party favors from Chocolate Lovers!

My little sister will rock on the 28th! So Ate is off to find some rockin' party favors!

I don't like the usual party loot bags with small toys and candies inside. I want something unique, something rock!
Then I read a particular thread in w@w (learning loads eh?) about Chocolate Lover in Cubao.
Since I'm considering chocolates for my wedding favors, i might as well practice for my sister's birthday.
Lezz Go to the Chocolate Castle!

Look at what I bought:

chocote balls

choco marshmallows

It's really cheap eh! 288 pesos for 1kg of chocoballs? Not bad! I counted one pack, it is 315 balls! If you put 10 per favor, you'll make 31! with 5 pieces for tikim! how good is that?! hehe
And 138 pesos for choco marshmallows will make plenty for smores! wow!

Next time I'll come back for some chocolates for cooking. They have lots.
They also have packaging of all classes, and cooking materials!
Heaven for bakers! Soon i'll be one!
I super luurrvvee Chocolate Lovers! :D

Before I do! :D

My 3rd bridal fair, but my first with my girlfriends.
I was super excited for this, I plan to enjoy all the things that I can't do while im tagging D along (read KJ) - those photobooths, trial makeups, cake testers! woohooo!

Photobooth whoring first:

TRIAL MAKEUPS!
Jo Barba

Since Chelai (one of my BMs) wont stay long because of work (yes! on a saturday!), she did the trial makeup first. Nice eh! I wish I've tried this one.

Makeup by Jo Barba

Mitch Escal
Lara of course! We spent almost two hours for this (spell Mitch OC-ness).

Makeup by Mitch Escal

I thought I heard her on w@w, but after reviewing the archives, I think i'm wrong.

Mitch Excal again

what i like:

- I like how Mitch was so OC about eyebrows and the eyes (well she said that a good makeup will depend greatly on eyebrows).

- We have super good rapport (she's super kwela)

what i don't like about her:

- It took us forever to do this trial (super OC specially on the eyebrows! and she openly admitted it)

And as expected my eyes went all red with all those poke and pinch for eye makeups. It's worse because she keeps on repeating every steps!

Hayy I don't know. oh my sensitive eyes. aww

- It also bothers me that she has a day job (i mean night job, call center i guess)

After the trial, i realized that I like Belle better. So i guess I'll stick with her. :)

Anyways, I super enjoyed the event! It is much better with game girlfriends than with KJ boyfriend. hehehe

I'll definitely do this again! :D

Beauty magician search

as per my sisters in w@w, i should also invest on Hair and Make-Up Artist (HMUA) for my big day. oh well. what people will notice nga naman - food, your gown, your face.
hmm so the search is on..
I been hearing a lot of those famous HMUAs, but i cannot afford them. my budget is 15k max (i intend not to pay for my ento makeup, di keri ng budget e). my target is just for me, my groom and our 2 mothers.
i know.. this is going to be a hard chase.

my qualifications are:
1. she has to be a girl - im not really comfortable having my makeup done by gay (i have nothing againsts gays naman). i just felt we (especially D) will be more at ease with girls.
2. she has to be beautiful herself - of course! how can you promise to make me beautiful if you cant fix yourself in the first place. diba? :)
3. value for money

so email. email. email.
so far i super love Mayone Bakunawa. but pricey! :)

bridal fair! weee time for some free makeovers!

Makeup by Belleski
i circled the whole megatrade for like an hour before finally settling on having my trial done by Belle.
imagine D's face, he is really frowning. haha
trial time..

before

during

after

with belle

party after!

after 5 hours

photoshopping! :)

oh well. since i plan to do my monogram, std, table numbers, invites, etc all by myself, i ought to master Photoshop! As in truly learn ha. I used Photoshop mainly just to edit pix (i'm a frustrated photographer btw). But all I know are Levels, crop, brightness & contrast! argh
Good thing Darwin's mom's birthday for this year will be bongga. I can practice! weee
With Lara's help, I learned a lot of tweaking the letters! i badly need that for my monogram!
im still a work in progress. but im quite happy with my outputs.

first try

embossed letters :) better?

and a little color :D

not bad for a first timer eh? :D

my precious

i stared at the package for as long as i can remember.

even without opening i knew what it is. this is my precious.



smudged! :P

the package

 so lo and behold.. i present to you - my precious w@w tag! :)


the tags

backs

hanging

finally! :)

Wedding Gown Inspiration

I was never thin. I sometimes blame my genes, but as years pass by I learned to accept my figure.
That is the exact reason why I find it so hard to choose my wedding gown design.
I surely cannot afford Veluz, so goodbye leave-it-to-me-i-know-what-will-suit-your-body-type designer.
So now i fully depend on my friend Google. sad.
I once considered looking for a couturier in Divi. But after seeing Ate Lani's hardships of dealing with one of them, I was strongly discouraged.

Now, I am torn in getting another Divi couturier (someone endorsed in w@w) or someone with established name but not highly priced like Boy Kastner.
I still have time to think and i'll use every single minute of it.

BTW, I super love my friend Baives' wedding gown.

I love the skirt - somewhat frou frou. I might choose a little less crowded on the upper part to avoid making myself much smaller.
And i have to do something to somehow cover a part of my shoulders. Im sure SSA will not allow tube tops.

This is so hard. aww

wow oh w@w!

i am now a certified w@w bride - after all the countless lurks, shares, rants, emotes, praises, etc.
finally! ^_^


i emailed Ms. Benz this morning, spent the whole morning and part of my lunchtime thinking about it.
(btw, i received no response from Ms.Benz from two weeks ago, so i posted more)
and then at 2:52 this afternoon, she replied:
yes you are eligible na.


oh my! imagine my happiness. i almost crushed my officemate in happiness. hehe
at 4pm, i already replied to Ms.Benz email with the attached deposit slip.

who's excited?? ahahaha

account number masked for security

oh i haven't got the actual w@w tags pa pala, so technically i'm still not certified.
will have to wait 14days more. aww
and now we wait...

our colors! :)

This is pretty obvious. :)

Everyone who knows D will expect something yellow as our color motif. It's his favorite color, trademark color as I must say. I will not deny him that liberty.

Besides, I can associate yellow to some of my favorites also - like bananas!

I super love bananas- any variants!

The bottleneck comes with finding the other color. Something that will complement yellow.

Our first choice goes with Black - somewhat like Yellow-Black-White tandem.

But I noticed that it is so popular already, i don't want something like that.

AND it is UST's colors! D is from UST so he really liked the idea.

I like it also, BUT, i'm from PUP. I will not bow down to UST. hehehehehe :P

I thought of Dark Blue.

And Gray.

But this one color caught my attention more - chocolate brown!

Why? I used to tease D about his complexion. He's so dark kasi, he's almost like dark chocolate.

I sometimes make lambing to him, like saying my bitter-sweet dark chocolate! :)

Also, his motorcycle's name is Choco Banana!

We have this hobby of naming his vehicles, his then new Honda CB110 hasn't got plates yet so we named him Choco Banana. nice eh? :P

I just added white for extra touches. So that's it.

Our theme is Choco-Banana.

And our colors are Pure White-Banana Yellow-Dark Chocolate Brown! :D

AFAMA na!

so! it's confirmed! we have another supplier.
finally, after so many heartaches of almost finding and then being declined by some photographers, we have booked ours.
her name came up in w@w, and I checked her works instantly. It was love at first sight.
so one Sunday afternoon, we meet up with her at Starbucks Trinoma.
i love the vids, and I like her albums. it's a pretty good deal actually.
right there and then, we booked her (cant risk losing again).

can't wait to work with Denise Abegail Fama.
i'm sure Afama Photography will give me beautiful wedding photos. :)

http://afamaphotography.multiply.com/

Oh my Sitti :(

I always wanted Sitti Navarro to sing at my wedding - for some sentimental reasons (i discussed this in my earlier posts)
But now, I'm sure we cannot afford her. Sadness.

I received a call from Backroom (her handler) about her rates. My jaw dropped (literally) as she told me Sitti's rate. I have no idea that getting a famous wedding singer will cost us a fortune.

To give you an idea, the price is half our wedding budget. For 10 songs with live band. So we're talking about 6 digits.

We do not have that much budget. Plus we prefer to splurge on other things - like life after marriage?

So as much D and I wanted her, we really cannot afford her.
So it's confirmed - Sitti is only our Nice to Have but will Never Have :(

w@w proud

The moment I got engaged, I told one of my closest friend about my plans. And she introduced me to Sis Miles' wedsite. Miles is her ex-project mate from our ex-company. hehe. She talks a lot about w@w in her wedsite so I got curious. I clicked the link and voila! i want to get in that community.


I started as a lurker. I post sometimes, but im not active though. Maybe due to some depression of not finding my perfect church and reception.
I just started to get active when I booked my first essentials - church and reception nga.
Im happy and excited and I want to share it to my sisses who has been a great help in my decision-making.

I haven't got my w@w tag yet. That is my target now (and i know i'll get it soon :P).
For me, it is not just for the discounts. It's more of like a souvenir of my nerve-wrecking preps and the sisterhood.

I sooooo love w@w. I'm not only learning and sharing wedding ideas, i'm also earning friends. lots of them. :)

P/V: afama na nga ba?

Life has to go on after the rockin' failure. So after letting myself to a bit of disappointment, I set back to my search for the perfect P/V.

3 sisses from w@w mentioned this new blood in wedding photography (not so new at all na pala) -Afama Photography by Denise Abegail Fama.

My photographer (hobbyist lang daw :P) friend approved her shoots. May composition daw.

And mind you, her rates is not that high. Plus, she has a promo! how lucky can I get? :)

http://afamaphotography.multiply.com/

I am set to meet her for meeting over breakfast on Sunday. I am really hopeful na sya na sana talaga. :D

P/V: rockin' failure :(

As my search for the perfect P/V continues and intensifies, i found one deal of a lifetime - the Rockin' Photographers and Videographers.
With their lowest rate ever for a complete Photo/Video package, I can't imagine a budget-conscious bride to not fret about getting their services first.
I heard them first at w@w, and immediately browsed their portfolio online. I was awed.

http://rockinphotographer.com/about/

BUT. they are already booked on my wedding date. I knew it. Getting them is too good to be true.
Maybe next time I can rock with these guys.

Nice To Have: Sitti Navarro

The Bossanova Queen, Sitti Navarro has played a big part in my engagement. She sang for me as D did his proposal. So sweet. :)
And I would really love to have her sing all the way to my wedding. Imagine her sweet voice entertaining my guests as they feast on Enderun's buffet. Ahhh heaven...

captured Sitti's emotion

She said yes when I asked her if she sings at wedding, but I haven't inquired officially to her handlers. Afraid of the rates ehrr? :P

I'm not sure yet if we can afford her. So for now, she is a Nice To Have..

happy start! :D

This is it! I am finally getting married (hindi na basta engaged lang :P)

This afternoon, we went to SSA to check for available dates for our December wedding. BTW, we chose this month for D's family. His father went back to Saudi and his brother to UK after his sister's wedding. We wanted them to witness our wedding also so we have to do it on December so they can come home.
Going back, Ms. Susan of SSA said that they only have two Fridays for me. (all the other Fri or Sat slots are booked! deym!).
We took pictures and head for Enderun.

the aisle

The venue

I looked and I looked.. but I liked none from what I saw online.
But when I heard this venue from a sister in w@w and after checking it for hours in the internet, I was simpled awed.
This is exactly what I'm looking for.
I'm talking about The Atrium of Enderun Colleges.

pic from my Ms. Karen of Enderun

Perfect! ;)

Church Hunting

I learned from w@w that the first things to prioritize on wedding preparation are Church and Venue.
So of we go to finding my dream church!
But this one is hard. As in.

1. Christ the King Church in the Sky

Definitely we will not do it on my home church! I can't take the risk of being mobbed by my whole clan. Not that i dont want them in my special event. But financially we are not really capable of catering all of them.
PROs:
If not for that reason, I would really love to be wed here. The fresh air, the breath-taking view.. I would vouch for it.
CONs:
Very steep road to the church, almost 45% inclination. Waaa
VERDICT: NO! NO! NO!

2. Santisimo Rosario Parish Church (UST Church)

This was where D graduated. Of course he likes to be married there. Well, It favors us because they give discounts for alumni.
I've been to this church once. But I dont like it. It is too 'sad' for me. It's too dark. I was not wowed by the altar. Maybe because it is old?
But we considered the monetary value of the church and how much this will cut our expenses. This is indeed a penny-saver. 13k php for an aircon church? wow!
But, they told us that they do not accept reservation for 2012 until September 2011. What a waste of time. :(
PROs:
Cheap for an aircon church. And D will be happy.
CONs:
Not so lively ambiance. Late opening for reservation
VERDICT: Will reconsider. Check for other churches first.

3. Don Bosco Church

Another airconditioned church in Makati. I liked the way it registered to the wedding pictures I browsed online.
PROs: cute altar, nice circular church, cool aircon, ambient parking space
CONs: not-so-dramatic entrance because of the glass doors
VERDICT: Maybe

4. Sanctuario de San Antonio

My Gawdddd! It is perfect! My very much coveted high-ceiling, wooden doors for dramatic entrance, loft for the aerial shots. wow! this is it!
PROs: This church got all my criteria. plus it has ample parking space.
CONs: this will surely cut much of our budget. Expensive compared to the other aircon churches - 25k for the use of the church only. aww
VERDICT: I will push it! hehe

Obviously, you know which church I chose. I'll talk to D, knowing him he'll give in. :D

im back :)

Ok. Now that I'm settled, I finally have time to blog. After 3 months and 1 week, I am definitely back. :)

Let me walk you to what I've been through:
1. As mentioned in my previous post, I arranged my transfer. For some career move and more financial reasons, I decided to leave my previous bread and butter and transfer to the company that can put croissant on my table. It's a big risk knowing that my previous company is one of the best companies in the country. But with how Noynoy handles the economy, I have to make my move.
2. What's scary in transferring is the whole concept of starting over again. Good thing I have my old friends here in the new company, it will be less of my worries.
3. Certification - CHECK! Yes! I am now a certified Teradata Professional. Thanks to months of memorization and mind-boogling white book reading.
4. Boyfriend-time. This takes up all my weekend time. Either with my friends, his friends, his family, or just us. Pure bliss! :D

But now, I think I have time for this. Let's see. :D

im busy

hell I am! It has been more than 2 weeks already since my last post. aww.

Well, I have my reasons:

First - my TL left the company already. We have been planning this for half the year already. I should have made myself prepared for this. But hell. Little did I know how busy she was. All those issues, no matter how simple, take much of my precious time. Now I know how 'kurap lang ang pahinga' felt like. aww

Second - I was and am fixing my own farewell. hehe. (wait for the details in my next posts) :D

Third - I suddenly felt the urge to prepare my wedding! Yes I am excited. weeee

I am busy as a bee! weeee

muzon maki

Miel is a big fan of Jap foods. Katsudon, Gyuniku, Ramen, Gyudon, Tempura Teriyaki, Yakisoba... But of all these foods, he loves California Maki more. Yes that food is very much Japanese. Well, it was popularized by Jap chefs who ventured their career in Los Angeles, thus the name California Maki. But basically, it is Japanese. And he wants me to learn how to make it. waaaaaa

I spent hours to prepare it. Such a time waster and very meticulous. But fulfilling.

So here it goes, my very own 'Muzon' Maki. (this is where I live, so I named mine after the place. hehe)

It needs a lot of polishing to make it more commercialized looking. But I'll get there. :)

Facebook Publicity

I was uncertain of how good (or bad?) facebook is in transmitting information. Not until now.

Yesterday, I was feeling so lovestruck that I decided to post a link of my boyfriend's (ok! fiance's) proposal video on facebook. In just 15 minutes my hit counter sky rocketed to additional 28 views. And now after a day, I counted 50+ more views. (BTW, the proposal happened 4 months ago. I just don't feel like causing commotion then so i didn't post it right away.)

I have no idea if my story was that interesting or my facebook friends were just too bored so they bite to whatever posts they saw on their news feed. 

Now I know the true power of facebook. Expect that I will not post my wedding date there. hehehe :))

The Proposal

I was speechless. totally. I didn't cry though. I don't know why. Maybe I was just really surprised. I thought we just went there to watch his fave singer - Sitti Navarro. I'm wrong. That night was not for him, its for me.

It took me a while to realize that hey this is really happening. He asked me to marry him. Oh my God! 

I said YES of course. with my whole heart.

Have I known that this will happen, I should have worn my best dress. 

And get a decent videographer. The video is super shaky. (Kilig much? hehe)

But I like the surprise. 100% caught off guard.

Anyways, that was my night. the night I promised to be Mrs. Darwin Talattad. later. :)