AVP

after realizing that we have literally hundreds of prenup pictures, jojie and i decided to have an AVP. we didn't want to have one at first but then, what are we going to do with our pictures if we won't have one? so, jojie talked to his friend from one of his previous jobs and asked her to do our AVP. magaling kasi siya talagang gumawa. her name's johanne and i saw what she did with oyie and orlie's AVP ang ang galing nga. so last week, i asked jojie to gather some of his childhood pictures and i also gathered some of mine. we then scaned these pictures and sent the files, together with our selected prenup pics, to johanne tapos siya na bahala dun. excited na ako to see our AVP!

bridal gown

i so love my gown! got it na today! ang galing-galing ni mrs. bautista! ganda ng beading, sobrang simple at hindi baduy! jojie loved it, too! my sister, maye, who is so not into weddings but is into clothes, told me that it finally dawned on her that i'm getting married when i modeled my gown for her. ang ganda daw talaga, sobrang simple pero ganda! i also love my shoes! terno pa yung beading ng shoes at nung gown. may rhinestones din! hahaha! as abie will put it, wagi ang P699 na
wedding shoes na binili ko sa SM! hahaha!

entourage gowns

delivery of the ento gowns was last sunday and i must say, i love farley! ang galing ng gowns ng entourage! except for one, walang kailangang ibalik. ang ganda ng fit! tuwang-tuwa yung mga entourage. sobra akong happy kasi okay yung mga mananahi ko. i didn't make a mistake when i decided to forgo designer gowns in the name of practicality! galing talaga! since the cloth we used was just P370 per person tapos P650 lang ang labor, P1020 lang ang gowns ng ento! can you believe that? galing! i am so proud of myself for being able to stick to the budget (the girls paid for the labor though, i just provided the cloth. kaya lang ni-promise ko sa kanila kasi na hahanap ako ng magaling pero murang mananahi kaya ako ang nag-scout talaga). galing!

quiapo

before going to joey's shower last friday, jojie and i went to quiapo to buy a remote control for the TV we bought a couple months ago (funny na wala palang remote yung nabili namin kaya we had to go to the philips service center in quiapo to buy a remote control unit). although it wasn't my first time to go to quiapo, it was my first time to go to plaza miranda. the whole place was bustling with energy! there were people everywhere and you can buy just about anything and everything there -- from winnie the pooh and mickey mouse woven plastic bags to the aluminum stick you can use to unclog toilets and drains (abie! sinusundan din ako ng mga ito!). i've always known about the herbal stands that line up the streets of quiapo (those that also sell the medicines for abortion) but i never knew that all the hilots in the world (at least it looked that way to me) can also be found in quiapo. although i personally do not believe in hilots, i was so amazed by the sheer number of hilots there and more amazingly, the number of people lining up for their services. i was also particularly taken by the candle stores (i use the word "store" loosely). gone were the usual votive candles i see in the supermarkets. instead what they were selling were the long and thin kinds, about 8 inches long and
half an inch in diameter. and these candles were not colored white nor yellow, instaed the candles were in color red and black! most interesting were the human shaped candles, also in red and black. if jojie were not with me and if we were not in a hurry, i would have stoppped and asked the candle peddlers what those human shaped candles are for. i also saw the line of the mga manghuhula. judging from the number of people flocking in the manghuhula stands, i thought at first that they were playing bingo or billiards or even selling novelty items. so without losing sight of jojie who was walking in front of me, i surreptitiously peeked at what they were doing and lo and behold, i saw tarot cards and all kinds of panghuhula paraphernalia. when i caught up with jojie, i literally thanked him for bringing me to quiapo, a place uniquely filipino.

subic

my family and i went to subic last saturday and although we do this once every couple of months, this outing was fairly special since this is the last time i'll be joining them as a single woman. jojie was supposed to go with us but since he's swamped with work, he wasn't able to join us. in hindsight, it was actually a good thing that he didn't come since we were able to spend quality time with our respective families, something which we rarely do nowadays with all the stress of wedding preps (while i was in subic, he had dinner out with his family and then they had cooffee in starbucks where they stayed until midnight just talking and catching up and making chismis about other people, i'm sure! hehe! love you, honey!).

although we were supposed to leave for subic at around 5 a.m. (the usual time), last saturday we decided to leave later in the morning since our suite would be available only at 4 p.m. also, we had to wait for my sister. and syempre, being the mabagal family that we are, we were able to leave at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. which we previously agreed on.

while we were loading our bags in the car, i had to go back to house to get my favorite pillow (the one jojie gave me as a welcome home gift when i went to the states). while i was inside and hanging the pillowcase, maye, my sister, also went back inside to go to the washroom. her first mistake was that she placed her cellphone on top of the dining table before proceeding to the washroom. syempre, the situation was too tempting for me to resist so i got her phone and hid it. i instructed our helper not to tell her about what i did. maye's second mistake was that she forgot that she didn't have her phone with her when she went back to the car. when i saw her, i was trying to judge if she realized that her phone was missing but basing on her very relaxed manner, i knew she didn't notice. after a couple of minutes, off we went. papa drove and dindon, my brother, was in the front seat while mama, maye, and i were in the back seat. after a couple of minutes, just right after we passed the village gate, maye started fidgeting so i asked her what the matter was. she said that she was looking for her phone but she said it in a really low voice coz she knew that our dad would get mad if we had to go back for her phone since we were late enough as it is. after minutes of looing for the phone, she realized that she, in fact, has left it at home. syempre, i acted very concerned but at the same time, i was also teasing her about being very careless. my mom realized what we were whispering about and she, too, joined in teasing maye. (i was able to signal to mama that i had the phone with me.) it was sooooo much fun! you see, maye is very centered on her friends and she feels so helpless without her phone. we made her lambing and told her that
she should be grateful that she can spend the whole weekend with us and not spend it texting her battalion of friends. even dindon (who, of course, also knew) joined in the teasing! hahaha!

the trip was fun! we talked all the way to subic, stopped to eat at KFC in north expressway, and teased maye mercilessly. my mom was even making her inggit the whole time. my mom would bring but her phone and show maye that she had her phone with her. she even brought out her earphones so she can listen to the cellphone radio and again make maye envious! hahaha!

we arrived at subic around 1:30 and of course, proceeded to the duty free shops. we weren't able to buy anything since we were in a hurry; our room was already available and we wanted to check in. so we proceeded to le genda suites (where we always stay), checked in, unloaded our bags, and prepared food to eat (we're a family of matatakaw!). we ate our baon (pork adobo and embutido) and again, teased maye about not having her phone with her. after eating, we rested a little
and after much discussion, mama and i decided to give maye her phone. so what we did was we hid her phone in the bedroom and rang it. hahaha! inis na inis si maye nung na-realize niya na phone niya yung nagri-ring! she chased me across the room with a pillow! she eventually found it, of course, and we had a good time laughing about the whole thing.

we again went to the duty free shops around 4 p.m. and since it was my first in a long time to go back to subic (i didn't go with my family the last three times they went) we had to go to the duty free shops i liked. we went back to the hotel around 6. by then, tito philip and his family (family friends) had already checked in. their room was right beside ours. so, of course, kwento kwento. around 6:30, we all went to hear mass. the mass was very short and was done by 7:10. by the time
we went back to the hotel, tito resty and his family and tito jesse and his family (again, family friends) have arrived. kuya manny and his family (k. manny is a cousin who lives in olongapo) also arrived to make kwento. with all the kwentuhan, we were able to have dinner by 9 p.m. na. after dinner, around 10 of us went to check out the night market. i was hoping to buy some stuff for christmas but the stuff for sale weren't exactly cheap. also, being the divi expert that i am now
(because of wedding preps), i knew that i could all those thngs at much lower prices at divi. we all went home empty handed but in high spirits since we were able to vicariously ride the carnival thrill rides by listening to the screams of the people actually riding the rides! (hehe!) we were so scared of trying the rides that we all just stood there and imagined that we were in there while listening to the screams of the people who were brave enough to ride. talk about a bunch of cowards! hahaha!

the next morning, i woke up around 7:30 and my mom asked me to wake my siblings since we we were going to have breakfast at the hotel (we were staying in the legenda suites and the buffet breakfast was at the legenda hotel) although i grogilly dressed up, syempre buffet breakfast yun kaya excited ako! hahaha!

the breakfast was good. dami ring selections. we had fun while eating breakfast. kwento lang, of course. aftre breakfast, we went back to the hotel since i had to pick my things up. papa and dindon then drove me to the bus terminal since i had a scheduled ento fitting at 4 p.m. and so ended my last family subic escapade. :)

pictures: first row, from L to R: mama habang iniinggit si maye sa headphones; the three of us in the back seat; second row, from L to R: papa, mama, and maye in the bedroom; my family (ako yung kumuha ng picture); third row: my family again (kasama na ako!)

joey's shower and weddingsatwork

we threw a shower party for joey (ni cecil) friday night. we had it in a spa. sobrang sarap! although rhodora (ni ryan) and i weren't able to have a massage, we had the most marvelous time inside the sauna room kasi mega bonding! we had sauna for a total of 1 hour 15 minutes (oo, alam ko masama yun but we both needed the break) and syempre sobrang bonding yun while waiting for the others to finish with their massages. although lahat kami busy and we planned the whole thing in less than two weeks, we pulled it off! and although a spa shower isn't as naughty as what we did for rhodora's shower last month, we really had fun. this is what i love most about w@w -- you get real life friends from people you meet online. ang galing kasi in the course of asking each other about where the best place to hold a garden wedding is or how to go about addressing invitations, you realize that these people have become your friends, real life friends! for that alone, i am so thankful to benz and john for putting up weddingsatwork. because of w@w, i have friends i can turn to whenever i get down, i have fellow OC brides who understand why i want my envelope lining cut a certain way or why i want to make sure that the preps are over by mid-november, i have someone i can share a tempura basket with, and i even have friends who i know will really throw a shower for me (hahaha! abie, i know you're reading this. hindi ito hint ha, naalala ko lang yung pinag-usapan natin kanina! hahaha!) ang galing lang talaga! and although i am not as active in posting emails as i used to be (in fact, i seldom read mails nowadays with my wedding coming up very soon), i am still very grateful to w@w for everything it has given me.

bridal bouquet

passed by dangwa today with jojie. although we didn't have plans of going to mr. boy mahusay, i asked him if we could since we were already in the area and sayang naman time if i have to go back pa eh andun na kami. so we went to mang boy mahusay's stand. wala siya dun pero andun yung partner niya, si mang jon macaraeg. sabi ni mang jon wala daw si mang boy. sabi ko naman okay lang, basta magpapa-mock up lang ako. sabi ko ang gusto ko yung eksaktong-eksakto sa magiging bridal bouquet ko. so mang jon gathered the flowers i liked sa colors din na ni-request ko syempre and he proceeded to make my bridal bouquet (at least yung mock up). ang ganda lumabas!!! if ever na you'll be able to view the pics, i'm sure na kung hindi niyo magugutuhan, it will be because you won't like the colors or the flowers i chose but yung quality nung flowers na ginamit niya or yung arrangement mismo, ganda!

btw, mr. jon macaraeg is mr. boy mahusay's partner pero siya talaga ang gumagawa ng mga bouquet. from what i gathered kanina, forte ni mang boy ang malalaking arrangements while kay mang jon ang mga bouquets.

basta i'm really happy with my florist. nakakatawa pa silang kausap (dumating din kasi si mang boy after a while). so mega kwentuhan lang kami nila jojie the whole time. matagal na rin nila talagang ginagawa ito at sila talaga ang mag-partner.

i'm sorry nga pala for those we gave directions to their store tapos nahirapan. bago na pala itsura ng dangwa ngayon. iniba na at ang ganda na! basta if you're going to look for them, nasa dos castillas street sila, number 16 na store. look for mang jon or si mang boy. although si mang boy yung talagang kausap namin, abie and i have decided na si mang jon yung gusto naming mag-arrange ng bouquets namin kasi magaling siya talaga sa bouquets.

another thing, they do not own a stand at may nagbanggit nga na wala silang pwesto pero actually may pwesto sila kasi sila yung permanent flower arranger ng number 16 na stand talaga (jorielle ata yung pangalan nung flower shop, basta J nagsisimula). taga-baguio yung may-ari ng stand at bulaklak lang yung binabagsak sa dangwa tapos sina mang boy at mang jon na ang arranger nung bulaklak. in mang jon's words, sila raw ang "katiwaldas" nung number 16 na stand. haha!


my bridal bouquet!

THINGS TO DO:

i was so restless the other night since nagpapanic nga ako kaya i wrote down the things we still need to do. kakatawa kasi when jojie called me at the stroke of midnight to greet me a happy birthday, i was actually writing down the things we need to do.

so ito na yung mga yun.

CHURCH
1. claim jojie's banns on nov 27
2. submit this to the church
3. submit the addresses of the principal sponsors to the church
4. canonical interview - december pa ito

BATIS ASUL
1. give them a swatch of the ento gown fabric

BALAY KALINAW
1. reception layout
2. order gifts for the principal sponsors

INVITATIONS
1. finish the envelopes
2. once finished, give these to candice for calligraphy
3. maps - na-print na lahat pero meron pang hindi naka-cut
4. distribute!!!

BALAY KALINAW
1. sign waiver - nov 15 daw mare-ready
2. test sound system

BRIDAL GOWN
1. second fitting on the 16th. hopefully, makukuha ko na rin siya by then.
2. buy undergarments

GROOM'S ATTIRE
1. camisa de chino na lang ang kulang. okay na lahat.

ENTO GOWNS
1. fitting on the 14th

HMUA
1. mag-down kay brenda

FLOWERS:
1. give mr. mahusay the hotel address
2. mock up of the bridal bouquet

MISALETTE
1. photocopy
2. bind (mahihiram ko na bukas yung giant stapler ni abie! yehey!)

AVP
1. give pictures to johanne (i decided to have an AVP just two weeks ago)

FAVORS
1. tapusin na ang gel candles (since naubusan kami ng materials, we had to stop. tatapusin na daw namin lahat bukas)
2. finalize packaging - meron na kaming sinamay bags. just need to find the perfect ribbon.

MUSIC
1. finalize songlist for reception
2. maghanap ng CD ng lahat ng songs na kelangan tapos i-burn
3. give abie the list of songs for the wedding

PRINT
1. thank you tags for souvenirs
2. guest cards3. place cards

BRIDAL REGISTRY
1. meet with the rustan's personnel to offically register our list


after writing these down, hindi na ako nagpanic kasi alam ko na where i'm at. okay naman pala. madali na. :)

at last! nakapag-blog na ako!

oo nga, abie, nalulunod na ata ako! hahaha!

sigh! it's been ages since i last blogged. i AM starting to feel drowned with all the things i have to do. i wasn't able to meet my october deadline but it's okay since some things came up, good things, that i had to do those things first. anyway... i'll update you guys first about our preps since this is what this blog is all about (i can't wait for my wedding to be over and i can devote to time to just writing my thoughts).

for some reason, although i am way ahead of schedule than a regular bride (read: a less OC bride), i am panicking na. parang mas nagpapanic pa nga ata ako kay joey (hi joey!) na ikakasal na sa nov 20. hahaha! siguro kasi i know i have to finish na the preps as soon as possible. jojie and i are starting this new business (or rather he is starting a new business and i, as usual, is the ever-supporting wife which means i make pakialam everything! hahaha!). at the same time, i am also venturing into a new business with three friends. i have also talked to the ateneo psych department and ate susan, one of the super ever-reliable department staff, told me that i'm on the top of the list for the proposal defense so with luck, i'll be able to defend my proposal in two weeks or so.... hahaha! i realized hindi na naman preps itong sinusulat ko! anyway uli...

because of my panic, i was able to accomplish a lot of things over the past few weeks. and to make this update easier, enumerate ko na lang.

1. was able to fit my gown. love my gown and love mrs. bautista! will have my second fitting on nov 16.

2. church requirements: i was able to claim na our marriage license and submit it to OLCP. i was also able to claim the banns and the permission from my church and submit those, too.

3. was able to give the banns to jojie's church (kahapon lang ito!) tapos sa 27 ko daw makukuha

4. was able to finalize my misalette, had it rechecked na, proofed it (for the millionth time!), and printed it. i'll have it photocopied tomorrow para ma-bind ko na sa weekend.

5. am pesently printing half of my misalette covers while typing this. (was able to print the other half ages ago)

6. was able to have half of my invites calligraphed (hahaha! may term bang ganito?). since ang kulit ng boyfriend ko tungkol jan sa invites na yan, i gave candice half of the invitations tapos pinasulat ko na yung pangalan ng guests ni jojie kaya may invitations na lahat ng kaibigan niya. this way, hindi niya na ako makukulit! :)

7. was able to finalize my menu!!! ang bait-bait-bait ng batus asul! sobra! love ko sila talaga (but everytime i tell jun cruz that i love him, he tells me na si bernard daw dapat ang love ko! hahaha!). ganito kasi yun, yung menu namin is composed of cream of asparagus, beef stroganoff, chicken cordon bleu, seafood thermidor, lechon, pasta amatriaciana, four kinds of fruits, cream puffs,and sans rival. ang problema ko dito sa bawat isang guest, tag-isang cream puff lang at isang sans rival. eh di ba pag guest ka naman hindi lang naman tig-isa ang kukunin mo? so chances are, mauubusan yung ibang guests ng pastries at ayokong mangyari yun. eh since P14.00 each yung pastry (isang pirasong cream puff or isang maliit na sans rival), we couldn't afford to order more. isa pang prob was that i wanted to have a salad bar but since P38 naman per head yung salad bar, parang ayaw ko naman magpadagdag nun. so, in a nutshell, i wanted to have a salad bar and magpadagdag ng pastries ng hindi nagtatataas ng budget per head. so i thought and thought and thought until i finally came up with a solution. alisin ko na lang yung pastries (P28.00 yun per head na naalis), have the chicken cordon bleu (which i didn't like very much nung food tasting) change to tropical chicken (which abie says is really good, mas mura pa ng P6.00 per head), and have the salad bar added. ang prob dito, since P38 nga yung salad bar, hinid pa rin aabot kasi P34 pa lang yung nababawas ko. so i emailed jun and asked him for his suggestions. i presented to him my proposed solution. he emailed me back and he was okay with what i suggested! meron na akong salad bar nang hindi ako magdadagdag ng bayad! yehey!

re the pastries, one of my ninangs, upon hearing na gusto ko ng cream puffs, pledged to give me 400 pieces of cream puffs! hahaha! malulunod kami sa cream puffs! she'll order the cream puffs from tinapayan, a really good bakery along dapitan street na merong sobrang yummy na cream puffs! yey talaga!

8. was able to finish painting the condo! ang ganda na ng bahay namin!!!! excited na akong lumipat dun because of the paint! hahaha!

9. was able to finalize our reception program. i just need a few more songs, wala kasi ako maisip na background for some of the traditions but basically okay na talaga.

10. ito, this was a big accomplishment, was able to convince balay kalinaw to let us have candles!!!! hay! love ko rin si ronald talaga! he went with us to balay kalinaw and demonstrated to the OIC how safe his candles are. nung una ayaw pa nilang pumayag kasi nga naman it will set a precendent. actually, more than the OIC, it was the PRO (siya kasi talaga yung in-charge sa events) who was vehemently opposed to us having candles. naintindihan nga naman namin siya. policies nila yun eh. halos magmakaawa na ako kay ms. de guzman, the OIC, to let us use candles, kahit sa centerpieces lang. in the end, it was even ms. de guzman who convinced tina, the PRO, to let us use candles. sabi pa ni ms. de guzman may candles naman talaga yung weddings kasi the light of the candle symbolizes the love of the couple for each other. sabi pa nga nya baka daw they have to rethink na their policies. :) yehey! sobra talaga akong nakahinga! sobrang thankful to the staff of balay kalinaw. balik na lang kami to sign some a waiver. sabi namin since fire extinguisher yung business nila jojie at construction naman yung business namin, hindi sila dapat kabahan kasi we'll make sure na hindi masusunog yung balay kalinaw (made of wood kasi kaya delikado) at kung may ma-damage man, papagawa namin. hehe!

after our balay kalinaw meeting, ronald, jojie, and i went to eat kay manang isaw, dun sa may malapit sa balay. yummy!

11. was able to do an occular of balay kalinaw with jun of batis asul. he was able to talk na rin to tina re the rules. okay naman. wala naman daw prob sabi ni jun.

12. was able to talk to our officiating priest and pinakita ko na sa kanya yung aming kakaibang cord at pati yung unity coins. i did this to make sure na hindi kami magkakaprob pagdating ng wedding day. okay naman. pumayag siya. tinanong pa nya ako kugn totoong gold daW ba yung unity coins. sagot ko, "father, pintura lang po yan!" haha!

13. was able to finalize with abie (hi abie!) and she's singing in my wedding!!!! yehey! labyu, abie! :)

14. dowa, teenee, and diosa (friends from w@w) are coordinating my wedding. we'll be meeting on sunday to discuss the details.

15. was able to reserve linden suites for preparation and first night of honeymoon

16. was able to reserve 3 nights at hotel veniz for honeymoon

17. was able to go to Rustan's and look around kung ano ang gusto naming i-register for bridal registry.

hmmm.... ano pa ba? yun lang ata. tsaka pagod na akong mag-type eh.

:)