thing Cebu's jeepney drivers were as aggressive as Manila's. It was rush hour and the traffic was bad. We got down on a familiar spot and just walked our way to the pier. It was still a long walk though. When we reached Port San Pedro, we saw some joggers there so we jogged along, hahah. After all the rushing and running, we reached our destination and had some more minutes to spare. That concluded our little Cebu side trip. 


Oh, and I got to watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes while aboard. Nice movie. I wish I could just throw some ALZ 113 to some people (even to myself during these times when my brain is malfunctioning). 

Bohol City Tour

Check out day 1 here. 

I forgot to mention that when we hired the tricycle driver to take us from the airport to Panglao, we also got his number. Since we were clueless about trusted tour guides and rates, we still got Kuya Lito to drive us around the next day for our city tour. Yes, we will be touring around inside a tricycle. It's just 1,500Php for the whole day. So what if it's mainit and maalikabok. Us being tourists ended on day 1, we were just plain backpackers at this moment and we liked it this way. It was funny, though, when we found out that hiring a an air-conditioned car for the same distance was just 500 peso more expensive. Lol, it was still a good save, so no regrets on that.

Our tour started around 8:30am. We knew it would be a long day so we packed a bag full of survival essentials (i.e Boy Bawang, extra shirt for my husband and few bottles of water). Speaking of water, did you know that in Bohol, exists an innovation I've never seen anywhere in Luzon? They were these water vendo. For just 1 peso, you can have a glassful of water dispensed for you. A 5-gallon water container is encased inside. You can catch your cold water using the small plastic bags provided near the machine. Well in our case, we used our own very chic containers (empty Gatorade bottle and Angry Birds rollable plastic containers). These vendos should be awarded invention of the century! They're very useful for students on a budget, tricycle drivers and wise frugal kuripot travelers like us!

Whoever invented deserves a Nobel Prize!

I never thought Bohol would be that big. Seriously. If it weren't a spontaneous trip, I would have obsessed for a month or two planning it, making sure I covered every inch of it. So sorry for me, everything is unexpected. My control freak self is on a roller coaster ride of pure spontaneity. I was surprised when Kuya Lito told us we should be arriving on the Chocolate Hills after approximately 2 hours. Huwaaat?? That long? Inside a tricycle? Oh well, the view was not boring anyway and the air was fresh. So moving on... we had our first stop on the famous man-made forest. This forest had mahogany trees planted on a very orderly manner in such density for them to be a forest. Upon entering the stretch of this forest, we noticed a very sudden change of temperature. It's like reaching Baguio all of a sudden, well, no not really. But the air was noticeably cooler and fresher.  

I slept for few minutes during the ride because of the winding road made me dizzy and hungry at the same time. I woke up to another stopover. This time it was a new tourist spot in town called the Shiphaus. It was a retired captain's house renovated to look like a, guess what, ship! Cute eh? Ay-ay Captain! There was an entrance fee of 20 Php per head which was not bad at all (considering I got to use their clean restroom too). The Shiphaus contains some of the captains ship stuffs like captain's hats, flags, miniature ships, globes, steering wheel and uniforms. It was a very informative experience and their staffs were so friendly. 

Their staff will tour you around and take take your pictures at the same time.

After that quick tour, we proceeded to our journey to the Chocolate Hills. It took us another hour I think before we reached Carmen, where the viewing deck was. It was worth it! We quickly climbed the stairs going to the peak after paying an entrance fee of 50Php each. The view was breathtaking, nature never fails to amaze me!

A very nice foreign tourist took this photo. Ang galing ng shot nya! I also took his photo using his camera. Result? Silhouette lang naman. I felt I needed to run away after that.

This was my favorite hill. He sits beside the famous 'most photographed' hill and yet I think he's prettier. Maybe I have a thing for underdogs. 

We took some moments to catch our breath after climbing the peak. I was reminded by my husband to savor the moment rather than take 1000 photos and miss it personally. I always make that mistake before. I used to prioritize photo ops more than appreciating and feeling the experience firsthand. It was a beautiful experience. Sitting down under a shade, resting, drinking, eating and exchanging random stories with my husband. 

Time move on once again. It was lunch time and we still have to head on to 2 more locations before actually eating. Off we rode our trusted service and went to see Bohol's most famous asset: the tarsiers! There's a whole 134 Hectares of land all dedicated to these little fellas, entrance fee was 50Php per head. They're so cute and adorable even when they're sleeping. They are nocturnal beings and the guide asked us to avoid disturbing them for they will hurt themselves and go suicidal when woken up. Heheh, tantrums to the highest level! 

This tarsier didn't mind staying awake for the cameras.

After buying some Peanut Kisses for pasalubong, we, again headed to our next destination. Next stop: the hanging bridge. It's a bridge over a part of Loboc River, made of woven bamboos. But still this one I do not get. So, we went there, paid 20Php each, crossed the first bridge, bought some souvenirs, saw Buko King (formerly famous on Eat Bulaga) selling bukos, crossed the other bridge and left. Was it made a tourist spot to lure tourists into buying souvenirs? Or to see Buko King? Sorry, sarcasm. In my honest opinion, it's just a bridge. If you're afraid of heights - it's not that high. If you're afraid of danger - it's relatively safe. I'm pretty sure there's a history behind these bridges why they're considered important and tourist spot. Maybe it should be shown somewhere so people can appreciate them more.

Sorry bridge if I'm not that impressed.

 It was 1 pm when we reached the Loboc River Cruise. This time we were really really starving. We had to wait for another 30 mins for the boats to arrive. We had to pay 300Php each for the buffet lunch and 100Php each for the entrance fee. As we rode the floating restaurant, we waited for another 30 mins for the food to arrive. It was worth the wait though. The food consisted of pansit, suman, breads, fruits, rice, crabs, shrimps, pork bbq, fried chicken fillets, steamed fish and vegetables. A choice of softdrink or beer also came with the package. Totally worth the price! We cruised along the river while eating while a two-man band sang in the background. There were also a small break during the cruise where the boat had to dock on a makeshift floating stage for us to watch the locals perform. They were group of talented women age ranging from teens to seniors who sang, danced and played small guitars. 

Hagardness! Look how scorching it is!

Colorful lanters above the food table.

Finally! Nom nom nom nom

Aside from beautiful nature, Loboc takes pride from their talented people. Ever heard of Loboc's Children Choir? They're not them, lol. But they're never short of talent either.

We had few more stops after this. Let the photos do the talking, this post is getting longer and longer already, heheh. 

Outside Loboc Church

Blood Compact Shrine. I have yet to research the history of this one.

Baclayon Church Interior. Look how grand it is! It is the second oldest church in our country. It has an equally interesting museum but too bad taking photos was not allowed there.

Baclayon Church exterior. Look how old it is, very very interesting.

That concludes our day tour. It was fun and really tiring. That night, we found ourselves inside a computer shop searching ways on how to go to Cebu. Our hotel had Wifi but searching on an actual desktop is faster than using a phone. And since I didn't bring any data cable for my phone, this is my way of saving data:

Yep, I took a photo of the monitor. Some says this is a blonde's way of printing or saving. Don't judge, this is easier.

With just an hour, we managed to create an itinerary for our Cebu trip. Will it work? Day 3 will be the next entry.

A Spontaneous Honeymoon

Getting married involves loads and loads of planning, preparing and executing. It's worse when me and my husband had to work our regular jobs until the 28th of December (where in wedding date was December 30). With that, something got sacrificed.

• Church details? Check. 
• Reception details? Check.
• Outfits? Check.
• Honeymoon? [insert any panic curse word here]

I booked our honeymoon ticket a month before the wedding. It was after I innocently asked my boyfriend where would he want to go if given a chance. He would answer Batanes at any given moment, but this time, he said it would be between the Chocolate Hills or Mayon Volcano. Great! Because I still couldn't afford Batanes tickets at that time. The next morning, I searched the internet for the best deal of tickets. January 2 would be the perfect day since we'll be spending the New Year's day with my relatives. That day would also be the craziest peak since people would be travelling back to wherever right after the holidays. So yeah, I got expensive tickets but what the heck, they are totally worth it. They would be my wedding surprise for my husband-to-be. Imagine on our wedding reception, the emcee would give me the mic to announce "Baby, I got us 2 tickets and we're going on a honeymoon!" Well at least that's the plan.

I booked the tickets that same morning. The moment I saw him in the afternoon, my big mouth blurted my own surprise. He was still very happy about it and still applauded me for keeping a secret for few hours. That's the story behind the tickets. Everything ended there. We almost forgot about them due to hectic schedules and crazy crazy planning.

Fast forward to January 1, I found myself printing anything Bohol - related. Yes, printing, as in using actual papers. I am old fashioned like that. My husband was laughing at me for not using my phone in saving such data. After we got the essential, which was how to go to NAIA Terminal 4, we packed our bags and slept.

We arrived at Tagbilaran Airport at 9am in the morning. I instantly got my print outs which totally gave away that we were tourists, err, worse, honeymooners. We were flocked by tour guides, drivers and people working for some hotels. We walked straight ahead, trying our best to ignore them and caught our breath on a small carinderia. After a cigarette and a 2 soft drinks, we braved to hire someone who gave us the cheapest price. Off we went to Panglao Island Nature Resort, and that started our day 1.

I specifically chose this place to jumpstart our vacation because I wanted us to feel like tourists on day 1. The wedding was really wonderful yet very very stressful at the same time. But it's not something a beach and good food wouldn't cure. This resort takes pride on their infinity pools and a white sand beach. It is also famous for its man-made island. Though their beach was kinda average (too much sea weeds, didn't swim), their food made it up for it, it was an experience all by itself. The entrance for the day tour in this resort was 350Php each. 100Php from it was consumable on their resto.

Reasonably priced foods on a very classy in house resto.

One of the two infinity pools and jacuzzi. Aren't they pretty?

Angel Locsin ang peg!

Too bad me and my husband didn't have a decent couple shot since we're too lazy to set up the tripod.

While having our miryenda, we abused the free wifi to scour for affordable hotels. Panglao Island Nature Resort had their famous forest cottages overlooking the beach, but for 8,500 Php per night, so, no thanks. We will be spending most of our time outside the next day anyway so why spend that much, right? Right?

We ended up booking Traver's Pension House in Tagbilaran. I read so many good reviews about it plus it's very affordable considering the number of amenities they offer. What I loved about it was it has a chapel right next to our room. After throwing our stuffs inside the room, we went out again to have dinner and explore the city. That pretty much summarized our day 1. Day 2 will follow next entry.

Supplier Ratings

Came here to discuss my suppliers with their hits, some misses, costs and stars. May this be handy to other upcoming brides.


DJ Eljhay Picks Hosting and Event Planning for our on-the-day coordination. Owned and led by Marilou, a common friend of ours. She is a very charming and funny lady who made sure there's no dull moment during any meeting.

• Hit: The emcee, who happened to be the owner too, was a professional disk jockey few years ago, she talked confidently and handled the whole reception program very well.
• Hit: They were on time during the preps and we did accomplished everything on time.
• Hit: I was reminded the night before of things to bring and it was very effective.
• Hit: All of our wedding stuffs and gifts were neatly organized after the reception.
• Miss: Some of her staffs lacked initiative. They had to be instructed before doing essential stuffs (eg. assembly for picture taking right after the ceremony, making sure the gown and veil were always perfect).
• Miss: There was this one time where we set-up a meeting and the she cancelled the last minute. I got so frustrated that I threw a little tantrum through text. 
• Cost: 15,700 Php. Stars: 8/10

We are Seekers Photography. Well, what can I say, I love our photographers, said that more than a couple of times before, and until the end, I haven't changed my mind about them.

• Hit: Genuine passion and talent on photography. I know a lot of people who just happened to own top of the line cameras and they assume right away that they're photographers. Well, they're not one of them. These guys know their thing, that I assure you. 
• Hit: Prenup, postnup, teaser and SDE - free of charge. How awesome is that? 
• Hit: They're brothers and they have this unique chemistry that makes working with them never awkward.
• Hit: Candid and dreamy shots. I don't know how to exactly describe their style but the shots are never stiff, never traditional and never dull. 
• Miss: Yeah, I miss them (corny!!!)
• Cost: 15,000 Php. Stars: 10/10

Chris- Mont Digital Photography and Videography. We had a nice deal with their HD single camera service. I haven't watched the whole video yet, but something tells not to expect too much. Anyway, here's their hits and misses:

• Hit: They're updated equiptment-wise. HD cams, cranes, blu-ray discs.
• Hit: Everything flowed smoothly during the wedding day.
• Miss: I was kinda confused with our transaction when I reserved them. It wasn't that smooth which made me rant about it here before. 
• Miss: Heavy traditional shots. Not sure it it's fair to call this a miss, but personally it is. Well, I should have known, seeing their previous works. Anyway, I'm just not a fan of trad shots. But who knows, it won't be that bad, I have yet to see the final cut.
• Miss: Their main man (owner) just makes the final editing. Meaning, he doesn't take the shots personally. 
• Cost: 21,500 Php (including 2hrs photobooth), Stars: 7/10

Century Resort Hotel. This venue was free if the food was to be catered by their resto, The Peking House.

• Hit: Very affordable menu packages. 
• Hit: Friendly and accommodating staffs. The manager always texted us personally for any updates and suggestions. 
• Hit: Complimentary room. Although we had a separate accommodation somewhere else for the wedding preps, this room became very handy during my make up retouch.
• Miss: The function hall was smaller than expected. We were told it could fit 300 guests and to my surprise, other guests were seated on the garden area. Too bad for them they didn't have a chance to watch the program.
• Miss: Ventilation was kinda poor especially when you're seated in front with spotlights melting your face. 
• Cost: 107,000 Php (300 heads), Stars: 8/10

Flowers and Beyond. Honestly, I had serious doubts for this one. The florist was just on the beginning of  a solo flower arranging career. But when you're on a tight budget, you'll learn to trust other people with everything. Good thing, I trusted the right person. 

• Hit: I was surprised with the VIP table. It wasn't heavily designed yet it looked elegant.

• Hit: The florist himself is very friendly and jolly. 
• Miss: I haven't asked why yet, but I'm wondering why another company handled the church decoration. Yes it was beautifully done, except that they forgot to put a carpet. Must be a communication error between them. No matter how pretty it looked, it still seemed incomplete without the carpet. I just found out about it right before the entourage was about to march so I had no plans and chance of bitching about it. 
• Cost: 33,000 Php (Church and Reception), Stars: 7/10

Dan Jose Hair and Make Up  "The most gwapo and sophisticated make up artist I have ever seen" - my husband.

• Hit: Judging by the number of compliments I fished (it was my day, forgive the narcissism), I can say he really did a great job! 
• Hit: He didn't just made me pretty, he built my confidence too. Also, he told me my husband really treats me like a princess, hearing that right before the wedding meant the world to me. He just knows the right words to say. 
• Hit: Very professional. He and his assistant came on time. Plus, he never bad mouthed any competitors and never talked about himself - he's there for pure clean business. 
• Cost: 13,500 Php (5 heads package and retouch), Stars: 10/10

Sound Impact Lights and Sounds. These were the last supplier I booked. I never thought I'll get one until I realized I needed to. It would be bland not to have ambient lights and a professional sound system, right? During the reception, I realized I made the right choice.

• Hit: Very smooth transaction. Every transaction was made online. We exchanged e-mails, I deposited the reservation fee, he sent me the acknowledgement slip, then we're booked! 
• Hit: Affordable. The company is from Manila and we're from Pampanga. Their price is way more affordable than the local ones here, even including the out of town fee.
• Hit: Overall, they're good. No dead time for the sound system and the lights were great.
• Cost: 16,000 Php, Stars: 10/10

Laser lights during the supposed "party", we danced for like one minute then rushed to the actual after-party to drink booze!

K Tribu Band. This band is truly a blessing. We agreed on 10 songs for a very minimal fee (we're friends with the manager) but they managed to perform 20+ songs to fill the long break (during our post nup photo shoot and make up retouch) with no additional charge. Their genre is bossa, setting a warm and relaxing mood during program breaks. No miss for these guys, I love them and they're totally recommended. You can watch their music video here.


There, our dream team. Whoever says a beautiful wedding had to cost a million peso is wrong. I managed to collect very talented people and stayed on budget. 

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue...

Ever since childhood, I've been hearing this phrase when it comes to weddings. I was never traditional, but it seemed fun to do. So yeah, I collected each of these for my wedding outfit.


I just googled the full meaning of this tradition just now, hahah. And apparently, I missed one. It should be:

Something old, something new

Something borrowed, something blue

And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

Ugh, how can I have a sixpence in my shoe when I didn't even wore one? I wore open sandals. And I have no clue where to get a silver sixpence. 'Di ba pwedeng piso nalang? So yeah, nvm. 


Here's my Something old, something new, Something borrowed, something blue plus their meaning and some few stories behind them:

• Something Old - Something old, according to my research, represents continuity. It symbolizes a link between a bride and her mother (or grandmother). For me, it was my mom's old silver brooch. My father bought it from Indonesia and gave it to her when I was in early highschool. It's not that antique, but I simply loved it the moment I saw it. It looked perfect as I attached it on my bouquet's handle. 
• Something New - Something new represents good luck and success and the bride's hope for a bright future in her new married life. The wedding gown is often chosen as the new item. My gown gathered so many praises from that actual day and from photos as well. As a polish-lover (not yet an addict though), my new Deborah Lippman Today was a Fairy Tale was also one of my favorite 'new item'. It should not be that big of a deal, except that, it was bought by no less than Ms. Pam Pastor. Yep, the craziest polish addict I've known. My wedding polish was personally brewed by her. Barry M. Blue moon with Today was a Fairy Tale on top. Blue Moon is the next story.
• Something Borrowed - it is to represent to the bride that friends and family will be there for here whenever help is needed. My 'something borrowed' was Blue Moon by Barry M polish. I borrowed it from a blogger friend and a fellow polish lover, Pam Pastor. No, actually, I didn't borrow it on the first place, she lent it. She's that awesome! It means a lot considering how much she values her polishes, especially the Barry M. collection which she's trying to complete. It's heart-warming how she trusted me with that polish. 
• Something Blue - Something blue is the symbol of faithfulness, purity and loyalty. This isn't too hard. Our motif is blue so naturally, I had something blue on my bouquet. But my favorite blues are my shoes! Look how vibrant they are. And they're very kind too for not giving me any aches and pains during and after the party (which seldom happens with new pair of shoes, right?)

got their meaning here. 

Details...details.. details

Weddings are not just a day-long celebration. It's the whole process of preparation that makes it very memorable and enjoyable. I'm so proud to say me and my husband had a solid team work in organizing our special event. Everything was customized to our own taste. Every little detail were either personally made or chosen by us. 

• A - That was me, measuring, cutting, pasting the invitations. I can't take all the pride for my husband designed the whole thing and I just helped mass producing, lol.
• B - Finish product, yay! Yes, that's Santori and not Poro Point. We wanted a Grecian, particularly Santorini theme. 
• C - VIP place cards. My husband made all 41 of them in just one night. He's amazing.
• D - Rice for tossing. These were my favorite. I made them from scratch from metallic construction paper, tracing paper, stickers, ribbons, rice and glitter confetti.
• E - VIP table set up. Color, design and arrangement, personally picked by us. Our florist was wonderful enough to have properly interpreted it.
• F - Children's headdress. Again, our florist made them according to our choice, to add just a little Grecian feel to our entourage.
• G - Table numbers. 30 pieces, all made by my husband. People were wondering why we can't just ask someone from the restaurant or our florist to do these little details. Well, it was fun doing them! 
• H - Blue water, blue flowers. Ugh, these were my last minute decision. I first opted with simple white flowers for the round tables, but these came into my mind the last few days, so I asked the florist to make 15 of the tables pretty and the other 15 simple. That's how fickle I've been.
• I - Envelope for the invites. Originally, we didn't plan of having any envelopes for the invites. Until we were condemned by our parents, saying invitations must have pretty envelopes and must have ribbons too. So there. That's our take on the 'traditional' invitation look.
• J - Bouttonniere. That's me struggling to be artistic. That's the prototype, I'm glad the actual one I've made were more decent than that one, lol.

I Badly Need to Blog Again

I'm back from a month-long hiatus. I feel like my head is about to explode, I need to write write write. I need an outlet, I'm already a little embarrassed of obsessing my wedding to my family, friends and husband. Yes my dear blog, my dream wedding already came true. 

At last!!

It was a beautiful one, exactly how I envisioned it to be. It had minor glitches but overall, I can say it still is perfect!


For the next few days, you'll be reading a lot of wedding-related posts, honeymoon, suppliers, bliss and giddyneess.


And now I don't even know where to start. This is my very first quiet moment since December. I have no plans of hurrying up again. So let's just let the information flow by itself. Let's start with the little details before the wedding.

Prenup Photos (the sequel)

I will post the photos here once I had them, but here's the link for the meantime:


click here


Location: Village Chef Restaurant, Angeles City
Hair and Make up: Richard Strands
All photos are property of Seekers Photography.

I'm Smelling an Obsession Brewing

Blame it to the craziest polish fan in the country. She and her blog, fueled this addiction I'm brewing right now.


I'm talking about nail polishes. Who would have thought I'll fancy these kind of things. I can't even have my nails longer than my fingertip. They're always short, and when I say short, I really mean short - short. I can't even shape them, it makes me want to bite random things whenever I file them. But what the heck, I love them polished. They make me smile when they glisten.


I can't have them done by other people too, not even the professionals, because I just can't. I'm just not comfortable. So I basically have to do them by myself. I've been on the search for decent yet affordable polishes lately (and not to mention, accessible from our province). I've been using local brands but they, most of the time, end up disappointing me with their staying power and narrow choices of colors. Until recently, I discovered 2 brands.


The first one is Elf (Eyeslipsface). I wonder why they didn't include nails on their brand name, would've been Elfn. I used this brand for my pre-nup photoshoot. I just aimed for a natural looking nails so I picked a natural-looking one, Light Pink.

One coat - I'm disappointed on how sheer it was.

Still very sheer.

2 days after application, they all ended up chipped and matte.  Now I know why "nail" wasn't included in Elf's name. Not worth it of my 100+ Php.


Next one I found was The Face Shop. It's a Korean store filled with Korean beauty goodies! Let's admit, they do know how to prettify. I grabbed three of their polishes. With 95 Php a pop, it's not that bad at all.

GL 112. See how jam packed it is with micro glitters?

Told you, I have short nails. This is 2 coats.

GL 112 is a metallic, goldish, pinkish, shimmery goodness. It goes opaque in 2 coats. This one lasted (with top coat) for a week. Not bad, to think I do household chores.

My Favorite Trio: The Face Shop WH004, Caronia Blue Velvet, The Face Shop Top Coat

Goal: A starry night nails.


I chose Blue Velvet to be the base for a deep blue evening. I used 1 coat to avoid having nearly black nails. WH004 has a clear jelly base packed with huge blue and purple glitters and stars. The result:

Please excuse some mess, I'm still learning..

I'm very happy with the result! My nails are magical. I have several thoughts on the polishes though. First, the stars on WH004 were so hard to capture on brush. I had to flip the bottle several times just to get one, just a little frustrating. Also, if placed on the curved area of the nail, the stars' edges tend to stick out even with heavy top coat. This causes them to get caught on clothes and blankets, which is kinda annoying. So make sure you place them on the nail's flat surface or push them securely using the pointed tip of a nail pusher. 


I just ordered some goodies from a trusted online shop (eye liner and lip balm). Items were delivered in perfect condition. I browsed her shop again and I just had an epiphany. Why limit myself with malls' polishes? She sells beautiful polishes too! Gotta try some, one paycheck at a time. This will be fun!

On the fateful day of 11-11-11

Warning: Slightly graphic photos below. 


Okay, this is not a yet another post about how this date is supposed to be lucky or that it only comes once in a century. Come on, every date on the calendar never actually repeats. But still, I anticipated this date with so much enthusiasm because first, it's my day off, second, it will be our 2nd prenup shoot (yeah, our photographers are awesome like that), and third, it's my cousin's 18th birthday (I'm one of the 18 candles, yay, I get to wear an itchy, rented dress).


The photo shoot went well but that's another story. Let's jump into the end of the debut celebration. To mark the end of the ceremony, the organizers prepared a fireworks display for all of us. I love fireworks!!  Me and my boyfriend went outside to watch it. Normally, when events like these have these displays, they place the fireworks elsewhere, away from the crowd. But something was wrong this time. They were placed in front of us. We were not actually in the front most position, some were even nearer. As the first two kwitis went off, their sticks landed in front of the crowd. Something's really wrong. There was not enough time for me to contemplate on this thought, when the huge aerial firework was set off. You know those kinds which explodes in the sky with bright flower-like formations? Well, it was like that except that it didn't actually become aerial and instead exploded on to our feet. Yes my dear friends, our feet. Whose feet am I referring to exactly? Me and my boyfriend's feet. I actually saw little explosives approaching us. I got scared but we're trapped in a corner, my first instinct was to turn my back. I felt something hit the back of my knee. I shouted that I was hit. My boyfriend immediately hugged me, protecting my from even more approaching explosives. It was crazy. Smoke was everywhere. When it came quite clear, I rushed inside to check my foot. It was painful and ugly, it was burnt. Dang. I recalled seeing pitcher of cold water sitting on top of the bar. I went there to wash the back of my knee to soothe the burning feeling. I'm quite surprised why there was no other commotion aside from myself. Then I realized, I was the only casualty. Of all people in front of me. I saw my dad and showed my wounds, then my mom. She went into hysteria so I just left her. I ran around, neglecting the pain to look for my boyfriend. I can't remember how we separated paths. I asked a cousin and he told me my boyfriend's injury was even worse and he was waiting in the car with my brother. What the...


As I saw the side of his knee, I just blurted out a curse word. There was a hole onto his skin. From what I saw, it was maybe 2-inch deep. It's that deep. I can still feel my feet burning with pain but I managed to calm my mother. Yes, she was panicking about me and with her stroke histories, she's at more risk. So I just pretended to be okay and released the pain by squeezing the arm of my brother, who was driving by the way.

Left: My shrapnel wounds (I have more under the skirt and on the other leg) Right: My boyfriend's deep wound (The back of his leg was severely burnt and bruised)

Inside the ER, I received first aid for my wounds and anti-tetanus shots. Surprise, surprise. Both of my feet were full of shrapnel wounds. It was crazy painful but I can't show any weakness. Why? As they cleansed my wounds, my boyfriend was lying down, literally chilling from severe pain and nervousness. They were talking about debriding his wound, which from how they explained it, sounded really nasty. That wound was supposed to be mine if he hasn't protected me. The least I can do is be his source of strength. I wish I can describe how they cleaned and sutured it but no, it won't be that pretty, so I won't.


We went home with a bagful of medicines and lessons. It was an ugly experience, yes. But we choose to just look at the brighter side. Who am I to complain about minor burns when my boyfriend received a surgery for me, and God knows what His son took in for me.

photo from the web

I will be kind and not mention the organizer who failed to oversee that incident coming, but we will be talking about settlements. Just an advise to everyone, make sure you mount huge explosives before lighting them. The force will surely make them stumble when lit. And don't watch displays on a very close range. Or better yet, stay away from explosives! They're craaaaazy.