Sunday, January 27, 2013

Our Laid Back 4th Anniversary


Last Monday was our fourth anniversary, which also happened to be the anniversary of our engagement. Our original plan is to celebrate it in Japan as we have our short vacation, but due to some uncontrollable events, the trip was pushed to February. That left us with an ordinary weekday anniversary. 

And so with the trip waiting the following month, we wanted to be frugal on the day itself. We gunned for a simple dinner at Shi Lin, our favourite place to devour those soupy dumplings called Xiao Long Bao. It's their Alabang Town Center branch that we headed to this time to have those steaming goodness.

Our simple dinner


After eating to our heart’s content, we window shopped a bit before finally going to the movie house to see Life of Pi. We were enticed to watch because of raves for its digital effects, but after the movie, we walked out also captured by the witty and interesting lines. We even found ourselves dissecting the script on the ride home. Haha.  



With the car already parked in front of our house, Adrin suddenly leaped out announcing that he has a gift for me. Clutching a guitar, he returned to the driver’s seat. Unfortunately the limited space made it hard for him  to play the guitar so we moved to the back seat. As we comfortably took our places, he started strumming. I didn’t know what song it is at first until he sang the first line. It was Grow Old With You! At that point, I lightly laughed and told him “Sumu-Zoren ka ah!” and continued listening to his singing. What’s most touching is the fact that I know how huge an effort it was for him dish such act. You see, Adrin considers himself musically challenged and believes that he eternally could not carry a tune. Him singing in karaoke would be a once in a blue moon occurrence.

With the last strum of his fingers, I hugged and kissed him with tears in my eyes. I just can’t help being emotional realizing the lengths he’d go just to surprise me. I again kidded him of doing a Zoren but he countered that he didn’t know that the actor also sang that song in his grand surprise for Carmina. He told me that he learned the chords two weeks before and was so nervous that I’d see the guitar in his car.

His surprises for me


We eventually went inside the house where I hurriedly recovered my gift for him. I actually had it with me since November and was fighting the excitement to hand it to him prematurely. It was a story photobook  of our 4-year journey together. He started leafing through it and would stop at some pages longer than usual, retrieving those instances from his memory bank perhaps. =)

My gift to him



Here are some of my favorite pages from our photo storybook (some pages are soft copies). 














He rendered a repeat performance after reading our story book. And yes, I was his lone audience still. =)

The repeat performance

Oh what a good night it was - far different from our past 3 anniversaries, but nonetheless cheesy. Again, Happy Anniversary Sweetie! I’m excited to spend the rest of my life with you! =)


Cheers!






Thursday, January 24, 2013

Bridal Fair Shindigs


After scouring the fair a week before, we again attended the Getting Married bridal fair at SMX just this weekend. Our agenda:
  • Finalize our list of drinks for our mobile bar
  • Meet-up with my w@wie friends from cyberspace

Upon arrival at SMX, we immediately looked for GQ’s booth. Again, Michelle was manning their station and she instantly remembered us from last week’s fair. We told her that we’ll finalize our drinks list already and so she asked the bartenders to attend to us.

To start off, a copy of the drinks list was handed to us together with their components. This is quite a daunting task as we are only social drinkers. Only a small dose of alcohol can already cause me some dizziness. We started with the household names (in other words, those which we are familiar with. haha!) like tequila and pinacolada. Then we asked for their hit drinks so we can try them also. Some of it we liked, some we just let pass. I did not forget to try on their shooters too, which by the way are just freebies in our package. And boy were they oh so yummy! One of the shooters even tastes like my favourite melon milk. I can barely trace the alcohol in it.  Adrin, on the other hand, tried their jello shots contained in syringes. I wouldn’t let it pass of course so I asked for some. Those were really good too and quite fun to consume. =)

As we were doing our drinks tasting, Nat went back to the booth with Mox in tow. At that point they are also decided to get GQ after trying out some drinks earlier, so while they completed the paperworks, she also took the chance to try different drinks with us. Not long after, Aiz and Jeron arrived. They were already at the fair the previous day so they just went there to meet us. With all the small talk going on between Aiz, Nat, and I, Adrin was left finalizing the rest of the drinks. Haha.

Cris is still nowhere to be found and we’re already done with GQ so we decided to have a quick bio-break to flush out all that alcohol. While waiting for the rest of the gang near the restrooms, Cris and Kim finally arrived. After some very long months of chatting online, I finally was able to meet all of them! They are no longer mere names and pictures that I talk to. Haha. As soon as we’re done with the introductions and pleasantries, Cris passed on to Aiz the w@w tags which we got for her as a surprise. And yes, she really did look surprised with what she was just handed with. Mission accomplished Cris and Nat! =)

After a few chit chats with the girls, we immediately prepared for the main agenda of the meet up, which is to decide on who goes first for our secret project. Really, it's a secret, so I'm not telling. :P As with other situations where I dread picking out a specific item or number, luck is always there to ensure that it comes to me. Yes, I’ll go first. No matter how anxious I get about it, there’s no turning back. I need to do it. It was a fair way of deciding our order anyway, so I can’t complain.

After our small game in the middle of a packed fair, we parted ways and headed out for the rest of our agenda for what’s left of that day. Pretty interesting bridal fair experience right? Not the usual drama of scouting and talking to suppliers. Let’s see what our story will be for the next one. =)

Cheers!


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Designer Meeting #5: Anna Ong for Jeff House of Fashion


Since we have already booked my gown designer, it's time to move to Adrin's and our entourage's attire. I also started researching for these two last year. It was at w@w where I first learned of Jeff House of Fashion. It’s a popular supplier for entourage gowns aside from the ones located in Divisoria. My inquiry with them months ago was attended to quickly and Anna, Jeff’s niece and his partner/assistant in the business, sent me their quotation for initial designs I sent.

It was last weekend when we had a meeting with Anna. I was armed with the new designs I had in mind for our entourage when we braved the Saturday traffic to reach JHF’s shop at Taguig. At first I was surprised to learn that Anna is actually not as young as I imagined. But she continued to be as pleasant in person as she was in our email correspondences.

I showed her my printouts of the new designs while she pulled out the initial ones I sent. She compared the two sets and confirmed that her initial quotation is still applicable to the new set. Upon seeing the pictures, she started pulling out sample fabrics, as well as her entire collection of swatches, and started explaining their differences. We learned that chiffon (my choice of fabric) has several kinds, and some are heavier than the others.  

Not long after we were talking about the timing from measurements, production, fittings, until delivery. Measurements start 6 mos. before the wedding date, and target completion and delivery is a month before the big day. We also asked about the payment scheme should we decide to close the deal.  

With all questions thrown and answered, we bade our goodbye to Anna with the promise to get in touch with her as soon as we decide to commission them for our entourage’s dresses. We're still thinking things through about this. I'll keep you posted. For the mean time, check out their works, you might like them too! =)


Jeff House of Fashion



Cheers!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Countdown: 12 months!


Reality check, it’s year 2013 and next is our wedding year already. Actually exactly 1 year from today, Adrin and I will walk that nave and get hitched. Weeee!



Since I consider this whole wedding preparations a project, here’s another checkpoint. First, let’s revisit my to-do list 6 months ago and see what we were able to tick-off.
  • Bridal Gown Designer > Hana Saab Tomacruz
  • Groom’s Attire
  • Blueprint for DIY Invitations
  • Hair & Make-up Artist > Val Villarin
  • Flowers Supplier > Scenta Creations
  • Engagement Shoot Moodboard
  • DIY Accessories (Wedding Cord-DONE, Prenup Accessories and Props)

Aside from the wedding cord, I was also able to finish some other DIYs  –
  • Coins for our arrhae
  • Wrist corsage for the Flower Girls
  • Rosaries for our Principal Sponsors
  • Bible makeover

And book several more suppliers:
  • Prenup Venue: Jardin de Miramar (c/o W@W auction)
  • Roving Photographer: Studio on Wheels (c/o W@W auction)
  • Wedding Rings: Goldenhills Jewelry
  • Auxiliary Photographer: Manny and April Photography
  • Mobile Bar: GQ Mobile Bar


So, what can you say? Though we missed almost half of the planned list, it was replaced by quite a few other items, and more importantly, some of them are DIYs. Hooray! We're successful in injecting selected personalized elements into our wedding! And we plan to do MORE! Whew, another fruitful phase of our wedding planning. :)

For the next 6 months, this is our to-do list:
  1. Groom’s Attire
  2. Parents' and Entourage's Attire
  3. DIY Invitations and Stationery
  4. Engagement Shoot Moodboard
  5. Actual Engagement Shoot
  6. Initial Food Tasting and Detailing
  7. More DIY Accessories

May we have the time and energy to accomplish them all. 'Til the next checkpoint!

Cheers!



Wednesday, January 16, 2013

We're Set to Party: Mobile Bar Booked!

Adrin and I couldn’t miss the first major bridal fair of 2013 that was held last weekend at PICC. We went there mainly to scout for a few items like lights supplier, bridal car, and mobile bar. We arrived at the venue late in the afternoon, and since we’re already experienced bridal fair goers, we immediately targeted the booths of suppliers we’re still looking for. We grabbed fliers, stopped at booths, talked to suppliers, but it’s the mobile bar that I was actually more interested of.

You see, before this event I already made my own research for mobile bar suppliers, and one of those in my list (GQ Mobile Bar) is a participant of the fair so I intend to try their drinks. Despite that, we still checked others and stopped by one of the booths since that supplier also offers competitive rates. The bartender was even nice to offer us unlimited package for the price of the consumable one. But we were not swayed right that moment, because I still want to check my researched supplier before making the decision.   

And after some more stops along the way, we finally reached GQ since their booth is situated right next to the exits. There we met Michelle, the owner, and learned that they already increased their rates a bit compared to what I was initially given last year. They handed Adrin a Mojito and me an Appletini for us to try. We also requested other mixes after that and we just love the drinks! They were so refreshing with just a tiny hint of alcohol. Soon we were discussing the package inclusions as well as the freebies we’ll get if we book them. Since it was our ritual to talk first in private to deliberate prospected suppliers, we excused ourselves from the booth and grabbed a quick snack from the hotdog stand in the place.


As we eat, first we compared the 2 mobile bars we tried in the fair. Since we liked the drinks of GQ better, and they rates are also more affordable, then they are clearly our pick. Next I told him of the other suppliers I was able to research. I told him that one is offering a cheaper promo rate but recent reviews are not available. Also, for us to try their drinks, we’d need to schedule a private drinks tasting with its owner.

Finishing our snacks, we decided to finally book GQ Mobile Bar. We went back to their booth and handed over our down payment. Adrin finished signing the contract and off we went for a quick date after.


GQ Mobile Bar
Tel No.: +63 999 8813406 | +63 920 9614240
Email: gqmobilebar@gmail.com
View Website


Cheers!


Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Good Start for 2013: Auxiliary Photographer Booked!


It was months ago when I had a bout of fickle-mindedness regarding changing our P/V supplier. I guess it’s hard not to get to that point if you are in a long engagement since you are exposed to tons and tons of suppliers for an extended period of time. I brought up the idea to Adrin and as I expected he’s not in favour of it. He’ll only agree changing suppliers if it will not cause any additional hurt to our already ballooning expenses. After actively searching for possible replacements, I was faced with the truth that pushing through with my idea is impractical. Not only do the prospected new suppliers have skyrocketing rates, our down payment to our booked P/V will go right down the drain. We can’t refund anything. Zero. Nada.

And that’s when I considered having an auxiliary photographer. It will give me the peace of mind of having pictures in the style that I want, and at the same time being more cost-effective in the very daunting game of wedding budgeting. I was able to secure Adrin’s approval and promised that I’ll only allot very minimal budget for it.

Fast-forward to 2013, as I welcome the new year, I was greeted with very good news too. Co-w@wie April, together with her husband Manny (who apparently is a photography enthusiast and hobbyist) decided to pursue Manny's craft and moonlight as wedding photographers. They started Manny and April Photography which offers auxiliary photo services during the wedding day, and also engagement and post-nuptial shoots.

Upon seeing April's parting and promotional message to the W@W community, I immediately checked their hot-from-the-press Facebook page. I saw a few albums with only 1 for a wedding coverage, but boy was I amazed with the talent that is clearly depicted in each and every frame. Next thing I know, I was already talking to April regarding their rates and availability for our wedding. I just knew, they are the right auxiliaries for us. I quickly secured approval from Adrin regarding the booking, and the following weekday I found myself depositing our down payment.

View Site

Everything was lightning fast! In less than 3 days since they launched their new endeavor, they are already our supplier. April even confirmed to me that we were their very first booked client! Excited much, I know. Haha!

Despite the couple being new into the industry, I didn’t have any qualms on getting their services because I know that suppliers who were once w@wies will always give their best and will not short change their clients. They just know by heart the importance and value of a wedding to the couple because once upon a time, they were in those shoes too. :)


Manny and April Photography


Cheers!