I'm back! :)

we're finally back to civilization... not that im complaining ha... super ganda sa el nido. grabe... heaven on earth cya. my ideal honeymoon talaga. :) im sooo tanned now, para akong local ng palawan! hahaha

okay eto na... hihihi... i've been dying to blog about our wedding for the past few days (almost one week na pala kaming kasal! woohoo) but sadly, we didnt bring our laptops to el nido. (we had to make do with our psps to check mails and messages hahaha. hirap!)

before i begin, let me warn you that i have a VERY strong feeling that this blog will be super duper long. longest of all the long blogs i've written before! bwahaha :) dami ko gusto ikwento. sayang lang i dont have a lot of "behind the scene" pics :(

i'll start off with jan 26 - 10pm:

i had just arrived at the hotel. we were still doing a lot of last minute stuff that we (me and my sis) were only able to get to the hotel around that time. lui was there to check-in for us and to open our suite to Veluz' staff for them to setup my lovely gown. louise (MOH) also arrived around 10pm so si Lui lang tlaga tao sa hotel. hehehe kwawa naman si teddy.

ang bloopers pa talaga... kasi we said that we were not going to see each other the day before the wedding. e nung nasa lobby na kami ni sis paakyat sa room, nakita ko si lui! ahahaha syempre para akong spy na nagtago at tlagang tumakbo! bwahahaha nagulat nga yung bellboy e. all he could say was "ano nangyari?!" hahaha! syempre explain explain na lang kami afterwards ni sis. kakahiya! mukha akong addik! :)

albeit niko and bong's advice that i should hit the sack early and get some beauty rest, i still wasnt able to sleep. i hit the bed around 11pm... but my mind was wandering... plus the fact that i was feeling really sick. the stress and lack of sleep had already taken a toll on my health. i was having cough and cold the night before my wedding! oh no...

nyway, i think nakatulog ako around 2am na... since our call time was 7am, we had to wake up by 4am! anak ng tokwa naman tong si sis ko and si louise, tlagang ako pa ang pinagising ng 4am! hahaha. galit pa si sis dahil tumutunog yung alarm ko! sabi ko nga sa kanila nung breakfast "grabe kayong dalawa, di nyo man lang naisip na ako yung ikakasal. ako pa talga yung pinagising nyo ng una. kung alam ko lang, sana nagsolo na lang ako sa hotel! di ko pa kelangan gumising ng maaga!" bwahahah... they just realized that fact when i told them. hahah di daw nila naisip yun. mga lokaret tlaga! kainis! hmph :)

jan 27 - wedding day (this is it!!!)

eventhough i only had roughly 2 hours of sleep the night before, i dont feel tired. siguro ganun talaga kapag excited ka na :)

the first supplier to arrive was EDDIE BRUAN and his team. syempre mega setup na sila ng stuff nila! ang daming maleta!!! grabe... naglabas pa sila ng lamp /lighting which i dont have any idea for what. hehe di naman ata nagamit ni Tito Eddie :)

all in all, there were 3 of them who were doing the hair and makeup... Tito Eddie, Marina and one more lady. sobrang bilis nila gumawa! i think in a span of one hour, 3 na agad ang natapos nila (hair and makeup included!) we were able to get some shots of the different stages of the hair and makeup of the people in the suite. sobrang funny!!! hahaha will try to upload some pics!

the second team to arrive is Clarice and the An Event to Remember team. as soon as they arrived, they started working, getting all the stuff from me to hand over to them etc etc... sobrang professional nila. syempre si mommy Clarice, sobrang cutie. ang cute tlga nya magbuntis!!! by this time though, i dont know what else was going on coz Tito Eddie started doing my makeup na...

the first thing that stressed me out that day was my bouquet... during our mock, we had orange and red equador roses, plus yellow cymbidium and yellow calla lilies... we were supposed to change the yellow callas to mango callas but before the wedding, tisha already informed me that they were not able to get mango callas since malapit na daw ang valentines sa wedding ko and the importers do not allow imports in low quantities. dapat by bulk daw! but that was fine... the thing that really stressed me out was the orange equador roses... clarice showed me the orange roses that came in with the bouquet that day... hhhmmm how do i describe it? "lanta" yun lang... patay ang itsura as in di maganda... :( the choice that clarice gave me was either to stick with the orange lanta roses or go for the pink-orange carnations... e i dont like the orange roses tlaga so i asked clarice to find out if they can get carnations na mas orange pa ang color... sadly, wala na :( so eventhough i was really dubious that time, i told clarice to go with the carnations... (i couldnt imagine red equador roses, with yellow cymbidiums and calla lilies going well with pink-orange carnations... ) luckily, the bouquet looked nice naman... not as nice as the mock but okay na din. (lui kept saying mas maganda yung mock. he was so happy about the mock bouquet na sobrang nadisappoint sya sa actual bouquet ko. :( )

after clarice and her team, niko and her (hihi) team arrived naman around 9:30am. all dressed in pink (except for niko ha) they proceeded to the bedroom and started with last minute pressing of the gowns etc. :) sobrang love ko tong si niko. aside from the fact na batchmate ko sya sa la salle ang ganda ng ginawa nya shoes and bag for me. sobrang swak na swak sa oriental theme namin! he also did our pillows for the rings and the coins. sobrang ganda!!! with red brocade pa ha!! basta ganda...

the next team that arrived was threelogy. i think around 9:30 to 10am sila dumating. im not sure really coz i didnt have a watch with me that day! hahaha... as soon as they arrived, they started shooting. as in di man lang sila nagpahinga... the first person to approach me was cj. he just started shooting. sabi ko nga sa kanya "grabe di man lang kayo nagpahinga. diretso work agad."

threelogy's style was subtle. you wont feel that they're shooting you. except i think me, coz they were shooting right in front of me while i was sitting having my makeup done. hehe but aside from that, i didnt feel them at all. galing nga e! they captured a lot of moments that i thought was insignificant but when included in the onsite, sobrang nice pala :) galing galing talga...

the second stress factor i had that day was when my dad arrived in our suite. grabe nerbyos to the max ako. just hearing his voice made me want to stand up and run. hahaha... as most of you know, my mom and dad are separated. they havent seen each other for over 15 years. so tlagang lahat kami kabado on what will happen! actually the day before, i had lunch with my dad... he asked me what he would say to mom when he sees her. anu vah!!! tama bang ako ang tanungin nya!!! hahahaha kakaloka tlaga!

but i think everything went well... clarice and my sis were able to handle them well. nag practice march pa nga daw sila sa lobby. how clarice was able to pull that off, i dont know. galing tlaga nya. hahaha!

the next team to arrive was mimi and karl. si karl lang nakita ko kasi i think mimi started shooting the details na. hinahanap ko nga si mimi kay karl sabi ba naman "ako lang magisa today e" hahaha sira tlaga. kinabahan ako dun in fairness. hahaha :)

after that, everything just went in a blur na... ntandaan ko lang kumain kami ng kfc. hahaha... di ko pa nga makain kasi ninenerbyos na ako... some suppliers (like karl and mimi) sobrang cowboy, as in sa sahig na sila kumakain! sobrang nakakahiya nga e. tapos ako nakaplato pa with matching silver spoon and fork (care of AETR). feeling ko tuloy sobrang donya ako... hahaha. kahiya. :p

i also remember getting dressed... nandun si niko and mitch (i am mitch :)) to help me out. medyo naimbyerna ata si niko dear kasi yung suot ko, pababa ang hila hahaha. walang zippers. :) sabi nya lang "mental note. next time bawal ang hinihila pababa" hehehe. :) pinansin pa nila yung polka dots kong undies hehehe :)

by the time na sinusuot na nila veluz yung veil ko, iba na nararamdaman ko... i was feeling reaaallly nervous na... medyo tinatago ko na lang nga pero grabe nanlalambot na ako sa loob... it's really good that all the suppliers with me that day were all very kalog. it helped me feel less nervous :)

we had some pictures taken at the suite na din... bong said na kamukha ko daw si jody sta maria, sabay hirit ako kay karl "karl, jody na daw ako! upgraded na ako!!" (m&k said i looked like ara mina during our prenups hehe) sobrang hilarious din yung pictorials with bong and cj showing off their dimples and niko, wishing he has dimples.

bsta sobrang laugh trip talga!!! ang saya saya sobra :) it really pays that your suppliers are close na with each other sobrang gamay na gamay na nila ang kilos ng isa't isa :)

after pictorials at the suite, (ganda ng pics nila m&k!) we started to head out to the hotel! ako naman, pala-wiwi, i told mitch that i needed to go to the john ata... waaaaahhh! anak ng! ang hirap pala mag wiwi!!!! hahahaha!!! as in woman on top of the toilet bowl ang dating! anu ba yun!!! kahiya pa kasi mitch and the 2 veluz staff were assisting me. wwaaaahh dyahe tlaga :(

i rode the bmw to the church with my mom (si mom nga ba kasama ko? parang di ko na matandaan!!! hahaha) but before we got to the beemer (c/o ninong yupiton) i remember our shot sa elevator. hahaha. kala nyo ang dali lang nun?! kung alam nyo lang!!! it was one of the moments that i really regretted not having my camera with me :( kung nakita nyo lang si niko! parang ballerina ang dating! bwahaha :) imagine the small lift, with me on one side and bong, niko, cj, jenn and somebody else on the other side (i cant remember who else was there... i think veluz and m&k was there also)... jenn was at niko's right side and cj naman sa left. ang itsura ni niko? parang naging S shape yung body nya! hahaha.... kawawa naman cya :) pero sobrang funny tlaga nun! :)

at the church, iniwan nila akong lahat sa car... i had a good view of the people around me, yung mga late, mga nagmamadali, mga pretty and sobrang poised pa din kahit in a hurry na. heheh :) i even saw my baby Gabby sa may labas... di ko talga natiis and i called our yaya to bring her near the car's door. (thanks mimi for that wonderful shot)... veluz knocked on my door and asked me how i was doing... gusto kong sumigaw "naiihi na naman ako!!!" bwahahaha.. ewan ko ba. sobrang excited na ata ako. pero cyemrpe i said, im okay... haha pa demure kunwari... pero grabe... that time, my insides were a mess na talaga... as in naiiyak na ako na nanlalambot na di mo malaman!

and then the moment of truth na. as ms. v likes to call it "that moment". they came (ms v and niko) to get me ready in front of the church door. eto lang masasabi ko... wala na akong matandaan kung ano man ang mga napagusapan dun!!! all i can remember is crying... bakit ako umiyak? naisip ko si gabby ko!!! hahaha babaw. but really, naisip ko doggie ko, and the fact that i wont be living at the house na... and hearing strings minstrel playing canon in D made me really really cry. as in hagulgol ako. kakahiya nga kasi bong was taking shots of it!!! yikes!!! and i kept saying before the wedding pa naman na i dont want to cry. pero yun na. di ko na tlaga mapigilan... then string minstrels began playing "panunumpa" ms v asked kung yun na ba ang bridal march ko. i said yes. and then blank. haha... i dont remember na... i just remember the church door opening slowly.

as soon as the church door opened, i wanted to start walking na. buti na lang ms. v was there. as in sigaw cya "not yet!!!" so tayo lang ako dun... i heard ms v saying "clarice, yan na. after 1 and half years" hahaha then i remember clarice saying "ay pucha, almost two years po yan. march nagbook yan e!" hahaha... all i can tell them was "thank you!" yes, i shouted thank you. but i dont know if they heard me or not. e wla na ako masabing iba e.

when the church door opened, i could hear the oohhhss and aaahhs of the crowd (that's the reason i got SOJ... because of their beautiful door!!! hahaha babaw ko tlaga!), when i heard that, i felt more composed. show time! this is it... then i started walking. as soon as i started walking, everybody (suppliers) began shouting "slower" "walk slowly"... ang bilis ko pala!!! the word "slow" registered in my mind... pero my body cant seem to follow!!! ewan ko baaaaa!!!!! kahit anong gawin ko, i cant seem to control my pace. i was looking for lui but i cant seem to find him!!! asan asawa ko?! :)

then, i saw my mom, she was crying... i asked her why she was crying (duh) and i began crying again!!! siguro mahirap tlaga for us... it had been the three of us for so long (me, my mom and my sis) that it's really hard to finally let go. :'(

then we were there. lui was there... my mom and dad handed me over to lui... (with clarice shouting directions hahaha) then we were on our way up to the altar. shet! may stairs nga pala yung SOJ. i nearly tripped. wahhh! i was holding my bouquet in one hand and the other hand was holding on to lui... i didnt have an extra hand to hold my skirt! buti na lang di ako nadapa. if not, 2 na bloopers ko!!! hahah...

the ceremony started... lui didnt say anything so i had to ask him "ganda ko no?" dun lang nya sinabi na oo. sira tlaga yun!!! hahaha :) sobrang nagpapak- serious... hahaha.

we were supposed to get father erick, but days before the wedding, we found out that he cant officiate our wedding na because of his expired license... we only found our priest on Wednesday! his name is Father Manny, and he's so funny :p ang bilis bilis bilis nya! can you imagine a 5 mins homily?! and i thought that it will be longer than that!!! tapos may bloopers pa kami... i cant keep pace with him that i wasnt able to read the misalette saying "join your right hands" and i heard was "right hands" so i automatically assumed that we had to "raise our right hands" aaarrrgghhh!!! kaloka! hyang hiya ako. buti na lang cute ko dun sa shot nila threelogy. bwahahaha!!! after that, Father Manny made sure to tell us exactly what to do before we did anything. as in coaching to the max na cya!!! hahaha :)

after that, contract signing and marching out as mr. & mrs. everyone was smile expectantly to us... ang daming sasalubong sa amin. then clarice started counting 1, 2 3, and then pop, cheers and thud. pop for the poppers... thud for the mentos hitting us HARD. i dont know whose idea was it to put candies in the confettis! ang sakit ah!!! hahaha :) but it was nice... sayang lang it was windy kaya di bumagsak lahat ng poppers, yung iba linipad. plus yung iba matigas, nd nila naputok sabay sabay. so we had three consecutive pops. by the third one, nagtinginan na lang kami ni clarice ang taas ng kilay nya. hahaha :)

after that, clarice ushered us to the side of the church. baka dumugin na daw kami ng guest. there, our pictorials started... with the balloons :) if you look at threelogy's video carefully, there was one shot where the balloons were behind us... if you dont know, jenn was there behind us. hahaha. she was the one holding the balloons. napagtripan ata ng threelogy and m&k hahaha! :)

cj also did this very funny antic of being carried away by the balloons, ala na, lui liked the idea so much na talon na talon na sya during the pictorials (pano ka di pagpapawisan nyan ha?!) hehehe...

afterwards, they were talking about different locations for the shoot and someone came up with the idea of the talahiban (i think it was mimi)... so we went into the car and was surprised to see mimi, cj and bong walking all the way to the talahiban. (di po cya malapit pramis. it was past the bus terminal beside soj) it was super windy that i can imagine mimi having a hard time with the balloons talaga! hehehe :)

there, mimi came up with the idea of separating the balloons for the pictorials (individual flying balloons rather than one bunch of balloons - which was my original idea by the way) but from there, the idea of balloons being flown away came up. i dont know how it happened basta one idea came after the other. at the end, it was really a great great shot. :) another moment that i really regret not having my camera. sobrang cute nila tingnan... m&k and threelogy all lined up squatting, each holding a balloon or two... planning when to release the balloons, checking if the wind is okay... ang galing :) conspiracy tlaga :) i couldnt see what was happening because they told us to kiss na... i just remember hearing all of them shouting "1, 2, 3 *pause* 4, 5 ang galing!"and the end result? great great great shot... :) hahaha... before the release, meron pa nagsabi, one take lang to. do or die... kung hindi nakuha. kelangan habuli ang mga balloons hahaha :) sobrang saya saya :) i way dying to see the shots of mimi pero of cors.... bawal ulit :) hahaha.

after that, i asked them if we could go to 1Esplanade because i really had to go to the bathroom again! by this time, it was lucre who was 'assigned' to me. so she was with us whereever we go. wawa nga cya e. pero she's so patient. kakahya lang sa kanya kasi sya napapagod.

the first glimpse i got of balay kandila's setup, i was delighted. ang ganda!!! :) wahahaha. di pa daw tapos yun sabi ni clarice. gusto ko nga sabihin, pwede na po yun... :)

ayyyyy... i forgot to mention, eddie bruan was there with me all the way.... he was there to retouch me before i entered the church, during the pictorials in the church and during the pictorials outside the church. he was also there in 1Esplanade to retouch my makeup. sabi nga ni clarice super lakas ko daw kay tito eddie kasi usually hanggang hotel lang cya. it was somebody else who does the retouch. i asked tito eddie to join the reception, pero ayaw nya e... but he was there before we started with the program. super thankful ako sa kanya. as in :)

ano pa ba kwekwento ko? actually dami pa!!! ahhh!!! TIP!!! please rehearse your dance with your gown in your venue before the program starts... grabe buti na lang we did, kung hindi disaster tlaga kalalabasan nun! i couldnt turn with my train in the way. so i had to hold the train every time i turn... buti na lang we practiced tlaaga. jenn was there to take shots of the rehearsal. jenn, wag mo na sasama yun ha... medyo nakasimangot ako nun e. stressed kasi bwahaha :)

the program was delayed a bit... because of the heavy traffic due to closure of roxas blvd. sighs... but at least we served cocktails and we had the clique booth outside!!! the clique booth was a mighty success... as in a lot of people were lining up for it... it was a hit!!!! we got so many good feedbacks from our guest. kakaiba daw and one of a kind (buti na lang pumayag si lui. haha nahirapan pa ako convince cya at the beginning. :))

the program started at around 7pm... one hour later than planned. we entered, we danced, we cut the cake (argghhh i should have taken that one slice of cake with us to our table), we toasted, speech and toast were given by the MOHs, and prayer was said by Vincent. afterwhich, we had the photo buffet. everything went by smoothly... mabilis yung photo buffet :) magaling si mallory... and eventhough di ko masyado napansin, i think string minstrels did a wonderful job! :)

we didnt get to eat much (correction, we didnt eat at all!!!) ... kasi by the time the photo buffet and vip table hopping was done... most of the people were in their dessert na... clarice and mitch were worried that the guests might start leaving soon so they asked us if it was okay to proceed with the program. it was fine with us so that's what we did.

after the table hopping, i think m&k showed their onsite slideshow... ang ganda. i was teary-eyed by the end of the presentation... sobrang captured ang moments. galing talga nila m&k. walang kupas. kaya nga supplier of the year e!!! :)

after that, bachelor and bachelorette games... coincidentally, it was my bestfriend dave and my sister catherine who won the games :) hehehe.... ang saya saya nun. i slid the garter as high as i could in my sister legs. tili ba naman ng tili. but she said she knew it was me because the hands were soft and cold :) me! :) hahaha...

then afterwards, i think onsite video na ng threelogy... grabeeeeee hagulgol na naman ako to the max. at first i was okay. but when i saw that my sister cried during the wedding, hala iyak na naman ako!!! wah.... sobrang ganda ng video namin. wala ako masabi... some shots were captured by cj just before we started with the reception... sobrang galing at nahabol pa nla. then some shots naman first dance namin... ang galing. di ko lam kung pano nila isiningit yun ng ganun kabilis!!! wahhh!! our song was "man & wife" it was suggested by bong a day before our wedding. i havent heard the song before but i said okay to bong :) hehehe... i trust him naman e :) bsta ganda ng video... you have to see it to believe how great it is :) i love it!!!! (at time of bloggin, ive watched the video at least 15 time... mimi, hingi ako ng copy ng onsite!!! para iba naman panuorin namin hahaha!)

kainis lang, the couple's speech came right after the video! e humahagulgol pa ako at tumutulo pa ata uhog ko nun!!! i was crying so hard that i couldnt say a thing! ironically, we practiced our speech before the reception!!! but i couldnt say a word na... so i just dictated my speech to lui (i was standing behind him hahaha) and when i tried to say something, i couldnt. i just cried all over again. i even forgot to thank my friend abigael enriquez for the wonderful clique envelopes that she did for us! i also wanted to thank the suppliers one by one... but i couldnt say anything else except "thank you to all our wonderful suppliers" or something like that :) hahaha :)

sabi nila mimi and bong, naiyak daw sila cj and karl. hahaha :) pati daw si mama benz naluluha. hahaha nahawa sa akin.

after that, the reception ended and we were saying our adoos. picture taking din with friends and family. grabe! touched ako with my male barkada!!! lahat sila naka suits! ang gwagwapo!!! kakatawa nga e. nagsolo solo pic pa sila with me! o diva celebrity ako nun!

after almost everybody left na... we had our picture taking outside 1Esplanade with the fireworks (c/o melbrian). staged fireworks yun :) kasi it's not enough for an entire show... so we just lighted the fireworks for pictorials lang talga :) di ko lang makita masyado kasi si mama benz e!!! she kept shouting "bawal tumingin!!" uwaaahhh hahaha :) pero ganda nga :) sabi nga ni ms clarice mas okay daw pala pag staged fireworks kasi controlled yung shots :) hihihi...

after the reception, we had a final meeting with clarice. then we headed back to the hotel. grabeee sobrang gutom na kami ni lui. we were having fun in the suite with lui carrying me around the room but bloopers as it can be, kumulo tyan ko. hahaha talk about destroying the mood! hahaha :) buti na lang josiah's set aside food for us. dun lang namin natikman ang pagkain!!!

ayun lang... wala na ako masabi hahaha! (haba na nito ah!) sabi sa inyo magiging super haba nito e. gusto ko lang isulat lahat para meron akong babalik-balikan :)

another bloopers lang... pagkagising namin ni lui the next morning, umiyak lang naman ako.... hahaha sabi ko miss ko na si mama and si gabby. hahaha. bloopers tlaga!!! :D natakot nga si lui kung ano na nangyayari sa akin. hahaha.. dyahe. :)

supplier ratings to follow!!! :D

Finally Married! :)

After almost two years of preps, it's finally my turn to say... We're finally married!!!! :)

Im dying to write my wedding kwento and ratings!! but we're off to el nido tom... i promise to write it as soon as we get back!!!

for the meantime, please visit our wonderful onsite. :)

i love our wedding!!! sobrang saya! may bloopers lang talga! bwahaha :)

ciao!!!

exhaustion @ 6 days to go!

the past few days had really went by in a blur. so many things need to be done before D day... im just way past exhaustion. but im still okay. carry pa naman :)

so far, the souvenirs, we've already covered. all swans are in boxes and ready to go. hehe. took us more than 3 days to finally finish everything...

we've already started with the kitkats. so far, based on estimate, we're in our 200th kitkat. hehe. so we still have 100 more to go! you should have seen our work area (which is basically the floor of our entire living room!) we have strategized our work and created an assembly line! sayang lang i wasnt able to take picture coz im so tired to get up. (sakit na butt ko!!!)

we've also covered some of the requirements for the chinese wedding, well only the MOST important parts - dowries are in check, lantern are in place, mirror check also... i dont know what else we need. some new things just seem to pop up every day. (and i thought we were not going to have a chinese wedding!!!)

entourage also had their fitting yesterday... (sorry cant post pic now medyo mabagal kasi connection). im okay with the dresses... not as i expected it to be, but still nice na din. pwede na. :) will post pics as soon as i can.

first dance - we had a choreographer come in today to help us with the dance... hhmm overall, i think it's okay... but im not too happy with it... im planning to change bits and parts of the choreography and hopefully will put in some essence of 'candy' into it hehe.

avp songs - God help me. since lui totally washed his hands clean of any of the decision making for the songs, im having a hard time deciding! good thing mimi suggested that they choose the song for us. surprise daw. im totally fine with that!!! i was really hoping she'd say that...

as for threelogy, i do have a list of songs na. ill send it to them soon. same thing with mimi and karl, if they have other songs in mind, ill be more than willing to give them total free reign! :)

tomorrow, meeting with balay kandila, clarice and josiahs...

OMG... my back is killing me. i better go to sleep na! ciao :)

Wedding Updates - 1 week to go na lang!!!!

list of suppliers muna:

Church: Shrine of Jesus - dp ok
Reception: 1Esplanade - dp and installment ok (will wait for next payment due)
Bride's Designer: Veluz - 50% paid (50%+3.5k pending)
Groom's Barong: Veluz - dp ok
Coordinator: An Event to Remember - dp ok
Cake: Alex Franco - no dp needed
Music: Strings Minstrels - dp ok
Hair and makeup: Eddie Bruan - dp ok
Photographer: Fotogra - dp ok
Videographer: Threelogy - dp ok
Caterer: Josiah's Catering - dp ok
Event Stylist: Balay Kandila - dp ok
Entou Flowers: Mang Boy Mahusay - dp ok
Emcee: Mallory - dp ok
Honeymoon: El Nido Resorts - dp ok
Souveneirs: c/o Auntie Vilma from US and Clique photos - dp ok
Entou gowns: Farely - fitting done!

that's my supplier list so far... here are the pending items (in no particular order):

1. 2nd and final fitting with veluz... have to lose weight na tlaga. seryoso na. :) - had my fitting last december... will have another one right around the corner :) email me if you want to see the photos :)

2. maker of invites - we decided on Unifair Invites... Unifair Invites are cheap but good, that's why we decided to get them. we already selected our invites layout all we have to do is give them the complete details :)

nov: still haven't gotten the proofs yet... hopefully will be able to get them early next month so that when we go back in dec, distribute na lang namin...

jan: we got our invites last january 5... im not too happy with the map that unifair has printed for us... and the quality of some of the invites are not that good... more on this on my suppliers' ratings...

3. look up entou gowns designs we have finally finalized the ento gowns designs and they already went and gotten their measurements taken na din... for the designs, please click here

4. meet with Alex Franco regarding design of cake - finally met with alex and discussed the design and the flavor of the cake... i had so much fun during the meeting! hehe. for the design of the cake please click here

nov: i was able to try the actual cake during the W@W party... sooobrang sarap :D

5. trial makeup with Eddie Bruan - done! the wawies were raving about my makeup! im soooo glad they all loved it. please search my blog for pics ;p

nov: had Eddie do my makeup for the W@W party... lui liked it... i dont like lang the hair, medyo minadali kasi. (more on this on my W@W party kwento coming soon hehehe)

6. prenups with Fotogra - done! please see 'prenups' in my blog for the whole kwento :) also check out www.mimiandkarl.com for the pictures :D

nov: had another set of prenups during the W@W party. sobrang kapagod... will compile all the pics and will post here soon.

7. to clique or not to clique? - we cliqued!

nov: sobrang saya ng clique! si lui nga sobrang tuwang tuwa to think that he wasnt too sold on the idea of having a photo booth before. pero ngayon, go na go na :D

8. final menu for josiah's - done! we finally selected our final menu list from josiahs and had another food tasting with them (pwede isa pa? hahaha) we were also able to get the dessert buffet and the cocktails from them :)

nov: so happy to be able to see josiahs in action. sobrang sarap tlaga ng mongolian bbq nila!!! hehehe

9. final list of entou and principal sponsor - done na din! :) well except for one more ninong... will post the complete list soon :D

nov: finally finalized hahaha

10. final guest list -

nov: errrr....

jan: almost done... almost but not quite. we're targeting to finalize the guest list and the seating arrangements by wednesday...

11. music for on-site video - still choosing... hirap

nov: short-listed 4 songs... will contact bong soon to ask his opinion :)

jan: i sent my list of songs to mimi for her perusal... she replied and asked me if they can make it a surprise na lang. hehe since the songs i chose were already 'gasgas' na daw! hehehe

for threelogy, im yet to send the list. but im also willing to let them choose the song :)

12. send clarice documents for church requirements sent!

nov: had our pre-cana seminar in San Agustin last Nov. 24. also gave my certificate of freedom to marry na din to Clarice... pending na lang docs ni lui and the banns.

jan: finally!!! finally we had submitted all required documents to soj na and were able to pay the balance the din. we also finished our canonical interview na! hayyy... thank you Lord!!!

13. confirmation - done! did it when i went home last june :D

14. music for strings - done! :) we're going for bossa nova hehe

15. event stylist / florist we're getting balay kandila for event stylist!!! so happy :D and of cors the ever famous mang boy for the bouquets :) for pic of my bouquet, please click here

nov: we're expanding! we're getting two halls in Esplanade instead of one. Still balay kandila pa din ang event stylist namin. (of cors) hehehe

16. gifts for principal sponsors - we decided to get cakes from alex franco (smaller version lang ha) plus something else. the cakes we've already ordered, the something else, we still have to find out what hahaha.

17. give-aways - clique photos

nov: auntie vilma from the US sent a mock of the souveneirs that she prepared for our wedding. sobrang touched ako sa kanya as in...

jan: we've finally finished putting each 'swan' into boxes, tie the ribbons and put our stickers on it! hehehe. whew.

18. cocktail menu - done! c/o josiahs!! yipee

nov: will buy choc balls from mustafa to add to the cocktail menu hehe.

19. groom's barong - they'll have the fitting today. hopefully i'll get the sketches from Veluz

20. groom's shoes - lui bought his shoes last december hehe

21. mothers' gowns - fitting today and tomorrow with Veluz! Hopefully ill be able to get the sketches din! hahaha

22. honeymoon - we paid the downpayment na :) we're heading to... EL NIDO! wooohooo!

jan: we still have to pay the balance... i didnt know that we're supposed to pay the balance ONE MONTH before the actual trip... wahhh

23. meet with mananahi for entou gowns (farley of clarice) - done na din although i didnt really meet farley... yung entou lang hehe

24. fabrics for gowns - oki na! lui went to buy the barong fabrics for the ninong and male entou and the shantung fabric for the ninangs naman! :) haha i cant wait for his whole kwento on his divi trip!

25. hotel for preps -nov: we booked Pan Pacific Hotel na... di sobrang bonga pero nice naman :)

26. wedding rings - we bought our goldheart celestial wedding bands! :) will post pics as soon as i get them!

27. emcee - we got mallory! sabi clarice galing daw nya e :)

28. lcd projector - c/o balay kandila

29. charlie's pritchon

30. lights??? - c/o balay kandila

31. ke-tsung requirements

32. save-the-date - nov: dont think we'll have this na... hehe kulang na sa time e.

jan: as a last minute resort, i created our save the dates and sent them to our friends immediately... hehe :)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

update as of nov: almost done na... 2 months to go... im excited and at the same time anxious di ko maexplain... almost the final leg na :)

update as of September: almost done!!! kaso we found out that there are a lot of problems with Lui's papers so he had to go back to Manila and go to city hall to process his papers... hopefully they'll come out in time for our marriage license!!! naku po...

btw, we had another wawsg EB, this one in Mitch & Jun's house! :)

the wawsg cast :) (less jon coz he's the one who took the pic! hehe)

for more pics please click here >>> wawies sa sg!

update as of August: we were able to accomplish a lot this month... but still have a lot more to go... sigh... wish us luck! hopefully we'll be able to go home in november...

update as of July: we changed our motif to fall colors. so basically, aside from red and gold, we're adding tangerine and yellow. :) so happy!!!

catching up @ 9 days to go

i havent been able to update my blog for the past few days coz i flew back to manila last wednesday and had been running around doing wedding preps

here's a recap on what has been happening for the past few days:

jan 15 - met up with my wawsg friends for dinner... it was the very first time that i felt nervous about the wedding. hahaha dun ko lang nafeel na sobrang lapit na pala tlaga ng wedding!!! kaloka!!! hahaha

jan 16 - flew back to the phils. as soon as i landed my mom told me that we had to go to rob place manila to buy some stuff (yes my mom is talking to me na! hehehe she texted me on tuesday telling me that she's picking me up... hehehe). by 'stuff' she meant things that i have to buy to bring to lui's house! (pillows, towels, etc) haha i was in total shock.. so many things to do pala before you get married!

jan 17 - after my mom showed me the things she already bought as my 'dowry' (which is really a lot! i dont know how we will fit all of them in lui's room!!! hahaha) we headed to divisoria to look for ribbons, fans and what nots! its the first time i've been to divisoria for a veeeerrry verrry long time and it was very er unique experience :) at least it wasnt as crowded and as muddy as i remembered it to be. oh!! i also got my first checking account! can't wait to sign my first check! hihi...

after divi, we went to ongpin to buy some 'hee' and some red packets to give to entous and suppliers... by this time, i am close to fainting from hunger! but my mom was really on a roll!!! (good thing my other relatives are not coming until later, so they wont be able to tell me what i need and need not do. kaloka!!!)

when we finished buying stuff in ongpin, we headed home for lunch... i thought our work is done for the day. but noooo... my mom instructed me to put the souvenirs into boxes and to put ribbons on them - as you may recall, i mentioned in a blog posted previously that my auntie's friend gave me souvenirs as her wedding gift - so now, we had to put each souvenir into boxes and tie them up with ribbon to make it look more interesting! anu vaaaahhh... kapagod!!! (my role now is "candy, ang babaeng walang pahinga!!!" bwahahaha!)

soo, you think after all that i'll be able to rest na?! well, you're wrong, my mom again, dragged me to rob place to do some last min shopping (apparently, aside from the 'dowry', the bride also has to have at least 12 pairs of new clothing! eeehh i didnt buy anything from singapore! i think i tried on so many clothes that i was begging "no more!!" from my mom! hahaha)

at the end of all of that, my head was in tremendous pain!!! by 11 pm i was dead asleep! hahaha... first time for me really.

jan 18 - while i was waiting for lui to get to our house, i was going thru my list of songs for the avp and onsite and trying to shortlist it (really!) it is really painful for me!!! hahaha i cant decide talaga!

lui arrived at our house and we were just hanging out at the house, passing time, before we head out to shrine of jesus for our canonical interview. lo and behold, clarice called me up... the first thing she asked me was "ms kendz, nakaupo ba kayo?" when somebody greets you with a question like that, you know it can't be good news...

wahhhh!!! apparently, our priest to be, father erick, cannot officiate our wedding ceremony cause his license has already expired and he cant renew it on time... uwaaahhh... so to make things less complicated, we just told clarice that we'll 'settle' for soj's priest... apparently, soj doesnt have an inhouse priest (according to the lady in soj office) and we have to call them on sunday to check if they are able to find a priest to officiate the wedding!!! anuu vahh :( problems problems problems. tsskk.

anyway, silver lining is - the canonical interview went well. i was so anxious before the interview that i even asked some wawies on what questions are going to be asked during the interview. but apparently, my worry was needless. coz everything went well. i actually enjoyed the interview... :)

anyway, thats all for now. will try to update as much as possible.

grabbbeeeeeee lapit na!!!

frustration @ 14 days to go

just when i thought that everything was going well, my mom and my sis starts refusing to talk to me.

argh!!!

it all started when we were distributing the invites... my mom kept wanting to invite more and more people. more than what she initially told me. and it was just getting too frustrating! my sister is mad because she's getting caught in the middle - trying to defend my side and trying to tell me what mom wanted her to tell me. my mom is mad coz she cant get her way. i told her from the start that since we are on tight budget, we only want her to invite those that are really close to us. i pleaded that she dont invite her friends that i have hardly seen in my entire life! i thought we had an understanding... apparently not. :(

how will i make her understand that extra invitations is NOT = to extra seats?! huhuhu

sigh i dont know what to do anymore :(

if they still refuse to talk to me until tuesday, im going to stay in a hotel on wednesday. i refuse to go home and beg them to talk to me (which i am already doing now thru text)

and my ulcers are acting up now :( really is getting very frustrating.

sighs

surprise @ 15 days to go

i really wasnt expecting that i'll have a bridal shower party here in singapore after the one i had last night, the one i had yesterday was already a treat for me...

but lo and behold, i had another one today... this time with my friends from my good old days in pricewaterhouse in the phils! (4 of my good friends from pwc are here in sg for a VERY short visit)

i was completely taken by surprise(sure, i saw che taking out the balloons from her room downstairs, but nevertheless...) i knew they were cooking up something... why would che knock on her own bedroom door to let our visitors know that she is coming in?! hahaha! but i was trying my best to pretend that nothing was happening! (hehe i didnt want to spoil all the hardword they put into preparing this bridal shower)

but the thing that struck me the most is how prepared they all were! they even had the time to text lui and ask him questions for one of the games. (we had to have the same answer or i have to take a shot of tequlla) they even prepared different games etc. :) aimee even asked me to watch a movie that i knew she didnt like, just to give che and the gang ample time to prepare for the party!!!

again, i had sooo much fun! this time is different coz it was in our house and it was an all filipino group, so we had a lot of things to share ;p

again, i am a little tipsy... had my fare share of tequilla ( i have to scold lui about his answers when i get home to the phils eheh) but what the heck! i wanted to get drunk. considering that i have NEVER been drunk in my entire life!!! hehe but apparently, im still not.

thanks che, ayms, karen, lorena, klein and marla for the incredible party :) thanks thanks thanks.

see you in the phils and at the wedding! :)

mwahs!!!

p.s. btw, we already submitted lui's baptismal cert to SOJ! yeeeeeeyyy!!! and we're going to have our canonical interview on the 18th. yes! this wedding is going to push thru. there's no stopping us now! woohoo!!!

party @ 16 days to go

i had my hen party / bridal shower tonight with my ofcmates. i had a blast! hahaha... im a bit tipsy now but i really had a great time!!!

thank you very very much to aimee for preparing everything, the reservations, the games, the activities, everything. thank you soooo much! :)

thanks to my bosses, vicky and alex for coming and joining the fun :)

thanks to my friends, monica, neah, wu xiu, kasturi and alys for being there... really had a blast with you guys!

now i think i have enough kinky supplies for my honeymoon! bwahaha..

shall i put the walking thingy in the ofc?! LOL!

thanks!!!! mwah!!!

delight @ 17 days to go

i was soooo delighted to find out this afternoon that i lost 5pounds since i got back from the philippines! 5 pounds in 1 week! woot! :)

now i lost the pounds i gained over the holidays plus some... i guess the worry, stress and sleepless nights had a lot to do with it :) plus my very strict trainer! hahaha pamatay yung workout namin. my legs turned to jelly by the end of our session today! lol!

5pounds down, 5 more to go! woohoo! :)

confusion @ 18 days to go

bwahaha!!!

1Esplanade is causing a lot of confusion here in singapore... haha. you see, the original One Esplanade is here in Singapore. it is located near Marina Bay...

then the 1Esplanade in the Phils is located near Manila Bay. can you see the similarity?!

so when i distributed the invites to my officemates and friends here in sg, a lot of them asked me if the wedding is going to be here in singapore. BWAHAHA.. (they mistakenly read marina bay instead of manila bay in the map.) katawa tlaga...

tapos it doesnt help that palpak pa yung map ng unifair coz they didnt even write macapagal highway in the map!!! bad trip. it wasnt the map that i sent to them... kainis :(

anyway, im attaching the maps that i sent to Unifair... hope this will help you guys find the right place. (you can throw away the map inserted in the invites now grrr...)

relief @ 19 days to go

haven't been able to sleep for the past two nights... i know medyo OA pakinggan pero i swear im telling the truth... i just feel like there are so many things that we still need to complete. im really feeling (and looking) stressed.

at least we're starting to see 'the light' na...

saturday, we got our invites (finally). lui's mom had to sit in Unifair's office for three hours to wait for our invites to be done... hanep din si MIL di tlaga umalis hanggang di binibigay nila shirley yung invites namin... hihihi

the thing is, my family was supposed to pick up the invites and not MIL. so when i checked with unifair if we can get the invites na, can you just imagine the panic that i felt when he said that somebody already took the invites?! anu bahh.. super taranta kaming lahat! hahaha... weird din ang unifair, they didnt even ask for a copy of the receipt as proof. anu ba yun... what if it was somebody else who took our invites (very far-fetched, but what if?!) hay naku.

oh well, at least tapos na... stress tlaga unifair. before we got our invites they were giving us reasons like "absent ang operator e" and "nasira yung printing machine". fine, i dont know if it's true or not. but they should have been prepared for scenarios like that... hmm never mind na nga.

our families have also started distributing them yesterday and today... hopefully 75% of the invitations will be distributed by tomorrow. im expecting the invites here in singapore in a day or two... that's the only time ill be able to see it. but so far, good feedback naman from mom and lui. (dapat lang no!!!)

monday, we were supposed to get our marriage license. i was waiting anxiously for clarice to sms us and tell us that she has our license na. but, bad as any luck may go, the messenger was not able to get our license coz apparently, he was held-up the previous night. so he didnt have cash for transportation so he didnt do anything that day.

tuesday, finally! michael (mr. messenger) was able to pick up our license from city hall! yipee! our license was submitted to soj na din! woohooo... another thing ticked off from our list. (now i can breathe again!!!)

now, if only we can get lui's baptismal certificate tomorrow, as expected. hehehe

keeping fingers and toes crossed!!!

God is really good :)

I dont usually preach or anything, but right now, there is no other way to better explain what Im feeling right now but that... "God is really good!!"

I went into a depression stage last month (around the time of my birthday) sobrang hirap na hirap ako... i felt like nothing was going right and i was having a streak of bad luck... on my birthday, i was crying to my mom over the phone telling her how sad and miserable i am :( i was sooo miserable. nothing was going as expected, everything was going wrong :(

anyway, i think that streak of bad luck has finally come to an end.

it started when my dad gave me a HUGE amount of money as my birthday/christmas/new year gift. it was awesome. he handed it to me when i went back to the phils. and i didnt use a lot of the money. i gave 10k to my mom and spent some but thats it. more than half, i deposited to my bank :)

other than that, lui got a huge bonus... which i am really happy for him :) his aunt from the US also gave us our advanced wedding gift!!! it was a huge amount of money! as in huge!!! i was shocked...

then my auntie / uncle who are also our ninang / ninang for our wedding also advanced our wedding gift... grabe.. parang bumubuhos ng pera.

we vowed not to touch any of the money that was given to us. we're going to save it for our plan of buying a house in the near future... whatever we receive as gift, we wont use for wedding expenses. we will only make do with the money that we have - that's what lui and i agreed on :)

oki... having said that, nothing will top this day... this is the most blessed day of my life!

for one thing, i got promoted at work!! that means more pay (as well as more work) but i dont care! i need the money and im soo glad i got it. :) (may pangbayad na ako ng saladmaster! hahaha) and im soo happy that somehow all the hardwork ive done was recognized :)

aside from that, napromote na din ako sa saladmaster. eto hindi ko talga ineexpect... yun pala yung price namin for winning the christmas party presentation hahaha! :) grabe yaw kong bitawan yung cert ko kanina haha :) (bkit ako nagtatagalog? kasi ayaw ko malaman sa ofc na meron akong ginagawa on the side hahaha)

also, nakuha ko na yung commission ko! yey!!! makakatulong din yun kahit pano ha :)

i know this might make me sound a bit 'mukhang pera' but heyyy... i dont mind... if this is where my luck is, then fine :) but if God is willing to give me blessings in other form, then i'll be more than happy to accept it! :)

i hope this means that my streak of bad luck has really ended... if only we get our invitations out, our marriage license and lui's baptismal submitted, then ill be completely happy!!! :D

wedding preps daw...

23 days to go and counting...

everytime i talk to friends, the first thing they would ask me is "ano feeling? lapit na ah!"

hmmm how do i feel right now? i dont know how to explain it. i just know i want to get married na :) i'm also past stressed, im learning to let go and let things fall into place. kung di nga nahaharass si clarice bakit ako mahaharass diba? hehehe.

so what have we been up to?

lui and i went back to the phils last dec 22. we had a few things that we want to accomplish. the first and the most important thing was our marriage license!

on dec 26, we headed out to manila city hall armed with all the papers that we think we need for our marriage license. we arrived there at 10am. we decided not to rely on fixers but to get the license the 'right' way... we went to the City Civil Registry to get the forms that we need. After filling that up, we went to the lady-behind-the-desk and she told us all the required documents that we had to submit. (cenomar - check, id - check, birth cert -errr) since the original copy of lui's birth cert is still with the chancery in novaliches, i asked the lady if we can submit a xerox copy of his birth cert. cyempre sabi nya "no". yun lang. no words of advice no questions asked just a plain and simple "no". ang taray!!! sarap buhusan ng tubig (sorry po.)

so, we had no choice... lui went to request for a local copy of his birth cert, the thing is, they can only release the birth cert the following day. omg... stress tlaga... so went back to the dragon lady and asked if it's okay if to follow na lang the original birth cert. her response? "1pm po seminar saka na lang kayo magpasa ng requirements after" wtf!! anu ba yun!!! i only asked a simple question, why cant she give me a straight forward answer?!

anyways, that's what we did. We went to SM Manila first to have lunch then went back as early as 12:30 just to make sure that we wont be late. Buti na lang the people in charge of the seminar were nice (sana lahat ng tao sa city hall ganun). the seminar lasted for about 45 mins. but boy!!! what a torturous 45 mins that was... they showed us a video of a lady giving birth to a child. that one i can take since i've watched the same video when i was in dlsu... but the worst part of the video was when they started showing us the abortion video. grabe... i felt like fainting. i was already clinging to lui and was telling him that im going to faint soon (blood and me dont jive). good thing the video ended but not soon enough!! hmph!

after the seminar, we headed back to the dragon lady... first, she checked our requirements. then she asked for the original birth cert... i told her we dont have it yet. she said okay. (thats good). then she looked at the copy of lui's birth cert and she noticed that lui's dad is actually chinese citizen. so she asked us to give a copy of the naturalization of lui's dad. of cors, lui's dad didnt have that. so we went back to ask what else we can give her. she told us affidavit of filipino citizenship...

so i went around the whole city hall asking where i can get such affidavit... after a few attempts, we finally found a room where they produce affidavits. we had to pay 150 to get a notarized affidavit. sigh...

we went back to the dragon lady (again). by this time all the other couples who were with us during the seminar had already left. sigghh... so we submitted the notarized affidavit... guess what?!!! she told us to get another one since the affidavit we got didnt specifically specify that lui is a filipino citizen. anuu baaahhhh.... headache diba?!!

anyway, we did manage to get everything done and took our oath na din. bad thing was we had to go back the following day to submit lui's birth cert. (just seeing that dragon lady makes my skin crawl!!!) we'll be able to get the license on the 7th. hopefully nothing else goes wrong.

dec 27 - we went to unifair to get to the bottom of the problem... it was one month to go before our wedding and we still didnt have our invites yet!!! word of advice to unifair couples, if you are getting them, talk to erwin. he's easier to talk to. he pushed everything so that we can get some of the things earlier (like the envelopes so that we can start printing the names) and he told us that we will get the invites on the 5th the latest. so im crossing my fingers now and hoping that we do get the invites on saturday.

dec 28 - we met up with clarice to go through the wedding details one more time... it was so funny because she asked us to go to linden suites to meet her. at first i thought that we were going to meet at the lobby. but she texted me and told me to meet her at room ****... kala naman meron cyang wedding that day! hehe we found out later on that clarice had set camp in linden suites. hahaha she was ousted from her house because their maid was sick and since her pregnancy is very sensitive, they decided to 'place' her somewhere else. o diva? sosyal si clarice. hahaha... we went through all the details just to make sure that we cover everything. it was good that we did it. since it was able to reinstate lui's confidence in clarice. whew... btw, clarice looks awesome. pregnancy sooo becomes her :) im betting her baby is a girl :)

dec 29 - fitting day!!! i was so excited to finally get a chance to fit my gown! woohoo and it will also be my first time to see the embroideries! what can i say?! i loooove my gown hahaha... it may not be an original design, but i love it still :D im so happy with it. there was a point during my fitting that i thought "kung itakbo ko na lang kaya tong gown na to" hahaha... eventhough the gown wasnt finished yet, i love it already! i cant wait for my final fitting in january!!!

i also like lui's barong, though i may not be good judge since i dont know how a barong should look like hahaha :) my mom's gown is a hit as well. my mom cant stop talking about her gown. feeling nya sya ang ikakasal. lol!

if you want to see pics of my gown, just email me at candy.y.chu@gmail.com. im trying to keep lui from seeing the gown. para surprise :) he told me that he might laugh at me when he sees me walking down the aisle. i told him, yah do that, ill just turn and walk the other way. :) hahaha! takutan ba?! :)

Hari Raya Special :)

after a long fun-filled day with mitchie and jun, karen and ritchie and steph and joel, mitch and i decided to head out to orchard for a dinner in jologs and to take some shots with my eyos and her nikki :) hahaha

here are some of the shots i took of the christmas lights in orchard road. ill upload the rest tom. super sleepy na ako now. ahehee...

christmas tree at paragon

metal people statues :)

took me a looong time to finally get this shot... by accident pa! hahaha

our very late "save-the-date"

yes, i know that i will raise some eyebrows by sending out our save-the-dates just today. im sorry, but it's the only thing i can think of in order to do some damage control (or to prepare for a worst case scenario for that matter).

i have an inkling that our invites wont come out on time. call it intuition, call it being paranoid, but i really think we wont receive our invites this december. so, instead of doing nothing (which is not my thing) i made our save the date today.

due to lack of time, i made a very simple one. just to be able to send out something to tell our friends that indeed, we are getting married. LOL. im not an expert and it's my first time to do a DIY so please, don't criticize too much hahaha. :)

thanks to jayson arquiza for the great shot!!!

read 'em and LEARN :)

You're Invited !
Q & A for Wedding Guests
by: John & Benz Rana
article originally appeared in print: 12.03.05

It's December once again and it not just time for Christmas shopping and partying, but it's also time for weddings! It's the peak season for tying-the-knot in this part of the earth. So how many wedding invites have you gotten so far?

Unless you're serial bride like J.Lo (saying Liz Taylor would have been more accurate at this point but we want to be "kewl" to relate with the Gen Y peeps!), we figured that most of us would be along the pews more often than being at THE altar. This is the reason why we dedicate this month's column to the wedding guest - the person who gets to prepare the least during the wedding. Never mind the bride! We're sure she has read countless of wedding etiquette to last 'til her unborn son finally gets married. Actually, she's got too much info that she even prepares a Miss Manners list for her groom and her entire entourage to follow.

If it's your first time attending a wedding, what follows is a simple guide of Dos & Don'ts to get through such a social event. Note that we made these questions up so allow us to be sarcastic and blunt with some of our responses to ourselves.

Questions & Answers

Q. I got an invite but have no plans of attending; should I still send a gift?

A.First thing's first. If you won't be able to attend for whatever reason, please RSVP. A big chunk of the wedding budget goes to the reception and it will be utterly inconsiderate to just give up a reserved seat without letting the couple know. Give them the chance to assign that seat to another guest in their "waitlist." Having that out of the way, let's get to your question: YES, it is customary to still send a gift.

Q. The envelope bears only my name. May I ask if I can bring a date?

A. Don't bring a date unless your invitation specifically says "and Guest." Bringing unexpected guests is very impolite. Neither should you ask the couple's permission if you may bring one or not. Don't put your friends on the spot. We Filipinos don't really like turning down people. So how would you know if their "Yes" means yes or not? Spare them that trouble.

Q. The invite says "Mr. & Mrs." Could we bring our kids?

A. Never bring the kids unless "& Family" is indicated. Soon-to-weds don't usually invite children for a good reason. Kids get bored or cranky during hour-long masses. Their tantrums might disrupt the solemnity of the ceremony. Weddings are usually formal events typically not appropriate for the little ones. To be blunt about it, inviting a child at the reception means added two mouths to feed - the kid's and the yaya's.

Follow-up Q. But my son/daughter is the bearer/flower girl. I'm sure it's understood that my other child is invited.

A. Which part of the answer above didn't you understand? Seriously, if the couple wanted to invite your other kid, they would have specified that on the envelope.

2nd follow-up Q. But I'm breastfeeding, I'm sure my friends will understand, won't they?

A. Granting that it's an infant and he or she won't eat at the reception - let's even assume that your baby won't wail at the church - the answer is still NO! Not even if you've perfected the art of being a cow in a long gown. Four words: Breast Pump and Babysitter!

Q. I don't have a clue what gift to give them. Any ideas?

A. The average Pinoy soon-to-wed would always prefer monetary gifts more than any other gift. It is the unspoken fact. We're telling you now to make it easier for them to let you know what they REALLY want; unless they indicated that already in their invites which, by the way, is a very tacky thing to do.

If you're not comfortable giving cash, you may ask the couple where they are registered (Gift / Bridal Registry) and choose from what's listed under their names in the store. You can also ask them where they're residing after the wedding and take the cue from there. If you know that they'll be migrating abroad or living with their parents for the time being, a ref or another oven toaster may not be the most practical and logical gift.

Q. I'm convinced. So how much cash should I give them? I don't want to give too little or too much.

A. That's a hard thing to answer. It's really a case-to-case thing. Try to put yourself in the couple's shoes. How much should a guest of your stature give you without being branded a cheapskate? Also consider your relationship with the couple. If you're good friends of the couple's parents, you'll probably shell-out more than if you were simply the bride's Girl Friday.

Q. Could I skip the ceremony and head straight to the reception?

A. You can. BUT you shouldn't! You are invited to THE wedding -- that's the part where they exchange their "I dos." The reception is where the Receiving Line is. You can't be 'received' if you are already seated in the hall, right? "Patay-gutom" is too harsh a word and we assure you that it's by no means what anyone would think if indeed you decide to go straight to the reception. But admit that it struck a nerve just mentioning the word in that context, isn't it?

Q. Speaking of the Receiving Line, what should be the proper greeting?

A. Here's the rule: Say "Congratulations" to the groom and "Best Wishes" to the bride. The reason behind is that "congrats" implies that someone has caught something or won a prize, and it is rather improper to imply that the bride "caught" the man who married her. If this rule gets mixed-up in your head come wedding day, just say the two phrases together and look at both of them. That usually works!

Likewise, saying "Good Luck!" no matter how pure your wishes are will also sound very inappropriate for obvious reasons.

Q. Nice try, but what if the couple makes a Grand Entrance and left the Receiving Line to their parents? What then should I tell them? Note that I don't even know which sets of parents are whose.

A. Didn't we tell you already not to skip the ceremony? The bride and groom usually walk alongside their respective parents at the very start!

Anyway, make your pleasantries short and sweet. Shake their hands and say "Hello! I'm (your name) and I went to school with (name of bride/groom) in (school's name)/an officemate of (name of bride/groom) at (name of company)." They usually respond with "Nice meeting you." Just smile, nod politely, and move on to the next person. If one replies "Hi! I've heard so much about you!", simply smile and nod just the same. No lengthy conversation; just make small talk at most. If you can't find the words to say, just smile again, nod politely, and move.

Q. During the banquet, is there anything I need to know?

A. Nowadays, the Reception Program usually have the guests on each table stand up and have their picture taken with the couple before being led to the buffet. This is done to resolve two issues of past weddings: (a) for the couple's convenience and skip the tiring Table-Hopping ritual just to have their picture taken with all their guests; and (b) for the guests' convenience so they won't have to wait very long for their turn in the buffet line.

Keep in mind that Buffet is NOT synonymous with "Eat-All-You-Can." Do not pile your plate full. Be courteous of those who have yet to be served. Don't worry. You can easily go for seconds.

Q. I'm used to a Buffet setting, but what if it's a formal Sit-Down Dinner? Which fork do I start with again?

A. You're on your own, pal. Watch "Pretty Woman" again and see how Julia Roberts nailed it!

bridezilla?

i am feeling disappointed and stressed.

how come im the only one feeling the urgency for our wedding? i can feel from some suppliers that they still think my wedding is ages away! which is not the case, as we only have 39 days to go!!! i think it's because we booked them so long ago that they still think that our wedding is one and a half years away! this is sooo disappointing. we did not start our preps early just to be caught cramming at the final leg of our wedding preps...

for one thing... our invites. as of date of writing, i still havent gotten the final revised invitation yet. that means, our invites have NOT been printed yet. to think that we went to Unifair last August to choose the design, and sent the entou list mid-Oct. the first draft, i only received 2nd of December, hindi pa namin marereceive if fellow wawie Cathee hadnt called Unifair to inquire. im worried coz ill only be in the phils from dec 22 to jan 1. and if we dont receive the invites by dec 27 (latest dec 28) - which by the way is next week already, we wont have time to distribute them! my next trip to phils will be in jan 16 na!!! i am not pointing fingers. i am just stating a fact.

arggghhh...

marriage license - partly our fault. but yah, we still dont have our marriage license yet. we're working on it now but we could have done this last november when we went home!

stress brings out the bad in me - i can feel thebridezilla in me creeping out. i am very very nitty gritty especially when it comes to deadlines. i get stressed when i dont meet deadlines. that's how i am towards work and that's how i am towards life.

im also a worrier. the fact that i sometimes feel, that i am the only one worrying about our wedding, makes me worry more! i am having nightmares each night. tskkk :(

oh well, we'll see. ill try to lay-off a bit. let's see if any progress will be made.

no men allowed!

this afternoon, we had our first ever "ladies only lunch out". (sorry pelo and plip, next time na lang kayo)

our initial plan is to go to conrad hotel or some hotel to have buffet lunch (our dream dream haha) but we found out that all the hotels here in singapore increased their prices because of the christmas season. a lunch buffet in conrad costs 70++sgd! wtf!!!

so this morning, after discussing with che and the other pretty ladies our options, i suggested that we go to this japanese buffet that i went to last year. i remember that it was affordable and the food was great. so after getting the majority vote, che, aimee, glenda, tet, lara and myself, all headed down to suntec city to have lunch at kuichin bo.

grabe what can i say?! super sarap! i was sooooo full. hahaha we were there from 11:30 to around 3pm. they had a lot of selection (tempura, sashimi, maki, sushi and DESSERTS). sobrang sulit tlaga. we paid around 32sgd per person. pero i tell you, it's really worth your money.

but the best thing about our lunch out is that we got to bond with each other. all the kwentos, advises from glenda, kakulitan and everything :) it's such a breath of fresh air not having to check yourself because of the 'guys' hahaha. sarap nyong pagkwentuhan! joke :)

anyway ladies, til next time. hope next time, matuloy na hotel natin. :) (at sana next time merong kumuha ng picture natin! hehehe)

once a wawie, always a wawie

after more than one and a half years of being a wawie, (being one of the first jan08 brides there) it pains me so much that i have to leave my waw community. i wasnt prepared for it. i thought that i would at least be able to post my supplier ratings and kwentos after my wedding.

but, what's done is done. rules are rules... i am not qualified to be a wawie anymore... :( uwahhh... as much as i want to persuade mama benz, i know it wouldn't be fair to her as well. so i graciously said my farewell to my waw family this afternoon (huhuhuhu).

i was contemplating whether to post this message in my blog or not. but im confident that my suppliers will not treat me differently now that im just a common bride.

anyways, one thing is for sure, once a wawie, always a wawie :) i love you guys so much! thank you very much for the support. i will miss you tlaga.

at least i still have my wawsg family :) to all JANUARY brides, lets rock!!! :) good luck with preps! last leg na to!!!

here's my post to my waw family... i called it "a very tearful farewell". thank you po ulit! i loved every moment of being a wawie :)


Hello everyone,

I know you might find it a bit weird that I am saying farewell kahit di pa ako kinakasal... It's pertinent that I leave kasi, if not, I'll be violating one of the golden rules of w@W.

You see, the owner of Gallery7 - Enrico Gaw is my cousin (father side). I never meant to hide this fact from Mama Benz, but i didnt know that it was that important, considering that they are part of post-wedding suppliers. Also, it's not like I'm really close to him... Saying that i see him every year is already an overstatement. And I swear that not once had i mentioned or recommended them in W@W. i made it a point to be unbiased.

But ayun nga, there's no changing the fact that I am a relative of a supplier. I dont want to give Mama Benz a hard time, so i'll say goodbye to the group na lang.

This is very very very hard for me, it's like losing a part of my being. A lot of you know naman na super w@w addict ako... sabi nga ng coordinator ko, certified wawie daw ako dahil lahat ng suppliers ko galing sa waw..

I'll miss reading all the posts in the group. I'll miss moderating your messages (magpakabait kayo). and of cors, i'll miss the friends that I got to know here in waw. (i will see you guys in naw)

Thank you very much to this group. It really breaks my heart that I need to leave this group... now na less than two months to go na lang before my wedding.

Rest assured that for the sake of other wawies, I will still post my SUPPLIER RATINGS sa blog ko. abangan nyo na lang siguro dun. :) It will be my way of thanking the waw community for everything... I can't imagine my wedding without waw (e di wala na akong suppliers hahaha)

Im am doing this with a very very heavy heart. Kahit ayaw ko, kelangan. I want to change the past but I can't. Funny thing is, if I have a choice over my relative or waw, i'll choose waw. hahaha... No, kidding aside, I will really really really miss this group.

Thank you mama benz for everything, especially the friendship. You've helped me a lot talaga. Punta po kayo sa kasal ha, I'll give you the invitation as soon as they're ready na. And i'm really sorry if i caused you any trouble. :(

To all wawies, enjoy your preps! Always smile! Best wishes to everyone! God Bless your preps! Do keep in touch :) dito lang ako lagi to help out, kahit wala na ako sa waw. uwaaahhhh... Thank you thank you thank you very much for everything!!! (abangan nyo na ang news on our marriage cert sa blog ko)

See you sa naw!

signing as a w@w until sunday,
kendz ----> i'll miss all of you!!! email nyo lang ako, candy.y.chu@gmail.com

huhuhu :(

--
Kendz ni Lui
January 27, 2008
SOJ / 1Esplanade
http://kendznilui.blogspot.com --> i'll keep posting, so please keep visiting!

Is there going to be a wedding?

... only Manila City Hall knows :(

Can I cry now?

update as of 13 December: finally! after buckets of tears and strands of white hair, we finally got lui's birth certificate!!! wahh! finally. i dont want to dwell on the fact that the system in the phils suck! hmph. basta as long as we have lui's BC na, okay na kami.

now only pending is our marriage license.

between your legs

galing kay mitch... the objective is to come up with movie titles that will go well with "Between Your Legs". Im telling you, ka-addict!!!

Cindy :- Rush Hour Between Your Legs

Patrick :- Gone with the wind Between your legs

Carl :- Finding Nemo Between your legs

Damian:- Mad MAx Between your legs

David:- Armageddon Between your legs

Andre: - 300 Between your legs

Trace: - Dirty Dancing Between your legs...

Amy: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Between Your Legs

Jordy: Midnight Express Between your legs

Joshua: Training Day Between your legs

Callie: Cruel Intentions Between your Legs

Tom: Final Fantasy Between your legs

Garrett: The Abyss Between your legs

Scotty: Groundhog Day Between Your Legs

Flash: Blow between your legs

Brett : 48 Hours Between Your Legs

Belinda: The Fly between your legs

Belinda: The Lost Boys between your legs

Elle : Gladiator between your legs!

Dan: I Know What You Did Last Summer between your legs!

Lisa: The Incredible Hulk Between your legs

Daniel: Saw Between your legs

Al: Curse of the Golden Flower Between your legs

Evette: Ed Wood Between Your Legs

Ava: 24 Hour Party People Between Your Legs

Jovan: The Thing Between Your Legs

Herb: Stardust Between Your Legs

Lette: Everything is Illuminated Between Your Legs

Chinky: crouching tiger hidden dragon between your legs

Chinky: go between your legs (may movie na Go d ba? hahahahaha d pa sure e)

Chinky : spiderman between your legs

Chinky: elf between your legs

Michelle: Reality Bites Between Your Legs

Michelle: Aalog-alog Between Your Legs (pwede naman tagalog movies d b)

Michelle: Akin Ka Magdusa Man Ako Between Your Legs

Michelle: Borat Between Your Legs (eeewww)

Michelle: City Slickers Between Your Legs

kendz: 40 year old virgin between your legs
kendz: unleashed between your legs
kendz: something's gotta give between your legs
kendz: daredevil between your legs
kendz: anaconda between your legs
kendz: free willy between your legs
kendz: the one between your legs

tama na! :)

Brands

saw this post from Stephie's blog :) and i just can't help but post it in my own. :)

i do love branded things... not because im maarte but i think it has something to do with how my mom raised me. i remember that she would always scold me if i buy something unbranded... she'd say something like "you should have just saved your money for something better" better in her case would be something branded hahaha :) she has this philosophy that with brand comes quality or something like that ;p

so here goes:

bag of brands

1) What’s the brand of your wristwatch/watch? d&g. bought a pair of d&g watches for me and lui. but i dont get to wear it much :) lui on the other hand retired his Tag for the d&g hehe sweet no?

2) What’s the brand of your bracelet? not branded :)

3) What’s the brand of your cell phone? nokia and samsung

4) What’s the brand of your computer? (laptop) Compaq Presario

5) What’s the brand of your bags? coach (i never bought one. always given to me promise) and nike (for gym)

6) What’s the brand of your undies? marks & spencers and topshop :)

7) What’s the brand of your flip-flops/sandals? havaianas!

8 ) What’s the brand of your shoes? charles & keith, nike, reebok

9) What’s the brand of your wallet? manmont from china. very durable. hehehe

10 ) What’s the brand of your shirts? lacoste, zara, kamiseta, plains & prints. halo halo :)

11) What’s the brand of your TV? Samsung

12) What’s the brand of your cars? no cars!

13) What’s the brand of your mp3 player? Apple

14) What’s the brand of your make up? Mac, shu uemura, shiseido, awake, bobbi brown, clinique, and the list goes on. im a confessed makeup junkie

15) What’s the brand of your shampoo and conditioner? clear hairfall control

16) What’s the brand of your jeans? levi's

17) What’s the brand of your laundry soap? tide hehehe and top for washing machine

18.) What’s the brand of your lotion? clinique body lotion / kiehls body lotion

19) What’s the brand of your toothpaste? colgate

20) What’s the brand of your ballpen? i dont know... free @ office. hehe

party party party! part2

so... after ng W@W Christmas Party, we had our very own party here in Singapore... W@Wsg style. hahaha :)

We had our W@Wsg party last Sunday (Dec3). though it was a bit of short notice (cos i forgot to send followup emails) we still had a good number of couples who attended the party... sad part is kami kami na lang ulit.. there were no newbies who attended... sighs... :(

We didn't have Josiahs Catering, but we hadKusina de Pinoy and Mitchie's alfredo! :) hahaha sorry for the lack of pictures... Medyo nagkalimutan na kasi sa gutom bwahahaha...

We also didn't have Alex Franco Cake or Joy San Gabriel or Sugarbox cakes... but we had Prima Deli' scurmptous cake(which btw, is now banned in Singapore due to food poisoning issues wahahaha swerte lang kami at good batch yung nakuha namin! yikes)
We may also not have Dino Lara or Jayson Arquiza, but we still had our own version of prenups :)


Wala nga si Kite sa party namin, nandito naman si baby DJ hahaha :)

All in all, it was a blast! :) We had super fun taking pictures and kwentuhan. Si Jon nga sumasakit na daw ang panga! hahaha jon, eto ba yung nakakatawa na pic? :) LOL

please visit this link for the complete set of pics : pictures

party party party! part 1

it had been one party after another. grabe wala na tlaga diet ko... i vowed to restart my diet after my birthday (which is this Sunday *ahem* *ahem*) hahaha

the first party I went to was the W@W Christmas Party last November 23 in Fernwood Gardens. What can I say, we had a blast! (dami kasi prizes bwahahaa)...

Before the party proper, Mama Benz emailed us wawies asking who wants to volunteer to help out for the party. Ako naman, I was thinking that this is a now or never chance... who knows if I'll still be able to go to the next party or not diba? So I made the most out of it and enthusiastically volunteered myself and lui (si lui walang kaalam alam! bwahahaha)

So as volunteers, we arrived earlier than most wawies. We got to Fernwoods at around 11am. Actually the call time was 12pm. But knowing our history of getting lost here and there, I forced lui to pick me up at 10am! hahaha... para may buffer...

When we got to Fernwoods, there were already a number of suppliers there. I saw Clarice, Ms Tisha of Balay and Eddie Bruan. Then I saw my fellow wawies... Che & Ed and Tina & Jessie, we were the early birds. hehehe...

After we had lunch c/o Josiahs, we registered and had our makeup done na for our prenups. I guess it was one of the perks of being a volunteer, since there were no people yet, we got to choose the makeup artist of our choice! of cors i chose tito eddie :) 2nd trial makeup kung baga... hahaha

he did a nice job... except for the hair. i really wanted sana the hair to be more natural (sayang ang fringes ko haha) kaso lang parang inisprayan lang nila ng inisprayan ng hair spray as in ang tigas!!! wah... medyo nagpanic kasi si tito eddie coz one of the coordinators kept coming to our booth and kept asking him if done na or not. ayun... hahaha pero it was okay... the makeup is nice, but i think the trial was better.



after makeup, FREENUPS! :) as volunteers we were granted 11 photographers of our choice. I already had several photographers in mind for the freenups :) of cors libre to dapat sulitin no! hahaha. please see previous post for some of the pictures taken by the photogs :)

some of the photographers who stood out for us were:

dino lara... super enjoy kami kay dino lara. may dala pang twister... kaya naman pala the first thing he said was " ay... nakapalda. naku pag tutumblingin pa naman kita". then he took out the twister game and I was like "oh no..." hahaha but game pa din kami of cors! :)

van goth... lui liked ems style... why? because she knows how to direct poses. since lui and i are not really keen on posing, it was such a relief :) ang cool cool din nya :) i like her style.

edwin tuyay - KWELA as in K-W-E-L-A... it was the funniest pictorial we had. hahaha as in out of this world!!! ang saya... i cant wait to get copies of the pics :)

metro photo - ang dami nila!!! anu ba yun... lol there were 5-6 cameras clicking away all the time. hahaha but the thing i liked about the photographer is that he takes chances and all out tlaga cya. para cyang acrobat/spiderman. hahaha

john mateos ong - cya lanag naginstruct kay lui how to smile. o diva? attention to details hahaha... he kept saying "lui ang ngipin, dapat merong ngipin... say ahhhhh"

jayson arquiza - he's the man. hahaha sya na ata ang merong pinaka mainit na pwesto during the shooting! as in bilad sa araw! it doesnt help that the light reflected from the very shiny rolls :) hay so happy that we finally got our prenups with jayson arquiza hehehe. di man cya pwede sa kasal namin, at least i have some photos from him... :) and of all the photographers there, sya lang kinukulit ko hahahah! feeling close kasi ako bwahahaha. here is one of the candid shots i took.. (sorry kuya jayson, di kasing ganda nung kuha mo sa amin hehehe)



the crew photography - ay sus! ginawa kaming artista! hirap magacting!!! hahahaha... they told us to act different scenes ang hirap! di ako pang artista! hehehe but it was fun. especially the part where we get to ride Sir John's Vespa hihi...
~~

after the prenups (we can actually go for more than 11 photogs na but after the 11th, i surrendered. it was too tiring and i was having a migraine na. thank God for white flower hehe), lui and i went around fernwoods so that i can take some shots :) ganda ng fernwoods sobrang photogenic!!! here are some shots i took ...

from left to right, first row: facade of fernwoods; fernwood entrance; clarice hard at work kahit na preggy hehe; balay's wonderful setup
second row: a very proud wawie; took hundreds more before i finally got this shot; fernwoods; fernwoods
third row: me all made up checking the picture in tito eddie's camera; metro photo still working; clarice and bernard; fernwoods pa din
last row: makeup artists busy glamming up the wawies; the youngest wawie - kite; mother of all wawies - mama benz; fernwoods facade ulit :)

sorry had to resort to collage since blogger is taking a long time to upload individually.. sighs.. here's the link to view the large sizes: http://picasaweb.google.com/candy.y.chu/WWChristmasParty02

~~
party proper:

it was so nice to see a lot of our suppliers at work during the party... josiahs, balay kandila, an event to remember, alex franco cake (yuuummmyyy!!!) and threelogy (for the live feed). super ganda ng setup ng balay kandila. parang production stage talaga! ang galing. with the lights and everything.

The food by Josiah's is excellent!!! especially the mongolian bbq! as in i told my friends to queu even if it will take a long time! coz i know it's worth it! :)

i soo enjoyed the party most especially the prizes part. hahaha we won 1 oven toaster and 1 microwave oven. the toaster because i guessed bob nicholas' age and the microwave for having the most number of suppliers in the party. I had 8:

josiahs, clarice, balay kandila, veluz, threelogy, mimi and karl, alex franco, eddie bruan :D hehehe ang saya!

but the best part of the party was our very talented photographers MIMI and KARL bagging this year's W@W Supplier of the Year Award! Wooooottt!! Kudos to you both! Sobrang sumakit yung lalamunan ko kakatili nung time na yun ahehehe ... :) kinilig kilig din ako sa inyo! Especially the part when Mimi said "Pwede na kaming ikasal!" Grabe that brought the house down! hahahaha... When is the kasal? :) yiheeee


~~
i would really like to thank Mama Benz and Sir John for creating the wonderful world of wawies. super sarap maging wawie. im loving everything about being a wawie! :) hahaha... and of cors, thank you for the wonderful party. you're the best tlaga!!!

thank you din to all the suppliers who made the party possible... sa lahat ng photographers, sa coordinators, sa caterers, sa waiters and waitresses, balay kandila, sa hosts, to everyone! super thank you na din in behalf of the wawies kasi you really made our day :)

till next year, hopefully makasama ulit ako. :)