Prelude to a Mad Wedding

gargantuan pictures

2008-02-03T22:49:00.000+08:00

I was sooo excited to check out our pictures right after the wedding but was sooo exhausted in checking them out. So we finally called Ariel J.'s office to ask for the availability of the pictures. We got our hands on the CDs (there were 15 of them) on the evening of Jan 31st and received instructions from Ms. Grace on what we need to deliver next for them to proceed in the creation of our album, video and all others. My first question was "When's the deadline?" and was glad to find out we don't have one. It takes a month for the studio to finish their deliverables after we deliver the requirements. I wonder how long will it take us to choose 250 pictures from 2500++

marriage certificate

2008-02-03T22:40:00.000+08:00

11 days after our wedding, our wedding certificate arrived in our office thru LBC. I was so relieved when I saw the package waiting on my office desk last jan. 31st. It was like a load off my shoulders because I wanted to start processing our change of status as soon as I can (I sooo wanted an additional reprieve on my taxes!). Bert was scheduled to leave for Japan on Feb 3 and I was hurrying up all paperwork while he can still sign them all.

So anyway, I checked out on things that needed to be updated after a wedding. So far, here's my list:

Philhealth
SSS
BIR
Pag-ibig
Bank accounts
Driver's License
Passport
Insurances

And there are more to come.. I heard from an officemate that when you give birth to your child within a year of your marriage, the same volume of paperwork needs to be processed.

Post wedding errands

2008-01-23T01:07:00.000+08:00

Do you actually think your work is done after the wedding ceremony? Of course not!

First, you're supposed to go on the honeymoon next. But of course not! We DO NOT have a honeymoon trip planned. Or so we had a plan but we weren't able to book anything so, it's just too bad for both of us.

So what have I been doing since the wedding day?
I slept and slept for 2 days. I was soooo tired I felt I needed all the rest I can get.

And then, I took my husband's suit to the cleaners.

And then, I took my gown and accessories to my supplier for cleaning, repairs and preservation. (yes, repairs. my strap snapped off after returning to the hotel for our rest.) And cleaning, of course, because it rained on my wedding day, so the trails on my gowns were all mud stains and grass stains. My handbag has a few makeup stains, my 10 kilometer veil has makeup stains. My shoes has mud stains. Everything had stains!

I was just wondering what on earth am I going to do with my wedding gown now that I'm done with it. Maybe I'll wear it again on my 25th wedding anniversary! hahaaha!

And then tomorrow, we get to drive back to town again for some banking errands.

And then, maybe, I have to call the church and ask how on earth am I going to get my marriage certificate. I need that document to be able to change my status on all other agencies. BIR forms, bank forms, SSS, etc. etc.

and now what? oh yes. We are supposed to visit my husband's relatives for the second wedding party at Marikina.

And then, I go off on Sunday for the christening of my dear friend Tintin's little angel. I get to be his godmother.. hehehe! I hope they know what they're doing.

And yes, I still need to gather pictures from friends and start creating thank you cards for the gifts that we received, and for the guests who came to witness our special day.

No more preludes

2008-01-23T00:55:00.000+08:00

No more preludes to talk about. My job is done!

We made it through the ceremony, only minor mishaps, I enjoyed my wedding day!

But of course, here are a few stressful things that happened before my big day:
1. I got sick 2 weeks before my wedding. I had high fever for 3 days, and my gums were swelling. I had diarrhea and I don't know why. Thank God I didn't get the flu.

2. 1 day before our prenuptial pictorials, I didn't have a dress to wear. I had to drag Pogs to shop with us at MOA.

3. 5 days before the wedding, my shoes does not fit.

4. 3 days before the wedding, my shoes still won't fit.

5. 1 day before the wedding, pedicure and manicure services at Taal Vista were fully booked. We ended up having foot spa instead.

6. 1 day before the wedding, the water tank in our village conked out, we didn't have water supply for the whole wedding weekend at home (2 days after the wedding, we still don't have tap water. I am bathing in mineral water! gosh!). I was lucky to check in on the hotel that day!

7. 1 day before the wedding, we had a problem with the groom's room accomodation. Photo shoot schedule had to move up 1 hour because they had to check out!

8. 2 days before the wedding, we still don't know what to do with the van I rented because nobody seems to be needing the vehicle anymore. Luckily, the groom needed the transportation at the last minute. hahaha!

9. 1 Day before the wedding, I am still receiving cancellation of my guests. :(

10. 1 day before and until the wedding, it rained. :(

Monthly Report..

2007-06-04T23:53:00.000+08:00

I finally got around to completing 21 of the souvenirs. Around 60 more to go.. I target to complete everything by the end of June, including the wrappings. I still have around 60 - 70 more to go. I only hope to make around 80 items of these only, but I'm not sure. I may have more guests than expected. I'll let you know what I finish soon.

To guest sheet or not to guest sheet

2007-04-24T21:41:00.000+08:00

Okay, what have I been doing these past 2 months?

1. Invitation
We decided on a DIY invitation to cut costs and of course, to utilize the very simple and elegant designs here in Japan. We completed the first insert (attached here) and we are still pondering on what to do with the other inserts: Entourage, Reception details (map) and something else.

2. Wedding favors
I'm almost done with the trinkets but I still need time for the embroideries. I was thinking of embroidering our names as a charm for the trinkets but it just takes a lot of time to complete the stitches. I just don't have the heart to let someone else do the embroidery as I feel uncomfortable of not finishing something I have started.
Packaging for the wedding favors are also very important to me, so I shopped for beautiful packaging stuff. It is really, really very advantageous to utilize the many, many, many choices for packaging here in Japan, things we cannot find easily and cheaply back home in the Philippines. I'll include a picture of the products when I complete them.

3. Guest Sheets
Tins suggested the guest sheets last night and I thought it was a very, very good idea (Thanks tin! mwahh!). But after a short chat with the other bulate, it would be redundant to have our guests fill up a guest sheet because of the presence of the guest book. But I just loved the idea soooo much we decided to do the same thing as what my friend Yukie did on her wedding party: shoot a polaroid picture of the guest and have the guest write some personal message below the picture. I'll have to think more about this. I checked kakaku.com for instant cameras and they are not expensive at all. It won't be much of a dent on our budget even if we decide to drop this idea later on.

4. Theme: we decided on the clover theme (obvious with our invite) and expect our stationaries with clovers.

Progress Report

2007-02-24T23:24:00.000+08:00

Okay, so what have I done the past month? I went home briefly to attend my high school friend Tintin's Wedding.. and on the process, I went sleuthing on how her suppliers worked. I loved, loved, loved her flowers (Teddy Manuel) and her coordinators from Just Like Ours were a fun bunch. I was also able to manage observing how the Ariel Javelosa photo and video team worked and was satisfied. I never told them I hired them too for my own wedding.

Well, okay. I loved the wedding but I as a bridesmaid, I really didn't think bridesmaids have such significant roles on the wedding. I mean, okay, its great on the picture, but do I really need one?

I had to convince myself because I can't afford to dress bridesmaids anymore after arranging my sponsors' and mothers' dresses at Paul's hands.

So anyway.. what did I accomplish? I was able to get myself a coordinator and a smashing entertainer to sing and host the reception in the form of Paulo Clemente with Cesar Aglipay of Angels Wink Productions.

And then, I got myself a bridal car on the hands of Robert Bautista's bridal cars and was lucky enought to be able to meet his adorable 4 month old dobberman, hehehehe!

Oh, and we already accomplished my hubby-to-be's suit for the wedding. We had it custom made at yuzawaya and it was done very, very nicely.

I'm still working on my hair and makeup artist. I still haven't found a worthy florist!!!

We scanned yuzawaya today for paper for the misalette and we decided on pretty good papers and color combination. Then we proceeded to check on nice binders that would go with it. Idea is already there but we decided to buy the paper and the binder later as we don't really need them yet.

I really, really need to catch up on my embroidery, need to find a nice packaging for the giveaways, look for gifts for the secondary sponsors and worthy suppliers, we have to look for a good wine and of course, the souvenirs.. I have to complete them soon!

sketch

2007-01-17T01:16:00.000+08:00

This is a sketch of my wedding gown by Veluz last 12/28.

stitching an itch

2007-01-16T23:59:00.000+08:00

I began itching with my needlework. The picture was taken very, very close up as I could barely see the holes of the fabric while I was stitching these. This was my 3rd attempt. 1st attempt: wrong strategy with the fabric. 2nd attempt: wrong thread used. 3rd attempt: see picture above.

It took me an hour to finish that (plus some commercial chores in the middle hehehe) . I don't know if all the words I wanted to sew would fit on the tiny piece of fabric but I'll let you know. I will also experiment on other thread colors and borders as well.

Good luck to me and I hope to finish everything by august.

ps. I ordered some bead parts today, good for around 40 trinkets. I'll try to make them and see if I'll have better luck. I hope everything will be done befoe I go back home for good.

clover it is.

2007-01-14T22:28:00.000+08:00

For creating the souvenirs, I made another trip to the DIY shop in tsudanuma and decided to buy a kit, try to make 1 myself to check if I will be able to do all of the souvenirs all by myself.

So here it is.. I managed to finish this one in around 2 hours, I think. Experts should be able to finish this one faster. It was easy and maybe I can manage to make 80 of these. The design I had in mind is not as simple as this one but give or take, maybe it will take me a 3-4 months to finish everything, if I make 1 a day.

I'm still wondering how I can attach our wedding details on the charm. I already bought a cloth for it and I'll try to come up with the design this week. I'm still boggling on how I'll have it attached on the charm. I found a metal part with a hoop that would hold the cloth and still be able to attach it to the charm but I am still to find where I'll be able to buy them.

Entourage Lineup

2007-01-10T00:37:00.000+08:00

I'm still at a loss on how to arrange the entourage lineup. I wanted almost everyone to have roles and not just stand there all dressed up and just watching the wedding, not really participating in the celebration. I only have a small crowd of guests and I will feel nice if all my close friends and family gets to do something. Except maybe the elders.

I'm currently drawing up my entourage, at the same time trying to allot what I can shell out for their clothes. I'm still at a loss!

So, to keep my mind off the dilemma for a while, I started surfing for buoquets and I decided to have orange roses for my buoquet, and green/orange flowers (locally produced flowers are OK, as long as its in green and orange) for the rest of my entourage. Maybe corsages for the sponsors and the mothers. I want all the flowers at the church in orange and green only, including my flower girls.. for the loose petals, I wouldn't mind other colors. Colorful petals looks nice on pictures.

I hope I find a florist soon. Bert called 1 florist today and they felt that booking for 1 year in advance is too early. What's so early about that? It's called being prepared.

Now, all the other things that needs to be done starts popping on my head suddenly. It's 1 year to go and I'm already beginning to panic. I was just panicking yesterday for thinking about all the documents needed to be submitted to the church 3 mos before the wedding. I created a timetable in securing those documents and I hope to finish all other preparations before then so we could concentrate on the required things that needs to be done.

Wedding favors

2007-01-07T19:48:00.000+08:00

I'm not much of an artist so before you ask, that picture is a trinket.

It's my first rest day this year here in Japan and I've begun to look for ideas on my wedding favors. I went to this DIY shop in Tsudanuma and found many things and then I came up with a trinket as a wedding favor. I thought of having 3 varieties: key chains, clipped charm and a strap. Although the design will be the same, I thought of creating the trinkets in 2 colors: green and orange. (I just don't know if a clover leaf would look nice in orange though, hehehe.. maybe the other charms na lang) I wouldn't know how to put me and my future hubby's name and wedding date in beads so I'd just hybrid it with another charm (either printed or cross stitched, depending on the size), laminated in plastic (I am yet to find these plastics).

It's hard work but I have this full year to finish all these. Next step is to find the materials. I don't know how much this will cost me but I hope I won't go over the budget. I still have to make a feasibility study if making these will be worth my time and my money. And to surf the net and scour DIY shops for the materials.

I also managed to look at the pile of invitation samples at the shop. I was hoping to make some DIY invitations too, since I have the resources. I am not much of an artist so, I'm still boggling on the design. I found some nice samples at the shop, and it gave me the idea of using clovers as motifs on the stationeries, favors and maybe the entourage dresses too, if possible. Japan is a good place to look for these items since clover-themed supplies are quite popular these days, and popular means a wide, wide variety of choices.

I don't know how to make trinkets so I also hope to acquire this skill while am it. I hope it will be of good use in the future.

HaPpY NeW yEaR!

2006-12-31T20:30:00.000+08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I started planning the wedding this year but somehow, I accomplished a lot with my 1 month stay here at home. I 'll be going back to Japan on Jan 4th, so I think, my planning days will be in hiatus again. However, I intend to accomplish the following (parang resolution):

1. Souvenirs: DIY charms
I have seen a very nice DIY souvenir from one of the w@wie brides and I am hoping I could do the same. Raw materials may be cheaper here in RP but I have time to check out designs and canvass stuff from JP. Me and Bert usually has deadlines on all tasks but for the meantime, wala muna for this.

2. Invitations: I am to think of the invitation concepts first. And of course, the Entourage lineup! I'm still boggling over who will do what, and same goes for ladies' clothes.

As for other resolutions: see http://so-slow.blogspot.com

The Church

2006-12-31T20:23:00.000+08:00

I decided on Caleruega Church a long time before I decided on getting married. Hehehe! It was the same place where the tsonngos' first couple Bri & Helena wed, but I wasn't there to witness the magic of the place. I have only seen pictures of it and the first time I set foot on it was when I visited the place to get the official receipt of our confirmation payment. It was raining very hard that day so I was not able to see much of the place but when I came back there for a visit on the 14th, with I-sensei, Y-sensei & hubby, the weather was great and we had a great time just lounging around, enjoying the view. I wanted a small church, a little far-away place and great view. Not to mention the weather. I sweat up easily and I wanted a place where it is cool and quiet. There are also other places in Tagaytay-Batangas area for churches but I already set my heart on this one.

Motif

2006-12-30T20:10:00.000+08:00

I've decided on green and orange a very, very, very long time ago. Even when wedding plans were still out of the question then. I even thought of having a green wedding gown and my groom to be wearing an orange barong. But it was soooo extreme that our parents might have heart palpitations with the idea that I even settled myself to suggesting that the bride's side should all be wearing greens and the groom's side should all be wearing orange. However, that will be a problem for common friends because they wouldn't know which side they will be taking. I even remember suggesting the scheme to somebody (I can't remember who that was) but I was laughed off and I was hurt that I discarded the idea.

So now.. I still stick with the green and orange thing... Me wearing a white gown, my groom a black suit, my male entourage ALL in suits and in green shirts, the maid of honor in orange dress, the best man in orange shirt. My female entourage will all be in green dresses or gowns. My 2 flower girls will be in cute orange dresses.

I have been going around the malls these past few weeks, looking for nice designs for the entourage dresses. I have found a few and I even thought of just buying the clothes from the department store instead of having them sewn but I don't know yet. I did decide to just buy the flower girls' dresses from the store instead. That way, the cost is cheaper and the designs are actually much better.

Let the madness begin

2006-12-30T20:02:00.000+08:00

Ok, now let's start documenting the madness I started this year. I actually started planning the wedding earlier this year (around June) but somehow, I had cold feet and it took me until november to have the nerve to call the church. Well, actually, it was my sister who called the church for a reservation. So basically speaking, I was still chicken then.

Let's see what I can accomplish..