Yet Another Countdown

Flying back home in two weeks. And these are the reasons why I'm so excited:

That White Dress of Mine

Every girl dreams of her white dress. The white dress. So whether you buy a ready-made gown from a bridal shop or have a couturier turn that dream into reality, the "feeling" has to be right. You have to be at ease with either the sales assistant or your couturier to be able to communicate what you want in the dress that is to become the highlight (yes, the highlight with you in it) of your bridal march.

Beauty by Diana

28 Sept 2012, 1pm. One Pacific Place, Makati City. The Big Day.

The bridal suite has turned into one busy preps place. Professional makeup artist (MUA) Diana Santos arrived with her beauty essentials, along with hairstylist Camille Ramos.

The Day You're Most Beautiful

That unbeatably amazing feeling when, after late nights, sleepless nights, stress and overworking, you, the bride, still emerges the most beautiful woman on your wedding day, gracefully sporting that bridal glow.

Warm Wishes from Colleagues

That amazing feeling when your colleagues send their warm wishes and offer you a token as soon as you report back to work from your honeymoon.

Bride and Groom stoppers, which came with white flowers and red wine from my colleagues in Singapore

10 Things To Do After "I Do"

The stress of planning a wedding is finally over. No more enquiries and urgent calls from suppliers, no more friends or relatives asking for details. It's just you and the new spouse. Oh, how glorious!

My Perfect Heels

The initial intro to this blog was all about searching for the perfect wedding heels. The pair I had in mind was red so I searched for months in Singapore and visited every boutique I could think of.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

A priceless moment

A picture is worth a thousand words. And it serves as a priceless reminder of memories gone by. This picture is captured by my cousin while hubby and I were posing in front of our photo booth at the reception. I was playing with my iPhone yesterday and downloaded an app that, like Instagram, has several filters. So this is the finished product.

"Us"

A collection of pictures I made into a presentation, showed during the reception. For a couple of hours, just literally hours before our wedding, I rushed this so we have a video capturing "us" when we were still dating.

One Month Since I Walked Down The Aisle

It's been a month since I walked down the aisle to this song, to my nervous groom. This is the perfect song as it summarises how I feel about him. 

Here's to Our First Month!

It's been a month since we exchanged "I Do's" and I've nothing but love. Love for my wonderful husband.

Yes, I'm Now A Missus!

It's been exactly 11 days since I got hitched. And I have a gazillion of stories to share. Problem is, I don't know where to start.

Prenup Shoot: Raymond Fortun Photography at Heirloom Manila

The recent weekend was packed. I flew to Manila to do a final fitting, meet with my coordinator, emcee and choir, and then fitting again for my best friend's wedding in December. The following day was spent for final food tasting and detailing with our caterer and the next day, a prenup shoot with one of our favourite suppliers: Raymond Fortun Photography.

I initially saw Atty RF's portfolio from a friend's Facebook page some years back and I was impressed. My fiance and I told ourselves we'd get him on our wedding. True enough, he was the first member of our dream team that we booked in a heartbeat.

The man we met at Heirloom Manila was not a high-powered lawyer in coat and tie with briefcase, but a cool wedding photographer in casual get-up and rubber shoes. He makes funny faces and imitates the Smurf, and is armed with two cameras. Don't ask me about the camera models. They just look high-tech to me.

Yep, it's Atty RF the photographer. Who would've thought that this funny man, the one who's covering our wedding, is one of the country's most sought after lawyers? When we met for the first time, we shook hands and he briefed us on some basic rules about prenup photo sessions. He shared a few tricks about looking slim and natural on cam. How groovy is that? The next few minutes just breezed through. It wasn't difficult posing for him and Zye de Guzman, one of his talented photographers. We felt right at ease.

We shot in this highly creative and "artsy" residence in Quezon City, owned by the renowed Engr Alex Juco and his wife, Paz. The house is filled with lots of memories from yesteryears with trinkets belonging to family members and kids. Mr Juco gladly gave me a tour while waiting for Atty RF and I was amazed by how well kept and creative he has turned the place into. It's like a museum. I love the place. It has so many corners that are picture perfect. The house is like a huge treasure chest!

These are some of the pictures I grabbed from Atty's Facebook page - straight from the camera, no Photoshop or any editing, for that matter. He will be preparing our prenup AVP and will be covering our wedding.

Office attire for me, chef's uniform for him

Sweet moments in the gorgeous living room

Elegant vintage

Supplier Ratings: 

Raymond Fortun Photography - ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ (5/5)

The Heirloom Manila - ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ (4/5)

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Raymond Fortun Photography
Official site

raymond42n@mac.com

Heirloom Manila
Quezon City, Philippines
Official site
theheirloomphilippines@gmail.com

Our Invites: Print Divas

The long weekend simply breezed through. I was hoping I'd accomplish various tasks for the wedding but I was wrong. I only managed to respond to Print Divas, our invites supplier, finalised the copy, did one more round of proofreading and sent over the pictures that will be used for our invite.

Initially, I thought of coming up with a formal invitation with a classic design. I reviewed several designs over the net and finally made up my mind on a boarding pass design. I chose Print Divas for the wide selection of designs and styles that they have. I compared their portfolio with the rest and to me, they are one of the best. I also relied on how their website is designed. Of course, a designer should have a professionally designed website that is not only complete but should also work well.

My first choice wasn't Print Divas. It was a different designer/printer. The day I was about to choose the design, its website "decided" to be buggy. I quickly dropped it and went ahead with Print Divas.

Anyway, I am targeting to have the invites printed by next week as I need the guests' responses by 14 September.

In terms of the design, I am glad that Print Divas managed to marry our theme and motif with the boarding pass style.

Entourage Card

The boarding pass style is appropriate because marriage, for us, is the ultimate destination. It also signifies the fact that we are boarding the plane (back) to Singapore after the wedding.

I didn't post the main invite and the RSVP cards as the layout is still being finalised. Our pictures are being inserted. I hope to see the updated draft real soon.

Let's just hope that the quality of printing is good. Keeping my fingers crossed.

***
Print Divas
Unit 301 Emerald Place
604 Shaw Blvd, Pasig City
Philippines
+632 3831434
Official website
Facebook page

Bridal March

I wish I have the power to freeze time. It's the first day of August and now, technically speaking, next month is already my wedding! Yes, I am almost on panic mode. Almost.

Damask-Inspired Cake

I am still in the midst of looking for a cake supplier. I was hoping I'd have a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, covered in fondant with damask print. But it's not going to happen.

Wedding Favours: Sophie's Mom

This cute, little bakeshop along San Antonio Village in Makati City, called Sophie's Mom, makes one of the best red velvet cupcakes I have ever tasted.

Save the Date Cards: Vistaprint

Started sending out our "Save the Date" cards to our sponsors and family members. Ordered the cards online and I'm quite happy with the quality. I didn't like the plain white envelopes so I went to the bookstore last night to purchase maroon ones.

The Couturier: Tina Basa-Reyes Gown Salon

I feel productive today. A couple of days back, I sent out a "Notice for Fitting" to MY dream team on Facebook. Nope, they aren't suppliers. These are the ladies of my entourage, the women I can't live without. They are the members of my dream team.

Three Months to Go...

It's been a while since I last updated this blog. I have been busy with both work and organising the wedding that I even had to make a trip to Manila for our marriage preparation seminar. It was a fun weekend. But that's another story.

Today, I am taking a few minutes off from work to write about what I'm feeling right now.