DIY: invite prototypes

I'm so tired from work but wedding preps is giving me a natural and unusual high so, I was able to make two prototypes for our DIY invites after work. My fiance sent me the layout for the main invite that we did so it's just a matter of me printing and assembling it into a nice pocket-fold invitation. 

materials from Binondo

I've read from w@w about this certain store that sells cheap paper products for invites and other wedding stationaries so I went last weekend. The store is called Techbros and it's located at #483 Yuchengco Street, Binondo. I bought a lot of stuff which cost me around a thousand bucks. Thanks to that metallic black paper that costs P91 a piece but aside from that, everything else was super affordable. Actually, even the metallic paper board is still very cheap as compared to the stationaries you find in the mall so overall, I really got the bang for my buck!

board papers for border and envelopes.

We still don't really know the specifics that we want for the invite. The size, border, envelope and how to actually execute it so I tried to print a sample and played with the two possible border/envelope that I've purchased in Binondo.

prototypes. i think i know which one will prevail

After half an hour or so, I was able to come up with two prototypes. I know for sure that we might still rework some of the details but these are ready for presentation with H2B later when I wake up. I have a feeling which one will he choose and I actually like that one too!!!

Hair and Make-up by Realm HMU

So I've previously booked Realm HMU at a bridal fair in SMX Convention Center. Even before that though, I've been communicating with them because they're the most affordable HMU supplier I've come across in the many research and bridal fairs I've attended. I was just waiting for them to join another bridal fair so I can avail of their discounts.

About a month or so before I booked them, I've been telling H2B that I wanna book them already because they are the most affordable and I really don't need a fancy make-up. (Later I'll tell you about my not fancy wedding gown too) But he keeps on telling me that it's too early to book HMU yet. When I saw them again in the SMX bridal fair, I really had to push him to say "yes". Well, it's my money anyway but we have to be at the same page of course. So finally, he said yes maybe because our date, church and reception have been finalized during the time. I had my trial make up during the bridal fair but I know that whatever the outcome is, I'm still gonna book them anyway. Budget I think is my main driver... so different from H2B because his priority is the quality of the output.

before the magic happened

I was observing the people in the booth. I want a team that have a good heart because this will make the wedding day much easier when the time comes. I didn't notice anyone having an attitude even with this particular bride-to-be who is playing difficult (who in the end, didn't book them anyway. haha!)

When it's my turn to seat on the magic chair, I was excited. They took my before shoot (above. eeeewww!) Then the magic started to happen. I was made up by Ludy Fernandez. I like how gentle her hands are. Usually, when someone curls my lashes, I feel a bit uncomfortable but with her, I don't feel any bit of that discomfort. She wasn't afraid of using colors and was actually happy when I said that we will be having a rock-inspired reception - gives her permission to use colors other than brown and bronze for the au naturel usual look of brides.

can't find my dark circles anymore :)

Ludy advised that I research on a particular look that I want and she'll gladly do it. During the time, I don't have anything on my mind but a few weeks after our trial make up, I now know what my two looks would be. I'm so excited already! :)

with Ludy - my fairy godmother

2nd ocular

B2Bs and H2Bs ought to know, when  in doubt, do an ocular! And whether you liked what you see or not, it's still worth the effort because you got rid of your doubts anyway.

It's the 2nd time I did an ocular this weekend. The first time was October last year when I went to Zambales to find a nice resort and church. After that ocular, I thought I found my wedding church and venue but after a few days, we realized that we're better off somewhere else.

This weekend, I dragged my friend Jan to accompany me while I do oculars in the South. We first went to Hotel Kimberly in  Tagaytay. I wasn't really planning on having a Tagaytay wedding because it's overdone but my friend's visit to their booth in a wedding fair got me intrigued and so I ended up visiting their Tagaytay branch. Much to my surprise, the hotel is actually prettier in person than in their website! (which rarely happens) I fell in love (or did I?) Their facilities and services are impressive! They got a thumbs up from moi.

Next stop was in Club Balai Isabel, famed by the Oyo and Kristine nuptials. The resort was nice but the staff, not very much. It was disappointing to experience first hand how their staff acted like novices in what they do. I thought, with a pricey rate like that, Balai should've trained their staff on how to provide superb service. Even with amazing facilities, I said to myself, I will never get married there because I won't get a bang for our buck.

Still not contented with our two stops, me and my friend still went  to San Juan, Batangas to check out Palm Beach Resort. In all honesty, I still want to have a beach wedding just because we both love the beach so we went there with high hopes that maybe, this is it! The road is newly asphalted, locals are nice and helpful and the weather was just perfect. Going to the resort, the road was challenging and I felt good... this is so us!!! We were off the beaten path, we were home! The resort facility was awesome too but the beach, not quite. The staff are accommodating although you could tell that they're not trained for it. I would've considered it except that there is no nearby church or chapel and that every move you make has a corresponding price to pay. Their staff also didn't have answers for me although I have emailed them my concerns already a few days before that ocular. So, we went home totally eXing the whole Laiya and Hugom beaches.

After I gave my report to H2B, he was already sold to Hotel Kimberly. But, I'm still not ready to let go of my beach wedding dreams so I said I'm going to look for Bataan or Aurora beaches when I get home. So I did research of a few beaches where I can have our wedding. Problem is, the beaches are still not that pretty for us to spend our moolah. We will be paying for their resort facilities not the beauty of the beach in front of their resort. We also noticed that hotel staff are way better than the resort people so Hotel Kimberly nailed the customer service part. Reality check also told me that it's hard to hold a wedding in a place where weddings are rarely celebrated at. Experience in holding weddings is key. As much as great customer service just because you'll be dealing with the staff way before your wedding date. Therefore, Tagaytay wedding it is for my "Breakfast at Tiffany's" inspired nuptials.

Next question is, among the different beautiful churches around Hotel Kimberly, which would give us the "This is it!" chills? Hope we can find out next week. Wish us luck! :)

P/V tipid tips

I've been reading a lot at Weddings@Work and the different bridal magazines. I love that it has become my online support group to all the craziness wedding planning has been. We are going to get married in less than 2 years and budget is so very much tight. By being part of the w@w egroup, I was able to get tips on how to save on your wedding suppliers like your Photo and Video. With these tipid tips, you don't have to settle on a low-priced, low-quality P/V just because you don't have a huge budget for it. So, here's my tipids tips c/o the different bridal reads and my trusty membrane. :)

First off, you need do to your research. Do the most extensive research especially on major suppliers. If you like the works of someone with a name in the business, you can take note of their "style" and by research, you can find new talents with the same approach as the Jason Magbanua's and Pat Dy's of the world. Sometimes, it's not about the experience. Sometimes, it's just about giving these fresh talents an opportunity to show-off so, give them a break and they will never break your bank. ;)

If you are really keen into booking the top of the line suppliers, you can still do that by altering their packages. Talk to these suppliers and customize a package that will suit your budget and always remember the magic word, HAGGLE.

Example, for photo and video, their packages usually include an SDE (same date edit) video, and/or an STD (save the date) video and/or pre-nuptial photoshoot and/or trash-the-dress shoot. You can opt to remove these stuff from the package to lessen the package cost. If you are really keen into having these prenups and AVPs, why not tap a hobbyist friend to do these for you? They will appreciate that you want to involve their talents in your wedding preps and most of all, their fee is just a nice meal at a decent place. Now that's a lot of moolah saved!

If you can't settle for fresh talents and really really can't shake off the prime suppliers, why not avail of their "services only". They usually offer their services even without the album and/or DVD package. This will actually cost a lot more in the future if you decide to put your pictures in a pretty album and have your raw videos edited nicely. But, you can save for these things after the wedding splurge... What matters is that you don't exceed your tabs especially if you can't actually afford it.

Hope these tips help you in one way or another.

And in true w@w fashion, HTH (happy to help) and happy preps!!! :)
W2B

church

So now that the date have been finalized, we are now looking for church options. We want to have a private and solemn wedding so we are looking for churches that are not crowded or not easily accessible for people, and is very quite.

Even before, I was sold on Paco Park Church. Even before Jay Contreras of Kamikazee got married there, I wanted to have my wedding in that place. I even dragged H2B inside the park and chapel (it was not yet dubbed as a church during the time) before he went overseas. The place has such unique history which suits our fancy for travelling. It was a former cemetery for aristocrats during the Spanish era which adds that morbid, rock and roll feel and hey, me and H2B are frustrated rockstars. We thought that not a lot of couple would not want to marry there because it's an old cemetery and that's also a selling point for me. I want to get married in a place where only a few couple got married. But as I go along my research and read forums and stuff, I realized, Paco Park Church is actually one of the famous churches where a lot of couples got married.

So now, I'm looking for other options. My sisters at w@w gave me a list of all church in the Metro so I'm not so worried. I still have a lot of time too. :) Right now, I'm interested in that chapel along Shaw Boulevard. I reside in Mandaluyong and pass by that chapel everyday when I go to work. Me and H2B also attended the dawn masses in that chapel before. I went their earlier. I went twice but it was close. Maybe next week, on a Sunday, they are open. Anyhow, at least I now know the name of that chapel. It's Archbishop's Palace at Villa de San Miguel. It might be our church! Yay! :)

love, love, love
W2B

excited much

I am probably the most excited bride to be on the face of the Earth, H2B pointed out. I couldn't agree more. Just days after the proposal, and it's like I have everything about the wedding ironed out. I just need a go from H2B and contracts will be signed pronto! Haha! Yes, I am overly excited. It's not healthy. It's adding pressure to H2B and I'm getting close to becoming a bridezilla!

So, even if I lowered down my wedding costs quotations, I decided to slow down my wedding preps and research. To chill out a bit because my Obsessive-Cumpulsive side is taking over me and it's not a pretty site to see. Haha! So there, the date is fixed - June 1, 2012 but I have to restrain myself from obsessing about it. H2B also requested me to not to book anything yet. Just let it rest until the year ends because he is also expecting "something" he might not be able to give his full attention to the things I consulth with him. I thought I couldn't do it but it's been two days and thankfully, Farmville is doing what I expect it to do, to veer away my attention from wedding stuff. Haha!

Anyway, this wedding thingy has been teaching me things. First, I learned how to be secretive. And now, I learn how to control my OC side. It's also making me learn how to appreciate money and how to budget and follow the budget religiously. Ok, the last one needs to be proven as the preps go along but I'm positive about this. At first, I couldn't understand when fellow W@Wies would advise me to "decide on your budget first". Am I not supposed to do the research first then come up with a quotation and provide the money for it? But as I go along this process, I realize that money is tight. That we can still have a nice, simple yet memorable and one of a kind wedding without going over our tabs. That, what's important, more than anything else is that I get to marry the love of my life. I was telling this to H2B a while ago and I couldn't help but well up. I even reached the point where I told him that I'll just wear a rented gown from a gnarly botique from our province and it really cracked him up. Haha! But you know, I would agree to whatever wedding our budget can afford as long as I get to marry him. It's been 9 years already. I just want to be with him. -emo much! haha!

love love love,
W2B

frantic

I know that wedding preps should be at a stand-still until October, when we scheduled to finalize things but I'm obssessed about wedding planning since H2B got me started on it. I was actually devastated the other day when we decided to rest the wedding talks for now so I was looking for ways to still make the wedding happen.

We were keeping the wedding thingy to us both because we are still unsure. We also don't want the pressure coming from both our families and more importantly, we want the decisions to come from us both and not influenced by anyone. But while I try to find ways and means to make the wedding happen, I had to 'fess up to my newly wedded friend and ask how much did they spent on their beautiful wedding. After having a happy chat with her, I realized that the quoatations I gave to H2B was off the roofs! So I had to recompute and right now, I'm still not reaching the P400,000.00 mark. It's a far cry from my initial quote of P600,000.00. I was so very excited! There might be hope for us! So later, I'm going to have yet another money talk with H2B. Hopefully, I wasn't just hallucinating when I came up with the "new" budget. Hopefully, H2B approves. Hopefully, 2012 wedding will still push through. YAY!!! :D

love lots,
W2B

dreams do come true

It seems not so long ago when H2B and I would casually talk about the so-called "happy-ever-after" and after going through some wedding-related stuff, it feels like we're so close to having ours.

We created this email address, astropink61@gmail.com solely for wedding stuff correspondences. Then I was inspired to use this account and blog about our wedding-related experiences and so the birth of "the journey to the BIG DAY".  We also used this account to join the famous and helpful W@W egroup and since then, I never felt so excited about this wedding thingy. :)

From that egroup, I got information on the upcoming wedding expo, how to start prepping, things to prioritize and consider and so on and so forth. I knew even before that wedding planning is a complicated task but I didn't know that it can be stress-free because every step you take closer to the BIG DAY, gives you an unexplainable elation. After attending the wedding expo at Megatrade Hall yesterday, September 9, 2010, I feel pretty overwhelmed at the task at hand. Me and H2B not only needed to worry about the wedding costS but also, we needed to make sure that the wedding is going to be the kind that we dreamt of. H2B is in Canada and we're kind-of keeping the wedding preps a secret for now so I can assume that I'll do most of the preparations alone. Of course, H2B will always be a video-call away and will always be there to discuss stuff and make decisions but I bet I'm still going to be dead-tired with all the preparations that I need to do all by myself. Not too mention that I have a lot of specifics that I want to incorporate in our wedding and I'm thinking that these would entail me to do-it-myself. I feel like drowning with the the prep-work that I needed to do but thinking about the whole picture and how beautiful our wedding could be, makes me want to jump right into all the chaos of our wedding planning. I'm still on high! I love you H2B :)

love lots,
W2B

ups and downs

All relationships have ups and downs. Heck, everything I guess have its ups and downs. Being with H2B since 2nd year HS made me accept the fact that we will have our bad days. Yesterday was a pretty bad one but it doesn't mean that today can't be any different.

After blabbing endlessly to H2B about our big day, I realized that yeah, he might be serious about this. So, yeah, I'm happy and we're ok now. Haha! I'm so excited that H2B will also make some DIYs for the big day. He agreed to take care of the song selection and AVP. H2B also agreed to chronicle what he's doing for the big day so you can expect posts from him too. YAY!!! I consider this a biggie 'cause H2B is such a hippie, he couldn't care less.  I think, because he wants to avoid fighting, he agreed to do these things. Props goes to moi for being a chatterbox. :)

So yeah, we're back to planning for the wedding. It's fun! It's exciting! It gives such a different high and H2B couldn't agree more. We're still at square one but stay tuned on how we will come through this... No budget yet, no church yet, no reception, no nothing. But in two years, we swear, this will be something. YAY!!! :)

love lots,
W2B