invites...check!

i just received a call from noky of printsonalities that our invites are ready for pick-up on friday, after lunch (another this is it moment!)! i stupidly asked her "the complete set of invites?", when she told me the invites are ready. my reason for asking this is because i did request if i could get the envelopes sooner so that i could start addressing them. i approved the entourage card only last september 20 (in addition to completing the entourage list, eric and i had to painstakingly review each and every name to ensure it is correct and complete which we had no choice but to do via email since he's already in sydney) and the invites are ready by october 1. not bad don't you think?

on with the preps...

it's my eric's birthday today. how i wish i could be with him to celebrate his birthday...:-(

last friday, i got news that our marriage license is ready for pick-up at the san juan city hall (yehey!). that's one of the things we were stressing about before eric left since the license has a validity period of 3 months (that means we only can apply for it on september), eric left august and we have to be both present when applying for it! good thing eric was able to contact someone from the san juan city hall to "fix" our license. we submitted all the requirements prior to him leaving and the contact person said he'll just be the one to make all the necessary arrangements. let's just hope the license is legal...:-D

yesterday, i brought my mama and sisters to veluz for their first fitting (gowns were in the actual thai silk already). the contrast of salmon, periwinkle and cobalt is just so beautiful! unfortunately, my gown wasn't ready yet so i just contented myself in looking at my mama and sisters while they were fitting their gowns. veluz gave them an idea already on what their gowns would look like...at least they have finally decided on the style.

mama and i just came from dapitan arcade (previously known to us as "mayon") to look for the planter we will be using to put our give-aways (forget-me-not potted plant). mama finds the planter from san too expensive given that we have a budget for our give-aways. we were able to find a planter very similar to san's sample but for a much lower price (almost half!). it has to be ordered though and customize based on our specifications. we decided to still look around and found a yellow galvanized can with red lady bugs all over it! (side kwento: we initially thought of having a ladybug/lovebug theme since eric and i collect ladybugs/lovebugs! we even asked noky of printsonalities to propose a ladybug/lovebug lay-out for our invites!) we brought with us a sample of the pot that will be used to for the plant and it fits the galvanized can perfectly! in addition to that, they would be able to provide us 200 units of cans immediately without having to order it. talk about meant to be! we decided to purchase the galvanized cans and not order the sinamay planter anymore. we then proceeded to vs orchid's branch in cubao to put our order of 160 forget-me-not potted plant to be delivered on december 9 (we ordered 160 plants instead of 200 since we were able to buy only 160 cans given our quality control check of the cans). next on this is to print our tags that will be attached to our give-aways.


planter for our give-aways

am so happy i was able to accomplish something on our preps for this weekend...

my third (and last!) katya fitting

i enjoy fitting my gown (even if it's just katya, i still refer to it as my gown). whenever i do, i get this "this is it!" moment feeling...the same giddy feeling when we got our wedding rings, invites proof (and that was just the proof...can't imagine what it feels like to get the actual invites!), booked our ceremony venue, reception venue, photographer, videographer...all our suppliers in short.

i had my third katya fitting last night at veluz's house in proj. 8. her shoe designer, niko, was there as well. we got the neckline and back cut finalized already. i think veluz is ready to cut the actual thai silk. she was telling me how she and her mananahis are all excited to start working on the fabric. niko also saw my gown and already has these ideas of what shoe design would best match my gown.

can't wait to fit the gown in thai silk and show mama and my sisters!

*****

met with san (rosary cord and possible souvenir supplier) this lunch. she already has an actual abaca crazy weave planter in blue (considering she had to made-to-order it from bicol) where we will be placing our forget-me-not potted plant give-aways. it's kinda expensive though...given that and the plant, we will definitely be over our budget for the souvenirs if you compare it to what we have just alloted. i told mama to accompany me to mayon in sta. mesa this weekend to check out of there's any possible planter we could use to put the plant that is cheaper. i can just imagine how good the light blue flowers of the forget-me-not contrasting with the dark blue abaca planter...

our very own blogsite!

finally, our very own blogsite! i've been contemplating to have one eversince i learned that my co-w@wies (more on that on my future posts) have it.

now that i'm thinking about it, i should have had one at the start of our wedding preps to document highlights in our preparation...sort of a bride's diary.

anyway, so many things have happened already with regards to our preps. we have made arrangements with the following suppliers so far:

ceremony venue: st. francis of assisi chapel
reception venue: cycad garden (fernwood gardens) www.fernwoodgarden.com
primary photographer: jorge maniquis of jorge portrait www.jorgeportrait.com
secondary photographer: john aguas www.johnaguas.com (w@w find)
videographer: jason magbanua digital video www.jasonmagbanua.com
caterer: tri-chef's cater club www.caterclub.com
cake: alex franco www.alexfrancocakes.com (w@w find)
musicians: the sentimental groove thesentimentalgroove.kasal.com
sound system: sound syndrome (w@w find)
projector/screen (for avp): mfdo marketing & multisystems (w@w find)
rosary cord and souvenirs (?): san sia of crafts & creations (w@w find)
arrhae: unity coins www.weddingsatwork.com/unitycoins.shtml (w@w find)
unity candle: balay kandila www.balaykandila.com (w@w find)
rings: acme jewelry (courtesy of my maid of honor, my ate dawn)
invitation: printsonalities www.printsonalities.com
thank-you card: v-craft society printers (comes with our fernwood gardens booking)
florist: dorothy albert-cuna of eve & co. (w@w find)
florist for church: flowers unlimited
champagne chairs: first alpha enterprises (w@w find)
wedding signature platter: the younique boutique www.weddingshowergifts.com
wedding coordinator: jody liwanag of events experts www.eexperts.biz (w@w find)
designer: veluz reyes of seeds (twigs clothing, inc.) www.veluz.biz
shoes: nikolai hernandez of seven shoes www.veluz.biz
mua (that's make-up artist for you!) for moi: patrick rosas
mua for mama and sisters: frances (effie) go (w@w find)
honeymoon: starcruises via travel unlimited www.starcruises.com

we have already collected and cut plastic coke bottles (courtesy of my officemates) for our DIY luminaries which happy and i already experimented on what type of candle should be used (liwanag v#2 candle works best!). i was able to buy the candles as well at pioneer center where it's cheaper compared to rustan's or sm's supermarket (i was thinking if a trip to liwanag's main office in malabon is worth the discount i'll be getting since it's pretty far from where i'll be coming from). next step on this is to buy the blue jap paper which will be used to wrap the bottles (will just buy it in national bookstore), decide whether glass candle holders still are necessary and if the sand still needs to be packed for easy assembly of the luminaries.

i have already finalized (hopefully!) the layout of our escort card and know what paper to use for printing them (star paper's curious collection in oceana blue 120gsm paper). i was even able to print some already, for guests who i'm sure will be coming. next step on this is to buy some more paper...ate dawn was telling me to just buy it from national bookstore instead of going to star paper's office in grace village. it costs .76 cents cheaper if i buy it from their main office. need to decide whether the trip is worth it...

save-the-date evites (some anyway...) have already been sent and i have received confirmation from some guests already.

whew! so far so good...