Do I still have time to post?

Ok. A few more days before the wedding and we've got a lot of stuff done in the past few weeks, at the same time it feels that there's a lot more stuff to do!

Just a recap on what has transpired:

1. As soon as Socs got home we passed by Matus and got our actual wedding rings. These guys remembered us after all this time and we didn't even need to show them our receipts to get the rings! (although we did have to pay the remaining amount hehe). They also offered to refurbish our worn out silver mock rings free of charge (part of their service). We got them back over the weekend and they are like new. They have got excellent customer service and would recommend them without a pause.

2. A few days later Socs and I had our prenup shoot with MangoRed. This was quite stressing as the plans regarding the shoot location and the concept behind it all started disintegrate due to circumstances. Everything was back and forth but I eventually found a location near our house and we went with it. We were not really able to coordinate with the photographers regarding this so we just stuffed the car with stuff that might be useful and relied on the genius that is MangoRed to pull us through.

We were not disappointed. These guys have it. They simply blew us out of the water with how they easily rolled with it. And based on the few photos I saw, it is going to rock! To say that they are good photographers is a grave understatement.

3. Another SNAFU situation came about in getting our supply of wines. I thought I had it all planned out, get a whole bunch of wine (which I've already tried before) from Barcino. I even dropped by to confirm if they had stock and how much lead time I had to give them. Long story short, there was a miscommunication so I dropped that option immediately. Socs and I went around our neighborhood and visited wine depots and bought sampler wines for tasting. Our wine tasting with friends fell through due to scheduling, but we managed to choose a wine we liked (even the kids liked it.... yes Socs' nephew and nieces were our expert wine tasters). But as I said, situation: normal - all fucked up, the wine depot did not have enough of the wine we liked. They had another wine available (I made sure by counting the bottles) from the same winery so we bought one, opened it and tasted it right there. Luckily we liked it better than our first option. Sold. Done. Thank you!

4. One thing that was not so stressful was the final food tasting with K by Cunanan. Some minor discussion regarding the linen and centerpiece was involved but everything was in order. No hassle.

5. One current issue I have is with the suits from Kingsmen. I got mine done in around 2 weeks, from measurement to final fitting, with no problem. I even had 2 suits made. For some reason, the schedule all got mixed up so we are having to wait for a few items this late in the game. I would have preferred everything to have been done sooner as this has been in motion for months already but we dropped the ball so I really can't complain much. Kingsmen could improve on following up the status of the suits considering the amount of business their customers provide them.

I would just like to add though that the tailoring is quite good and that the cloth makes a lot of difference in how the suit looks. So investing in a good suit is always a good idea.

one year past, 6 months ahead

Allan proposed a year ago today, and our big day is six months from today!

I stressed a bit when I realized there are only a few months left, but then remembered that most of the major things are already covered.  This is it!  Time to pick up the pace :)

second wind.

For a time I didn't know how to proceed.  I knew what Allan and I wanted, but I didn't quite know how we could get things moving in that direction.  We had all these ideas, but somehow it difficult to make things concrete.  There were major things that needed to be acted upon and something had to be done.

So, act on them, we did!

First of the things we did was change the reception venue.  Yes, we've said goodbye to the lovely and cosy Filipinas Heritage Library.  It was one of the toughest decision we had to make.  We were back and forth on it, until we just said, yes, we're changing.  Our main reason really is that the weather is very difficult to predict, and having an outdoor venue may mean stress for everyone involved if we were to second guess how things will be on the day of the wedding.  We had the option of putting up tents, but that ruins the feel of the Courtyard for us.  We could move to the Reading room, but that would be too small for our guests.

So we booked Top Shelf at Fully Booked High Street. Yup, Fully Booked.  I've tried to google and search the usual sites for wedding held there and have found none.  That could be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on how you look at it.  I'd like to think of it as something fun and something different.

Then we had to change our Wedding Coordinator.  I am all for Polly, our original coordinator, but she has asked her former coordinator, mentor and future business partner to take over.  We completely understand and we have no issues with it.  Especially since I've spoken to Amy Gotianse (of Forever and a Day) and we're just as happy with her being our coordinator.   One of the first things she wants to do is check out our venue and then we'll take it from there.

My most recent talk with a supplier was with our invites, Katrina Valenzuela from Village Projekt.   I don't recall how I found her Multiply site but when Polly said I wouldn't go wrong with Trina, I didn't hesitate.  She has actually sent me two designs for our invites already but I've informed her of the change in venue, and given her a better idea of what we were imagining the wedding to be so she's taken that and will work on something else, just to give us options.

My main hurdle in the past was trying to put everything together and not fully communicating them to my suppliers I think.  And then I realized, whats the point in finding established and creative suppliers if I don't feed off of their ideas and their expertise?  So thats what I did, I spoke to them and told them what we were thinking.  In the end, I'm a lot more energized and positive about where the wedding planning is going.

Details, details, details

I just made the necessary financial commitments to another one of our suppliers for the wedding yesterday. We've finally settled on booking K by Cunanan as our caterer after joining our friends Karlo and Mabelle for their food tasting.

I've seen sample setups and read good reviews about them on the net, and after tasting their food as well as seeing their setup first hand I knew we had to get them. Plus the fact that they fall right into our budget doesn't hurt.

Now comes the details...

Socs and I have only a vague idea of what our theme is and the inspiration for our reception. We are leaning towards a Mediterranean/Greek/Cyprus inspired reception from our time together in Cyprus. I definitely loved the ambience and food there (reached my goal of 150lbs with the help of good old Greek cuisine), I hope the caterer can help out in materializing our mental images.

It all seems to be getting pretty serious now and decisions have to be made. Up until now (or in the next few weeks) I have only reserved the necessary suppliers for our date. No discussions on anything yet. After talking stuff over with the caterer, I believe I need to coordinate with the venue as well. Then don't forget about the prenup... I need to gain 5lbs here (gym buddy anyone? ehehe).

Woohooo! Groomzilla on the way!

Dreaming Green

Ever since I found Eco-Chic Weddings by Emily Anderson, I've discovered more and more wedding-related sites that show how easy it is to have environment-friendly and sustainable weddings. Its all a matter of determining what you want and finding the right people who can help you source what you need.

As I read through these sites I find that yes, there definitely are numerous choices and suppliers who can give you want you want: eco-friendly, organic, handmade,conflict-free, recycled...the web is full of them! Unfortunately for me, the sites are mostly in the US. Even more unfortunate, cheap for them does not necessarily convert to cheap at home.

So, one of the challenges for our wedding would be to try to incorporate as much of these ideas as I can...no, make that, as much as Allan, my sister and my brother can (this bride will be organizing everything from miles and miles away).

Eco-Friendly Attempt #1: Reduce Paper Waste

The main thing that I'm hoping for is to be able to at least use recycled materials for the invitations. Locally (in Manila), I've only found one possibility and the prices are extremely budget-friendly. The downside is that we're a bit limited in terms of designs. I am also exploring sourcing the invitations here in Dublin. I've found Daintree which will allow me to choose and customize my own invitations and even print them at home. The downside is that this breaks our PHP budget.

I'm still in the process of thinking about other paper products like Table numbers, Programme, Missalettes...but I think those will be easy enough.

Eco-Friendly Attempt #2: Same venue for the ceremony and reception

This is something that we can't follow unfortunately. We've found the church we wanted and unfortunately the available venue is not what we're looking for, so sorry, I have to make up for it some other way.

Eco-Friendly Attempt #3: Use local flowers

I know absolutely nothing about which flowers are local and which ones are not. I tried recalling some of the flowers that my grandmother had in her backyard and decided that no, Gumamela and Santan do not make a very attractive bouquet. I'm sure though that there are other people out there who know far more than I do in this area, thank God!

There are other areas I'm exploring at the moment, but I realized I might end up giving away some details for the wedding that I'd like to keep secret...For now, these are what I'm working on. I'm wondering if other Filipina brides are wondering about the same things?

The Case of the Missing Childhood Dream

My homework for this week is to come up with an Inspiration Board that would include the colors I want for the wedding. When I finish that in time, I'll post it up here so that we'll have something to keep coming back to when we need ideas.

The hard part about this is related to what I've discovered since our engagement....Unlike other bride-to-bes, I don't have a clear photo of how my wedding is going to be. From the sites that I've been reading, it seems that brides use their wedding to unleash all of the fantasies and imaginings they've long had about their wedding. I recently ran across an article about Avril Lavigne's wedding being traditional despite her initial plans of going against the grain, her reason, she wanted the wedding she's dreamed of ever since she was a little girl.

So, in the hopes of reviving what may just be misplaced dreams of my past self about my future (bride) self, I have tried to dig deep to find what I want for my wedding:

1. It must be held at an old church, or one that looks old.
2. The church ceremony songs are sung beautifully by a choir with voices so heavenly, they'd bring tears to my (and everyone else's) eye
3. Music, good food and everyone having fun at the reception.

Its not much of a list, but it something. From the looks of it, #1 is most achievable and possible, #3 is something that I would hope for and #2 is just plain added expense.

One other thing that got me thinking, if most brides have dreamed of their weddings since they were kids, most of the weddings I'm seeing now have very similar concepts (and mine might end up that way too)....so does that mean that each of these women (us) were imagining the same wedding? Maybe they (we) were all made to watch one film that the same image and the same concept, and it has stayed with them (us) until adulthood...

Hmmm...my vote goes to Cinderella. Women who can work glass slippers are capable of brainwashing one generation after another.